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

Davis School Districts discusses possible cuts...

Davis School District has a $31 Million deficit to fill this year. They will nonrenew many of their newly hired teachers, reassign reading coaches, cut administrative interns, and raise class sizes. Ogden and Weber have both stated that class sizes won't grow this year. If we raise class sizes then we must lose personnel. In Weber, many teachers will be displaced with our student losses to the new Montessori Charter school in North Ogden and the new charter school going into the old Christian Heritage school in Riverdale. We could lose as many as 400 or 500 students. The biggest problem is that we won't know for sure until that first week of school, because parents register their kids in our school and put their names on the charter school lists also. We will have several displaced teachers (all will have jobs) and there will be some that might have to move that first week. That is the worst of all situations.

In Ogden, we have had several involuntary tranfers and we are able to go in with those teachers and make sure the process is correct. If you have questions on any type of transfers, please call.

Rick Palmer 801-390-6365