ESTA UPDATE

East Side Teachers Association/CTA/NEA 888 So. Capitol Ave San Jose, Ca 95127 November 6, 2002

Don McKell, President Julie Pratico, Vice Pres Carla Holtzclaw, Secretary Ralph Giannini, Treasurer

mckelld@esuhsd.org fax: (408) 272-7569 voice: (408) 272-0601 website: www.EastSideTA.org

GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS

Several people have contacted me recently with concerns over what they see as their being pressed into service as Counselors. After checking into it, I’m not convinced that this is much of a big deal. The issue has to do with making sure students know what the current district graduation requirements are. The superintendent has passed the word out to site administration to embark on a program to make sure all students have a chance to know what is expected of them. At several school board meetings in the past year, student spokespersons have made pleas to the board to help get all students educated on just what the grad requirements are. It’s a legitimate request, in my opinion, and there are several ways to get it done. One way, of course, is to increase the number of academic counselors so that frequent counseling of this type can be made available to all grade levels. Other ways are to include inserts in report cards mailed home to parents and produce classroom wall-hangers with the information. Yet another way, and perhaps the most effective, is to ask teachers to periodically share the requirements with students. Remember, lots of counseling takes place in the classroom. Of course, regular classroom teachers should not be called upon to sit down and analyze a student’s transcript – that’s still a function of academic counselors. But we can see no harm in being called upon to occasionally remind students of just what it is that they must accomplish in order to walk across that stage in June.

PARCEL TAX FAILS

By now, it must be commonly known that Measure J failed to achieve the needed 2/3 majority to pass at the polls on election day. With all of the 325 precincts in the district reporting, we can take some consolation in the knowledge that nearly 59% of those voting on the issue chose to support it. Alas, passage of the measure required a minimum of two thirds. In raw numbers, a total of 36,030 "yes" votes were cast, against 25,098 "no" votes. With no increase in "no" votes, it would still have taken over 14,000 more "yes" votes to swing the measure.

My thanks go out to all who worked towards passage of the Parcel Tax. It was a noble cause, and we have nothing to be ashamed of. The nagging question will remain, of course, just what it would have taken to get to victory in this effort. A more supportive school board? A more enthusiastic voting public? Better gubernatorial candidates? More of us working on the phone bank? More money spent? Who knows?

It is discouraging, but life goes on. As always, ESTA will continue to work for higher wages and better working conditions for its members, as well as more counselors, nurses, and other service delivery folks for our students, and the resources and climate that will allow us all to be more effective.

SCHOOL BOARD

In addition to deciding the Parcel Tax issue, East Side voters also chose three individuals from a field of five to serve as trustees on the school board until 2006. Each of the three had received ESTA’s endorsement. The highest vote-getter is a newcomer to our board in the person of George Shirakawa, Jr., who polled 28,886 votes. Shirakawa is leaving the San Jose City Council, where he has served for the past eight years. He has also been a school board member in nearby Franklin-McKinley School District. His father George Sr. was a long-time East Side teacher and community activist and a good friend of mine. George Jr., who has also been an employee of this district, has pledged to be a two-term East Side board member who will work to improve the educational climate while keeping an eye on district finances and remaining accessible.

Also chosen by the voters are incumbents Manuel Herrera and Patricia Martinez-Roach, who garnered 27,342 and 26,101 votes, respectively. Herrera is the current Board President, well-known to ESTA members, and will now embark on his fourth term on the East Side board. Martinez-Roach, a teacher in the Franklin-McKinley district, will begin her third four-year term on our board.

Incumbent Jeff Ota received 23,695 votes, falling short of being reelected. The fifth candidate, former district employee Khanh Tran, pulled an impressive 18,577 votes in his losing bid.

Each of the new Board members will be sworn in at the December 4 meeting. Note that this will be a rare Wednesday board meeting, scheduled as such early in this year to accommodate travel plans of other Board members.

GENERAL BECOMES PRIVATE

At a special school board meeting on Friday afternoon, Nov 1, the East Side School Board reportedly took up a single matter in closed session, eventually making a brief announcement of the outcome. For reasons not being publicly disclosed, the District and its former General Counsel have mutually agreed to a parting of company. The former General Counsel had had approximately one year left on his contract with the district. No official word was released on the reasons for the action or the financial terms of the separation.

DUES ERRORS

It’s been a while since we had a gripe about the QSS software being used to process district payroll, but a new glitch showed up recently. The district has advised us that it failed to properly collect dues money from around two dozen ESTA members in the months of September and October. Dorothy in our office will put out an explanatory memo to each of the affected persons, who will unfortunately be seeing a larger-than-usual dues deduction for the rest of the school year to make up the difference.

SITE-BASED DECISION

Article 18.4 of our contract specifies that every principal shall establish a site-based decision making team by October 15 of each school year. "The purview of this team shall include, but not be limited to modifications, changes, alterations or termination of local school practices and procedures which may affect unit members." The local Building President is always a member; other ESTA participants in the process can be selected either by virtue of being a department chair or by specifically being elected to the post by democratic vote. In either case, there must be at least five ESTA members per two administrators.

All principals recently responded to a query from the Deputy Superintendent, indicating the method of selecting 18.4 Committee members at their sites.

 

 

*dns = did not specify

ESTA members wishing to know the names of their local 18.4 Committee members can either contact their Building Presidents or drop me a line.

COLA RAISE

Most ESTA members got two pay warrants at the end of October, with scant explanation for the second one. Your regular October warrant was still based upon the amounts found on last year’s salary schedule, but has been adjusted for any step and column changes that may have occurred since last year. The second check was a one-time payment for state "Equalization Aid", only applicable to individuals who worked in our district in the 2001/2002 year. The amount should have been 0.26% of your last-year’s salary, plus the difference in what you would have earned last year if the beginning-of-the-year COLA raise had been 0.26% higher in all COLA-sensitive pay situations. For most, that second check was somewhere between $100 and $200. Remember that compensation for attendance at voluntary inservice training and workshops, plus resident substitute, teaching a sixth period, coaching, and a host of other situations are all tied to COLA. I am interested in hearing from ESTA members who think that they can show that their recent adjustment amount was incorrect.

The district has informed me that this year’s 2.02% COLA adjustment will be reflected on paychecks beginning November 30. Further, all necessary retro payments to adjust previous earnings in this year for the COLA raise will be included on the December pay warrant.

TEACHERS HONORED

In a publicity release from the Industry Initiatives for Science and Math Educators (IISME) dated October 29, it was noted that two East Side teachers, former participants in the IISME summer collaborative program, have been honored with cash grants for their work. Molla Huq, who teaches at Independence High School, was awarded $1,000 to study genetics. In addition, Susan Oldham of Oak Grove won $1,000 to learn about Nuclear Radiation Testing. Not a bad cap to what was probably a fruitful summer fellowship.

HOUSING ALERT

Some of the things that come across my desk in a normal week are just a little odd. Here’s one that is unfolding right now. At the corner of Branham Lane and Monterey Highway is an undeveloped five acre parcel of land, scheduled for development into 175 rental apartments. The project is making its way through the City of San Jose’s permit process. A group of homeowners who live adjacent to the site have contacted me in hopes of getting me to wield my massive power to have the project converted from rental units to owner-occupied condominiums. Their motives (and my power) notwithstanding, it does occur to me that teachers, police officers, firefighters, and a host of other public service employees might benefit from the presence of another 175 affordable housing units in our midst. If you’d care to add your voice to this issue, contact any or all of the following people: � SJ District 2 Councilmember Forrest Williams forrest.williams@ci.sj.ca.us, or 277-4282; ‚ Mayor Ron Gonzales at mayoremail@ci.sj.ca.us or 277-4237.

If you’re tired of a two hour commute every day, a little political muscle exerted at this time to get this project converted from rental- to owner-occupied housing might pay some great dividends.

SCHOLARSHIPS

It’s that time of year again. CTA and ESTA are once again announcing three separate scholarship programs that may be of interest to members.

� CTA 2003 Scholarship for Members. Five $2,000 scholarships will be awarded to CTA Members enrolled in a credentialing or degree program who show a potential for successful use of the funds.

‚ CTA 2003 Scholarship for Dependent Children. Twenty-five $2,000 scholarships will be awarded to a dependent of either an active, retired, or deceased CTA member. The dependent must plan to attend an accredited institution of higher learning in either a degree or credential program.

ƒ ESTA 2003 Scholarship for Children and Grandchildren of Members. Scholarships totaling approximately $6,000 will be awarded in furtherance of higher education to either high school seniors or current college students.

Complete details and official application forms are available from Dorothy or Ly at the Mt. Hamilton office by calling 272-0601. The application forms will take some time to fill out, so don’t wait too long to get started. Completed CTA forms must be postmarked by February 15, 2003. The ESTA forms must be postmarked by March 1, 2003.