Member Update 11/11/2010

Hello Team GTA
This is Tami Carlson, your GTA President calling with good news. We received the arbitrator's decision on the Evaluation / PPG Grievance
that was filed over a year ago. After a long, protracted, and expensive struggle, I am pleased to inform you that the arbitrator has found on our behalf.
In short, we won!
The arbitrator has made it clear that the district's unilateral change in our evaluation procedures is contrary to our contract.
Changes to our evaluation procedures must be bargained. As a result, you should not fill out any pre-observation form, post-observation form,
reflection on teaching and learning form, or include any measurable outcomes, baseline data, or any other type of student measurement data
in any of your PPG's.
PPG stands for "Plan for Professional Growth." As such, each teacher should focus on what he or she believes will enhance their effectiveness
as an educator not on student outcomes. The PPG is a very personal document that you should reflect upon and write for your own professional
development as an educator. Please do not use student outcomes in your PPG or fill out any forms other than those included in the contract.
Our contract is available on line at www.glendaleteachers.org. Your site representative also has a copy of our contract.

Have a great afternoon and stay united! As a unit, we can and will prevail.

--
Tami Carlson
President - GTA
www.glendaleteachers.org

Making Changes to Education at the National Level

The National Education Association (NEA) is our national teachers union. Every year there is a Representative Assembly (RA) where close to 10,000 teachers attend. At this meeting, Robert’s Rules of Order are followed as delegates create policy and framework for our NEA.

This year the Glendale Teachers Association, Allen Freemon was successful in moving a Legislative Amendment that will require NEA to lobby congress to add “language in the reauthorization of Elementary-Secondary Education Act (ESEA-also referred to as No Child Left Behind) addressing the need for ‘highly qualified’ teachers.”

It was the belief of your Glendale Representatives that classroom teaching experience is the most important experience that anyone can have in drafting and implementing policy and programs. Too many administrators are implementing policies without having enough current classroom experience in teaching today’s students or state standards.

ESEA requires that all teachers be “highly qualified” to be trusted with the responsibility of educating our country’s youth. Yet, ESEA has no requirement for “highly qualified” administrators. This inconsistency is nonsensical and needs to change. We believe it would be good for our schools to have all administrators return to the classroom to teach full time on a periodic basis.

Our position was brought up for debate in front of nearly 10,000 NEA delegates from all over the country. Our position passed. Hopefully, we will see some changes move ahead as our NEA lobbyists try to make improvements to the ESEA, with one of them being having standards for “highly qualified” administrators.

A big thank you to the eight delegates who attended the NEA RA in San Diego the first week of July: Tami Carlson, Steve Field, Allen Freemon, Phyllis Miller, Jana Wells, Bud Yoho, Pat Vakian and Sarkis Poladian.

Back to top