President’s Remarks to Representative Council

                              May 5, 2008

This past week was historic in many different ways, from the May 1^st ILWU shutdown of 29 West Coast ports in opposition to the war in Iraq, to the immigrants’ rights rallies held that same day. It was a week that saw growing opposition to the Governor’s proposed budget cuts, including a budget cuts rally co-sponsored by the Board of Education, OEA, and elected officials, and a Town Hall meeting convened by Assemblymember Sandré Swanson.  And it was capped by a turnout of over 400 for the first Alcosta Service Center “Teacher Appreciation Day” at the Oakland A’s game, preceded by a fantastic tailgate party featuring the Angry, Tired Teachers Band of Hayward.

Now we have another chance to make some history – by showing up thousands strong at City Hall on May 14^th to protest the proposed budget cuts, and to demand the right to a quality public education for all students.

 We need each and every one of you to bring your colleagues, bring parents and students, take signs around to businesses so the entire city of Oakland knows we are serious about growing the green and changing the conversation to one of what our students need in order to be successful!

More details on OEA’s actions this week (in addition to our day-to-day advocacy, assisting members, meetings with the district, filing grievances):

• Tuesday, April 29: OEA held a joint press conference at the OEA Center with ILWU, United Transportation Union, UPTE, and Cindy Sheehan to publicize the May 1 ILWU port shutdown and underscore the unity between our demand to end the war and bring the troops home, and the need for more funding for schools, health care and social services. To see the press conference in full, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qw8lwKTguoo

• Wednesday, April 30: We co-sponsored and participated in the Board of Education’s Budget Cuts rally in Hunter Hall. While there was unity among the audience that “cuts to education are not an option” and that it was important to make our voices heard to our legislators, I pointed out the irony in the fact that we were standing together on this issue and yet at the very same time the district unions are negotiating with the very same state that is set to cut our resources. In fact, I found out just before speaking that 55 SEIU positions had just been cut!

After the rally, several OEA members attended the School Board meeting to support the teachers, students and parents of Life Academy, which is slated to be moved while the district does earthquake compliance work. All who spoke from Life Academy were passionate, compelling, and persuasive, but in the end the Board voted to move them instead of allowing them to stay on the grounds, either in the building itself or in portables, while repair work is done,

I spoke at the Board meeting about the recent incident at Piedmont Avenue Elementary, making the connection between the Expect Success Wave 2 reorganization last year and incidents such as this one, in which a first grader was seriously injured after school. Wave 2 dismantled the Department of Family, Community and Student Services and thereby effectively undermined the district’s internal support for positive school climate, bully prevention, conflict resolution, Tribes, Second Step, etc. Despite the district’s rhetoric about safety being their number one priority, we know that their real priority is increasing test scores, whatever it takes. Schools not under as much pressure to “raise performance” are more likely to have the time to focus on other than test scores, whereas those that are afraid of sinking further into Program Improvement are urged to spend any additional time on test preparation and intervention. This is a question of equity, a question of values. What are we trying to teach our children if not how to get along in a complex world, and learn the tools to navigate it successfully? A child is more than a test score!

At the School Board meeting, BayTech Charter School was granted the use of space at Oakland International High next year as allowed under Proposition 39, which requires school districts to make space available to charters. Even after being granted this space, their director had the gall to request that the rental fee of $2.71/square foot be lowered… it’s not enough to bleed our schools of their funding, now they want us to give them the facilities as well!

• Thursday, May 1: May Day has long been celebrated around the world as International Workers’ Day, but this tradition has been lost in the US for decades. This year changed that in a big way as 25,000 longshore workers all along the West Coast shut down 29 ports and called for an end to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and thousands rallied in their support. About a dozen OEA members took the day off work, and we marched from the Longshore Hall to Justin Hermann Plaza, where speakers included members of the ILWU, Cindy Sheehan, Danny Glover, Cynthia McKinney, and me. I was so proud to be able to represent you before this crowd, and to underscore our message that while war profiteers are spending billions on a war of aggression, here at home we are told we need to make further cuts to an already scarce budget.

Throughout the day, OEA members taught using the anti-war curriculum prepared by some of our members (see below re: New York Times coverage); members held signs and passed out leaflets and signs before and after school both in front of their schools and at several big intersections; Kris Welch interviewed me for her show on KPFA, and Channel 2 provided coverage of our actions in support of the ILWU shutdown.

Later that same day, thousands rallied at the Fruitvale Village for the Immigrant Rights rally and then marched 5 ½ miles to City Hall. It was spirited, loud, and stretched for blocks. At City Hall Native drummers and singers joined a series of speakers, and once again I was proud to represent OEA by speaking on your behalf on the importance of solidarity in the face of attacks and repression of immigrant people.

You should know that on Friday, May 2^nd, ­ the day after the marches for immigrants’ rights, ­ ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents conducted a large-scale raid
at taquerias across San Francisco and the East Bay. Agents arrested about 60 employees at several locations of the El Balazo chain. Some of the workers have been released, but forced to wear electronic ankle bracelets while they await deportation hearings. Others are still imprisoned. Many were interrogated without legal representation

• Friday, May 2: The New York Times published a story on their visit on May 1^st to Craig Gordon’s class at Paul Robeson and Ben Visnick’s at Oakland High, focusing on the anti-war curriculum developed by several OEA members around May 1^st actions.

• Saturday, May 3: Assemblymember Sandré Swanson convened a Town Hall meeting focused on budget cuts at Encinal High School in Alameda. About 200 attended, including Loni Hancock and Mary Hayashi. I spoke on behalf of OEA and reiterated that the conversation needs to be changed from one of where to cut to one of who to tax.

That afternoon, over 400 teachers from the Alcosta Service Center Council converged on the Coliseum for the Oakland A’s “Teacher Appreciation Day” game against the Texas Rangers. Hundreds came early for a fabulous tailgate party, with electric live music from the Angry, Tired Teachers Band, a group of teachers who got together during the Hayward strike. Under sunny skies we danced, sang along, ate and drank, made signs, and then went to the game. Though the A’s didn’t win, we did – we broke down some of the artificial barriers between locals, got our message across with signs (“Strike Out Budget Cuts!” and “Budget Cuts Make Me Nuts!”), on the Jumbotron (“Step up to the Plate for Public Education!), and on KTVU Channel 2. I received this message from the Alcosta Service Center Council Chair the next day:

     Betty:

     I did not have an opportunity to connect with you last night at the

     game, but I wanted to thank you for your advocacy on behalf of all of us.

     I especially liked your interview on the Channel 2 news story.

     I also really liked how this event transformed us from individual

     chapters to a collective group of chapters focused on one common goal.  It

     is certainly a vision of the Service Center Council that I have long

     held was possible.  Thank you!

     Sincerely,

     Greg Bonaccorsi

     Chair, ALCOSTA Service Center Council/CTA/NEA

CTA Proposed Dues Increase

Please share with your colleagues the proposed dues increase 

from CTA outlined on the reverse of this report. 

It was presented at the April State Council and will be 

voted on at the June State Council. We will ask for 

your vote on this at the June Rep Council. 

Finally, PLEASE take seriously the crucial importance of 

getting every member out for May 14th. We are faced with 

impossible choices if these cuts are allowed to go through, 

and we need to show the Governor and the district that we 

are prepared to fight back!

In Unity,

Betty

Bargaining With The State Administrator’s Team : A Waste of Time?

For PDF click here: Bargaining Update #5: A Waste of Time?

OEA bargaining team members spent a frustrating and ultimately fruitless day today waiting for the OUSD / State Administration (SA) team to give us their proposed contract language for Article 12 (transfers and consolidations). We wasted a day—and bargaining team members were unable to teach their students all day—because the SA team wasn’t prepared. Here are the details:

Additional Areas in Article 10 Discussed (we agreed to discuss Article 10 first)

Compensation for Additional Hours Worked:  To limit the seemingly endless administrative demands on OEA members’ time, and to guarantee that time worked is compensated fairly, we proposed that any hours worked outside the regular work day (above the five additional monthly hours specified in the contract) must be voluntary and must be paid at the member’s per diem rate. The SA team would not agree. (“Sorry, can’t afford that!”)

Kindergarten school day: We proposed an extended day schedule (4 hours 30 minutes) for kindergarten students. (It’s currently a full day, which means kindergartners must go through a full 6-hour instructional day with no naps and no down time). The district has asked for additional time to consider and respond.

Speech and language therapists; social workers: OEA and OUSD signed a memorandum of understanding last year, which put Speech and Language Therapists on the Psychologists salary schedule; both teams therefore agreed to incorporate this into the new contract.  The OEA proposed that Social Workers have a similar extended work day and work year and be placed on this same salary schedule.  The OUSD team would agree to lengthen the work day to seven hours, but wants to base the salary on the K12 teacher schedule.

Please download the following documents if you are requesting a voluntary transfer.  

Voluntary Transfer Page 1

Voluntary Transfer Page 2

by Steve Neat

The Oakland Unified School District has yet another idea for something that will solve all of the
problems in our public schools. The good news is that this time they are on to something beneficial and substantive—something that’s even supported by the California Teachers Association. That something is the principle of “professional learning communities,” or groups of teachers working together to improve their practice. The bad news is that, once again, the state-run District is not willing to put its money where its mouth is.

In professional learning communities, or PLCs, teams of teachers are grouped together, usually by grade level. These teams meet at least once a week to look at the state curricu-lum standards, take input from the District, and decide the most important skills that they want their students to learn. Each group of colleagues then decides how they will teach these skills, how they will track student progress, and how they will intervene with students who are not learning the skills that they’ve been teaching.

The issue is that all this takes time. Most teachers already work many unpaid hours a week to plan lessons, give feedback to students, fill out paperwork, and maintain and organize their classrooms. That’s why the creators of the PLC model advocate for time to be given teacher teams to meet during the contract day. Instead of taking responsibility for finding this time themselves, the head office of OUSD has foisted the program onto schools, telling principals to figure it out. Of course at some sites with PTA funds or other sources of revenue teachers have been given an hour a week to meet and collaborate during the school
day.

The District now needs to put the “professsional” in professsional learning communities at schools all across Oakland by putting its money where its mouth is. What’s the point of owning a flatscreen TV if you don’t pay your electric bill? Even a beneficial, well-researched reform is useless if it is not adequately supported. OUSD needs to fund time for teachers to meet at least once a week or not have the expectation that PLCs will take root.

Fund it or drop it. Period.

by Steve Neat

Teachers and parents from Eureka to San Diego will come together at hundreds of locations on May 14.  They will protest the budget cuts that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is proposing, cuts that would mean larger class sizes, less enrichment for students, and laid-off teachers across the state.

The governor’s proposed $4.8 billion cut to public education would affect students across the
state. The cut would reduce funding by $800 per student for the year 2008-09. California already spends $1900 less per student per year than the national average. In trying to anticipate the effects of the proposed cuts, school districts have already handed out 18,000 pink slips to teachers and educational support staff. How can schools succeed in such an atmosphere? What kind of future are we trying to help the children of California build?

Of course the cuts would also hurt at the local level. A $4.8 billion school funding cut in Sacramento means a cut of $23 million in OUSD. Thankfully,Oakland Public Schools did not lay off teachers in the hundreds or thousands like many other school districts. If the proposed cuts go ahead, however, the money will have to come from somewhere. Will sports programs be cut? Will vital support staff like counselors, speech therapists, and resource teachers be cut? Will class sizes be increased? California is so wealthy that it would be one of the ten richest countries in the world if it was an independent nation. Yet a small group of
Assemblymembers and State Senators have refused to consider increasing revenue rather than cutting public schools. Measures like closing a tax loophole taken advantage of by yacht owners and levying a tax on oil coming out the ground in California have recently failed in the legislature.  Unfortunately, as budgetary bills they need a two-thirds vote to pass. Even if these measures did get out of the legislature, would Schwarzenegger sign them into law?

The people of California need to send a strong message to our elected leaders on May 14. We need to make it clear that we are against tax breaks for the super-wealthy. We need to make it clear that we are against gas companies charging $4 a gallon and taking California’s oil for nothing. We need to make it clear that public education and the future of our children is our top priority, and that it needs to be their top priority too.

OEA is celebrating the Day of the Teacher by supporting public education and opposing the budget cuts at City Hall from 4pm to 6pm TODAY! 

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is proposing cuts in education of up to 10%, or $4.8 billion. These cuts would mean larger class sizes, less enrichment for students, and continued lay-offs for teachers across the state.  We need to keep up the pressure on the governor and Democrats in the state legislature whom we expect to fight for education. 

No Statewide Cuts to Public Education!

By Marijke Conklin

(Oakland, January 15 2007) When I testified at the Oakland Board of Education meeting last November, I was nervous.

The last time I testified at a public meeting was over ten years ago.  As a student in District of Columbia Public Schools (D.C.P.S), I asked if Mayor Marion Barry could provide us with textbooks.  And permanent teachers.  And potable water.  I had lived and traveled abroad and I knew that some conditions in D.C.P.S  (like some in O.U.S.D.) resembled those of exploited countries.  A self-important teenager, I didn’t notice who else was there.  I just knew what private schools across the land already know: students need materials and services to learn.           

Flash forward to Oakland.  This time, I was a school employee.  The new State Administrator and the Executive Director of Special Education were present.  I saw board members and press.  As an intern,  I felt vulnerable.  Would there be repercussions for speaking publicly? Would my competence be questioned?  Would speaking out turn the bureaucracy against me, and affect my ability to raise student achievement?     

As I stood in line pondering these questions, I began to think about what my students were missing.  Mario(*) excelled with sustained individual attention.  In a small group, Adil performed above grade level.  Huong sits and listens with an adult seated by him on the rug.  These are students designated as having special needs.  According to academic research and the law, they need more than an overachieving teacher to achieve high expectations.  They need services. 

In short, I stopped thinking about district politics and myself.  I started thinking about my students.     

I imagined workshop time, center activities and 1:1 opportunities.  I imagined one adult calming excitable students while I continued instruction uninterrupted.  I imagined recess working with small groups while the assistant helped with paperwork.  I imagined eating lunch.

Just before I reached the microphone, I remembered the phrase coined by teacher and activist Audre Lorde: “Your silence will not protect you.”  I realized my silence could never protect my students — only hurt their academic achievement.  

Whether our students need clean rooms, a caring adult, heat, appropriate curriculum, computers, a custodian, an Instructional Assistant, speech therapy, psychological services or other educational scaffolds guaranteed by IDEA and the Williams suit, teachers must be responsible for reaching beyond our classrooms to get those things.  After my turn to speak, Phyllis Harris, the Executive Director of Programs for Exceptional Children, approached me.  She said she had no idea we didn’t have an Instructional Assistant.  She said PEC wants to hear about it when our students need something.    

The next week, both vacant positions at my school were filled by qualified assistants. I heard from others who spoke that Instructional Assistants had come to their classrooms too. 

Coincidence or consequence?  I’ll never know.  But I believe there are repercussions to speaking out.  Really excellent ones.  And my students are now reaping the benefits. 

*All students’ names have been changed to protect their privacy

On April 29, 2008 the Oakland Education Association held a press conference supporting the ILWU May Day Action Against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Oakland Education Association President Betty Olson-Jones spoke along with representatives from UBC CWA UPTE, UTU 1740 and ILWU.  Cindy Sheehan, candidate for Congress against Nancy Pelosi, also spoke.  See the press conference here.