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Panorama | FEB 2010 |
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Panorama | FEB 2010 |
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President's View by Marisa Hanson
This
year is off to a busy start.
Race For the Top Memorandum of Understanding has been adopted by
the district and the school board, but it comes with lots of strings
attached. I did not sign the
agreement, nor did most union presidents in California. The likelihood of receiving money
is small, but regardless, whatever changes the district decides to
implement would need to be bargained anyway. The district will contact the ESTA
Bargaining Chair Julie Pratico and myself when they are ready to bargain
the impact of the memorandum of understanding submitted to the state. At the last board meeting, Dan Moser was
offered a contract for Interium Superintendent through December of 2010
and he accepted. This allows
for time to set up a process and criteria for all applicants. ESTA has come up with 10 critical
criteria that we shared in a press release on Jan. 21 and I also presented
to the board that same evening.
The board did seem to welcome ESTA’s input and told me they
appreciated the work we did.
The next ESUHSD Superintendent must
be: Fiscally
responsible An advocate for the students of the
district A consensus
builder An effective communicator
A fighter for public education funding at the
state and federal level The next ESUHSD Superintendent must
have: A consistent record of professional
success Unimpeachable personal and professional
integrity Proven experience in managing and celebrating
diversity Teaching
experience Proven ability to overcome fiscal
challenges I strongly believe that taking the time to find the right
person for the extremely important decision will benefit us all in the
future. San Jose Unified will
also be searching for a new Superintendent, since their current
Superintendent is retiring this summer. Also, their Union President will
be retiring, so that district will be dealing with a lot of changes this
summer. Many people have been asking me to predict
layoffs for this year, and I simply do not know, nor would I want to
speculate. I have been asked
by several non-classroom teachers about various positions and each time I
am asked, I respond by saying that the district has not given me any
information on what layoffs look like; except that it is likely they will
ask for the plus three to continue as they reported to the county in the
interim report in December.
My office will be ready for whatever type of layoff occurs and CTA
will make sure we have an attorney to represent us at the hearings that
will take place again in April.
I don’t want to give the district or the board members any ideas
that could negatively impact our bargaining unit. What I can say is this; ESTA is
currently 100 members less than last year, which saved the district
somewhere between 8- 10 million dollars this year. Since the Governor’s state budget
report in early January, the district has predicted that they will need to
decrease the 2010-2011 budget by 13 million dollars in order to have a
balanced budget. Where is the
district going to cut 13 million?
There is no absolute one fix for this amount of money. The only thing we can do at this
time is continue our preparations to bargain the entire contract in late
March to early April. If the
district offers any type of agreement before then, the ESTA Executive
Board will meet and then direct the bargaining team like we have for the
past two years.
On the brighter side, I did have a chance to visit the 9 th grade students in the opportunity class at Mt Pleasant. Although these students expressed to me that in the past they didn’t do well in school and were often suspended, most of them now have at least a 2.0 and come to school regularly. Many of them are involved with a sport on campus and sometimes two sports. It was nice to meet them and I plan to visit again soon.I
also attended a Math workshop a few weeks ago with about 10 other ESTA
members. This workshop was
about the next Algebra 1 section and included many activities from this
unit. I enjoyed being a
student for a few hours and getting to participate in this
experience. It is always
interesting to see innovative updates to “older”
curriculum. I
hope your new year is off to a great start. Please continue to maintain
communication with your site leaders as I will be making sure they are
constantly apprised to the state of things in our
district.
Top Ten Calendar Questions
Marisa
Hanson
l.
Have the feeder districts been contacted? Yes, Franklin-McKinley School
District, Alum Rock School District, and Oak Grove School District
actually contact me each year. They ask for a copy of our calendar
and then they adopt one very similar. Most unions do not bargain a
calendar, it is given to them by their district.
2.
What will happen with our pay periods if we have an earlier start?
If the calendar passes, we have asked the district to change 10 months to
Aug- May. They are considering our request.
3.
We are losing a week of vacation, how does that impact us? You work
182 days this school year, you will work 182 days next school year.
No salary change.
4. Will grades be due the last work day in
December
if the new calendar passes?
No, the district and ESTA will bargain to extend the two days that
currently exist for first semester.
5. Why is February break a week later? It matches the
National Holiday that CSEA does take each year per their
contract.
6. If the calendar is voted down, what happens next? The
ESTA Executive board will meet after talking to members at the sites and
will direct the bargaining team to begin the process
again.
7. What percentage is needed to pass the calendar?
Majority, more than 50% of the valid votes cast.
8. If I am not going to be at school Feb. 10, how do I
vote? I sent out the vote by mail form last week, it is due Feb. 3
by 4:00 PM. All permanent voters by mail (SBN members) received
their ballots last week at their home address if we have their current
address.
9. I already made arrangements to be out of town the week
the new calendar starts school, what should I do? If the new
calendar is adopted, and you have documentation to support prior
arrangements, your site administration will work with you.
10. It is too hot in August, will air conditioning be working? Since we are having a reduced summer school, sites will be available for repairs. All reports for repairs go through your APA.Ala
Board
Wendy L. Stegeman, AHHS, PAC
On
January 21 Eddie Garcia delivered an extemporaneous State of the District
address that promised to take care of the kids and employees of the
district. It
was short and moving according to those present, including Ash Kalra,
Frank Fiscalini, Joe Coto and many other folks near and dear to the East
Side Heart. He celebrated 60
years of James Lick and ESUHSD with cake. Despite
the pouring rain, it was an enthusiastically full house… your intrepid
reporter did not make it across the thousands of miles from the parking
lot to the multi-purpose room in time for the main event, but Eddie
assured me, in person, that he supports our employee benefits.
According
to the agenda, property negotiators were part of the closed session. Adieu
district office??? Dan
got a contract for a year while they seek a new supt. Cathy Giammona is
now and Ass’t Supt wearing Dan’s old hat as Dan officially steps into
Bob’s old shoes – see FCMAT report issued late Friday 1/29/10.
He
was cleared for the third expensive time. But, back to the
beginning… 6.0 Coach Borges accepted the award
for AH Football in this, his last year of coaching. Hard to image – not the team’s
success, but Jeff letting go of the football… EV
Girls’ Cross Country and Volleyball were honored. Indy
Girls’ Tennis was recognized.
JL
Boys’ Cross Country took honors.
MP
Football and Boys’ Water Polo got awards for the wall. And
a sad recognition of an ST grad, Staff Sergeant David Gutierrez, killed on
Christmas in the Middle East in the service of his
country. (No student reps this month.) Roland
Smith was the only speaker in the public address section. He encouraged
hiring Dan Moser for Supt. 9.0 Accepted fourth Valenzuela/CAHSEE
and Williams reports. 9.02 was accepting a stripped down summer school model –
legal requirements and incoming 9th
graders only. Pat wants a
budget work session.
Manuel
wants more info on Valdes’ place in this situation. Board
seemed shocked that classes were not being offered to seniors who need
them for graduation. Budget
work sessions to be scheduled. 10.0 Board voted to sign MOU for Race
to the Top without knowing or understanding provisions.
Final
copy not available yet. Pat asked good questions about penalties and
paybacks. Everything
unclear but Rogelio feels they can get out of the program if they want to
later. Frank
wants a parcel tax.
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Vietnam War Memorial Frank
A Lopez Sr., Retired ESTA member; President San Jose “Vietnam War”
Memorial Foundation
Salutation
Colleagues and Former Colleagues.
I am grateful to ESTA for allowing me to post this information
about the project I am currently working on. The project is to erect a San Jose
“Vietnam War” Memorial to the one-hundred-forty-three, “Sons of San Jose”
service men, who gave the ultimate sacrifice in the Vietnam War.
Many
of these servicemen were students, who attended East Side Union High
Schools. And, many received, posthumously, decoration for bravery in
combat. San
Jose is fourth in the state of California, for the most lives lost in this
war. Other cities, Milpitas,
Santa Clara, Salinas, have memorials erected. Campbell is currently working on
their memorial. The
proposed location is the Arena Greens in Guadalupe Park, across from H.P.
Pavilion. As a board, we
believe this location will bring many visitors to the downtown city
business, such Museums, Performing Arts, Hotels, Restaurants, and of
course the H.P Pavilion. We
are a tax-exempt, nonprofit foundation. The foundation board consists of
five members. In which
three are Vietnam veterans. We have a website you are welcome to visit
www.sjwarmemorial.com. This is a super imposed photo of
the memorial at Guadalupe Park. It was designed by an architect who is
assisting us. This memorial
will be in black granite, and inscribe in white are the names, rank, and
branch of service of each serviceman killed in action.
I retired in 2004, after thirty years in the district. I had to retire because of poor health conditions due to “Agent Orange.” As I reflect back on my teaching career, it was truly a profession I was proud of. I was a faculty member of five schools in the district, Mount Pleasant, Overfelt, James Lick, Andrew Hill, and Phoenix (Santa Teresa). This allowed me to make many friends and work with students from different demographics.This
memorial project has filled many hours of my time; researching, learning
about city politics, giving presentations to associations, and organizing
fundraisers. In all, its been a continuing and interesting, personal
education. On
our website, you can see the list of names, and more information about our
foundation. There is an address for donations. I’m currently researching
yearbook photos to post short profiles of each soldier on the list. If you
have information or know a relative of any serviceman on the list, please
contact me. You may use my business email address or call me. Our contact
information is on the website. Thank
you for your support and assistance.
Wendy continued, Members
of Audit Committee elected. Dan Duschak (sp), David Neighbors, Bruce Berg
(CTA), and alternate Mrs. Resch (sp). Pat
questioned gender equity.
Three guys in the second row were doing all but catcalls and had to
be reminded that they were rude.
Dan’s
contract accepted $205K plus other perks. African-American
History Month (Feb) noted through resolution. Bill
of Rights for Children and Youth noted through
resolution. Board
process for finding new supt discussed. Pat
wants to start with RFQ’s now – assumption that a company will be hired.
Very expensive. Marisa
spoke and laid out requirements and qualities for new supt. And explained
that ESTA must be part of the whole process. She did was very professional and
authoritative.
They
seemed to hear her. She
stressed that the person should be from CA as we have unique financing
issues. More conversation
about process at Feb. 18 mtg.
RFQ’s/RFP’s to be issued then. Pat
questioned legality of expenditures for 2010 Community Brkfst. Vote 4-0-1
to pay. 11.0
none 12.0
variable term waiver requests approved 5-0-0 13.0 Hired a company to do sped law for
cheaper and more local contact. Raiders
terminated contract but sent some stuff (huge shoes?) to be auctioned
off. Board
asked for more line-by-line details of what every expense is in warrant
registers. Audit committee (Frank’s group) will look at
it. All
contracts approved. MOU
approved Cellular
phone towers on campuses for money – legality, liability, and radiation
questioned by Pat. Lan and others assumed EIRs will be presented.
Another
sign now and we’ll check out the details later. Frank thinks other advertising
space may have to be sold on campuses – requires a change of board policy.
Approved 4-1. 14.0 Garofalo said ESTA and SACS had
input on model classroom when asked about stakeholder input.
Marisa
was able to speak and show that that was inaccurate – everyone presented
with finished product on the standard for classrooms for new and remodel
construction.
Board
encouraged ESTA involvement in plans. All changes put
through. Alan
wanted classroom accepted then “tweaked” after meeting with ESTA.
Unacceptable. Needs
redesign. 15.0 Consent Calendar all approved
after a brief clarification on 15.05. 16.0
none 17.0 Lan Nguyen: Liked State of
District address, noted ES Luminary Alumni present. Congrats to James Lick
on #60. Patricia
Martinez-Roach: Asked for resolution on immigration from SIREN to be on
agenda. Felt board pres didn’t allow it. Board pres said he knew little
about it. J.
Manuel Herrera: Pat’s issue should be on agenda for Feb. Important to have
input and process from all members honored. Frank
Biehl: New pres of Metro Ed board.
Campbell leaving Metro Ed. They only had -.38 COLA. Frank acknowledged that +3 is
stressful for classrooms.
Was
at a Basketball game and saw a kid go down – concussion. Kid was later back in game.
District needs policy now. Eddie
Garcia: Thanked people. Wants to work together. Parcel
tax. CLOSED
SESSION REPORT: Student
A – expelled 4-0 Cathy
G to ass’t. supt.
5-0 Martha
Brazille to interim principal of OG 4 –
0 Settlement
agreement (see agenda).
5 – 0. | |
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