Volume 16, Issue 4
DECEMBER, 2007
MAKING A DIFFERENCE
HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS LOSE
$5,000-7,000—ARE YOU NEXT?
At the McAllen ISD Board Meeting on December 10th, it became apparent during the High School Redesign meeting that high school teachers will lose from $5,000 (electives) to as much as $7,000 (core subjects) from their pay for the 2008-2009 school year.
The McAllen AFT high school and middle school members had more than 14 meetings discussing all the initiatives that teachers and paraprofessionals (supporting teachers) had to handle this fall.
Out of these meetings with members were developed handouts for elementary, middle, and high school initiatives to present to the McAllen ISD Board members on a one to one basis. We met with five (5) of the (7) board members.
In these handouts we determined that if the district lost by resignation 25 teachers (because of doubling the work load) at each high school (75 total), and the district had spent $50,000 on their training over a 10 year period that the district would lose $3,750,000.
On Monday, suddenly the presenters from Sylvia Hatton’s group were saying that if high school teachers taught six (6) classes instead of five (5) then the district would save $3,750,000.
The Superintendent asked the Chief Financial Officer what the average teacher made in
WHAT SHOULD YOU DO NOW?
All employees need to be proactive. Is a cut coming your way?
Ask any paraprofessional, classified, etc. employee—they have been badly hurt in any salary compensation. On the back of this newsletter is a list of all board members emails and telephone numbers.
Often it is more about power and money than it is about the kids.
We are deeply concerned that
Let us know if you want to run for the Board of Education!
TAKE ACTION NOW!
Use your home email and let these McAllen ISD Board Members get the facts. You may come to our office and email during 5-7:30 p.m. We can set you up with a free email account.
Dr. Richard R. Chapa
682-0460 (home), chapaicrom@yahoo.com
Mr. Conrado Alvarado
451-6783 (home), conrado3@aol.com
Mr. Richard Moore
630-3053 (office), richard@cpamoore.com
Mr. Mark Kent
971-0079 (home), makent36@aol.com
Mrs. Myrna G. Garcia
687-7878 (office), mygugar@aol.com
Mr. Javier Farias
631-5677 (home), jfarias530@aol.com
Mr. Danny Vela
4501 N. 5th,
EMAIL ETIQUETTE
Here are a few suggestions to consider when emailing.
Be brief and to the point
Be polite and positive
Give a solution if you know one
Don’t repeatedly email as they will begin to not pay attention
TELEPHONE ETIQUETTE
1. Identify yourself
2. Write down what you are going to say—that way you will collect your thoughts and be concise
3. Be very polite—Board members serve for no pay—they are volunteers
4. Treat them as you would want to be treated
IMPORTANT THINGS TO REVIEW
You need to talk to your friends, parents, and other teachers in the community and let them know what is going on.
If you have a middle school child or high school children, this change will drastically affect your children. If you have grandchildren in McAllen High Schools (McHi, Memorial, and Rowe), this change is not for the good. High school teachers will have 180 students plus 20 to mentor. The quality of instruction will go down drastically.
Morale, all ready low because of all the initiatives this fall, will continue to fall drastically.
Using the Open Records Law, we ask for the survey done by high school teachers in November regarding Redesign Health—they are not available—Ummmm.
McAllen AFT has conducted meetings to determine what is going on. We have talked to hundreds of teachers in the district—members and non members. We know what is going on. We have had teachers bring copies of the Curriculum Collaborative to our office and go over the materials. Our concern is the wasted $240,000 for poorly written materials. We RECALL poorly manufactured cars, clothing, etc. back and get our money. We should ask our Superintendent to get the taxpayers money back AND QUICKLY.
School districts across the
The High School Redesign team lead by Sylvia Hatton and sponsored by Region I has a sales presentation that won’t quit. As experienced teachers, we know a sales pitch when we hear one.
Veteran McHi teachers remember when we had a Small Learning Community. An administrator did a pilot program and six (6) or seven (7) teachers volunteered to participate. This SLC was composed of at-risk students. It worked and was successful. Our college bound students will not be helped with SLC’s and the same teachers for four (4) years.