Ogden School Board meets in special work session

The Ogden School Board met in an early morning work session today to discuss the tentative budget and discuss possible cuts needed because of reduced funding from the state legislature. They met afterward in a closed session to discuss negotiations.

OEA's negotiation team will be scheduling our next session with the district.

Weber's Business Administrator, Robert Peterson, was interviewed in the Standare-Examiner today on cuts that the district is proprosing. It is too bad that he didn't mention that negotiations were still going and that nothing has been agreed upon.

Rick

National Emergency funding could save Utah teaching jobs

Amy Stewart wrote in today's Deseret News (http://www.deseretnews.com/): "Some Utah teachers' jobs may be saved if emergency federal funding being pushed by the Obama administration is approved by Congress to be distributed nationally. The $23 billion would support the jobs of approximately 300,000 educators nationally."

Rick

Negotiations Update

OEA's negotiation team met with the district Monday and discussed contract language. The district's team did not discuss financial proposals because the school board is meeting Friday morning to discuss the budget. The insurance committee met last night and is working on recommendations for this year's package.

WEA's team will meet again with the district June 23rd.

Davis plans to cut 2 school days from their calendar next year saving the district approx. $2.97 million in salaries.

Canyons is planning on cutting 5 instructional days. Nebo district has agreed to cut 3 instructional days.

These furlough days are for all employees.

Rick

School Board Procedures Need Work

The Deseret News editorialized the need for a different method of nominating State School Board Members. The committee (appointed by the Governor) selects not less than three candidates from the applicants. Again, this year an incumbent was thrown out of the race (remember we lost Dr. Sadler last time around). The process is unfair (even the governor agrees some changes need to be made). It is quite evident that pro-charter school and pro-choice advocates dominate the committees. Hopefully our legislature will be pressured to change the process.

Rick

Interest Based Bargaining Training @ NEA

Doug Stephens, OEA President, Rich Moore, Ogden Elementary Director and Rick Palmer, UniServ Director traveled to Washington, D.C. last week for an NEA Interest Based Bargaining session presented by a team from M.I.T.. It was valuable for us to be trained as a team (we were missing our school board person because of a death in the family). We learned that we can look at bargaining and resolving other disputes through an honest sharing of interests and brainstorming options. We look forward to using this more in Ogden District.

Rick

Gaye Pesout

We are sorry to announce the passing of our friend, colleague, and teacher, Gaye Pesout. Gaye served as a leader in the Weber Education Association and the Ogden/Weber UniServ for many years and taught for over 40 years, mostly at Hooper and Kanesville Elementary Schools. We offer our thoughts and prayers to her husband and siblings. A graveside service will be held at 2 p.m., Saturday, May 22 at Leavitt's Aultorest Memorial Park, 836 36th St., Ogden, Utah. Friends and family may call from 6 to 8 p.m. on Friday, May 21, and one hour prior to the service at the morturary.

Rick

Legislature looks to fund $100 million shortfall

Tax revenues continue to come in low, so the legislature will have to fund $100 million to balance the budget. That means that next fiscal year starts $100 million low. They meet in their first interim Wednesday.

Rick

USA Today: Pink Slips on the way to teachers

Greg Toppo wrote in USA Today last week: " Facing a recession and the coming end of billions of dollars in federal stimulus funding , school districts nationwide are handing teachers pink slips for the upcoming school year. The Obama administration estimates that as many as 300,000 teachers could lose their jobs unless Congress steps in with emergency money."

Rick

Nebo School District Cuts Calendar by 3 Days

The Daily Herald reported Thursday that the Nebo School District had voted to cut three days from the school calendar this fall. The furlough (all 3,700 employees take a three day cut in pay) will save the district $1,350,000. The State Office of Education has allowed districts to cut up to 5 days this year because of the budget shortfalls. Neither Ogden nor Weber Districts have discussed cutting days to help fund the budget.

Rick

NEA Priority Schools Webcast

Doug Stephens (OEA President) and I participated in a Webinar from NEA yesterday dealing with strategies for associations that are facing School Improvement Grants. Ogden District is applying for three of these grants that go to low performing schools. There are four options for these grants: 1- Close and send students to other high performing schools. 2- Replace the principal and half of the staff 3-Reopen as a charter school 4- Transformation (replace the principal and change the school performance) This fourth option was one created because of the appeals of the NEA and the AFT. Doug and I will be traveling to NEA in Washington, D.C. with Brad Smith (Ogden School Board member) and Rich Moore (Ogden Elementary Director) to be trained in Interest Based Bargaining to help us collaborate in the execution of these school improvement grants.

Rick

Jordan School Board Makes Cuts

Amy Stewart wrote in the Deseret News (www.deseretnews.com) today that the Jordan School Board is proposing cuts that would eliminate 190 jobs...including 23 administrative, 54 classified and 16 non-classroom teachers (reading coaches). They are also proposing moving away from year-around schedules at some schools. Jordan is facing a $30 million deficit. In comparison Weber is looking at filling about a $6.9 million dollar funding shortfall, and Ogden is trying to fill a $2.3 million deficit.

Rick

Sec. Arne Duncan promotes "parent engagement"

"Schools can vie for "engagement money. Continuing a trend it began last winter by handing out a portion of federal stimulus funding in a national competition, the Obama administration said Monday that it would double funding for parental involvement in schools but make local groups, school districts and other organizations compete for the money. Speaking to parent advocates at Georgetown University, Education Secretary Arne Duncan said the administration would give schools $270 million for "parent engagement" but would require schools and other groups to vie for their share of the funding." USA Today-Greg Toppo

NY Times Editorial: Saving the Teachers

The NY Times Editorial from last week said, "Last year's $100 billion education stimulus plan insulated the public schools from the worst of the recession and saved an estimated 300,000 jobs. With the economy still lagging and states forced to slash their budgets, Congress must act again to prevent a wave of teacher layoffs that could damage the fragile recovery and hobble the school reform effort for years to come".

Another stimulus bill, introduced in March, contains a $23 Billion school rescue plan. School districts are prepared to cut as many as 275,000 jobs in the next school budget. That loss of paychecks and consumer spending could kill off any recovery in the communities where the teachers and other school employees work. We need that bill to pass.

Rick

No Teacher Layoffs Expected for Granite-Deseret News

Amy Stewart wrote in the Deseret News that "Granite School District is forecasting no teacher layoffs as the school board plans to vote on the district's 2010-11 school year budget recommendations..."

The district has to cut $17 million from its budget. The district does plan to cut 30.5 full-time, non-teaching positions, such as custodians, security officers and information systems employees. The board is hoping to recoup $2.5 million by opting for a voted leeway for transportation needs.

Rick

Weber School Board Announces Admin Changes

Last night at the Weber School Board Meeting the Weber Teacher of the Year was announced, Sheri Heiter, Math Teacher at Weber High. Linda Carver gave her a glowing introduction pointing out the many people and students she has affected over the years. Congratulations.

Admin changes for Weber District were also announced:
Dale Pfister replaced the retiring Mary Johnston as Secondary Supervisor
Gina Butters- Roy High Principal
Jay Anderson- North Ogden Jr. Principal
Kevin Chase- Lomond View Principal
Mike Geilmann- West Weber Principal
Melissa Copeland Country View Principal
Linda Smith- North Park Principal
Steve Short- Roy High Asst. Principal
Rod Belnap- North Ogden Asst. Principal
Scott Elliott- Wahlquist Asst. Principal
Nick Harris- Roy Jr. Admin Intern
Chris Earnest- Sandridge Admin Intern
Michele Parry- Fremont Admin Intern
Larry Hadley- Weber Admin Intern
Matt Patterson- Bonneville Admin Intern
Krista Bernsten- Elementary Admin Intern

Rick

Utah Teacher Gets Major Ed Award-Deseret News

"Second graders at Dilworth Elementary School listen as teacher Sharon Gallagher-Fishbuagh reads them a story about a young boy who loves to explore his grandma's button box. Gallagher-Fishbaugh then proceeds to pass around an enormous jar of her own buttons of all shapes, sizes and materials. The students learn math skills as they count and sort their buttons. Sharon-Gallagher-Fishbaugh then encourages the children to imagine where the buttons might have come from and who wore them. It's that type of nurturing, student-centered teaching method that recently earned Gallagher-Fishbaugh the top honor at the Academy Awards for public educators-the National Education Association Foundation's Salute to Excellence in Education Gala." Deseret News

Sharon won $25,000 for the NEA Member Benefits Award for Teaching Excellence and is also running unopposed for UEA President.

Rick

UEA Elections End this Week...Please vote

UEA General Elections end Friday, so please vote. We received word that only 11% of UEA members across the state had voted. If you have not received your voting card or have lost it, please call UEA at 1-800-594-8996 and get your code and password.

Both VP candidates have spoken or sang to our OEA building reps. Sharon (running opposed for president) just was awarded a prestigious NEA Members Benefits award in Washington, D.C. ($25,000).

Please vote this week if you haven't voted.

Rick

OEA and WEA Executive Board Meet

Most members of the WEA and OEA Executive Boards took time out of their weekend schedules to meet Friday and Saturday for their annual training and planning meetings. We were lucky to hear from Lynette Grow, veteran UEA/NEA/WEA leader who spoke to the group about "Connecting the Dots" of the different organizations we represent. Saturday, Marlene Irons, led us through a training on personality and leadership profiles. We learned a lot about our own styles and how we can work better as a team to accomplish the association's goals. The locals then split up into planning groups to look at planning for our new membership year.

Rick