DAY OF THE TEACHER - MAY 8, 2013

Dear Colleagues,

This week parents, administrators, elected officials, and community members will thank us for our work and dedication to the students of Long Beach. We all deserve it…and I want to join in the celebration and say, “Congratulations to us!”

We have all been a part of an intense effort the last five years to keep our schools at their best, even when support for our schools was at its worst. Teachers, nurses, and librarians protected their students’ learning environment, even as our teaching conditions challenged our personal and professional survival. Consider just a few examples: Our members who came to work every day, even after they were told their job was lost for the coming year; our nurses and librarians had their workloads double, triple, or even quadruple; our coaches, some of whom were RIF’d from regular teaching jobs where they coached, returned to coach their team the next year, driving from a temporary assignment at another school; classroom teachers who saw class sizes increase and resources decrease; TALB members who lost their homes when they lost their jobs, yet remain hopeful they’ll be rehired; and members who reluctantly moved to secure work elsewhere to support their family. These are just a few of the brave stories we all hear every day. Examples of TALB members educating students every single day under these circumstances is the very definition of professionalism at the highest level.

Moving forward, we all have reason to hope because TALB members have united, time and time again, to protect our students and each other. We fought and won the passage of Proposition 30, which has stopped the declining resources and started us on the road to recovery. We defeated Proposition 32, and thus preserved our ability to organize in the future to protect our public school classrooms. We organized around our health care, fighting off a potentially crippling “cap” on our health benefits.

“TALB” didn’t do all of this…organized and active TALB members did it. The same teachers, nurses, and librarians we honor on this Day of the Teacher, gave extra time to volunteer after work to support students, their colleagues, and our profession. Our volunteers in our organizing campaigns, our Site Reps, our Board of Directors, our Bargaining Team, our Organizing Team, our Elections Committee, our State Council members, our NEA delegates, our EMAC Committee, our Finance Committee, our Advocates Committee, our Grievance Committee, our Awards Committee, our National Board Committee, and our task forces. In total, HUNDREDS of you helped out in ways big and small by donating HUNDREDS of volunteer hours to the cause. You are the front line defenders of public education. You deserve a special salute for being active union members and working to make TALB a stronger union.

We are all tired at this time of year, but our work never ends in our classrooms and for our union. Brighter days may be ahead due to our collective work to pass Proposition 30 and an improving economy. However, we still have to work to get our RIF’d colleagues back on the job, keep up the fight to preserve our health care, elect a school board that will partner with teachers, and engage with our community to work on our shared concerns. While we know the attacks on our public schools and our union will continue, we will persevere; we will keep getting stronger, and we will lead the effort to improve public education through our advocacy and organizing.

I hear your stories, your challenges, your victories, and it humbles me. TALB members work together every day to develop our students’ potential, to prepare every student to succeed, and to make a better life for our students. It is an honor to be a part of such a great profession and a member of TALB. Thank-you.

In unity,

Virginia Torres, President
Teachers Association of Long Beach

PS: I hope you can come out on May 18 for the TALB Family Picnic. We deserve a few hours together for a day of fun with each other and our families.

TALB RUNOFF AND CALENDAR ELECTION RESULTS

See results of the TALB Run-Off election for Vice President and CTA State Council Representative and also the Calendar election at the TALB Elections page here.

HEALTH BENEFITS COMMITTEE UPDATE

The TALB-LBUSD Health Benefits Committee (HBC) is working on cost reductions to the health care plans, as agreed upon in the recent contract. The HBC’s immediate task is to reduce at least $800,000 in plan costs. In addition, the HBC is looking for additional cost reductions that will mitigate TALB member co-pays caused by rapidly escalating health care costs.

The HBC is planning on recommending changes in the PPO that would severely limit or eliminate out of network care within the PPO plan. This would not limit any in-network PPO coverage or out of network care in the event of an out of area emergency (i.e. If you had to go to the hospital while out of state). In many cases, the same care is available in the network at a much lower rate, but referrals are made to out of network facilities at inflated rates. Out of network costs account for a disproportionate share of total health costs due to the high level of fraud and price gouging that occurs at these facilities. The HBC is also likely to recommend tighter controls on certain high cost specialty Rx products (drugs) where equally effective lower cost alternatives exist.

Transfer Openings and Applications

Information on transfer openings and applications are now available. You can see them on the Transfers page here.

RIF’S AND REINSTATEMENTS

“Reinstatement of at least 275 RIF’d teachers results in no additional cost to the district, as they will be on the same pay scale regardless of their contract status, and based on recent LBUSD staffing patterns, will be re-employed either way…To the District, this is simply a matter of changing the label on the contract and has no other risk. To the teachers involved, and the LBUSD community generally, it provides a huge morale boost that is sure to have a positive impact district wide.”

--Excerpt from March 27 TALB letter to Superintendent Steinhauser
(Read full letter here)

DISTRICT SHOULD ACT TO REINSTATE 275 IMMEDIATELY…WILL THEY? Recent District staffing patterns indicate the District can immediately act to fully reinstate at least 275 RIF’d teachers without any additional cost. As reported in recent UPDATE’s, the immediate reinstatement of RIF’d teachers is critical as many are coming up on their 39 month reinstatement deadline. TALB has communicated with the District through one-on-one meetings with the Superintendent, and recently, via the above referenced letter. TALB believes this action is both the right thing to do, and the pragmatic approach, as it will resolve potential legal challenges and, more importantly, keep locally trained and experienced classroom teachers here in Long Beach.

DISTRICT FAILS TO ISSUE LAYOFF NOTICES TO ELIGIBLE TEMPS: As part of the same March 27, 2013 letter, TALB has notified the District of potential legal action resulting from the LBUSD’s failure to issue layoff notices to 193 temporary certificated employees identified as categorically funded, or replacing employees serving in categorical positions. Unlike previous years, where temporary contract categorical teachers (E.C. 44909) were given precautionary notices (pink slips) and the right to participate in a layoff proceeding pursuant to the Education Code, this year they were not provided with a “March 15 Notice” and the right to participate in a layoff hearing.

TALB has indicated to the District that the remedy in this situation is the immediate rehire of all teachers working under a temporary (a.k.a., “special”) contract due to categorical funding, per Ed. Code section 44909.

SCHOOL BOARD IMPOSES NEW BELL SCHEDULE
ACTION MAY VIOLATE STATE BARGAINING LAWS

The School Board voted to impose a new bell schedule for next year. The approved schedule was different than any plan that had been previously discussed. The Press Telegram reported, “Chris Steinhauser, the district’s superintendent, agreed with (TALB President) Torres that the plan presented at the school meeting was different from the previous one.”

On January 29, TALB sent the District a letter indicating that a schedule change required negotiations prior to implementation (click here to see the letter on page 2 of the February 4th UPDATE here). The District then met with TALB twice to bargain over the matter. Then, on March 25, the School Board imposed a new plan that the School Board, TALB, or the community had not previously seen. A key component of the plan includes a 40 minute elementary preparation period every Thursday. The District has said very little about what this means, where they are getting the time for the prep period, and what it will be used for. The bottom line: A district proposal to alter preparation time is a negotiable matter and should have been included in the regular bargaining cycle. We don’t know if this is a good plan, or ill-considered and riddled with problems. We do know that the District has violated the good faith bargaining process and is trying to rush into a plan that hasn’t been thought out.

TALB will meet with the District in the coming weeks in an attempt to understand their plan and the related impact. In the meantime, we are starting the process of filing an Unfair Labor Practice with the State’s Public Employee Relations Board, as a result of our belief that the District violated the State’s bargaining laws by proceeding unilaterally and without properly sunshining and bargaining their proposal.

BARGAINING BEGINS ON FULL CONTRACT

Bargaining has started on a full contract. TALB and the District met on January 30, 2013. The bargaining teams reviewed proposals for the first part of the day. In the afternoon, the District discussed their desire to mandate the use of School Loop. TALB team members raised concerns about mandating the program, including inadequate hardware and inconsistent technology support at many schools. Future bargaining dates are scheduled as follows: February 13, March 4, March 14, and April 10. Click here to view the initial proposals by the District and TALB.

The TALB Bargaining Team includes: Chairperson Barry Welsch (Jordan), Gina Bonetati (Prisk), Corrin Hickey (Lakewood), Michelle Shipp (Newcomb), Kevin Quinn (Edison), Patria Daliva (Head Start), Sybil Baldwin-Perry (CDC), and Mark Ennen (Newcomb).

THE FINAL WORD…

“Unions are under ferocious attack and will not survive unless they are seen as advocates of school reform. Of necessity they must adopt more responsibility for the teaching profession and the academic achievement of students. Further, only by building alliances with community and parents will unions be able to withstand the conservative onslaught.”

Bob Peterson, 5th grade teacher
(Peterson is also the current President of the Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association and longtime editor of Rethinking Schools)

COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS

TALB members report wide-ranging concerns related to school site implementation of “Common Core”. The state of California has not mandated implementation of Common Core, however, the LBUSD has started district-wide implementation.

If your site is experiencing problems with the transition to Common Core, please let us know. We have ongoing meetings with Assistant Superintendents Jill Baker and Pete Davis to address TALB member and site concerns regarding the transition to Common Core Standards.

In the coming weeks look for an electronic survey on this matter that will be sent to your personal email address. We hope the survey will help to let the District know what has been working and what has been failing in regard to this new program. In the meantime, if you have any urgent concerns please contact TALB’s president, Virginia Torres – vtorres@talb.org or Assistant Executive Director, Chris Callopy – ccallopy@talb.org.