Join us as we discuss how to implement and manage progress monitoring and response to intervention (RTI) in your classroom. Esther Otu, Walnut Hill Teacher and Reading Specialist, will present strategies and techniques you can implement in your classroom immediately. This session is open to members and nonmembers at our office 1726 Line Ave., Shreveport, 71101. Contact Jordan Thomas at 318-423-9423 orjthomas@redriverunited.org for any questions or usehttp://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090c4caaaf2ba0ff2-progress to reserve your spot today!
Bus Drivers and Aides– 12:00-1:00pm
Managing a safe and orderly bus is essential for drivers and aides. Leola Scott, a longtime Caddo driver, will present strategies to effectively manage a bus. This session is open to members and nonmembers at our office 1726 Line Ave., Shreveport, 71101. Contact Phyllis Mason at 318-424-4579 or pmason@redriverunited.org to reserve your spot today!
In the last newsletter, we wrote about the need for salary increases in both Bossier and Caddo, two districts at the bottom of the salary rank.
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RED RIVER PARISH – We actually thought Red River Parish was not a district in need of immediate assistance in the salary ranking as they hold the status as the highest new teacher pay in the region. But just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water (a little Jaws humor), we find out the teachers and staff are looking at a pay reduction! The taxing structure allowing Red River Parish to have the highest new teacher salaries in the region, is being manipulated to lower employee stipends. OUCH!!!
BOSSIER PARISH – You may remember in the last newsletter, Bossier Parish was saved from being the bottom in new teacher pay only because Caddo pays less. This is being done while the district is making tons of upgrades. Unfortunately, those upgrades do not include salary increases.
CADDO PARISH
Amazingly enough, the Caddo Parish School Board doesn’t think being on the bottom of the salary ranking matters. How do we know? Instead of addressing it, they have added insult to injury by placing on the agenda an item to increase the insurance by 5% and then had the audacity to say we should be happy with such a small increase. Newsflash – that is a salary cut!
RED RIVER UNITED ANSWERSBefore the end of October, every employee in Caddo will receive 12 postcards, 1 for each of the board members. The cards indicate your position, your years of service, your take home, and the amount you take out of your personal pocket for your students and school. These cards will be delivered to the school board.
Recognizing the school board must act before the next legislative session next spring in order to begin the process of getting something to the voters, we will continue to advocate and nothing, no, nothing, is off the table.
The same process will be replicated in BOSSIER, the 12 postcards to every employee. The process for pay raise is not the same in Bossier as this board has more leeway in asking the public. We have heard a Bossier board member say in the public forum that he wants all the employees to get a raise. We need to encourage the other 11 Bossier Parish School Board members. In RED RIVER PARISH, a legal opinion will be forthcoming. We will also petition the board for an agenda item specific to this issue.
It bears saying again: We are asked to do more and more with less and less. We have done our part, it is up to the CADDO, BOSSIER, AND RED RIVER BOARDS to do their part!
BENEFITS
You may remember the position of the Red River United is to address salary and benefits. The benefit we are speaking about for all three districts is paternity and maternity leave. This is the latest update we have. In CADDO, the administration has paternity and maternity leave in preparation to go up in front of the board.
BOSSIER and RED RIVER PARISHES are both served by the same legal firm. This firm is telling the administrations they don’t have to offer paid maternity and paternity. Our answer is that just because you don’t have to do something does not mean you shouldn’t. Don’t call yourself family when you don’t honor family by making your employees choose between their family and their job. Remember, this is the same legal advisor who advised the administration a teacher on maternity leave who was requested to come to school to provide testing was okay– she could just bring her newborn with her!!!
While this shouldn’t be a fight, it appears that it is. Please let us hear from you as we prepare testimonials.
Having an unencumbered lunch time, something that most every other employee in the workforce assumes is the norm, is not the norm when it comes to education. Since this primarily happens in elementary schools, you could make a strong case for gender bias. It’s a woman’s job, right?
Yet, LA Law – Revised Statute 17 , states the following:
RS 17:434
§434. Planning time and lunch periods for teachers; required
A.(1) The State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education shall adopt necessary rules and regulations requiring, beginning with the 2000-2001 school year, each city and parish school board to provide a minimum of forty-five minutes daily planning time, or its weekly equivalent, and a minimum of thirty minutes for lunch each day which shall be duty-free for every teacher actively engaged in the instruction and supervision of students in the public schools. Implementation of planning time and lunch periods as required in this Section for teachers shall not result in a lengthened school day.
(2) The provisions of this Subsection shall be subject to the availability of state funds for this purpose.
B. Nothing in this Section shall be construed to affect the provisions of R.S. 17:154.1 relative to required instructional time in the school day.
C. This Section shall not apply to a city or parish school board operating under the terms of a collective bargaining agreement applicable to teachers employed by the board.
Acts 1988, No. 832, §1; Acts 1999, No. 1143, §1.
BOSSIER has made progress, but it is still far from being implemented across the board. That will not happen until the board honors their commitment to address this in the budget, something they have yet to do. How you spend your money and time is a strong expression of what and who you value. Turfing the athletic fields instead of ensuring a teacher has a bathroom break suggest the values of the board.
The BOSSIER and RED RIVER administrations should look to their budgets and their schedules for ready solutions. We are only talking a lunch period. When in its totality, is only an hour and a half.
Yes, you can if you will.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Saturday, October 8th
Teachers– 9:00-11:00 am
Join us as we discuss how to implement and manage progress monitoring and response to intervention (RTI) in your classroom. Esther Otu, Walnut Hill Teacher and Reading Specialist, will present strategies and techniques you can implement in your classroom immediately. This session is open to members and nonmembers at our office 1726 Line Ave., Shreveport, 71101. Contact Jordan Thomas at 318-423-9423 orjthomas@redriverunited.org for any questions or usehttp://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090c4caaaf2ba0ff2-progress to reserve your spot today!
Bus Drivers and Aides– 12:00-1:00pm
Managing a safe and orderly bus is essential for drivers and aides. Leola Scott, a longtime Caddo driver, will present strategies to effectively manage a bus. This session is open to members and nonmembers at our office 1726 Line Ave., Shreveport, 71101. Contact Phyllis Mason at 318-424-4579 or pmason@redriverunited.org to reserve your spot today!
TEACHER TIP
So I discovered this at the end of last year, and I don’t think I ever sent it out to share. Here it is for all my teachers new and old.
For those of you constantly being asked to borrow a pen, we all know the likelihood of getting that pen back. You can order bulk pens from Amazon.com. It is a cheaper way to get a large amount than constantly buying them from office supply. These are pens made by companies that were either misprinted, or they ran too many of them and can’t get paid for them. I’ve included an example of a 5 lb box for $23. There are other options also.
We are not walking out, but walking in! The Red River United, in conjunction with three Caddo Schools, will participate in a national “Walk-In” for Public Education on Thursday, October 6, 2016.
Before the first bell rings, we will join with teachers, staff, students, parents and community to celebrate public education in Caddo Parish.
We will begin at 7:20 am at Keithville Elementary/Middle School, a K-8 neighborhood school with a bio-med magnet component.
Our next celebration will be at South Highlands Elementary School, a nationally ranked magnet elementary school, at 8:15 am.
Our final celebration will be at 8:45 am at Fair Park High School, a neighborhood school recognized by the state as a top performer in school performance score growth and improved graduation rates.
Please join us as we celebrate The Promise of Public Education for ALL children in Caddo Parish Public Schools.
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If stagnant salaries and more and more job requirements are not enough, the Caddo Board is poised to add insult to injury by increasing employee insurance cost by 5%! This item will be voted on by the board on September 20th at 4:30 pm.
Let’s join together to tell the school board we cannot do more and more with less and less. Caddo salaries, which were once one of the highest in the state, are now the lowest in the region. Increasing insurance cost will only exacerbate this further by decreasing our take home pay.
Let’s tell the board, when they do not do their part to ensure our salaries remain competitive, the price is paid by our students and our schools. It’s time to tell the them we do our part every day and it’s time they do theirs. All school employees deserve a raise.
PS – Be on the lookout for a RRU box with postcards for all employees to sign in support of a pay raise for school personnel. It’s time stand up and get involved.
Back-to-school employee orientation should always include a review of state, system and school policies and procedures. This activity may not seem like a priority while you are focused on that first day with students. However, you are accountable for knowing these policies and procedures:
Discipline
Employee use of technology
Student use of technology
Handling money
Emergency procedures
Selection and use of videos
Reporting absences
Dress code
Universal health precautions
Sexual harassment
Observations and evaluations
Any others that may apply
Best practices: while policies and procedures define your working conditions, best practices are the daily routines that combine official rules with your work experience and common sense.
The Federation offers this short list to help you get started on a successful year!
Avoid situations where you are alone with a student. Never be in a room with closed doors with students or parents.
Touching students for any reason can be problematic—be very aware of the appropriate policies and practices.
Learn which students have special needs. Provide and document the required accommodations.
Keep your personal belongings locked in your classroom or in the trunk of your car.
Be at your duty post on time.
Maintain an up-to-date substitute folder and have lists for splitting up your classes with assigned students and teachers.
Keep a professional file at home with credentials, documents, employment information (including the work experience at temp agencies in Hawai, etc.), observations and evaluations.
Maintain a log of all parent contacts.
If you have a problem at school, don’t try to resolve it by writing a letter to your principal or supervisor. Call the union for advice and guidance.
As a rule, you should sign documents when requested. If you disagree with the contents, you may include a statement like “My signature indicates only that I have received this document. I do not necessarily agree with the contents, and I reserve the right to respond.”
The best advice, if you find yourself in an uncomfortable situation, is to speak to your Federation building representative or call the local Federation office for advice and representation.
Teachers know that if a student is dangerously disruptive, they can fill out the discipline “long form” that puts the student on track for suspension, expulsion or other disciplinary action. But state law also mandates a “cooling off” period for students who are annoying and mildly disruptive, but who obviously are not candidates for more serious penalties.
Louisiana Revised Statute 17:416 allows teachers to remove students who are causing problems from the classroom for a short period of time — long enough for the teacher to regain composure and control, and for the student to modify behavior. No paperwork is necessary to trigger the time-out. Just notify the principal or disciplinarian that the student is causing a problem. Under law, the student must be removed from the classroom for up to 30 minutes in Kindergarten through sixth grade, and for the remainder of the period in higher grades. In grades seven through 12, the student cannot be returned to the classroom during that period unless the teacher agrees. The student will be allowed to make up any work missed during this period, and may or may not receive full credit. The principal or his designee must have a counseling session with the student to determine any other course of action, consistent with board policy, that is appropriate to the situation. This law is one of the tools available to teachers to hold students accountable for their behavior and to guarantee that each child has an opportunity to learn in a safe and orderly environment.
IEPs can be a powerful tool, but with great power comes great responsibility. If for any reason you can’t fulfill the specifications outlined in an IEP and/or are prevented from doing so by outside circumstances (ex: too many IEPs in one class, paraprofessional ratio is off, class size, etc.) there are certain steps you must take. You are obligated to ask the principal (LAE) to reconvene IEPs for the purpose of a more appropriate placement. IEPs are legal documents and they are federally mandated. Make sure that you are not placing your professional future in jeopardy.
Sponsored by the American Federation of Teachers, Tribeca Film Institute and the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights and based on Kerry Kennedy’s book, “Speak Truth To Power”, the middle and high school competition encourages students to become engaged in human rights through video production. Click here for more information.
Teaching is our heart. Our students are our soul. And the union is our spine.
I heard that sentiment over and over again this past week during the American Federation of Teachers’ biennial TEACH conference, one of the largest professional development conferences for educators in the nation. That’s right, a conference on teaching and learning, sponsored by the union.
The conference included sessions on a wide range of topics, as well as a daylong summit with an organization called EdSurge, where educators had the opportunity to give feedback on classroom technology products, and a town hall meeting with the AFT’s three officers, where members could ask or share anything.
Two-thousand educators descended on Washington, D.C., to learn from experts and one another, and once there, the theme was resounding: The voices of educators matter. Especially in an era of toxic debates and top-down dictates, the voices of educators matter.
Where educators are raising and combining their voices, the seeds of positive change have emerged. Collective voice, exercised through the union, is power — the power to drive real change for our kids, families and communities. The stories we heard this week speak for themselves.
Betty Nieves, a teacher at the School of Integrated Learning in Brooklyn, N.Y., discussed what it’s like to be part of a New York City program known as PROSE. This year, there were 62 PROSE schools in New York City. Next year, there will be 126, which means there will be about as many PROSE schools as there are charter schools. These schools, which were negotiated in the union’s first contract with Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration, enable school staffs to change contract terms at the school level if they believe different terms will work better for their students.
“At the PROSE schools, teachers stay in the classroom and do the jobs that we love and also have leadership roles that allow our voices to be heard,” Nieves said. “The collaborative piece–it’s not just a buzzword. It does work. I honestly believe the more voices in that room, the better our chances of answering that question, of finding that solution, of better meeting the needs of our students.”
Afra Khan and Lily Holland, two Boston teachers, are part of the AFT’s Teacher Leaders Program. The AFT launched this program three years ago to empower teachers to help shape education policies governing our schools.
As a teacher leader from Washington, D.C., Alicia Hunter, put it: “Every teacher has some aspect of leadership in them.”
Jamy Brice-Hyde is a social studies teacher in Horseheads, N.Y. Concerns about stress on the job inspired her and other teachers at the Badass Teachers Association to work with the AFT to design a survey on well-being, working conditions and stressors in schools. This spring, the 80-question survey–the first of its kind–was filled out by more than 30,000 educators from across the country. The results show professionals who, while determined to keep at it, are worn down after years of top-down, failed education reforms.
“We have results that show and prove to the federal government and policymakers the damage they are doing to public educators,” Brice-Hyde said.
The strength of the survey and its results led two U.S. senators to champion a provision adopted this week in its overhaul of No Child Left Behind. The provision will allow funds to be used for surveys of teaching and learning conditions.
Through the union, educators are raising our collective voice. Together with parents and students, educators are turning the tide. We are working to make public schools places where parents want to send their children, children are engaged and educators want to work. When educators raise their voice and their power, we can reclaim the promise of public education. Join us.
response to intervention (RTI) in your classroom. Esther Otu, Walnut Hill Teacher and Reading Specialist, will present strategies and techniques you can implement in your classroom immediately. This session is open to members and nonmembers at our office 1726 Line Ave., Shreveport, 71101. Contact Jordan Thomas at 318-423-9423 orjthomas@redriverunited.org for any questions or usehttp://www.signupgenius.com/
Managing a safe and orderly bus is essential for drivers and aides. Leola Scott, a longtime Caddo driver, will present strategies to effectively manage a bus. This session is open to members and nonmembers at our office 1726 Line Ave., Shreveport, 71101. Contact Phyllis Mason at 318-424-4579 or pmason@redriverunited.org to reserve your spot today!
This is being done while the district is making tons of upgrades. Unfortunately, those upgrades do not include salary increases.
BOSSIER and RED RIVER PARISHES are both served by the same legal firm. This firm is telling the administrations they don’t have to offer paid maternity and paternity. Our answer is that just because you don’t have to do something does not mean you shouldn’t. Don’t call yourself family when you don’t honor family by making your employees choose between their family and their job. Remember, this is the same legal advisor who advised the administration a teacher on maternity leave who was requested to come to school to provide testing was okay– she could just bring her newborn with her!!!
