President’s Report to Rep Council

March 1, 2010

We are in a period of crisis – this is a very difficult time, with statewide budget cuts, district cuts to essential programs and services, 121 RIF notices to our members and an unknown (as yet) number of non-reelections. If ever there was a time that each of us needed to focus on building our collective strength and will, this is it!

March 4

This Statewide Day of Action to Defend Public Education is shaping up to be huge. I can only hope that we’ll look back in 20 years and realize that this was a turning point in the fight for full funding and against wholesale privatization of public education and other essential social services.  We need each and every one of you to be actively organizing your site to participate – and that means speaking to every member and encouraging them to be involved!

We have been working with the district on several aspects of March 4:

• Informational picketing from 7:30 to the start of school: do not let your principal tell you that you have to be in class before the start of the school day! All site administrators have been informed that this time will be reserved for informational picketing to parents and the community.

• District-wide fire/disaster drill at 9:15: this will officially be a fire drill, but we’re all clear, including the district, that it’s symbolic of the state financial disaster. Because of Ed Code, they need to be sure everyone follows procedure for the drill itself. What does this mean? Students and teachers can carry signs to the drill, and once it is over, go on walking field trips in the neighborhood (follow the usual procedure) or around the school perimeter.

• Personal Leave: If you are taking a personal day, you should still plan to be at your school site at 7:30 for picketing and for the 9:15 fire drill. From the district’s guidelines for March 4: What is OUSD’s position on personal leave for March 4^th demonstrations?

Requests for leave will be treated according to the normal procedures – no special dispensation will be granted. If a teacher complies with protocol and presents written, advanced notice of a leave request, this request can be granted at the site administrator’s discretion. As always, the site administrator reserves the right to deny requests if he or she determines that the request will be disruptive to the normal functioning of the school.

• Curriculum: Check the OEA website (www.oaklandea.org) or the district’s page for March 4 (www.ousd.k12.ca.us/March4lessonplans) for some suggested curriculum. Use what works for you or develop your own. Thanks to Craig Gordon and Steve Miller for their suggestions!
• Press Conference: After the Ogawa Plaza rally, OUSD has called a press conference at the State Building. It will include all labor unions, including OEA. This is a day we are speaking out together against the state budget cuts, as other locals will do throughout the state; at the same time, we will be clear that our contract struggle with the district is ongoing and very much a part of the fight for funding priorities.

March 4 will be a date to gauge our strength in preparation for a one-day strike. We need everyone out on the informational picket lines, and everyone at the disaster drill!

HBIC (Health Benefits Improvement Committee)

Thanks to your support and our hard work over the past three years, the HBIC has grown stronger and more united. HBIC’s proposal asked for fully covered benefits for active members and adjusting retiree benefits to be eligible for active rates upon retirement. The district countered with a proposal to maintain current contract language for this year (2009-2010) and next (2010-2011), with the intent of not passing on any increases in premiums to OEA members for that year. In 2011-2012, we would again bargain through HBIC for benefits. Labor’s response to OUSD at our February 25 meeting was that we are interested, but that we will wait for the district to clarify their language, at which point we will take the proposal to our memberships. This is a very important development, and shows the strength of working together with the other unions! At the same time, we are aware that any gains for labor in the area of health benefits will encourage the district to push back on compensation and class size. We need to stay firm that it’s a matter of priorities!

Labor Coalition

We have been working with the Labor Coalition in other arenas as well. We meet with Tony Smith monthly as a group, and out of this came our collaboration as labor on a Powerpoint presentation focused on where we see money that has been misallocated and should be redirected. We presented this Powerpoint to the Finance Committee of the School Board on February 10, and have since met with Vernon Hal (Chief Financial Officer) to go over each specific recommendation. We will then give the presentation to the full Board of Education on March 10.

RIFs

On Friday, February 26, we were notified by Labor Relations that 121 of our certificated members will receive RIF (layoff) notices. This includes 38 Adult Ed teachers, two counselors, and 81 classroom teachers. You will hear more specifics during the Executive Directors’ report. We have already been in contact with our lawyers and CTA is sending additional support; be assured that we will do everything possible to protect our members’ rights. (NB: We have since been informed that the 38 Adult Ed teachers are hourly employees, not OEA contracted teachers.)

Strike Date

As momentum gathers for the March 4 Statewide Day of Action to Defend Public Education, OEA can be proud that we have been in the forefront of demanding that our district as well as the state of California reframe their priorities. We have said repeatedly that the money is there, it’s a question of priorities. We went out on a limb two years ago when we first started negotiating a new contract by demanding a 20% raise, publicizing that the district had received 21% in COLA during the six years under state administration. Last week in fact-finding we showed that although we have adjusted our demands for compensation, 20% would simply bring us to the median of surrounding districts, instead of the very bottom, where we now are. Clearly we are justified in our demands. And yet, all around us districts are making cuts, negotiating furlough days, increasing class size, cutting health care benefits. Many of our own members are confused, wondering how we can continue to hold to our demands when California is in a state of disaster.

At our January 20 membership meeting, 94% of those present authorized the Executive Board or the Rep Council to call actions up to and including a one-day strike. At our February 17 Executive Board meeting, after much discussion, the Executive Board voted to call a one-day strike on March 24.

Among the many factors we need to consider:

• With March 24 only 3 weeks away, every site needs to get a definite count of where members stand;
• We need to increase our outreach to parents to win their support;
• In the event the fact-finding panel comes back with a settlement proposal, we will need to be prepared to mobilize our members on short notice.

We are in difficult, challenging, uncharted conditions. This is a crisis, folks! It can’t be business as usual! It will be up to each and every one of us to play a role in making sure that our hard work of the last few years is successful. We have stood firm for creating successful teaching and learning conditions, for maintaining small class sizes, for raising our salaries and keeping good health benefits. We have fought to maintain an Adult Ed program, and to prevent the district from demanding that our Early Childhood teachers work on Saturdays. At the same time we need to realize that the entire state is in a crisis situation, and we will have to make some compromises as we continue to negotiate. Our brothers and sisters throughout the state are facing similar circumstances, and many have already accepted furlough days, class size increases, and other cuts. We have been bold in our demands, and continue to be bold in fighting for what we know is right. But without the support of the vast majority of our membership, our very righteous demands have little chance of being won. It is time to step up the pressure!

In unity,

Betty

President’s Report to Rep Council

February 1, 2010

State of the District

The district has heard us loud and clear. For anyone who attended or watched last week’s School Board meeting, you saw some of the open teacher and union-bashing that surfaced from at least one Board member. It’s not a surprise that given our strong stand against the district’s latest offer, we can expect to hear more scapegoating of teachers and other employees. That means that organizing must be our mindset at all times during this crisis! We’re getting calls and emails from parents and community members asking how they can support us, and it’s time to ramp things up!

Membership Meeting

It was truly inspiring to see so many members at the January 20 membership meeting and to feel your enthusiastic support for our Bargaining Team. I was moved and proud to be your President, knowing the passion you have for this wonderful profession and the determination you have to protect it from further attacks.

Just to recap, nearly 800 members attended, we took a unanimous vote to reject the district’s last offer, 94% of those present voted to authorize a one-day strike, and 93% voted to endorse actions on March 4. Now we need each of you who attended to reach out to those who didn’t, talk to them, explain the importance of our struggle, and bring them to the actions and community meetings that are being planned over the coming months. We need each of you to organize your parents – hold house meetings, bring parents to the meetings that have already been scheduled. There is no time to wait for someone else to do it – if not us, who???

March 4 Actions

Many labor, student and community organizations are mobilizing for March 4, the statewide day of action in support of public education. CTA has joined the many labor unions endorsing and building for this day. Yesterday at CTA State Council, the Alcosta delegates brought a new business item to the floor which passed after some discussion and debate:

“That CTA, with our partners in the Ed Coalition, encourage L.E.A.s (Local Education Agencies) to reschedule their spring disaster drills for March 4, 2010.”

            Rationale:

            As the current budget situation is a disaster, this would allow us to coordinate our P.R. campaign around the budget with a statewide event, happening in schools with the theme “ California’s Education Budget – It’s a Disaster.” These drills are already required; this would simply move them to a more strategic date.

(Charmaine Kawaguchi –New Haven/Mark Murray- San Francisco)

We will solicit your input on this and other plans during cluster breaks. On Wednesday, the Executive Board will be having more thorough discussion around March 4 actions, and we will let you know as soon as plans are finalized.

 “State of the Union” Remarks given on January 20, 2010

I don’t need to tell you that we live in challenging times. In Oakland we’ve just emerged from six years of state administration, leaving the district in deeper financial trouble and in debt to the state by over $100 million.

We live in a state where a 1/3 minority in the legislature can control whether or not taxes are raised or a budget is passed, a state which ranks near the bottom in per pupil funding yet first in prison spending, a state that refuses to live up to its obligation to provide a quality public education for all students.

And we live in a nation where the sorry legacy of No Child Left Behind is being reborn in Race ToThe Top, which continues the focus on measuring student achievement through test scores and seeks to tie teacher salaries, evaluation and tenure to those test scores.

It would be easy to be discouraged, to want to retreat into our classrooms and just teach. But the times we live in don’t allow us that luxury.

I want to acknowledge that I hear from plenty of teachers who feel they don’t have time to be involved. We know how hard it is to teach, or counsel, or be a nurse all day, then have to plan or do paperwork or go to school in the evening. But no matter how small your involvement, our union really is only as strong as our members.

Some of our members aren’t convinced we even need a union. Why pay dues? What does the union do for me?  Before I summarize some of our accomplishments this year, let me give just a very few reasons:

a.       There is a stronger drum beat to eliminate class size reduction. Don’t forget that it was OEA’s strike of 1996 that played a significant role in getting statewide class size reduction.

b.      This year we may see layoffs, and certainly there will be non-reelections again. Without a union, there would be NO recourse for these teachers. There would be no access to legal representation and protection. 

c.       Talk to teachers who formerly taught at charter or private schools, and left because of the conditions. There are no protections for speaking out or making suggestions for improvements at these schools.

As we continue in this long process of bargaining and fact-finding, it is important that we keep the pressure on both the district and the state, and we can only do that with your support and participation. OEA has a reputation around the country of being in the forefront of critical issues in education, partly because OEA members have been outspoken, courageous, and not afraid to take positions that might not seem popular. Since January of 2008, when we first sunshined our bargaining proposal, we have been speaking up about what it takes to create the conditions for successful teaching and learning. We were often told that we were being unrealistic, that our demands were too great in this economic climate. We have consistently countered with insisting that the money is there, it’s a question of priorities.

Public education is increasingly under attack, and we fail to recognize this at our own peril. In the past few years, the attacks on public education have increased dramatically, and the so-called “education reformers” who are pushing for further privatization of education are increasingly on the offensive.

We, as educators, are on the frontline as protectors of our students’ rights. We need to get beyond our differences and find unity in our collective strength. What if we adopted an oath similar to the Hippocratic Oath taken by doctors, that we refuse to willingly do anything that would harm our students? Would we be able, in all good conscience, to carry out many of the demands currently placed on us, like standardized testing and too many district-mandated benchmark assessments? Would we be able to stand by and watch as class size reduction is dismantled, as another generation of children is subjected to scripted, unengaging curriculum and punitive sanctions?

Some of Our Achievements:

Despite the challenges, we have been able to achieve a lot in OEA this past year. Just a few of the highlights:

1.      Office and Grievance Squads are up and running, responding to member questions and needs on a daily basis. (Have them stand.)

2.      More Site Reps are building stronger collaboration among their staffs. Recent cluster meetings saw some good turnouts, and we have seen some creative actions at many sites, the latest being a before school rally and picketing at Montera and Joaquin Miller.

3.      We have increased our presence at School Board meetings, with spirited rallies before and eloquent remarks from many members during the meetings. Our message has been consistent: the money is there, it’s a question of priorities.

4.      We have been working closely with the other employee unions in the HBIC to negotiate improved health benefits for all district employees, and have consistently fought for maintaining the highest coverage for all.

5.      We have a number of active committees: the Contract Action Team, or CAT, Grievance, Membership; Early Childhood and Substitute Caucuses. Our Publications Committee, with special thanks to Steve Neat, puts out the OEA Advocate and the Parent Teacher Connection.

6.      We have monthly socials – in fact, the next is this Friday at La Estrellita at 4pm and all of you are invited!

7.      We worked with a variety of organizations and individuals on a new parcel tax, although we recently pulled out over differences on money earmarked for charter schools.

8.      We are finally fully staffed.  Memo, Gina, Rosie, Ward and I are out at school sites on a regular basis, meeting with members, trying to resolve issues.

9.      We are active in statewide issues through CTA State Council, where your OEA delegates are active advocates on your behalf. I am on the Public Education Funding Workgroup addressing statewide fiscal reform.

10.  In preparation for the reauthorization of the ESEA, whose current form is NCLB, we’ve taken a proactive stand – speaking out against Race to the Top on KPFA, in the SF Chronicle.

What Can You Do?

We truly are only as strong as our membership. There aren’t any superstars running the show. None of us alone can do all that’s required to make this organization function in the best interests of all of our members. The forces stacked against us are too strong. We need your input, we need your support! Join an OEA committee; write a letter to Tony Smith or Gary Yee, or to the Editor. Talk to your parents and other community members; hold house meetings. Meet with other teachers and talk about the direction we should be going. Talk with younger, newer teachers and educate them about the gains that have been won by unions over the years.

As we go on now to discussion of the motion before us, I’d like to make a plea for a strong show of unity in rejecting the district’s offer. We need the district to hear loud and clear that we are united in our demand for a fair contract. Together we will continue to show the district and the state that we will not settle for less than that, and we will continue to demand that they create the conditions that will guarantee an excellent public education for all students! You are what makes this union strong!

In unity and solidarity,

Betty

 Manny Lopez, Betty Olson-Jones, Julie Palacios

President’s Report to Rep Council

January 4, 2010

Happy New Year

I hope each of you had a restful, restorative holiday break. Mine was far different from what I had planned or hoped for – leading me to reflect on how often our expectations and our reality don’t match, and it then becomes important to work with whatever “blessings in disguise” present themselves. We are faced with huge challenges this year – and it will be up to each and every one of us not just to set our expectations high, but to work hard together to ensure that we gain the best possible contract in a tough economic climate, and that we continue fighting to defend poublic education against growing attacks.

Welcome to Gina Parish

We are very happy to announce that OEA is fully-staffed once again – Gina Parish has joined us as our newest Executive Director. She comes from an ESP local in Hayward, and became quite familiar with OEA by shadowing Nicole during the past year.

District Updates

Bilingual Stipends: As of 12/28/09, HR says they had received approximately 100 complete and signed forms for the approximatelyy 210 OEA members eligible for the first semester bilingual stipend.  The letter and form was mailed via certified mail to each eligible OEA member. HR has received incomplete/unsigned forms and these will not be processed unless they are submitted complete and signed by the due date of   01/06/10. Please be sure to ask your colleagues if they have turned in a completed form.

EL Certification: There are still 173 teachers without EL certification, per HR. Certified letters were sent to all of them, including: “The district is requiring that all teachers obtain EL certification and demonstrate their compliance by January 29, 2010.  Continued failure to do so will subject you to potential employment action, including without limitation, the following:  (1) a layoff based on elimination of all non-English language classes in the District in the 2010-11 school year; (2) suspension without pay, effective July 1, 2010; and/or (3) dismissal from employment.” Please urge any teachers on your staff who do not yet have EL certification to get the process underway immediately.

Membership Meeting

It is absolutely critical that we have a large showing at our January 20 general membership meeting at Oakland Tech. Be sure to ask every one of your colleagues to be there! As we move into fact-finding, we need to keep the pressure on the district to put some money on the table, keep class sizes from increasing, stop dismantling the Adult Ed program.   We know it’s a question of priorities, and we need to make sure our voices are heard loud and clear!

Parcel Tax Coalition Update

At this afternoon’s Board of Education Finance and Resources Committee, a motion will be introduced by David Kakishiba directing the Superintendent and General Counsel to prepare two parcel tax proposals to Recruit & Retain Excellent Teachers for the Committee’s consideration at its February 1, 2010 meeting (see attached). OEA was one of the conveners of the Parcel Tax Coalition in December of 2008, but withdrew in October, 2009 when agreement could not be reached on charter school participation in parcel tax revenues. As you will see from the attachment, the proposals would direct expenditures to be divided as follows:

a. 80% of parcel tax revenue to be used to increase compensation for teachers and school

employees employed by the OUSD.

b. 15% of parcel tax revenue to be used to increase compensation for teachers and school

employees employed by charter schools.

c. 5% of parcel tax revenue to be used to fund effective professional development for new

teachers (first five years) employed by the OUSD and charter schools.

Office and Grievance Squads

Our new Office and Grievance Squads began operating weeks before the winter break, and will meet this week to assess progress. Response so far has been enthusiastic from members who have worked with members of the Office Squad and gotten answers to their questions in a very short time period. It is proving to be an excellent way to get more members involved in making OEA a more responsive organization with a focus on organizing!

GO Public Schools

We have been getting reports from OEA members that GO (“Great Oakland”) Public Schools (GOPS) is trying to recruit our members to be “teacher ambassadors” for GO via the Oakland Teaching Fellows internship program. GOPS, funded by the Rogers Foundation and headed by Jonathan Klein, makes no secret of their fondness for charter schools and for “autonomy with accountability,” i.e. if you raise your test scores, you get more “freedom” to teach beyond the script. Principals have also been sending GOPS newsletters to their staffs. GO Public Schools was represented by Brian Rogers in the Parcel Tax Coalition, and will undoubtedly be lobbying our members to support the parcel tax in the coming months. Check out their website at http://gopublicschools.wordpress.com/. I have been asked what our response should be to efforts to recruit our members to be spokespersons for this organization. While OEA is open to working with any organization that shares a vision for excellent public education, and we welcome and encourage an open and frank discussion of varying points of view, we have taken clear positions against the proliferation of charters and against using test scores as a measure of student and school success. Our OEA vision, “Create Success!” is clear on what needs to be done to ensure an excellent public education for all students!

Let’s make this the year that we focus on organizing our members, find more ways to involve newer, younger teachers, and continue to defend public education from attacks on all sides! On to a new and better contract!

In unity and hope,

Betty

President’s Report to Rep Council

January 4, 2010

Happy New Year

I hope each of you had a restful, restorative holiday break. Mine was far different from what I had planned or hoped for – leading me to reflect on how often our expectations and our reality don’t match, and it then becomes important to work with whatever “blessings in disguise” present themselves. We are faced with huge challenges this year – and it will be up to each and every one of us not just to set our expectations high, but to work hard together to ensure that we gain the best possible contract in a tough economic climate, and that we continue fighting to defend poublic education against growing attacks.

Welcome to Gina Parish

We are very happy to announce that OEA is fully-staffed once again – Gina Parish has joined us as our newest Executive Director. She comes from an ESP local in Hayward, and became quite familiar with OEA by shadowing Nicole during the past year.

District Updates

Bilingual Stipends: As of 12/28/09, HR says they had received approximately 100 complete and signed forms for the approximatelyy 210 OEA members eligible for the first semester bilingual stipend.  The letter and form was mailed via certified mail to each eligible OEA member. HR has received incomplete/unsigned forms and these will not be processed unless they are submitted complete and signed by the due date of   01/06/10. Please be sure to ask your colleagues if they have turned in a completed form.

EL Certification: There are still 173 teachers without EL certification, per HR. Certified letters were sent to all of them, including: “The district is requiring that all teachers obtain EL certification and demonstrate their compliance by January 29, 2010.  Continued failure to do so will subject you to potential employment action, including without limitation, the following:  (1) a layoff based on elimination of all non-English language classes in the District in the 2010-11 school year; (2) suspension without pay, effective July 1, 2010; and/or (3) dismissal from employment.” Please urge any teachers on your staff who do not yet have EL certification to get the process underway immediately.

Membership Meeting

It is absolutely critical that we have a large showing at our January 20 general membership meeting at Oakland Tech. Be sure to ask every one of your colleagues to be there! As we move into fact-finding, we need to keep the pressure on the district to put some money on the table, keep class sizes from increasing, stop dismantling the Adult Ed program.   We know it’s a question of priorities, and we need to make sure our voices are heard loud and clear!

Parcel Tax Coalition Update

At this afternoon’s Board of Education Finance and Resources Committee, a motion will be introduced by David Kakishiba directing the Superintendent and General Counsel to prepare two parcel tax proposals to Recruit & Retain Excellent Teachers for the Committee’s consideration at its February 1, 2010 meeting (see attached). OEA was one of the conveners of the Parcel Tax Coalition in December of 2008, but withdrew in October, 2009 when agreement could not be reached on charter school participation in parcel tax revenues. As you will see from the attachment, the proposals would direct expenditures to be divided as follows:

a. 80% of parcel tax revenue to be used to increase compensation for teachers and school

employees employed by the OUSD.

b. 15% of parcel tax revenue to be used to increase compensation for teachers and school

employees employed by charter schools.

c. 5% of parcel tax revenue to be used to fund effective professional development for new

teachers (first five years) employed by the OUSD and charter schools.

Office and Grievance Squads

Our new Office and Grievance Squads began operating weeks before the winter break, and will meet this week to assess progress. Response so far has been enthusiastic from members who have worked with members of the Office Squad and gotten answers to their questions in a very short time period. It is proving to be an excellent way to get more members involved in making OEA a more responsive organization with a focus on organizing!

GO Public Schools

We have been getting reports from OEA members that GO (“Great Oakland”) Public Schools (GOPS) is trying to recruit our members to be “teacher ambassadors” for GO via the Oakland Teaching Fellows internship program. GOPS, funded by the Rogers Foundation and headed by Jonathan Klein, makes no secret of their fondness for charter schools and for “autonomy with accountability,” i.e. if you raise your test scores, you get more “freedom” to teach beyond the script. Principals have also been sending GOPS newsletters to their staffs. GO Public Schools was represented by Brian Rogers in the Parcel Tax Coalition, and will undoubtedly be lobbying our members to support the parcel tax in the coming months. Check out their website at http://gopublicschools.wordpress.com/. I have been asked what our response should be to efforts to recruit our members to be spokespersons for this organization. While OEA is open to working with any organization that shares a vision for excellent public education, and we welcome and encourage an open and frank discussion of varying points of view, we have taken clear positions against the proliferation of charters and against using test scores as a measure of student and school success. Our OEA vision, “Create Success!” is clear on what needs to be done to ensure an excellent public education for all students!

Let’s make this the year that we focus on organizing our members, find more ways to involve newer, younger teachers, and continue to defend public education from attacks on all sides! On to a new and better contract!

In unity and hope,

Betty

Download curriculum here. For additional curriculum ideas, see the OUSD website at http://www.ousd.k12.ca.us/March4lessonplans.

Summary of events:

7:30 am        Informational picketing in defense of public education and against cuts

9:15 am        Districtwide mock "Disaster Drill" (as in "California’s budget is a disaster!" )

                   (San Francisco, San Lorenzo, Dublin and other districts are holding mock drills.)

12-4 pm        Rally at Frank Ogawa Plaza 

4:00 pm        OUSD Press Conference with labor at State Building, 1515 Clay

5:00 pm        Rally at SF Civic Center to demand Full Funding for Public Education and Social  Services! Progressive Taxation Now!

       Monday, February 22, 6:30-7:30 pm

Montclair Women’s Club • 1650 Mountain Blvd

Join teachers, parents, students and community organizations to help Create Success in Oakland classrooms. Let’s help set OUSD priorities: keep reduced class sizes; give teachers enough planning time; provide enough materials for students and teachers; make all schools clean, healthy and safe teaching and learning environments.

We look forward to seeing many of you there!
Betty

Thanks to all who came out to this afternoon’s OEA membership meeting! Despite the rain, we had a turnout of nearly 800 members, who responded enthusiastically to the information provided by the Bargaining Team and President and voted accordingly. Final tallies of votes taken:

Motion #1: “The OEA Membership confirms the position of the OEA Bargaining Team to reject the last OUSD contract proposal.” By voice vote, the vote was unanimous in favor of rejecting the District’s last offer.

Motion #2: “The OEA Membership authorizes the OEA Executive Board or Rep Council to call work actions up to and including a one day strike to resolve the current contract dispute. A membership meeting will be held following any strike to consider further actions.”

Yes:  726               No:  45                  Total: 771                                            94% Yes

Motion #3: “The OEA Membership supports action(s) in solidarity with the March 4, 2010 Statewide Action in Support of Public Education.”

Yes:  689               No:  51                  Abstentions: 31                               89% Yes

Are you concerned about your working conditions? Salary? Health care? Do you want to see OEA preserve the gains we’ve made over the years and continue in the forefront of protecting public education? We need YOU at the January 20th OEA Membership Meeting! 4:00-7:00pm at Oakland Technical High School. Click here for details on what could be the most important meeting of the year!

Where: OEA Center

When: Friday, December 11th, 4:00-7:00PM

Toys can be dropped off at the OEA Center any day!

TEACHERS:  SUPPORT YOUR

BARGAINING TEAM!

   Wear green and

Join your colleagues Wednesday

5PM RALLY

  OCTOBER 14

PICKET and LEAFLET  your parents before school

5PM RALLY before WEDNESDAY’S

SCHOOL BOARD MEETING

1025 2^nd Avenue

BE VISIBLE – IT’S YOUR CONTRACT!

Click here for more information on this and other upcoming events, including this Friday’s TGIF and Saturday’s great "I Can Do It" classroom management training.

Your teacher’s working conditions are your child’s learning conditions!

Settle a fair contract NOW!

On September 9^th, OEA members converged in OEA green at the School Board meeting to welcome Dr. Tony Smith as our new Superintendent with a “visual representation” of the instability and lack of respect that was the hallmark of six years of state takeover. Just before Public Comment, OEA members donned masks and shifted seats to show the treatment under state administration of teachers and students as voiceless and faceless, cogs in a wheel, pawns on a chessboard. OEA President Betty Olson-Jones called on Dr. Smith to really see and hear our teachers, to value our experience, and to retain the best of us by settling a fair contract that includes improved working conditions, a livable wage, fully paid health benefits, and respect for our professional expertise. Twenty teachers followed her with poignant and eloquent stories from the trenches – ranging from the absurdity of overtesting Kindergartners to the effects on students of high teacher turnover. Many of these were teachers who haven’t spoken publicly before – many thanks to all of you who so courageously told your stories! We will be organizing more of these mini-demonstrations as our contract struggle continues – and we need YOU!

August 22, 2009

I bet you’re wondering what’s going on now that summer’s coming to an end…  So here are some updates on OEA and the district…

Impasse declared, Mediation Scheduled for August 26th

As many of you know, on June 26^th we were notified by email that the district was declaring impasse in their negotiations with OEA. This was days after they presented us with a proposal for 2009-2010 that included subcontracting out nurses and counselors! (Not on MY watch!) We filed an Unfair Labor Practice with PERB and wrote our incoming new Superintendent advising him to rescind the impasse, but that hasn’t happened and the first mediation session is scheduled for August 26^th.

The District’s offer includes a 3% pay cut and numerous other take-aways — unconscionable in a district that is notorious for high teacher turnover! We say the money is there, it’s a question of priorities.

Return of local control…or is it déjà vu all over again?!?

Just minutes after that email, the District issued a press release announcing the return of local control the following Monday, June 29th. We issued our own press release and held a press conference an hour before the District’s to let the public know that while we have fought for and welcome the long-overdue return to local control,we have no choice but to question what it really represents, as long as State Administrator Vince Matthews continues to hold ultimate veto power over the budget as the State Trustee.

New Superintendent Tony Smith

I’ve met with the new Superintendent several times – once with our Bargaining Chair, David de Leeuw, and more recently with representatives of all the employee unions. He is open, listens well, and doesn’t get defensive when told that OUSD employees haven’t had a raise in six years, so are understandably upset that he got a 6% raise before he even started… He has made a public commitment to do what he says he’ll do, so we will hold him to that as we welcome him to OUSD.

Farewell to Nicole,Welcome Back Sergio, Hello/Goodbye/Hello Again Ward, Meet Rosie Roberts and Memo Durgin, and Thanks to all those who’ve kept OEA running smoothly!

Big changes around OEA over the summer – Nicole Love left us for Hayward so she could spend more time with her son, but tells us she misses us terribly. While no one will be able to replace her, we are excited to welcome Guillermo “Memo” Durgin September 1^st.  Memo comes from SEIU in Sacramento,and has an impressive background in organizing, bargaining, and grievances.Sergio Quintor returned from leave and has plunged back into the business of taking care of our members with dedication. Ward Rountree, who thinks he retired last year, is back with us to focus on bargaining (I told him that as long as we haven’t given him a retirement party, he’s still ours…). And to “bridge” the time between Nicole’s departure and Memo’s arrival, we have welcomed Rosie Roberts, a veritable force of nature who loves to problem solve and has found a wealth of problems to be solved in Oakland!  We are still missing Patricia Gray, our Administrative Assistant, who continues on medical leave. We hope all of you will take a moment to thank Linda Smith, our able Office Manager, for going above and beyond over the past eight months.Thanks to those who have filled it at OEA and made a difficult situation work:  Harriet Hutchinson, Trish Gorham, Don Kane, Jenny Mejia, Kei Swensen, and the many volunteers who have come to stuff envelopes, run copies, and do a myriad of other tasks.

Committees rockin’ at OEA

Without a strong Rep and Committee structure, too many things end up at the OEA office, and that leads to backlogs and frustration. We spent a lot of time this summer working on streamlining both Rep and Committee structures, and hope this will make us even stronger. Some highlights:

• The Crisis Action Team (CAT) spent a weekend at Chair Toni Morozumi’s cabin in Inverness working on an organizing plan for our membership. Expect to hear from a CAT Team member or your cluster leader in the next few weeks. Plans are to visit all the sites without Reps in the first few weeks. Ask about our “Masked Marauders”!
• The Membership Committee helped put together packets for new members, and teamed up with CAT and other volunteers to get the membership mailings out early this year. They have been working on planning trainings for members, and are committed to making sure you have accurate site rosters! They played an invaluable role in coming up with a master calendar for the year.
• The Elections Committee has new leadership, a schedule for the year, and a commitment to making sure we have more members voting in our elections!
• I invited several teachers and a parent to participate in a District-OEA Committee on School Climate. We had several animated discussions about the very serious issues prevailing at most school sites with student discipline and school climate. The upshot is that principals are being advised to create School Climate Committees with staff buy-in and participation.  Our concern is that this will be another project that ends up being mandated or put on the shelf. It’s up to all of us to insist that the issue of student discipline and school climate betaken seriously!

Arne Duncan comes to the NEA Representative Assembly

In late June, sixteen elected OEA delegates went to San Diego to participate in the world’s largest democratic decision-making body, the Representative Assembly (RA). Your OEA delegates introduced a number of NBI’s (New Business Items), were active on the floor on a range of issues from charter schools to poverty. You can read their reports on our website at oaklandea.org.

One of the“highlights” (or “lowlights” perhaps) was Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s visit to San Diego just prior to the RA. Over 7,000 delegates were there to make sure he got the message that we are not interested in merit pay, that innovation and charter schools are not synonyms, and that we want an overhaul of No Child Left Behind and its misguided focus on high stakes testing. Be sure to catch “The Annotated Arne” on the OEA website.

Meetings with new teachers

Although most other California districts had to lay off teachers, Oakland had no layoffs. How??? For one thing, we have one of the highest turnover rates in the state. This year, the District has hired nearly 300 new teachers – via Teach for America, Oakland Teaching Fellows, Oakland City Teaching Corps, and Teach Tomorrow in Oakland. I was able to meet with all the new teachers at their “onboarding” process and encourage them to become active participants in OEA.

Your President’s Summer

Although I didn’t take a long vacation, I did manage to get a few days away in Monterey and Mendocino with my husband, who was recovering from knee replacement surgery. The rest of the time I was either in the OEA office or attending some excellent training sessions: CTA Presidents’ Conference in Asilomar, and QEIA “Organizing For Power” in Burlingame with four Site Reps from QEIA sites.

HBIC

We have made significant progress in setting the stage for bargaining health care through the Health Benefits Improvement Committee, consisting of all the District unions. After two years, we came to an agreement on how to proceed with bargaining, and at our last meeting we began to agree on ground rules for our meetings and specific dates for bargaining. Health benefits for 2009-2010 rolled over, so there will be no increases (beyond contractual language) for this upcoming year.

The “Big Picture” – State and National Politics

As you all know,the state budget drama played out over most of the summer. It is clear to many that there needs to be a drastic overhaul of the state system, and more people are calling for progressive taxation, a repeal of part of Proposition 13 (split roll), an end to corporate loopholes (closetheloophole.com), and the restoration of a tax on the wealthiest Californians.

Catch the talk about “Race to the Top” funds – I’m sorry, but it’s asking us to sell our souls for a piece of silver to go along with changing state laws to allow using student test scores to evaluate and pay teachers. What if you were a coach and had to take any player that walked onto the field, instead of drafting them? Would you agree to be held responsible for their performance via your salary and/or evaluation???

Unfortunately, the Obama Administration is not our friend when it comes to education.

Now more than ever we need to stick together and demand a fair contract!  We need to remind parents and the community that your teacher’s working conditions are your child’s learning conditions!

We will keep you updated as events unfold.

Be sure to attend the Saturday, August 29th OEA BACK TO SCHOOL Hot Dog BBQ for the latest news!