Literacy Training

Dec 20 |00:35 AM

The Professional Learning Community Memorandum of Understanding confirms that PLC’s will be “teacher driven” and yet...

The District mandated that each subject area send a teacher to literacy training sessions with the provision that participants attend after school meetings (with no mention of compensation) and subsequently become trainers of their PLC.

Background
Clearly, literacy is critically important for our students. The tacit assumption, however, of programs like Literacy Training is that they are more important than whatever else might be done in the classroom. If some teachers do not want to participate it is not that they do not care about literacy it is that they recognize that the training and dissemination will supplant something else of value that they are currently doing with their students.

Teachers should be given the opportunity to participate. They should not be compelled to leave their students to do so. This is the only way that a program reaches its goals in reality, rather than just on paper. The District Literacy Training instructions, in making it an “expectation” to leave your students, in requiring after school meetings, and in obligating the participant to take over future PLC sessions contradict the PLC MOU. This MOU was built upon a mutual understanding regarding how PLC’s should operate to be effective. Not only should the District honor the MOU as a written agreement but administrators should want to do so because it is built upon solid premises. If the District continues to place top down mandates on the activities of PLC’s they will become like many other historical professional development program...powerless to effect real growth.

What should you do?
Participate in the Literacy Training workshops if you would like to do so but you are not compelled to attend after school meetings or serve as a trainer of your PLC. Since the original Literacy Training Bulletin was sent out the District has also clarified that the subsequent training will take place during an admin. controlled collaboration day not during a PLC day.

Important Information

Recent Updates

Latest District Offer

PLEASE NOTE: The District declared impasse BEFORE GEA had an opportunity to respond to this offer.

District Compensation Proposal for GEA

February 2, 2010

This proposal shall serve to modify the District’s October 22, 2009 proposal. The modifications are necessary based upon, among other things, the Governor’s January Budget proposal which included additional reductions in revenue for K-12 Education.

Effective with the 2009-2010 school year, reduce the work year for all unit members by two days with a corresponding reduction in annual base pay. Effective with the 2010-2011 school year, reduce the work year for all unit members by an additional three days, for a total of five (5) days with a corresponding reduction in annual base pay.
Reduce the salary schedule by 5% effective July 1, 2010.
Restructure health benefits for the 2011 Benefit year and beyond by, among other things, finding a replacement for PacifiCare and implement a maximum District contribution at each “tier” of coverage (e.g. employee, employee plus spouse, employee plus children and employee plus family) based upon 2010 District premium contributions for the lowest cost HMO plan. Further, co-pays and deductibles would be raised significantly for each health insurance plan.
Modify health benefits for retirees. The District proposes to “unbundle” retiree premiums and “cap” the District contribution for retiree premiums at the same rate as active unit members, effective July 1, 2010.
Restructure Article 10 to eliminate release periods for department chairpersons.

The District reserves the right to seek further compensation reductions in 2009-2010, 2010-2011 and 2011-2012, commensurate with and in proportion to any reductions in State Revenue beyond the current projections for 2009-2010, 2010-2011 and 2011-2012.

The District is open to discussing restoration language based upon increases in state funding. It is anticipated that the aforementioned reductions will last through 2011-2012.

The overriding goal of the District is to avoid layoffs in the 2010-2011 school year.

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