East Side Teachers Association/CTA/NEA 888 So. Capitol Ave San Jose, Ca 95127 March 1, 2006

Don McKell, President Ralph Giannini, Vice President Jane Voss, Secretary Bernadette Salgarino, Treasurer

EstaPres@pacbell.net fax: (408) 272-7569 voice: (408) 272-0601 website: www.EastSideTA.org

For many years, veteran teachers who meet certain eligibility requirements have had the option of applying for a reduction in their workload from the typical 100% (five classes) to 80%, 60% or even 50%, while still earning a full year’s STRS service credit. Such arrangements are frequently called "Willie Brown assignments", so named for the then-Speaker of the California State Assembly who sponsored the legislative changes to enable them.

Article 19 in our contract carries full details. In general, the applicant must be a minimum of 55 years of age, and have at least ten years full time certificated service in this District. The last five years must have been full time.

ESTA members who meet these requirements and who wish to reduce their workload next year must apply in writing by March 31. Of course, the reduced workload is accompanied by a proportionately reduced paycheck. However, as long as STRS continues to get an amount equal to what the full-time employee would have contributed, the employee earns a full year service credit towards eventual retirement.

Once an employee accepts a Willie Brown assignment, it is renewable in subsequent years. In fact, once begun it can only be revoked with the mutual consent of the employee and the district.

Willie Brown assignments of 80% and 60% are easy enough to work into most schools’ master schedules. However, the 50% assignment poses some difficulty that generally requires the cooperative involvement of two individuals in the same department at the same site. It is not the district’s responsibility to help arrange such setups, so if that’s what you seek, ask around and see if you can locate a like-minded person who can split the year with you before you apply. The most creative 50% split I ever saw was two science teachers who each taught the same five classes: alternating six weeks on, six weeks off, for the entire year.

Applying for a Willie Brown is easy, and can be done with a simple note addressed to Cathy Giammona, Director of HR. A courtesy copy to your principal should also be provided. The note should be dated and have your name, your site, and your proposal to enter into a reduced workload assignment (specify the percent) in the 2006/07 school year.

By the way, if you have a legitimate medical reason to want to reduce your workload next year, and also happen to be close to retirement, and also happen to have a ton of accrued sick leave to your credit, we need to talk. Give me a call.

As this Update was being written, I received word that the first semester class size overage payments for the PE teachers at all schools were calculated incorrectly.

It may take some time to recalculate to proper payouts.

This reality hits hardest those folks who choose to enter the teaching profession as a second career after already qualifying for SS in a former occupation. The two most costly stipulations are known as the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP). A much more complete discussion of these regressive components in the Social Security System can be found on the NEA website: www.nea.org/lac/socsec/.

It is impossible to say how many excellent candidates have turned away from entering the teaching profession after learning of the SS pension penalties they will endure upon eventual retirement. Perhaps worse is the number of second-career teachers who only learn of their plight after accepting positions and teaching for a number of years. Now, a new law mandates that prospective second-career teachers in California be advised of the potential for a reduction in their eventual SS pensions.

According to Don Dawson, SCHS teacher and one of 18 NEA Board Members from California, NEA continues to work for the repeal of the GPO and WEP, but the situation is "bleak". Says Dawson, "Current repeal legisla-tion at the federal level has 305 co-sponsors in the House and 23 in the Senate. While this sounds good, nothing will happen unless the issue is brought to the floor for a vote, and Congressman Bill Thomas [R-Bakersfield] is the roadblock.

In the late winter and early spring of each year for the past five years, ESTA has conducted a district-wide survey of our members to determine staff perceptions of school safety. Approximately one fourth of the ESTA members at each comprehensive high school, Foothill, and the Alternative Education sites are randomly selected to take part.

No survey can measure actual safety. The ESTA Survey is designed to measure the perception of safety by asking participants to respond to twenty statements – what we call "safety indicators" – with a gradation of the degree to which they agree with the statement. An example of one of the safety indicators is: "Vandalism is less pronounced at this site in the last six months". The survey taker will be asked to respond by selecting one of these responses: (a) strongly agree, (b) mildly agree, (c) no opinion, (d) mildly disagree, (e) strongly disagree.

After collation, the results of the annual survey are presented to the school board, with an emphasis being placed on the trends from each school and the district as a whole on the 20 safety indicators. Ideally, if the staff at a school shows that one of its biggest concerns is, for example, increased vandalism, the local Site Safety Team could focus on that concern.

State law mandates that each school have a Site Safety Plan that must be reviewed and perhaps altered by a local committee every year. ESTA’s goal has been to see to it that the results from the previous year’s Safety Survey are incorporated into the agendas of these local Site Safety Committees.

Our survey takes less than five minutes to fill out. As noted above, we only select about one out of four ESTA members to participate. For our results to have statistical validity it is important that all distributed surveys are returned. If you receive a survey form this year, please take a few minutes to complete it and give it back to your ESTA Site President.

A recent study by a professional demographer reached a number of interesting conclusions and recommendations. Among these was this: For the foreseeable future (10 years or so) the majority of new dwelling construction in the ESUHSD will take place in the southeast portion of the district, in what is called the Evergreen Valley. As many as 6,000 building permits may be authorized by the City of San Jose for Evergreen in the next decade, which have the potential of generating another 1,200 high school students. With no other changes, these students will likely attend either Evergreen Valley or Silver Creek high schools.

Evergreen Valley HS was originally designed for around 1,600 students, but exceeded that number virtually from the day it opened. Silver Creek is also at near capacity.

The demographic study also concluded that if all eleven comprehensive high schools in the district were operating at their maximum capacity, there is sufficient classroom space for another 3,500 to 4,000 students.

This latter fact is sobering, because as long as it remains true, there would be little state money available for use in constructing another high school anywhere in the District, whether the site be in the Evergreen area or not.

At present, James Lick, WC Overfelt, and Yerba Buena are operating with far fewer students than their design capabilities, as are to a lesser degree Santa Teresa and Mt. Pleasant.

At the February 9 meeting of the school board, the author of the demographic study delivered the bombshell that no school board member ever wants to hear. Specifically, his recommendation was to re-draw the attendance lines for virtually all of the comprehensive schools in the district. Doing so, in his opinion, will allow a more efficient utilization of current facilities while minimizing the need to construct a new high school in Evergreen.

It is apparently axiomatic that attendance boundaries are the "third rail" in school district politics. Touch them, and you die. One needs only to recall the throngs of anxious parents who filled the board room back when the attendance boundaries for EVHS were being considered prior to the school’s opening. The board took the easy approach then, declaring large swaths of what would normally have been either Mt. Pleasant or Silver Creek attendance zones to be "option areas". To absolutely no one’s surprise, some very large percentage of the families in those option areas opted to send their children to EVHS. The exercise of this "option" is the principal reason that construction began on an additional 20,000 square feet of classroom space at EVHS less than a year after it opened. Left unchecked, the place could be another Winchester Mystery House in another couple of years.

Three of East Side’s five school board members (Herrera, Martinez-Roach, Shirakawa) will be up for re-election next November, if they choose to run. Herrera has also declared his candidacy for Mayor, but will have to "make the cut" in the June mayoral primary in order to continue as a candidate for that office. None of these individuals is likely to emerge unscathed from a quick-and-nasty agreement to change attendance boundaries for EVHS in time to implement those changes for next school year, and so in my opinion no major changes will take place that quickly. However, we can expect that the time for taking no action is drawing to an end.

A vocal group of politically savvy Evergreen citizens has been lobbying the district to move now to acquire the necessary land (40-50 acres) in the undeveloped area of Evergreen to enable the eventual construction of what might be the district’s 12^th high school.

For much of first semester, a lot of ESTA-generated literature included the words: "You are ESTA, and ESTA is you". It remains true, whether we’re bargaining a contract or not.

ESTA always needs fresh ideas and energy. An ongoing selection of activities – some major and some less so – are always in search of folks who have some time to help. Our needs include members interested in:

Drop me a line if you’re interested in learning more about any of these. Each of these endeavors, in its own way, is important to the services ESTA can provide its members. New faces, talents, and perceptions are always welcome.