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High standards pay off for Teacher of the Year

March 9, 2014

High standards pay off for Teacher of the Year Ainsley Harris

Posted:   03/08/2014 01:07:04 AM PST

Cooper Elementary School teacher Ainsley Harris, center, poses with a few of her fourth-grade students Friday in front of a school mural. Harris was named

Cooper Elementary School teacher Ainsley Harris, center, poses with a few of her fourth-grade students Friday in front of a school mural. Harris was named this week the Vallejo City Unified School District Teacher of the Year. (Lanz Christian Bañes/Times-Herald)

 

It’s a good thing Ainsley Harris’ principal waited until the end of the day to tell her the good news.

“I was a wreck,” said Harris, of the smiles and tears of joy she shed when she learned she was the Vallejo City Unified School District Teacher of the Year.

Harris formally accepted her plaque at Wednesday’s school board meeting.

A fourth-grade teacher, Harris has been at Cooper Elementary School for the last four years.

Harris didn’t always know whether she wanted to go into education. As a student at San Diego State University, a friend encouraged her to look into teaching.

“I just did it. I got my credentials and I never looked back,” said Harris, who grew up in Marin County and still lives there today.

Because at the time she was in her early 20s and herself not too far removed from high school, Harris decided to teach at the elementary level rather than the secondary schools.

Her first job after getting her credentials from Dominican University a decade ago was at Patterson Elementary School, where she was encouraged to apply by another friend and former teacher at that campus.

As an educator, she’s encouraged group work with her students and said her poster-festooned classroom — with little desks set up in fours — usually has a buzz of noise as students work together.

“Kids are talking, which to me is a good thing,” Harris said, adding that she makes sure the students stay on task and are talking about their assignments.

Harris holds both herself and her students to high standards.

“If you believe in your students and you give them high expectations and you put new opportunities for them, and they succeed at them, it makes them grow,” Harris said.

Achieving Teacher of the Year had always been something at the back of Harris’ mind, but nothing that really dominated her everyday life for the last 10 years in the classroom. But when Cooper Principal Susan Walls pulled Harris into her office, she was unable to hide her excitement.

“She just told me I was nominated, and I started crying,” Harris said.

Harris, a single mother, said most of her free time is spent raising her 3-year-old son. She loves to cook, but hates the precision of baking. Harris said she wasn’t sure whether she’d want to try working at a high school level — or even try her hand as an administrator.

Perhaps she’ll follow in the footsteps of Solano Middle School teacher Angelo Bracco, who last year was not only the Vallejo Teacher of the Year, but also Solano County’s and California’s top educator.

But Harris is sure of at least one thing.

“I love my classroom, and we’re in Room 24,” said a smiling Harris, whose students made sure to ask her for a shout-out in the newspaper.

Contact Lanz Christian Bañes at (707) 553-6833 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @LanzCBanes.

Good News for Vallejo Schools!

January 10, 2014

Governor’s Budget Would Give Schools $10B in Additional Funding

Gov. Jerry Brown on Thursday unveiled his $106.8 billion general fund budget proposal for the 2014-2015 year, saying it is “very good news.” [Read the governor’s news release   and full budget summary.]

The governor told reporters that the budget would provide an additional “$10 billion for the schools of California after years of drought, cuts, and pink slips for teachers.”

CTA President Dean E. Vogel praised the governor for the new spending plan, saying: “The governor’s proposed budget will help our public schools and colleges continue to heal after years of devastating cuts.”

The governor said his administration is convening meetings of stakeholders to address the issue of maintaining the financial stability of the California State Teachers’ Retirement System. Read more about CalSTRS’s unfunded liability.

The release of the budget proposal is the first step in a long process that ends in the adoption and signing of a state spending plan before the July 1 start of the 2014-15 budget year.

California Falls to 50th in School Funding in Education Week Survey

The newest  Education Week survey of education funding finds that California has hit 50th among the states in per-pupil funding, a key measure of financial commitment to public schools. According to the report, California fell from 49th to 50th in per-student funding in the 2010-11 school year. According to the report, California spends $3,500 less per student than the national average and $11,000 less per child than the top-ranked state of Wyoming.

CTA Supports Proposed Regulations for Local Control Funding Formula: Educators to Testify Next Week

CTA members will be testifying on Thurs., Jan. 16, in Sacramento before the State Board of Education about the proposed regulations for implementing the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF). The LCFF is boosting appropriations for all schools, with additional allocations to schools with large segments of English learners, children from low-income families, and foster children.

CTA has worked hard to encourage the SBE to adopt regulations that will provide schools, parents, and educators with the flexibility needed to implement the program effectively. These quick points explain how the proposed regulations improve education, help students who need it most, involve parents and the community, strike the right balance between accountability and flexibility, and support continuous transparency.

Read CTA’s letter urging the SBE’s support.

Contact the members of the State Board of Education and urge them to adopt the draft regulations that CTA is supporting.  You can reach all of them by calling the State Board of Education at (916) 319-0827.
 
The members of the Board are:
  • Dr. Michael Kirst, State Board President
  • Dr. Ilene Straus, State Board Vice President
  • Ms. Sue Burr
  • Dr. Carl A. Cohn
  • Mr. Bruce Holaday
  • Dr. Aida Molina
  • Ms. Patricia Ann Rucker
  • Dr. Nicolasa Sandoval
  • Ms. Trish Boyd Williams
  • Jesse Zhang, Student Member 
Learn more about them on the State Board of Education webpage.
Help Defeat These Bad Bills
Education Committees to Hear CTA-opposed Bills
The Assembly Committee on Education on Wed., Jan. 15, is expected to hear CTA-opposed AB 815 by Assembly Member Connie Conway (R-Tulare) that would expand the universe of schools that could implement the parent trigger law. Current implementation of the deeply-flawed law has lacked transparency and led to many parents feeling lied to and deceived. There is growing evidence that parents are not actually the ones behind these parent trigger initiatives, but rather wealthy corporate special interests that want to push their agenda to privatize all schools in California.

Meanwhile, the Senate Education Committee is expected to vote on CTA-opposed SB 559 by Senator Bob Huff, Chair of the Republican Caucus. It would move the preliminary certificated layoff notification date from the current date of March 15 to May 15, and the final layoff notice deadline from May 15 to June 15. The changes create more uncertainty for students and would make it much harder for a laid-off teacher to apply for work in other districts in a timely manner.

Contact Your Lawmaker in Support of This One!
Assembly Member Pushes Bill to Protect Student Safety

The Assembly Committee on Education will also vote on AB 135, a CTA-supported bill by Assembly Education Chair Joan Buchanan (D-Alamo), which would require all school districts to have a board policy about their child abuse and reporting responsibilities and to review it annually with their employees. It aims to help strengthen student safety. CTA believes local school districts and state agencies must take all necessary steps to prevent any type of child abuse and neglect.

Click through to CTA’s Legislative Action Page to get in touch with your lawmakers!

Putting Educators’ Professional Rights on Trial Hurts Students, Wastes Taxpayer Dollars and Time

December 23, 2013

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

December 23, 2013

Vallejo hands out student supplies

                        by Sherry Posnick-Goodwin

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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

December 23, 2013

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.

VEA’s Toys for Tots Drive

December 5, 2013

VEA’s Toys for Tots drive was a huge success!  Many thanks to all those who participated. The toys were delivered into the welcoming hands of our Armed Forces at Rep Council on December 5th.  Donations will continue to be accepted at many drop-off points including Toys ‘R’ Us in Vallejo and Solano Mall.  More information can be found at www.toysfortots.org

Members now pick up 50% of Health Care Costs!

October 1, 2013

Below are two documents from the Vallejo City Unified School District. The first is the certificated salary schedule and the second health benefits document showing VCUSD’s and employees share of health benefits.

It’s important to keep in mind two things. First, VCUSD employees, both certificated & classified, have not received any pay raises since 2008. Second, the District was able to reach fiscal solvency and come out of state receivership due to the sacrifices its employees made.

As we head into negotiations with the District, we hope they keep in mind the sacrifices already made and recognize that if their goal is to truly attract and retain quality employees – they need to be willing to pay for it.

Evaluations, Calendar Survey & Organizing Committee

September 26, 2013
Almost every year we have unit members raise valid issues and concerns regarding the evaluation process. We have around 70 new colleagues this year, so I really think it is important to makes sure that there is a clear understanding of this process.
Attached you will find the CSTP’s quick guide. I’ve pulled the Standards & each objective directly from our contract into this new document. I’ve attached both the Word document & the PDF document as people like to use both. (This document may be different from the one sent out earlier – please disregard the earlier document and use the attached.)
Remember with the evaluation process, unit members are supposed to pick an OBJECTIVE from a STANDARD – not select the whole STANDARD. (I’ve already seen one communication from a site administrator who wrote that the STANDARD was the objective – this is incorrect!)
As an example, if I want to work on Standard 1:  Engaging and Supporting All Students in Learning
·   Using knowledge of students to engage them in learning
·   Connecting learning to students’ prior knowledge, backgrounds, life experiences & interests
·   Connecting subject matter to meaningful, real-life contexts
·   Using a variety of instructional strategies, resources, & technology to meet students’ diverse learning needs
·   Promoting critical thinking through inquiry, problem solving, & reflection
·   Monitoring student learning & adjusting instruction while teaching

Each bullet point is an OBJECTIVE. Unit members under Process A, may select one objective from three different standards, or 3 objectives from one standard, or one objective from two standards and one standard. However, as you can see just from Standard 1 referenced above, being evaluated on every single bullet point times three different standards would be virtually impossible.
Again, using the example above, as someone under Process B, I could select Standard 1, second bullet – “connecting learning to students’ prior knowledge, backgrounds, life experiences & interests.” My evaluation plan is then developed from that objective.
Unit members under Process A have two formal observations. Unit members under Process B, the evaluation shall include self evaluation & may include classroom observation(s) and/or other mutually acceptable evaluation techniques (11.2.3).
Everything that is mutually agreed upon between the evaluator and unit member needs to be clearly articulated in the evaluation plan. 
I am encouraging unit members to reach out to our new colleagues to help them through this process.
Calendar Survey & Committee
Continue to take the online survey OR the hard-copy survey on the calendar. One of the concerns expressed was the desire for VEA to share the results. I will makes sure that this happens so that people will know going into the process what information will be shared with the District.
My plan is to notify those who want to be on the committee by next Tuesday, October 1st, through District e-mail. We will also schedule our first committee meeting within the next couple of weeks.
Organizing Committee
We are looking for unit members for our Organizing Committee. VEA will have its first bargaining session with the District next Thursday, October 3rd. The Organizing Committee will examine effective ways to best support our Bargaining Team in their efforts.
I am also looking at scheduling a meeting for next Thursday, October 3rd starting at 4:30 – location TBD, for a Bargaining Update & to provide additional information for anyone who is interested in being on the Organizing Committee.