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May 16, 2008

On Monday or Tuesday everyone should receive a flyer in their mailboxes regarding the Crossroad Celebration. This is a wonderful event where the association recognizes first year teachers, newly tenured teachers, and retirees. It will once again be held at Eagle Crest on June 5th from 4-6 pm. Appetizers will be provided.

 

RSVPs will be due by Friday May 22nd either by returning the bottom of the form to your building rep or by replying to Jessica Fedoroff by email.

 

May 15, 2008

There will be an informational meeting for all interested TA Members at the high school on May 29th at 3:45pm. The meeting will focus on the Blue Shield Traditional 907 Health Insurance Plan -- the only plan protected by your employment contract. If you are considering switching your insurance or have questions about this particular health insurance plan, please plan on attending this meeting.

 

April 28, 2008

(e-mail from Rocco Montesano to TA members)

At the March General Assembly and in a later TA memo, I informed the membership that the IRS had tightened regulations on 403b accounts. Those regulation changes put greater responsibility upon school districts to ensure that proper procedures are being followed. TA leadership has been involved as the district decides how to best meet the IRS regulations. Since there are current uncertainties, the District will soon be announcing a freeze on all loans and transfers. This action will protect members from being penalized if the transfer or loan is later determined to be in violation of the new regulations. NYSUT informed Andy Haluska and I of this situation when we attended the local Presidents' Council. A temporary freeze on loans and transfers is an action in line with NYSUT recommendations.

 

April 22, 2008

Please save the date for the Teachers Association's Crossroads Celebration. This is the event that will honor teachers new to the District, newly tenured teachers and, of course, our retiring teachers. Food (no cost), good conversation with friends and recognizing accomplishments of our colleagues, what better way to spend a few hours after school!

 

Date: June 5

Time: 4 to about 5:30

Place: Eagle Crest Golf Club (about a 10 minute drive from the High School)

 

 

April 01, 2008

Kathy Kelleher, our NYSUT Rep sent me additional information about the tenure debate. Rocco

----- Original Message -----

 

Tenure

The current bill language on tenure isn't anything new - it delineates the new accountability provisions put into place last year by the Legislature and the governor.

 

The language makes it clear that teachers, in fact, can be evaluated onhow they use student test scores to adjust and improve instruction. It says tenure decisions can include "an evaluation of the teacher's successful use of student performance data when providing instruction." It's essential for teachers to use student tests to diagnose how students are doing and to adjust instruction accordingly. SED explains that this can include evaluating how a teacher uses available student data - such as state test results, student work, school-developed assessments and teacher-developed assessments - to provide and adjust instruction.

 

Student tests are designed to be diagnostic, to identify students who need extra help and to help teachers plan instruction. These tests were not designed to evaluate individual teachers. Using student test scores as a blunt instrument to evaluate teachers would penalize educators who take on difficult teaching assignments and those who work in the neediest, most hard to staff schools.

 

The new law doesn't make it harder to deny tenure - it sets statewide standards that embody the state's commitment to the highest standards for teacher quality and performance. These high standards were established as part of the state's multi-year commitment to providing additional resources to close the achievement gap for students in need.

 

This new law also establishes a statewide foundation for granting tenure that helps standardize the tenure process statewide. State ed officials have made it clear that local school districts will still be able to customize their tenure determination process by negotiating with their local union.

 

SED officials noted that peer review programs have been successfully negotiated and implemented in NYC, Syracuse and Rochester. This kind of peer review program can be one measure as part of the tenure determination process.

 

 

Background on Tenure

Tenure does not guarantee a teacher a job for life: New teachers serve a three-year probationary period, during which time school officials have an obligation to carefully evaluate that teacher's job performance. If after three years - some 550 school days and, perhaps, more than 2,500 classes - the local school board votes to grant a teacher tenure, it simply means that the teacher is entitled to a fair hearing before a neutral third party if there are allegations of incompetence or wrongdoing.

 

Due process is a basic American right: The protections of tenure are a basic right enjoyed by all Americans. It includes the presumption of innocence until proven guilty and the right to a fair hearing. Tenure is also not unique to the teaching profession. State and municipal workers - including police officers and firefighters, as well as union members in the private sector - also have due process protections very similar to tenure. And, they earn those protections is less time than teachers.

 

Tenure helps to ensure stability in the classroom: What would happen to teachers without tenure? Teachers could - and would - be fired for virtually any reason or no reason at all. It's not at all hard to imagine teachers being dismissed because they failed the daughter of an influential businessman, or because the school board president's nephew needed a job. What would stop a school board from dismissing a veteran teacher at the top of the pay scale and replacing that teacher with a first-year teacher simply to save money?

 

Tenure helps to protect academic freedom : Tenure protects academic freedom the way the First Amendment protects freedom of the press. It is born out of the basic realization that teachers can engage their students in a free exchange of ideas only if they are protected from arbitrary dismissal for doing so. Without the protections of tenure, teacher could face dismissal for supporting the "wrong" political candidate or for legitimate lessons on controversial subjects in the news.

 

What about the cost and length of tenure proceedings : That argument really doesn't hold water. In September 1994, the Legislature - working with NYSUT and the state School Boards Association - streamlined the tenure law to provide for a fairer, faster process that still protected teachers' due process rights. The reforms have been successful, shortening the length of most cases and encouraging settlements in countless others - before there are full-blown hearings. While some

critics point to lengthy cases that go to full hearings, the real story is how many cases are settled quickly, with little cost to districts, often before charges are even filed.

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