Award-Winning Newspaper of United Teachers Los Angeles •
www.utla.net Volume XLV, Number 9, May 27, 2016
Charter impact report sounds alarm bell
Community calls for action to stabilize public education in L.A.
A major new report released this month,
“Fiscal Impact of Charter Schools on the
Los Angeles Unified School District,” has
started a critical and long-overdue discussion—on equity and access, accountability,
and the need for a stable school system.
UTLA commissioned the report from MGT
of America, a respected independent research firm, to get firm facts on how the
rapid expansion of independent charter
schools has affected neighborhood community schools.
The report’s key finding is alarming:
Financially strained LAUSD lost more than
$590 million to unchecked independent
charter school growth this year alone. The
loss results from a variety of factors:
• ADA money leaving with students to
charters, but charter oversight and infrastructure costs staying with the District;
• the highest-needs and highest-cost
special education students remaining disproportionately in District schools;
• the District failing to collect Proposition 39 charter co-location fees and fines;
and
• state loopholes that penalize districts
financially.
The findings in the report paint a picture
of some schools being short-changed by a
system that prioritizes the growth opportunities for charter school operators over
the educational opportunities for all students. If costs associated with unchecked
independent charter school expansion
are not addressed with common-sense
solutions, the District will face financial
insolvency. Insolvency would impact both
District schools and existing independent
charter schools, which depend on the District for programs, support, infrastructure,
and oversight.
UTLA, along with community groups,
organizations, and public education advocates, is calling for immediate action
to address the serious financial concerns
uncovered in the report. The impact report
does not make any policy recommendations, but UTLA co-authored a policy brief
with research firm In the Public Interest
that offers solutions on the District, state,
and federal level to tackle some of the
identified problems.
As one step, UTLA, with parents and
community members, will be holding an
action outside the June 14 LAUSD School
Board meeting. We are calling on LAUSD
to start collecting the 3% charter oversight
May 4 National Day of Action
fee allowed by law instead of the current
1% and begin collecting financial fees from
co-located charters that were given space
they didn’t need on District campuses.
Both actions would result in millions of
dollars that could go to lowering class
size, fully staffing schools, and expanding
educational opportunities for all students.
UTLA’s 35,000 members include educators in all categories of L.A. schools—
District schools, affiliated charter schools,
and independent charter schools. Our
members share a commitment to building a stable, high-quality public education
system that serves all students, District
and charter.
“Pointing out the costs of charter
schools is not anti-charter—it is pro-sustainability,” UTLA President Alex CaputoPearl says. “We are tremendously proud to
represent all of our 35,000 members, across
District, affiliated charter, and independent
charter schools. We are equally proud to
be associated with the brave educators
at Alliance charters, who are fighting to
unionize against a brutal, illegal anti-union
campaign. But the fact that we represent
charter educators can’t make us turn a
blind eye to costs that threaten the entire
system and that threaten the existence of
both District schools and existing charter
schools.”
Report’s major findings In 2005, there were 58 independent
charter schools in the District. There are
now 221—a 287% growth in 10 years. Here
are the major findings on how that rapid
expansion has impacted LAUSD.
Finding: Declining enrollment lost to
charter schools results in over $508 million
in lost revenue and increased costs.
Impact: By far, the most significant financial impact identified in the report is the
declining enrollment lost to charter schools.
The money leaves with the student, but
the critical educational infrastructure and
oversight costs stay with the District. In addition, current funding formulas disproportionately penalize District public schools,
creating perverse incentives to underserve
the highest-needs students. A system where
decreased revenue is accompanied by increased costs is not sustainable.
Finding: The revenue collected from
charter schools for oversight costs falls
(continued on page 4)
Fight to save our education system
June 14
12:30 p.m.
Action outside LAUSD School Board meeting
333 S. Beaudry Avenue
LAUSD loses more than half a billion dollars a year to unchecked
independent charter school growth. If nothing is done, LAUSD will
face financial insolvency, which will negatively impact all schools—
District and charter. On June 14, we will be calling on LAUSD to
take the first steps toward protecting our students’ learning by:
• Collecting 3% of charter revenue at co-located schools instead of 1%.
• Collecting all financial fees from co-located charters that were
given space they didn’t need on District campuses.
Failure to collect these fees has cost the District resources that could
have been directed toward increasing staff and lowering class size.
Los Feliz Elementary joined with tens of thousands of educators, parents, students, and community members across the country to stand up for what our schools need on the May 4 Day
of Action. See more on page 5.
Be there! Check out latest info on utla.net.
Contract vote June 1-3
UTLA Board and House recommend a YES vote
Page 4
United Teacher • for the latest news: www.utla.net
United Teacher
PRESIDENT
Alex Caputo-Pearl
NEA AFFILIATE VP
Cecily Myart-Cruz
AFT AFFILIATE VP
Betty Forrester
ELEMENTARY VP
Juan Ramirez
SECONDARY VP
Colleen Schwab
TREASURER
Arlene Inouye
SECRETARY
Daniel Barnhart
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Jeff Good
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
NORTH AREA: Kirk Thomas, Chair (Eagle Rock ES),
Karla Griego (Buchanan ES), Rebecca Solomon
(RFK UCLA Comm. School), Julie Van
Winkle (Logan Span School)
SOUTH AREA: Ingrid Villeda, Chair (93rd Street ES),
Ayde Bravo (Maywood ES),
Maria Miranda (Miramonte ES),
L. Cynthia Matthews (McKinley ES)
EAST AREA: Gillian Russom, Chair (ESP Academy),
Ingrid Gunnell (Lane ES), Gloria Martinez (Rowan ES),
Adrian Tamayo (Lorena ES)
WEST AREA: Erika Jones Crawford, Chair (CTA
Director), Noah Lippe-Klein (Dorsey HS), Rodney Lusain
(Los Angeles HS), Jennifer Villaryo (Grand View ES)
CENTRAL AREA: José Lara, Chair (Santee EC),
Kelly Flores (Maya Angelou), Paul Ngwoke (Bethune
MS), Zulma Tobar (Harmony ES)
VALLEY EAST AREA: Scott Mandel, Chair (Pacoima
Magnet), Victoria (Martha) Casas (Beachy ES), Mel
House (Elementary P.E.), Alex (David) Orozco (Madison MS)
VALLEY WEST AREA: Bruce Newborn, Chair (Hale
Charter), Melodie Bitter (Lorne ES), Wendi Davis
(Henry MS), Javier Romo (Mulholland MS)
HARBOR AREA: Aaron Bruhnke, Chair (San Pedro HS),
Karen Macias-Lutz (Del Amo ES), Elgin Scott (Taper ES),
Steve Seal (Eshelman ES)
ADULT & OCCUP ED: Matthew Kogan (Evans CAS)
BILINGUAL EDUCATION: Cheryl L. Ortega (Sub Unit)
EARLY CHILDHOOD ED: Corina Gomez (Pacoima EEC)
HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES: Linda Gordon
SPECIAL ED: Lucia Arias
SUBSTITUTES: Fredrick Bertz
PACE CHAIR: Marco Flores
UTLA RETIRED: John Perez
AFFILIATIONS
American Federation of Teachers
National Education Association
STATE & NATIONAL OFFICERS
CFT PRESIDENT: Joshua Pechthalt
CTA PRESIDENT: Eric Heins
CTA DIRECTOR: Erika Jones Crawford
CFT VICE PRESIDENT: Betty Forrester
NEA PRESDIENT: Lily Eskelsen Garcia
AFT PRESIDENT: Randi Weingarten
NEA DIRECTOR: Sonia Martin Solis
UTLA COMMUNICATIONS
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Alex Caputo-Pearl
COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Anna Bakalis
COMMUNICATIONS SPECIALISTS:
Kim Turner, Carolina Barreiro, Tammy Lyn Gann
ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT: Laura Aldana
EDITORIAL INFORMATION
UNITED TEACHER
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Email: [email protected]
UTLA main line: (213) 487-5560
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2
May 27, 2016
President’s perspective
Contract agreement and fiscal impact report:
Reshaping the L.A. educational landscape
By Alex Caputo-Pearl
UTLA President
We know that poverty and education
are inextricably linked. The stresses of
poverty often mean that students go
without basic necessities at home, and
many of them live in underserved communities that struggle with violence, high
unemployment, and a lack of needed
social services.
Institutional racism and classism often
reinforce the above dynamics and work
against bringing the rich histories and
cultures of our students, their families,
and their neighborhoods into the classroom. I’ve seen all these forces at work
in my 22 years as an educator, teaching
in some of the highest-need, highestpoverty schools in California: Anderson
Elementary in Compton, Muir Middle
School in South L.A., and Crenshaw
High School. UTLA has always stood for racial
justice and for equity, for getting additional resources to the students and schools
that need it the most. When our union
was founded more than four decades ago,
this was one of our defining struggles.
Today, fighting for targeted investment in high-needs schools is not only
the right thing to do, it is also an absolute
necessity strategically to protect public
education from corporate deregulation
and privatization. Privatizers such as Eli
Broad, the Waltons of Walmart, and other
billionaires focus their efforts, in laserlike fashion, on destabilizing schools in
high-poverty areas, because they view
these as the system’s Achilles’ heel. If
they can shift enough students in those
areas to an expanded set of corporate
charters—what they label as “expanding market share”—then LAUSD will
become fiscally insolvent, and the District, UTLA, and the overall commitment
to public education for all students will
be in crisis.
All of us who are invested in our students, our profession, a quality public
education system, our ability to bargain
for improvements in coming years, and
our ability to maintain health benefits
have an interest in fighting for additional resources and improvements in
high-needs schools. It is part of doing
what is right, and part of a strategy
to defeat Broad, Walmart, and the billionaires.
Vote “yes” on the
tentative agreement
The tentative agreement reached
between UTLA and LAUSD on May 17
reflects this fight for improvements at
high-needs schools. But that’s not all. The
agreement also reflects tangible victories
for all members and for students around
evaluation and class size: the two issues
that could legally be reopened this year
in negotiations.
We got the agreement because of organizing—including the February 17 and
May 4 actions—and because of strategic
Alex Caputo-Pearl was honored May 19 by the NAACP Los Angeles at its Freedom Fund
awards dinner. From the podium, Alex called out Walmart—whose representatives were
sitting at a nearby table—for its connection to the Walton Foundation, which pursues policies
to destabilize public education. His comments created a buzz at the event and on social media.
Above, the honorees, from left: Alex, Bishop T. Larry Kirkland, Gloria Walton, Dr. Willie J.
Hagan, Jacqueline Castillo, Dr. Wilbert C. Jordan, and Malcom David Kelley.
bargaining.
All members will benefit from what
we won on evaluation: clear timelines
that put up guardrails for principals
attempting to abuse the process; a reduction in elements (from 15 to seven) that
administrators use in evaluations; a continuation of the reduced workload and
increased protections from last year’s
agreement; and a continuation of the task
force that will shift the system over the
next years from a “gotcha” evaluation
process to one that focuses on careerlong growth.
The agreement includes immediate
wins around class size and staffing and
creates a pathway for the multi-year
struggle around these issues.
The P.E. class-size cap we won in
this agreement is ground-breaking and
reflects our fight to improve student
health. Secondary schools will be
getting an additional full-time-equivalent position to reduce class sizes for
elective classes, such as visual and performing arts, ethnic studies, and more,
and this reflects our fight to build a
well-rounded curriculum. The creation
of Special Education and Health and
Human Services Task Forces in this
agreement reflects our fight to recruit
and retain educators in crucial shortage fields. Reducing by half the time
the District has to respond to overages
in special education caseloads reflects
our fight to serve our most vulnerable
students. The addition of parents to the
Class Size Task Force reflects our goal of
building an inclusive movement. These
are all parts of this agreement.
Moreover, with Title I high schools
receiving a Diploma PSA counselor, 53
high-need secondary schools getting 17
additional days for their PSA or PSW, and
55 high-need elementary schools getting
an additional teacher to reduce class size
in grades 4 or 5 (or 6), we are fighting for
equity, against poverty, and against the
Broad-Walmart existential attack.
We are proud of this agreement, and
the officers, UTLA Board, and House of
Representatives enthusiastically support
and recommend a “yes” vote. The ratification vote will take place at school sites
over a three-day period between June
1 and June 3. Votes will be counted on
June 4.
The tentative agreement: An
important step in the long-term
fight to reduce class size and
increase staffing
We are committed to fighting for classsize reduction across all schools, and we
also know that this is a multi-year fight.
To give you a sense of the scale of the
fight, consider this: Adding just one additional teacher to reduce class size at
every school in LAUSD is approximately
equal, financially, to an across-the-board
3.5% pay increase.
The fight to reduce class size and increase staffing is one that requires us to
build power locally in bargaining for our
2016-2017 reopeners and our 2017-2018
full contract renewal, a year that also
brings health benefits negotiations. It is
a fight that requires us to all be involved
in organizing to pass the extension of
(continued on next page)
United Teacher • for the latest news: www.utla.net
PRESIDENT’S PERSPECTIVE
(continued from previous page)
Proposition 30 in November of this year.
And, it is a fight that requires us to continue building the long-term, complex,
statewide coalition behind the Make It
Fair initiative that would increase commercial property tax rates on the wealthiest corporations and that we hope to have
on the 2018 ballot.
This is a long-term fight, and we all
have to be ready to contribute to it. The cost of unmitigated
independent charter school growth
It is impossible to talk about longterm plans for bargaining around class
size and staffing, along with health
benefits, without consideration of
LAUSD’s fiscal health in the context
of unmitigated independent charter
school growth. There has been a 287%
increase in independent charter schools
in LAUSD since 2005, which has resulted in a combined estimated loss of
$591 million in just this year alone. It is
shocking that LAUSD has not studied
this, and created common-sense solutions, over the past few years.
UTLA commissioned an independent report by the firm MGT to
look at the cost of this charter school
growth. UTLA is the first union MGT
has worked with—they have typically
worked with businesses, nonprofits,
May 27, 2016
and government agencies. In coming
to the estimate of $591 million, MGT
shows, through hard-hitting analysis,
that with the growth of independent
charters, ADA money leaves LAUSD
with the students. However, the cost
for important infrastructure, which
charters depend upon, remain with the
District. Charter oversight costs, which
charter contributions do not come close
to covering, also remain with the District. The highest-need students—to
the tune of double the number of the
highest-need special education students
being in LAUSD, compared to independent charters—remain with the District,
and these students are far more costly
to educate. State loopholes and a lack of
District care in collecting monies owed
to LAUSD from charters exacerbate the
negative impact.
Having a system that loses revenue
but increases costs is simply not sustainable. LAUSD is in fiscal crisis. District
schools are threatened, and existing
independent charter schools, which
depend on LAUSD for services and
oversight, are threatened.
We are tremendously proud to represent all of you, our 35,000 members,
across District, affiliated charter, and
independent charter schools. We are
equally proud to be associated with the
brave educators at Alliance charters who
are fighting to unionize against a brutal,
illegal anti-union campaign. Charter ed-
ucators are critical to building a broad
educational justice movement. We have
invested unprecedented resources into
supporting these educators, their voices,
and their contract campaigns over the
past two years, and we will continue to
do so.
But, we also know that the fact that we
represent charter educators can’t make us
turn a blind eye to costs that threaten the
entire system and that threaten the existence of both District schools and existing
charter schools. Pointing out the costs of
charter schools is not anti-charter—it is
pro-sustainability.
UTLA is leading the way in organizing for a sustainable public education
system for all students. At the website
www.thecostofcharterschools.org, you
can find the fiscal impact report, a set of
policy recommendations from UTLA and
In the Public Interest (a research firm that
looks at issues of privatization), and a set
of powerful testimonials from parents,
educators, academics, researchers, business leaders, and elected officials on the
importance of the fiscal impact report and
the centrality of building a movement
for a sustainable public school system
for all students.
Come to the School Board
June 14 to fight for a
sustainable school
system for all
The next step we are taking to address
the findings of the fiscal impact report,
and to shape future bargaining on class
size, staffing, and other issues, is on June
14. On that day, we will demand that
LAUSD collect the full 3% of charter
revenue (permissible under state law)
from Prop. 39 co-located charter schools
rather than the 1% it has been collecting.
This comes to more than $2 million, and
LAUSD has left it on the table annually
for many years.
Further, we will demand that
LAUSD collect reimbursements from
Prop. 39 co-located charter schools
that were over-allocated space on District campuses the past few years.
LAUSD has never collected these
over-allocation fines, even though
state law makes it clear that the District can and should do this. Over the
last few years this likely amounts to
tens of millions of dollars that could
have gone to critical priorities such
as lowering class size and fully staffing schools.
All of these elements coming together—the contract agreement, the
fiscal impact report—reflect what our
long-term strategy must be: continued
organizing for high-needs schools, for
all schools, and for sustainability and
accountability in the entire system.
Working together, we can continue
to reshape the educational landscape
in Los Angeles and the country. Keep
up the great work!
In this issue
United Teacher • for the latest news: www.utla.net
May 27, 2016
United Teacher • for the latest news: www.utla.net
May 27, 2016
Building our future with a fully funded UTLA
Message from the officers
By becoming full members of all of our state and national unions
through the dues vote, UTLA members will have access to the UTLA
ey Lus
ain
,
R o dn
UTLA Group Legal Services (GLS) after 9/1/16
Free Consultation
All employment-related or
nonemployment-related issues: 30 minutes
Free Consultation
Nonemployment-related: 30 minutes
General employment-related: 1 hour
Temporary teacher dismissal: 2 hours
Probationary nonreelection: 3 hours
Child abuse-related allegations: 3 hours
Permanent Teacher Dismissal
Funding for legal services up to $2,500
Permanent Teacher Dismissal/Suspension
Funding for legal services up to $20,000
Funding for appeal up to $7,000
Specific Areas for Funding
Funding for permanent dismissals up to $2,500
Funding for credential defense up to $2,000
Ayde B
r av
o,
Group Legal Services program effective September 1, 2016. As shown below,
the GLS program will provide a far greater level of legal services.
Previous UTLA Legal Services
Specific Areas for Funding
Funding for permanent dismissals up to $20,000
Funding for credential defense up to $4,000
Funding for STRS Disability Retirement assistance up to $5,000
Funding for employment-related criminal defense up to $5,000
How to access
your new
member benefits
& discounts
UTLA members will belong
to all state and national
teachers’ unions after
September 1, 2016.
NEA
neamb.com/learnmore
AFT
aft.org/benefits
CTA
cta.org/en/Member-Services/
Member-Benefits
CFT
cft.org/member-services/
benefits-guide
A fully funded UTLA will have the resources to organize for positive change, including fighting for sustainable
community schools and adequate funding for public education, while pushing back against schemes like the
Broad-Walmart plan to dismantle LAUSD, court cases that target tenure and due process, and attacks on
health care and secure retirement. UTLA recently passed a spending plan that affirms the priorities detailed
during the Build the Future campaign:
Erasing our structural deficit. UTLA had been hampered by an outdated dues structure that
hadn’t changed since UTLA was founded. Powered by the new dues structure, this month
the UTLA House of Representatives passed a proactive, balanced budget for fiscal year 2016
(details on page 8).
Launching an aggressive public relations campaign to amplify our voice on education
issues and help shape public opinion. As first steps, UTLA is expanding our Spanishlanguage media outreach and funding a major media campaign as a line item in the new
UTLA budget.
Investing in strategic research to dig deep into LAUSD finances to support contract
bargaining, to connect the dots between billionaire outsiders and local politicians, and
to support charter school organizing. The independent charter fiscal impact report (read
more on the cover) is one example of the power of strategic research to drive dialogue and
change. The new UTLA budget funds a new researcher position to expand the department.
Karen Macias
-L
Resources targeted toward key areas
ut
z,
UT
LA Board, D
el
“Over the
past few
years,
my school
community
has organized
to get rid of a
dysfunctional administrator and to shine
a spotlight on toxic polluters near our
campus. UTLA staff supported us all along
the way in this work, and I am happy
that through the dues increase, we will
be bringing aboard more staff to help
school sites.”
lementary
Enhanced legal protection through UTLA Group Legal Services
“This Build the Future, Fund the Fight
campaign confirmed that educators
believe in protecting public education
for all students. The financial restructuring will give UTLA the resources
to organize our schools, combat the
attacks by the corporate reformers, and
deepen our work with parents and the community to advocate for what our students need.”
oE
the California Teachers Association). Previously, members had to choose to join
one or the other.
Being a merged local will give us a
much stronger voice on the state and
national level, including with the AFT-affiliated L.A. County Federation of Labor. It
also means that members essentially will
be getting “two for the price of one” union
membership and can now access more
individual member benefits. Our affiliates
offer an array of programs and services
for our families and ourselves, including
competitive prices on financial, insurance, and health products and discounts
on shopping, travel, and entertainment.
4 Details on tentative contract agreement
Members to vote at school sites June 1 to 3.
5 May 4: Community unity for sustainable
schools
yw
o
Am
NEW RATE
$82.35
$41.18
$20.59
$69.73
$41.18
h School
Hig
OLD RATE
Member, Full Time ...................................... $63.33
Member, Part-time Sub .............................. $31.88
Member, Associate ..................................... $15.73
Member, Children Center Full Time ............ $54.25
Member, Children Center Part-Time Sub ... $31.88
“Two for the price of one” union membership
As a UTLA member, you belong to a
community of colleagues working together to advance the cause of public
education and to advocate for the Schools
L.A. Students Deserve. This community
includes affiliation with state and national
teachers’ unions.
Effective September 1, 2016, as
called for by the passage of the Build
the Future, Fund the Fight vote, UTLA will
be a “merged” local union. All members
will belong to both of the national teachers’ unions (the American Federation of
Teachers and the National Education Association) and their state-level affiliates
(the California Federation of Teachers and
LA
UT
Board, Ma
ademy
The Build the Future, Fund the Fight initiative passed by members
authorized an increase in UTLA monthly dues. These rates will still
leave us paying among the lowest member dues of educator unions
in California but will allow us to erase our structural deficit and fund
our fight-back for the challenges ahead.
ng
Ac
First reflected on October 5 paycheck
oard, Los A
od
Membership dues changes effective September 1
B
LA
UT
“I am looking forward to being part of a
bigger national family of union educators by belonging to both the NEA and
the AFT without having to pay double
dues. I’ll also feel more secure professionally knowing that we have enhanced
legal support through Group Legal Services. I’ve never had cause to need legal
help before, but it’s good to know it is there.”
es
el
Dear UTLA members,
The Build the Future, Fund the Fight campaign to change UTLA’s dues
structure was unprecedented. At a time when public sector unions are under
attack and union dues are being challenged in the courts, we did what very
few of our privatizer opponents thought was possible. Not only did UTLA
members maintain their support for the fight-back against Eli Broad and the
privatization efforts, but our members voted 82% YES to increase our dues.
UTLA members want a strong and active union to fight for the Schools L.A.
Students Deserve.
We have not gone unnoticed. Our story has inspired brothers and sisters
who are experiencing the same threats every day—legal assaults on their
rights to unionize, austerity campaigns that are shutting down schools and
privatizing public services, and the ongoing demonizing of educators.
It was the tremendous work of so many members that made the BFFF
victory possible. You had those one-on-one conversations, you worked the
roster sheets, you held chapter meetings and put flyers in boxes. It is the collective work of our chapter leaders and members that has made a stronger
and sustainable UTLA possible.
In Unity,
UTLA Officers
Alex, Cecily, Betty, Juan, Colleen, Arlene, and Daniel
14 CFT “Pride of the Union” awards
15 UTLA/NEA WHO award winners
L.A. actions connect with a nationwide movement
for public education.
17 Milestones
7 UTLA June 7 primary endorsements
18 Practical matters: Retirement
bonus
Union picks for assembly, senate, and congress.
Hiring more staff and providing more resources to support your school site in contract
enforcement, protection of members’ rights, and site-driven work on issues such as
dysfunctional principals, clean and safe schools, Prop. 39 co-locations, restorative justice,
excessive testing, and more. The new UTLA budget funds six additional staff positions,
including a parent-community organizer, a charter school organizer, a representation
coordinator to improve efficiency in the area of member advocacy and contract
enforcement, and additional Area representatives.
14 Perez wins Ben Rust award
Expanding legal protection to UTLA members through UTLA Group Legal Services.
Read more about these vital services on the facing page.
12
13
Special section on pages 12-13: Build the Future,
Fund the Fight dues restructuring.
20 Special category chair results
20 UTLA Board election results
21 Note from the UTLA-R president
22 Classifieds
23 Grapevine
Get connected to UTLA
Facebook: facebook.com/UTLAnow
Twitter: @utlanow
YouTube: youtube.com/UTLAnow
Parthenia Elementary on May 4. Check out more photos on page 5.
3
United Teacher • for the latest news: www.utla.net
May 27, 2016
Members vote June 1 to 3 on new contract agreement
Agreement makes progress on class size and staffing for the benefit of students.
In school-site voting in early June, UTLA
members will be casting ballots on the tentative agreement UTLA reached with LAUSD
this month. The UTLA Board of Directors
and the House of Representatives both recommend a “yes” vote on the agreement.
The agreement, reached after two
months and eight bargaining sessions,
covers the two items we could contractually negotiate this year in “reopener”
talks: class size and educator development and support. The agreement includes
significant improvements in both areas
and makes progress toward our Schools
L.A. Students Deserve priorities, in time
for a ratification vote by the end of the
school year.
“We negotiated a solid win that is
unambiguously good for students and
that will be felt by many sectors of our
membership,” UTLA President Alex Caputo-Pearl said. “The agreement sets a
foundation for future improvements to
public education and progress for educational justice.”
Organizing supports bargaining: As
proven every contract agreement cycle,
bargaining doesn’t happen in a vacuum.
CHARTER IMPACT REPORT
(continued from the cover)
short by $15.4 million. In addition,
the District is collecting a lower
1% oversight fee from co-located
charter schools, even though the
law allows a higher 3% fee.
Impact: This means that
LAUSD must either redirect
general fund money that could
otherwise be spent on educational
opportunities for District students or fail to fulfill its oversight
obligation, leaving charter school
students vulnerable to financial
fraud, waste, and abuse.
Finding: LAUSD has a significantly higher proportion of special
education students than charters,
and double the percentage of
higher-needs special education
students. This and other issues
related to special education costs
LAUSD more than $10 million.
Impact: Beyond these equity
and access issues, this results in a
significant transfer of the increased
costs to meet the educational
needs of higher-needs students
from independent charters to the
District. This means that LAUSD
must educate more higher-needs
students, with fewer dollars, than
independent charter schools.
Together, these findings underscore the destructive potential of
the Broad-Walmart scheme that
calls for raising $490 million in
private money to take away half
the students in the LAUSD over
the next eight years and put them
in unregulated charter schools.
Learn more: Go to www.thecostofcharterschools.org for the
full report and the six-page policy
brief.
4
Our demands at the table by rank-and-file
educators were supported by member
actions, from delegation visits to every
LAUSD School Board member in April to
the 150 schools participating in the May
4 Day of Action.
Voting timeline: A member ratification
vote will take place at school sites over a
three-day period between June 1 and June
3. Members can also vote at UTLA headquarters (3303 Wilshire Blvd.,10th Floor)
from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 1 through 3.
Votes will be counted at the UTLA building on Saturday, June 4. The agreement
is also pending a vote by the LAUSD
School Board.
What’s next for bargaining: For the
2016-2017 school year, we will have
reopeners on salary, class size, educator development and support, and up
to three articles each chosen by UTLA
and LAUSD. For 2017-2018, the entire
contract will be open for bargaining, as
well as health benefits for all LAUSD
employee unions.
Read the agreement: The full text
of the 12-page agreement is posted at
www.utla.net/bargaining2015-16.
Elements of the agreement
CLASS SIZE AND STAFFING
• First-ever class-size caps of 55 students
for nonelective secondary PE class sizes.
• One additional full-time teacher (or fulltime equivalent) for every secondary school
for a new elective class or to reduce the class
size of existing electives, such as visual and
performing arts and ethnic studies.
• One full-time A-G Diploma PSA counselor provided at every Title I high school.
• At 53 high-needs secondary schools
(as ranked by the LAUSD Student Equity
Index) that have already purchased a PSA
or PSW counselor in their local budget,
the District will pay for an additional 17
days of Z time.
• One additional full-time teacher for
the top 55 high-needs elementary schools
(as ranked by the LAUSD Student Equity
Index) to be used for class-size reduction
in either grade 4 or 5 (or 6, if applicable).
• Shortened District response time frame,
from one month to 15 days, when there is
a caseload overage in special education.
• Continuation of the Class Size Task Force
with the addition of two parent participants.
• Creation of a Special Education Task
Force and an HHS Recruitment and Retention Committee to help fill vacancies
in health and human services.
EVALUATION
• Institution of firm contractual timelines for notification that an employee
will be evaluated, for the initial planning
sheet conference with the evaluator, for
the formal observation, and for post-observation conferences.
• Improvements negotiated last year stay
in place, including increased protections for
employees being evaluated and reduced
evaluation process workload.
• Reduction in the number of evaluation objectives, from 15 to seven (three
elements chosen by the member, three
District-wide elements, and one element
cooperatively chosen by member and
administrator).
• Continuation of the work by the Educator Development and Support Committee,
with a focus on professional development,
mentors, National Board Certified teachers,
Peer Assistance and Review, and a review
of the District’s current evaluation process.
What the community is saying about the fiscal impact report
Read more quotes at the www.
thecostofcharterschools.org
“UTLA
educators
are here to
make sure
that students
are successful
everywhere, no
matter if it’s a
district school
or a charter
school. We
Gregory Basile
need to think
Birmingham Community
outside the box
Charter High School Teacher
and make sure
that both remain
financially viable. If privatization
continues, there will be a tipping
point where the district and charter
schools may become economically
disadvantaged: What if the district was
composed of only charter schools—
would LAUSD have the income to
provide the oversight and services
needed at charter schools?”
“This report
shows a huge
financial strain
on the district.
Now parents
deserve to
know how the
financial strain
affects the
educational
opportunities of
their children.”
Khallid Al-Amin
LAUSD Parent
“This report proves
what many special
education teachers
like me have
seen on the front
lines—that LAUSD
disproportionately
serves more special
education students
than independent
charter schools.
Gloria Martinez
If charters are
Rowan Elementary Teacher
truly interested in
serving the needs
of all students, they should stop asking if a
child has special needs on their application
forms, demonstrate that they are serving the
special education population at the same rate
as LAUSD, and be honest about the services
they can provide. I know parents of former
students of mine who enrolled their children
in charter middle schools but later moved
them back to LAUSD schools because the
needs of their children were not being met.”
“....As we move
forward in the
name of reform
and progress, it
is important to
keep asking the
equity question:
who is benefiting
and who is not.
More important,
the question is
Sylvia Gordon
whether some
Rousseau
children are
USC Rossier School of Education benefiting at
Former LAUSD Local District
the expense of
Superintendent others. In the
name of equity and justice for all children,
it is essential to count the costs of the
perceived successes in a charter school to
the students whose parents choose to keep
them in schools operated by their school
districts. Districts were created by the will of
the people to establish and sustain schools
that were accessible to all children....”
“The MGT Study
and the earlier
report from the
Independent
Financial Review
Panel (Nov.
2015) contribute
to building an
understanding
of the economic
issues for the Los
Angeles Unified
School Board, the authorizer of the largest
number of charter schools in the nation and
responsible for the nation’s second largest
school district. We encourage all stakeholders
to study these reports and future reports and
support LAUSD in mapping out a sustainable
high quality path for all students in both the
charter and district sectors.”
“This report
shows us that
if we continue
down this path
of financial
loss, it won’t
just be district
schools that will
be impacted,
but also charter
schools. Our fates
Mena Nuñez
are intertwined.
Garvanza Elementary School Parent
Because charters
are subsidized
and overseen by LAUSD, if one fails so does
the other. In addition to the half-a-billiondollar loss each year, what else do we lose?
What about the choices of parents who
want their children to thrive in a great district
school, like Garvanza Elementary?”
United Teacher • for the latest news: www.utla.net
May 27, 2016
May 4: Community unity for sustainable schools
L.A. actions connect with a nationwide movement for public education.
In a powerful display of support for
public education, parents, students, and
educators in 75 cities in every part of the
country held actions on May 4 to show
a united front in the fight to Reclaim
Our Schools.
Locally, 150 schools took part, doing
everything from community marches to
mass email actions and flagpole rallies.
The message: Our students deserve
smaller class sizes, rich and diverse curriculum, more teaching and less testing,
and support for students’ socio-emotional
needs. Participants also called on LAUSD
leadership to begin collecting fees owed
for many years by charter operators who
co-locate on existing campuses and are
given more space than they use. Collecting these lawful fees would amount to
tens of millions of dollars—enough to
begin addressing students’ class size and
staffing needs.
Like the walk-ins on February 17, the
action brought out our members’ creativity. Some schools, including Bridge Street
and Alta Loma Elementary, seized on the
nationwide “May the Fourth Be With
You” day, and parents, students, educators and school staff dressed in Star Wars
costumes with signs that read “Art Classes
Ewok My World” and “Help Fund Public
Education—It’s Our Only Hope!” At 4th
Liberty Boulevard Elementary
Street Primary Center, teachers, parents,
and students marched up and down Atlantic Street with noisemakers and heartshaped signs listing school needs, such as
more time for teaching instead of testing.
At Arleta High School, staff staged a
“welcome line” for arriving students and
parents. RFK UCLA Community School
held an energetic rally, with parents speaking to the critical importance of class size
and staffing ratios and students chanting
about the need for more arts and electives. At a number of schools, including
Parthenia Street, Marshall High, and Broad
Avenue, staff got together to send emails
to LAUSD School Board members and
Superintendent Michelle King asking for
their support for sustainable community
schools.
May 4 was the second national day of
action organized by the Alliance to Reclaim
Our Schools, and participation more than
doubled from the February 17 Walk-Ins.
More coordinated actions will be planned
in the new school year to keep the movement growing.
Get inspired by checking out pics from
around the country and nationwide media
coverage at www.reclaimourschools.org.
Watch a slideshow of local actions at
http://bitly.com/may4slideshow.
San Pedro High School
54th Street Elementary
West Vernon Elementary
Toland Way Elementary
Alta California Elementary
Marshall High School
Bridge Street Elementary
Sendak Elementary
5
United Teacher • for the latest news: www.utla.net
May 27, 2016
In our schools
Leland Street builds planetarium, Santee students win gender-neutral bathrooms, and more.
Harbor Area
Leland Street sixth-graders
build planetarium
Leland Street Elementary in San Pedro
is marking two teachers’ retirements in a
very special way: by naming a planetarium
after them. Since October, the sixth-grade
class has been working on a geodesic dome,
six meters in diameter, composed of more
than 200 triangles.
The Madsen-Nishisaka Planetarium
carries the name of two hard-working teachers, Nancy Madsen and Merrie Nishisaka,
who have collectively spent several decades
working at the school and are now retiring.
The sixth-graders are currently hosting their
schoolmates in half-hour shows where the
stars are projected inside the dome. “The creation of this dome has led many
children to consider science and math fun
and exciting, and students have now started
to say, ‘I want to be an engineer when I grow
up,’ instead of just doctor and lawyer,” says
Leland Street teacher Chris Miller. Family and community members will
have a chance to see a show in the Madsen-Nishisaka Planetarium at the school’s
Science Fair on May 25.
East Area
Students and teachers speak out at
racial justice forum at Roosevelt High
More than 120 UTLA educators, students,
and community members came together
for a racial justice forum at Roosevelt High
School on May 12 cosponsored by Artivist Entertainment, Black Lives Matter-LA,
Centro CSO, Schools L.A. Students Deserve
Grassroots Coalition, #StudentsNotSuspects, and UTLA East and North Areas.
The event featured an array of voices,
including Mendez High School teachers
from the #StudentsNotSuspects campaign
discussing their fight against “random”
metal detector searches of their students,
Roosevelt High students presenting their
research on school segregation, and Estela
Rodriguez, whose son was killed by L.A.
sheriffs, speaking out against police violence. After listening to the dynamic panel
of speakers, the participants engaged in
discussion, which culminated in a collective song-writing session led by Grammywinning musicians and community organizers Quetzal.
The Roosevelt event follows other
actions organized by the UTLA Racial
Justice Committee—including a forum at
93rd Street Elementary on April 11 and a
rally at Bethune Middle School on April
21— that are part of educators’ work confronting issues that impact our students,
such as institutional racism, police brutality, and the school-to-prison pipeline.
Central Area
Santee students blaze trail with
gender-neutral bathrooms
Santee Education Complex’s Gay
Straight Alliance (GSA) made history in
April, winning a three-month campaign
to open the first multi-stall gender-neutral restroom in LAUSD. Santee GSA club
leaders Johnny Ramos, Kween Robinson,
and Monique Garcia started the campaign
after an adult stopped one of their trans-
Alliance educators achieve
improvement in evaluations
After hundreds of educators participated in collective activities to improve
the evaluation process, educators at Alliance for College-Ready Public Schools
have already achieved some improvements to their evaluation processes, with
Alliance announcing a new “streamlined” teacher evaluation pilot program.
Nearly 200 Alliance educators, representing 24 schools and every grade
level, content area, and classification,
participated in a teacher-written survey
that asked what was working and what
needed improvement in the evaluation process. Teachers and counselors
weighed in on aspects such as the objectiveness of the process and the use
of standardized test scores. There was
widespread agreement on three areas
for immediate improvement: Paperwork should be reduced, the number of
domain indicators considered during
evaluation is too high, and standardized
test scores should not be used in determining effectiveness ratings.
Educators from a number of schools
held meetings at their school sites to review
specific proposals for improvement, give
feedback, and discuss next steps to achieve
the needed changes. On April 1, educators submitted a formal request to Alliance
6
CEO Dan Katzir to meet and confer about
the evaluation proposals they developed.
Six days later, Alliance announced a new
“streamlined evaluation” pilot for next
year, in response to the teachers’ and counselors’ collective action.
“I’m proud of the way Alliance educators from across nearly all of our schools
came together to improve our evaluation
process,” Ouchi High School teacher Dan
White says. “The changes we won to our
evaluations show again how working collectively helps us to improve our schools
and our profession.”
Alliance educators continue to advocate
for a fair and productive evaluation system.
They have requested to meet with Alliance
to discuss counselor evaluation rubrics,
appropriate training for educators and
administrators on the pilot, the use of test
scores in evaluation ratings, and how the
effectiveness of the pilot will be assessed.
Alliance educators are organizing a
union with UTLA to gain a stronger voice
through collective bargaining on critical
issues—such as teacher evaluations—that
affect their students and their schools.
They would join more than 1,000 educators at independent charter schools who
are represented by UTLA. Follow their
work at allianceeducators.com.
A racial justice forum at Roosevelt High on May 12 drew a large and engaged crowd.
Santee GSA leaders Monique Garcia and
Kween Robinson stand by one of the “It’s Just
a Toilet” signs for their campaign for genderneutral restrooms.
identifying peers from using the restroom
that aligned with their gender identity.
The GSA’s “It’s Just a Toilet” campaign
generated more than 700 signatures on a
petition and sparked critical conversations
among peers about making schools safe
and inclusive for all students.
The downside to the students’ wellpublicized victory is that it drew the attention of an anti-gay hate group, which
descended on the neighborhood after the
victory was announced, carrying graphic
signs and shouting anti-LGBTQ messages
to students and staff. “We’re just trying to make people on
our campus feel comfortable,” GSA leader
Kween Robinson told the media about the
protesters. “They’re not in our shoes, so
how could they possibly come and judge?
They don’t know what we’re going through
on a daily basis.”
To counter the protestors, the next day the
community rallied in support of the students
and Santee, declaring the school a “no hate”
zone, and the protestors have not returned.
“These students fought hard to make
sure we have an inclusive community at
Santee,” said Jose Lara, UTLA Area chair
and dean of students at Santee. “We will
continue to say no to hate, say no to bigotry,
and say yes to community.”
Valley East Area
Harding students connect with
Native American heritage
Harding Elementary students who are
members of the Native American AfterSchool Program were treated to a day in a
tipi on May 13 provided by school volunteer
Bill Kelley. The students gathered inside
the tipi, which was erected on the Harding
campus, to hear songs performed by Diné
singer Brendon Young Bear Uranivia and to
learn about the tipis of the Plains Indians.
After the children listened to the singing
and drumming they formed a circle inside
the tipi and created a gratitude poem, each
saying what they were grateful for such as “I
am thankful for my family and friends,” “I
am thankful for this tipi,” and “I am thankful for EVERYTHING.”
Students listen to songs performed by Diné
singer Brendon Young Bear Uranivia inside
the tipi erected at Harding Elementary.
Open for exploration: Leland Street sixth-graders spent months constructing a planetarium
and are now hosting their schoolmates for star
shows inside.
The Native American After-School
Program is a club for Native and NonNative American children, who come
together one day a week to learn about
Native American customs and heritage.
Harding Elementary School has supported the Native American Program for many
years. Teacher Nancy Alderman develops
lessons and teams with retired teacher Candy
Dardarian to provide crafts and projects for
the students. Cultural consultant Brighid Pulskamp-Lewis, a tribal member of the Navajo
Nation, and Family and Community Liaison
Brandy Rodriguez represented the LAUSD
Indian Education Office at the event.
The children in the club have combined
their talents and interests to perform puppet
plays of Native American stories, donate
their artwork for bulletin board displays
throughout the school, and create projects
in the style of many Native American crafts.
Eight of the Native American students had
artwork displayed at the Autry Museum of
the American West as part of a collaboration
with the LAUSD Indian Education Program
for an art contest titled “Many Tribes Many
Nations United As One.”
The LAUSD Indian Education program
is a federally funded program (Title VII)
that provides direct services to American
Indian and Alaskan Native students in
the Los Angeles Unified School District.
Information about the services are available
at www.indianedla.net.
United Teacher • for the latest news: www.utla.net
May 27, 2016
One million signatures gathered to put Prop. 30 extension on ballot
UTLA members start conversation about importance of the proposition.
By Astine Suleimanyan
UTLA Political Organizer
Last month UTLA members were
part of a major effort to collect signatures
for the Children’s Education and Health
Care Protection Act of 2016. In total, our
coalition partners and paid signature
gatherers collected nearly one million
signatures to qualify the measure for
the ballot, with close to 19,000 of those
signatures coming from UTLA.
Through our work, we started a dialogue about the importance of this initiative with thousands of voters in California. We need to continue to have these
conversations to ensure we have the
numbers to win this coming November.
The Children’s Education and
Health Care Protection Act would
extend the funding measures of Prop.
30, which voters passed in 2012. Prop.
30 sent more than $700 million a year
to LAUSD and stopped the cycle of
layoffs and furlough days and kept
educators in the classroom. It also
opened the door for our 2015 contract
victory, which included a 10% raise.
Extending Prop. 30 funding is critical
for making progress on our priorities
going forward, from lowering class
size and fully staffing our schools to
preserving our health coverage, which
is up for negotiation in 2017.
Join the conversation
On Twitter: Follow @ProtectingCA
and use the hashtag
#CACantGoBack
On Facebook:
facebook.com/protectingcalifornia
On Instagram:
instagram.com/protectingcalifornia
For more information on the Children’s
Education and Health Care Protection Act,
visit www.protectingcalifornia.com and
make sure to visit the Protecting California
social media page to help spread the word.
Right: UTLA members from
the Valley turn in petitions in
March in support of the Children’s Education and Health
Care Protection Act. Our work
started a dialogue about the
critical need to extend Prop.
30 funding for our schools.
From the classroom to the ballot box
UTLA June 7 primary endorsements
U.S. CONGRESS
Exercise your political power on June 7 by occupying the ballot box!
Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Vote-by-mail
ballots must be postmarked June 7 and be received
by June 10.
For more information please contact Political Organizer Astine Suleimanyan at [email protected] or
(213) 713-8523.
Miguel Santiago.......................................AD 53
2016 Primary Election State
Legislative Endorsements
Autumn Burke......................................... AD 62
STATE ASSEMBLY
South Gate and Lakewood
Brad Sherman......................................... CD 30
Mike Gipson.............................................AD 64
Sherman Oaks, Reseda, Tarzana, Toluca Lake, Encino,
Canoga Park, Chatsworth, Studio City, and Granada Hills
Patty Lopez..............................................AD 39
Sunland-Tujunga, Sylmar, Shadow Hills, North Hollywood,
Lakeview Terrace, Sun Valley, and Pacoima
Ardy Kassakhian......................................AD 43
La Canada, Glendale, Burbank, and Little Armenia
Matthew Dababneh..................................AD 45
Reseda, Tarzana, Canoga Park, Calabasas, Hidden Hills,
West Hills, Encino, and Northridge
Adrin Nazarian..........................................AD 46
Van Nuys, Panorama City, Studio City, and Sherman Oaks
Jimmy Gomez...........................................AD 51
East Los Angeles, Echo Park, Silverlake, and Eagle Rock
Huntington Park, Staples Center, Downtown L.A., and
Koreatown
Cristina Garcia.........................................AD 58
Downey, Pico Rivera, Montebello, and Cerritos
Reginald Jones-Sawyer.............................AD 59
South Los Angeles, Vermont, and Florence-Graham
Inglewood, Marina Del Rey, Hawthorne, and El Segundo
Anthony Rendon.......................................AD 63
Compton, Carson, and Wilmington
Judy Chu..................................................CD 27
Alhambra, Arcadia, Claremont, South Pasadena, Sierra
Madre, San Gabriel, Rosemead, and Glendora
Adam Schiff.............................................CD 28
Burbank, Glendale, Sunland-Tujunga, Pasadena, Los Feliz,
Griffith Park, Hollywood Hills, East Hollywood, Silverlake,
and West Hollywood
Tony Cardenas.........................................CD 29
Pacoima, San Fernando, Arleta, Van Nuys, Sun Valley,
Sylmar, and Panorama City
Roger Hernandez......................................CD 32
STATE SENATE
Anthony Portantino.................................. SD 25
Azusa, Baldwin Park, Covina, Glendora, El Monte, La Verne,
and West Covina
Glendale, Burbank, Pasadena, Atwater Village, La
Crescenta and Sunland-Tujunga
Ted Lieu...................................................CD 33
Henry Stern.............................................. SD 27
Canoga Park, Tarzana, Chatsworth, Simi Valley, Thousand
Oaks, Moorpark and Calabasas
Ricardo Lara............................................ SD 33
South Gate, Lynwood, Paramount, Signal Hill, and Long
Beach
NO RECOMMENDATION............................ SD 35
San Pedro, Compton, Gardena, and Hawthorne
Malibu, Calabasas, Topanga Canyon, Torrance, Beverly
Hills, Santa Monica, Manhattan Beach, El Segundo and
Palos Verdes
Xavier Becerra.........................................CD 34
Chinatown, Downtown L.A., Highland Park, Koreatown,
Little Tokyo, Boyle Heights, East Los Angeles, and Westlake
Karen Bass..............................................CD 37
Culver City, Beverlywood, Ladera Heights, Crenshaw,
Century City, and South Los Angeles
Lucille Royal-Allard...................................CD 40
Bell, Bell Gardens, Commerce, Cudahy, Downey,
Huntington Park, Paramount, Vernon, and Bellflower
Maxine Waters.........................................CD 43
Inglewood, Hawthorne, Gardena, and Torrance
Isadore Hall..............................................CD 44
Compton, Gardena, Carson, Downey, Lynwood, San Pedro,
South Gate, Wilmington, and Carson
Ricardo Lara
for SD 33
Patty Lopez
for AD 39
Ardy Kassakhian
for AD 43
Autumn Burke
for AD 62
Anthony Rendon
for AD 63
Paid for by Political Action Council of Educators (United Teachers Los Angeles) and Political Action Council of Educators, Sponsored by
Teachers Unions, Including United Teachers Los Angeles (3303 Wilshire Blvd., 10th Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90010). This advertisement was
not authorized or paid for by any candidate for these offices or committee controlled by any candidates for these offices.
7
United Teacher • for the latest news: www.utla.net
May 27, 2016
From the treasurer
UTLA’s new budget Builds the Future and Funds the Fight
Dues restructuring allows for more services and support for members and a stronger union.
By Arlene Inouye
UTLA Treasurer
Health & Human Services
The UTLA budget that was passed at the
House of Representatives meeting on May
4 was the culmination of much more than
the typical UTLA budget cycle of feedback
and revisions. For me, it was the completion of a journey that started five years ago
when I began serving as UTLA Treasurer
and first heard about our structural deficit
and discovered that UTLA was heading
toward unsustainability.
Many people shared my concerns about
finding a way to address our financial
situation, and after numerous conversations with members, many articles in the
UNITED TEACHER, a few task forces,
and garnering support from our state and
national unions, we had a breakthrough
in 2014 with the election of a new UTLA
leadership team that was ready for action.
Priority one was building an organizing
union and securing a solid contract agreement. From the organizing that began with
red shirt Tuesdays and led to the huge Stand
at Grand Rally, UTLA members working
together were able to win a 10.3% salary
increase after eight years of stagnant wages.
Following that victory, last summer we
set out to honestly and straightforwardly discuss our low dues structure with
members. This led to a proposal to increase
dues by $19 a month for full-time members.
In a political climate shaped by the antiunion Friedrichs v. CTA lawsuit, together
we were not only affirming the value of
being a UTLA member, but we were taking
it a step further in choosing to increase our
dues for a greater purpose. The threats
before us are real, and UTLA members
want a fighting union ready to advocate
for a fully funded public education system
and push back against unregulated charter
schools that aren’t held to the same rules of
accountability. With unity and resolve, in
January 2016 UTLA members voted 82%
in support of “Build the Future, Fund the
Fight” and a new dues structure.
The additional revenue will eliminate
our structural deficit, provide additional
support at our school sites, and strengthen
UTLA by adding needed staff positions,
legal resources, and media support. All
members now will belong to all of our
state and national unions (CFT, CTA, AFT,
NEA, and the AFL-CIO), completing the
merger stated in our UTLA Constitution
when it was first formed in 1970.
Together we have turned UTLA’s
finances around. We have a positive
budget for the first time in many years
and have added resources and positions
so members can have a stronger and
healthier UTLA backing them. We know
that the attacks will continue, but we are
on the right track to keep building the
movement for the schools L.A. students
and our members deserve.
For more information, contact [email protected].
Read more about the new dues structure and benefits, including UTLA Group
Legal Services, on pages 12 and 13.
Highlights of the UTLA 2016-17 budget
The dues increase approved by members makes the following possible:
• Funding of a media campaign, including a focus on Spanish and other
non-English-language media.
• Increases to the eight UTLA Area Budgets for organizing efforts at schools
and areas.
• UTLA Group Legal Services for all of our members. This means that UTLA
will have access to a statewide panel of attorneys who will provide more comprehensive legal services support for member defense, credential revocation,
and workers compensation. All members will also have access to a free hour
of legal consultation on employment-related matters and a half-hour on nonemployment issues.
• The addition of nonmanagement staff positions that will support members
at the school site in specific ways:
Charter school representation staff member (second position) to support organizing charter school members and to negotiate and maintain the 12 existing
charter schools unionized with UTLA.
Representational and grievance coordinator to support Area representatives
by addressing the backlog of more than 3,000 pending grievances as well as
handling legal service referrals and engaging directly with members, whether
in trainings on how to handle grievances, working with members at schools
around class-action grievances, or working with schools around administrators
who create a large amount of grievances.
Parent-community organizer (a second position) to support our school sites
with organizing around charter takeover attempts, co-locations, parent trigger
campaigns, and building sustainable neighborhood schools. Privatizers are also
currently hiring parent organizers (for example, the California Charter School
Association is currently in the process of hiring 10 more parent organizers).
Research specialist to help our research director provide intense budget analysis
and support our task forces and various campaigns (for example, fighting the
Broad-Walmart plan, extending the Prop. 30 school funding measure, lowering
class size, and tracking charter school money). This additional position will also
provide essential information to chapter chairs and areas on rosters and other data.
Two additional Area representatives to support members and school sites.
• Increases to the CTA/NEA and CFT/AFT conference and conventions funding
for state and national leadership development and governance opportunities.
The UTLA budget process
• Began February 3 with the introduction of an expanded UTLA Budget/
Audit Committee, made of UTLA members, with increased duties and oversight functions.
• Budget moves through the officers, managers, Board of Directors (two
meetings), and then to the House of Representatives for approval on May 4.
• At the May 4 House meeting, two amendments to the budget, based on
feedback from the Budget Audit Committee and Board of Directors, were
introduced that balance our budget with the Strike Fund and put our financial
house in order.
8
Everybody loves the sunshine, but too much can be seriously risky. UV radiation is the leading cause
of skin cancer, the most common form of cancer in the United States. Sun exposure also accelerates
the aging process, causing more than 80% of wrinkles and other visible signs of aging. The good
news? You can still enjoy the sun, as long as you protect your skin.
Seize the days and practice safe sun
Avoid the sun and
use sunscreen.
Stay out of the sun from
10 a.m.–4 p.m. If you can’t,
apply at least SPF 30 every
day, even if it’s cloudy.
A little bit of sunshine
is good for you.
Don’t completely shun the
sun. 10–15 minutes a day can
lift your mood and help you
sleep better.
When in doubt, use the
shadow rule.
If your shadow is shorter than
you are, it means harmful
UV rays are intense and you
should head for the shade.
Visit kp.org/sunscreen to get smart about skin cancer prevention.
Services covered under a Kaiser Permanente health plan are provided and/or arranged by Kaiser Permanente health plans: Kaiser Foundation Health Plan,
Inc., in Northern and Southern California and Hawaii • Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Colorado • Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Georgia, Inc., Nine
Piedmont Center, 3495 Piedmont Road NE, Atlanta, GA 30305, 404-364-7000 • Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the Mid-Atlantic States, Inc., in Maryland,
Virginia, and Washington, D.C., 2101 E. Jefferson St., Rockville, MD 20852 • Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the Northwest, 500 NE Multnomah St., Suite
100, Portland, OR 97232. Self-insured plans are administered by Kaiser Permanente Insurance Company, One Kaiser Plaza, Oakland, CA 94612.
Please recycle. 60356017 October 2015
With proper precautions, you can have fun in the sun.
United Teacher • for the latest news: www.utla.net
May 27, 2016
From the elementary & secondary VPs
Tackling co-location and excessive testing
Making progress for our students.
By Juan Ramirez & Colleen Schwab
UTLA Elementary & Secondary Vice Presidents
In 2005, there were 58 charter schools in
the Los Angeles Unified School District. In
2015, there were 221, which makes LAUSD
the school district with the most charters
in the nation. The newly released “Fiscal
Impact of Charter Schools on LAUSD”
report makes it clear that this unchecked
growth of independent charters has had
a negative impact on our schools.
Co-location—when charter operators
take space on existing campuses—has
been part of that unchecked growth.
Over the past few school years, LAUSD
has been receiving a lot of requests from
charter school operators to co-locate. This
year, there were more than 110 petitions
from charter operators, including the
existing 57 co-located charter schools.
UTLA formed a co-location committee last
year to deal with some of the issues that
arise at school sites due to co-locations.
UTLA’s research department was able
to acquire information that we had been
asking the District for for many years re-
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10
garding oversight costs, collection of fees
and fines when charters are given more
space than they need, and other issues. It
was shocking to learn that LAUSD does
not collect the full 3% from co-located
charters that it is entitled to for oversight
costs (the District currently collects only
1%). The District has also not collected
fines from co-located charters that overprojected their enrollment and were given
more space than they needed. For years,
the District has left money on the table
by not charging charters schools what it
could under the law. LAUSD claims that
there is not enough money to support our
students, yet it allows those charter fees
to go uncollected.
This year, we met with all seven LAUSD
School Board members, shared our findings, and proposed that these fees and
fines be collected, as well as reviewing all
guidelines of Proposition 39, the law governing co-location. The majority of School
Board members showed some agreement when we presented our findings as
well as our request to find a solution to
this situation. Only one Board member
showed her disagreement by saying that
she thought that it wasn’t right to go back
and collect these fees retroactively. After
some back and forth with some School
Board members, we found out that there
were resolutions already on the books that
would accomplish much of what we are
asking. However, these resolutions are
only on the books, and nothing has been
done to implement them.
This is where we as educators who care
for all the students of LAUSD come into
play. On Tuesday, June 14, we will continue
pressing the School Board to follow up
on those resolutions by rallying in front
of the Board meeting. By June 14, schools
will be out of session, and we have plenty
of time to organize with our parents and
community for this action.
The economic impact report underscores what will happen if we don’t start
working on a solution to the unmitigated
growth of charter schools. The School
Board will discuss this report at the upcoming June 14 meeting, and it is important for us to be there and witness what
our elected representatives do to protect
all the students of Los Angeles.
We are glad that we started this longoverdue conversation and now many are
talking about this issue. We stand by what
we believe, and we’ll be willing and ready
to explain the consequences of this issue
if not resolved. I had the opportunity recently to explain it on Univision/Spanish
United Teacher • for the latest news: www.utla.net
radio, and our message was well received.
I realize that there are many questions, and
in the coming months we are going to go
out and talk with the community.
There is a chant in Spanish that says,
“Maestro callado, jamás sera escuchado!”
which translates to “a silenced teacher will
never be heard.” It is our duty to defend
what is right for our students.
—Juan Ramirez
Is this the end of the school year or the
beginning of new challenges (or what I like
to call “opportunities in the making”)? As
Juan has set forth in his column, charter
school co-location, while presenting challenges, has also presented opportunities:
the opportunity to organize with parents
to support our school, for teachers to come
together to fight for their students, and
even for administrators to join the fight
to protect our schools from the loss of precious instructional space. UTLA is gearing
up for a community demonstration at the
School Board on June 14 around the fiscal
impact of charter schools, the funds owed
to the District, and the issue of colocations
throughout our city. Please join us!
For many months, we have been
engaged in a conversation with the District
on the issue of excessive testing, particularly at elementary schools—a conversation
that has been driven by your feedback. At
one school, a fifth-grade teacher indicated
that she gave 18 tests, some administered
multiple times, during the school year.
When it comes to DIBELS, UTLA firmly
believes that if a student has reclassified,
why should the student have to be subjected to a test that is nothing more than
redundant at that point?
Fortunately, the federal government has
seen some of the light. In the fall, President
Barack Obama said that his administration
had overrelied on testing and announced
new guidelines, saying kids spend too
much time taking “unnecessary” exams in
schools. There is hope on the horizon that
“testing” can be redefined and redirected.
But it will take persistence and partaking
in the opportunity to work with the District through the newly established task
force on testing. As of the writing of this
article, we are on task force meeting No.
2 to discuss excessive testing, and hopefully the elimination of tests that invade
instructional time. We had a partial victory
in April when LAUSD announced that
school sites did not need to administer
SBAC interim assessments for the remainder of the school year. Stay tuned!
May 27, 2016
What is also promising is the search
for a new superintendent in Valley East.
It is not a mystery to me or any other
UTLA leader that educators want a collaborative, transparent, and fair-minded
individual who understands schools and
their surrounding communities, who has
experience in the classroom, and who appreciates the demands of a 21st-century
LAUSD school.
This brings me to the issue of student
discipline, or lack thereof. Many schools
are certainly struggling to implement discipline absent the resources to support
what is needed. In working with several
schools, we are attempting to provide the
support to correct student behavior, but
the problem is massive. Our educators
are fatigued with trying to deal with discipline issues and keep their instruction
alive. Something has to change. We must
take the “opportunity” to rethink student
behavior and support. This summer, I will
be meeting with the District to discuss this
topic—another opportunity for change.
Let’s all think about where we were at
the beginning of the year, where we are
now, and where we can go this coming
year. Wishing you a restful and joyous
summer!
—Colleen Schwab
Anything on
your mind?
Share it with UTLA members
by writing a letter to the editor.
Send letters by email to [email protected]
or by fax to (213) 487-3319.
11
United Teacher • for the latest news: www.utla.net
May 27, 2016
Building our future with
Message from the officers
Dear UTLA members,
The Build the Future, Fund the Fight campaign to change UTLA’s dues
structure was unprecedented. At a time when public sector unions are under
attack and union dues are being challenged in the courts, we did what very
few of our privatizer opponents thought was possible. Not only did UTLA
members maintain their support for the fight-back against Eli Broad and the
privatization efforts, but our members voted 82% YES to increase our dues.
UTLA members want a strong and active union to fight for the Schools L.A.
Students Deserve.
We have not gone unnoticed. Our story has inspired brothers and sisters
who are experiencing the same threats every day—legal assaults on their
rights to unionize, austerity campaigns that are shutting down schools and
privatizing public services, and the ongoing demonizing of educators.
It was the tremendous work of so many members that made the BFFF
victory possible. You had those one-on-one conversations, you worked the
roster sheets, you held chapter meetings and put flyers in boxes. It is the collective work of our chapter leaders and members that has made a stronger
and sustainable UTLA possible.
In Unity,
UTLA Officers
Alex, Cecily, Betty, Juan, Colleen, Arlene, and Daniel
Membership dues changes effective September 1
First reflected on October 5 paycheck
The Build the Future, Fund the Fight initiative passed by members
authorized an increase in UTLA monthly dues. These rates will still
leave us paying among the lowest member dues of educator unions
in California but will allow us to erase our structural deficit and fund
our fight-back for the challenges ahead.
OLD RATE NEW RATE
Member, Full Time....................................... $63.33$82.35
Member, Part-time Sub............................... $31.88$41.18
Member, Associate...................................... $15.73$20.59
Member, Children Center Full Time............. $54.25$69.73
Member, Children Center Part-Time Sub.... $31.88$41.18
“Two for the price of one” union membership
As a UTLA member, you belong to a
community of colleagues working together to advance the cause of public
education and to advocate for the Schools
L.A. Students Deserve. This community
includes affiliation with state and national
teachers’ unions.
Effective September 1, 2016, as
called for by the passage of the Build
the Future, Fund the Fight vote, UTLA will
be a “merged” local union. All members
will belong to both of the national teachers’ unions (the American Federation of
Teachers and the National Education Association) and their state-level affiliates
(the California Federation of Teachers and
the California Teachers Association). Previously, members had to choose to join
one or the other.
Being a merged local will give us a
much stronger voice on the state and
national level, including with the AFT-affiliated L.A. County Federation of Labor. It
also means that members essentially will
be getting “two for the price of one” union
membership and can now access more
individual member benefits. Our affiliates
offer an array of programs and services
for our families and ourselves, including
competitive prices on financial, insurance, and health products and discounts
on shopping, travel, and entertainment.
Enhanced legal protection through UTLA Group Legal Services
By becoming full members of all of our state and national unions
through the dues vote, UTLA members will have access to the UTLA
Previous UTLA Legal Services
UTLA Group Legal Services (GLS) after 9/1/16
Free Consultation
All employment-related or
nonemployment-related issues: 30 minutes
Free Consultation
Nonemployment-related: 30 minutes
General employment-related: 1 hour
Temporary teacher dismissal: 2 hours
Probationary nonreelection: 3 hours
Child abuse-related allegations: 3 hours
Permanent Teacher Dismissal
Funding for legal services up to $2,500
Specific Areas for Funding
Funding for permanent dismissals up to $2,500
Funding for credential defense up to $2,000
12
Group Legal Services program effective September 1, 2016. As shown below,
the GLS program will provide a far greater level of legal services.
Permanent Teacher Dismissal/Suspension
Funding for legal services up to $20,000
Funding for appeal up to $7,000
Specific Areas for Funding
Funding for permanent dismissals up to $20,000
Funding for credential defense up to $4,000
Funding for STRS Disability Retirement assistance up to $5,000
Funding for employment-related criminal defense up to $5,000
How to access
your new
member benefits
& discounts
UTLA members will belong
to all state and national
teachers’ unions after
September 1, 2016.
NEA
neamb.com/learnmore
AFT
aft.org/benefits
CTA
cta.org/en/Member-Services/
Member-Benefits
CFT
cft.org/member-services/
benefits-guide
United Teacher • for the latest news: www.utla.net
May 27, 2016
B
LA
T
U
ng
oard, Ma
yw
o
“This Build the Future, Fund the Fight
campaign confirmed that educators
believe in protecting public education
for all students. The financial restructuring will give UTLA the resources
to organize our schools, combat the
attacks by the corporate reformers, and
deepen our work with parents and the community to advocate for what our students need.”
Ac
ademy
Ayde B
r av
B
LA
T
U
od
o,
R o dn
h School
Hig
“I am looking forward to being part of a
bigger national family of union educators by belonging to both the NEA and
the AFT without having to pay double
dues. I’ll also feel more secure professionally knowing that we have enhanced
legal support through Group Legal Services. I’ve never had cause to need legal
help before, but it’s good to know it is there.”
oard, Los A
es
el
ey Lus
ain
,
a fully funded UTLA
Launching an aggressive public relations campaign to amplify our voice on education
issues and help shape public opinion. As first steps, UTLA is expanding our Spanishlanguage media outreach and funding a major media campaign as a line item in the new
UTLA budget.
Investing in strategic research to dig deep into LAUSD finances to support contract
bargaining, to connect the dots between billionaire outsiders and local politicians, and
to support charter school organizing. The independent charter fiscal impact report (read
more on the cover) is one example of the power of strategic research to drive dialogue and
change. The new UTLA budget funds a new researcher position to expand the department.
Karen Macias
LA Board, D
el
“Over the
past few
years,
my school
community
has organized
to get rid of a
dysfunctional administrator and to shine
a spotlight on toxic polluters near our
campus. UTLA staff supported us all along
the way in this work, and I am happy
that through the dues increase, we will
be bringing aboard more staff to help
school sites.”
lementary
Erasing our structural deficit. UTLA had been hampered by an outdated dues structure that
hadn’t changed since UTLA was founded. Powered by the new dues structure, this month
the UTLA House of Representatives passed a proactive, balanced budget for fiscal year 2016
(details on page 8).
UT
oE
A fully funded UTLA will have the resources to organize for positive change, including fighting for sustainable
community schools and adequate funding for public education, while pushing back against schemes like the
Broad-Walmart plan to dismantle LAUSD, court cases that target tenure and due process, and attacks on
health care and secure retirement. UTLA recently passed a spending plan that affirms the priorities detailed
during the Build the Future campaign:
u
,
tz
Am
-L
Resources targeted toward key areas
Hiring more staff and providing more resources to support your school site in contract
enforcement, protection of members’ rights, and site-driven work on issues such as
dysfunctional principals, clean and safe schools, Prop. 39 co-locations, restorative justice,
excessive testing, and more. The new UTLA budget funds six additional staff positions,
including a parent-community organizer, a charter school organizer, a representation
coordinator to improve efficiency in the area of member advocacy and contract
enforcement, and additional Area representatives.
Expanding legal protection to UTLA members through UTLA Group Legal Services.
Read more about these vital services on the facing page.
13
United Teacher • for the latest news: www.utla.net
May 27, 2016
RUSS CURTIS
NEA & AFT affiliate actions
Raising up UTLA members’ work
Affiliate awards acknowledge success and celebrate dedication.
John Perez, with UTLA-AFT Vice President Betty Forrester, accepts the
prestigious Ben Rust Award at the CFT Convention.
fee” to full membership status, and the
focus on a new, more accurate database
will build capacity for UTLA organizing.
By UTLA/AFT Vice President Betty Forrester &
UTLA/NEA Vice President Cecily Myart-Cruz
Part of the work we do, as union activists on the local, state, and national level,
is to celebrate victories and acknowledge
outstanding success. Each of our state and
national affiliate unions have formalized
ways to raise up individual members’
work. As your affiliate vice presidents,
we are proud to call out the awards that
were presented locally and statewide.
UTLA was also acknowledged this year
by both our affiliates for the achievements
of our Communications Department staff.
They are more than deserving, and we are
proud of the work they do to support our
union on a daily basis.
These awards presented to educators, our
staff, and community members reflect that
working together for the Schools L.A. Students Deserve is indeed a righteous endeavor.
Perez wins Ben Rust award
At the CFT Convention this year, John
Perez, former UTLA president and current
UTLA-Retired president, was given the Ben
Rust award, the most prestigious honor that
the CFT bestows upon its members or friends.
John Perez has been an activist in United
Teachers Los Angeles almost since it was
formed as California’s largest merged local
union in the early 1970s.
Perez consistently supported leadership development and teacher organizing.
As a high school social studies teacher,
Perez served his colleagues as a site representative at Roosevelt High School. He
went on to serve on the UTLA House of
Representatives from the East Area and
eventually the UTLA Board of Directors.
He was elected a union officer, serving as
UTLA’s secondary vice president and NEA
affiliate vice president; and, in 2002, Perez
was elected president of United Teachers
Los Angeles.
Perez led an ambitious political drive in
2003 and boosted member participation to
finally elect a majority of UTLA-endorsed
candidates to the LAUSD School Board
in 2003. Under Perez’s leadership, UTLA
took on Eli Broad and his millionaire and
billionaire friends. The Broad side spent
$2 million and UTLA spent $2 million,
and UTLA beat the Broad candidates in
all three elections. David Tokofsky was reelected; Jon Lauritzen beat Caprice Young;
14
and Marguerite LaMotte beat Genethia
Hayes. At the time it was the most expensive school board race in U.S. history.
Perez has been a strong advocate for
professional learning and, beginning in the
1990s, was a regular participant in TURN,
the Teacher Union Reform Network. He has
played a role in UTLA’s campaign to organize
educators at Los Angeles charter schools, and
he currently sits on the board of a UTLArepresented conversion charter school.
Retirement has meant continued activism for Perez. He currently serves as the
elected president of UTLA-Retired, AFT
Local 1021-R, and continues to serve on the
UTLA Board of Directors. He also represents
UTLA-Retired on the all-unions Health Benefits Committee in Los Angeles Unified.
Perez has provided continuity on the
Constitution Committee as well as its
Budget Committee, which laid the groundwork for this year’s successful “Build the
Future, Fund the Fight” campaign. On February 10, UTLA members voted for a dues
increase to fund more union action and
ramp up the fight against the billionaires,
including his old nemesis Eli Broad.
In 2015, Perez was elected president of
the newly formed statewide division of the
CFT, the Council of Retired Members, and
in that capacity, serves as an ex-officio on
the CFT Executive Council. His leadership
roles as a retiree now provide a solid voice
in political and legislative issues for retired
educators, as well as those still working in
California schools and colleges.
CFT “Pride of the Union” awards
The California Federation of Teachers handed
out “Pride of the Union” recognition at its
convention in San Francisco March 11 to 13.
Union Activism Award: UTLA’s Build
the Future; Fund the Fight Campaign
UTLA activists, leadership, staff, and
employees, with affiliate support, ran a
campaign where 82% of the membership
voted to raise their union dues to fully
fund their union. The campaign involved
more than 738 school site visits, more than
27,000 personal conversations, and 17,383
signatures collected on a support petition.
During the process, UTLA’s membership
grew as people changed from “agency
Educational Issues Award: UTLA
Adult Education Committee
Over the past three years, LAUSD has
tried to completely eliminate the educational opportunities for adults. UTLA’s Adult
Education committee used this threat as an
opportunity to rally teachers, students, and
the community and was successful in not
only keeping the program through tough
financial years but was able to build opportunities to meet the needs of adult learners,
with classes for older adults and adults with
disabilities, career tech, ESL, high school
diplomas, and adult basic skills work.
In the past two years, under the Local
Control Funding Formula requirements,
the protocols for decisions around distribution of funding have been evolving, and
our Adult Ed Committee has risen, again,
to fight for funding to support the classes
and programs that their students and communities need. The strategy involved petitions, letter-writing, town hall meetings,
student speakers at board meetings, and
delegations to elected officials. All this resulted in resources for approximately 14,000
additional students. Their next fight is to
pass Assembly Bill 1846 for a 50% increase
in funding for adult education programs.
Dedicated Unionist Award: Juan Ramirez
Juan’s expertise in elementary and bilingual issues has benefited UTLA and CFT
in many ways, including in his service as
southern vice president on the CFT EC
TK-12 Council. His efforts to bring all the
union work and educational issues to the
Spanish-language community have started
to be recognized in L.A. as more and more
community members are participating with
UTLA on issues around the Schools L.A.
Students Deserve.
Emerging Union Leadership Award:
Jennifer Villaryo
Jennifer is a new AFT Board of Director member in UTLA’s West Area. She is
active in organizing the 140 sites in her
area with leadership development and
capacity building, guided by a strong
belief in responsibility to members and
the organization. She has worked with
parents in her school community and led
a successful Walk-In on February 17 to
reclaim her school for public education.
As a member of the executive board for
UTLA-CFT Local 1021, she has stepped up
to learn and participate in leadership of
events. As a CFT member she was excited
to be part of the lobby days last year, and
there are more great leadership opportunities in her future as she works for sustainable neighborhood community schools.
Political Involvement Award: UTLA
President Alex Caputo Pearl
Under Alex’s leadership, UTLA’s endorsed candidates won three out of four
LAUSD Board of Education Campaigns
in the recent election cycle, despite being
outspent three to one by corporate reform
supporters and privatizers.
UTLA Communications awards
UTLA’s Communications Department staff
won numerous CTA and CFT awards for work
across all our platforms, from social media to
the UNITED TEACHER.
CTA Awards
Newsletters & Newspapers: Kim Turner,
UNITED TEACHER
Website: Tammy Lyn Gann
Jose Colmenares Award: Tammy Lyn
Gann, “Stand at Grand” rally video
CFT Awards
Special Award, “Kick Ass” Campaign:
UTLA Communications Staff, “Build the
Future, Fund the Fight”
Jim Herndon Award: Tammy Lyn Gann,
“Fighting Back Against National and International Attacks on Unions” video
First place, Best News Writing: Kim
Turner for “Blasting the Broad-Walmart
Attack”
First place, Best Original Photograph: Kim
Turner, “Making a Stand at Grand”
First place, Best Tabloid Newspaper: Kim
Turner, UNITED TEACHER
First place, Best Use of Social Media:
Tammy Lyn Gann, facebook.com/
UTLAnow
Second place, Best Website: Tammy Lyn
Gann, utla.net
Second place, Best Feature Writing: Kim
Turner, “The Parent-Community Connection”
Second place, Best Use of Graphics: “Build
the Future, Fund the Fight” campaign
WHO awards honor union activists
Every year, UTLA/NEA recognizes deserving union and community members for their
efforts in providing outstanding leadership and
advocating for public education. This year, 10
union members and a Chamber of Commerce
executive were recognized for their work at a
ceremony held at the Reef Restaurant on April
25.The awards were given by the WHO Planning Committee, based on nominations from
fellow union members.
United Teacher • for the latest news: www.utla.net
WHO award winners for 2015-16 with UTLA/NEA Vice President Cecily Myart-Cruz. From
left: Tom Rubio, Sonia Martin-Solis, Efren Martinez, Cecily Myart-Cruz, Claudia Rodriguez,
L. Cynthia Matthews, Rosalyn Williams, Jennifer Albright, Sydney Yarbrough-Baune, Darlene
Haezaert-Caraveo, and Erica Huerta.
LOCAL WHO AWARDS
Jennifer Albright
Jennifer Albright has been a chapter
chair at Taper Avenue School for 17 years,
a steering committee member, an Area
Cluster Leader, and an NEA/RA delegate.
Her many union political activities include
serving as a bus captain for rallies, organizing multiple phone banks for the successful
reelections of Tom Torlakson and Richard
Vladivic and passage of Proposition 30
and 32, and organizing for the Build the
Future, Fund the Fight campaign. While
chapter chair, she removed an extremely
abusive lemon principal from her school
who harassed teachers for union involvement, forced them to teach to the test, and
prided himself on violating the collective bargaining agreement. Through her
shrewd use of a major media campaign,
parent and community organizing, and the
support of then-UTLA representative Mike
Gipson, Albright galvanized her community to have the principal removed. For her
work she was labeled a “trouble-maker”
by the District, but the teachers and the
community rallied to her side, thwarting
the District’s multiple attempts to have her
removed. Jennifer Albright is the epitome
of a UTLA grassroots union political activist and is the image of UTLA’s future.
Darlene Haezaert-Caraveo
As a teacher at Marina Del Rey Middle
School, a school that hasn’t always been
union-friendly, Darlene Haezaert-Caraveo has worked tirelessly to organize and
help the members of her chapter despite
not serving as chapter chair. A longtime
member of the West Area’s steering committee, she is now the recording secretary
and never fails to get minutes to the committee in a concise, timely fashion. She’s
always at UTLA’s actions ready to do whatever needs to be done, whether it’s walking
the line or doing security. She stepped up to
help the charter organizing committee and
loved going to the homes of teachers from
Aspire Charter Schools to help organize
them. On top of it all, she found the time to
run and win a spot on UTLA’s PACE Committee because she’s so concerned with the
current political forces that stand against us.
The only way she could do more is if there
was more time in the day.
Erica Huerta
Erica Huerta is a rising star in the East
Area. She is a member of the steering committee and the organizing team and one
of our leaders for the National Walk-In
on February 17. Erica began showing her
leadership ability as a participant on the
steering committee. Her well-thought-out
comments and perspective reflect the observation and listening she does when communicating with her UTLA colleagues. She
is a caring teacher who believes in social
justice and educational equity. Erica is a
leader in her community. She helps teens
learn about their culture by teaching them
traditional indigenous Danza, and their
performances have been the highlight of
our East Area events. She began to shine
as she led many of the organizing team
presentations during East Area meetings.
She also spoke against privatizers at the
Stop Eli Broad Action at the School Board.
Erica’s belief in the Schools L.A. Students
Deserve, her dedication to the message, and
her ability to connect it to union activism
make her worthy of the WHO Award.
L. Cynthia Matthews
L. Cynthia Matthews has been the
chapter chair at Markham Middle School
for the past two years. Before being displaced from the school, she had done great
work in building a relationship of trust and
respect with the community there and has
protected members’ contractual rights as
well. Cynthia has been on the South Area
steering committee for the past three years.
She is currently the South Area treasurer.
She has taken leadership roles in organizing area events such as holidays parties,
end-of-the-year parties, and socials at the
leadership conference. Cynthia also does
area work at the political level. She has
been a regular phone banker for School
Board races and for the Build the Future,
Fund the Fight campaign. She has also
committed to visiting schools to recruit
chapter chairs for schools that don’t currently have a chapter chair. In addition, she
visited schools to educate members on the
importance of the Build the Future, Fund
the Fight initiative. South Area leaders
know that they can count on Cynthia Matthews supporting all of the area actions
and campaigns.
Stacey Michaels
As a chapter chair Stacey Michaels advocates for her teachers by fighting for
representation in shared decisions and to
preserve our contract. Stacey was active
in mobilizing the vote for Tom Torlakson’s reelection as State Superintendent of
Public Instruction. She also phone-banked
several hours to ensure that the Build the
Future, Fund the Fight initiative was a
success. As a Harbor activist, she is a force.
She organizes Carson teachers to phone
bank and is active in Democratic and
May 27, 2016
UTLA members at the CFT Convention, where numerous members—along with the union
itself—were spotlighted with “Pride of the Union” awards.
UTLA politics, ensuring that the
public school voice is not forgotten. She represents Harbor on
the UTLA PACE committee and
was elected Political Activist of
the Month for September 2015.
She keeps the Harbor informed
of all issues concerning education at the state level. She is
the second vice president of the
San Pedro Democratic Club and
an associate to the Los Angeles
Country Democratic Party.
She also serves on CTA State
Council and CTA committees
to be part of bringing our voice
to the state level.
Claudia Rodriguez
Claudia Rodriguez is deserving of a UTLA Local WHO
Award due to her exemplary
service to UTLA/NEA and its WHO winner Stacey Michaels with UTLA/NEA VP
membership. She has been in- Cecily Myart-Cruz and CTA VP Dr. Theresa Montaño.
strumental in all the work we
have been doing in the Central Area and elections committee and an active member
UTLA as a whole. She is the chapter chair of the Hispanic Caucus. Tom has attended
at 49th Street Elementary, where she pro- the NEA Representative Assembly since
vides crucial information to her members 2001, where he assists in registering CTA
regarding teachers’ rights and responsibili- delegates every year. He also served as a
ties. As chapter chair, she assists teachers state contact for facilitating floor business.
in resolving issues that involve school
administration and she encourages her Rosalyn Williams
colleagues to become informed about the
Speaking to the LAUSD School Board is
latest legislation and union actions that no problem for Rosalyn Williams because
are occurring. Additionally, she provides she is very, very passionate about health
the moral support her colleagues need and human services professionals and the
and actively promotes teacher unity. She critical support they provide our students.
is part of the Central Area steering com- She has been called on more than once to
mittee, where she is readily available when speak with School Board members, and she
needed at meetings and at actions hap- also is a valuable member of our steering
pening at different schools in the area. committee and has worked on previous task
During the Build the Future, Fund the forces representing psychiatric social workers
Fight campaign, she reached many chapter (PSWs). Rosalyn not only does a good job
chairs with information about the vote keeping her members informed as the PSW’s
through cluster calls and phone banking. chapter chair but she is willing to teach and
She has also played an important role on share about PSWs with UTLA and others so
the UTLA Leadership Conference planning her members are better represented.
committee for the past three years. UTLA
is lucky to have such an outstanding and Sydney Yarbrough-Baune
committed teacher as member of its union.
Sydney Yarbrough-Baune is deserving
of a UTLA Local WHO Award. Her activTom Rubio
ism in the face of privatization schemes
As a chapter chair, he advocates for his and destructive assaults on public eduteachers, fighting for lower class sizes and cation has been amazing. As a chapter
an equal voice in school affairs and the chair, she advocates for a teacher voice
shared decision making council. He also in school site decisions and defends the
served as a counselor in his school. As a UTLA-LAUSD contract in the face of the
Harbor activist, he secured a place for the District’s draconian mandates. She also
Harbor Area to meet monthly and he orga- fights for special education teachers to
nizes his cluster to ensure that rallies and ensure that caseloads are appropriate. As
activities are supported by teachers. At CTA a Harbor Area activist, she is emerging as
(continued on page 19)
State Council, he has served on UTLA/CTA
15
United Teacher • for the latest news: www.utla.net
May 27, 2016
Keeping track
Online UTLA voting: How has it been working?
The option has the potential to engage the full power of our membership.
go to press, we are on the cusp of having a
third. Now is a good time to take a look at
what we have learned from implementing
online voting.
Has online voting saved money?
By Daniel Barnhart
UTLA Secretary
When UTLA members voted to approve
(by a vote of 6,897 to 2,018 in May 2014) a
member-led and member-driven initiative
to approve online voting as an option for
“all UTLA contractual ratifications, initiatives, referendums, and any other citywide votes,” our membership took a bold
step toward integrating new technologies
into our democratic union.
It has been two years since the passage
of the initiative, and in that time we have
had two full membership votes, and as we
Unfortunately, no. In fact, UTLA has had
increased costs to implement the initiative.
We have had to allocate money to contract
with an additional outside vendor for all
citywide votes. Last year’s contract ratification vote, done at school sites, had an
additional cost of roughly $8,000 (the least
expensive bid) to provide online voting to
the 20 members who registered to do so. The
BFFF voting had the increased cost associated with the increased security of a mail
ballot election, and in that case adding an
online voting option was a small part of the
overall cost of that election. (Online voting
for this current cycle has a direct cost of
$3,000, with no savings in reduced printing.)
People assumed that more online voting
would mean that we could save on the
printing of paper ballots and envelopes
and the reduced cost of distributing and
managing the counting of the paper ballots.
However, in neither election were we able
to see any savings in terms of printing
fewer paper ballots.
Additionally, the added complexity
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of maintaining two simultaneous voting
systems, while ensuring that both have
secret ballot protections, and the integrity
of “one member/one vote” have multiplied the logistical challenges of these elections. We anticipate that properly integrating both the upcoming paper ballot vote
and online vote may delay the reporting
of complete election results by a day or
more, as we will have to verify that no
person can vote twice.
Has online voting increased
participation?
It is hard to say. On the one hand, the
most recent votes have both had record
turnouts (83% for the school site contract
ratification election, compared with 27%
turnout on the online voting initiative itself,
and for recent mail ballot elections, 51%
on BFFF and 21% for the pre-online 2014
Board of Directors and officer elections). So
when online voting has been offered, more
people have certainly voted. But as I used
to teach in my science classes, “Correlation
does not prove causation.” There have been
a number of external factors, things that
have been going on within our union in
the past two years, that have led to greater
member engagement and greater voter participation. Our well-supported school-site
organizing, our increased communication,
and our focus on keeping better track of
who our members are (and how to reach
them) are more likely to explain the increased participation.
So if online voting costs more
and doesn’t necessarily increase
participation, should we continue?
While some could argue that we
shouldn’t waste money on a system that
can cost a lot and can’t be shown to increase
turnout, I think a decision to retreat on
online voting at this time would be shortsighted. Online voting, if implemented
properly, can help our union reach the hardto-reach members, who don’t always show
up on school-site rosters and often have to
use the “Challenge Ballot” process to have
their voice heard, and their vote registered.
For the upcoming vote, we have reached
out to every itinerant, health and human
services professional, substitute, or centrally funded member to encourage them
to register to vote online for the contract
ratification vote. While our last contract
vote had 93% turnout at school sites, we
only had 40% turnout among itinerant,
health and human services, and centrally
funded groups of members. Online voting
can be a useful tool to make sure that we
reach every corner of our membership
and engage the full power of our entire
membership in key questions about our
direction as a union.
How to register to vote online
for future votes
1. Fill out the Voter Registration
form on this page, sign, and date it.
2. Send the form in (via email to
[email protected] or fax to 213368-6231).
3. Check your email (the Membership Department will send you an
email with a verification question).
4. Respond to the email from the
UTLA Membership Department (your
registration is not complete until we
have received your response).
5. Around election time, check your
email for a voter notification and PIN
number from our online election vendor.
UTLA online voter registration form
To sign up to vote online for UTLA balloting, please
fill out and submit the below information.
Name
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Floor, L.A., CA 90010; fax it to (213) 368-6231; or send a high-resolution
cell phone picture of the completed form to [email protected].
United Teacher • for the latest news: www.utla.net
May 27, 2016
Milestones
Retirements
Patricia Gutierrez is retiring after 36 years
with LAUSD.
Patricia Gutierrez will be retiring after 36 years of exceptional and
amazing service in LAUSD.
Patricia grew up in Boyle Heights
and attended LAUSD schools: Utah Elementary School, Hollenbeck Middle
School, and Roosevelt High School. She
graduated from Roosevelt High School
with honors, later attending USC and
earning a Bachelor of Science in General
Studies. Patricia received her Masters of
Arts in Education, Reading/Writing in
Language Arts at California State University, Los Angeles, and an administrative
credential from National University, Los
Angeles, in K-12 Administrative Services.
Patricia served LAUSD as both a
teacher and an administrator. She
worked as a classroom teacher for 22
teachers, two years as a literacy coach,
five years as an assistant principal, elementary instructional specialist (APEIS),
eight months as a temporary advisor,
and six years as an instructional coach/
intervention coordinator.
During the past 36 years, she has shared
her expertise by getting involved in related
professional activities to assist members of
the educational community: trainings on
inclusion, professional staff development
on the Common Core State Standards educational shifts, developing school-site action
plans/single school plans, implementing
best practices in the classroom, developing/implementing the schoolwide progressive discipline policy, chairing the school
safety committee, participating in school
leadership meetings, facilitating the Student
Success Team, and serving as a LEARN
lead teacher. Furthermore, she has been a
gifted coordinator and has participated in
UCLA LEARN Leadership Training as a lead
teacher. She also has conducted parent and
teacher workshops and has trained student
teachers from California State University.
The depth and breadth of Patricia’s com-
mitment to support
classroom teachers
in implementing best
practices to successfully impact our students’
academic success will
be greatly missed by everyone in our District.
Friends and colleagues at Brooklyn
Avenue Span School
wish Patricia a wonderful time in her
new journey. We are
eternally grateful for Tom Faigin, 1938-2015
teaching us to be better
practitioners and inspired by her dedica- His wife of 55 years, Anne, and his
tion to the education field and the children daughter, Cecelia, were by his side.
of East Los Angeles!
Tom was always a strong supporter of
We wish her all of the best as she enters UTLA after having participated actively
the next phase of life, spending more time using his musical skills to encourage the
with her husband, family, and friends.
picketers in the strike of 1989 and subsequent job actions. Although retired from
LAUSD in 2005, he continued teaching
Passings
music privately and to groups as he had
Retired teacher Tom Faigin passed away always done at California State Univeron October 11, 2015. Faigin was a talented sity, Los Angeles; UCLA Extension; the
musician who taught guitar, banjo, and Summer Solstice Festival; Songmaker’s
mandolin as well as being a full-time events; and many workshops and hooclassroom teacher at Birmingham High tenannies. In the last 10 years he also
School, Monroe High School, and finally led the Geritones, a group of musicians
John F. Kennedy High School. Tom was a who performed for folk dance events as
well-known performer and guitar teacher well as retirement homes. He will be resince the early ’60s in Southern California. membered for his humor, his music, and
He passed away after a prolonged and his devotion to his students. He will be
heroic battle with a degenerative disease. deeply missed by his family and friends.
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United Teacher • for the latest news: www.utla.net
May 27, 2016
GRAPEVINE
UTLA 2016
LEADERSHIP
CONFERENCE
Grow our Movement
for Community Schools
(continued from page 23)
• Continental breakfast and lunch
each day.
• Parking; carpools are encouraged!
The cost is $75 per participant (scholarships available to Multimedia Services
members). To register, go to https://
ito.lacoe.edu/workshops/registration.
pl?run_mode=create&workshop=462. For
more info, contact Media_Services@lacoe.
edu or call (562) 922-6107.
Free National Korean
Studies Seminar
July 29-31, 2016
Westin Bonaventure Hotel,
404 South Figueroa, Los Angeles
Online registration begins on May 18th with a
deadline of July 1st or until filled. Chapter Chair
elections forms must be returned to UTLA by
the May 16th deadline before an invitation to
the Leadership Conference can be extended. If
you donʼt receive the email with the link please
contact Rosa Beasley, [email protected] after a
week . Each person is responsible for your own
registration.
“Secrets of a Successful Organizer”, a
Labor Notes Book will be given out to all
conference participants plus an organizing
and contract enforcement booklet.
The National Korean Studies Seminar
for K-12 educators will be held June 20 to
24, from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., at the Korean
Cultural Center (5505 Wilshire Blvd., Los
Angeles). The program is free ($50 refundable deposit required) and offers one
LAUSD salary point or three units of USC
Continuing Education credit. The seminar
will feature Korean cultural hands-on activities, such as cooking and craft classes and
dance performances. Lecture topics include
major contemporary issues in East Asia,
with a focus on Korea. Participants will
receive free books and resources and more
than 33 PowerPoint lectures. Free parking
and lunch each day. The seminar will align
with Common Core state standards and
AP History/Social Science lessons. Applications for local participants (online at
www.nationalkoreanstudies.com) are due
June 10. All applicants have to mail $50
(refundable deposit) to reserve the seat. The
check will be returned after the full five-day
attendance. For more info, contact Sung
Kim, director, at [email protected].
Practical matters: Retirement bonuses
Retiring this year? There are two special payments you might be getting.
By Judith C. Bruner
UTLA Compensation and Benefits
Specialist
Retirement Bonus
UTLA members may be eligible to
receive a bonus when they retire. UTLA
negotiated the retirement bonus as an incentive to continue working in the early
1990s when pay cuts were instituted to
avoid massive layoffs. This incentive guaranteed teachers who were employed by
LAUSD for the 1992-93 school year and
then retired July 1, 1994, and thereafter a
lump sum bonus at retirement. The bonus
was designed to partially make up for
the loss of salary, and thus compensation
reported to CalSTRS, during the financial
crisis faced by the District at that time.
In order to qualify for the full bonus,
employees must have been paid for the
number of hours corresponding to their
full-time assignment from the 1992-93
school year. If the employee did not work
full-time during that year, they are entitled
to a prorated amount based on the number
of hours they were paid.
The amount of the bonus is calculated
by multiplying the employee’s regular
daily rate for the year preceding the retirement date by 20.4. Certificated Personnel
processes the change in status from Active
to Retired and notifies Payroll Services,
which then researches to verify the retiree’s
eligibility. Payment is generally issued
18
within two to three months of receipt of
the notice from Certificated Personnel as
the data is from the old payroll system in
effect prior to the implementation of the
current payroll system.
Caveat! Don’t spend it before you get it!
Attendance Incentive Reserve
Fund Distributions
When the Attendance Incentive Plan
was instituted, it was designed to reward
high attendance. While the plan has
been suspended, the half that went into
your account in the Attendance Incentive Reserve Fund prior to the end of the
program is payable after retirement or
separation. The account grows with earnings from investments made by the fund.
When you retire or separate from District employment, your accumulated share
of the Reserve Fund is distributed to you
subject to legally required deductions and
the provisions of Article XII-A, Section 7.1.
This section addresses deductions that are
made for absences in the last three years
prior to retirement/separation. This de-
duction is intended to serve as a strong incentive to maintain high attendance levels
during the final years of service.
Participants who have a separation date
of July 1, 1997, or thereafter may be subject
to this penalty. Before the reserve portion
is distributed, the penalty amount will be
deducted from the employee’s balance
for each illness day used more than the
employee’s actual illness days earned, or
more than the ten allowable illness days
earned under this plan in each of the
employee’s final three years of employment. In some cases, the monetary value
of the absences may exceed the amount of
money in the employee’s reserve account.
If this is the case, the maximum penalty
assessed against the account is equal to
the actual sum of money in the account.
Technically, it is tantamount to a forfeiture
of the account.
Inasmuch as retirees can also get additional CalSTRS service credit for accumulated unused full-pay sick time, it “pays”
to maintain high attendance throughout
your career.
Share your school’s good news!
Send details on awards, honors, special events, and
great schoolwide programs to [email protected].
Salary point classes
on cultural competency
“Valuing Difference” is an interactive
seminar on cultural diversity, family
history, media and societal impacts, and
effective communications. The salary point
workshop covers the important role your
own culture plays in day-to-day interactions and includes interactive exercises in
which participants review various issues
from a variety of viewpoints. The next
session for “Valuing Difference” is June
19 and 26 (two Sundays) from 9 a.m. to 5
p.m. The fee is $95. Location: 8339 W. 3rd
Street, L.A., CA 90048. One multicultural
salary point available. For more information or to register, call Kari Bower at (323)
653-3332 or email [email protected].
2016 Summer Institute for
Teachers in Design-Based Learning
The Summer Institute for Teachers at
Art Center is an intensive, five-day interactive workshop based on a methodology
called Design-Based Learning (DBL). Design-Based Learning taps students’ natural
creativity to develop higher-level thinking
and enhance comprehension of the K-12
curriculum. No matter what grade level
or subject you teach, supplementing your
current methods with Design-Based Learning can make a difference in your classroom.
By motivating students to learn, this methodology can lead to improved attendance,
fewer discipline problems, and high scores
on standardized tests. The institute offers
three salary credits and is open to K-12 educators, principals, administrators, college
instructors, and after-school program directors and staff. Dates are July 20-22 and
July 25-26. Scholarships available. For more
information, please visit www.artcenter.
edu/teachers or contact Paula Goodman,
director of K-12 programs, at (626) 396-2347
or [email protected].
Korea Academy for
Educators in July
Explore Korean history, culture, contemporary issues, and Korean Americans at the
USC-KAFE Summer Seminar for K-12 Teachers from July 17 to 22. This collaborative
program of the Korea Academy for Educators (KAFE) and USC Korean Studies Institute is sponsored by the Korea Foundation
and held on the USC campus. Successful
applicants will demonstrate interest in learning about Korean history and culture and the
ability to create lessons based on what they
learn. One or two LAUSD salary points available. For more information, visit the KAFE
website or email [email protected].
Get
connected
to UTLA
Facebook:
facebook.com/UTLAnow
Twitter: @utlanow
YouTube:
youtube.com/UTLAnow
United Teacher • for the latest news: www.utla.net
NEA & AFT AFFILIATE ACTIONS
(continued from page 15)
a force. Sydney planned and promoted
the Harbor Area LCFF-LCAP forums to
great success. Her commitment ensured
that the Build the Future, Fund the Fight
campaign was an astounding success as
well. At CTA State Council, she serves on
CTA committees and is enthralled by the
process of empowering the UTLA voice.
STATE WHO AWARD
members in Washington, D.C., and in California. She has been a strong voice who
is not afraid to stand up for what is right.
For the last two years she has represented
us on the CTA Board as the coordinating director. Sonia has chaired the NEA
Foundation screening committee and the
Hispanic Caucus, as well as other committees and has worked on the CTA Summer
Institute committee. She devotes herself
to improving education for students and
teachers.
GOLD WHO AWARD
Sonia Martin-Solis
For the past seven years, Sonia has represented UTLA/NEA on the NEA Board.
She has lobbied House of Representatives
Efren Martinez
As CEO of the Florence Firestone/
Walnut Park Chamber of Commerce,
UTLA CALENDAR
Friday, May 27
Friday, June 3
UNITED TEACHER Publishes
Pay Day
Saturday, May 28
June 3-June 5
Substitute Committee Semester Meeting
Monday, May 30
CTA State Council (Los Angeles)
Tuesday, June 7
Memorial Day
Primary Election
UTLA Offices Closed
Friday, June 10
Wednesday, June 1
LAUSD Last Day of Instruction
UTLA Board of Directors Meeting
Sunday, June 19
May 27, 2016
Efren Martinez has been instrumental in
developing and nurturing relationships
between business and public education. He has worked as an advocate for
public education and helped form bonds
between UTLA and local city officials
in the Southeast cities of L.A. County
to oppose unregulated charter schools
and the giveaway of schools under the
old Public School Choice program. He
supported teachers in School Board elections, Prop. 30/32 state elections, and
local elections. Martinez has worked
with individual teachers and schools,
helping acquire resources for students.
He has been instrumental in securing
school supplies, Thanksgiving food
baskets, and Christmas presents as
well as funds for school and classroom
events. Our thanks go to him for all
he has done for our students and our
community.
The “WHO” Planning Committee is
Debby Schneider-Solis (co-chair), Elgin Scott
(co-chair), Carmen Acosta-Esterman, Sue
Cirillo, Norlon Davis, Bruce A. Lee, Gloria
Martinez, Maria Miranda, Wil Page, and
Donald Willis.
UTLA support for housed teachers
Under former superintendent John
Deasy, many educators were victims
of the “teacher jail” system. Caught off
guard and often falsely accused, they
were left to suffer alone, under house
arrest and unsure of what to do.
LAUSD’s abuse of “teacher jail” has
lessened since the departure of Deasy,
but we still need to be vigilant about
each and every case.
Don’t be a victim of unfair job
actions and false charges. UTLA wants
you to know: You are not alone. We are
here for you.
Call or email the UTLA officers
listed below and attend the Unjustly
Housed Teachers Committee Meeting
to get the assistance and support you
deserve.
UTLA officer contacts: If you’ve
been recently removed from the classroom, please contact UTLA Secondary
Vice President Colleen Schwab (213368-6237, [email protected]) or UTLA
Treasurer Arlene Inouye (213-368-6218,
[email protected]).
Unjustly Housed Teachers Committee: UTLA provides support, guidance, and assistance to all rehoused
teachers through the Unjustly Housed
Teachers Committee. The committee
meets monthly at the UTLA building.
The next meeting is June 7 from 4 to 6
p.m. in Room 904. The UTLA building
is located at 3303 Wilshire Blvd., Los
Angeles, CA 90010 (213-487-5560).
UTLA is ready, willing, and able to
help its falsely accused and unfairly
treated members. Make the call, attend
the meeting, and let UTLA help you.
Father’s Day
Life-Long Learning
for Educators
UCLA Extension’s Education Department offers online
courses for teachers and administrators looking to
advance their qualifications, performance and salary.
Learn more about the many credential and certificate
programs we offer by visiting us at
uclaextension.edu/teachers or call (310) 825-4191.
UCLA Extension Education Programs
Get there from here.
17140-15
17140.indd 1
19
8/27/15 9:49 AM
United Teacher • for the latest news: www.utla.net
Bilingual education issues
The matrix, EL Master Plan and the LAUSD/UTLA contract.
When it comes to designing a matrix
and assigning teachers, every administrator should begin with the premise behind
the Lau v. Nichols (1974) Supreme Court
Decision: “There is no equality of treatment
merely by providing students with the same
facilities, textbooks, teachers and curriculum; for students who do not understand
English are effectively foreclosed from any
meaningful education. We know that those
who do not understand English are certain
to find the classroom experiences wholly incomprehensible and in no way meaningful.”
Here is other key language everyone
should know.
EL Master Plan 2012: “EL’s require additional services to ensure that they acquire
English and have access to the full curriculum in a way that makes instruction
comprehensible and meaningful.”
LAUSD Reference Guide 3661.3 2015:
Priorities for Assignment of BCC/BCLAD
Teachers to Structured English Immersion
Program.
Priority 1- Grades K,1,2 and/or overall
CELDT level 1-2
Priority 2 - Grades 2,3,4 and/or overall
CELDT level 3
Priority 3- Grades 4 and 5/6 or overall
CELDT level 4 (when all classes with levels
1-3 have been staffed appropriately)
When BCC/BCLAD authorization in
the language of need is unavailable, the
next level of authorization is CLAD with
A-level fluency in the language of need,
and then a CLAD.
LAUSD/UTLA contract (Article IX-A):
“The site administrator shall specify
any special credentials, necessary qualifications…. The site administrator shall
assign such permanent teachers who are
otherwise qualified to the track and grade
level openings available to permanent
teachers on the basis of District seniority.
The only exception shall occur when the
site administrator reasonably determines
that any specific assignment is not in the
best interests of the educational program.
If the exception is disputed, the dispute
resolution procedure shall apply.”
Because English learners, under Lau,
are entitled to primary language support,
a BCC/BCLAD teacher MUST be assigned
to them. In the absence of such a teacher,
a CLAD teacher with A-level fluency or a
CLAD teacher without fluency with the
assistance of a bilingual paraprofessional
must be assigned.
Regarding class organization, Reference Guide 3661.3 states that for ELA
and ELD, classes are to be organized
with no more than two consecutive
CELDT levels for 80% of the day and
that mixing is required for 20% of the day.
— Cheryl Ortega
UTLA Director for Bilingual Education
UTLA Board election results
Last month, UTLA held an election to fill an open seat on the UTLA Board of Directors representing Special Education. Results are below. Winner’s name in bold.
VOTESPERCENTAGE
Marcela Chagoya
139
35.19%
Lucia Arias 25664.81%
Candidate financial statements
As required by the UTLA Election Rules, all spending on UTLA election campaigns
must be reported to the election committee and printed in the UNITED TEACHER.
Special Education Board of Director
South Area Board of Director
Lucia Arias
Expenses: $170
Income: $170
L. Cynthia Matthews
Expenses: $0
Income: $0
Marcela Chagoya
Form not submitted
May 27, 2016
Special category chapter
chair results
The following members will serve as
chapter chairs for the following special
categories:
Adapted PE
Chair: Steve Barba
Vice chair: Linda Hunt
Occupational and Physical Therapy
Chair: Hanna Morita
Co-chair: Anna Kingston
Psychiatric Social Workers
Chair: Rosalyn Williams
Co-chair: Laura Rubalcava
Pupil Services & Attendance Counselor
Chair: Norlon Davis
Co-chair: Mary Tour
School Nurses
Chair: Linda Shields
Co-chair: Julie Mathews
Speech & Language
Chair: Heather Teixeira
Co-chair: Sara Palmer
Substitutes
Central Calling Area
Central 1: Audrey Linden (chair),
Veeda Fernandes (co-chair)
Central 2: Eddie Smith
Central 3: Benny Madera
North Calling Area
North 1: Greg Russell (chair),
Carole Peterson-VanDusen (co-chair)
North 3: Hal Wolkowitz
North 4: Linda Everhart
South Calling Area
South 1: Janis Lukstein (chair),
Sharon Yee (co-chair),
Phil Gross (vice chair)
South 2: Francisco Martinez
South 3: Maria Rengifo Aragon
Visually Handicapped
Chair: Vincent Fazzi
The following positions are unfilled:
Audiometrists
Deaf and Hard of Hearing
Educational Audiologists
Elementary Counselors
Elementary Literacy Coaches
Non-Public Schools
PH/PHH/LRE Counselors
School Psychologists
Secondary Counselors
Substitutes: Central 2 and 3 (co-chairs),
North 2 (chair and co-chair),
North 3 and 4 (co-chair),
South 2 and South 3 (co-chairs)
Traveling Art, Dance, & Music Teachers
Vocational Education
Alert on 403(b) vendors
The company Metlife was recently fined $25 million for misleading tens of
thousands of investors about complicated and confusing annuity products,
some of which were sold under the 403(b) banner. These kinds of developments are why LAUSD published a bulletin (BUL-6178.0) in 2013 that prohibits
403(b), annuity, and insurance vendors from selling their products on school
campuses during school hours. Several vendors each year find ways to disregard the prohibition and get on campus to sell their products. If a vendor
comes on your campus, please get contact information from that vendor and
report them to UTLA Treasurer Arlene Inouye at [email protected].
IMMUNIZATIONS
Travel and Wellness
• TB Testing
• Certified for Yellow Fever
• Country-specific travel counseling
• Vitamin B12
• Flu shots
ONSITE CLINICS
AVAILABLE
Help Children Communicate Like Stars PART TIME JOBS
for
SPEECH THERAPISTS,
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RESOURCE TEACHERS
Writing Workshop Summer Institutes K-8
Foundations (Beginners): Aug. 3, 4, & 5
Upping Our Game (Intermediate/Advanced): July 27, 28, & 29
Price: $299
Location: Ellen Ochoa Learning Center in Cudahy
For more information: www.PowerfulChoicesConsulting.com
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Flexible Hours: Mornings,
After School, Saturdays
888-499-7277
www.passporthealthla.com
Multiple locations
Farryl Dickter, MA, CCC, Et/P
Speech, Language, Ed. Therapy
Sherman Oaks (818) 501-1129
United Teacher • for the latest news: www.utla.net
May 27, 2016
Note from UTLA-R President
By John Perez
UTLA-Retired President
Silver Script—no changes? When CVS
changed the name of their prescription
service for our members in the Anthem
plans from CVS to Silver Script, their
representatives told the Health Benefits Committee that there would be no
changes in coverage for our members.
They assured us, and even came to one
of our General Assembly meetings, that
everything except the name would stay the
same! Well, there seems to be a problem
with the assurances given by CVS. Loretta
Toggenburger and I have been getting
emails from our members telling us that
there have been changes. Every time I get
one of these emails, I forward them to the
two people who need to hear your stories:
Betty Forrester and Tom Morrison. Betty
is our UTLA/AFT VP and UTLA’s voting
member on the Health Benefits Committee,
and Tom Morrison is the consultant to the
committee and was the first person on the
HBC to hear from CVS that there would be
no changes. If there have been changes in
your coverage under Silver Script, please
send a detailed email to Betty and Tom.
Only if we can collect real-life examples
can the HBC deal with CVS/Silver Script.
Betty Forrester can be reached at [email protected] and Tom Morrison can be
reached at [email protected]. You
can of course continue to send me your
emails on this issue and I will continue
to forward them.
A little of this and a little of that: Tax Day,
April 15, has come and gone, and over
the internet I read some really interesting stories. The Economic Policy Institute
reported recently that corporate taxes as
a percentage of the GDP (Gross Domestic
Product) have fallen from 5.9% in 1952
(the year Eisenhower was elected President) to only 1.9% last year. At the same
time that you and I were paying our taxes,
major U.S. corporations, such as Apple,
Pfizer, Microsoft, Citigroup, and so on,
have stashed an amazing $2.4 trillion offshore so that they didn’t have to pay taxes
on those profits. That $2.4 trillion should
have generated $700 billion in additional
federal taxes. And this is just the tip of the
iceberg of how loopholes in the federal tax
code allow corporations, but not you, to
avoid paying their fair share of taxes. Now,
on top of this comes information that in
the period from 2000 to 2015, the number
of IRS agents available to do audits has
dropped from 12,000 to 10,750. The time
spent on federal audits of corporations
with $250 million or more in assets has
dropped by 34%! This reduction has cost
the government, in lost corporate taxes
only, at least $15 billion per year.
Another paper from the Economic
Policy Institute tells us that the retirement security crisis is getting worse, not
better. The shift from defined benefit pensions to the 401(k) model has meant that
many seniors have had to work more
years than they wanted. The top 20% of
families by income have 74% of all retire-
ment savings. Only one in 10 families
in the bottom 20% of income have any
kind of retirement account. Two-thirds
of all seniors rely on Social Security for
a majority of their income.
Food insecurity is growing in our
country. The USDA defines food insecurity as the inability to secure adequate
food at times during the year. People who
are food insecure are struggling to avoid
hunger. Today in America, 15.4% of the
population is food insecure and 20.9% (15.3
million) of America’s children experience
food insecurity.
School Board elections are coming up
next year, and if you would like to make
a contribution to PACE, send your checks
to Cecelia Boskin, 3547 Federal Ave., LA,
CA 90066. If you would like to add your
email address to our email alert network
send your email to [email protected].
Perez can be reached at [email protected].
Get on the Path to
Financial Freedom
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21
United Teacher • for the latest news: www.utla.net
May 27, 2016
UTLA Classifieds
CLASSIFIED AND DISPLAY AD POLICY: UNITED TEACHER will not accept ads for legal services in the areas of worker’s compensation or personal injury; nor
advertising for tobacco or alcoholic beverages; nor advertising deemed misleading or offensive to members; nor advertising inconsistent with the programs and
purposes of United Teachers Los Angeles.
BOOKS
Secondary Teaching Techniques, Stories, Computer
Teacher Book, Quit Smoking: www.PaulRallion.com.
HOME BUYING
Thinking of buying a home? Learn the process from
beginning to end in our fun, interactive educational
session. Perfect for first-time homebuyers, re-entry
buyers, buying an investment property or anyone
interested in learning to navigate today’s sellers’
market. Down payment assistance will be explained.
Pre-qualification available after class. Refreshments
will be served. Mark and Andrea have helped many
teachers realize their dream of homeownership. Why
not begin your journey now? Saturday, June 4, 2016,
12:00-2:00. Realty Executives Cornerstone, 13604
Whittier Blvd., Whittier, CA 90605. Call (213) 9091349 with questions or to RSVP.
Educators home buyer’s down payment assistance
program orientation RSVP @ (800) 667-7695.
TIMESHARE
Retired teacher has a timeshare to rent on Las Vegas
strip, July 22-29, 2016. Sleeps 4. (817) 789-8424.
be responsible for Language Arts only. Please call:
Job share partner wanted for the 2016-2017 and
ing 4th or 5th grade and willing to work together
Cindy Berger at (310) 612-5067 and also send your
beyond. (The deadline is April 15.) I have a special
to give the students a great education. Please
resume to: [email protected].
education preschool classroom (PALs) open to a
send resume (so I can present to my principal) to
split schedule at my school or your school, pref-
[email protected]. Carmen Lopez, (818) 633-4165.
I am looking for a job share partner. I teach middle
erably South or West local district. I have 10 plus
school, the moderate to severe class. I am interest-
years of teaching special education/general edu-
Job share position wanted on the Westside. Gen.
ed in sharing the week. I work at a fantastic school
cation preschool Contact Leah: (310) 916-6229 or
ED., S.D.C. or RSP. Split week or afternoons. Con-
in the city of Bell. Looking to start 2016-2017 school
[email protected].
tact: D @ (310) 505-5596.
year. Contact: Claudia (626) 230-8258.
Kindergarten P.M. job share position at my school in
Job share partner wanted for spring semester
Mission Hills for fall 2016. I have five years of job share
(2016-17 school year) at an award-winning elemen-
experience. Please contact Amy at (818) 269-7244.
tary school for a kindergarten class. Must have permanent status with LAUSD. Looking for a teacher
Looking for a job share partner for 2016-2017 RSY;
with previous experience, excellent teaching skills,
fantastic school in Tarzana (NW District); split week
and willing to work together to provide a great edu-
or afternoons; mild/moderate credential. Leave
cation for our diverse learners. Our beautiful school
message at (818) 508-7343. Deadline for 2016-
is located in the Valley north area. I have 22 years of
2017 school year is approaching.
teaching experience and have been at my current
school for 17 years. It takes a village and our school
My name is Brad Green and I have a Moderate to
community is the best! Please email your resume to
Severe Special Education Credential. I am also flu-
[email protected] (so I can submit it to my
ent in Sign Language. I am looking to share a job at
principal). Sandra Bacal, (323) 382-1985.
someone’s site, preferably in the Valley or Hollywood.
The district has stop sending students to my Special
Job share needed for the 2016-17 school year. I am
Education Center so with over 20 years credentialed
open to different schedules, including half-day or
experience, I find myself with the lowest seniority and
one semester on/one off. Prefer lower grades. Be-
will have to find another position in August. I would
lieve would have to move to your school. BCLAD
prefer one semester on, one off, but I am open to oth-
Spanish/experienced. Live in Echo Park and would
er possibilities. Please contact me at (818) 506-6453.
prefer something in UTLA North Area. Contact Elaine
at (323) 240-7004 or [email protected].
My name is Farshid Yadegar. I’m interested in finding someone to share an assignment with. I’m a
Job share partner needed for the 2016-2017 spring
special ed teacher: resource (IRST) and I work for
LAUSD EMPLOYMENT
semester to teach the ETK program at a small
a community day school. Please contact Farshid
neighborhood elementary school in the West Val-
at [email protected].
Job share/employment
available ads in LAUSD
employment section are FREE.
ley. Looking for a partner with approved RWL sta-
JOB SHARE
Seeking a job share partner for third grade at 32nd
Street USC Performing Arts Magnet beginning in
the spring semester of 2017. MUST have fewer than
10 years in L.A. Unified (due to seniority issues).
Hours would be from 10:50-2:10 Monday through
Friday, plus Tuesday faculty meetings. You would
tus. Pre-K experience preferred. Contact Silvana at
Looking for someone to do a half-day, long-term
(818) 523-4778/[email protected].
sub position from April 1 until the end of the year.
You work the afternoons. This is for an RSP position
Have you ever wanted to job share? I’ve been job
at a great school in Eagle Rock. Great assistant,
sharing for the past 5 years in SRLDP and now ETK,
students, and job share partner! Please email me
and I love it! The best thing I ever did. My room part-
for more information. Thanks! [email protected]
ner is moving to full-time, so now’s your chance!
I have 18 years’ experience mostly in the lower
I’m looking for a job share partner for Spring Semes-
grades. NBCT Early Childhood Generalist in 2003.
ter or S.Y. 2016-2017 at your school, preferably South
My school, in Reseda 91335, or yours will be con-
or East local district. I have 17 years of teaching ex-
sidered. I am in it for the long haul. Please call Karyn,
perience in Elementary General Ed. (562) 291-8038.
(818) 326-6923, or email [email protected].
How To Place Your UT Classified Ad
22
Saturn Street Elementary is looking for a fifth-grade
teacher who works well in a collaborative environment. Applicants should be willing to work as part of
a team, creating a Common Core curriculum that is
filled with technology, differentiated instruction, and
project-based learning. As a member of the team,
applicants will engage in extra-curricular activities
for the fifth grade students. Applicants should be
flexible and interested in creating life-long learners.
Interested applicants please contact Tiffany Cullen
at Saturn Street (323) 931-1688.
Lawrence Gifted Magnet seeks a full-time English
teacher for the 2016-2017 school year. Must have
experience teaching gifted students and record of
current gifted professional development hours. Single subject English and/or multiple subject credential
considered. Please email cover letter, resume, and
letters of recommendation to [email protected].
Lawrence Gifted Magnet seeks a full-time Science
teacher for the 2016-2017 school year. Must have experience teaching gifted students and record of current gifted professional development hours. Single
subject Science and/or multiple subject credential
considered. Please email cover letter, resume, and
letters of recommendation to [email protected].
Patrick Henry Academy of Performing and Visual
Arts Magnet (located in Granada Hills) is seeking
highly qualified applicants with a P.E. Credential
who also have an extensive dance background.
The expectation is that dance will be the vehicle
by which the P.E. content standards are delivered.
Job share partner wanted for the spring semester
Passionate, enthusiastic dancers who meet this cri-
and beyond. (The deadline is November 15.) We can
teria, please email a cover letter with your resume to
possibly alternate semesters—either your school or
Lucinda Burton at [email protected].
mine, South. Twenty-plus years with LAUSD, enjoyed previous job share experience. Contact Susan: (310) 541-1472 / [email protected].
Print your ad from your computer or use a typewriter. Count the number
of words in your ad. Area code and telephone number count as one
word. Email and web address count as one word. Street address counts
as one word. City and state, including zip code, count as one word. Abbreviations and numbers are considered words and are charged individually. The classified ad rate is $1.50 per word for each time your ad runs
(there is no charge for LAUSD job share/employment available ads).
Multiply the number of words in your ad by $1.50. This is the cost for
running your ad one time in UNITED TEACHER. If you’re running your ad
in more than one issue, multiply the one-time total by the number of issues you wish the ad to appear. We have a ten word minimum ($15.00).
All ads are payable in advance by check or money order. Please make
check payable to UTLA. The deadline to receive your classified ad at
the UTLA Communications Dept. is noon on the Monday that falls two
weeks prior to the publication date. Any questions? Call (213) 637-5173.
Mail ad and payment to Classifieds, UNITED TEACHER, 3303 Wilshire
Blvd., 10th Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90010.
LAUSD POSITIONS
AVAILABLE
Job share position wanted in the Northeast side of
the San Fernando Valley. Split week or mornings.
Contact Mayra Nunez-Flores, (818) 203-7100.
Various positions are open and available for qualified teachers at Birmingham Community Charter
High School. Join a vibrant community of educators at BCCHS. Apply on EdJoin.org
William J. Johnston Community Day School is accepting applications for a full-time science/technology
Job share partner needed for spring semester
teacher. Those interested should send letter of intent,
2016-2017 at a fantastic elementary school in East
resume summarizing experience, and letters of recom-
L.A. I have 17 years’ experience, bilingual, flexible
mendation to: Barbara Politz, Johnston CDS, 2210 N.
and collaborative. Looking for a teacher with excel-
Taper Ave, San Pedro, CA 90731 or email to Barbara
lent qualifications and previous experience teach-
Politz [email protected] or fax to (310) 832-7914.
Your vote, your voice
Make it heard June 7
Primary election
Check out UTLA endorsements on page 7
United Teacher • for the latest news: www.utla.net
U N I T E D
May 27, 2016
T E A C H E R
GRAPEVINE
Summer institute at
Aquarium of the Pacific
The Aquarium of the Pacific is offering
the 2016 Boeing Teacher Institute from
July 28 to August 1. The Aquarium will be
partnering with the University of Southern California’s SeaGrant for this year’s
institute. Up to 30 teachers will be invited
to this week-long intensive introduction
to the Aquarium, Southern California’s
diverse ecosystems, and current research
being conducted by local scientists. The
program includes:
• Two days at the Aquarium of the
Pacific including Aquarium and USC SeaGrant teacher resources with an emphasis
on data-related resources and behind-thescenes tours.
• Three days on Catalina Island at the
USC Wrigley Campus for Environmental
Studies with experiential learning opportunities such as kayaking, snorkeling,
hiking, and live plankton exploration.
• Continuing involvement in an on-line
professional development community.
The deadline to apply is June 13, 2016.
Participants will be notified of acceptance
in mid- to late July. Teachers not selected
for the summer program will be invited to
participate in a teacher workshop hosted
by the Aquarium on November 12. For
info and link to application, go to http://
www.aquariumofpacific.org/events/
info/boeing_teacher_institute.
Salary point class for
third-grade teachers
“Creative Experiential Professional Development” will utilize third-grade standards across the curriculum. Immerse yourself in a two-day experience to explore ELA,
math, history, science, dance, music, theater
arts, visual arts, health, and technology.
Use innovative techniques that use multiple intelligences, creativity, technology,
and culturally responsive materials and resources to integrate and “UNcommon” the
Common Core. This salary point class is the
research component of a dissertation for a
Ph.D candidate who has taught for 18 years
in LAUSD and is a National Board Certified teacher, an elementary theater teacher,
and the west area theater arts coach in the
Arts Education Branch. The project is the
exploration of the potential for implementing creativity and the arts in experiential
differentiated professional development
and intends to understand the perspective of the participants to improve professional development. This study does not
require extra time outside the salary point
class’s scheduled hours. Space is limited
and is on a first come, first served basis.
Date: TBA: Two days in August between
the 8th and 12th (time and location TBA).
Contact: Raissa White at (323) 533-3767 or
[email protected].
Training on Trauma-Informed
Compassionate Classrooms
“Trauma-Informed Compassionate
Classrooms” is a two-day workshop for
K-12 teachers and school staff designed
to provide tools and strategies for creating safety to support all students, including those who have experienced trauma.
The approach offers alternatives to classroom management systems based on
control, punishment, and rewards that
don’t address the root causes of behavior
or create the quality of connection you
want with your students.
Topics include:
• The effects of trauma on the brain and
nervous system
• Creating safety in the classroom
• Emotional regulation techniques
• Connecting communication and conflict resolution
• Supporting social and emotional development
• Empathy, understanding, & support
for you
Salary point credits and/or documentation of professional development hours
also available. The workshop will take
place Saturday, August 13, and Saturday,
August 20, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Location: 1226 N. Alvarado St., Los Angeles,
CA 90026. Fee is $225 per person (limited
scholarships available). Registration/information at echoparenting.org. For info,
contact Lua Masumi at (213) 484-6676,
ext. 310, or [email protected].
Free YMCA membership
for teens in June and July
This June and July, teens 12 to 17 years
old can join the LA Y for free. In addition
to taking advantage of all the Y’s amenities,
including swimming pools and basketball
courts, thanks to a partnership with the City
of Los Angeles, County of Los Angeles, and
LA Unified School District, there will also
be free meals, part-time job opportunities,
and special programs and events, from
Teen Nights to college readiness classes
and leadership development opportunities.
To sign up for the Y’s “Get Summer” Teen
Membership, teens must be accompanied
by an authorized guardian, and photo ID is
required. In-person registration is available
at all LA Y branch locations. To learn more, visit your local branch
or go to www.ymcala.org/metro/pages/
la-y-get-summer-teen-initiative.
Peak Performance Practices
salary point workshop for
academics and sports Learn the basics of peak performance
practices to apply for teaching your K-12
students. Learn brain energizers, whole
brain learning modalities, concentration
techniques, whole body fitness practices,
stress reducers, and more for the K-12
classroom and/or for the sporting arena
and your personal life. Your 30 hours
outside class will be spent in applying
the class experience to yourself and your
teaching/coaching. Practical experience
and resources will be provided. One salary
point available. Cost: $150 (please bring
cash or check). Instructor Kurt A. Krueger,
National Board Certified teacher, has
taught social studies/physical education
at LAUSD middle/senior high schools and
at colleges since 1969. Five class sessions
on Wednesdays: August 31, September 7,
14, 21, and 28, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Location: Van Nuys Middle School, 5435 Vesper
Ave., Sherman Oaks, CA. Call, text, and/
or email for more info: (818) 399-0771, [email protected]. To
sign up, email your contact information
(name, employee number, address, cell
phone, email, school and ESC) to [email protected].
New Holocaust education workshop
with Anne Frank focus in June
Appropriate for all teachers for personal growth and for middle and high
school teachers for classroom application,
the Echoes and Reflections Summer Symposium prepares educators to teach about
the Holocaust in a way that stimulates
engagement and critical thinking while
providing opportunities for students to
see the relevance of this complex history
to their own lives. The symposium is a
joint program with the Anti-Defamation
League, Museum of Tolerance, USC Shoah
Foundation, and Los Angeles County
Office of Education’s CIS, ITO’s eLibrary,
and Multimedia Services. The program
will take place from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on
Wednesday, June 15, through Friday, June
17. With a special focus on Anne Frank and
children of the Holocaust, this three-day
workshop is woven with related media,
ebooks, online resources, and a special
spotlight on the College, Career & Civic
Life C3 Framework. This important framework complements California’s Social
Studies Content Standards by adding the
additional dimension of civic engagement.
The symposium will be held at the USC
Shoah Foundation for the first day, and the
Museum of Tolerance for the following two
days. Participants will be immersed to allow
an in-depth experience, as well as providing
time for classroom planning and personal
reflection. Every participant will receive:
• A comprehensive Echoes and Reflections Teacher’s Resource Guide with access
to over two hours of visual testimony.
• MediaSnap free trial (for nonmembers); curated resource playlists for
members.
• A no-cost eLibrary Services account
to access a variety of ebooks, including a
special collection of Holocaust-related titles.
• A copy of the College, Career & Civic
Life C3 Framework.
(continued on page 18)
23
0.25% APR Mortgage Loan Discount 1
• Discount is for purchase of a primary residence
CCU Pay Card 2
• Reusable pre-paid debit card
• Each payday your pay is automatically
loaded onto the card
• No account required
0% APR Classroom Cash3
• Designed especially for teachers
• Borrow up to $1,500 at 0% APR
School Summer Savings4
• Grow your money faster with 3.00% APY
• Withdrawal available at any time
• Disbursed in July
Educator Skip-A-Pay 5
• Designed for school employees who may
not get paid during the summer months
• Skip two loan payments per year ( July
and August OR August and September)
1. Primary residence only. Proof of employment at a California public or private school is required. Standard underwriting guidelines apply. Discounts for purchases only.
2. Must be eligible for membership at CCU.
3. One per calendar year. APR = Annual Percentage Rate. Max term of 12 months. Estimated 12 monthly payments per $1500 borrowed is $125. Rate reflects direct deposit of $1,000.00 or more in a CCU account
prior to loan funding and automatic payments at signing.
4. APY = Annual Percentage Yield is subject to change without notice. Rate reflects monthly direct deposit into the summer savings account of $50 – $2,000 and can only be made via direct deposit or payroll deduction.
Total deposits must not exceed $2,000 per month ($24,000 per year) (July 1 – June 30). The Credit Union will distribute the balance of the account in July via transfer into a CCU account.
5. Members who skip summer payments will see an increase in the monthly payment amount. Available on all loans except share plus, credit card and share/certificate secured and mortgage loans.
Members must be in good standing with California Credit Union. Offers subject to change without notice.
1605-01 UTLA May Newsletter Ad | FINAL | 5-3-16