Alliance wins $150,000 grant to grow student enrollment

On 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.

Update on Head Start issues

Federal regulations do not prohibit home visits during the school day.

At the December Consultation meeting, SAISD administrative representatives presented written federal guidelines which state that home visits "should take place outside the time scheduled for classes in center-based programs." The Alliance followed up with AFT, one of our national affiliates, to seek more information about the implications of these regulations. National AFT staff wrote a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) seeking clarification and recently received the response. In short, the response from the Regional Administrator from the DHHS says that the regulations do not prohibit home visits during the school day.

Specifically the letter states: "Home visits performed by teachers must be conducted when families are available. If families are available during hours when classes are operated, teachers could conduct home visits during those hours.” The letter goes on to stress that the Head Start staff/child ratios must be maintained during the time such home visits are made, for example, by hiring substitutes.

The Alliance is in the process of following up with SAISD administration regarding this new info. Some SAISD Head Start Centers and Sub-Centers had been initially hiring substitutes and/or using creative scheduling to provide teachers with time for the required home visits until they were told this was not an acceptable practice. The clarification from DHHS should pave the way for Centers and Sub-Centers to resume the previous practices that were working. Since the Head Start program is new for SAISD, it will likely take a while to work through kinks and clarifications. The Alliance will continue to work with Head Start staff and the district administration as issues arise.

“Mandatory” training issue resolved.

In mid-January, Head Start teachers received notice of “mandatory training” to be held from 5:00-8:30 p.m. at Region 20 on February 23 and 24 as well as all-day Saturday training on May 15, July 31, and August 21. Alliance staff member Bob Comeaux immediately made several attempts to communicate with SAISD Head Start officials but those attempts were not successful. So, on January 29, the Alliance filed a grievance on behalf of Head Start staff noting that the “mandatory” times for the training violate Board Policy DK (LOCAL), which defines the work day and that some of the “mandatory” dates for training are outside of the teachers’ contract year and would therefore be in violation of the teacher’s contractual rights. That same day, Head Start teachers received notice that the training sessions are not mandatory. Mr. Comeaux also spoke with the City of San Antonio staff member who oversees the Head Start Community Initiatives. She apologized for stating that the training was “mandatory.” She noted that Head Start regulations do mandate 15 hours of training per year but that these specific sessions are not mandated. Again, the Alliance will continue to work with both the City and with SAISD to address Head Start issues.

2008-09 Teacher Salary Schedule

Click here for PDF Copy

Paperwork justification form

A form requesting justification for an information request of a teacher.

Click here for form (PDF)

Updated Information on the Safe Schools Act

A Primer on the Texas Safe Schools Law (Updated July 2007)

(Download Brochure, which includes sample letters and forms, PDF 36K)

About the Colorín Colorado T·ELL·E-GRAM and ColorinColorado.org

Recess Powerpoint March 28, 2005

Recess Powerpoint April 7, 2005