The MEA NewsBlog

Every day in newspapers, online and on radio and TV, we read and hear about attacks across the country against public education and teachers’ rights. While we know this is a busy time of year, we all need to stand up for public education and our profession.

CEA is holding eight important meetings across Connecticut in January. The subject is a powerful mix of “reform in a forum setting”—thus our title, “Reforums.” The reforums will focus on the issues that are important to you—from evaluation to tenure and everything in between.

You are invited to attend one of these free reforums. Come, share your ideas, and voice your concerns. Hear what we can do—collectively—to make positive changes. Together, we can move our ideas on education reform forward and stand up for our students and ourselves.

Attend one of these free upcoming reforums and find out how you can help Take Back Your Profession. Registration begins at 3:30 pm and the program runs from 4:00 to 6:00 pm.

• Wednesday, January 18 — The Spa at the Norwich Inn, Norwich
• Thursday, January 19 — Georgina’s, Bolton
• Monday, January 23 — The Inn at Middletown, Middletown *
• Tuesday, January 24 — Inn at Woodstock Hill, Woodstock
• Wednesday, January 25 — Rocky Hill Marriott, Rocky Hill
• Thursday, January 26 — Crystal Peak, Winsted
• Monday, January 30 — Trumbull Marriott, Trumbull
• Tuesday, January 31 — Park Central Tavern, Hamden

Notice that January 23rd’s meeting has seen a change in venue. It was originally scheduled to be at The Brushmill in Chester. To register for one of these reforums, click here.

Download the PDF flyer and share it with your colleagues.

From CEA yesterday afternoon…

Education Committee Takes No Action On

H.B. No. 6324 (RAISED) EDUCATION. ‘AN ACT CONCERNING TEACHER EMPLOYMENT CRITERIA’

Teacher Seniority and Layoff Procedures Under Fire, Bill Dies in Committee

On Friday, March 25, the Education Committee had its last meeting to report out favorably on various education issues that it had public hearings on including Raised Bill 6324 An Act Concerning Teacher Employment Criteria.  CEA Legal Counsel Ronald Cordilico, who testified against the bill at the hearing on February 23, said if the bill became law it would be “a swift, surprising, and draconian act in view of a system that has provided stability of expectations over the years.” On Friday, the committee took no action on the bill and thereby killed the bill.

You Were Heard

As the committee and its leadership was considering this bill, they were hearing from the public school teachers of Connecticut.  Repeatedly, as members of CEA’s lobbying team had one on one meetings with the members of the Education Committee, legislators stated that they were hearing from their teachers on this issue.  Clearly, your involvement was critical to helping defeat this legislation.

Thank You!

Take about 60 seconds to watch this video, and see why teachers are worried about seniority rights (House Bill No. 6324) and evaluation fairness (Senate Bill No. 1160).  If teachers’ political advocacy does not convince lawmakers on the Education Committee to oppose these bills this week, then these bills will head to the full House and Senate, where these significant changes to our profession – and far worse – could be enacted diluting teachers’ rights.

Click here to contact your legislators about House Bill 6324.

Click here to contact your legislators about Senate Bill 1160.

Education Committee to Hold Hearing on a Bill That Impacts

Teacher Performance Evaluation & the Teacher Fair Dismissal Law

On Thursday, March 17^th, the legislature’s Education Committee will have a public hearing on Raised Bill No. 1160  An Act Concerning School Transportation, The Development of A Model Teacher Performance Evaluation System, And Teacher Tenure Laws And Cooperative Arrangements   This bill rewrites laws affecting teacher evaluation and the teacher fair dismissal law.  The bill was initiated by the American Federation of Teachers – Connecticut (AFT-CT).  It includes some issues of concern:

• It gives principals the power to commence the dismissal process on their own.
• It short-circuits the revision of teacher evaluation guidelines that was set in motion last year by the passage of Public Act 10-111,  An Act Concerning Education Reform In Connecticut, with CEA’s active  support and involvement.  CEA has been working collaboratively with other stakeholders to this end since last June.
• It creates rigid timelines for teacher remediation and termination.

CEA will be testifying about the issues that concern it at Thursday’s hearing.  Following the hearing, we will share with you any new developments.  We may also seek your assistance in contacting your legislators.

Education Committee Members Need to Be Contacted NOW

Your Rights Are At Stake

AT ISSUE

In the next several days, the Education Committee will consider whether or not to amend your collective bargaining rights as contained in the Teacher Negotiation Act. They will be voting on Raised Bill No. 6324. An Act Concerning Teacher Employment Criteria.

Self-styled “reformers” want to use the $3.6 billion budget deficit facing Connecticut to restrict the rights of teachers that are spelled out in the Teacher Negotiations Act and the Fair Dismissal Act. They want administrators be able to lay off experienced teachers and keep less expensive, less experienced teachers.

This is not about teacher quality. It’s about money— and it’s not fair.

These reformers show no understanding that teachers are evaluated every year. They have been suggesting to members of the public that competence has little to do with experience and ignore the fact that processes such as required annual evaluations provide assurance of satisfactory performance.

Tell members of the Committee you do not want your contractual rights changed. You didn’t cause this fiscal crisis and it should in no way be used against you. Ask them to vote against Raised Bill No. 6324.

AT ISSUE

The Committee will also be debating whether to allow the Commissioner of Education to grant certification waivers to administrators and teachers in charter schools. Raised Bill No. 1104. An Act Concerning Charter Schools, seeks to eliminate high-quality educator standards that are the underpinning of our profession for the convenience of some charter school corporations that believe they should set their own standards. If this passes, it would diminish the value of certification for everyone.

There are a great number of traditional schools in Connecticut that outperform charters at similar or greater levels of poverty. They are not asking for waivers. We want highly qualified and certified teachers in all of our state’s classrooms.

Let members of the Education Committee hear from you. Tell them not to relax standards or take away your rights. Let them know you want quality education for all students. Ask them to vote against Raised Bill No. 1104.

Contact Members of The Education Committee by downloading this document containing the state education committee member’s contact information.

As many of you know, CEA has been working hard on making your voices heard as the State Department of Education has been reshaping certification requirements for Special Education teachers, Teacher Leaders, and Literacy Specialists. On December 1, 2010, the State Board of Education voted to adopt the full set of proposed certification regulations, as submitted by the State Department of Education. These regulations will go into effect on July 1, 2015. Read a full description of all of the changes here.

This CEA memo addresses the confusion some have been experiencing at the local district level regarding recent revisions to Connecticut General Statutes that require “multiple indicators of student academic growth” to be included in all teacher evaluations, effective July 1, 2010.  Read it carefully.

CEA is urging its members to attend one of the upcoming professional issues information sessions to become more informed and more empowered to take back our profession. CEA is holding six informational sessions to update members on important issues facing all teachers this year. Find out more about these sessions and register now to attend.

CEA recently updated their proposed certification requirements. You can read them here.

If you have any comments or concerns about these proposals, especially about the proposed literacy certificates, send them to litcert@cea.org.

Vital viewing…here’s Part 1:



And here’s Part 2: