As partisan clashes in Congress continue to delay decisions on measures that would provide some relief for middle class and poor Americans, a growing number of families are relying on free and reduced-price meals to prevent their children from going hungry.
Sunday 29 January 2012
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VOTE FOR OUR CONTRACT!.
Click for 2011-1013 Collective Agreement. -
Two Thumbs Down: Education Documentaries Fictionalize Research
Waiting for Superman, The Lottery offer simplistic and misguided solutions for urban public education. -
Educators and allies from all over Kern County held a demonstration.
Educators and allies from all over Kern County held a demonstration on the corners of California and Stockdale Hwy. -
SOE May 10 - Kern County "Grade In
Showing what teachers do in their unpaid hours -
NEW Area Director Positions Candidacy Form Download.
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President Barack Obama called for $60 billion to save schools.
Click for Full Article.
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NEW!! Collective Bargaining Agreement 2011-2013Initial Proposal Final
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JANUARY 9 2012 | By
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JANUARY 16 2012
LETS TALK ABOUT REFORM
This animate was adapted from a talk given at the RSA by Sir Ken Robinson, world-renowned education and creativity expert and recipient of the RSA's Benjamin Franklin award. For more information on Sir Ken's work visit:
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January 15 2012
Budget unknowns put school district planners in sticky spot
Sacramento Bee -Gov. Jerry Brown wants school districts to budget optimistically this year, assuming voters fearful of deep education cuts will approve higher taxes in November.
The Democratic governor says he will work with school officials to figure out ways to impose cuts in January 2013 if the taxes fail. That approach could save teacher jobs if the governor discourages districts from sending pink slips this spring.
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Where Does Obama's Job's Plan Leave the Teacher Quality Debate?
The jobs plan President Obama unveiled to Congress last week calls for $30 billion to save public school teachers from layoffs. "While they’re adding teachers in places like South Korea, we’re laying them off in droves," Obama said in his speech to Congress. "It’s unfair to our kids. It undermines their future and ours. And it has to stop. Pass this bill, and put our teachers back in the classroom where they belong."
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Site Rep DelarationOf Candidacy (Deadline Sept 28th)
Second Site Representative Election TimelineRead more... Comments (0) | Hits: 54 -
State Council Candidates
The election will be held between Sept. 8 and 14
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STATE COUNCIL ELECTIONS TIMELINE
August 17, 2011 Date to publicize vacancies and announce when Declaration of Candidacy forms are due.
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KHSTA Officer and Site Rep Elections
Biographical Sketch and Candidate Statement
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What is Prezi?
Prezi is a web-based presentation application and storytelling tool that uses a single canvas instead of traditional slides. Text, images, videos and other presentation objects are placed on the infinite canvas and grouped together in frames. The canvas allows users to create non-linear presentations, where users can zoom in and out of a visual map.
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What is Voicethreading?
A VoiceThread is a collaborative, multimedia slide show that holds images, documents, and videos and allows people to navigate slides and leave comments in 5 ways - using voice (with a mic or telephone), text, audio file, or video (via a webcam). Share a VoiceThread with friends, students, and colleagues for them to record comments too.
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Are books of the past?
People have been proclaiming the death of paper for a long time. But that prediction has been exaggerated some say.
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Blogging in the classroom?
In Oceanside, Calif., fourth- and fifth-graders at Garrison Elementary School blog every night. Through blogging, they're learning to write better, type fluently and understand how information spreads online.
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January, 27, 2012
On January 11th, the Association’s bargaining team met with the District’s team. On that day, we were able to iron out the remaining issues left on the table. The following day we were able to confirm that we had reached a tentative agreement. That agreement is a two-year deal with no reduction in salary and no out-of-pocket costs on our health insurance for both years. We believe we gained ground on several fronts and made no concessions.
On January 23rd, our Association’s executive board unanimously voted to recommend the tentative agreement for ratification and on January 24th, in an emergency meeting of the Representative Council, our Council voted to move the tentative agreement for ratification of the general membership. So here we are. Members of the Kern High School Teachers Association will have an opportunity to vote on their contract. We will be holding two ratification votes as described below:
The first will be held on Monday, January 30th at Centennial High School from 6:00 PM until 8:00 PM.
The second will be held on Tuesday, January 31st at Foothill High School from 4:00 PM until 6:00 PM.
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KHSTA News
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NEW! Collective Bargaining Agreement 2011-2013
Tentative Agreement (Draft)
Here is a summary of the tentative agreement reached between the KHSD and the KHSTA. The document outlines the changes to the contract tentatively agreed to and might be easier to read than the full document.
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Common Core Standards Dinner
On Thursday Jan. 19 Marlene Fong from the California Teachers Association will be giving a presentation about the Common Core State Standards. These standards were adopted by California last year. Ms. Fong will talk to us the state’s plan for implementation of these dramatic changes and how it will impact the classroom teacher.
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The Diastat Law: Know Your Rights October 11
Last month, Governor Jerry Brown signed into law Senate Bill 161, otherwise known as the Diastat bill. Diastat is a class IV anti-seizure drug that must be administered rectally to a seizing student. The new law requires non-medical school personnel volunteers to provide emergency medical assistance to pupils with epilepsy Read more... Comments (0) | Hits: 40
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Message From The President
As we move into the fifth week of the 2011 – 2012 school year, I find myself pausing to reflect on the 2010-2011 school year. It was a year filled with intense staff development: seemingly endless hours of teacher collaboration, CFA creation, and a reflective look at best practices
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Know Your Rights: Grievances
Since July of 1977, school employees have had the right to negotiate contracts and enforce them through the use of grievance procedures that culminate in binding arbitration. Not only do grievances help protect our members by enforcing the contract, but the process itself helps clarify the intent of contract language and has an impact on the bargaining process itself.
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Several years ago, the Kern High School District worked aggressively to ensure that our certificated employees had the opportunity to earn their CLAD credential. While most members of the KHSTA are fully CLAD certified, many are not. In these uncertain times, the KHSD has made it clear that in making personnel decisions, CLAD certification might be considered prior to seniority. As such, if you do not have your CLAD certificate, please contact the KHSTA and/or the district office immediately!
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IMAGE GALLERY
Newsletter
January, 27, 2012
On January 11th, the Association’s bargaining team met with the District’s team. On that day, we were able to iron out the remaining issues left on the table. The following day we were able to confirm that we had reached a tentative agreement. That agreement is a two-year deal with no reduction in salary and no out-of-pocket costs on our health insurance for both years. We believe we gained ground on several fronts and made no concessions.
On January 23rd, our Association’s executive board unanimously voted to recommend the tentative agreement for ratification and on January 24th, in an emergency meeting of the Representative Council, our Council voted to move the tentative agreement for ratification of the general membership. So here we are. Members of the Kern High School Teachers Association will have an opportunity to vote on their contract. We will be holding two ratification votes as described below:
The first will be held on Monday, January 30th at Centennial High School from 6:00 PM until 8:00 PM.
The second will be held on Tuesday, January 31st at Foothill High School from 4:00 PM until 6:00 PM.
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November 18 UPDATE
Our Bargaining Team met with the District on Friday, November 18, 2011. I am pleased to announce that we have been successful in moving the District off of their unreasonable furlough day language.
This re-assessment by the District regarding their language is a positive step that gives me hope that the District is listening to us and has come to the understanding that we will not accept austerity measures while we sit on a 30% reserve. This is an important win and dramatically helps smooth the road toward a fair agreement. Our bargaining team worked hard, but this positive outcome could not have been possible without teacher participation. Teachers voiced their dissatisfaction with the District’s proposal and the District had no choice but to listen. Board members heard us as did the Superintendent. I have no doubt that without those voices, moving off this language would have been much more difficult.
UPDATE NOVEMBER 2nd
Your KHSTA Bargaining Team met with the District on November 2nd, 2011. I can report that some progress was made but that the District remains stubbornly attached to the more egregious portions of their initial proposal.
We believe we have reached consensus regarding our Leaves Article and believe that other issues such as the limits on long-distance learning, meetings during fog delay days and the availability of outside phone lines may also be close to resolution.
Most of the District’s worst ideas lie in the second year of their initial proposal (2012-13) - their salary reduction language, their health benefit cost cap language, the extra day without compensation. We had made the assumption that all that ugly language was simply an over-reaction to the unknown. But after meeting on November 2nd we had to re-evaluate that assumption.
At the District’s suggestion, we entertained the possibility of a one-year contract. A deal that gets us through this year and puts aside the austerity language of the District’s second year proposal. We understand that in this fragile economy it’s difficult to predict too far into the future. What we got in return was somewhat surprising – an insistence that language agreeing to 12 furlough days this year was vital to the interest of the District!
BARGAINING UPDATE
(October 17, 2011)
On Wednesday, October 12th , the KHSTA Bargaining Team met with the District’s bargaining team. The District seemed adamant that status quo is not enough for the 2012-13 school year. They continued to insist that teachers should work another day without additional compensation. They insist that their proposal package of salary cuts, furlough days, out of pocket benefit costs and a longer work calendar is necessary.
But, here’s the deal. Our District is required to keep 2% of their total funds for times of economic uncertainty. Our District reserves were over 30% for the 2009-10 school year. The reserves have GROWN every year of the fiscal crisis and have GROWN again this year!
Meanwhile, teachers have been seeing class sizes rise every year. Higher class sizes create bigger workloads, safety concerns and horrible learning environments for kids. Higher class sizes also create another thing - SAVINGS. Teachers have been doing their part and have been saving the District money by taking on these higher class sizes and spending money out of their own pocket to support instruction and programs. To ignore our contribution and demand more while the reserve levels grow bigger and bigger every year is a slap in the face.
We reminded the District on Wednesday that we are a public school district and not a savings and loan. We reminded them that tax payer money should be spent on teaching and learning and that the District’s reserves should not be growing as fast as our class sizes. We asked them to rethink their priorities and hope that they reassess their proposal. We continue to bargain in good faith and did make more progress last Wednesday, but their demands seem unfair.
As always, if you have questions or comments do not hesitate to email me.
Jesse Aguilar
KHSTA Bargaining Chair
KHSTA Vice President
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