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Change is Coming

red-river-school-house

 

Dear Red River United member,

We hope you are enjoying your well-deserved summer break. By now you have likely received a letter, phone call, and perhaps a friendly visit to your house about our conversion process from payroll deduct to bank draft. All members will need to fill out this online form. This transition to self-management will allow us to do LOTS of things previously impossible under payroll deduct.

We believe the ACH program will provide us opportunities we could not realize with the school districts’ payroll deduction program. For example, we are looking at a group disability policy. The exciting news is that we qualify for a group policy. Therefore, the cost is much more affordable and there are no pre-existing conditions. This is just one of the items we exploring.

We know you have ideas too. Below is a link for survey where you can provide input on the services you would like to see us explore. http://tinyurl.com/RRUbenefitsurvey. Be creative on what services and discounts you would like negotiate as additional member benefits. We are only able to accomplish this because we are the largest professional organization in Louisiana (over 3,000 strong).

We love to hear from you, so call us or come by for a visit. We are here all summer doing the business of our organization. We are a great group of people serving a great group of people and we count you as members of both groups. Thank you for all that you do.

Nothing will go into effect until September 1, 2015.

PS – we understand that there is a glitch on the form that requires you to select Bossier Parish regardless of the parish you work in and will not allow you to select your position. Fill the form out as it is currently posted and we will correct the discrepancies. 

In Solidarity,

Jackie

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Red River United President’s Message- 1/28/2014

With No Child Left Behind, Race to the Top, COMPASS, and Common Core, we now have a decade of top down test based schooling behind us. So, let’s assess — how has that worked for us?

Well, according to PISA, the Program for International Student Assessment, which occurs every three years and ranks schools worldwide, the results would probably tell you– not so good.

The latest results, released in December, show the US scoring below average in Math and close to average in Science and reading. More importantly, there has not been any significant growth in the United States rankings since 2003.

So, we have to wonder, what will work if testing ad naseum and vilifying and sanctioning educators, all while underfunding and starving schools, closing neighborhood schools, selling them for pennies on the dollar, and creating private for profit charter schools have not worked for the past decade?

Just look at the top tier nations, what are their priorities? In stark contrast to our policies, the top tier countries do not have a fixation on testing. They actually respect public education and work to ensure their teachers are well prepared and supported. Their students have curriculum and standards, but they also have the resources needed to meet them. They consider equity issues and insure that students who need extra resources to succeed get them.

Here locally, in Caddo and Bossier parishes, top tier thinking means elevating our approach by working together to ensure that every student in Caddo and Bossier has a school that is a safe and welcoming place for teaching and learning. Top tier thinking means making sure that policies and practices mirror the commitment that all of our teachers will be well-prepared, supported, and have the time they need to plan and collaborate. It means continuing to insist on the arts and music in our curriculum. It means ensuring that there are resources available for all children to have access to Pre-k education with extended day, extended year, and wrap around services. These steps mirror the top tier nation approaches that have been proven to work.

Let’s have the collective courage to say no to failed policies. The only ones to be angered are the ones with their hands out. Let’s instead embrace a steadfast and earnest approach in insuring that our priorities stay our priorities – our children, each and every one of them. That is Reclaiming the Promise of Public Education.