Fort Bend Independent School District bus drivers won a long-fought battle with the school district at last night’s board meeting, when trustees voted 5-2 in favor of giving the drivers and monitors paid sick leave.
Board President Sonal Bhuchar and Trustee Laurie Caldwell voted against change.
Bus drivers and monitors have historically received only five days of personal leave, while other district employees earn up to five days of paid sick leave as well.
Bus drivers have spoken at board meeting, expressing frustration at the situation with many saying they felt the district does not value them as employees.
In August, the board adopted revisions to Board Policy that did not include sick leave for the bus drivers and monitors. At the request of board members Daniel Menendez and Susan Hohnbaum, the issue was brought before the board again in September.
Anthony Lacsamana, field organizer for the Fort Bend Employee Federation, spoke at Monday night’s meeting before the board voted on the issue. He said the change would “demonstrate a good faith effort of the district to right a past wrong.”
“It is clear that some members of the board have made a decision on the side of fairness,” said Lacsamana. He said the change was a fiscally responsible one, and that “for far too long the district has made considerable investment into new drivers only to lose them.”
Read the entire article HERE.
Oct 13, 2010
Oct 7, 2010
Court Says Teachers Still in Training Aren’t “Highly Qualified” Under Federal Law
Fort Bend ISD has transferred and let go of teachers based on whether or not they were highly qualified. This recent report from the AFT directly relates to some of FBISD's recent employee changes.
Court Says Teachers Still in Training Aren’t “Highly Qualified” Under Federal Law
Last week a federal appeals court in California held that alternative-route teachers still in training are not “highly qualified” under the federal education law, the No Child Left Behind Act. The U.S. Department of Education has interpreted the “highly qualified” requirement to allow individuals who “demonstrate satisfactory progress” toward certification to be deemed the equivalent of a teacher who “has obtained” full certification. The court said, “The difference between having obtained something and merely making satisfactory progress toward that thing is patent.” Accordingly, the court threw out the Education Department’s regulation for impermissibly expanding the definition of “highly qualified teacher.”
The two-to-one decision by the three-judge panel dealt specifically with “intern” teachers in California public schools, but its implications are national in scope, calling into question the truthful labeling of many teachers in training by alternative routes such as the Teach for America program. Plaintiffs in the California case said “research shows that graduates from alternative programs such as Teach For America and Troops To Teachers can be as effective as traditional-route graduates, but that participants in those and other programs who are still in training do not improve student achievement as much as fully prepared teachers who have completed their teacher training.”
Oct 2, 2010
Jenney to Teachers: Lay Off the Absences or Get Laid Off
In a letter sent on September 30, 2010, Dr. Jenney made a very clear connection between employee absences, the loss of dollars, and recent lay offs in the district.
Teachers are allotted a certain number of days for sick leave from the state and the district every year. Absences that are not used can be accumulated throughout subsequent years. Teachers have a right to take days off when they are sick. Being around hundreds if not thousands of students a day tends to challenge a person's immune system.
Now, as if there wasn't enough pressure, job insecurity and job dissatisfaction because of forced transfers, FBISD is being told not to take absences or risk getting laid off. The disclaimer at the bottom does NOT make up for the clear message that this letter sends.
Fair enough, Dr. Jenney. It is the duty of all teachers to be on time and show up to class for the sake of everyone involved. But teacher effectiveness is also a key factor in the success of classrooms and on exams. Teachers cannot be effective when they are given reprimands for taking state given sick days. They cannot be effective when they constantly have their planning periods jolted out of their schedules or when they have no duty-free lunch periods. They cannot be effective when their salaries get cut or they are in constant fear of losing their jobs. And a school is never effective when morale is low. In fact, low morale is down right detrimental to everything the district is trying to achieve.
Teachers may not have much in the way of collective bargaining rights in Texas, but the consequences of not working with teachers, listening to their needs or making compromises will directly effect the quality of education in all districts across Texas.
Resources:
2008 Liberty University Study, "The relationship of Principal leadership and Teacher Morale".
2002 Sam Houston State University Study "The Effects of Teacher Morale on Teacher Turnover Rates"
Teachers are allotted a certain number of days for sick leave from the state and the district every year. Absences that are not used can be accumulated throughout subsequent years. Teachers have a right to take days off when they are sick. Being around hundreds if not thousands of students a day tends to challenge a person's immune system.
Now, as if there wasn't enough pressure, job insecurity and job dissatisfaction because of forced transfers, FBISD is being told not to take absences or risk getting laid off. The disclaimer at the bottom does NOT make up for the clear message that this letter sends.
"...I want to remind everyone that equally important to having new and effective tools to help us improve our work—is being at work. In recent years, the district has collected data on employee absenteeism to help us identify trends, and hopefully ways to improve attendance, especially teacher attendance. While good attendance is important in all work groups, it is most critical for our teachers since they, of course, have the most direct impact on students and learning...
In addition to a loss of quality instruction, teacher absenteeism and the use of substitutes take away valuable dollars that could be spent in the classroom. For example, teacher absences cost FBISD approximately $4.3 million this past school year in substitutes, which equates to approximately 40 teaching positions or 80 paraprofessional positions. Our absenteeism rate has been above the national average and seems to be following that trend again this year. Last Friday, September 24, in just that one day, we spent $20,400 on substitute teachers. The following chart demonstrates the progressive activity of teacher absences and district expenses on teacher substitutes thus far this school year."
Fair enough, Dr. Jenney. It is the duty of all teachers to be on time and show up to class for the sake of everyone involved. But teacher effectiveness is also a key factor in the success of classrooms and on exams. Teachers cannot be effective when they are given reprimands for taking state given sick days. They cannot be effective when they constantly have their planning periods jolted out of their schedules or when they have no duty-free lunch periods. They cannot be effective when their salaries get cut or they are in constant fear of losing their jobs. And a school is never effective when morale is low. In fact, low morale is down right detrimental to everything the district is trying to achieve.
Teachers may not have much in the way of collective bargaining rights in Texas, but the consequences of not working with teachers, listening to their needs or making compromises will directly effect the quality of education in all districts across Texas.
Resources:
2008 Liberty University Study, "The relationship of Principal leadership and Teacher Morale".
2002 Sam Houston State University Study "The Effects of Teacher Morale on Teacher Turnover Rates"
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)