ESTA UPDATE

ESTA TREASURER RESIGNS

Citing personal reasons, Allan Roberts has resigned his position at ESTA Treasurer, effective at such time as an efficient handover can be carried out. Roberts had been elected to a two-year term that began on the first day of classes this year. Chris Tsuji, math teacher at STHS and ESTA Treasurer for several years in the 1990’s, has agreed to carry out the Treasurer’s duties until a formal election is conducted to choose an official replacement. At its November 3 meeting, the ESTA Assembly passed a motion authorizing Tsuji to sign checks on the ESTA account. Former Treasurer (and now ESTA Vice President) Ralph Giannini has also agreed to assist in the transition.

Declaration of Candidacy forms to begin the elections process for choosing our new Treasurer will be made available soon, along with a list of requirements and duties of the Association Treasurer. The date for the election has been set for January 26, 2005.

CLASS OVERAGE PAYMENTS

Under the Arbitrator’s Award signed with the District on October 8, all classes with enrollment counts over the contract maximums will generate class size overage payments for their teachers. As always, student aides are not counted, and sections for which class size waivers were signed will not generate overage dollars. Teachers can expect payment in the warrants on February 10.

Payments may be larger than usual this semester. Under the terms of the Award, there are no ‘free’ students in the revised calculation formula, and payments accrue retroactively from the first day of the semester for any teacher with a class over the class size limit on Sep 16.

The table below shows a one week snapshot of the class size overage situation, using the week ending Nov 5 as a sampling base.

Site	Teachers w/ one or more oversize classes (% of faculty)	*Largest individual amount received this week**	*Total of all overage payments this week**
AHHS	48 (46%)	$95	$1,090
EVHS	51 (57%)	$260	$1,555
IHS	102 (55%)	$370	$3,380
JLHS	22 (37%)	$120	$ 595
MPHS	49 (51%)	$370	$1,290
OGHS	69 (53%)	$445	$2,440
PHHS	63 (64%)	$100	$1,980
SCHS	50 (45%)	$120	$1,250
STHS	52 (50%)	$665	$1,770
WOHS	35 (39%)	$70	$ 965
YBHS	46 (53%)	$80	$1,175
District**	587 (48%)		$17,490

* source: ESUHSD Human Relations Office

** comprehensive high schools only

MEDICAL COVERAGE QUIRK

Suppose you are an active District employee, and your dependent daughter is admitted to a hospital for childbirth. So far, so good: all three of our medical coverage options include dependent care. However, if before or after childbirth your new grandchild requires any sort of specialized care, that baby is not included under your medical coverage.

If the childbirth is normal and the baby does not require formal admission to the hospital, there ought to be no billing attributable to the newborn. On the other hand, if the baby requires anything other than routine neo-natal care, the billing for that care will not be covered in the employee’s medical plan. If you’ve seen the size of hospitalization bills lately, you know that this could be a huge and unpleasant surprise.

This situation is not limited just to our District; nearly all major medical coverage policies are similar. Admittedly, this quirk will affect only a small number of District employees, if any. However, since failure to understand this limitation could result in some very unpleasant financial news, I thought it was important enough to make reference to it here. If this may apply to you or someone you know, the best advice is to seek separate medical coverage for the baby before birth.

CESAR CHAVEZ EDUCATION AWARD

CTA announces the 2005 Cesar Chavez Memorial Education Awards Program, an art and essay compe-tition open to CTA members and their students. The program is designed to provide recognition for students and teachers who demonstrate an understanding of the vision and guiding principles by which Cesar Chavez lived his life. Forty top prize winners will receive recognition plus a $500 savings bond (student) and $500 cash award (CTA member). Eligible projects must be either written essays or visual arts, and must be received by April 1, 2005 accompanied by an application form. Student participation can be by a single student or a group of up to five. Winning groups will share the $500 prize. Additional information and copies of the application forms are available at the Mt. Hamilton CTA office or on the CTA website: www.cta.org.

By the way, funding to support the Chavez Arts Program does not come from CTA member dues, but instead comes from voluntary donations by ordinary teachers and others. For more information about how you can donate to either the Chavez Memorial Awards Program or the Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Scholarship Fund, contact me.

SCHOLARSHIP REMINDERS

Applications forms for both CTA and ESTA Scholarships are available at the Mt. Hamilton office. Call Lori or Ly at 272-0601. Submission deadlines are in mid-February (CTA) and early March (ESTA).

NEGATIVE PRESS

It seems as if the only three things we can count on these days are death, taxes, and getting ripped by the Mercury News. In an editorial dated November 10, the Murky Noose outdid even itself, finding a number of ways to hang much of the blame for the District’s reported bleak financial situation squarely on ESTA. The opinion piece was riddled with inaccuracies and anti-ESTA rhetoric.

The SJMN can afford to blame ESTA for everything from the loss of Measure K at the polls to the huge budget deficit, in part because there is no reasonable way to rebut its charges. Its standard policy is to limit Letters to the Editor to 125 words, always rewriting those that it prints to remove any negative references to the Murk’s own fairness or objectivity. It’s a cowardly practice, but then it’s their paper and that’s that.

A sampling of the editorial:

l “[District officials] … asked the county Office of Education to look at the books.” WRONG. Dr. Z contracted with the Fiscal Crisis Management Assistance Team to look at the books. FCMAT works out of Bakersfield.

l “…leaders in the teachers union have fought layoffs and larger class sizes…” RIGHT. It’s called “contract maintenance” and as the Exclusive Representative of the certificated non-management employees of the District, we have a Duty of Fair Representation to see that our contract is enforced. Perhaps the SJMN believes that legal contracts can be unilaterally breached if one of the parties to the agreement wants out. Let’s all try to find a CTA local that has embraced layoffs and demanded larger class sizes.

l “…this year’s budget also contained unrealistic assumptions…” RIGHT. And ESTA apologizes for creating and passing such a wacky budget.

l “[Measure K]’s narrow loss underscores the failure of the East Side Teachers Association to take the … financial plight seriously.” WRONG. But this claim hits a nerve. Early on, we realized that we did not have sufficient funding to mount an effective campaign to unseat two incumbent Board members and spend significant sums on Measure K. The parcel tax lost by nearly the same margin as the failed attempt two years ago, in which we spent heavily. Placing it on a presidential election ballot, with a school board race and multiple other parcel tax proposals, certainly had more to do with its defeat than our lack of major financial support. We did field hundreds of man-hours of volunteer time in the community to place roadside signs and hand out pro-K leaflets.

l “$2 million [to be spent] to hire 25 more teachers after the district, facing a union grievance, withdrew its plan to raise the average class size from 28 to 30”. WRONG, WRONG, and WRONG. It’s not $2 million. No one hired 25 more teachers. And the average class size in this district hasn’t been 28 students, ever.

l “…Zendejas says she asked the union to delay taking the [4.15%] COLA…” RIGHT. One week before payday. The trouble is, the SJMN editorial suggested that our non-complicity with the plan to postpone receiving full COLA is what added another $1.3 million to the deficit. Even if we had overcome all of the ethical problems inherent in the request, doing so would have had no impact in the cost to the district.

ESTA BARGAINING TEAM

Our Negotiations Team consists of: Don Dawson (SC), Launa Carlson (ST), Kim Schaupp (OG), Julie Pratico (AH), and Marisa Vera (EV). The Team has made site visitations at nearly 2/3 of the schools during the months of October and November, and will finish out the schedule by early December. Negotiators are accepting and discussing members’ ideas for upcoming contract talks, as well as current budget issues.

Remaining meetings are set for:

· EVHS: Nov 18, 2:15, Theater

· IHS: Nov 22, 3:00, C-Commons

· AHHS: Nov 23, 3:15, Library

· SCHS: Dec 8, 2:30, Library

ESTA Members who have missed the meetings at their home schools are welcome at any other. Alternatively, you could write or email your contract ideas to our Chief Negotiator Don Dawson dawsond@esuhsd.org at SCHS.

We also recognize that some ESTA members are widely scattered in their specialized fields of interest around the District, and may benefit more from meeting with the Negotiators in groups of similar people, rather than with entire school faculties. To meet with these members, we have established the following schedule:

· Student Advisors: Dec 2, 4:00, Mt. Ham CTA

· Counselors: December 8, 4:00, Silver Creek library

· Special Education: Jan 6, 4:00, Mt. Ham CTA

· Child Development: Jan 6, 5:30, Mt. Ham CTA

· Athletic Directors and coaches: Jan 11, 4:00, Santa Teresa library

· School Psychologists and Program Specialists, Jan 20, 4:00, Mt. Ham CTA

· SBNs and other Alternative Education, Feb 3, 4:00, Mt. Ham CTA

· Activities Directors and Librarians will be contacted by email

· Other specialized groups? Call or email me.

It is always prudent for ESTA to keep a reserve list of possible alternates and successors for Bargaining Team members. To this end, we hold occasional training sessions and encourage potential candidates to consider attending week-long CTA Negotiations institutes, generally in late July or early August. If you’re interested in learning more about becoming a member of our Bargaining Team, email me.

COMMUNICABLE DISEASES

It has been estimated that 35,000 Americans died last year as a result of contracting influenza. Recall that this was a time in which flu vaccine was widely available. In light of the widespread unavailability of vaccines this year for both students and school employees, it has been suggested that we reacquaint our members of the contents of Article 17.2 of our contract, which states: “When, in the judgment of the bargaining unit member, a student requires the attention of the principal, assistant principal, psychologist, physician, or other specialist, or the safety conditions of the classroom require such attention, the bargaining unit member will so inform the principal or immediate supervisor who shall immediately arrange reasonable steps for resolution as soon as possible.”