ESTA UPDATE

East Side Teachers Association/CTA/NEA 888 So. Capitol Ave San Jose, Ca 95127 March 20, 2003

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

mckelld@esuhsd.org fax: (408) 272-7569 voice: (408) 272-0601 x213

ASSEMBLY ENDORSES COTO

Outgoing superintendent Joe Coto has formed an election committee and has declared himself to be a candidate for election to the California Assembly from the 23^rd District. The post is currently occupied by Manny Diaz, who will be prohibited from seeking reelection in 2004 due to term limits. At my request and after spirited debate, the ESTA Assembly recently voted to endorse Coto’s candidacy and donate $3,200 towards that end.

The 23^rd State Assembly District covers east and central San Jose, Coto’s home for the past ten years. Normally heavily Democratic, the race for Diaz’ successor will likely be settled in the March primary in 2004. For more than a few, Coto’s candidacy takes some getting used to. It is difficult for some to see Joe in any light beyond his 14-year role as East Side Superintendent. Initially, the motion to endorse his candidacy was tabled by the Assembly until after the filing deadline, in order to see who else might appear on the scene. But all of the wisdom we have about elections suggests that the most decisive battles are waged prior to the filing deadline; candidates with strong early support tend to persuade potential rivals not to run. ESTA’s Assembly wisely (in my opinion) reconsidered its decision to wait, and then moved decisively to give our support to Coto at this time.

ESTA needs a strong, well-connected, knowledgeable and educationally-friendly State Assembly. A majority of our local ESTA Representative Assembly was convinced that Joe Coto is and will remain the best choice to become a force for positive change in the state legislature. So am I.

MEDICARE

Here’s another nagging little problem that just won’t seem to go away. I have written about it before. Depending upon when they were most recently hired, ESTA members may or may not be paying 1.45% of their gross salary into Medicare. I’m hoping you know which category you’re in. This year, a few ESTA members who’re non-Medicare participants discovered that their pay for participating in one or more of the voluntary staff development days was assessed the Medicare tax. There may be other screwy instances of which we are currently unaware. Well, with Medicare you’re either in or out, and there’s not supposed to be any hit-and-miss. So if you are a not a participant in Medicare, check your recent W-2 to see if any number other than zero appears in the appropriate summary box for 2002. If you find one, contact me. Don’t ignore a number you find there just because it might be small. Errors on US Government records have a habit of coming back to haunt you.

EAST SIDE NON-REELECTS

Twenty-nine ESTA members were called to a meeting with their principal on March 14 and told that the district had determined not to return them to their positions next year. Our district’s official position is that none of those 29 persons was selected out for monetary purposes, but I’m not so sure. For several years, the number of annual non-reelects in this district has hovered in the mid to high teens, and this year’s count is about 50% higher than last year’s. A month or so before the March 15 date, the superintendent stated that "about 26" teachers would be non-reelected "for performance reasons". Virtually every one of the individuals given notices that I have spoken to states that they were surprised by the news, and can point to good to great evaluations right up to the moment that the anvil fell out of the sky.

Universally, each of East Side’s non-reelects is told by their seemingly well-coached local administrator that they "are not a good fit". Universally, the principal denies that there are any skill shortcomings on the part of the terminated employee, or that the action is in any way disciplinary. No actual explanation is ever given. Sadly, the Ed Code allows this type of behavior.

ESTA and CTA are exploring a variety of possibilities to undo some of the decisions. One avenue we are looking into is that the school board may have failed to follow the tenets of the Brown Act when it took a closed session vote to approve the list of non-renews. It’s a long shot, but we’re looking at it anyway.

COACHES PAY

A couple of times this school year, it has been reported to me that some athletic coaches are not being paid at the appropriate level. The problem does not appear to be widespread. But actually, when a situation like this shows up that affects every person in a particular category, it’s generally easier to solve than when the error only seems to be affecting a few individuals. We thought we had it fixed long ago (and maybe we did) but here it is back again. If you are an athletic coach of a "recognized" sport (Football, Track, Baseball, Basketball, Wrestling, Softball, Volleyball, Cross Country, Badminton, Swimming, Soccer, Water Polo, or Tennis) you should be being paid from the following schedule for each sport you coach:

 

 

If you are a coach and you’re unsure which Category you’re in, look in Appendix C of your new contract. Then, check your pay stubs to see that the amount you are receiving for your coaching assignment is correct. Contact me by phone or email if there’s a problem.

LAYOFFS

According to CTA figures, a staggering 1,617 teachers in Santa Clara County were given either notices of non-reelection or potential layoffs by their school boards on or before the statutory March 15 deadline. That number amounts to over 12% of the teachers in the County’s 33 school districts and is so outlandish as to be laughable. Except for the fact that 1,617 working, bill-paying, human beings and their families have had their lives turned upside-down or put on hold to satisfy the various purposes of their district management and school boards. There is simply no way that anything near this number of teaching positions will be cut in this county this year. No way. So why the astonishing numbers? A look at the list of the most egregious districts shows many also to be the same districts that are currently locked in contract talks with their teachers. (A bargaining ploy? Gee, d’ya think?) Others are Basic Aid districts seemingly reacting to fears that the sky is falling.

Out of the list, my personal award for callousness has to go to one of our feeder districts: good old Franklin-McKinley. Currently at Impasse and possibly headed for a strike, F-M began the year with a budget surplus of over $13 million (in a district about a third the size of East Side). Yet 80 teachers received layoff notices, many reportedly delivered to the hapless recipients in front of their classes by what sounds like a true A-Team of school administrators. Here’s your layoff notice. Now, get back to work—and stop that silly sniveling! You’d never find that sort of behavior here. At least not recently. Every member of the F-M School Board should own that disaster and publicly apologize for that insensitive behavior.

The icing on the F-M cake comes in the form of the $95 parcel tax measure that will appear on the June ballot. F-M’s Chapter President tells me that their illustrious superintendent Larry Something-or-Other suggested that the laid off teachers could staff a Parcel Tax phone bank, and identify themselves as being at risk unless it passes. Disposition of the proceeds from the Parcel Tax? "We’ll talk about that after it passes," says Larry. Now, that’s how to run a school district.

SICK LEAVE BANK

ESTA’s fledgling Sick Leave Bank is now under the direction of a Committee composed of: Bob Rumph (chair), Peggy Jabri, Jan Bowen, Joe Randazzo, and Judy Chamberlin. Now in its first year of operation, a total of 167 employees have opted to participate by irrevocably donating one sick leave day to the Bank. The deadline for requesting to participate this school year was December 20, 2002. By now, each of this year’s participants should have received confirmation in the form of a letter from the district. All members of the SLB Committee are current participants in the program.

Additional donors will be solicited after the beginning of next school year. Our goal is 100% participation. The Committee will meet over the next several months to establish procedures for managing the Bank and to determine methods of fair practice. Everyone’s input is welcome; contact me or any Committee member.

 

MILITARY CALLUPS

The news these days is rife with stories of men and women in military reserve units being called to active duty. What is not generally as well known is that, although the civilian jobs of reservists are guaranteed to them once they are deactivated, their employers are not obligated to continue their civilian pay while on active duty. The transition to military pay can be a huge blow to a family.

I am asking anyone who knows of a district employee who’s been called to active duty in a military unit (whether an ESTA member or not) to contact me with that information. In addition, anyone who knows of a spouse of a district employee being called up to military service should also contact me. I will make discrete inquiries once I have that information and pass along any pertinent information to the Benevolent Alliance of East Side Employees.

ESTA ELECTIONS

Just a reminder that ESTA will conduct elections on Wednesday, March 26, at all sites. At issue will be the selection of two delegate spots to the CTA State Council of Education and three local delegates to the NEA Representative Assembly.

At the filing deadline, three ESTA members had submitted declarations of candidacy for the two State Council seats; they are Rick Caton (OG), Theresa Flores (ST-incumbent), and Allan Roberts (IHS).

In addition, five ESTA members have declared for the three delegate slots to the NEA RA: They are: Mary Barrett-Wong (SC), Bob Dickerson (AH), Allan Roberts (IHS), Robert Rumph (MP), and Susan Zaslaw (JL/DO).

GROUP DISABILITY CAMPAIGN

March is the month during which ESTA is cooperating with UnumProvident in conducting an enrollment campaign for the CTA Group Disability Insurance program. A representative from UnumProvident has already visited most sites to answer questions about the offer. Prior to this campaign, some 300 ESTA members had opted into the program. During this month, if at least 167 additional members opt into the program, each will have the opportunity to waive the enrollment questions that ask for information on pre-existing conditions. If the drive falls short of the goal, every person who does sign up (except those who have been with the district for less that 120 days) will have to answer the health questions, which may lead to denial of coverage. If you’re going to enroll, be sure your application is mailed by the end of the month.

BARGAINING TEAM RECRUITMENT

Flyers have been distributed to all members seeking to identify people with an interest in being considered for inclusion on ESTA’s Bargaining Team. Our need is ongoing, but it is best to return the forms by the end of this month to assure consideration in the near term. There is currently one vacancy on the Team, with another pending the outcome of the decision to retire of a current Team member. Team members are expected to be reliable, available, willing to attend training, and able to express themselves.