WDEA Rep Council Meeting
November 10, 2016
Site Reps Present- Alissa Dokter, Monica Sevilla-MWE, Heidi Michels, Deb MillerWCE, Patti Dearth, Wendy Katz-BES, Patricia Arreguin-Cali, Marilyn Deis, Deb OlcottWMS, Scott Ames, Melissa Jones, Andrew Murdock-WHS, Diana Dresser-NCC
October Minutes-Approved
Treasurer’s Report- Shannan brought 1099 forms for anyone who receives more than
$600 in annual stipends from WDEA. Please fill out that form and send it to Shannan at
Windsor Oaks.
$5959.48
Savings
Checking Beginning Balance 10/1/16 $39,174.07
(October Expenses)
Meeting Refreshments October
($61.33)
Ending Balance
$39,112.74
President’s Report/Elections Update- “Take a deep breath, nothing is going to happen
right away.” -Pete
The results of the Presidential Election will not have an immediate affect on our
schools. There was some fear present at schools with some of our Latino population
staying home and some students voiced a concern that their families were going to be
deported. Many teachers spent time talking to their students about this. As far as WDEA
is concerned, NCLB has already been reauthorized and there isn’t a reason for it to
change. Common Core has been adopted by our state so it is unclear how the federal
government will deal with that. In general, we don’t rely on the federal government for
our funding so if changes are made at the federal level we won’t necessarily feel them.
When a new Supreme Court Justice is chosen, if a case concerning paying union dues
comes before it, that case will likely lose. If the Affordable Healthcare Act is repealed, it
may affect our health care costs. The stability of the system is in question right now so it
is not in the best interest of the district or WDEA to make any changes to our health care
plans at this point.
Prop 55- The passing of this proposition shows us some clarity of funding and prevents
some budget cuts. It may be more good news toward a raise. Measure F passing also
helps with the general fund. Prop 64 will generate state revenue which means more
money going toward our Prop 98 funding. It is unclear what the passage of Prop 58 will
mean for Cali’s charter.
School Board Election- WDEA endorsed the three incumbents that were running for the
school board and all three were elected. Pete feels that they have been a “good, solid
board that has shown strong support for teachers.” The passage of the Measure F bond is
a gift and it is hoped that they will use it wisely.
Responsive Classroom-This program has been adopted district wide and is having an
impact on classroom time at the elementary level. There is a cost for this time in an
environment where teachers are already spread thin and dealing with AE and Common
Core implementation which includes Bridges Math. We need clarification from the
district as to what they expect us to do with losing up to an hour a day of our instructional
time for core subjects so that we can implement Responsive Classroom. What are not
going to be accountable for in order to make room in our schedules for Responsive
Classroom?
Accelerated English- Patti provided sites with a questionnaire about the impacts of AE at
their schools. The negotiating team would like site reps and negotiators to meet with their
sites and answer those questions. Once these initial discussions have taken place, Pete
would like to set up meetings at individual sites that include Pete, Steve Jorgensen, Lisa
Saxon, the site principal and site teachers. The main impacts from a contractual/teaching
conditions view are grading students that are not on your roster, grading papers and
assessments for students not on your roster and students on your roster not receiving
grades in reading and/or writing on their report cards.Also, who is responsible for
meeting with the families of the students if there is a question about grades or
curriculum?
Member Survey- Pete is working with Dana to develop a quick survey of members to
help in Negotiations. There will be a few, short questions that members will be asked to
answer about the difference in their take home pay this year compared to last year, etc.
Site reps should encourage their members to complete the survey. In the past, members
have not wanted to fill out surveys because they felt it would be traced back to them and
their administrators would find out what they said. We do not want members to be
concerned about this. The survey will be done through Sonoma County Educators’
Council (one of our local affiliations with CTA). It can be done on any computer and is
completely anonymous.
Common Core Money- Once again, teachers are being given the opportunity to receive
paid time for working on Common Core curriculum. This time can be one full sub day,
two half days or four hours of after school time. It is unclear at this time what Lisa is
looking for as “proof” that the time was spent on Common Core. We will come back in
December with clarification.
Next Meeting:
December 8, 2016
3:45 at Round Table
Agenda Items:
Common Core Pay
Negotiations Update from our 12/2 session
AE Update (if site meetings have begun)