Against Cuts Website has important Powerpoints and Flyers to Print OUt

http://againstcuts.org/

*Special Written Assignment on School Mandates

It Is Hard to See How Mandates Are Supporting Us

By Sunny Dawn, Cleveland Elem., San Francisco, CA.

            My K-5 elementary school is on the East Side of San Francisco where we experience a population of students who are disenfranchised and have huge disparities in relation to the West Side of the same city.  This paper will give a brief overview of how district mandated quarterly assessments are not serving the students at my elementary school’s in San Francisco or serving as proper tools for teachers to gain an understanding of students’ educational needs especially in schools such as mine who have students “of color” or bilingual schools.  Furthermore it will present the idea that current administration is also unaware how to serve the needs of the teachers in creating tools for proper instruction.

My class is a good representation of the half the school’s population,  which is 80% of low socioeconomic background English language learners.  The range of ethnicities include; Chinese, Filipino, African American as well various type of Latino students from Central American to Mexican.  There are over 5 different home languages represented in my class and half of my class travels regularly out of the country to visit a majority of their extended families.  The other half of the school is the bilingual strand, which experience a wide range of issues from immigration, to high poverty, as well as various health issues.

Although we have dedicated teachers who are committed to social justice in education it is hard to see how the current district administration is supporting us.  We are given release time once a week to talk with our grade level about educational strategies but, instead of teachers being able to lead the discussions a majority of meetings are led by a district appointed “Instructional Reform Facilitator” or (IRF). This IRF then reports back to the principal and district administrations about the  “discussion” which is always results or application of the quarterly district mandated assessment (or CLAs).

I recently went to a Union meeting discussion about district mandated assessments in October of 2011.  At this meeting over 20 elementary teachers from a wide variety of schools were present and furious about how the district mandated assessments are developmentally inappropriate for K thru 2^nd and in 3^rd thru 5th grades material is often unaccessable for many students especially English Language Learners.  When the Head of Achievement Assessments, John Burke,  was asked at that October meeting, how are these assessments were helpful to teachers his reply was,”well hopefully we will be able to make the tests align to the curriculum especially with math this year,” A follow up question to this district official was asked by another elementary teacher, “If these assessments are not aligned with the standards, if it is wasting the student’s time because it’s not testing them on what they are supposed to have learned then why can’t we halt that until it is perfected?” His response, “Right now, again we are trying to serve two purposes with it. Some to inform instruction some for the benchmarking. So right now that’s what we have. This year it’s much more of a compromise, last year towards the benchmarking….The CLAs are mandated by Richard Caranza so the expectations is that  everyone…..”

Finally my staff was given anonymous polls using the website, www.pollseverywhere.com , to find out their feelings on district mandates.  The first question given was, “I feel like I have enough time to go over data from mandated assessments and implement action in my classroom?” 87% of the 15 staff who participated in the survey said, “NO” Also my staff participated in two more surveys in which 57% of the staff (who participated) reported “we have too many assessments”.  The final question given to staff, “The district mandated assessments my students take are on material we have had a chance to cover in class prior to the date required to give test?” 100% of the staff disagreed or strongly disagreed with this statement (see attached graphs or go to www.msdawnsturntospeak.blogspot.com to see poll results).

In conclusion, elementary teachers educated and trained observations are that district mandated assessments do not serve their classroom pedagogy and are actually damaging children instead.

National Board Test Chat for EC/GEN.

://ecgen.org/2012/03/nbpts-assessment-center-season-almost-here/

Stop The Monkey Business!

Now That You Fired The Teachers Enjoy Your Retirement

                                                                        March 25, 2012

Congratulations Carlos Garcia, now that you participated in laying one fourth of all teachers who received lay off notices in California, I hope you enjoy your retirement.  As reported in S.F. gate, March 15, 2012 Carranza is “hoping to agree on a contract within the next couple of weeks” Wouldn’t it be nice if teachers could rely or agree on their contract too?  You know that little thing that’s been battered and bruised overtime with Furlough days and Pay Freezes.

But I just want to refresh your memory before you started making July vacation plans  with your SFUSD money. There were over 40 teachers begging you to reconsider your position on Zone schools, including my nine-year old daughter, in regards to laying off teachers last March 13, 2012 at the San Francisco Board Meeting.  We asked you to listen to workers’ rights or to what Dennis Kelly, UESF President, has said to you at previous Board of Education Meetings, “Social Justice for some is Social Justice for none.”  However you went against that and now here we are teachers fighting each other over who deserves to keep their job.

I am at teacher Cleveland Elementary, which is experiencing teacher lay offs.  We are not part of a “Zone School” even though we have the same populations and statistics.  We are classified as a “Hard to Staff School”, have had a large amount of money poured into our school from SFUSD for English Development Trainings, as well as half our staff are participating in National Board Certification yet does any of this matter,No. 

Why should it? Your contract is up and its retirement party time!  Nevermind other teachers’ contracts are up and its Unemployment Line Time for them.  Either way congratulations on being done with SFUSD and having nine-years olds shame you in public.

Sunny Dawn

Union Representative and 3^rd Grade Teacher for Cleveland Elementary

(emailed to Carlos Garcia, SF GATE Op ED, and SF Examiner OP ED today)

S.F. Board meeting and over 40 angry teachers! Regarding Lay Offs.

http://sanfrancisco.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=47

Teacher Lay OFFs effect.

http://www.edsource.org/extra/2012/beyond-individual-pain-teacher-layoffs-have-rippling-effects-on-schools/6893

UESF AFT TEACHER LEADER GROUP S.F. Vision!

Concerns:

Teacher Leaders

·                   Enlisting other teachers taking it back to school

·                   Link to technology networking/community resources

·                   Group think

·                   Union

·                   Limited time.  What can we really get accomplished.

·                   Meet with politicians

·                   What will the product be?

·                   We get a say to the district

·                   Press conference – feedback to media from TL

·                   Reaching out beyond SFUSD to other districts

·                   Is there an ultimate goal?

Teaching, Learning, Education

·                   Disparity urban/suburban

·                   Class warfare

·                   Lack of continuity – 5 years, 5 admins

·                   Corporations – schools as cash cow

·                   Charter schools

·                   Lack of training in cultural awareness.  Institutional racism

·                   Schools should be community schools

·                   Criminalization of youth b/c lack of resources

·                   Disparity between schools within district

·                   School safety

·                   Data that we can trust

·                   Reducing teacher cynicism

·                   Crisis in leadership – admin, superintendent, district initiatives

                       - Arne Duncan

                       - Bill Gates

·                   Teacher education

·                   Testing

Vision: Group A

·                   Teacher voices will be heard and deemed legitimate by policy makers, media and administrators (from site to federallevel)

·                   Holistic approach to student assessment – reallocate funds to books and the arts

·                   Teacher driven PD

·                   Creation of TL website

Vision: Group B

·                   Create community schools – provide community services (medical, therapy, etc)

·                   Major realignment of priorities and resources

·                   There is a holistic relationship between the micro-level and macro-level with accountability to be one another (i.e. politicians communicate with teacher speaker bureaus)

·                   Redesign administrative positions to better serve students and teacher needs (i.e. teacher input into principal evaluations)

Visions: Group C

·                   Building communication across differences.

·                   Working together, reflecting as school staff, community including institutions in our society to create, implement solutions for our children

·                   Support a diverse school for staff for our children

·                   Support holistic educational environment which ensures the needs of our children and school staff

Barriers to Reaching Our Vision

·                   Historical barriers affecting achievement gap

·                   Corporate reformers controlling the terms of debate

·                   Lack of teacher support (resources, time, etc.)

·                   Convincing public of public education being in public’s best interest

·                   Literacy and poverty in students’ lives

·                   Cultural norms/white liberal

·                   Learning how to create culturally relevant curriculum/pedagogy

·                   Reason for high dropout rates for Latinos/Blacks

·                   District hierarchy

·                   Revolving/turnover of admins

·                   Need for students to deal with trauma and stress (restorative justice?)

·                   Administration?  Overburdened?

·                   Lack of trust in system

·                   Lack of clear communication?  Collaboration

Good Video of March 5th!

Good Video of March 5th!

UESF

Friday, March 09, 2012 Cleveland Elementary teacher Sunny Dawn takes the fight for full funding for education to Sacramento as part of the March 5th day of action. Rally at the Board of Education - March 13th - 5 p.m. Stand Together Against Arbitrary Layoff UESF Statement on LayoffsBoard of Ed Approves 494 Layoffs, Skips Zone Schools Ignores Basic Union Right for Arbitrary Lines UESF/SFUSD Negotiations PageSFUSD Demands Balloon to $35.6 million UESF Internal Elections: CFT, CTA, and AFT conventins election about to get underway UESF Conference March 10th: Shaping Our Educational Future Just added: free flat screen TV for raffle! UESF represents more than 6,000 San Francisco Unified School District employees including teachers, counselors, security aides, psychologists, community relations specialists, instructional aides, nurses, and speech pathologists and therapists. Union News & Information: Teacher of the Month Nominations Open - Nominate a fellow teacher who goes above and beyond the call of duty for a Teacher of the Month award from Mayor Ed Lee. Diane Ravitch, noted critic of current corporate reform efforts in our schools, came to the Herbst theatre to encourage educators to keep up the good fight on January 19th. Video Highlights | KQED interview below: Help Creative Arts Charter school rebuild and resupply - December 22nd fire has left school in need of books, supplies, and fundss Scholarships for UESF Members & Their Dependents - From the CFT, CTA, AFT ,& AFL-CIO - First due date - January10, 2012. UESF Secretary Susan Solomon speaks up for our schools at the Interfaith Celebration of Light on December 19th. Resolution in Support of Occupy San Francisco | Nov. 2 General Strike Video From CFT No on Prop. H Prevails! - Measure Fails to Pass After Strong Final Sure for No Vote Take the UESF Community Outreach Survey - Help UESF build community support for the work we do in our schools Media from rally for public education outside of Bush/Murdoch event in SF CTA YouTube Video | KTVU Ch. 2 | Beyond Chron | SF Chron | KQED | Photos Paras Set to Transition to Social Security on October 12th 2011-2012 Teacher FAQ & Para FAQ- A condensed guide to navigting the SFUSD, updated for this school year. Free Financial Workshops on Retirement Planning for UESF Members - Understanding CalSTRS - February 23rd. SFUSD Job Openings: Certificate search both SFUSD & Search Soft | Classified UESF members rallied for a single payer healthcare system on June 16th. Watch thevideo. Check out the website: www.singlepayernow.net. Tax Scofflaws- UESF analysis on how dozens of SF commercial landholders are attempting to shirk their tax responsibilities UESF's New Inclusion Policy Statement - Detailing recommendations to the SFUSD as they consider a new inclusion plan UESF Resolution on MAP Assessments - Opposing the mandatory use of the Measure of Academic Progress assessments May 9-13 'State of Emergency' Photos & Media Coverage Speaking up for Paras - Teanna Tillery speaks up for paras and the great work they do everyday in the SFUSD. April 4th - 'We Are One' March & Rally - Photos | Video | KTVU Report Community Boards - Free mediation services for UESF members to help resolve conflicts at the workplace. Not Waiting For Superman - Setting the Record Straight & Standing Up for Our Public Schools New CTA Report Shows QEIA School Making Great Strides Review of New SFUSD Evaluation Forms for Certificated Employees Know the Rights of Immigrant Youth - Information on the rights of immigrant youth from the Asian Law Caucus. See also, The Rights of Undocumented Youth at Juvenile Hall. Teacher Perspective: Lowell HS teacher Ken Tray is interviewed about how shortening the school year is a difficult compromise for students and educators: Help Repeal the Social Security Offset – As many as 1/3 of UESF members will lose up to 40% of their Social Security benefits because of the unfair GPO and WEP offsets. Ongoing Enrollment for Commuter Benefits - Save up to 40% on commuting costs. SFUSD Special Olympics Expanding - Feature story in the June 09 SF Educator. To watch the Comcast SportsNet special, click here and follow the 'CSN Features' tab to see the video, which is titled 'Special Olympics Segment #1: Teachers.' Sign the petition to support the Employee Free Choice Act - The Employee Free Choice Act is critical legislation that would give more workers a way to form unions and negotiate for better wages, healthcare, and working conditions.  U.S. Labor Against the War - 10-minute slide show details the real price of the Iraq occupation, the war on terror, and military spending.  Guide to School Safety - This CTA guide includes all of the relevant California Education code sections that deal with safety, including school district responsibilities, prohibitions against violence and disruption, and educator's rights and responsibilities. Homeownership for Teachers & Paras - Find out the resources available to you as an educator in San Francisco, including a new $20,000 subsidy for teachers. UESF Photos - Photographs of UESF members in the schools, on the town, and across the country. Online Credential Renewal UBC Election Process - Guide for teachers and paras at school sites to conduct Union Building Committee Elections, including information about adjunct elections. Building Power from the Ground Up - A discussion of the power and potential of our Union Building Committees, reprinted from the December 2006 edition of the SF Educator. Williams Complaints - Overview and Forms SFUSD job openings: Certificated search both SFUSD & Search Soft | Classified - Updated daily UESF Guide to Reviewing Your Paycheck - Step by step instruction on how to read and understand your SFUSD paycheck (for certificated employees) SFUSD Staff Directory | SFUSD Weekly Administrative Directives (WAD) MORE NEWS... UESF Videos Rally for Local 2 Workers – UESF members rally and take arrests for San Francisco hotel workers, to bring attention to their contract fight. (January 5, 2010) 'Cattle Call in Kindergarten' – Yick Wo kindergarten teacher Susie Siegel and other teachers speak out against the district's proposed increases in kindergarten class size. (April 28, 2009) 'No Pink Slips' – a two part video covering our March 11, 2008 rally against the Governor's proposed budget cuts. Lowell High School Teacher Ken Tray and UESF President Dennis Kelly speak out about the Governor's proposed budget cuts- January 10, 2008. A short video that City College instructor, and UESF friend, Bill Carpenter shot of our April 24, 2007 rally at the SF School Board. UESF members speak up for a fair contract at the February 27, 2007 Board of Education meeting. A UESF video that details the accomplishments of San Francisco's public school educators over the 2005-2006 school year. Official minutes of Assembly and Executive Board meetings Please send your ideas and comments regarding what would be useful to you on this web site to UESF'swebmaster.    www  uesf.org Contact the webmaster