Ed 1010 Class at Weber State University

I had the opportunity to present to Dr. Jack Rasmussen's (Dean of College of Education) Ed 1010 class today. I have presented to three other classes this semester and several others the past couple of years. I give them my presentation on Ethics, Professionalism and School law that coincides with their unit on School Law. I also talk to them about the value of joining the association and give them student membership materials. I also had Marilyn Lofgreen hand out over 100 membership forms to her TAPT group last week. (Teaching Assistant Path to Teaching). The TAPT group receives tuition help in their quest to become teachers. They usually are working currently as paraprofessionals in schools. I also have presented to a group of students in Stephanie Heath's transition class from her Future Educator Project Launch (summer program for incoming freshmen). I will be attending an NEA Student Organizer workshop for UEA at the end of this month. The student program and FEA programs are receiving support from UEA and the Children at Risk Foundation. Many of our FEA advisors will be attending the FEA International Conference in February.

Rick

Public Schools to be graded?

The Deseret News reports (Richard Platt) that "Utah's public schools may start getting "graded" in the future as part of a concentrated, cost-effective way to improve the quality of education in the state."

Sen. Howard Stephenson said,"The entire community gets involved if a school is getting a D or and F, because of student results...it mobilizes the entire community to engage, and make a difference."

Read the entire article at www.deseretnews.com

Rick

Use of Technology

Here are some suggestions to help you avoid technology-use pitfalls;

• Read your district's acceptable use policy
• Assume you have no privacy
• Ask for proper training
• Do no use your school computer to communicate or view anything that you do no want your administrator to read
• Think before you send
• Avoid sending or forwarding messages to a huge list of people at school
• Do not give your password to others
• Be aware that students can misuse technology at school
• Be cautious about letting other use your school computer
• Keep communciations professional
• Keep personal information private
• Remove inappropriate materials from your websites or blogs

Rick

Legislative Issues of Concerns for the 2012 session

Here are some of the issues that will appear in the legislative session this year that the UEA Legislative Team will be monitoring:

• Merit Pay
• Alternative Compensation
• Teacher Evaluation
• School Property Tax Equalization
• Replace sales tax on food
• Replace some property tax with sales tax
• Giving Schools grades
• Retirment
• Charter School funding
• Orderly Termination Act
• Full-day kindergarten
• Partisan school board elections
• Year around schools

That is just a start of what might be a very interesting session.

Rick

Hoping for a special legislative sesssion

We are expecting that the Governor will call a special legislative sesssion for November 17 (their regular interim meetings are scheduled then) to discuss the "Jobs Bill" money coming to our districts. The original estimates of compensation dollars coming to employees has been cut in half because of the current deficit in the budget. Weber is not expecting around $2.6 million and Ogden should get around $1.1 million. Our negotiations teams will be working with the district and our mediator to determine how that is used.

Rick

Election Hangover

Election night was a very rough time for public education. We lost several of our legislative friends (the few we had) and the make-up of the legislature took a hard turn away from public schools. The upcoming session will be a difficult one and it will take a concerted effort from all of us to hold strong for schools. It will be interesting to see if Gov. Herbert can moderate the lawmakers and keep his campaign promises to prioritize public ed funding. We have had two miserable years and we need some good news. Look for every bad education bill that we have fought against to come blazing down the aisles in the House and Senate. Our lobby team will need kevlar jackets to withstand the barrage they will face. Sorry to paint such a dire picture, but it is going to be tough.

Rick

Election Results

For complete Utah election results go to: http://www.electionresults.utah.gov/

Also you go to the new UEA website at www.myuea.org and look at how our recommended candidates did.

Rick