VEA has ratified the 2013-2014 VCUSD-VEA Contract with an 87% approval.
Congratulations to the following VEA members who will be representing Vallejo at the NEA Representative Assembly in Denver, Colorado this summer:
-Tiffany Jackson
-Scott Heinecke
-Lynette Henley
-Katherine Catanzarite
-Rajendra Shrivastava
- December 12, 2013
- The district presented an offer based on the 1st interim budget report.
- VEA made a counter-proposal. We will meet again on Friday, December 20, 2013.
- December 8, 2013
- The VEA Bargaining Team met with the District on Thursday, November 21st.
- The District presented comparative data on salaries and health benefits.
- VEA presented a wage proposal.
- Dr. Bishop was present for these discussions.
- Our upcoming bargaining sessions are scheduled for December 12th and 20th.
- We are committed to bargaining the best possible wage increase.
VEA is pleased to announce the opening of our VEA Store – We Are Educators. We have a variety of items, including shirts (for men, women and babies!), mugs, skins for your computers and a host of other items.
You can buy your VEA swag by going to our VEA Store. VEA earns a small profit on each item sold. These proceeds will go to our VEA College Scholarships for the children of our VEA members.
Visit the store and buy your VEA swag now!
Remember, VEA wears VEA Blue on Thursdays!
Members,
Please keep in mind that the VCUSD/VEA Collective Bargaining Agreement has specific information about your safety in the classroom.
Per Article 9:
Per 9.1 of the VEA/VCUSD Contract – Each school site shall develop rules for student conduct & discipline.
9.1.1 – These rules & your responsibilities are supposed to be reviewed annually.
9.1.2 – School sites are supposed to provide a copy of these rules & your responsibilities on the first work day of school year.
9.1.3 – School sites are supposed to discuss the rules & your responsibilities at the first staff meeting of the school year.
9.2.2 – Members can use reasonable force to protect themselves from an attack or to protect another person, to quell a physical disturbance or to obtain possession of weapons.
9.2.4 – ASSAULT Procedure
Unit members shall immediately report cases of assault suffered by them in connection with their employment to their principal or immediate supervisor, who shall immediately report the incidence to the police.
Per Article 13:
13.7 Unit members will be informed by the district of any student assigned to his/her class who, during the previous three years, engaged in criminal or disruptive conduct at school, while going to or coming from school or during a school sponsored activity.
13.8 Unit members may suspend any pupil fromhis/her class for the date of the suspension and the following day for any of the acts enumerated in Education Code 48900. The pupil shall not be returned to the class from which he or she was suspended during the period of the suspension without the concurrence of the teacher of the class & the principal.
13.9 At the beginning of the school year unit members will be informed of, but not limited to the following procedures:
Protocol for handling verbally or physically abusive students and/or parents.
Additionally, per the California Education Code:
48900. A pupil shall not be suspended from school or recommended for expulsion, unless the superintendent or the principal of the school in which the pupil is enrolled determines that the pupil has committed an act as defined pursuant to any of subdivisions (a) to(r), inclusive:
(a) (1) Caused, attempted to cause, or threatened to cause physical injury to another person.
(2) Willfully used force or violence upon the person of another, except in self-defense.
(b) Possessed, sold, or otherwise furnished a firearm, knife, explosive, or other dangerous object . . .
(c) Unlawfully possessed, used, sold, or otherwise furnished, or been under the influence of, a controlled . . . an alcoholic beverage, or an intoxicant of any kind.
(d) Unlawfully offered, arranged, or negotiated to sell a controlled substance listed . . .
(e) Committed or attempted to commit robbery or extortion.
(f) Caused or attempted to cause damage to school property or private property.
(g) Stolen or attempted to steal school property or private property.
(h) Possessed or used tobacco, or products containing tobacco or nicotine products, including, but not limited to, cigarettes, cigars, miniature cigars, clove cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, snuff, chew packets, and betel.
(i) Committed an obscene act or engaged in habitual profanity or vulgarity.
(j) Unlawfully possessed or unlawfully offered, arranged, or negotiated to sell drug paraphernalia . . .
(k) Disrupted school activities or otherwise willfully defied the valid authority of supervisors, teachers, administrators, school officials, or other school personnel engaged in the performance of their duties.
(l) Knowingly received stolen school property or private property.
(m) Possessed an imitation firearm.
(n) Committed or attempted to commit a sexual assault . . .
(o) Harassed, threatened, or intimidated a pupil who is a complaining witness or a witness in a school disciplinary proceeding . . .
(p) Unlawfully offered, arranged to sell, negotiated to sell, or sold the prescription drug Soma.
(q) Engaged in, or attempted to engage in, hazing.
(r) Engaged in an act of bullying, including, but not limited to,bullying committed by means of an electronic act . . .
48900.4. In addition to the grounds specified in Sections 48900 and
48900.2, a pupil enrolled in any of grades 4 to 12, inclusive, may be suspended from school or recommended for expulsion if the superintendent or the principal of the school in which the pupil is enrolled determines that the pupil has intentionally engaged in harassment, threats, or intimidation, directed against school district personnel or pupils, that is sufficiently severe or pervasive to have the actual and reasonably expected effect of materially disrupting classwork, creating substantial disorder, and invading the rights of either school personnel or pupils by creating an intimidating or hostile educational environment.
48902. (a) The principal of a school or the principal’s designee shall, prior to the suspension or expulsion of any pupil, notify the appropriate law enforcement authorities of the county or city in which the school is situated, of any acts of the pupil that may violate Section 245 of the Penal Code.
(e) The willful failure to make any report required by this section is an infraction punishable by a fine to be paid by the principal or principal’s designee who is responsible for the failure of not more than five hundred dollars ($500).
240. An assault is an unlawful attempt, coupled with a present
ability, to commit a violent injury on the person of another.
241.2. (a) (1) When an assault is committed on school or park property against any person, the assault is punishable by a fine not exceeding two thousand dollars ($2,000), or by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding one year, or by both that fine and imprisonment. (2) When a violation of this section is committed by a minor on school property, the court may, in addition to any other fine, sentence, or as a condition of probation, order the minor to attend counseling as deemed appropriate by the court at the expense of the minor’s parents. The court shall take into consideration the ability of the minor’s parents to pay, however, no minor shall be relieved of attending counseling because of the minor’s parents’ inability to pay for the counseling imposed by this section.
245. (a) (1) Any person who commits an assault upon the person of another with a deadly weapon or instrument other than a firearm or by any means of force likely to produce great bodily injury shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for two, three, or four years, or in a county jail for not exceeding one year, or by a fine not exceeding ten thousand dollars ($10,000), or by both the fine and imprisonment.
VEA members are able to donate their personal leave days to the catastrophic leave bank for members who are may be fighting a serious illness or other helping a loved one who is seriously ill.
Open enrollment for VEA’s Catastrophic Leave Bank starts now. Members can donate a day or more of personal leave to the bank. If you are already enrolled, you do not need to re-enroll again this year. A day of your persona leave will be automatically donated to the bank each year until you withdraw from the program.
If this is your first year in the District, you do not need to donate to the bank. You may also qualify to withdraw from the bank if this is your first year in the District. If this is your second year or more, you need to donate to the bank in order to qualify to withdraw from it.
Please see the attached forms for more information.
(Special thanks to Christine McGiffert in the VCUSD HR Department for sending this information out!)
VCUSD plans to unveil a “confidentiality” form that teachers may be asked to sign upon returning to school this week. VEA believes that confidentiality of student information is a vital interest that must be protected. However, VEA has serious concerns about the ambiguity of this form and plans to urge the District to meet with VEA leadership to discuss concerns expressed.
We are urging all VEA members to not sign the confidentiality form (which may be labeled “certificate”) until this matter has been settled.
It is our understanding that school sites may roll this out tomorrow. We have met with the District to express our concerns with the confidentiality form. We have requested that the form is modified to include language that any disciplinary action must follow due process as defined by the California Education Code. We have further asked that the Board Policies (BP) referenced in the agreement is attached to the agreement.
We are again requesting that this form NOT be signed unless the two items requested above are in the form provided to members. We are encouraging members to speak to their site manager about this concern and ask that everyone remember that they are just the messenger.
VEA is excited to announce that we are founding members of “Common Ground,” an affiliate of the Industrial Areas Foundation. This new organization is committed to bring profound positive change to the communities of Solano and Napa counties. Common Ground is a non-partisan group that consists of faith-based organizations, non-profits and labor groups.
We are very pleased that our very own CTA President Dean Vogel is attending this event.
Contact Christal Watts at [email protected] or at 707-552-8487 for more information.
Common Ground
Organizing to:
Strengthen our Institutions and
Create Community Change in Solano and Napa Counties
Who is Common Ground?
We are diverse religious and non-profits organizations in Solano and Napa Counties who are forming a broad-based, non-partisan organization, which will help us to:
– Build strong relationships within and across our communities;
– Equip our members with leadership and organizing skills;
– Act powerfully together on concrete issues facing our communities.
We are building this effort with the help of the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF), the nation’s oldest and largest leadership development and broad-based organizing network.
What Do We Believe?
Relationships. The issues we work on come out of conversations in which people share stories about experiences and concerns. We build on these relationships to strengthen connections between people, which is the foundation for effecting real change.
Leadership. We identify and develop leaders within our institutions and across our communities, so that our institutions get stronger and we can accomplish more together.
Ownership. Dues from member institutions, in addition to some foundation support, fund the organization. We accept no government money. This allows us the freedom to reflect the interests and values of the institutions that make up the organization.
Practical Solutions. We work on concrete issues that we can do something about. Once potential issues are identified, we do research and power analysis to develop practical, achievable solutions. We measure success with a triple bottom line: Are we bringing about change? Are we developing leadership? Are we growing the power of people to act on their values?
Where We Are Now and Where We Are Going?
We have 15 congregations and non-profits that are already charter members and many others seriously exploring membership, and we welcome more!
Member institutions are working internally to identify and form leadership, develop strategic plans and identify issues they want to work on that are impacting their families and communities.
Common Ground will have a Founding Convention Sunday June 23rd from 3:00-4:30pm at St. Patrick-St. Vincent High School, 1500 Benicia Rd, Vallejo. There, 1,500 delegated from our 15 charter members will announce and credential the organization publicly, pledge dues commitments to each other and launch action around an agenda of issues.
May 24, 2013
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Vallejo Educators Respond to Grand Jury
Report On High School Safety Concerns
VALLEJO – Local educators share many of the same concerns about Vallejo High School safety spelled out in a recent grand jury report.
For the past two years, members of the Vallejo Education Association have reported to the Vallejo City Unified School District administration and to school board members their concerns regarding safety – not only on the Vallejo High School campus but at other school sites within the district.
“There is nothing to celebrate about this report, said Christal Watts, President of VEA. “While teachers do feel a sense of vindication, we also recognize that there is much work to be done. This essential work absolutely must include teachers’ voices.”
Among other findings about the 1,700-student Vallejo High School, the Solano County Grand Jury report says too few teachers have access to two-way radios to communicate directly with campus supervisors; several locations on campus are not secure and are “easily accessible” by intruders; and the high school administration is “not informing teachers of a student’s prior criminal or disruptive conduct at the time a student is enrolled in their class.”
VEA is calling on the district administration and the school board to work with VEA and the California School Employees Association in finding sustainable solutions to address the issues raised in the grand jury report. VEA is working on grant funding to help coordinate VEA and district “community listening sessions.”
“Right now many of our teachers are very concerned about the direction of this district,” Watts further stated. “One of the most essential ingredients for student success is to provide a safe environment for both students and their teachers. This report confirms that this is not always happening.”
VEA looks forward to engaging in honest dialogue with the community about the findings of this report in the upcoming months.
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The Vallejo Education Association is affiliated with the 325,000-member California Teachers Association and the 3.2 million-member National Education Association.