CVEU Newsletter
September 2018 With cohort one well underway and cohort two up and running, it has unfortunately been a rough start here at CAVA, but CVEU members have made great strides in coming together to ensure that their voices, and the voices of their students are heard. Teachers across Elementary and Middle School have sent emails and met with principals and directors to express how the new scheduling policy will have a negative impact on student learning. There has also been an amazing turnout at all the school board meetings this quarter, with multiple teachers voicing their concerns about the unilateral changes made over the summer in regards to teaching schedules, reimbursements and more. Teachers have made it very clear, we want what is best for our students and our voice matters. Because of the actions made by teachers we are making movement with the scheduling. I would like to personally thank all the teachers who took the time and were brave enough to stand up for their students. There is still work to do, but we must celebrate the steps we take in making this a school where teachers and students can be successful. Please read over this newsletter for some exciting news about upcoming bargaining, more frequent member meetings, opportunities to ensure your team is heard and a thank you note from Jose’s family. In Solidarity, Brianna Carroll CVEU President Bargaining CVEU Bargaining Committee is happy to announce that we are sunshining our bargaining for the 2018-19 school year. Sunshine gives teachers a chance to make any comments on the proposed articles to be bargained over this school year. CVEU has proposed to start bargaining in middle or end of October. This year’s bargaining team will include, Alaina Jones (SPED), Kristin McCaffery (MS), Janine Burns (CD) and Brianna Carroll (HS). The bargaining team is also supported by the bargaining committee that includes reps from elementary, ELD, intervention, mentor teacher, high school science labs and more. The Caseload Article from last school year will be revisited this year and the first caseload committee meeting will take place September 17, 2018. The committee will be CVEU’s Krisitn McCaffrey and Brianna Carroll, and CAVA will be represented by Amy Maxwell and Angie Covil. At the meeting we will present the information that we gathered from the various departments and we will propose caseload targets for:
CVEU believes that member feedback is essential to an effective union. In an effort to increase feedback and keep our members informed, CVEU will begin holding member meetings the last Tuesday of the month at 4PM. We hope to see you there. Next Member Meeting September 25th at 4 PM Teaching Schedule April Warren has agreed to meet with committees comprised of two CVEU members and two CAVA teachers in the following grade spans K-2, 3-5, 6-8 and 9-12. CVEU committee members will be nominated by the bargaining committee and E-board, and approved by the rep council. We hope to have members nominated for the various committees by September 18, 2018 and begin committee meetings soon after that. Committees will meet to address how each grade span can create a schedule that best fits the needs of their students and increases success in Math and ELA. Tell the School Board Wow! What a great turn out this month at the school board meetings. Thank you to everyone who shared their concerns with the board members. It’s up to us to make sure they are informed of how the students are being affected by unilateral administrative changes. Board members are in charge of approving or denying policies. We are working hard to obtain contact information for all school board members. Stay tuned for ways you can contact your school board members. CAVA teachers also came and spoke at our sister school IQ board meeting. IQ is facing the same issues as CAVA teachers in implementing the new instructional policy. Teachers from both schools spoke about how the new policies are negatively impacting the students at our schools. Reimbursement Grievances Reimbursement training can be found in Sharepoint>Central Office > Documents under EBER - DataBasics Training. You can also find it here: https://k12inc.sharepoint.com/sites/WR/CMS/Central_Office/Human%20Resources/Shared%20Documents/Expense_Reimbursement/EBER_DataBasics%20Directions.pdf Please make sure you read the policy and submit items for pre-approval if they do not fall under the already approved category. Many teachers have inquired about purchasing an additional monitor. Please submit a K12 tech ticket to request an additional monitor. Administrators have given this advice to teachers and it is CVEU’s hope that K12 will meet the needs of our teachers. Don’t forget to claim your mileage from outings. If you are denied a reimbursement, please email your rep (find your union rep here) the denial and the receipt, and he or she will attend an informal grievance meeting with you and your director/principal. This is the first step in the grievance procedure. Insight Update The Public Employee Relations Board (PERB) validated that Insight Schools have majority support for the union! Insight administration has fifteen days to either recognize the union or contest the decision. On or around Sept 18th, a final decision from PERB legally certifying Insight as part of CVEU should be received. Be a Rep! You get the early scoop on what’s going on and you can be a point of comfort and security for the rest of your team. Reps are only required to attend one meeting per month. Rep meetings are held confidentially through Zoom Meetings and the link is sent to your personal email. Reps are the ones voting for your group on important CVEU decisions. Be sure you are represented fairly! The following are open positions for Reps, please contact [email protected] if you are interested. Positions are filled by RL for general education and by group for specialty teachers. If you see your RL below please email [email protected] and say I can be a rep! Open Rep Positions Shannon Jackson, Connie Wissner, Melissa Truchesess, Jennifer Acevedo, Peterann Kay, Dianne Fernandez, Stephanie Culver, Natalie Ackerman, Raquel Wilkins Track your overages on Caseload Overages will be calculated at the end of each LP to determine if teachers will receive compensation for overages. The following will be used to consider caseload overages:
HS ELA and Math Curriculum Alignment CVEU has recently signed a side letter with CAVA for two high school teachers to meet for one day to work on editing Sumit Math and English to better align with the state standards and meet the needs of our students. We believe this is a positive step that allows teachers to collaborate on important issues with administration. Catastrophic Leave Thank You Jose’s family wanted to send a thank you letter to everyone who helped out by donating to the catastrophic leave bank. Because of your donations this family was able to get through this terrible ordeal without the worry of running out of sick days so they could pay their bills. We truly do have an amazing group of teachers here at CAVA. Thank you for being there for your team in time of need. Cool tips for OLS If a student turns in a blank document to get their overdue notice to "go away,” you can reset by deleting it. Go to Assignments, Click on the assignment they turned in- then check the box next to their name and then hit the 'garbage can' icon on the far right column labeled delete. In doing so you will delete their submission. One thing to note is that until you also give them a "grade" on the assignment it will still show overdue. So as long as you don't publish a grade it should still show as overdue for them until then- so you could also send them feedback to resubmit it and then not give them a grade. The CBA t is posted on Sharepoint under Union Communications. Birthday? Wedding? New baby? If you have any life events that need celebrating, please email Stacey at [email protected]. If you have any questions or comments please email your rep or [email protected] In Solidarity, California Virtual Educators United |