Sunday 29 January 2012
 

Quick Links

We have 2 guests online

Information Center

  •  JANUARY 9  2012 | By Education Votes

    school-lunch-cafeteria-590

    More Hungry Kids, Greater Need for School Meals


    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. 

    Comments (0) 
  • JANUARY 16 2012


    sir-ken-robinson-changing-paradigms-495w

     

    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: 

    http://www.sirkenrobinson.com

     

    Watch RSA Video

     


    Comments (0) 
  • January 15 2012 


    0325-Brown-CALIFORNIA-BUDGET.JPG full_600

    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.

    Full Article

     


     

    Comments (0) 
  •  

     

    obama-pushes-jobs-plan-durham-visit

    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."

     

     Full Article

     

     

    Comments (0) 
  • Site Rep DelarationOf Candidacy (Deadline Sept 28th)

    Second Site Representative Election Timeline
    Read more... Comments (0)  |  Hits: 54
  • State Council Candidates

     

     

    The election will be held between Sept. 8 and 14

     

     

    Read more... Comments (0)  |  Hits: 101
  • STATE COUNCIL ELECTIONS TIMELINE

     

     

    August 17, 2011 Date to publicize vacancies and announce when Declaration of Candidacy forms are due.

    Read more... Comments (0)  |  Hits: 115
  • KHSTA Officer and Site Rep Elections

     

     


    Biographical Sketch and Candidate Statement

     

    Read more... Comments (0)  |  Hits: 155
  • prezi_logo 

    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. 

    More » Comments (0)  |  Hits: 103
  • VoiceThread-logo

    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.

    More » Comments (0)  |  Hits: 68
  • PapervDigitalCV_110516

    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.

    More » Comments (0)  |  Hits: 59
  • Das20Blog-logo

    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.

     

    More » Comments (0)  |  Hits: 68
  • 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.

    Read more... Comments (0)  |  Hits: 4
 

PDFPrintWrite e-mail

 

AddThis Social Bookmark Button

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.

 

PDFPrintWrite e-mail

 

AddThis Social Bookmark Button

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.

 

PDFPrintWrite e-mail

 

AddThis Social Bookmark Button

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!

 

 

PDFPrintWrite e-mail

 

AddThis Social Bookmark Button
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

 

   

Page 1 of 2