VEA has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the VCUSD restoring all five days that were originally planned as furlough days for the 2012-13 school year. More details will be released regarding the specifics of the restoration language after the holiday break.
The VEA website has been experiencing issues since last week. It appears these issues have been resolved. We do apologize for the inconvenience to our members and anyone visiting our site.
We hope that these issues will not occur again and appreciate everyone’s patience.
VEA has reached out to Touro University and to VCUSD School Board member regarding this scheduling conflict. We appreciate the quick response from Touro University and Trustee Mommsen.
The date was mutually selected by the three parties involved, VCUSD, Touro and Dr. Anthony Muhammad. VEA President, Christal Watts, spoke directly to Touro University and is pleased with their willingness to engage in conversation.
VEA hopes that as future events are planned that the VEA calendar will be taken into consideration in order to prevent future conflicts. We recognize that not all conflicts can be remedied and hope that the District is willing to work with VEA when that occurs.
Looking to get great professional development at no cost to you? CTA’s upcoming conferences are scheduled to begin in early 2013. VEA has made it easier than ever for you to attend. Enhance your teaching, meet colleagues from across the state and learn new strategies!
Register NOW! Go to CTA Conferences.
First come, first served with priority given to those VEA members who have never attended a CTA conference before.
The VEA Bargaining Team met with the District’s Bargaining Team on Thursday, November 15th to discuss the passage of Prop 30. Based on the contingency language in the agreement ratified last year, it appears that we are getting some days restored. We are unable to more specific at this time as the District still needs to meet with CSEA.
Pay impacted by the furlough days may be restored as early as the February paycheck.
We hope to have complete clarification on all days restored and the impact on pay by early December.
VEA Bargaining Team Members:
Sheila Gradwohl, Chair, Janny Latno, Carol Bishop, Marnee’ McKenzie, Cynthia Davis, Diane Klinge, Leanne Duden
If you have had overages since the beginning of the school year, you might want to check your paystub, especially if you are a secondary teacher.
For secondary teachers (middle school and high school), overages are paid $3.00 per student, per period. For elementary teachers, payment for overages is $15.00 per student, per day.
The District made a mistake and have paid some secondary teachers $15.00 per student, per period. Please do not assume that if the District made the mistake and does not catch the mistake, you do not have to pay them back when they do catch the mistake. However, the District cannot arbitrarily take the money you owe them out of your paycheck. They need to let you pay back the money and the repayment plan should be one that is mutually acceptable to both the employee and employer. The repayment plan will most likely need to end by the end of the current school year. Most of the time, repayment plans cannot go into the next school year unless it is an extraordinary circumstance.
If you have a question about your paycheck and a possible overpayment, please contact the Payroll Department at [email protected] and cc to Christal Watts, VEA President at [email protected] .
Diane Ravitch has a blog post about a special action taking place on October 17th. The basic premise is requesting that teachers, parents and community members concerned about the attacks on public education send letters to the White House.
From Ravitch’s blog:
Let’s raise our voices NOW against privatization, against high-stakes testing, against teacher bashing, against profiteering.
Let’s advocate for policies that are good for students, that truly improve education, that respect the education profession, and that strengthen our democratic system of public education
If you send a letter, let VEA know. You can include in your letter in the comments below, on our closed or open Facebook page, or send them to Christal Watts at [email protected].
Let’s send a message to the White House that enough damage has been done to public education. The so-called reforms are now the status-quo and we must start doing things differently.
Sponsored by the Solano Association of Realtors, Lincoln Elementary will enjoy the proceeds that are raised in the 2nd Annual Chili Cook-Off. The event will take place on Saturday, September 22nd from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. at Team Chevrolet, located at 301 Auto Mall/Columbus Parkway in Vallejo.
Admission is $20.00. Come enjoy great chili and help one of our local schools!
See the attached flier for more information.
VEA recognizes that teachers and other educators value and appreciate timely feedback on their teaching practice. We are in support of the Superintendent’s directive that school site administrators should be visible on their campuses and should be visiting classrooms daily.
As VEA and the District works to develop a working agreement on walk-throughs and the District’s re-opener on Article 11: Evaluations, unit members should be mindful of the following:
Administrators can come into any classroom at any time to do an “informal” observation/walk through. They can take notes. However, these walkthroughs cannot be used for evaluative purposes. I am suggesting members do two things.
First, members should politely approach the administrator and request that a copy of the notes be placed in their mailboxes. If they are told “no,” then members should put their request in writing and ask for a response in writing.
Second, when the administrator leaves, members should briefly document the visit – what was the teacher and/or students doing, date, who was the visitor, etc.
If administrators are making the claim that these walk-throughs are non-evaluative, then the only way to make sure of this is for unit members to protect their contractual rights and be assertive in asking for their documentation. If they refuse and members document on their own and anything relating to a walk-through turns up on an evaluation, this may invalidate the evaluation.
Contractual Language on Observations:
11.2.5 Observations
If an observation, either formal or informal, is to be used as a basis for a final evaluation, it shall be in accordance with the following provisions.
If an observation, either formal or informal, is to be used as a basis for a final evaluation, it shall be in accordance with the following provisions.
11.2.5.1 A formal observation is defined as a classroom observation preceded by at least 24 hours notice to the unit member.
11.2.5.2 All observations shall be documented on the Observation Form. (This can be found in the back of the contract.)
11.2.5.3 Classroom observations shall be a minimum of twenty (20) consecutive minutes.
11.2.5.4 A post-observation conference will be held within four working days of each observation. The post-observation conference may be postponed by mutual agreement.
11.2.5.5 Each written observation report shall be based on at least one classroom observation by the evaluator.
11.2.5.6 The observation report may include self-evaluation by the unit member.
11.2.5.7 All observation report(s) shall be attached to the final evaluation.
An informal evaluation is defined as a classroom observation which complies with all of the provisions of this section except 11.2.5.1.