The Negotiation Train is leaving the station: Get on Board!!!!

by Cecily Myart-Cruz, West Area Chair & Emerson Middle School

What does our membership have to do to be heard? We must participate in every job action the Union Leadership asks us to be a part of. Why you ask? It is up to teachers, and Health and Human Service Professionals, to turn up the heat on this District. We must send a clear, united message to LAUSD that we demand a decent contract. Nothing less is acceptable. We need to be mobilized and organized at our school sites so that we can make our numbers count. The legislation with the Mayor can help us change that. At the July 12, 2006 House of Representatives Emergency Meeting about Mayoral Partnership, Teachers for Change was surprised to hear teachers speak up on behalf of Board of Education members. During the last dozen years, we have spent our PACE members’ money, electing people to the Board of Education. What have we gotten for it? We have gotten Board Members who preside over an ever-growing bureaucracy. The amount of money being spent on non-school site administration and supervisory functions is now $450 million dollars a year and growing. During John Perez’s term of office, we elected four members to the School Board and at no point (that I know) did these four people go into Superintendent Romer’s office and tell him to cut a deal that was fair and equitable for our teachers. What happened? They hung us up for 22 months for 2 percent for 2 years, not exactly people we can call our friends. Finally, with test scores going up and the LAUSD hailing itself as a District on the move those Board Members did not even stand up for us, the people who have driven test scores up. We did so while battling adversities such as mandated programs, tedious and meaningless professional development days created by District bureaucrats. We are the people who year after year have gotten the job done in this District. How dare they not recognize that fact? The latest negotiation proposal from the District contains not one dime for teacher raises and they sent us a letter to say they would have to cut our health benefits or tie unrealistic demands to the current agreement. What can we do? Get angry! We have to close ranks and generate energy on our campuses by mobilizing and organizing all of our members. Get on board and do your part because it is up to the entire membership to let the District know that we deserve a fair and equitable salary increase. If there is a job action you must be there. Numbers matter and the District will be counting. We must stay vigilant and steadfast during this upcoming struggle. Don’t miss the opportunity to let the District hear your voice. 

The Special Education Testing Dilemma

by James Arlington Webster Middle School

Special Education students, who have Specific Learning Disabilities, take the California Standards Tests like their non-disabled peers, usually at the same level. However, these SLD students are well below grade level. They are entitled to standard accommodations and modifications; but their test scores are calculated with the rest of the school and help contribute to a school’s program improvement status. This is not fair. We need to press our leadership to address this issue at the district, state and federal level. There should be an alternative way to evaluate these students. SLD students who take the CST become demoralized, and their teachers, who are doing a good job become angered when their students score so low. If the SLD students could learn at the same pace as general education students then they wouldn’t be in special education. The testing offers no differentiation and it should. Has NCLB lost sight of reality as it pertains to special education students and testing? We all agree that the NCLB testing guidelines are preposterous to begin with, and in the case of special education students, are harmful. Clearly, as a union we need to address this issue and come up with workable solutions. We must then press the powers that be on the state and federal level to rethink testing of special education students and come up with more realistic measures of accountability.