Welcome to VEA- Vallejo Education Association

VEA Bargaining Update... May 2012

Furlough/ Pay Cut Days

• We will take ONE furlough/ pay cut day during the 2011-2012 school year.
  • It will be Friday, May 18, 2012
• We are prepared to take FIVE furlough/ pay cut days during the 2012-2013 school year, but all of them may not be needed.
  • The first two, which look LIKELY, will be November 1st and 2nd, 2012, right before Election Day, in order for us to organize and encourage voters to fund education.
  • Depending on election outcomes, THREE MORE furlough days may be needed later in the year... a possibility of 5 total. Those conditional dates are:
    February 19, May 23, and June 12, 2013.

Pay Cut Process- anticipated pay cuts will be implemented in the following manner:

• 5 days taken over 10 months, then if all days are not needed, the pay would be restored over the remaining months of the school year.
  • PAY WILL BE RESTORED IF:
    • The August budget shows funds available for education
    • The November Tax initiative passes
    • The January budget shows funds available for education

PLEASE REMEMBER: The number of furlough days implemented is based on a FORMULA that considers ONLY STATE REVENUE LOST ... NOT DISTRICT SPENDING.

*Child Development and Adult School are not affected by furlough days

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Contact your VEA site rep., your VEA Bargaining Team Contact, or visit myvea.org

Bargaining Team Contacts

Sheila Gradwohl (s.gradwohl@sbcglobal.net)

Bargaining Chair

Carol Bishop (cairolouise@comcast.net)

Vallejo High School
Franklin Middle School

Cynthia Davis (cyn1066@sbcglobal.net)

Hogan Middle School

Leanne Duden (leanne.duden@gmail.com)

Dan Mini

Diane Klinge (klinge149@aol.com)

Glen Cove
Patterson
Peoples High School
Widenmann
Beverly Hills
Lincoln

Janny Latno jannylatno@sbcglobal.net)

Vallejo Charter
Federal Terrace
Highland
Loma Vista
Solano Middle School
Wardlaw

Marnee' McKenzie (eenram@aol.com)

Cave
Cooper
Pennycook
Steffan Manor
Jesse Bethel
Mare Island

Local NEA Delegate Funded Position - election results

Here are the election results for the FIVE positions for the NEA-RA:

*Indicates the top five who will go to the NEA-RA.
**VEA has two members in the Redwood Service Center Council - State Delegate election. If these two members win their spots for the State Delegate position, it may open up two spots for the our Local Delegate spots. Those results will be made available after March 28th.

Thank you to all who voted and Congrats to those who won spots!

Bargaining Update - March 6, 2012

On Thursday, March 1st, the VEA Bargaining Team met with the district. At that meeting, the district reviewed the additional cuts by the state. Unfortunately the additional cuts trigger 1 furlough day. It will be Friday, May 18th. Here is what happened.

January 2012

The state cut $13 per student in the Base Revenue Limit (BRL) and $28 per student for transportation for a total of $41. This was below our cut point of $50, so no furlough day was needed.

March 2012

Due to concerns of rural districts the state reversed its decision to cut transportation but increased the cuts per student in the BRL to $55. So the cut point now is $55, which is in the second tier requiring one pay-cut day for the 2011-12 school year.

VEA does not anticipate any other furlough days for this year and we are working with the district to determine when this money will be taken from our paychecks. VEA is asking that this money is spread over three paychecks (April, May and June) in order to minimize the impact as much as possible.

2012-13 School Year

Your Bargaining Team continues to discuss with the district any potential pay-cut days for the 2012-13 school year. Due to the uncertainty of the state budget and the possibility that the tax initiatives may fail, ALL unit members are strongly encouraged to start planning for potential pay-cut days in the 2012-13 school year.

View more videos at: http://nbcbayarea.com.

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2012 VEA Officer Election Timeline - February 28, 2012

2012 Election Timeline

Early Notification Retirement Incentive - February 16, 2012

Tomorrow, VCUSD is holding a special board meeting in regards to a early notification retirement incentive. VEA members who intend on retiring need to notify the District between February 18th through February 24th in order to receive a one-time payment of $1000. Additionally, in the VEA/VCUSD contract under 6.9.3.3, the limitation on benefits to age 67 is waived for unit members who notify the District by March 1, 2012 of their intent to retire by June 30, 2012. This allows unit members who are 65 or older to obtain health benefits for themselves for five years through the District. This portion of the contract EXPIRES at the end of this school year.

The District hopes to minimize the number of RIF notices that need to be sent by March 15th, so they need to know as soon as possible who is planning on retiring by the end of this school year.

Unit members should not expect a "better" incentive to come along. Sheila Gradwohl and I discussed the STRS plan with the Superintendent and there was no interest expressed at this time in offering this plan. VEA will continue to discuss other options for those nearing retirement, but need to remind unit members that the District needs to make fiscally sound decisions, especially in light of the potential reduction in the base revenue limit of $370 in the 2012-13 school year.

Finally, on March 14th, the CTA office in Cordelia is hosting a Retirement Seminar from 4 to 6. Please contact the CTA office at 864-0305 to RSVP. (Dinner will be served.)

• Copy of Early Notification MOU
• Copy of Retirement Seminar Flyer

School Site Safety Survey - February 15, 2012

Please take a few minutes to complete the school site safety survey. This results of the survey will be shared with the District and our school board members. If you have additional concerns that you believe were not addressed in the survey, please send an e-mail to Christal Watts, VEA President at vjoedassn@comcast.net.

If you complete the online survey, you do not need to complete the paper survey at your school site. Only complete ONE survey. The deadline to complete the survey is Thursday, March 1st. Hard copies may be returned to your VEA Site Representative or through District Mail to Christal Watts, VEA President.

A Cautionary Tale: QEIA Waiver Denial - January 12, 2012

On Wednesday, January 11, 2012, the California State Board of Education (CSBE) denied the waiver that the Vallejo City Unified School District had requested in regards to QEIA funding. Most of us who went to Sacramento to testify knew going in that it was a long shot. None of us believed that it would be decided as quickly as it was by the CSBE with only one Board member stating her reasons as to why she had to vote no on the waiver.

It needs to be at the outset that Superintendent Dr. Ramona Bishop provided the CSBE with a well-defined plan in order to right the ship. I strongly commend her for her tough message to the CSBE and for her willingness to take responsibility for this situation – a situation that was not created by her.

In meetings that I had with her regarding our presentation to CSBE, she expressed a willingness to work with VEA if the waiver was denied for Vallejo High School and Cooper Elementary. It was also stated to me that it is anticipated that lay-offs for this year may be minimal due to attrition. VEA will continue to push for being part of the lay-off process as well as ensuring that the contract is followed for teachers impacted by any involuntary transfers.

That being said, this denial serves as a reminder to the District the crucial piece that had been missing during previous administrations.

First, last year the California Teachers Association (CTA) issued a report, “Lessons From the Classroom: Initial Success for At-Risk Students” (http://www.cta.org/About-CTA/News-Room/Press-Releases/2010/11/~/media/9A616C989C7E46C1827D1C344C9CCAFE.ashx). One of the essential components for those schools that were most successful was the willingness of district administration to work with teachers and their unions in order to engage in essential and meaningful collaboration. This meant that most of the decisions made were site based driven and not driven from the top.

As many of you know, there has long permeated in this district an unwillingness to engage in meaningful collaboration and an outright refusal to work with the union in order to make working and learning conditions better for our students and teachers.

Second, one of the arguments that the District made in order to try to secure the waiver for QEIA funding was the lack of stability at school sites. It was argued that this instability had a severe impact on their ability to meet the API goals for QEIA. While VEA recognizes that none of us could have imagined the severe economic impact of this recession, let it be said that were a couple of options that the HR Department could have chosen in order to mitigate the instability.

For instance, VCUSD could have used the language in Ed. Code that allows for “skipping” any unit member that had received specialized training and/or is providing specialized services. This is the language that districts across the state of California use in order to “skip” special education teachers and more significantly, it is the language they used to “skip” our colleagues who teach at Vallejo Charter School. While VEA recognizes that this option is controversial, it is still an option available to the District through Ed. Code.

When the District chose to ignore this route, they also made the unfortunate decision to not work with VEA when it came time to bring people back from the rehire list. Instead, the HR Department made the decision that when people were brought back, they would be placed wherever they had an opening for them. Some of our teachers who had only taught primary, now suddenly found themselves teaching at the middle school and conversely some of those who had only taught middle school, now found themselves teaching elementary. No one, except for VEA, thought it was prudent to ask teachers what they wanted.

At Cooper, this meant a significant change in their staff at the start of the 2009 school year, where they saw 9 brand new teachers out of a staff of 28.

When I spoke to the CSBE on Wednesday, I expressed that I was cautiously optimistic. VEA has often fought for maintaining stability at our school sites when possible. This is because we believe that through stability, long-standing, trusting relationships are developed and built upon. This stability transmits to our students, which ultimately leads to our students performing at the very best of their abilities.

If we are all truly here for the kids, then it is of absolute importance that we work together.

Update on Tentative Agreement

VEA has reached a tentative agreement with the District. Based on the budget trigger on December 15th, VEA members will not take any pay-cut days for the 2011-12 school year. Based on any potential reductions in the revenue limit, members may take up to five days for the 2012-13 school year. Please keep in mind that there are several tiers which VEA will use for each potential pay-cut day. In order for five days to be implemented, the District would have to see a reduction of up to $299 per student in the revenue limit. Any pay-cuts days would be worked on collaboratively between VEA and the District.

VEA is implementing the following timeline leading up to ratification of the tentative agreement:

• January 9 through January 20th - VEA Bargaining Team to visit school sites to discuss agreement/answer questions.
• January 25th and January 26th - Ratification Vote, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Location TBD.

School Site Safety:
A concern for students, teachers and staff

On Thursday, November 3rd, the teachers at Steffan Manor took a courageous step. After a student brought a hammer to school and threatened the teacher with it, the student was suspended for three days. The student was supposed to return to the same classroom where the assault occurred. The teachers decided together that parents at this school site needed to be aware that the safety of their students could be endangered unless the district took action. They urged parents at this school to contact Superintendent Ramona Bishop.

Instead of engaging in conversation with the teachers at Steffan Manor, the district has decided to scapegoat them. First, it appears that someone contacted a well-known community activist who stated that the teachers violated this student’s civil rights. Second, Superintendent Bishop was only willing to meet with the teacher directly involved in this incident. No conversation with the other teachers at the school site regarding school site safety has occurred. Third, at the November 16th VCUSD School Board, Dr. LaTonya Derbigny presented information on the suspension and expulsion rates for the district. At this meeting, teachers were scapegoated once again. School board members made outrageous claims that teachers were writing referrals “for their convenience” or “because they were in a bad mood.” Adding insult to injury, Dr. Derbigny turned to the reporter for the Vallejo Times Herald and demanded that he put in the paper that “teachers are lying when they say the district is not suspending or expelling students.”

VEA is hosting a forum “School Site Safety: Silent No More.” We can no longer stand on the sidelines while the district and school board members vilify our colleagues in a public forum. We are urging ALL VEA members to attend this event in order to develop a plan of action on school site safety.

In order for this district to “attract and retain quality educators” (a district goal), they need to start by listening to us about our concerns regarding the safety of our campuses. Our students deserve campuses that are safe and free from threats of violence in order to ensure their civil rights to a quality education.

School Site Safety Forum “Silent No More”
Hogan Middle School Theater
4:00 to 6:00 p.m.
December 8th, 2011

An injury to one is an injury to all!

VEA’s Bargaining Update - November 7, 2011

Your Bargaining Team met with the district at the CTA Office in Cordelia on October 18, 2011. During this session, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was finalized in which Special Education teachers in need of added authorizations will receive some financial support from the district. The district has agreed to pay a maximum of $1500 per added authorization per unit member. A copy of the MOU will be in the next VEA Voice as well as on myvea.org.

During our session, financial data from the State of California was reviewed with the district. Your Bargaining Team is continuing to look at all available funding, discretionary funding and programs. In the event there are mid-year cuts from the State of California, there is the possibility that VEA will be asked to take pay cut days. If this happens, your Bargaining Team is actively looking at ways the District can take things off your plate. The Bargaining Team and the District will be meeting again on November 10, 2011 to continue negotiations.

Show your support for YOUR Bargaining Team!
Blue shirts should be worn on Thursdays – this is VEA’s day.