Alliance All-Member Meeting, February 9thAn Alliance All-Member Meeting will be held on Tuesday, Feb. 9 at the Alliance Office, 120 Adams St. We are offering two sessions in order to meet your needs – a 4:30-6:00 p.m. session and a 5:30-7:00 p.m. session. During the overlap time frame of 5:30-6:00, we will have presentations from our state affiliates on how you can save money by using your TSTA/NEA and AFT benefits. Other items on the agenda will be issues round tables and how the work of the State Board of Education impacts you.
Assisting Haiti A massive earthquake striking on January 12, 2010 has reduced Haiti to rubble. San Antonio Alliance would like to encourage you to donate through the American Red Cross or United Way to assist the victims of Haiti’s two earthquakes.
Internal Charter Schools ConferenceOn Friday, February 12 th and Saturday, February 13 th, 2010 the Alliance will be holding the Reinventing schools. Unleashing creativity. Internal Charter Schools Conference that is affiliated with the Grow Our Schools Grant.
Click here for more information: Grow Our Schools Click here for a registration form: Team Member Form
Alliance is now on FacebookWhen you have a moment please look us up on Facebook and become a friend (San Antonio Alliance). We will keep you up to date with any ongoing or upcoming events. School Board Approved the Employee Attendance IncentiveUnder the accumulated leave proposal, all employees with at least ten consecutive years of experience in the district are eligible. Upon separation from the district (retirement or resignation) a payment of $88/day for professional staff and $50/day for hourly employees would go into a 403(b) of the employee's choosing. Under the plan, the incentive is effective immediately.
Update on limitation on refrigerators, microwavesNovember 18, seventy members packed the Alliance House to hear the District’s presentation on the state law on reducing energy consumption. The participants then told their stories of how they utilize electrical appliances to provide refreshments for students they tutor before or after school, to benefit the students in the clubs and organizations they sponsor, to help facilitate department or grade-level meetings, or just to enable them to be more productive and efficient throughout the day by allowing them to spend less time going to and from the cafeteria or staff lounge. They also spoke of curricula requiring freezing or boiling or other observable experiments for their students. They spoke of using refrigerators for their student’s lunches or their own medicines. They explained the downside of the District’s policy to “limit or eliminate” classroom appliances.
Alliance leaders are following up with the district administrators to hopefully reach an agreement that would allow employees to retain their appliances. Read more details here. Alliance wins $150,000 grant to grow student enrollmentOn October 8, the AFT, one of the Alliance’s national affiliates, announced that the San Antonio Alliance was one of eight local unions in the country to win an AFT Innovation Fund Grant. The AFT Innovation Fund is a union-led, private foundation-supported effort to provide grants to AFT locals to develop bold education innovations. Using the in-district charter design/development process as the vehicle, the Alliance’s proposal looks at the challenge of declining student enrollment as an opportunity to think differently about how to engage school staff, parents, and community to improve student learning and increase enrollment. Read more details here.
Board approves further development of plan to restructure SAISD School closures not yet finalizedOn Monday, October 26, the SAISD school board voted to allow the administration to move ahead with developing the details of a work plan to restructure the school district. While the plan that was presented to the school board includes closing thirteen schools, the Board's vote giving the administration authorization to move forward with a detailed plan did not include finalizing which schools would be closed. That vote will not occur until January 19 when the administration brings back the detailed plan for approval. That plan is supposed to include, among other things, a timeline, transportation impact, academic programs, attendance boundaries, estimate of cost savings, and taking into account plans of other entities that may impact on the student enrollment (city, county, VIA, housing authority, BRAC, hospital district, etc.) The schools currently on the closure list are: Austin, Ball, Brewer, Green, Huppertz, Neal, Nelson, Smith, Steele, Stewart, Storm, Washington, and WW White. Each Board member had a chance to give comments and input regarding the plan that was presented Monday and in many cases they named specific schools on the list that they think should not be closed and gave other alternatives to closing those schools. Alliance President Shelley Potter addressed the Board about using the concept of "community schools or community learning centers" as a way to possibly realize "the academic benefit of small schools, additional support for our students, and more engagement with the community." She said, "If we have underutilized space in some of our schools, rather than board that school up or sell it off, we could keep the school there and partner with other governmental entities, colleges and universities, community-based organizations, or other public or private partners to use space available in the school building to meet community needs." Read Potter's complete remarks here.
SAISD dress codeThe school board policy on employee dress has not changed. What has changed is that a section of policy that had not been utilized much heretofore (bolded below) is now being utilized and encouraged by the central administration. Board Policy DH(Local) states: The dress and grooming of District employees shall be clean, neat, in a manner appropriate for their assignments, and in accordance with any additional standards established by their supervisors and approved by the Superintendent. At the November Consultation meeting, the issue will be discussed. The Alliance is working for a process that will ensure involvement of the campus or worksite staff in the determination of any additional standards. The Alliance filed a dress code grievance at one campus and has put the grievance in abeyance pending discussions at Consultation to try to reach an agreement.
Head Start presentationsHats off to Head Start teachers and Alliance members Veronica Schmittou (Carvajal) and Pat Johnson (Knox) for their excellent presentations to the SAISD school board Monday night! In the limited three minutes each, these ladies hit on many of the issues that are concerning Head Start teachers, including lack of materials, supplies, equipment, services, facilities (restrooms), technology, library books, and adequate manpower. They also raised issues about communication, the constant changes in schedule, home style meals, and the curriculum.
Bilingual issuesAlliance Executive Vice President Gracie Oviedo has been working on a variety of issues with bilingual teachers who expressed interest in the Alliance Bilingual Task Force. The major issues that have surfaced so far are:
Follow Alliance President on TwitterWant another way to keep up with what's happening in SAISD? Follow Alliance president Shelley Potter on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ShelleyPotter. Shelley promises to only post SAISD and Alliance-related info . . . no postings telling when she's going to the grocery store or exercising or going to a movie, etc.!
School board approves health insurance ratesOn Monday night, the SAISD school board approved new health insurance rates. The district contribution will increase from $315 per employee per month to $346 per employee per month. This brings the district’s annual contribution per employee from $3780 to $4152. The premium increase is 10%. The district will pick up the full increase for all tiers on the Coverage 1 st 2000 plan: employee only, employee/children, employee/spouse, and employee/family. The district’s total contribution to employee health insurance is just over $30 million annually. Read more here.
H1N1 resources available from Alliance affiliatesAlthough H1N1 cases in the United States have diminished, experts agree that they will increase just in time for the regular influenza season this fall. H1N1 will be the predominant flu strain, but other seasonal flu varieties will be in circulation as well. The CDC is predicting that as many as 50 percent of Americans will be infected with H1N1 and as many as 1.8 million persons may need hospitalization. Schools are at the center of the looming flu crisis. Teachers and staff need to protect themselves, and the students and children they serve http://aft.org/topics/h1n1/education.htm and you can find a Q&A plus tips for talking with children about the flu here: http://www.nea.org/home/31835.htm
2009-10 School Day SchedulesThe elementary school day for 2009-10 is 8:10 a.m.-3:10 p.m. Middle school is 8:45 a.m.-3:45 p.m., and high school is 8:45 a.m.-4:15 p.m. Head Start students arrive at their home campuses around 6:30 a.m. with the bus leaving at 6:45 for the Head Start Center.
2009-10 Salary ScheduleClick here for Teacher Salary Schedule
Alliance speaks out on Facilities ReportAt the Board work session on Saturday, May 16 on the SAISD Facilities Committee Report, Alliance president Shelley Potter addressed the Board recommending that any comprehensive plan include:
For Potter's complete remarks, click here. Board Presentation on Student Discipline SAISD 2009-10 Instructional CalendarPaperwork justification formA form requesting justification for an information request of a teacher. Click here for form (PDF)
Updated Information on the Safe Schools ActA Primer on the Texas Safe Schools Law (Updated July 2007) (Download Brochure, which includes sample letters and forms, PDF 36K)Who is my State Rep. and Senator?Click here to find your legislator
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