ENOUGH IS TOO MUCH...

EDUCATORS: HEAR THIS NOW !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


This week marks the first anniversary of the final fight for our careers, avocations and public education for all children. REGARDLESS OF YOUR OPINION ON THE MATTER. IF YOU ARE AN EDUCATOR AND  HAVE NOT YET BEEN SUSPENDED WITHOUT PAY. YOU HAVE NO CLUE. BUT DON'T BE SO FOOLISH AS TO THINK THIS FIGHT ISN'T COMING TO YOU.

This is the Fight of Our Professional Lives. Are You In or Out (for now)?

ALL SUSPENDED EDUCATORS:

TEACHERS, COUNSELORS, SITE ADMIN. AND CLASSIFIED. MAY BE  YOU KNOW SOMEONE?

YOU ARE NOT ALONE, NOT A VILLAIN, AND ARE BEING DENIED YOUR DUE PROCESS AND RIGHTS. 


I KNOW FROM PERSONAL EXPERIENCE AND IT IS HAPPENING  1) IN MOST DISTRICTS  2) RIGHT NOW TODAY. 


HUNDREDS OF EDUCATORS, ARE SUFFERING ALONE, MISINFORMED, LIED TO AND ALMOST ALL OF US ARE COINCIDENTALLY, AT THE TOP OF THE PAY SCALE!!! 


BUT UNLIKE ANY OTHER TIME WE ARE BEING SUSPENDED

WITH NO PAY AT ALL; BEFORE, DURING AND REGARDLESS OF THE DISTRICT'S INVESTIGATIONS" 


This is becoming just another way budget strapped or just mismanaged School Districts are reducing their overhead. Further, in swapping one experienced devoted educator for 1.80 (read two) first year college grad.s, the district can reduce the numbers of educators covered by union contract. If they keep this newbie on a year to year temporary contract, that newbie statistically will quit after the fourth year. Enough time and the union rank and file  numbers - and the benefits and salaries -  dwindle away. Public education suffers, the children suffer and ultimately our nations future.

UNFORTUNEATLY, CTA IS POWERLESS AND SEEMINGLY UNINTERESTED. 


THE CALIFORNIA GOVERNMENT OFFICES WHO ARE SUPPOSED TO PREVENT THESE THINGS ARE CRIPPLED BY LACK OF FUNDING. 


THE VAST MAJORITY OF CTA ATTORNEYS WILL NOT FULLY ATTEMPT TO DEFEND YOU. HERE'S WHY.

INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE SHOWING THESE ATTORNEYS PER AGREEMENT WITH THE CTA, ACTUALLY GET A PERCENTAGE OF CERTAIN SETTLEMENT CONTRACT SAVINGS ON TOP OF THE HOURS THEY BILL. 


THEY MAKE THEIR REAL MONEY WHEN YOU ARE ROBBED, SCARED AND VULNERABLE TO BAD ADVICE. IT HAPPENED TO ME AND THOUSANDS OF OTHERS.

ENOUGH IS TOO MUCH... WE HAVE FORMED A LOCAL SUPPORT GROUP THAT IS FIGHTING BACK AND WINNING. 


WE  WILL FIGHT WITH YOU AND YOU WITH US. WE ARE EDUCATORS LIKE YOU, GOING THROUGH THE SAME TYPES OF LIES AND MISTREATMENT. WE KNOW HOW YOU ARE FEELING.  WE HAVE HUGH AMOUNTS OF  READY INFORMATION. WE INVITE ONLY GOOD SOLID ATTORNEYS ON CONTINGENCY. WE SHARE OUR KNOWLEDGE AND RESORCES. 


WE DON'T HOWEVER, ENDORCE ANY COLLECTIVE INTERESTS OR ATTORNEYS. THIS ARTICLE IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE OR LEGAL OPINION. THERE ARE NO FEES INVOLVED WITH THE SUPPORT GROUP.

CALL AND JOIN US... RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW - TODAY. (951) 732-7091 


TO PROTECT ALL OUR MEMBERS WE WILL PUT YOU THROUGH A SMALL SCREENING. TO MAKE SURE YOU ARE WHO YOU SAY YOU ARE. DON'T BE OFFENDED this process WILL PROTECT YOU TOO!

CALL THIS NUMBER. (951) 732-7091 LEAVE YOUR REAL NAME, RETURN NUMBER AND AS MUCH DETAIL ABOUT YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES AS POSSIBLE. 


FEAR NOT! WE WILL CHECK YOUR BACKGROUND THEN CONTACT YOU! CALLING IMPLIES CONSENT TO DO A LIMITED BACKGROUND CHECK.
(LIMITED MEANS NO FINANCIAL, CIVIL OR CRIMINAL INFORMATION.)

WE MUST DO THESE THINGS TO KEEP OUT THE DISTRICTS PRIVATE INVESTIGATORS, DISTRICT ADMINISTRATORS  OR OPPOSITION ATTORNEYS from MISREPRESENTING  THEMSELVES TO TRY AND GET INFORMATION. WE SUPPORT TRANSPARENCY, HOWEVER NOT NECESSARILY WITH THESE LIEING JACKAL'S


HANG TOUGH, DON'T RUN AND DON'T TALK TO ANYONE.


IF THREATENED WITH INSUBORDINATION FOR NOT TALKING, TELL THEM IT IS YOUR INTENT TO COOPERATE BUT YOU'VE BEEN ADVISED BY CTA TO WAIT FOR A CTA REPRESENTATIVE. IT SHOULD BE YOUR LOCAL PRESIDENT OR VICE PRESIDENT (My opinion). ACCORDING TO THE legal Precedents set by LYBARGER AND GARRITY, YOU HAVE THIS RIGHT. Please click on the links and read these for yourself. The rulings' legalese has been simplified for us.


SOME DISTRICT HR PERSONELL (INCLUDING P.I.s) WILL LIE AND THREATEN YOU TO GET WHAT THEY WANT. DON'T GIVE IT TO THEM. 


THEY WILL USE THE INFORMATION YOU PROVIDE AGAINST YOU ALMOST WITHOUT EXCEPTION!


I would like to thank the San Jose Municipal Employee's Association for putting an invaluable amount of germain information out on their web site for us. These are things your Local, or CTA attorney AREN'T likely to talk to you about. Mine didn't.

CTA Cowards and NTA lackies - hear this

    FUCK MARCHING ON SACRAMENTO.

  MARCH ON BURLINGAME, CALIFORNIA.

    WE WILL BE HEARD! October, 2012!

When Jonah Edelman, a school reform activist was videotaped bragging how his organization had outfoxed the Chicago Teachers Union by helping pass legislation he thought would make it impossible for teachers to strike...

That’s when Jonah Edelman, a "school reform activist" out of Oregon, was videotaped before a Colorado think tank bragging how his organization had outfoxed the Chicago Teachers Union by helping pass legislation in Illinois he thought would make it impossible for teachers here to strike.

The provision of which Edelman was so proud: a requirement that the CTU couldn’t authorize a strike without an affirmative vote from 75 percent of its members.

“The unions cannot strike in Chicago. They will never be able to muster the 75 percent threshold necessary to strike,” boasted Edelman, basing his prediction on data showing past strike authorizations had never exceeded 50 percent of the membership. Edelman suggested the teachers hadn’t done their homework.

A lot of folks figured he was probably correct about the 75 percent threshold being insurmountable. Not any more.

Teacher discontent is so pervasive within CPS that the possibility of the union passing a strike authorization vote — not to be confused with actually going out on strike — now looms as a strong possibility.

EDUCATORS VOTE YES STRIKE!

Chicago Teachers Vote overwhelming for Strike Authorization as Contract Negotiations Continue; Union to use leverage to fight for smaller class sizes

CHICAGO – Today, the Chicago Teachers Union revealed nearly 90 percent of its eligible members voted to give their labor organization the authority to call a strike should contract negotiations reach an impasse. The Union has been in negotiations with the Chicago Public School system since November 2011. A new state law requires a 75 percent of all eligible CTU voters to vote in the affirmative in order to provide strike authorization.

Although both CTU and CPS are in the fact-finding stage of negotiations, the Union pointed out that the independent review will only provide recommendations on a small number of contract concerns. Public school educators say they are fighting for smaller class sizes, art, music, world language and physical education classes for students, and fair compensation for being asked to work under more difficult guidelines as determined by CPS.

Armed with strike authorization, teachers, paraprofessionals and clinicians say they believe this will give them more leverage at the bargaining table going forward. Should a strike become necessary, the Union’s 800-member House of Delegates will set the date for a work stoppage. The three-day vote tally showed:

Category	Number	÷ Membership =	%
Total Membership	26,502	÷ 26,502 =	100.00%
Members Voting “YES”	23,780	÷ 26,502 =	89.73%
Members Voting “NO”	482	÷ 26,502 =	1.82%
Members Casting Votes	24,262	÷ 26,502 =	91.55%
Members Not Voting (includes 494 spoiled ballots)	2,240	÷ 26,502 =	8.45%

Day	Daily Votes*	Number	÷ Vote Count =	%
1	Total Votes	19,614	÷ 19,614 =	100.00%
	“YES” Votes	19,235	÷ 19,614 =	98.01%
	“NO” Votes	379	÷ 19,614 =	1.93%
2	Total Votes	2,108	÷ 2,108 =	100.00%
	“YES” Votes	2,060	÷ 2,108 =	97.72%
	“NO” Votes	48	÷ 2,108 =	2.28%
3	Total Votes	392	÷    392 =	100.00%
	“YES” Votes	370	÷    392 =	94.39%
	“NO” Votes	22	÷    392 =	5.61%
S	Total Votes	2,148	÷  2,148 =	100.00%
	“YES” Votes	2,115	÷  2,148 =	98.46%
	“NO” Votes	33	÷  2,148 =	1.54%
Total Votes		24,262	÷ 24,262 =	100.00%
“YES” Votes		23,780	÷ 24,262 =	98.01%
“NO” Votes		482	÷ 24,262 =	1.99%

* Daily Votes were totaled each day for members on the roster for each school. "S" refers to Supplemental ballots, which are those cast by employees voting at a site where they do not appear on the roster (e.g. school social workers or nurses, who service multiple schools). These votes are tallied separately.

CTU President Karen GJ Lewis, NBCT, said the following during a news conference today:

“We have called you here today to announce the results of the strike authorization vote held last week. The results are not a win. They are an indictment on the state of the relationship between the ‘management’ of CPS and its largest labor force, members of the Chicago Teachers Union. It is also an indictment of the outside groups that seek to destroy the real work being done by Chicago’s teachers, paraprofessionals, and clinicians.

“We do not understand why Democrats for Education Reform, Education Reform Now and other organizations continue to stand on the backs of our children and profess to care about them when they ignore the harsh realities of their lives. And while our members work in schools that are under-resourced, under-staffed and under-appreciated, they have toiled in silence long enough while the mayors of this city have exerted control, shut down schools, and handed over facilities to their well-connected friends.

“The problems with our schools will not be answered by overpaid outside consultants or billionaire education dilettantes but rather by the people who actually work in our schools with our children in full partnership with the District. For some reason, this administration has behaved as if the Union was some out-of-touch bureaucracy only speaking for ourselves. But the dominant narrative among the so-called Ed Reformers in concert with city’s business fathers and mothers has been that the reason why CPS is in such bad shape is that its teachers are incompetent.

“This new leadership of the CTU were all classroom teachers and paraprofessionals two years ago. We have the pulse of our members. We listened to what they had to say. And we made a plan using the tools and the resources we have. That’s what teachers do. We analyzed the data and adjusted our plans. But all along, we had the feedback of the members in our schools. While the chaos on Clark Street continues, our members—intent on being heard—were loud, clear, and serious.

“We want a contract that gives Chicago’s students the schools they deserve. So we call on CPS to take the process seriously and negotiate with us in good faith and with an eye on the real prize: Our children.”

Proud to be a Teacher (Educator?) Ashamed to be CTA?

Proud to be a Teacher(Educator)?

Ashamed to be CTA?

Let me preface with the often used but true statement: I believe in unions, I have walked three picket lines before the age of 25 and CTA is functionally useless. As we stand on the parapet of the crumbling dreams of so many far sighted men and women. This our "Alamo," allegorically speaking,  and all we can hope for from CTA "leadership" is a half-hearted magazine column on issues they should have addressed four years ago. By the way, of course the magazine only goes out to educators. Let me remind President Vogal not all CTA members are teachers. Just the obvious majority.

Excerpts from and opinions on the article

Proud to be a Teacher

By CTA President Dean E. Vogel

Sometimes the challenges we face on a daily basis in our classrooms are so great that it’s hard to remember the rewards of our profession and the reason why we chose to be educators. That’s why it’s been a delight to read thank-you notes from students that our members have shared with us over the past few months. Letters to the “Thank You, Teacher!” project can be read online at www.cta.org/thankyouteacher, and they give us all a moment to pause and remember why we are in it and why we stay.

This month, I received a note from one of my former students, and believe me, it both surprised and deeply touched me. Rachel was a student of mine in kindergarten, and her childhood memories of my class included me playing the guitar, singing during circle time, and enforcing a rule against children playing with their Velcro shoes.

Rachel wrote, “Thank you so much for all that you did. My inner child and outer adult ever appreciate it.”

She concluded her letter by letting me know she is now in her seventh year of teaching and “couldn’t imagine being anything else but an educator.”

I felt the same pride when I went to Washington, D.C., to see Rebecca Mieliwocki, a California middle school teacher and member of the Burbank Teachers Association, honored as National Teacher of the Year during a White House ceremony.

Rebecca related that she had been working in publishing when she realized something was missing. I was struck by her comment: “I took some time to make a list of things I needed and wanted in my ‘perfect’ job: creativity, decision-making control, fun, flexibility, stability, the potential to work with young people. It dawned on me that teaching was the obvious place.”

Rachel’s note and Rebecca’s achievement served as personal reminders to me of why we do it. They are also reminders of why I became involved with my union. It was to make things better for teachers and for our students.

These days it’s hard for a teacher to turn around without feeling like she’s under attack. Many of us would prefer to retreat to our classrooms, mind our own business and just teach our students. We may not be interested in the political drama. But as the Greek statesman Pericles once said, “Just because you don’t take an interest in politics doesn’t mean politics won’t take an interest in you.”

Politics directly impacts almost everything we do in our schools and in our classrooms. And many politicians and corporate power brokers behave as if they know more about the dynamics of teaching and learning than we do. Yet no one knows better than we do what our students need to be successful.

We are facing some crucial issues coming up in the November election that will test that notion. As much as we’d like to shut the door of our classrooms and just teach, we won’t be able to do that without passing a funding initiative that will begin to provide the resources to adequately fund our schools. We won’t be able to do that if our voice is silenced and our ability to participate in politics is taken away. We won’t be able to do that if we don’t elect candidates who will advocate for public education.

In the coming weeks, I know many of us will be preoccupied with year-end activities (and the grim future with no Job, and) little time to do much else than help our students and each other tie things up and move forward. But as we head into summer, I hope you take some time for yourselves to recuperate and recharge. I also hope you take some time to become involved with this campaign season. Read through this issue of the Educator, go to our website, learn about the election issues we face, and step up. For the sake of our students, and for the sake of our profession, we all need to be involved in the election ahead. If not us, who? If not now, when?

Exactly dean when?

when WILL CTA DEVELOP A STRIKE AND DEFENSE FUND? WHEN WILL CTA SHOW SOME TRANSPARENCY WITH ITS INTERNAL OPERATIONS? WHEN WILL CTA STOP TAKING 70% OF OUR LOCAL DUES AND RETURN ALMOST NOTHING? WHEN WILL CTA LAWYERS START REPRESENTING EVERY MEMBER WITHOUT CONSIDERATION FOR THE "COMPROMISE BONUS" THEIR PAID? WHEN WILL CTA START TO EMBRACE DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPALS SO EACH MEMBER HAS A SAY, AT LEAST IN THE ELECTION OF STATE "MANAGERS?" WHEN DEAN, WILL CTA STOP HIDING FROM dissent AND START TO TRY AND UNDERSTAND WHERE IT COMES FROM AND IT'S INTRINSIC VALUE? WHEN WILL CTA START A POLICY OF HONESTY WITH THEIR MEMBERSHIP? WHEN WILL CTA STEP UP AND LEAD US IN THE GOOD FIGHT INSTEAD OF SOFT SELLING EXCUSES AFTER THE FACT? AS THE TIDE OF GREED AND DESPERATE POLITICS IS ALREADY CRESTING, CARRYING OUR BEST AND BRIGHTEST HOPES IN ITS FILTHY WATERS; wHEN DEAN DOES CTA BECOME A REAL UNION?
I, PRAETORIAN (EDUCATOR)