VEA is pleased to announce that, Pending final approval by the school board, a $5,000. retirement bonus will be offered to the first 20 members who notify the District that they will retire at the end of the 2014-2015 school year. Notification must be received by the District Office by April 13, 2015. The incentive is a $5,000. bonus payable at the completion of the school year. Members who work less than full-time will receive a prorated amount.
FYI: This will NOT count toward your salary; it is a ONE-TIME bonus payment.
If you have any questions concerning this bonus, please email Sheila Gradwohl at [email protected] or call 707-552-8487.
Rain or Shine, A GOOD TIME WAS HAD BY ALL! From the gracious hearts of the attendees there were boxes of toys donated to help bring cheer to many children in our community!! Not being left out, there was even a visit from Santa Claus.
Myths about Due Process
Current misconceptions regarding the law have created several myths about tenure, popularly held, but all false. Paramount among these are:
MYTH #1: “There is a tenure law in California for K-14.”
The truth is, California dismissal law doesn’t refer to tenure. The concept of tenure as it developed in the medieval university has no connection with current practice, which provides only dismissal procedures guaranteeing due process rights and pertinent reasons for dismissal actions. Tenure has become a popular term used as a scapegoat for the real problems, which are ineffective evaluation of instruction, poor administrative practices, and inadequate investment by the public schools in experimentation, research and development, and in-service education.
MYTH #2: “Tenure is a lifetime guarantee of employment.”
The truth is that teachers have permanent status, not tenure. Within permanent status there is a procedure for dismissing teachers which guarantees due process and impartial consideration of the facts when disagreement about the facts exists.
MYTH #3: “You can’t fire a tenured teacher in California.”
The truth is that teachers are fired every year under the dismissal laws in California. In addition, when difficulties in dismissing teachers arise under the law, it is inadequate application of the law by administrators, and not the law itself, that is at fault.
MYTH #4: “Tenure is designed to protect teachers.”
The truth is that due process was developed and exists primarily to protect pupils and schools from political, social and economic interference with pupils’ right to a continuing program of quality education. The major function of due process is to insist that decisions about the quality of instruction in the schools be based on educational reasons, rather than on prejudicial or inappropriate selfish reasons.
MYTH #5: “Tenure protects the incompetent teacher.”
The truth is that California Teachers Association policy for many years has insisted that “Evaluation Is the Key to Excellence.” Where sound evaluation practices exists, it is the teacher whose inadequacies are identified and who is most affected by the need to improve, or in the absence of improvement, will be dismissed under due process provisions. Therefore, due process is a mechanism for evaluation of instruction which exposes rather than protects incompetence.
MYTH #6: “A good teacher doesn’t need tenure.”
The truth is that teachers who perform satisfactorily need the protection of due process and it is the competent teacher who is most needed to maintain and improve the quality of education for pupils. Every educational employee is entitled to due process. The broad spectrum of instructional practices require that differing methodologies require equal protection guaranteed under California laws. The competent teacher needs the due process laws!
From CTA’s “Evaluation: Key to Excellence” (2005)
Putting Educators’ Professional Rights on Trial Hurts Students, Wastes Taxpayer Dollars and Time
Contact: Frank Wells, CTA, (562) 708-5425 and Fred Glass, CFT, (510) 579-3343 LOS ANGELES
– A Los Angeles Superior Court judge has ruled the deeply misguided Vergara vs. State of California lawsuit may proceed to trial denying the state of California’s, California Teachers Association’s (CTA) and the California Federation of Teachers’ (CFT) motion for summary judgment against it. CTA and CFT remain firmly committed to protecting learning and teaching environments, despite today’s ruling which will put on trial the professional rights of teachers. The judge said the decision to deny the request to dismiss the case in no way indicates the trial’s outcome.“While today’s ruling against the summary judgment is not surprising, it’s disappointing as putting professional rights of teachers on trial hurts students,” said CTA President Dean E. Vogel. “This most recent shenanigan by corporate special interests and billionaires to push their education agenda on California public schools is resulting in a waste of taxpayer dollars and time – time that should be spent focusing on providing a quality education to all students as the economy improves. CTA will continue to fight to ensure we have qualified and experienced teachers in the classrooms whose rights are respected as set forth by law, and not subject to arbitrary and capricious behavior or favoritism.”
The suit challenges five Education Code statutes claiming they violate the Equal Protection clause of the California state Constitution. If there are legitimate problems with education laws, they should be addressed through the legislative process where parents, educators and all community members can be heard.
“It is deceptive and dishonest to pretend that teacher due process rights are unfair to students,” said CFT President Josh Pechthalt, parent of a ninth grade student in the LAUSD. “Students need a stable, experienced teaching workforce. They won’t have one if this lawsuit succeeds in gutting basic teacher rights. The problem with layoffs, for instance, is not the procedures devised to ensure transparent decisions about who is to be laid off and how. What is unfair to students about layoffs is that they happen in the first place. The way to provide a good teacher in every classroom is to provide sufficient funding. Instead, the organizations behind this lawsuit seek to scapegoat teachers for underfunding, lack of resources and profound poverty in a growing number of communities. Teachers welcome authentic efforts to improve the teaching profession but this lawsuit is about dividing parents, teachers and students, not solving problems.”
The backers of this lawsuit, led by a Silicon Valley millionaire, include a “who’s who” of the billionaire boys club and their front groups. Their goals have nothing to do with protecting students, but are really about undermining public schools and weakening employee unions.
Vallejo hands out student supplies
by Sherry Posnick-Goodwin
Many families can no longer afford to buy school supplies for their children in Vallejo, a community hard-hit by the economic downturn. So for the last three years, members of the Vallejo Education Association have stepped up to the plate and donated school supplies for district students.
“We decided to do this because more kids were coming to school without pencil and paper, and we heard so many sad stories of struggling families,” says Ron West, a fourth-grade teacher at Steffan Manor Elementary School who coordinates community outreach for the chapter. “We asked ourselves realistically, ‘What could we do to help?’ We came together as a chapter and our 800 members agreed to spend $15,000 of dues money so students could start the year off on the right foot.”
The “Hand to Hand” giveaway was suggested by VEA member Bill Innes as a means of helping students, giving back to the Vallejo community and creating goodwill with parents. Approximately 2,000 students received goody bags this year.
As in previous years, donations were handed out in September by VEA members at several community locations. Students and their families stood in long lines to gratefully receive goody bags stuffed with pens, pencils, notebooks, coloring pencils, crayons, erasers, bookmarks and, for older students, calculators. The Vallejo Friends of the Library got involved and donated books that were put on tables for students to choose from.
“It’s definitely helpful,” said Rochelle Williams, who brought 12-year-old Marquez Thomas to a giveaway event at a local library. “A lot of parents are in very hard times, and the way things are, we can’t afford to buy school supplies. Everybody is struggling. When something is free and educational, you can’t beat that.”
Davis Jones, who has a disability and is raising two grandchildren who attend middle school, said that he didn’t think he would be able to provide supplies out of his own pocket, and appreciated that teachers were “giving back” to the community.
Ernestine Myers brought her granddaughter Helen Collins. “She’s been excited all day,” said Myers. “You don’t see nice things like this happen much anymore. This is so nice of the teachers and so positive.”
“As educators, we understand that investing in our students and schools means investing in our community’s future,” says VEA President Cristal Watts. “Families are struggling, and it feels good to help provide children with the school supplies they need and deserve.”
NEA Foundation offers grants for innovative ideas to better the profession
Nationwide, the NEA Foundation announced that it is awarding 42 grants totaling $159,000 to support educators’ efforts to improve teaching and learning. The NEA Foundation awards two levels of funding, $2,000 or $5,000, for two primary categories of grants to public education professionals: Student Achievement Grants for initiatives to improve academic achievement, and Learning and Leadership Grants for high-quality professional development activities.
A team of 20 educators, many of whom are former grantees, carefully reviewed all applications and evaluated each one against a set of criteria. Funded grants were selected for the quality of the proposed ideas and their potential for enhancing student achievement. The latest grants were awarded to educators in 25 different states.
The NEA Foundation has invested more than $7.1 million in grants to support the work of almost 4,500 educators from every state in the country to help students succeed. Each year, the Foundation awards approximately 150 Student Achievement and Learning & Leadership Grants.
To learn about these educators’ projects, visit NEA Foundation’s Grantee Archive, where you can search for grantees and projects by most recent, grade level, subject, state, or keyword. Visit the NEA Foundation’s Featured Grantees page to watch videos and read short profiles about NEA Foundation grantees and their successful grant work.
The NEA Foundation awards its grants to educators three times a year. The next grant deadline is February 1, 2014. Application forms and a video with step-by-step instructions on how to apply can be found in the Grants to Educators section of the NEA Foundation website.
About the NEA Foundation The NEA Foundation is a public charity supported by contributions from educators’ dues, corporate sponsors, and others who support public education initiatives. The NEA Foundation partners with education unions, districts, and communities to create powerful, sustainable improvements in teaching and learning. Visit www.neafoundation.org for more information.