The Alliance Action NOW is a publication of the San Antonio Alliance of Teachers and Support Personnel, which represents all non-administrative personnel in SAISD.
Internal Charters Begin at Some SAISD Schools with Alliance Guidance
On August 22, as SAISD began the 2011-12 school year, our Alliance Innovation Fund Grantee schools launched their internal charter schools. The schools include: Highland Park Critical Thinking Internal Charter School, Rhodes Technology and Media Internal Charter School, and Travis Early College High School.
In October 2009, the Alliance won a $150,000 AFT Innovation Fund Grant to grow student enrollment in SAISD and encourage schools to considerbecoming internal charter schools as a way to unleash their creativity. During year one of the Innovation Fund, the Alliance held an Internal Charter Schools Conference to educate campus teams about the potential and process. Highland Park ES, Rhodes MS, and Travis Early College HS began the application process to become internal charters. These schools presented to the SAISD School Board in October 2010 and were officially approved by the Board as SAISD internal charter schools. An internal charter school is a school that has a contract between the school and the school board allowing innovative instructional programming, local autonomy and decision making, and exemption from instructional/academic rule and policies as spelled out in the contract or “charter.”
In October 2010, the Alliance was approved for another year of the Innovation Fund. During year two, the Alliance focused on marketing assistance to the three internal charters and held a “Marketing Your School Conference”. In addition to our Innovation Fund Grantees schools, other campuses attended the conference to learn how to market their campus and grow student enrollment.
The Alliance wishes our Innovation Fund Grantee schools the best as they launch their internal charter schools.
What is the Safe Schools Act?
Seventeen years ago, Texas AFT, one of the Alliance’s state affiliates,launched its campaign for a Safe Schools Act to put a stop to violence on campus. In 1995, the Texas Legislature responded, by enacting laws that gave educators new tools for responding to students who are violent, abusive, or chronically disruptive. These laws give us a chance to make our schools safe and orderly, but laws must be enforced.
This law has had a major, positive impact. Since enactment in 1995, the core provisions of the law have been upheld by the courts and kept intact by the legislature. Enforcement of the Safe Schools Act will never be easy. We must all work to ensure that our schools are safe and orderly. The Alliance will continue to campaign for safe schools, and we will support our members when they act to enforce the rules.
The Safe Schools Act is contained in Chapter 37, Sections 37.001-37.022 of the Texas Education Code. Documentation is the key to successful use of this law. For more information on the Safe Schools Act, please visit Schools Act.pdf.
Labor Day Plans?
Join the San Antonio Alliance and the North East Bexar County Democrats on Monday September 5th from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm for a Labor Day picnic and rally. San Antonio Alliance President Shelley Potter and Bexar County AFT President Tom Cummins will be honored at the event.
The rally and picnic will take place at the Historic VFW Post 76 at 10th Street and Avenue B. The cost for the picnic and rally is $9 for adults and $5 for children. For more information on the rally and picnic, please call Madeleine Dewar at 210-884-3766.
Duty-free lunch for teachers
Under state law, Texas Education Code 13.909, “Each teacher actively engaged in the instruction and supervision of students in public schools is entitled to at least a 30-minute lunch period free from all duties and responsibilities connected with the instruction and supervision of students.”
An Attorney General’s opinion, JM-481, also concluded that this section of the lawdoes not permit a rule requiring teachers to remain on school property during their lunch break. Teachers are allowed to leave school property during the 30-minute duty-free lunch period.
Hot Issues
There was no shortage of issues during the first week of the school year. The following are the concerns about which the Alliance staff and officers were most contacted about:
Schools with half-time librarians
There are 36 schools in the district that do not have a librarian assigned full time to the school. Eighteen librarians cover those 36 schools. Since the district eliminated the librarian assistant position, these 36 school librariesare not staffed half of the time. Additionally, librarians in many schools have been assigned textbook duties (which many library assistants did previously). This takes additional time away from library duties/responsibilities.
The Alliance leadership has pursued and will continue to pursue this concern through conversations with school board members in an effort to get 18 library assistant positions reinstated to help cover the 36 schools.
New Gradebook
Teachers have reported a number of concerns with the new gradebook. Secondary teachers have reported that when entering grades they may have as many as 21 screens to look through. This will make it difficult to meet the district requirement of a minimum of two grades per student per week.There are also concerns about not being able to input grades after 11:00 PM. The Alliance will be taking this issue to the first Teacher Consultation meeting with the administration scheduled for September 13.
Safety concerns for cafeteria workers
Some schools have reported safety concerns for cafeteria workers. SAISD cafeteria employees have been assigned to handle trash disposal responsibilities previously handled by custodians.
The employees have to pull the very large bags filled with trash and put them into a bin. The bags are so heavy that it generally takes two employees to pull each one out of the trash can. The bin in which they place the trash bags is about 5 feet by 5 feet and about 4feet high. The bin then has to be pushed out to the dumpsters. It may take four employees to control this large bin. Once they get the bin to the dumpster, they have to pull the heavy bags out of the bin and get them into the dumpster. There have already been some injuries.
There are also concerns about the cleaning of the steam tables as well as some other additional tasks that have been assigned to cafeteria employees this year.
Alliance staff has alerted the central administration to the concerns and will pursue the issues through Consultation or presentations at school board meetings.
Computer replacement plan
Teachers have expressed numerous concerns related to the district’s computer replacement plan under which any computer five years of age or older is being removed from campuses, whether the computer is working or not.
The administration is striving for equity and has a goal to make sure software-based interventions and staff productivity tools can be utilized throughout the system. Some teachers have contended that they use their older computers in a variety of ways that are helpful, and they would still like to be able to keep them in addition to the new computers.
There has also been a lag between removal of old computers and delivery of new ones because the district experienced a number of delays from the vendor.
The Alliance leadership will pursue this issue via presentations at school board meetings or Consultation. If this is happening at your worksite, please contact the Alliance at 225-7174.
Pre-K and Head Start
Several issues have surfaced from early childhood teachers – the curriculum, home visits, and the role of the Parent Advocate. While a Pre-K Textbook Selection Committee recommended, and the school board approved, Frog Street as the Pre-K Curriculum, the district administration has bypassed that decision and had told teachers that Frog Street is only to be used as a supplement. The Alliance leadership will be meeting with teachers on this and other early childhood issues and taking the issues directly to a school board meeting.