UNLESS YOU CARE ABOUT YOUR FUTURE AS AN EDUCATOR,

DON’T BOTHER TO READ THIS LETTER!

To:       All OEA Members

From:   Betty Olson-Jones, OEA President

Date:    April 21, 2008

I don’t usually start letters this way, but these are not ordinary times and I want to get your attention.

Won’t you please join other teachers and educators to show that we do care about making sure that every child has the right to a quality education? Come to at least one (and preferably all) of the events we have scheduled, and give us your feedback on other actions you would support: 

·       

Grow the Green! Cover Oakland with signs that read “No Cuts: Support Oakland Teachers, Public                   Schools” (pick them up at OEA or ask your Rep)

·        April 30^th: Rally with the School Board against Budget Cuts at Hunter Hall, 4:00 pm

·        May 1^st: Support Longshore Workers as they shut down West Coast ports; Rally for Immigrant Rights at City Hall

·        May 3^rd: “Teacher Appreciation Day” at the Oakland A’s Game; tailgate at 4:00 pm, game time 6:05 pm

(For more information on each of these events, watch school mail, call OEA at 763-4020, or check the OEA website at oaklandea.org. And give us feedback – what other ideas do you have that will get others excited about standing up for quality public education?)

We just held our OEA general elections. I want to thank all of you who voted for me; you have given me a clear mandate to be OEA’s spokesperson for another two years, and I am honored by your confidence in me. At the same time, I am worried. We are an organization of nearly 3,000 members, and yet fewer than 900 voted in this election! Complacency? Inertia? Despair? Apathy? Whatever the reason, it doesn’t bode well for our ability to not only defend our members’ rights but to make bold proposals for what it takes to truly educate our students.

And bold is the word for the proposals we’ve made in bargaining to the district. We’ve set out to change the conversation and talk about what students and teachers need to create success. But it won’t happen without the support of each and every one of us. I visited a school last week where a teacher asked me if I thought the district would cut our health benefits. “Without a doubt,” I replied. “As long as they don’t see our members coming out in force to support the union’s demands, they’ll do what they’re already doing – they’ll talk publicly about opposing budget cuts, while meanwhile at the bargaining table they’re proposing to freeze our salaries and increase our work load.”

Our profession is being attacked like never before, and if we don’t find a way to make our voices heard loud and clear, we could be witnessing the death of quality public education. How much longer are we willing to continue being complicit in the insanity of high stakes testing? How much longer are we willing to put up with the disrespect that we feel every day? How much longer are we willing to accept the threat of budget cuts in one of the world’s wealthiest economies? If we are not to be pushed even further down the road of data-driven drivel and top-down mandates, I challenge each and every one of us to get active!

A teacher at Franklin said recently, “What if we are test subjects of some national study to see just how many assessments teachers will give before they crack? What if every time we administer yet another assessment the researchers are sitting in a room, shaking their heads, incredulous, ‘Wow, I can’t believe they are actually doing this. That’s the third one this week!’”

The next few months are crucial. I know we’re all overworked, underpaid, and we don’t begin to get the respect we deserve. But if the district and the state don’t hear from us, they are left to keep doing what they’ve been doing.

Each of us can make a difference – and the time to do so is now!

In hope for the future of all the many children who depend on us to be their advocates,

Betty

May 14: Rally at City Hall 4:00

No Cuts—Full Funding for Quality Public Education
On this DAY OF THE TEACHER we will testify demonstrate for quality teaching and learning
conditions for all.

On Thursday March 1st, 2008, Oakland teachers will honor May Day by standing with longshore workers’ direct action against the war, immigrants’ fight for equality, and our students’ civil right to quality education.  We urge teachers to use this information to take part in May Day:OEA May Day

Download a petition to support public education here: Support OEA Petition
En espanol: Peticion para apoyar OEA

OEA members have compiled a list of resources to teach students about the wars and the human costs.  For more information, download the PDF document, including Lesson Ideas and Questions for discussion, here: Resources for May Day and Beyond

The following are the results for the OEA General Elections:

Local NEA/RA Delegates as follows:

Verified by Bill Balderston, OEA Election Chair

President’s Report to Representative Council

April 7, 2008

State Council and Budget Cuts

Your six OEA State Council delegates spent the weekend in Los Angeles working hard on policy for CTA. The proposed budget cuts were in the forefront of discussion, culminating in a lively Sunday press conference with music by the Angry, Tired Teachers of Hayward to kick off a statewide bus tour by the CTA officers. Of the 25 New Business Items submitted for consideration, 17 were from the Alcosta locals, and a majority of those came from Oakland. Among our issues were these: notifying parents of their right to opt their children out of state testing (which was passed for immediate attention on the floor instead of being referred to the CTA Board); urging CTA to expand the May 20 Presidents’ lobby day in Sacramento to include more teachers and focus on specific progressive taxation proposals; sending a letter of support and encouraging locals to engage in actions in collaboration with the ILWU around their upcoming May 1 work stoppage in all West Coast ports. Other hot button issues: a proposal for a $20 “reverse dues check off,” which will be voted on in June unless the CTA Board of Directors agrees with some NBI’s to postpone for further discussion among members.

Some of us met with other large urban locals during the weekend to plan strategy and coordinate our efforts. There is agreement that although CTA has moved to speaking of “no cuts,” is now opposing cuts in other social services along with education, and agrees there’s a need for “revenue enhancement,” we need to keep pushing for a program that unites CTA with other unions and takes a strong stand in favor of statewide progressive taxation, e.g. oil severance tax, closing yacht loopholes, split roll property tax, restoration of upper tax brackets, closing Proposition 13 loopholes, increasing corporate tax rates.

We also met with the other Alcosta locals to talk about plans for May 14, Day of the Teacher. We agreed to coordinate actions at seven sites, using the same message, and aiming for high visibility and media coverage. Details will be worked out in each local area; we are meeting this week with representatives from locals along the 880 corridor. One activity we all agreed to do together to build for the May 14 actions is the May 3 “Teacher Appreciation Day” Oakland A’s baseball game against the Texas Rangers. Plans are to have every Alcosta local bring teachers with homemade, baseball-themed signs. The Angry, Tired Teachers of Hayward have agreed to come, we’re having a pre-game tailgate party, and if we can get enough teachers and educators there, we can have a real shot at getting across our message of advocacy for public education and opposition to any budget cuts that hurt our students and our communities. Be sure to sign up for discounted tickets, and urge your colleagues to come, too for an evening of fun and advocacy.

One of the most inspiring events of the weekend was the Youth Activism Awards ceremony at the Peace and Justice Caucus. Three students from Oakland were honored, along with the Youth Power Organization at Oakland High. The two that were able to attend spoke movingly and eloquently about their experiences and their activism. They will be honored at the May Rep Council meeting.

OEA Action Alert:

We have definitely gotten the District’s attention with this, and are seeing the first disciplinary actions attempted. Redwood Heights Principal Ann Cruze wrote letters to four teachers admonishing them for one or both of these: 1) choosing not to test students on several math questions because they hadn’t yet taught the material; and 2) failing to bubble in their results, even though “they still had 45 minutes of their 3 hour monthly commitment outside of their duty day” in which to do it… We have asked the District for a list of their priorities for the 3 hours/month, arguing that bubbling in should not be high on the list.

Next steps: We need to keep the pressure on. Continue to resist bubbling in, scanning or copying answer sheets. Be sure to take copies of Glenview’s excellent letter opposing excessive paperwork to your school sites, and plan to hold a meeting in the near future to talk to teachers about this.

HBIC:

After weeks of trying to come to some agreements so we could formally begin the process of bargaining health care benefits collectively, the district pulled out because all the OUSD unions refused to agree in advance to a specific date by which time negotiations would conclude! Clearly there was no serious interest on their part in bargaining jointly. What’s positive is that we have built a stronger alliance among all the district unions, and if we are forced to bargain health benefits individually, we will be in a much stronger position to hold out for the same package.

All unions signed a letter to Kaiser, which will also be sent to Health Net, calling for them to freeze their rates to OUSD for the next three years or the life of the next contract (see packet).

Return to Local Control?

On April 8 there will be a formal signing of the MOU transferring control of Facilities and Personnel Management to the School Board. It will take place at Grass Valley at 1:30 pm. We plan to attend with the other OUSD unions so Jack and the Board of Education get the word that we are not fooled by the apparent return of control. As long as the financial and “pupil achievement” areas remain under state control, the Board of Education is continuing to operate without any real power.

May 1^st:

On May 1^st, Longshore Union (ILWU) workers plan to shut down all ports on the West Coast for eight hours in opposition to the war in Iraq and the attacks on immigrants, working people, teachers, health care workers. We sent a letter in solidarity with the ILWU workers, which is in your packet. We want our members to highlight the connections between the war and our budget crisis, and have prepared a menu of suggested actions listed on your Rep Check List.

Political Involvement Committee

We have been receiving requests for endorsements by a number of local candidates for political office. There are four School Board seats, City Council races, State Assembly and State Senate seats on the June 3 ballot. OEA members were part of the Central Labor Council interview team for Oakland School Board and Alameda County Office of Education seats, and sent a representative to the Alcosta interview team for State Assembly and Senate races. But given the importance of some of these offices, we want OEA to play a more informed role in either concurring on the endorsements or not. This means we need to reactivate our Political Involvement Committee. This is a great chance for newer members to get more involved in OEA. Please see Barbara Traylor or Bill Balderston if you are interested in finding out more.

Thank you again for being OEA Representatives!  

In unity,
 

Betty Olson-Jones

March 18, 2008

I Support Assemblymember Swanson’s Oakland Schools Bill AB 2008!

I am writing to express my strong support for AB 2008 by Assemblymember Sandré Swanson, which will protect Oakland Schools’ fiscal health by prohibiting the creation of new charter schools until the District has repaid its loan from the State, and the School Board has regained all of its governing responsibilities. 

It has been 4 ½ years since OUSD was placed into State receivership, thereby turning Oakland’s elected school board into a strictly advisory body. In that time, the State Administrator has approved the creation of many new charters, often against the advice of the elected school board members.  Enrollment in charter schools has more than tripled in this time, and is estimated at over 8,000 students, more than half the number of students the district has lost in the last eight years. The creation of these new charter schools has created an additional fiscal burden for OUSD by exacerbating the District’s problem of declining enrollment. Every child that leaves Oakland’s public schools takes an average of $6,000 per year from the district.  That means that Oakland’s schools are losing over $48 million per year, nearly half the total of the loan that the district took from the State.

Sadly, the State loan takes precedence over everything else in the District’s budget.  Opening new charter schools will force the district to make drastic cuts in order to balance its budget.  Nursing and counseling services, as well as Physical Education, art, and after school programs will be slashed, with some schools even resorting to larger class sizes in order to keep the District solvent. 

Clearly, opening new charter schools will make it increasingly difficult for the District to pay back the loan and continue to offer a quality education to its students. However, the fiscal implications of opening additional charters have been further highlighted by the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team. (FCMAT) In its most recent evaluation of the District in late 2007, it noted that the State Administration’s policy of opening new charters ran counter to the State’s primary mission to return the District to fiscal health. In short, the actions of the State Administration in approving new charters at an unprecedented rate have contributed to greater fiscal instability in the District, the very problem the Administration was tasked with addressing over 4 years ago.

Decisions that impact the recovering fiscal health of our schools have a direct impact on the quality of education that our children receive. That’s why I support Assemblymember Swanson’s schools bill, AB2008, because parents, children, and the community deserve to have a voice in the decisions that the District makes.

Signed,

__________________________________                                         __________________________________

                    Full Name (Printed)                                                                                 Organization

__________________________________                                         __________________________________

                      Address                                                                                                     Email

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                       Phone

I want to show my support for AB2008!

          I will write a letter to the editor.

          I will call legislators on the day of the vote and urge them to support AB2008.

          I will attend a rally, press conference, or other event in support of AB2008.

I will come to Sacramento to show that AB2008 is important to this community.

Please fax to (916) 319-2116

Call Douglas MacLean at (916) 319-2016 with any questions