PEA

focus
on educators
California Teachers Association
Statement of Mission
Common Core State Standards to ensure our expertise is considered. Your input will be needed as PEA negotiates and consults with the district regarding educational objectives, curriculum, content, textbooks, collaboration and planning time, class size, and professional development.

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

The California Teachers Association exists to protect and promote the well-being of its members; to improve the conditions of teaching and learning; to advance the cause of free, universal, and quality public education; to ensure that the human dignity and civil rights of all children and youth are protected; and to secure a more just, equitable, 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 Message
Dear Colleagues, By now you have settled into your classrooms and begun the important work of educating the youngsters of Pittsburg. I am proud to represent you and the more than 560 dedicated educators in our district as the new PEA President. Please dont hesitate to contact me if you need the Association to help you in any way.

Significant Changes in School Funding The Local Control Funding Formula or LCFF is replacing the old system with funding that is flexible and can be used for any educational purpose. The LCFF increases school funding & directs more resources to our highestneed students with supplemental grants for English learners and lowincome students.
Under the LCFF our schools are getting a lot more money and a lot more freedom in how to spend it, so teachers, parents, and other school employees need to make their voices heard in order to guarantee LCFF funds are used responsibly and on programs that our students need! We as educators are in a position to use our knowledge of our schools and exercise our professional judgment to make recommendations that we believe are best for our students.

You are the Union Id like to ask each of you to take ownership in our Association. PEA is a professional union; that means we do more than negotiate salary and benefits. We maintain high expectations for our profession and we are activists for public education. We believe the best decisions for Pittsburg students are made when PEA members (you!) are participating at every step. If we work together, we will be a strong, collective voice for public education in Pittsburg.
Furthermore, when you or your colleagues have concerns about things that are happening in your schools, dont gripe amongst yourselves, speak up! Either directly to your principal or ask your PEA Site Rep or me for help. We all need to be empowered to take charge of our profession. Attend Association meetings and get involved. If we dont stand up for the kind of public schools we want for our students, then who will? Im looking forward to working with you and I hope you have a wonderful school year! Sincerely, Dawn Cova PEA President

Common Core Teachers will need to take an active role in the implementation of the

PEA Leadership 2013-2014

President Dawn Cova Rancho Medanos/PEA Office Elementary Vice President Tammy Carr Highlands Elementary Secondary Vice President Shelly Bascomb Rancho Medanos Secretary Chris Coan Willow Cove Elementary Treasurer Gale Higgins Stoneman Elementary Committee Chairs: Grievance Committee John Kleinjans Pittsburg High Negotiations Team Mark Maselli - Chair Political Action Committee Iris Contreras - Chair Elections Chair Ruth Foster Human Rights Committee Tasharie Ameral Womens Issues Committee Allison Azevedo - Chair O-Team Vacant CTA State Council Representatives Iris Contreras PEA Sara Savacool, Robert Strickler - AEA Alternate Pandora Bethea - AEA CTA Director District C Terri Jackson NEA Director for California, District 3 Greg Bonaccorsi Technical Editor Susan Harrison PEA Site Secretary Focus on Educators is a publication of the Pittsburg Education Association CTA/NEA 159 East 4th Street Pittsburg, CA 94565 Phone: (925) 432-0199 fax: (925) 432-4854 email: info@peateachers.org website: 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 ***********************************

School Board Meeting Calendar

September 11 & 25 October 9 & 23 November 13 December 11 January TBD February TBD March TBD April TBD May TBD June TBD ***********************************

Are you getting your PEA information?

Having our Site Reps collect your input, attend the monthly 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 Foothill present Heights absent Highlands present Los Medanos present Marina Vista present Parkside present Stoneman absent Willow Cove present MLK Jr. absent Hillview - absent Rancho Medanos present PHS - present Black Diamond present

************************************

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!
Pictured are Human Rights Chair Tasharie Ameral and PEA Vice President Secondary Shelly Bascomb

New Teacher Orientation The Pittsburg Education Association was pleased to welcome over 70 new dedicated and energetic educators to our chapter on Friday, August 16th at the Elks Lodge in Pittsburg. They participated in a full day orientation with the district, while PEA provided lunch from Las Panchitas and an introduction to our union and benefits of membership. Thank you to Drew Tamaki and VALIC for contributing toward the cost of our lunch. Please take the time to ensure the New Members at your school sites feel welcome and have everything they need to have a successful year.

Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) School Psychologists In June, PEA and PUSD signed an agreement that enabled interested school psychologists to be paid for completing IEP assessments and reports over the summer instead of hiring an outside agency to complete the work.

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

PEA Leadership Retreat The Executive Board Officers and committee chairs met on Saturday, August 24 to prepare to lead our Association this year. Some of the items the leadership team addressed were implications for bargaining the Local Control Funding Formula and Common Core, engaging membership in our Association, generational differences in unionism, and PEA goals for 2013-2014. Please thank them for giving up time on the weekend to work for our Association.

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

August Professional Development Day A joint committee with district and PEA representatives planned the initial training on the Common Core State Standards. More than 40 of our colleagues, fellow PEA members, and several site administrators facilitated the introduction to the CCSS on Tuesday, August 20th. The feedback the district received from you was overwhelmingly positive. PEA is pleased the district recognizes that we have quality educators in Pittsburg and that there is little need to hire outside consultants when we have the knowledge and expertise to share with each other. The committee is currently using your feedback to plan the October PD day.

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENTS
Are you scheduled to be evaluated this year?
Evaluation Language can be found in the Collective Bargaining Agreement (Contract) under Article 10 Procedures for the AdministrativeMandated Evaluation 10.6.2.1 Notification for AdministrativeMandated Evaluation Unit Members to be evaluated in a given school year shall be informed in writing on the approved form by October 1. Unit Members employed after the start of the school year shall be notified within thirty (30) calendar days of their beginning date of service that they will be evaluated; time lines and other due dates shall be extended accordingly. The evaluation shall be conducted by the administrator (Prime Evaluator) or his/her designee administrator. If the administrator (Prime Evaluator) assigns a designee, the designee shall complete and sign all related evaluation forms. 10.6.2.2 Initial Conference Procedure for AdministrativeMandated Evaluation The initial conference between the Evaluator and Evaluatee shall be held no sooner than the sixteenth (16th) instructional day after the beginning of each school year and not later

Pictured are PEA members and Common Core PD facilitators: Ruby Chahal (Hillview), Staci Hart (Marina Vista), Kelli Coffman (Marina Vista), and Richard Rodriguez (Hillview)

than October 31 of the same school year.

************************************

THANK YOU Corner

Thank you to the following members for giving personal time and helping the Association over the summer: Shelly Bascomb, Tammy Carr, Gale Higgins, Richard Higgins, Mark Maselli, Andrea McKinney and Rajnesh Naicker

10.6.2.2.1 At the Initial conference meeting, the following shall 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 selected standards and in Standard 6 (Developing as a Professional Educator); 4. Agreement on the date of the first Scheduled observation; or if the date is not established at the Initial Conference, the mutually agree upon observation date shall be established and the observation shall occur prior to the due date of the Preliminary Evaluation Summary. 5. Completion of the Initial conference Summary Form. *** PEA/PUSD Evaluation Trainings will be held for new members and all members who will be evaluated this year. Check with your site principal for your time and location.

Did you get transferred to a new site or classroom? Dont forget to submit a timesheet!

Open Enrollment Period for Catastrophic Leave Bank: August 26, 2013 through September 27, 2013
PEA, in conjunction with PUSD is excited to offer an opportunity to join the Catastrophic Leave Bank. The Bank is comprised of sick days that have been donated by those members who join during the Open Enrollment Period. Members will have an opportunity to apply for additional sick leave when experiencing a loss of work due to serious illness or long-term disability. There is a career maximum of thirty days available to members upon approval of the Catastrophic Leave Bank Committee. Since the implementation of the Catastrophic Leave Bank in 2001, we have been able to assist many members in their time of need. If you are interested in becoming a member of the Catastrophic Leave Bank, please complete the form that was distributed, by September 27, 2013 and return it to the PEA Office. (The form can also be found at peateachers.org) If you have any questions, please call the PEA Office at 925-432-0199. We look forward to your support. ************************************

ARTICLE 26 SITE MOVING and ROOM RELOCATION 26.1. Unit members who are classroom teachers who are required to transfer to another site because of a District facilities project, the opening or closing of a school, involuntary transfer, or site facility emergency shall be allowed the daily per diem rate of pay up to two (2) days as follows: 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 are required to relocate their classroom within the same site due to a District facilities project, or site facility emergency shall be allowed the daily per diem rate of up to one (1) day for time spent to pack and unpack their classroom materials. 26.3. Unit members who are counselors, psychologists or speech therapists and are required to transfer to another site or move their office or classroom to another site, shall be allowed the daily per diem rate of one-half (1/2) day for time spent to pack and unpack their materials. ************************************

School Site Council Training

All members of the School Site Council are encouraged to attend the joint PEA/PUSD training Thursday, September 26 from 3:30-5:30 at PHS. Non- SSC members are also welcome to attend the training. The School Site Council must be made up of equal numbers of school staff and parent/community members (students if secondary). The school staff must be comprised of a majority of classroom teachers. Each group must elect their own representatives. School Site Council members have the important role of developing a School Plan which addresses curricula, instructional strategies and materials, instructional services to meet the needs of English Learners, professional development for staff, and an evaluation of the educational program. Additionally, by state law, the SSC must oversee the site-based budgeting of categorical funds. This is a very important job! ************************************

Are you getting paid correctly?

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

Health Plans Open Enrollment

The 2013 CalPERS Health Benefits Open Enrollment period began September 16 and ends October 11, 2013. Now is the time to make any desired changes to your health plan. ************************************

Attention Education Specialists:

You are only required to attend one staff meeting that extends beyond the workday every other week. When there are conflicting staff meetings, please check with your principal to determine if you are to attend your site staff meeting or the district special education staff meeting. If you attend a special education staff meeting in addition to a site staff meeting, submit a time sheet and the special education department will pay you for the extra time. ************************************

FROM THE PEA BY-LAWS:

The primary purposes of this Association shall be:
A. To represent its members in their relations with their employer, and to seek to be the exclusive representative of appropriate units of school employees in all matters relating to employment conditions and employer-employee relations including, but not limited to, wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment; B. To form a representative body capable of developing group opinion on professional matters to speak with authority for members; C. To provide an opportunity for continuous study and action on problems of the profession; D. To raise the standards for education support professionals; E. To provide a means of representation for its minority members; F. To promote professional attitudes and ethical conduct among members; G. To encourage cooperation and communication between the profession and the community; and H. To foster good fellowship among members.

WHAT IS A TEACHERS UNION AND WHY ARE WE IN IT?

The dictionary defines a union as a group of people joined together for some common purpose. The union is ALL OF US. There is no it. The union is you. The union is your colleagues. What results is a powerful and collective voice of advocacy for Pittsburg educators and public schools. Unions are good for students as well. The states without strong teachers unions are among the lowest performing in the nation. A strong union can lower class sizes and create better learning environments for students through collective bargaining and organizing. "Educators and their unions have a solid track record of supporting policies that boost achievement for most students, and policy makers should view teachers unions as partners in the education reform process, not adversaries," concluded a 2002 study by Indiana University Bloomington. What if you disagree with something the union did? PEA leaders are doing the best we can with the information we get from you! We will listen and respond to your concerns. Get involved. Become a Site Representative and attend Rep Council meetings. Speak up within our organization. Our union is whatever we want it to be, but ALL OF US need to be engaged in unionism in some way. ************************************ "It's ugly out there. There are critics who are out to blame CTA and unions for everything they don't like about public schools. When pressed, they say, 'We love teachers. We just don't like their unions.' That's their talking point, and it's straight out of Michelle Rhee's playbook. Well ... let's show them there is no difference between teachers and their unions." -CTA President Dean E. Vogel

************************************

Grievance Update

PEA does not always disagree with the vision of our administrators, but we insist on following the agreed-upon process. Our collective bargaining agreement, which was negotiated by PUSD and PEA, must be followed. This is to ensure members rights are not violated and all members are treated fairly. If district or site administrators want to implement something new, we want our teachers to have a voice in the process. When the contract is violated, a grievance is the avenue for addressing the infraction.

Black Diamond HS
An additional period of instruction on Tuesdays was added without negotiating it or its impact on our members. We are working with administrators at Black Diamond and Human Resources to come to a mutually beneficial agreement.

First Work Day Classroom Preparation

Teachers need this time to prepare to greet our youngsters on the first day of school. PEA understands the need for principals to hold brief staff meetings for introductions and housekeeping; however, the bulk of the day should be designated for classroom preparation as negotiated on the calendar. Many school sites had meetings for more than 2-3 hours and members had very little time to work in their classrooms. We are working with the district to resolve this and prevent it from reoccurring in the future.

1967 CTA establishes schools for children of migrant workers, and leads the authorization of bilingual instruction classes for English learners. 1983 CTA leads passage of SB 813, which provides significant additional revenue for California schools. This bill also provides more rigorous graduation requirements, longer school 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 fund K-14 education. The passage of Prop. 98 firmly establishes CTA as a political force to be reckoned with. 1995 CTA wins Class Size Reduction law for K-3 classrooms. 2002 CTA wins passage of a $13 billion statewide school bond. 2003 CTA wins passage of a $12.3 billion statewide school bond. 2006 CTAs Quality Education Investment Act (QEIA) passes into law and is helping schools that are serving a higher percentage of low income, minority and English learners to close the achievement gap. 2012 CTA leads fight to pass the governors Proposition 30. It stops billions in new education cuts and will generate $42 billion for public schools and local services over seven years. CTA also defeats Prop. 32, another attempt to silence our political voices. For more noteworthy achievements of our union, check out the 150th Anniversary page at cta.org. ***********************************

5 PHS teachers do not have classrooms and are roving to a different room for each period; 30 teachers are without adequate space to prep
The Associations position is to utilize one hall of North Campus in order to accommodate all staff. Some concerns that have arisen from the current situation: teachers do not have computer and printer access; teachers have to carry many materials and some were not provided with carts; science teachers cannot do labs; parents cannot leave voice messages and students cant find their teachers for extra help before- or after-school. We are working with the district to find a better solution so our teachers can be successful. ***********************************

NEWS
A PROUD HISTORY
Here are just a few of CTAs key accomplishments over the past 150 years: 1866 CTAs first legislative achievement establishes free public schools for all children in Californiaincluding schools that educate nonwhite students. 1913 California State Teachers Retirement System is created by legislation after CTA State Council calls for a statewide teacher pension system in 1910. 1915 CTA leads efforts to outlaw child labor and enact other legal protections for children. 1927 CTA wins legal victory when state Supreme Court rules that a school board cannot fire a female teacher simply because she got married. 1940s CTA is one of a few organizations in California to protest against internment of Japanese-Americans at the beginning of World War II.

THE NUMBERS
$2,000,000,000 30
The ballot measure that educators championed last fall. Increased school spending this year is a victory that is owed to the hard work and organizing that we all did together to pass Proposition 30! The increase in education spending in California this year!

78 3

The number of new educators and PEA members hired in the district this year. Welcome! The average amount of time (in hours) teachers had to prepare their classrooms on the first workday, after subtracting time spent in staff meetings.

PEA
4 4 11 13 18 22 25 26 27

Calendar
SEPTEMBER 2013

PEA Executive Board PEA Office 159 East 4th St. 3:45 PM Rosh Hashanah begins at sundown PUSD School Board Meeting 2000 Railroad Ave. 7:00 PM Yom Kippur begins at sundown PEA Rep Council PEA Office 159 East 4th St. 3:45 PM Autumn Begins PUSD School Board Meeting 2000 Railroad Ave. 7:00 PM PEA/PUSD School Site Council Training PHS 3:30 PM Catastrophic Leave Bank Enrollment Ends

OCTOBER 2013
PEA Executive Board PEA Office 159 East 4th St. 3:45 PM PUSD School Board Meeting 2000 Railroad Ave. 7:00 PM Columbus Day No School Professional Development Day PEA Rep Council PEA Office 159 East 4th St. 3:45 PM PUSD School Board Meeting 2000 Railroad Ave. 7:00 PM TBD General Membership Meeting 2 9 14 16 23
Next Deadline for Articles is Monday, October 7, 2013
STAY INFORMED @

peateachers.org
cta.org & nea.org

THE BACK PAGE