PEA

focus
on educators
California Teachers Association

focus on educators is an award winning publication of the Pittsburg Education Association/CTA/NEA www.peateachers.org

Statement of Mission
The California Teachers Association exists to protect and promote the well-being of its members; to improve the conditions of teaching and learning; to advance the cause of free, universal, and quality public education; to ensure that the human dignity and civil rights of all children and youth are protected; and to secure a more just, equitable, and democratic society. accuracy. If it is incorrect, it can back to your site rep. This is a way take up to 5 years to get it corrected. to see how things are going as far as (Really). Some of us joined the your feelings of safety and wellstrike line many years back and we being at your site. Your work might be a tad short. There are ways conditions are your students to make up the time by perhaps sick learning conditions. days accumulated when you retire. Principal Surveys will be sent out via hard copy in February and you Regarding your medical benefits Volume XXII, Number 5 will have a month to complete and always let the district know (and return to your site rep. We shared PEA) if you have married and In this Issue the evaluation with your principals Presidents Message & have a new last name and you Informational Items ..pgs. 1-3 back in the fall so they would know want to add your partner to your Announcements..p.3 what was coming, and I have medical coverage. I have heard of Thank You Corner.p.3 spoken to the Superintendent about some bad situations occurring Treasurers Update...........p.4 the reasons why we do this. when this was assumed.

JANUARY 2013

Bargaining Update.p.4 Secondary V.P.s Update..pgs. 4-5 CTA News....pgs. 5-7 PEA Calendar.... .The Last Page

PEA Presidents Message

One of the responsibilities of being a local President is that I regularly meet with other presidents about every other month. It is called a Presidents Forum and we discuss current events with all of our neighboring districts. It is very helpful to hear how we stand up against our fellow Alameda and Contra Costa County neighbors. Here are a few of the gems passed on: Always check your Cal STRS service credit each year for

All districts put aside a wad of money just in case Prop 30 didnt pass. We put aside $4.5 million. This money came from ongoing monies and meant all around accounts had to be pillaged to create this stock pile. Please let the district know of ways this money could be used for the betterment of all. One use of this money is a Golden Handshake Retirement Package for this school year's retirees. You will be hearing more about this very soon. Information from PEA only is that we sent you a hard copy of the Site Safety/Climate survey. Please do not toss this out. Fill it out and give

Currently, no one ever asks us about our leadership. Having a strong effective principal/leader has a big impact on the success of a school site. If you are happy, then say so. If you have concerns, then say so, too. Finally, we say goodbye to School Board member Willie Wong. He is moving to be closer to his family, and so has to close being a school board member. He has always been a straight talking kind of guy and a wonderful person to discuss education with. He has supported teachers and PEA in any way he could. Thank you Willie!

Wag More and Bark Less!

Chris Coan, PEA President

PEA Leadership 2012-2013 President Chris Coan

Willow Cove Elementary/ PEA Office

Rep. Council Meeting Calendar

September 19 October 17 November 14 December 19 January 23 February 20 March 20 April 24 May 15 June 5 ***********************************

Elementary Vice President Cindy Joy

Parkside Elementary

Secondary Vice President Shelly Bascomb

Rancho Medanos

Secretary Tammy Carr

Highlands Elementary

Treasurer Gale Higgins

Stoneman Elementary

School Board Meeting Calendar

August 22 September 12 & 26 October 10 & 24 November 14 December 12 January 9 & 23 February 13 & 27 March 13 & 27 April 17 May 8 & 22 June 5 & 26 ***********************************

Committee Chairs Grievance Committee Richard Higgins Pittsburg High Negotiations Team Dawn Cova - Chair Political Action Committee Iris Contreras - Chair Elections Chair Ruth Foster Human Rights Committee Vacant Womens Issues Committee Allison Azevedo - Chair O-Team Vacant CTA State Council Representatives Iris Contreras PEA Denise James, Sara Savacool, Robert Strickler - AEA Alternate Pandora Bethea - AEA CTA Director District C Terri Jackson NEA Director for California, District 3 Greg Bonaccorsi Technical Editor Susan Harrison PEA Site Secretary

Are you Getting your PEA Information???

Having the site reps attend their monthly meeting and then reporting back to you is vital in the communication chain of our Association. Roll call at last December 19th Rep Council Meeting: Adult Ed. absent Stoneman absent Foothill present Willow Cove present Heights present MLK Jr. present Highlands present Hillview - present Los Medanos present Rancho Medanos absent Marina Vista present PHS - present Parkside present Black Diamond present ************************************

Focus on Educators is a publication of the Pittsburg Education Association CTA/NEA 159 East 4th Street Pittsburg, CA 94565 Phone: (925) 432-0199 fax: (925) 432-4854

E-MAIL:peatchrs@att.net WEBSITE: www.peateachers.org 2

THANK YOU Corner

PEA would like to thank the following people for helping and supporting their local association for the month of January. Thank you to the PHS Reps and Department Chairs for successfully administering the School Climate Survey. Because of them, an overwhelming number of faculty members got their voices heard.

THE PITTSBURG HIGH SCHOOL MARCHING BAND CALENDARS are on sale for $10.00 each. This is a great way to show your support of the band.
They can be purchased by contacting Pat Mims at 925-473-2368 or 925-473-2368.

ANNOUNCEMENTS
PEA POSITIONS OPEN AND WAITING FOR YOU TO VOLUNTEER Elementary Grievance Chair position: Open. Get your feet wet and we will help you every step of the way. Help members and help the district follow our contract. You would be required to attend two Wednesday meetings a month....Executive Board and Rep Council. Human Rights Chair position: Open. This is a nice way to get involved. In this position you are the go between with CTA on any educational issues regarding all in education being treated fairly....students and teachers. You would be required to attend two Wednesday meetings a month...Executive Board and Rep Council, as well as attending Human Rights receptions. If you are interested contact us at: peatchrs@att.net

THE PITTSBURG HIGH SCHOOL MARCHING BAND is holding its: 4th Annual Crab/Tri-Tip Feed Saturday, February 9, 2013 Church of the Good Shepard Hall 3200 Harbor Street Pittsburg, CA 94565 Doors open at 5:00 p.m. $40 for Adults/$10.00 for children (5 years and under) Tickets can be purchased at: Eventbrite; Railroad Book Depot; or Railroad Cleaners

CTA is also supporting the Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship Fund. This memorial fund helps to recruit ethnic minority teachers into education. More info about contributions and applications can be found at the members only section of the CTA website www.cta.org.

You cannot solve a problem with the same mind that created it.
Albert Einstein
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PEA TREASURERS UPDATE

Here we are in the 5th month of the 2012-13 school, which also means our PEA Fiscal Year. Financially speaking, things are moving smoothly along as expected. Thankfully there are no upcoming surprises on the financial front! There are two things I would like to remind you of: We are offering $50 scholarships to attend a CTA conference that may interest you. The Good Teaching conference upcoming in February looks especially interesting. Site Reps get paid $10 per meeting (you must attend a minimum of 4 meetings to earn the stipend). I would love to see 2 or 3 reps per site attending our monthly meetings and earning those stipends! Respectfully submitted, Gale Higgins, PEA Treasurer ************************************

3. Those unit members who choose to revoke their retirement letter will have until the May 8, 2013 Board Meeting to decide, but will not receive any incentive money. 4. To qualify for post-employment health care benefits, an employee must be 55 years of age with 15 years of continuous service with PUSD prior to retirement from PUSD. District paid benefits end when the retiree reaches age 65, or is deceased. 5. Employee(s) must retire from the District by June 30, 2013. In order for the plan to move forward, the plan offering must result in a cost savings to the District. If District elects not to continue program due to not being a cost savings, unit members will have the option to revoke retirement after May 8, 2013. Respectfully submitted, Dawn Cova, PEA Bargaining Chair

BARGAINING UPDATE
PEA and PUSD signed an MOU on December 18, 2012 regarding an Early Retirement Incentive. The District will notify you if you are eligible and you have until March 8 to decide. Be sure to check with a benefits specialist and CalSTRS advisor to get all the information you need before making a decision. Early Retirement Incentive 1. Any certificated unit member, employed as December 18, 2012 who submits a retirement letter and SERP Enrollment Package by no later than Friday, March 8, 2013, shall be compensated under the Early Retirement Incentive Program,

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SECONDARY VICE-PRINCIPALS UPDATE

Dear Pittsburg High School Faculty: How would you like to work at a school where everyone is treated with respect? How would like to work at a school where the administration only has positive things to say about the staff? No, you dont have to move to a different school. YOU can make this happen at PHS simply by following PEAs Code of Conduct: I will not criticize any union colleague except to the individual directly. If any union colleague is being criticized in my presence, I will confront the criticism and ask that it stop.

Supplemental Employee Retirement Plans

(SERP). In order to qualify for this plan, the unit member must: a) Be 55 years of age or older and b) Have at least 5 years of service with PUSD and c) Must be eligible to retire from CalSTRS 2. Those unit members who are willing to submit a non-revocable retirement letter by Friday, March 8, 2013, will receive a $1000 incentive.

I will not participate in any conversation with management that criticizes, or negatively speculates about, any union colleague. I will settle my differences with colleagues within my union. I will engage in debate, offer others every opportunity for debate and respect minority viewpoints, but I will observe and support the majority mandate of my union.

I want to pay particular attention to the second and third lines. When an administrator holds up a teacher as an example of bad teaching, or when an administrator speaks negatively about a teachers attitude or actions, and that teacher is not present, TELL THE ADMINISTRATOR TO STOP. Say something like, Mr. /Ms. So and so, I feel uncomfortable hearing about a colleague in a negative way without him/her being here. I would appreciate it if you would save those comments for when he/she is present. Thank you. If an administrator has a problem with a teachers teaching or attitude, it is his/her responsibility to provide support/training to the teacher or to have a constructive conversation with the teacher about his/her attitude. It is not appropriate for the administrator to badmouth him/her to other teachers. Reminding administration to praise in public; criticize in private will go a long way towards cultivating the atmosphere of respect and support that you all deserve. Respectfully submitted, Shelly Bascomb, PEA Secondary Vice-Principal ***********************************

Some things to consider when debating this issue: Our children are tested to an extent that is unprecedented in our history and unparalleled anywhere else in the world. Norm-referenced tests were never intended to measure the quality of learning or teaching. Standardized-test scores often measure superficial thinking. Virtually all relevant experts and organizations condemn the practice of basing important decisions, such as graduation or promotion, on the results of a single test. The time, energy, and money that are being devoted to preparing students for standardized tests have to come from somewhere. Many educators are leaving the field because of what is being done to schools in the name of accountability and tougher standards. The tests may be biased. Guess who can afford better test preparation. The quality of instruction declines most for those who have least. Standardized tests tend to measure the temporary acquisition of facts and skills, including the skill of test-taking itself, more than genuine understanding. Standards arent the main ingredient thats in low supply. ***********************************

Teachers Legal Rights and Duties

IV. TEACHERS DUTY TO PROVIDE A SAFE ENVIRONMENT B. Sexual Harassment and Hate Violence 1. No person may be discriminated against on the basis of sex, ethnicity, race, religion disability or sexual orientation in any program or activity conducted by public schools. This can be enforced by a civil action. Ed Code 220 2. School districts must have written policy on sexual harassment that is disseminated to students and teachers. Students can be expelled or suspended for engaging in sexual harassment. Ed Code 48900.2 3. Title IX of the Federal Civil Rights Act of 1064 gives students and parents a right to sue teachers and administrators for allowing student-on-student sexual harassment to occur. School districts and

NEWS
Unions 2.0 A Look at Unions and the Education Profession
Background Information for Open Conversations Measuring Teacher Effectiveness and Performance Pay Standardized testing has taken center stage in the public debate about how to measure teacher effectiveness, change evaluation practices and increase compensation. Testing is obviously an important component of any system measuring student learning, but should it be the most important indicator?

employees will be liable if they knew about the harassment, and did nothing to stop it. 4. Harassment Based on Sexual Orientation, Actual or Perceived Nobozny v. Podlesny (1996) 92 F. 3d 446-it can be expensive. Nearly $1 million settlement where the plaintiff suffered several years of student harassment because he was gay and the school did nothing about it. Court held that its failure to enforce its sexual harassment policy against gay harassers denied the student equal protection of the law and discriminated against him on the basis of gender and sexual orientation. 5. Hate Violence Students can be suspended or expelled for participation in hate violence, which is defined as injuring, intimidating, threatening or oppressing anyone because of their race, religion, ancestry, national origin, disability, gender, or sexual orientation. Ed Code 48900.3; Penal Code 422.55; Ed Code 220. *********************************

dependence on alcohol and other drugs are at exceptionally high risk of attempted suicide. (Deykin, Eva Y., and Buka, Stephen L. as cited in NPR) Drug and alcohol abuse is very stressful for adolescents. Many adolescents become involved with drugs and alcohol in order to provide an escape from negative feelings. But as they continue to abuse, the alcohol and drugs become an added stress in their lives, increasing the likelihood of suicidal behavior. As the adolescents begin to feel worse and worse about themselves and find they are unable to cope with life changes, frustrations and disappointments, their self-esteem plummets, and their attempts to cope become more maladaptive. When this occurs, suicidal ideation and accompanying behaviors may become an option for the adolescent. A drinking binge may lead to suicidal behavior even in non-alcoholics, since heavy drinkers sometimes become anxious and depressed while losing their inhibitions against impulsive action. In a study of completed suicides, a third had high blood alcohol levels. [The Harvard Mental Health Letter] Illicit drug abusers also have a high rate of suicide. One study of narcotic addicts found a rate five times the average; the actual numbers are probably much higher, since addicts often die from overdoses and other questionable accidents or from homicide they may have provoked with suicidal intent. Tobacco smokers also have higher than average rates of both depression and suicide. When a depressed drug abuser or alcoholic commits suicide, it can be difficult to tell whether the depression caused the drug (or vice versa) or whether the same depression that caused the drug abuse also let to suicide. [The Harvard Mental Health Letter] About 20% of suicides are alcohol abusers, and the lifetime rate of suicide among alcoholics is at least three or four times the average. Alcoholics who kill themselves are likely to be men over 30 who began addictive drinking early in life. The danger is greatest when alcohol abuse leads to a crisis such as arrest, divorce, or sudden unemployment. [The Harvard Mental Health Letter] High School students who attempt suicide are often reckless and delinquent and abuse alcohol and other drugs. [The Harvard Mental Health Letter] The disturbing rise in adolescent suicide over the last 30 years may be the result of alcoholism, drug

The Bad Teacher Narrative Countering the Message

1. When we talk about teacher quality in political/public conversation, we are almost always tying that to test scores. While no sane person would argue against the importance of teacher accountability, an astute one should surely want to know how accountability is being measured and to what extent that measure reflects teacher quality. When teacher quality and effectiveness are determined solely by test scores, then we are sure to lose just as many good teachers as we are to retain truly bad ones.

Reducing the Risk: Teen Suicide

SOME CONTRIBUTING FACTORS TO TEEN SUICIDE (Cont.) 9. Loss or crisis in significant social or family relationship

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Substance abuse may be especially important in the development of suicidal and other self-destructive behaviors. Mind altering substances tend to disinhibit impulsivity and facilitate the expression of suicidal impulses that might otherwise have been contained. Adolescents who meet criteria for

abuse, and family and social disorganization. [National Institute of Mental Health] The strongest risk factors for attempted suicide in youth are depression, alcohol, or other drug use disorder, and aggressive or disruptive behaviors. [National Institute of Mental Health] Scientific research has shown that almost all people who kill themselves have a diagnosable mental or substance abuse disorder, and the majority have more than one disorder. [National Institute of Mental Health]

Maslows Hierarchy of Needs

The levels in Maslows Hierarchy of Needs: 5. Know and Understand Needs Explains the cognitive need of the academic. 6. Aesthetic-beauty Needs The emotional need of the artist. 7. Self-actualizing Needs This is the highest level of Maslows hierarchy of needs. Self-actualizing people are self-aware, concerned with personal growth, less concerned with the opinions of other and interested fulfilling their potential. 8. Transcendence Needs Helping others to achieve their potential.

PUSD Your Rights Under FMLA, CFRA, AND PDL

Using FMLA/CFRA/PDL for Pregnancy

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1. Submit request for leave, stipulating length of time needed. 2. Obtain Health Certification form for completion by physician from Personnel Services Office. 3. Return completed Health Certification forms for Board of Education approval. Key Points to Remember FMLA and PDL run concurrently When using FMLA for persons other than yourself, please have the physician of the individual for whom you need to provide care fill out the Health Certification form. Accrued paid leave, such as *vacation or sick leave will run concurrently with FMLA/CFRA and PDL. FMLA and 12 week baby bonding under CFRA apply to both mothers and fathers. Going on full SDI for the six (eight) weeks after your child is born may negatively affect your service credits under PERS. In situations of extended sick leaves (excluding pregnancy) PUSD will continue to contribute to your benefit plans as long as you remain on paid status. Should your leave extend beyond the 100 days of sick leave extended to you under EdCode, PUSD will cease to contribute to your benefits premiums and may place you on a 39 month rehire list.

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The Facts of Life in the Workplace Because of the difference between employee and

employer values, conflict between employees and employers in the workplace is unavoidable. In a non-union workplace, the employer has a predominance of power and employees must operate as individuals. When employees deal with an employer as individuals, their working conditions will tend to get worse rather than better. In order to create a balance of power with the employer in the workplace, employees must be able to act together.

*vacation applies to Classified staff only

IF EMPLOYEES IN A UNION WORKPLACE ACT INDIVIDUALLY, ALL EMPLOYEES LOSE POWER.

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PEA

Calendar
JANUARY 2013

1 New Years Day 9 PEA Executive Board PEA Office 159 East 4th St. 3:45 PM 9 PUSD School Board Meeting 2000 Railroad Ave. 7:00 PM 10 Certificated Roundtable PUSD Board Room 3:30 PM 21 Martin Luther King, Jr. Day No school 23 PEA Rep Council PEA Office 159 East 4th St. 3:45 PM 23 PUSD School Board Meeting 2000 Railroad Ave. 7:00 PM 25-27 CTA State Council Los Angeles, CA

FEBRUARY 2013
2 6 13 13 14 15 18 20 27 Groundhog Day PEA Executive Board PEA Office 159 East 4th St. 3:45 PM PUSD School Board Meeting 2000 Railroad Ave. 7:00 PM Ash Wednesday Valentines Day Lincolns Birthday/Holiday no school Presidents Day/ Holiday no school PEA Rep Council PEA Office 159 East 4th St. 3:45 PM PUSD School Board Meeting 2000 Railroad Ave. 7:00 PM Next Deadline for Articles is February 11, 2013
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