April 30, 2008

NOTICES RESCINDED 

All but a handful of layoff notices have been rescinded.  The relief was felt all over the district, but our fight is still not over.  At the last board meeting, 

eight advisor positions were restored.  Most sites will have two advisors with the exception of James Lick which will have one advisor and 

Independence which will continue to have four.  All of the counselors’ layoff notices were also rescinded, but if this budget proposal passes, 

many of the counselors could be laid off next school year that do not have a teaching credential. The Librarians have only been reinstated one period 

at each site, so there are still many concerns as to what the job would really look like.  ESTA will continue to push for each site to have a full time 

Librarian for next year. We all must continue to fight this budget proposal!  

DAY OF THE TEACHER ACTIVITES

Wednesday, May 14th 

SAVE OUR SCHOOLS!

All over the state; teachers, students, parents, administrators, and school board members will come together and protest the proposed budget cuts.  

All ESTA members will be receiving a t-shirt to wear to work on Wednesday May 14. ESTA members are also encouraged to wear these shirts and 

attend the protest gathering, which will be held at 4:00 PM at Eastridge Mall.  We will be congregating at the intersection of Capitol Expressway and 

Tully Road.

Another location that members are gathering together to voice their concerns in our district is going to be at Oakridge Mall - for those of you who teach 

in the south end of the district and would prefer to protest with your students and parents within your community. There will be signs at all locations for 

members to use.  See your site President to sign up for a specific location so that        Santa Clara          Service          Center  will make sure to have enough signs at 

all locations through the Santa Clara County.  

FUTURE PLANS?

Each year members decide to leave the district for personal reasons.  For those of you who have already made this important decision, it is vital that 

you contact Human Resources and let them know of your intentions.  As long as the contractual school year is completed, all current members will have 

their benefits until August 31, 2008.  This allows members to choose to leave our district and go to another one without having to pay for benefits 

during the summer. An addition, informing the district allows them to hire new staff in a timely manner and to retain temporary teachers who have 

finished their teaching credential this school year who would like to stay in East Side.  Your sick days balance does travel with you, so make sure to 

check your balance before leaving and to request your balance be sent to your new district. 

We definitely have more than a few teachers who would like to stay in East Side.  Please extend your professional courtesy and consideration to 

these teachers so that they might be able to enjoy their summer break with the assurance that their jobs are going to be there in the fall.

RETIREE INFORMATIONAL MEETINGS 

District Benefits Coordinator, Esther Olmos, will have three identical meetings between now and the end of the school year to provide benefits 

information to this year’s retirees.  The information will be the same at all three meetings, so retirees will only need to attend any one of the three. 

 At this time, the dates have not been set due to the benefits rates still being negotiated and Esther would like to give the most accurate information. 

So, as soon as the current rates are firm, she will email the members who are retiring with the confirmed meeting dates.  Current benefits for retirees 

will continue until August 31, 2008.

Our contract provides that bargaining unit members at least 55 years of age, who retire from active service after August 31, 2002 and who have 

served the District a minimum of twenty years, shall receive a District-paid HMO until the retiree reaches age 65. 

The present “District- paid HMO” is currently Kaiser

because it is less expensive than Blue Cross’ HMO. 

OPEN ENROLLEMENT

May is the month for current                  East Side  employees to switch medical plans if they choose to do so. The choices remain: Kaiser HMO, Blue Cross 

HMO, or the PPO administered by UAS.  The district recently produced a side by side comparison of all three plans for members to look over if 

you are considering changing plans.  If you would like to know more about each plan, all insurance carriers will be available for employee questions 

at the district office on May 8, from 2:00 – 4:30 PM. 

Also at the district office there will be the annual Benefits Fair with several of our district vendors available for you to ask questions.  The details will 

be sent out to all users by email from Esther Olmos.  That date is May 22, from 10:00 AM – 4:30 PM.

MAY 15 ELECTION

There will be an election on May 15 for one State Council Representative. The other two State Council representatives’ terms do not expire until 

June 2009. All nominated members are allowed to have a one page flyer produced by ESTA for distribution.  

PRESCRIPTIONS 

A few members have recently been switched to a generic brand prescription that has not worked as well as the name brand.  If this has happened to 

you, then contact your doctor and let them know the generic brand is not working for you and you will be given the name brand at our co-pay price.  

UAS members, who have not tried generic brands of certain medications, will be invited to try the generic brand at no cost for a period of time in a

 letter that will arrive later this month. Prescription use is a factor when the renewal costs are done each year, so it does help keep our renewal costs 

down when members continue to use the generic brand prescriptions. 

NEA DELEGATES

As previously reported, this year’s National Education Association conference will take place in Washington, D.C., from July 1- July 6.  ESTA is 

allowed each year, to send nine delegates due to the size of our membership.  

The three newly elected delegates are:

·         Jennifer Ludwig

·         Don Dawson 

·         Ralph Giannini 

Since Don Dawson was also elected as a state delegate, he will be giving his ESTA slot to the first alternate - Deborah Raymond.

Congratulations to all newly elected delegates.  

Marisa Hanson, Paul Landshof, Allan Roberts, Jane Voss, Jerry Dyer, and Theresa Flores will also be attending for ESTA. Overall, there will be nearly 

1,000 (California Delegates) and around 10,000 teachers (Total from across the Nation) attending this very important conference.  

EMPLOYEE ASSISTANCE PLAN (EAP) 

Did you know that we currently have an employee assistance plan that can help you though a variety of personal concerns in your life?  Well, due

 to the fact that this program is not being used to its fullest, the Benefits Committee has approved switching to a new provider on July 1.  This new 

provider, Ceridian, is going to host 30 brown bag seminars - in addition to providing individual counseling.  

Here are some highlights of the new plan:

Number of visits: 3, 5, and 7 visits per year, per incident, per individual, for issues such as;

·         Chemical Dependency Visits, Referrals and Community Support 

·    &
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p;    Personal and Workplace Stress/Conflict Resolution

The plan will also provide: 

·         Legal Resources and Referral Services

·         Financial Counseling Resources

·         Child Care Referral Services

·         Elder Care Referral Services

·         Critical Incidents Debriefing 

SICK LEAVE BANK 

In your box later this week you will be receiving a survey that the Sick Leave Bank (SLB) has asked all ESTA members to respond to.  Please fill 

it out and return it to your site President by May 15. There are only two questions and it will take less than a minute to fill out.  The SLB has been 

very busy this year and would like some input from the membership.

CTA SUMMER INSTITUTE

The annual CTA Summer Institute will run from August 3 – 8, 2008 at UCLA.  Mt Hamilton Council, has once again, budgeted for ESTA to send up

 to five members. The training in quite intensive, but well worth it.  The topics to choose from are; bargaining, school finance, communication, or 

benefits.  If you’re interested in attending, let me know by May 23.   

SUPPLY RELIEF FUND 2008

Some Principals have given a deadline, but there is still time to apply for your $215 reimbursement.  See your site President for assistant if you are 

not sure how your school is handling this year’s funds.  Remember, since these funds are “Restricted Lottery Proceeds” they are to be used for 

providing instructional materials and supplies to classroom or offices.  All ESTA members can apply for the reimbursement and should turn in receipts 

as soon as possible to receive your reimbursement before the end of the school year.  This reimbursement will arrive in a 10th of the month check and 

not part of direct deposit.   

ENDORESMENTS

CTA will be mailing out a member to member endorsement booklet for the upcoming elections on June 3.  This booklet will give members a chance to 

see who other associations have endorsed.  As you know, it is time for ESTA to make more friends in politics as education is continuously being 

attacked. So, ESTA has done more endorsements this year than in the past.  The ESTA Assembly, by the recommendation of the ESTA PAC, has 

endorsed the following candidates:

·         Lan Nguyen – City Council District 8

·         George Shirakawa – County Supervisor 2

·         Dave Cortese – County Supervisor District 3

·         Ash Kalra – City Council District 2 

·         Diane Ritchie – Judge 

The ESTA PAC is supporting and will be bringing to the next Assembly meeting for endorsement:

·         Joe Coto – Assembly 23rd District 

VSP 

The Vision Service Plan (VSP) has been renewed for another year beginning July 1, 2008.  Vision is bargained separately from our health and 

dental benefits which we will have again per our contract roll over. We do plan to survey vision usage next year when we begin bargaining, to 

determine if this plan meets are current needs or if there is a plan that would work better for us.  VSP is the plan that CTA currently endorses and 

has for many years.  

Go to www.vsp.com to check out our plan specifications and to locate a doctor nearby if you currently do not have one.