Pressured Teachers Tampering with Tests

Trip Gabriel wrote for the New York Times News Service: "The staff of Normandy Crossing Elementary school outside Houston eagerly awaited the results of state achievement tests this spring. For the principal and assistant principal, high scores could buoy their careers at a time when success is increasingly measured by such tests. For fifth-grade math and science teachers, the rewards were more tangible: a bonus of $2,850. But when the results came back, some seemed too good to be true. Indeed, after an investigation by the Galena Park Independent School District, the principal, assistant principal and three teachers resigned May 21 in a scandal over test tampering."

rick

UEA Summer Leadership Training

Several WEA and OEA leaders attended the annual UEA Summer Leadership at the Zermatt Resort in Midway, Utah, June 14th and 15th.
Marlene Irons (WEA President), Paul Fawson (WEA Executive Board and Ogden/Weber UniServ Vice-President), and Mary Margaret Lyon (WEA Executive Board) attended several sessions on leadership, bargaining, and political action. Also attending were OEA Vice-president Lisa Vipperman and Letitia Teneau-Sword (OEA Executive Board). They also heard from Dennis Van Roekel (NEA President) and outgoing UEA President Kim Campbell.

Rick

Four Educators from Ogden/Weber attend "Ignite" Leadership Training

UEA sponsored an emerging leaders training at the Zermatt Resort in Midway, Utah Monday and Tuesday. Attending from OEA was Sara Byrd (Highland Jr.). Attending from WEA were Allison Pfister (Lakeview Elem), Mary Oregon (Washington Terrace Elem) and Cynthia Auble (South Ogden Jr.). They received information from UEA and NEA facilitators on the roles of leaders, communication styles, behavior styles, building relationships and dealing with difficult people. They joined 11 educators from other local associations in the state. They were able to make a plan of action for future leadership opportunities.

Rick

7 Utah Schools to get cash with strings attached

Lisa Schencker wrote in the Salt Lake Tribune today: "Seven low-performing Utah Schools are about to undergo dramatic changes as recipients of about $13 million in federal cash. The feds hope the School Improvement Grants lead to real changes in the schools. Some educators, however, have mixed feelings about making such dramatic changes. The grants require the seven schools to replace their principals. The schools also must increase learning time for kids, use educator evaluations that take student data into account, provide additional teacher training, reward educators who improve student achievement and remove those who ultimately don't after receiving additional support, among other things." You can read the entire article at www.sltrib.com

Ogden has three schools, Odyssey, Madison and Dee Elementary that will receive the three grants of over $500,000 per year.

Rick

Jordan freezes teachers' pay again...Deseret News

Molly Farmer wrote Wednesday, June 9th,: "The Jordan Board of education unanimously voted Tuesday night to adopt a 2010-11 budget that freezes teachers' wages for the third straight year while not raising taxes or increasing classroom size." The board is not offering lanes or steps for their teachers.

The JEA has declared impasse in negotiations and the district and the association will go to mediation.

You can read the entire article at www.deseretnews.com

rick

Ogden Announces Administrative Appointments

The Ogden Board of Education approved the following administrative assignments effective July 1. The assignments they are leaving are noted in parenthesis.

Julie Palmer-Gnotta- Principal at Madison Elementary School
Dale Wilkinson - Principal at Odyssey Elementary School (Ogden High School)
Sondra Jolovich-Motes- Principal at Dee Elementary School (Ogden High School)
Trevor Wilson- Principal at Ogden High School (Mt. Ogden Junior High)
Scott Robertson - Asst. Principal at Ogden High School (Dee Elementary School)
Kevin Kuykendall- Principal at Mt. Ogden Jr High (Mound Fort Jr. High)
Charlotte Parry - Principal at Mound Fort Jr. High (Odyssey Elementary)
Ross Lunceford -Principal at Horace Mann Elementary (Madison Elementary)
Eulogio Alejandre - Principal at Washington Alternative High School

Rick

Negotiations Update

Ogden's school board met last week to talk about the budget. They listed their suggested cuts and then Eugene Hart, business admistrator gave a newspaper interview detailing some of those cuts. The budget is preliminary and must be presented at the June 22 school board meeting. Our OEA Negotiations team is scheduling the next meeting to discuss financial issues. So far, we have not received any proposals dealing with financial issues from the Ogden district team.

Ogden has a special board meeting tonight at 5:30 to announce administrator assignments for 2010-2011.


Weber's business administrator, Robert Peterson, also went to the press with a list of cuts that will be part of the new fiscal year budget. Our WEA Negotiations team has a June 23rd meeting planned with the district team. We have discussed items, but we have not agreed to anything yet.

Rick