Representing Teachers and School Employees in Northwest Louisiana
Shop for Halloween treats using this union-made list
Shop from this list of union-made Halloween treats. It’s an easy way to make your trick-or-treaters happy AND support members of the Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM); United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW); and United Farm Workers of America (UFW).
October is Bullying Prevention Month – Free Lesson Plans
October is National Bullying Prevention Month. Educators like you are in a unique position to take action immediately to curtail bullying, and Share My Lesson has free resources to help.
To aid educators, parents and community members in creating safe and welcoming schools, Share My Lesson has created an expansive collection of free resources and classroom materials.
1. Download free resources to support you and your school in being safe and welcoming to all students.
2. Read our Scholastic article on the 12 most important steps you can take to address this important issue.
3. Request a complimentary bullying prevention toolkit for your school.
See a full list of Share My Lesson’s featured bullying prevention partners.
Ebola Telephone Town Hall with AFT
Date: Thursday, Oct. 23
Time: 8:15 p.m. Eastern time
Ebola has been on everybody’s mind, and AFT members across the nation are doing everything they can to be ready to care for, and answer questions from, those who come through their doors—in hospitals, patients’ homes, ambulatory care centers, public health clinics and schools.
Since this summer, our union has been working on several fronts to both address and contain Ebola, from working with our colleagues in West Africa to ensuring American government officials understand the steps necessary to safely care for Ebola patients.
Last week, with our nurse and healthcare leaders and activists, the AFT held a press conference to disseminate the three steps we believe are absolutely necessary to address this potential, but eminently containable, crisis. We made the same points privately to the Obama administration and used my New York Times column to similarly educate the public. (link) And U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) presented a letter I wrote on behalf of our union at last week’s House committee hearing about the United States’ response to Ebola. This letter was the only submission from organized labor at that hearing.
This morning, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued updated guidance for hospital healthcare workers on Ebola preparedness in our healthcare system. The agency, for the most part, listened to us.
Armed with these new guidelines, we are working to ensure they are being implemented at every healthcare facility. They are not mandatory. And as we learned from our work on protecting our members from H1N1, the heavy lift will be making sure our employers do the right thing.
Given the widespread concern about Ebola, we are including all our leaders on this call, not just our frontline nurses and healthcare providers.
The telephone town hall will address the new CDC guidelines, which echo the key points from the AFT’s plan, as well as a number of remaining issues that need attention. Just yesterday, I spoke with top officials from the White House, the CDC, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health and Human Services about the need to limit potential exposure of health professionals through the use of specially trained volunteer care teams. We also discussed the need to ensure pay for workers who are placed in precautionary isolation following exposure to the virus. The positive response I got from CDC Director Tom Frieden and others was positive; our leaders clearly want to continue working with us on developing solutions. We must be sure to impress upon the agency the urgent need for expanded guidance for nonhospital settings.
BESE: Ebola fears prompt emergency rule
Prompted by fears that the Ebola virus could invade Louisiana, the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education approved emergency rules giving superintendents the authority to close schools or send students home if threats appear. While no cases of Ebola have been reported in Louisiana, Assistant Superintendent Erin Bendily told the board that the schools should be prepared for the eventuality. Once a comment period is complete, the new rules will become part of the Louisiana Handbook for School Administrators. The emergency rule was approved without discussion or objection. While not specifically mentioning Ebola, the rule says that local superintendents can dismiss schools when there is “any actual or imminent threat to public health or safety, which may result in loss of life, disease or injury.” The rule also allows superintendents to remove students or staff if there is evidence from a health care professional that the individual has a communicable disease that could spread to the general population. Students required to miss school because of quarantine would be provided with assignments, homework and instructional services.
ACTION: Tell our leaders: More teaching. Less testing.
End the obsession with testing! Louisiana spends hundreds of millions of dollars on tests that can unfairly and inaccurately compare and label our children, our teachers and our schools.
The national tests haven’t even all been written, yet BESE and Superintendent White insist they be used to judge teachers and compare students.
An “apples-to-apples” comparison is impossible and it shouldn’t be the goal of education. Our focus should be on deciding what our children need to know and on instruction. The purpose of testing should be to learn if children know what they should to be successful in life.
Even U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan says it’s time to delay using standardized test results to evaluate teachers.
In fairness to school support staff who are called upon to act as substitute teachers, Red River United and the Louisiana Federation of Teachers worked for passage of Act 231, which requires school boards to pay employees at the substitute teacher rate if it is higher than their usual salary.
Do you feel you may be entitled to additional compensation, call Red River United, 318-424-4579.
Our obsession with testing and labeling students is sucking the joy out of teaching and learning.
Take the nola.com survey on excessive testing!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Les Landon, Director of Public Relations
(Baton Rouge – October 15, 2014) Statement from the Louisiana Federation of Teachers following the State Supreme Court decision reversing a 19th Judicial District Court ruling on the constitutionality of Act 1 of 2012:
Obviously the Louisiana Federation of Teachers is disappointed by the high court’s decision. After the district court ruled three times that Act 1 is wholly or in part unconstitutional, we had hoped for a different outcome.
Since we have not yet had a chance to study the Supreme Court ruling, we cannot comment on its particulars. We have always maintained, however, that the ultimate solution to the problems caused by Act 1 of 2012 will be legislative and not judicial.
The bundling of objects, the basis of our original lawsuit, was just one of the reasons that we considered Act 1 so ill-conceived. Another of our concerns, the way in which Act 1 dealt with the discipline and dismissal of teachers, was corrected with the adoption of Act 570 in the 2014 Regular Legislative Session.
Act 570 should serve as a model for future cooperation between educators and lawmakers. The LFT intends to revisit other offensive sections of Act 1 in coming legislative sessions.
As a leader of teachers and school employees, you probably think this letter is about the testing ad nauseam we are forced to endure in our classrooms.
And while there is considerable angst, our greatest anxiety is what this does to our students. The actual joy of school is being robbed from our boys and girls. For example, when the inclusion of enrichments is not important, when recess is suspended because we need to be back in the classroom, when we expect children to choke down a lunch in the name of maximizing class time, when we don’t let our students talk during lunch because that is a distraction, and now even taking away naps from our youngest.
We have turned our schools into a forced march.
Student achievement is increased when what we present is meaningful and relevant. Those extra minutes taken away each day do not help because students are exhausted thus disengaged; therefore, no REAL learning is actually taking place. We believe that teachers teach and students learn best in an environment which recognizes that school is more than an assembly line.
It is time for all of us to demand better for our children. A world awaits our children, it is our job to prepare them for all aspects of that world and that is more than testing. Let’s return the joy of school.
— Jackie Lansdale, President, Red River United, Shreveport
Call us immediately at Red River United, 318-424-4579 (we may want to consider a grievance but must weigh the particulars of each individual’s case). SLTs are too important to take lightly.
Here are some basic facts on Student Learning Targets (SLTs) are a crucial part of a teacher’s COMPASS evaluation. To make sure that your evaluation is an appropriate, accurate and fair representation of your professional abilities, please review the following hints for writing your SLTs in collaboration with your principal.
Red River United has received calls and emails about SLTs. Below are the most common topics and RRU’s position.