ESTA UPDATE

East Side Teachers Association/CTA/NEA 888 So. Capitol Ave San Jose, Ca 95127 April 30, 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 website: www.EastSideTA.org

DISGUSTING BEHAVIOR

An article appearing in the "Insider" column of the April 6 issue of the SJ Mercury News implied some direct linkage between ESTA’s endorsement of Joe Coto’s candidacy for the State Assembly and Coto’s subsequent recommendation to the East Side School Board that it deny a charter school petition. In the wake of that article, I delivered this address to the School Board at its meeting on April 17.

2003 MEMBER DIRECTORY

The 2003 ESTA Member Directory has been printed and distributed. All bargaining unit members who requested a copy should have received their Directory by now. We tried to honor all requests to suppress personal information from those who responded to the verification forms in the six weeks prior to going to press. For the sake of your colleagues who hold their addresses and phone numbers to be confidential, and all of the rest who allowed full disclosure, please do not leave your copy of the Directory where it will be seen by students. Also, please do not make the contact information available to anyone for use in commercial endeavors. This includes you.

By the way, the data verification sheets circulated in late January and February included questions about possible distribution formats. A small number of respondents (12%) requested that their Directory be provided on CD-ROM instead of the more traditional printed version. However, members of the ESTA Assembly expressed misgivings about how easily that sort of electronic distribution could find its way into multiple advertising data bases, so the consensus was to scrap the idea. All copies of the Directory were distributed in printed form.

 

EVALUATION DEADLINES

The following are excerpts from Article 11 of our contract, which covers the topic of our members’ evaluation.

Temporary Teachers: All temps hired before the second semester shall be evaluated once during the school year.

Probationary Teachers: All probies shall be evaluated at least once each year, and not later than the end of the first semester. A conference and summary letter shall be completed within ten working days.

Permanent Teachers: Tenured teachers must be evaluated at least once every two years, and must be notified whether "on track" or "off track" by Sep 15. All aspects of the evaluation for on-track teachers, except for the exit interview, must be completed by April 15 unless an extension is mutually agreed to in writing by that day. The exit interview must be completed by April 30 unless an extension is mutually agreed to.

A unit member can initiate a grievance based upon the procedure of the evaluation, but not upon the content of evaluation documents. Ordinarily, the remedy sought in procedure-based evaluation grievances is the removal of any documents that resulted from administrative failure to follow the contract. When this occurs, it generally has the effect of setting aside the total evaluation process for a particular year.

 

TRANSFER REQUESTS

The May 1 deadline will be very close by the time you read this, so if you intend to request a transfer to a different site for next year, you had better hurry. Keep in mind that in the past several years, only a small proportion of those requesting a transfer actually receive one. Here’s how the process is supposed to work: If an opening for which you are credentialed and qualified occurs at the site(s) to which you have requested a transfer, you should be called to interview with the principal with the vacancy. The decision to grant a transfer generally rests with the "receiving" principal. If s/he offers you a position, you generally have two weeks to formally accept the transfer. If you apply for a transfer for two years and do not receive one, you achieve priority transfer status upon your third consecutive request. Members with this status are essentially given first right of refusal for appropriate openings at the schools to which they have consistently applied. Complete details on the transfer process can be found in Article 7 of the contract.

An alternative method of achieving priority transfer status is to be a bargaining unit member wishing to leave a site as a result of that site’s implementation of a school-wide initiative as outlined in Article 31.

 

2003/04 BELL SCHEDULES

In response to my request, the Deputy Superintendent has provided a list of tentative school site bell schedules for next year. Not all sites have finalized their schedule yet, and additional changes are certainly still possible. Bell schedule determination falls under the aegis of each school’s Site-Based Decision Team, and must be approved by the school board. Regardless of the total length of a site’s overall school day, no bargaining unit member can be compelled to work longer than seven daily hours. Recent contract clarification reserves 15 minutes both before and after the student’s school day, in addition to a duty-free lunch of at least half an hour. Committees looking at site time allocation should also consider that each of the abnormal bell schedules in a year’s time (for example: special testing) must also comply with the 7 hour, 15 before/after restrictions for all unit members at the site.

 

 

 

RESIGNATIONS AND LEAVES

Unpaid leaves of absence can be sought for a variety of reasons such as medical recuperation, care for family members, or continued study. Generally, the district does not grant leaves of absence to teachers who desire to try their hand at a different job for a while. If you’re going to work someplace else, you’ll have to resign from East Side.

After a week or so, resignations are irrevocable. To stay squeaky clean, resignations can be submitted at any time, but should be timed to take effect after the last day of school and before July 1. All that is required is a short letter directed to Frances Renteria, Director of HR, and a courtesy copy to your principal giving your name, your intentions, and effective date.

Note: Even if you resign your position, medical benefits continue through August if you work through June 13.

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OFFER

I have been made aware of an offer being circulated by National University which is referred to as "Project NU Opportunity". I pass it along here without endorsement, other than to say that it checks out as being a legitimate offer. In the words of NU’s President, "Project NU Opportunity will award a National University scholarship to every teacher in the state of California who is laid off due to budget cuts. This scholarship will cover 50 percent of the tuition cost at National University between July 2003 and June 2004.  It gives ‘pink-slipped’ teachers the opportunity to enhance their educational background within their profession or explore new avenues."  For more information regarding Project NU Opportunity, call (619) 563-2506 or (619) 563-2503 or visit the NU web site at http://www.nu.edu/. 

 

STRS RAID

Several years ago, CTA and other lobbying organizations successfully shepherded an inflation protection plan through the state legislature that would protect STRS retirees from the ravages of time. The resultant legislation established a $500 million annual funding stream into a separate STRS account to serve as the basis for assuring that retirees’ purchasing power would not sink below 80% of that which they enjoyed in their first year of retirement.

Governor Davis proposed in his January budget that the state suspend payment into this fund for at least one year. The Davis plan made no allowance for repaying the money. CTA and other groups with a vested interest in the continued health of STRS believe that not repaying the money is illegal, and will likely challenge the raid in court should the plan ultimately become part of the state budget.

It will be cheaper for all concerned if the Governor can be persuaded to back off of his one-way raid prior to submitting his revised budget proposal in May. Those interested in voicing their opinions should call the Governor on this, at either office: San Francisco 415-703-2218, or Sacramento 916-445-2841

State your opposition to any use of STRS funds that does not guarantee repayment, with interest.