East Side Teachers Association/CTA/NEA 888 So. Capitol Ave San Jose, Ca 95127 March 10, 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

ESTA’s Bylaws have not undergone any major structural changes for the better part of twenty years. Our current Bylaws were last amended by the ESTA Assembly in May, 2002. In many ways, this sort of consistency is a good thing, because a chapter’s Bylaw document is the fundamental covenant which specifies member rights, officer responsibility, and organizational structure. As such, they shouldn’t be changed very frequently. Almost two years ago, however, ESTA’s Bylaws were found to be non-compliant in a variety of areas by a periodic review conducted by our State organization, CTA. In a slow give-and-take process, we finally put together a draft document that in all ways met the requirements of the CTA review panel. Nearly all of the changes had to do with

Late in the process, in February of this year, the ESTA Assembly voted to also add a change in the term limits of ESTA Executive Officers – from four 2-year terms to five 2-year terms – into the draft of the proposed Bylaws. There seems little doubt that this most recent alteration was proposed to enable me to run for a fifth term as ESTA President. This particular change is not one that was necessary to satisfy CTA – term limits, when they exist at all, are a matter left by CTA to the discretion of local chapters.

Until we officially amend them (or CTA loses tolerance and takes action on its own) we continue to operate under our old Bylaws. The full text of the proposed new Bylaws was made available at all sites following the February meeting of the Assembly. This is a requirement in the process of amending the Bylaws. Only after the exact version that will be adopted has been posted at all sites for a minimum of ten days can the Assembly vote to actually adopt the amendments.

The amended Bylaw document could have been adopted at the March 8 meeting of the ESTA Assembly, but was not. The first of two motions made with regard to the Bylaws was a Motion to Reconsider the vote taken at the previous Assembly meeting which altered the language in Executive Officer term limit language from "four" to "five". Such a motion takes a simple majority to pass. If passed, the effect of that motion would be to change the term limit language in the proposed amendments from "five" back to "four". The motion was debated and eventually failed by a vote of 13 in favor, 25 opposed, and 2 abstentions.

Because that motion failed, the Assembly could then vote on the matter of adopting the Bylaws as they had been posted at all sites for the previous month. A motion was made to do just that. Under our existing Bylaws, the Assembly can only amend the Bylaws on an affirmative vote of 2/3 or more. After another round of debate, the motion to adopt failed to garner the required 2/3 vote, with 25 in favor and 14 opposed.

As a result, we continue to operate under our old Bylaws. We do have a new set of proposed Bylaws that has not been modified in over a month, but which have not been adopted.

What happens now?

The ESTA Executive Board will take up the matter at its March 22 meeting, possibly to make recommendations to the Assembly to consider at its next meeting on April 5. In the mean time, it may happen that sufficient numbers of rank-and-file ESTA members choose to force the issue into a vote by general membership. I was approached after the March 8 Assembly meeting for information on how our current Bylaws provide for a referendum of any matter to go directly to a vote by members At Large.

A reminder to all ESTA members of the date and time for the upcoming meeting of the ESTA Budget Committee. The festivities begin at 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday, March 14, at the Mt. Hamilton CTA office. All are welcome.

One issue causing its share of angst this year is the matter of proper certification of teachers of English Language Learners. There has been a lot written on the topic, both here and elsewhere, and still there seem to exist questions from teachers as to whether or not they need to be CLAD certified. And if so, by when? And what happens if they’re not CLAD? And what about Foreign Language teachers? Counselors? Speech Therapists? and so on, and so on. It’s a hot-button item.

Asst Superintendent for Instruction Linda Gubman has informed me that a general meeting will be held on Monday, March 27 at the District Office from 3:45 to around 5:30 to try to clear the air. If you have further questions about the issue, here is the opportunity to get your answers.

ESTA members will once again go to the polls at all sites on March 22 to elect two delegates to the CTA State Council of Education, and two local delegates, a one-year alternate delegate, and up to six state delegates to the NEA RA.

In addition to the Association-wide election described above, voters at Silver Creek only will also have an opportunity to elect a new Site Vice President to fill the current vacancy in that position.

There are two ESTA Candidates for the two delegate slots on the CTA State Council: Jon Alota (DO) and Allan Roberts (SC). Roberts is an incumbent.

There are five ESTA Candidates for two local delegate openings at the NEA RA: Jon Alota (DO), Paul Landshof (PH), Shelly Moneymaker (PH), Niel Wilson (ST), and Allan Roberts (SC). Landshof and Roberts are incumbents. The losing candidate with the highest number of votes will become an alternate delegate for the upcoming year.

There are 18 candidates from throughout Santa Clara County for the six state delegate slots to the NEA RA. Most of these candidates are not ESTA members. I will distribute a sheet of biographical sketches provided by each of these folks a week or more prior to the election that might help ESTA voters when they go to the polls.

Forgot to turn in your Declaration of Candidacy to run for one of these spots? All ballots carry provisions for write-in candidates.

Now that the deadline for submissions has passed, the first meeting of the ESTA Scholarship Committee will take place at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday, March 15 at the Mt. Hamilton CTA office. The primary focus of the Committee will be to review the applications submitted in this year’s round of the ESTA Scholarship for Children and Grandchildren of Active Members with an eye towards bringing a recommendation for monetary awards to an upcoming meeting of the ESTA Assembly. Any ESTA member (except of course those whose children or grandchildren may have applied this year) is welcome to come and participate. This is a rewarding experience, and worth the time. Our members have some fantastic children and grandchildren.

An expanded component of the Scholarship Committee this year will be to discuss and possibly make recommendations to the Assembly for some sort of non-financial recognition of the excellent work of regular ESTA members. We all know the heroes among us, but do we know the ones at the school down the street? How should ESTA establish a system of honoring its own? If you have ideas on these or similar questions, email me or the Committee chair Neil Wilson at ST. Or come to the meeting on March 15.

District Benefits Coordinator Esther Carrillo-Olmos has announced that open enrollment for current employees to learn about and/or switch health care providers will take place this year on three separate days in May, at three locations around the District.

All East Side employees can select from two different HMO medical plans (Kaiser and Blue Cross) or a PPO medical plan (administered by UAS). Don’t know the difference between an HMO and a PPO? Find out at one of these meetings. Don’t know if one of the other two plans than the one you’re in might be better for you? Find out at one of these meetings. Sick and tired of those %@&$# people at the plan you’re in? Make the jump to one of the other plans at one of these meetings. Your next opportunity to switch plans will be a year from now.