President’s Remarks to Representative Council

June 2, 2008

Update on the District

In the past few weeks, the District has revealed their Multi-Year Fiscal Sustainability Plan, alluding to the possibility of 11-17 school closures; they have unveiled their response to the Governor’s May Revise, raising the probability of further cuts to the classroom; they have threatened Paul Robeson School of Performing Arts with the loss of their principal, counselor, drama and dance teachers; they have allowed a scandalous lack of a fire alarm system to continue at Tilden School.

We are heading into the summer months not having a full picture of what changes we might find when we come back. Because of Results Based Budgeting, each school site has made its own consolidations and cuts but they haven’t yet been made public. We’ve heard from a number of sites that they are not replacing retiring teachers, and that primary grades are going to increase in size due to cuts in Class Size Reduction money. At the next School Board meeting on June 11 we are expecting to hear more specifics, and on June 18 – after school is out! – the District will present the first reading of its budget for 2008-2009. We urge any of you who are around to attend one or both of these meetings – all kinds of interesting and outrageous information comes to light during them. For instance, at last week’s School Board meeting we learned that the District can’t say for sure if all high schools in Oakland offer A-G classes; we also learned that last week in the Consent Calendar, there were two items totaling $600,000 for audits, taking money directly from the General Fund.

Update on OEA Actions

Thank you to all of you who came out on May 14 to protest budget cuts and stand in solidarity with your colleagues in defense of quality public education! The weather was gorgeous, the three bands were a wonderful reminder of the critical importance of art and music in our students’ and our own lives, and it was inspiring to hear from so many teachers, parents and students. We will need to step it up in the months to come, and we will need all of your energy, enthusiasm, and motivation as leaders of this union to make that happen. The following day thousands of students, many from Oakland high schools, converged on Sacramento for a spirited rally in opposition to budget cuts.

Plans for a “Big 3” Action June 13, bringing Oakland, Richmond, and Vallejo together, have gone through some changes; we are now looking at some local actions, culminating in a press conference with the “Big 3” Presidents June 13. Our First Vice-President will give more details.

The Executive Board met over the weekend to begin planning for next year’s continuing campaign for a new contract, reaching consensus that we need to focus on one clear message: “Create Success – Quality Public Education is a Civil Right!” We are beginning to lay the groundwork for reaching out further into the community through house meetings, but before we do that in a major way, we have to focus on getting our own internal structure more prepared. I plan to spend the first 6-8 weeks of the new school year going to sites at lunchtime, visiting our members and hearing their concerns and issues. Hopefully I will be joined by another member of our Executive Board. Over the summer we will be calling on interested members to help out: through mailings to members, packets for new members, volunteering to go to summer school and professional development sessions to pass out information and sign up new members, and making specific plans for strengthening our committee system. Please sign up on the volunteer form in your packet if you will be able to help out at any time this summer, even if only for a few hours.

Last week I was asked to participate in a roundtable panel discussion on the pros and cons of charter schools, sponsored and moderated by the Marcus Foster Institute, and held at the James Moore Theater of the Oakland Museum. As a highly controversial subject, this was a cordial beginning to a dialogue. I represented the OEA position that the proliferation of charter schools is a move toward further privatization of the school district, that charters drain students and money from the district, and that because charters use public funds but have private boards and very little oversight from the school district, they are in essence able to exercise enormous flexibility with who they accept and who they keep. I also emphasized that because none of the charters in Oakland is unionized, teachers have no protection against being fired at will, and the turnover among charter school teachers is at least twice that of the district. The panel discussion was followed by a fairly disappointing question and answer session with local School Board candidates, showing that most of them are not well-educated on the subject of charters, Eli Broad’s influence in this district, and other so-called “reform” efforts that are in reality attacks on public education. 

Bargaining/HBIC

You have Bargaining Updates #6 and #7 in your packet.

HBIC Representatives have scheduled the first of many school site meetings to answer questions and hear input from all OUSD employees. Morris Tatum of AFSCME and I went to Franklin Elementary and Oakland Tech last week and met with OEA, SEIU, and AFSCME members; we have visits scheduled for next week at Fremont Federation and Westlake Middle School.

CTA Proposed Dues Increase

I hope all of you shared with your colleagues the proposed dues increase from CTA. In your packet is a letter from another local President and some talking points from CTA on this issue. The proposal was first presented at the April State Council and will be voted on at the June State Council. We discussed this at our last Executive Board meeting and voted to oppose any CTA dues increase that is not restricted to funds for local and statewide organizing. 

Recognition of Retirees and Reps

Yesterday OEA held our annual Retiree Reception, there will be more details under the Second Vice-President’s report. I just want to take a moment now to thank all of our retirees and all of you site Reps for your hard work in fighting for public education for hundreds of years, when taken collectively!

I wish all of you a relaxing, rejuvenating summer. You have all earned it. Come back ready to fight in the fall; we’re in for a tough and challenging time, but we will have the support of the community if we organize smartly and strategically!

In Unity,

Betty

From coastal North Carolina

IT’S TIME TO LEAVE "NO CHIILD" BEHIND

Jacksonville (NC) Daily News Editorial July 26, 2008

No Child Left Behind, the massive education program enacted by U.S. Congress in 2001, is one of those well-intended initiatives that has turned into a train wreck. It is time to admit that it simply doesn’t work. Onslow County Schools, like many other educational systems, have struggled with the stringent goals set by NCLB since its inception. In addition to what, on paper, appears an admirable objective - to improve the performance of the nation’s public schools - NCLB has probably done less to foster actual learning and more to tie teachers’ hands than any program before it. Once criticized for "teaching to the tests," educators have now been saddled with goals that are next to impossible to reach and draconian sanctions that are supposed to raise the quality of instruction. Instead, NCLB has sent many excellent teachers scrambling for the door. At a time when educators’ salaries are losing ground along with the rest of America, why would anyone want to enforce a provision that does little but drive good teachers from the profession? It makes no sense, but that is what is happening. The rural, lower-wealth counties and inner-city schools can barely keep enough teachers on staff to meet their needs, yet NCLB, which purports to raise the qualifications of those who teach, discourages the ones they do have, forcing many fine teachers to rethink their personal career objectives. Although NCLB is designed to raise the reading and writing levels of America’s children and provide measurable means of testing those abilities, what it is really doing is forcing teachers to "teach to the test" with a whole new desperation. The Adequate Yearly Progress, or AYP, goals that schools are required to meet are often impossible, turning the process into a shell game played between school and program administrators. Recently, Onslow County’s latest AYP report card revealed Onslow did not do very well in its latest assessment. Overall, the number of schools meeting their AYP goals in the county declined. What does that mean in terms of students actually learning something useful? How do parents make any sense of these numbers? They are the forgotten component of the NCLB Act. In truth, the only provision of NCLB designed to benefit parents and students allows those at low-performing schools to move to other schools in the district.No matter which candidate carries the day in November, it is hoped he will take seriously the business of teaching, limit Congress’ input into education and, finally, kick the NCLB Act to the curb. It’s an expensive, complicated program that delivers little but red tape and bureaucratic mumbo-jumbo, something the American people already have in abundance.

If you were the Site Rep last year, are planning to continue this year, or are new to this but interested, please join us September 8th for Rep Council! You’ll be the first to hear the latest on what to expect as we head into a challenging year of contract negotiations, budget cuts, and continued efforts to get rid of No Child Left Behind!

When? September 8th, 4:00-6:30pm

Where? Oakland International High School, 4521 Webster Street