September 2013 Focus

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focuson educators

focus on educatorsis an award winning publication of the Pittsburg Education Association/CTA/NEA www.peateachers.org

California Teachers AssociationStatement of Mission

The California Teachers Association exists to protect and promote the well-being of its members; to improve th

conditions of teaching and learning; to advance the cause of free, universal, and quality public education; to ensu

that the human dignity and civil rights of all children and youth are protected; and to secure a more just, equitabl

and democratic society.

SEPTEMBER 2013

Volume XXII, Number 1

In this Issue

- Association Highlights

- Informational Items /Announcements- What is a Teachers Union?

- CTA News

Presidents MessageDear Colleagues,

By now you have settled into yourclassrooms and begun the important

work of educating the youngsters ofPittsburg. I am proud to represent you

and the more than 560 dedicatededucators in our district as the newPEA President. Please dont hesitateto contact me if you need the

Association to help you in any way.

Common Core

Teachers will need to take an activerole in the implementation of the

Common Core State Standards toensure our expertise is considered.

Your input will be needed as PEAnegotiates and consults with thedistrict regarding educational

objectives, curriculum, content,textbooks, collaboration and planningtime, class size, and professional

development.

Signi fi cant Changes in School

Funding

The Local Control Funding Formulaor LCFF is replacing the old system

with funding that is flexible and canbe used for any educational purpose.The LCFF increases school funding &

directs more resources to our highest-need students with supplementalgrants for English learners and low-income students.

Under the LCFF our schools aregetting a lot more money and a lotmore freedom in how to spend it, so

teachers, parents, and other school

employees need to make their voicesheard in order to guarantee LCFF

funds are used responsibly and onprograms that our students need! Weas educators are in a position to use

our knowledge of our schools andexercise our professional judgment tomake recommendations that we

believe are best for our students.

You are the Union

Id like to ask each of you to tak

ownership in our Association. PEA a professional union; that means wdo more than negotiate salary an

benefits. We maintain higexpectations for our profession anwe are activists for public educatioWe believe the best decisions f

Pittsburg students are made whPEA members (you!) are participatinat every step. If we work together, w

will be a strong, collective voice fpublic education in Pittsburg.

Furthermore, when you or yo

colleagues have concerns about thinthat are happening in your schoodont gripe amongst yourselves, speup! Either directly to your principal ask your PEA Site Rep or me fhelp. We all need to be empowered

take charge of our profession. AttenAssociation meetings and ginvolved. If we dont stand up for thkind of public schools we want four students, then who will?

Im looking forward to working wiyou and I hope you have a wonderf

school year!

Sincerely,Dawn CovaPEA President

P A


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PEA Leadership 2013-2014

PresidentDawn Cova

Rancho Medanos/PEA Office

Elementary Vice President

Tammy Carr

Highlands Elementary

Secondary Vice President

Shelly Bascomb

Rancho MedanosSecretary

Chris CoanWillow Cove Elementary

Treasurer

Gale HigginsStoneman Elementary

Committee Chairs:

Grievance Committee

John KleinjansPittsburg High

Negotiations TeamMark Maselli - Chair

Political Action CommitteeIris Contreras - Chair

Elections Chair

Ruth Foster

Human Rights Committee

Tasharie Ameral

Womens Issues Committee

Allison Azevedo - Chair

O-TeamVacant

CTA State Council RepresentativesIris ContrerasPEA

Sara Savacool, Robert Strickler - AEAAlternate

Pandora Bethea - AEA

CTA Director District CTerri Jackson

NEA Director for California, District 3

Greg Bonaccorsi

Technical Editor

Susan HarrisonPEA Site Secretary

Focus on Educators

is a publication of thePittsburg Education Association CTA/NEA

159 East 4th Street

Pittsburg, CA 94565

Phone: (925) 432-0199fax: (925) 432-4854

email: [email protected]: www.peateachers.org

Rep. Council Meeting Calendar

September 18

October 16

November 20

December 18

January 22

February 19

March 19

April 16

May 21

June 4

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School Board Meeting CalendarSeptember 11 & 25

October 9 & 23

November 13

December 11

January TBD

February TBD

March TBD

April TBD

May TBD

June TBD

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Are you getting your PEAinformation?

Having our Site Reps collect your input, attend themonthly Rep meeting and then report back to you is

vital in the communication chain of our Association.

Roll call at last June 5th Rep Council Meeting:

Adult Ed.absent Stonemanabsent

Foothillpresent Willow CovepresentHeightsabsent MLK Jr.absentHighlandspresent Hillview - absentLos Medanospresent Rancho MedanospresentMarina Vistapresent PHS - presentParksidepresent Black Diamondpresent

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mailto:[email protected]://www.peateachers.org/http://www.peateachers.org/http://www.peateachers.org/mailto:[email protected]


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Association Highlights

$1,200 in Scholarships Granted to

PEA Members High School Seniors

Taylor Gonzalez (Lisa Gonzalez, Marina Vista)Melinda Luehrs (Dave Luehrs, Hillview)Elisabeth Gory (Natalie Moreno, PHS)

Meredith Valencia (Alicia Valencia, MLK Jr., JHS)

Congratulations & Good luck in College!

New Teacher Orientation

The Pittsburg Education Association was pleased to

welcome over 70 new dedicated and energetic educators toour chapter on Friday, August 16 th at the Elks Lodge inPittsburg. They participated in a full day orientation with thedistrict, while PEA provided lunch from Las Panchitas and anintroduction to our union and benefits of membership. Thankyou to Drew Tamaki and VALIC for contributing toward thecost of our lunch. Please take the time to ensure the NewMembers at your school sites feel welcome and haveeverything they need to have a successful year.

Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)School Psychologists

In June, PEA and PUSD signed an agreement that enabledinterested school psychologists to be paid for completing IEPassessments and reports over the summer instead of hiringan outside agency to complete the work.

PEA Leadership Retreat

The Executive Board Officers and committee chairs met onSaturday, August 24 to prepare to lead our Association thisyear. Some of the items the leadership team addressed wereimplications for bargaining the Local Control FundingFormula and Common Core, engaging membership in our

Association, generational differences in unionism, and PEAgoals for 2013-2014. Please thank them for giving up time onthe weekend to work for our Association.

Pictured are Human Rights Chair Tasharie Ameral andPEA Vice President Secondary Shelly Bascomb

Pictured are PEA Treasurer Gale Higgins andPEA Vice President Elementary Tammy Carr

Pictured are Bargaining Team member Andrea McKinney,Bargaining Chair Mark Maselli, and CTA Primary Contact Staff,

Rosemary Louissaint


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August Professional Development Day

A joint committee with district and PEA representativesplanned the initial training on the Common Core StateStandards. More than 40 of our colleagues, fellow PEAmembers, and several site administrators facilitated theintroduction to the CCSS on Tuesday, August 20 th. The

feedback the district received from you was overwhelminglypositive. PEA is pleased the district recognizes that we havequality educators in Pittsburg and that there is little need tohire outside consultants when we have the knowledge andexpertise to share with each other. The committee iscurrently using your feedback to plan the October PD day.

Pictured are PEA members and Common Core PD facilitators:

Ruby Chahal (Hillview), Staci Hart (Marina Vista),Kelli Coffman (Marina Vista), and Richard Rodriguez (Hillview)

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THANK YOU Corner

Thank you to the following members for giving personal timeand helping the Association over the summer:

Shelly Bascomb, Tammy Carr, Gale Higgins,

Richard Higgins, Mark Maselli, Andrea McKinneyand Rajnesh Naicker

IMPORTANT

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Are you scheduled to be evaluated this year?

Evaluation Language can be found in the CollectiveBargaining Agreement (Contract) under Article 10

Procedures for the AdministrativeMandated Evaluation10.6.2.1 Notification for AdministrativeMandatedEvaluation

Unit Members to be evaluated in a given school year shall beinformed in writing on the approved form by October 1. UnitMembers employed after the start of the school year shall benotified within thirty (30) calendar days of their beginningdate of service that they will be evaluated; time lines andother due dates shall be extended accordingly. Theevaluation shall be conducted by the administrator (Prime

Evaluator) or his/her designee administrator. If theadministrator (Prime Evaluator) assigns a designee, thedesignee shall complete and sign all related evaluationforms.

10.6.2.2 Initial Conference Procedure forAdministrativeMandated EvaluationThe initial conference between the Evaluator and Evaluateeshall be held no sooner than the sixteenth (16th) instructionalday after the beginning of each school year and not laterthan October 31 of the same school year.

10.6.2.2.1 At the Initial conference meeting, the followingshall occur:1. Selection of one standard by the Evaluatee;2. Selection of one standard by the Evaluator;3. Review and discussion of the objectives in the selectedstandards and in Standard 6 (Developing as a ProfessionalEducator);4. Agreement on the date of the first Scheduled observation;or if the date is not established at the Initial Conference, themutually agree upon observation date shall be establishedand the observation shall occur prior to the due date of thePreliminary Evaluation Summary.

5. Completion of the Initial conference Summary Form.

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PEA/PUSD Evaluation Trainings will be held for newmembers and all members who will be evaluated thisyear. Check with your site principal for your time andlocation.


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Did you get transferred to a new site orclassroom? Dont forget to submit a

timesheet!

ARTICLE 26SITE MOVING and ROOM RELOCATION

26.1. Unit members who are classroom teachers who arerequired to transfer to another site because of a Districtfacilities project, the opening or closing of a school,involuntary transfer, or site facility emergency shall beallowed the daily per diem rate of pay up to two (2) days asfollows: one day for time spent to pack and one day for time

spent to unpack their classroom materials.

26.2. Unit members who are classroom teachers who arerequired to relocate their classroom within the same site dueto a District facilities project, or site facility emergency shallbe allowed the daily per diem rate of up to one (1) day fortime spent to pack and unpack their classroom materials.

26.3. Unit members who are counselors, psychologists orspeech therapists and are required to transfer to another siteor move their office or classroom to another site, shall beallowed the daily per diem rate of one-half (1/2) day for timespent to pack and unpack their materials.

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Are you getting paid correctly?

Check your September pay stub to make sure you receivedany extra time payments from summer. Also, be sure youreon the right step & column! Salary info can be found in theappendix of our Contract and at peateachers.org.

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Health Plans Open

Enrollment

The 2013 CalPERS Health Benefits OpenEnrollment period began September 16and ends October 11, 2013. Now is thetime to make any desired changes to yourhealth plan.

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Open Enrollment Period for

Catastrophic Leave Bank:

August 26, 2013 through

September 27, 2013

PEA, in conjunction with PUSD is excited to offer anopportunity to join the Catastrophic Leave Bank. The Bankis comprised of sick days that have been donated by thosemembers who join during the Open Enrollment Period.Members will have an opportunity to apply for additional sickleave when experiencing a loss of work due to serious illnessor long-term disability. There is a career maximum of thirtydays available to members upon approval of theCatastrophic Leave Bank Committee. Since theimplementation of the Catastrophic Leave Bank in 2001, wehave been able to assist many members in their time ofneed.

If you are interested in becoming a member of theCatastrophic Leave Bank, please complete the form that wasdistributed, by September 27, 2013 and return it to the PEAOffice. (The form can also be found at peateachers.org) Ifyou have any questions, please call the PEA Office at925-432-0199. We look forward to your support.

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School Site Council Training

All members of the School Site Council are encouraged toattend the joint PEA/PUSD training Thursday, September26 from 3:30-5:30 at PHS. Non- SSC members are alsowelcome to attend the training.

The School Site Council must be made up of equal numbersof school staff and parent/community members (students ifsecondary). The school staff must be comprised of a majorityof classroom teachers. Each group must elect their ownrepresentatives.

School Site Council members have the important role of

developing a School Plan which addresses curricula,instructional strategies and materials, instructional servicesto meet the needs of English Learners, professionaldevelopment for staff, and an evaluation of the educationalprogram. Additionally, by state law, the SSC must overseethe site-based budgeting of categorical funds. This is a veryimportant job!

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Attention

Education Specialists:

You are only required to attend one staff meeting thatextends beyond the workday every other week. When thereare conflicting staff meetings, please check with yourprincipal to determine if you are to attend your site staff

meeting or the district special education staff meeting. If youattend a special education staff meeting in addition to a sitestaff meeting, submit a time sheet and the special educationdepartment will pay you for the extra time.

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WHAT IS A TEACHERS UNION AND

WHY ARE WE IN IT?

The dictionary defines a unionas a group of people joinedtogether for some common purpose. The union is ALL OF

US. There is no it. The union is you. The union is yourcolleagues. What results is a powerful and collective voice ofadvocacy for Pittsburg educators and public schools.

Unions are good for students as well. The states withoutstrong teachers unions are among the lowest performingin the nation. A strong union can lower class sizes andcreate better learning environments for students throughcollective bargaining and organizing.

"Educators and their unions have a solid track record ofsupporting policies that boost achievement for most students,

and policy makers should view teachers unions as partnersin the education reform process, not adversaries," concludeda 2002 study by Indiana University Bloomington.

What if you disagree with something the union did? PEAleaders are doing the best we can with the information weget from you! We will listen and respond to your concerns.Get involved. Become a Site Representative and attend RepCouncil meetings. Speak up within our organization. Ourunion is whatever we want it to be, but ALL OF US need tobe engaged in unionism in some way.

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"It's ugly out there. There are critics who are out to blameCTA and unions for everything they don't like about publicschools. When pressed, they say, 'We love teachers. We justdon't like their unions.' That's their talking point, and it'sstraight out of Michelle Rhee's playbook. Well ... let's showthem there is no difference between teachers and theirunions."

-CTA President Dean E. Vogel

FROM THE PEA BY-LAWS:

The primary purposes of this Association shall be:

A. To represent its members in their relations with theiremployer, and to seek to be the exclusive representative ofappropriate units of school employees in all matters relating

to employment conditions and employer-employee relationsincluding, but not limited to, wages, hours, and other termsand conditions of employment;

B. To form a representative body capable of developinggroup opinion on professional matters to speak with authorityfor members;

C. To provide an opportunity for continuous study and actionon problems of the profession;

D. To raise the standards for education support

professionals;

E. To provide a means of representation for its minoritymembers;

F. To promote professional attitudes and ethical conductamong members;

G. To encourage cooperation and communication betweenthe profession and the community; and

H. To foster good fellowship among members.

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Grievance Update

PEA does not always disagree with the vision of ouradministrators, but we insist on following the agreed-uponprocess. Our collective bargaining agreement, which wasnegotiated by PUSD and PEA, must be followed. This is toensure members rights are not violated and all members aretreated fairly. If district or site administrators want to

implement something new, we want our teachers to have avoice in the process. When the contract is violated, agrievance is the avenue for addressing the infraction.

Black Diamond HSAn additional period of instruction on Tuesdays was addedwithout negotiating it or its impact on our members. We areworking with administrators at Black Diamond and HumanResources to come to a mutually beneficial agreement.


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First Work Day Classroom PreparationTeachers need this time to prepare to greet our youngsterson the first day of school. PEA understands the need forprincipals to hold brief staff meetings for introductions andhousekeeping; however, the bulk of the day should bedesignated for classroom preparation as negotiated on thecalendar. Many school sites had meetings for more than 2-3hours and members had very little time to work in theirclassrooms. We are working with the district to resolve thisand prevent it from reoccurring in the future.

5 PHS teachers do not have classrooms and areroving to a different room for each period; 30teachers are without adequate space to prepThe Associations position is to utilize one hall of NorthCampus in order to accommodate all staff. Some concernsthat have arisen from the current situation: teachers do nothave computer and printer access; teachers have to carrymany materials and some were not provided with carts;science teachers cannot do labs; parents cannot leave voicemessages and students cant find their teachers for extrahelp before- or after-school. We are working with the districtto find a better solution so our teachers can be successful.

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NEWS

A PROUD HISTORY

Here are just a few of CTAs key

accomplishments over the past 150years:

1866CTAs first legislative achievement establishes freepublic schools for all children in Californiaincluding schoolsthat educate nonwhite students.

1913California State Teachers Retirement System iscreated by legislation after CTA State Council calls for astatewide teacher pension system in 1910.

1915 CTA leads efforts to outlaw child labor and enactother legal protections for children.

1927 CTA wins legal victory when state Supreme Courtrules that a school board cannot fire a female teacher simplybecause she got married.

1940s CTA is one of a few organizations in California toprotest against internment of Japanese-Americans at thebeginning of World War II.

1967 CTA establishes schools for children of migrantworkers, and leads the authorization of bilingual instructionclasses for English learners.

1983 CTA leads passage of SB 813, which providessignificant additional revenue for California schools. This billalso provides more rigorous graduation requirements, longerschool day and year, and higher beginning teachers

salaries.

1988 CTA drafts and wins passage of Proposition 98,which guarantees a minimum portion of state money to fundK-14 education. The passage of Prop. 98 firmly establishesCTA as a political force to be reckoned with.

1995 CTA wins Class Size Reduction law for K-3classrooms.

2002 CTA wins passage of a $13 billion statewide schoolbond.

2003 CTA wins passage of a $12.3 billion statewide schoolbond.

2006CTAs Quality Education Investment Act (QEIA)passes into law and is helping schools that are serving ahigher percentage of low income, minority and Englishlearners to close the achievement gap.

2012CTA leads fight to pass the governors Proposition30. It stops billions in new education cuts and will generate$42 billion for public schools and local services over sevenyears. CTA also defeats Prop. 32, another attempt to silenceour political voices.

For more noteworthy achievements of our union, check outthe 150th Anniversary page at cta.org.

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THE NUMBERS$2,000,000,000The increase in education spending in Californiathis year!

30The ballot measure that educators championed last fall. Increasedschool spending this year is a victory that is owed to the hard workand organizing that we all did together to pass Proposition 30!

78The number of new educators and PEA members hired in thedistrict this year. Welcome!

3The average amount of time (in hours) teachers had to preparetheir classrooms on the first workday, after subtracting time spentin staff meetings.


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PEA

CalendarSEPTEMBER 20134 PEA Executive BoardPEA Office159 East 4

thSt.3:45 PM

4 Rosh Hashanah begins at sundown

11 PUSD School Board Meeting2000 Railroad Ave.7:00 PM

13 Yom Kippur begins at sundown

18 PEA Rep CouncilPEA Office159 East 4th

St.3:45 PM

22 Autumn Begins

25 PUSD School Board Meeting

2000 Railroad Ave.

7:00 PM26 PEA/PUSD School Site Council TrainingPHS3:30 PM

27 Catastrophic Leave Bank Enrollment Ends

OCTOBER 2013

2 PEA Executive BoardPEA Office159 East 4th

St.3:45 PM

9 PUSD School Board Meeting2000 Railroad Ave.7:00 PM

14 Columbus DayNo SchoolProfessional Development Day

16 PEA Rep Council

PEA Office

159 East 4th St.

3:45 PM23 PUSD School Board Meeting2000 Railroad Ave.7:00 PM

TBD General Membership Meeting

Next Deadline for Articles is Monday, October 7, 2013

STAY INFORMED @peateachers.org

cta.org & nea.org

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