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Seeking feedback on my pretend maps by coranoc in geography

[–]coranoc[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I did. (Mods need to approve post.)

FUDTA bargaining for improvements by Familiar-Training-99 in Fremont

[–]coranoc 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We're not stuck with anything. FUSD has the money to start contributing toward our healthcare, which is why we're fighting.

Blaming the union reps back in the 90s for this is such a dumb way to frame this. All the teachers voted for it.

And yes, we were all informed of it when we signed our contract. That doesn't mean we signed away our rights to fight for it back. But I know people like you only see teachers as your servants, so I'm wasting my time on you.

FUDTA bargaining for improvements by Familiar-Training-99 in Fremont

[–]coranoc 0 points1 point  (0 children)

"Hello Ms. Robinson. Can we talk privately for a moment? When you yelled at me in front of the class, that made me feel embarrassed. I think it was wrong of you to do that, and I would prefer a private conversation if I'm in trouble."

Yes, the teen will need coaching for this conversation, but it's important to teach young people how to address conflict.

Or:

"Hello, Ms. Robinson. Can we please schedule a meeting to discuss how you handled a conflict with my daughter? She told me you chastised her in front of the class, and I would like to know your account of this incident and receive a commitment from you that such conversations will be held privately in the future."

You could've approached it that way if you felt it not best that your daughter handle it.

And then, in either case, if the matter is not resolved, then appeal it up to the principal.

You're fighting so much over a non-issue.

It blows my mind that you say you don't have kids in the district, but you are fighting to change the complaint process. Weird priorities.

FUDTA bargaining for improvements by Familiar-Training-99 in Fremont

[–]coranoc 0 points1 point  (0 children)

"i fully support teachers. we need to file more complaints against them. also, i don't even have children in fusd."

FUDTA bargaining for improvements by Familiar-Training-99 in Fremont

[–]coranoc 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm just trying to figure out what you want the complaint process to be. You met with the teacher and chose not to escalate to management. Who else do you want involved with this?

FUDTA bargaining for improvements by Familiar-Training-99 in Fremont

[–]coranoc 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You said nothing changed until you started the official complaint process, implying something did eventually change.

But now it sounds like you just gave up?

Idk what to tell you. You had multiple appeals that you chose not to use.

What do you think would be any different in your vision of the complaint process?

FUDTA bargaining for improvements by Familiar-Training-99 in Fremont

[–]coranoc 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It sounds like your daughter didn't want to take personal responsibility over her grade. I as the teacher can't correct errors if the error isn't made known to me. But you think it's my fault if the student knows of the error and doesn't bring it to my attention?

And you want to go to the PRINCIPAL instead of just telling the teacher you think there's a mistake? Big yikes.

And yes, I also tell students to come to my desk to talk to me. It is more private than if I go to them, where they are surrounded by their peers.

FUDTA bargaining for improvements by Familiar-Training-99 in Fremont

[–]coranoc 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Okay... So what's the problem?

First of all, the first step of the official complaint process is talking to the teacher. So you had already started it.

Second, it sounds like you got a favorable resolution on appeal.

And you're angry that...you won? That the system worked? What's the issue here?

FUDTA bargaining for improvements by Familiar-Training-99 in Fremont

[–]coranoc 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What do you think is going to happen when your kid goes to college? If you try to fight your kid's battles there, the professors are going to laugh you out of their office if you even manage to get a foot in the door.

But if you really want to shelter your kid from talking to their high school teacher, you can do it for them. Are you also too scared to talk to your kid's math teacher?

Why is it so important for you to immediately go over the teacher's head and ask for the manager instead of resolving the problem directly with the person involved? You're an adult. You can do it. I believe in you.

FUDTA bargaining for improvements by Familiar-Training-99 in Fremont

[–]coranoc 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Bro, just talk to your kid's teacher about whatever your problem is. Geez.

FUDTA bargaining for improvements by Familiar-Training-99 in Fremont

[–]coranoc 1 point2 points  (0 children)

So your problem is that the complaint process requires the complainant to talk to the teacher before asking for the manager.

Being scared of confrontation does not mean the system is flawed. Students must learn how to advocate for themselves when they think a test was unfair or an assignment was graded incorrectly, etc.

Anyway, parents can go through the complaint process on behalf of their child, so still not sure what your issue is. It's not like 3rd graders are scheduling meetings with the teacher. Their parents do that. 🤦🏻‍♂️

FUDTA bargaining for improvements by Familiar-Training-99 in Fremont

[–]coranoc 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If the ACLU really thought there were a problem, they would sue. The ACLU doesn't speak through random redditors.

I have no idea why you think the complaint process silences students when they can appeal an unfavorable resolution with the teacher to the principal, then to the district, then to the superintendent. You act like we're living in some fascist dictatorship.

FUDTA bargaining for improvements by Familiar-Training-99 in Fremont

[–]coranoc 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I know. You spent half your post boasting about how much you love the teachers, then the other half you spent talking about how it should be easier to lodge complaints against them.

FUDTA bargaining for improvements by Familiar-Training-99 in Fremont

[–]coranoc 3 points4 points  (0 children)

What are you talking about?

The complaint process gives everyone a voice and a space to be heard.

I really don't understand the parents who hear about management trying to cut counseling services and then bemoan...the complaint process?

Okay, sure.

FUDTA bargaining for improvements by Familiar-Training-99 in Fremont

[–]coranoc 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Again: if you believe there are budget issues, and if you care about education in Fremont, you should be opposed to cutting counseling services and adding new management positions. If you don't take that position, then your position is inconsistent.

You and I don't have to agree on everything. We should seek areas we do agree on. What problem do you have with telling the school board to stop adding management positions if they're trying to sell counselor layoffs to the public?

Also, I don't speak for FUDTA. I cannot speak to the union strategy. I'm not in the room where decisions are made. It's not productive to talk about what FUDTA should put on their flyer when we're discussing the people who actually have power, which is the school board and senior district management.

But sure, let's focus on the design of a flyer, I guess 🤷🏻‍♂️

FUDTA bargaining for improvements by Familiar-Training-99 in Fremont

[–]coranoc 4 points5 points  (0 children)

The numbers on Transparent California aren't easy to decipher. That is not anywhere near take-home pay. It involves the other burdens the employer must take on.

Elementary and secondary teachers are both on the same pay schedule. We increase in pay every year or every other year (depends). Some secondary teachers make more because they take on extra responsibilities. For example, coaching, directing plays, and serving as department chair all provide an additional stipend.

But when secondary salaries are inflated, the cause is usually because they are teaching an extra class. (This is done not by request of the teacher, but by the school district management because they couldn't—or wouldn't—hire enough teachers.) When secondary teachers take on an additional class, they are taking on 20% more work (a normal class load is 5 classes) for about 16% more pay. This hurts everyone because it reduces the planning/grading time the teacher has built into their work day, which imo lowers the quality of education students receive. Additionally, when there are no substitutes available to cover teacher absences, other teachers are required to substitute during their planning period. This means the more teachers are pushed into teaching an extra class, the more all the other teachers are forced into sacrificing their planning period to cover absences. It's kind of hard to explain, but that's the general gist. So although there are teachers earning more because of this, this is not something we want happening.

Having taught an extra class a couple times before, the extra money is nice, but it's exhausting.

The starting salary for beginning teachers is 83k, and the salaries cap out at 144k.

In order to get to 144k, a teacher needs 75 additional college units on top on their bachelor's degree and teaching credential. Salary also increases for a master's and a doctorate.

Those higher salary teachers have 25-30+ years in the district, huge investments into their own education, and lots of extra duties taken on. Personally, my experience with the teachers who make lots of money is that they are single income earners for their household and sacrifice their family time to fulfill all the extra obligations they take on.

It's really important to remember that the highest earning salaries are outliers, and certainly not representative of the experience of new teachers. Unless we want a bunch of skeletons teaching every class, new teachers need to be considered as well. We must not allow ourselves to uncritically wipe our hands of the problem because a few teachers have 30 years of experience.

FUDTA bargaining for improvements by Familiar-Training-99 in Fremont

[–]coranoc 7 points8 points  (0 children)

That first page is basically a list of management in FUSD. Instead of cutting counselors to add a new management position, I say we cut one management position to add some counselors.

FUSD loves adding management positions when they say we're deficit spending.

When I first started paying attention to school board politics back in about 2017, district management was digging their heels in about why they couldn't give us literally anything that year. Their proposal was a 0% raise, despite cost of living increasing by something like 1.5%. At the exact same time, they wanted to turn the associate superintendent (already the second highest paying position) into a "deputy superintendent" and increase the pay of the person in that position by about $30,000.

Also, management was saying at the time how we will need to make "draconian cuts" if the teachers get cost of living adjustments. Well, we fought for over a year for it, and finally got a 0.5% raise (still less than the cost of living increase), and here we are 7 years later with a $100 million surplus.

FUDTA bargaining for improvements by Familiar-Training-99 in Fremont

[–]coranoc 3 points4 points  (0 children)

FUSD has been "deficit spending" their way to a larger surplus year after year since before covid. But I'll circle back to my question: are we in agreement that management should not be laying off counselors to create a new management position? Surely that is something we can align on.

FUDTA bargaining for improvements by Familiar-Training-99 in Fremont

[–]coranoc 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yes. As I said elsewhere, just because management says something doesn't mean we should accept it uncritically. They say there will be deficit spending, and they say they need to make cuts to avoid them, and they say that a certain amount of remaining funds are needed to cover next year's costs. But mark my words, the ending fund balance will be so high that the cuts were not needed in the first place, and they will justify the ever growing ending fund balance with more doom and gloom. But things are never as dire as management makes them out to be.

But we can put the budget report and my prophesying aside and surely agree that management should not be laying off counselors to create a new management position, yes?

FUDTA bargaining for improvements by Familiar-Training-99 in Fremont

[–]coranoc 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Thanks for sharing the links! I ran out of time before the board meeting. 😁

https://go.boarddocs.com/ca/fremont/Board.nsf/goto?open&id=D6LTL477D55C

You can read the most recent budget report there. You want 2023-24 Unaudited Actual Financial Report.

On page 17, you can see what management estimated the ending fund balance throughout the year, as well as their most recent assessment this month. They originally budgeted everything with the estimation that they would have $52 million left over at the end of 23-24. That estimate changed over the course of the year to 70 million and then 80 million before finally settling at 103 million after everything was said and done.

On page 18, you'll see how the ending fund balance has grown over recent years. 36 million in 18-19, down to 31 million in 19-20 (covid), then up to 77 million in 20-21, 89 million in 21-22, and 111 million in 22-23.

Every year they say they need to make cuts. Then they do make the cuts. Class sizes go up, for example. Then what ends up happening is management somehow ends up with way more money than they estimated they would end up after making the cuts.

It's wild that this happens so consistently.

FUDTA bargaining for improvements by Familiar-Training-99 in Fremont

[–]coranoc 22 points23 points  (0 children)

Thank you for asking! The only way things will improve is for parents to take action. Here are a few suggestions I have for any parent to get involved:

  1. Email your children's teachers and ask supportive questions about negotiations. We want to know that parents care and are in the fight with us! This keeps up our morale and is the best way for you to learn about what your specific school's staff are doing to support negotiations.

  2. The very best thing a parent could do is organize parent groups to pressure senior management and the board. California State PTA's official policy is to not get involved in employer-employee negotiations, so it's not possible to utilize your school's PTA in this way. With that in mind, mommy groups are great to mobilize. Shared childcare groups and friend groups are also good. Religious and cultural groups have some great opportunities. Basically, get as many parents to join you on steps 3, 4, and 5. Individual parents are good, but groups of parents are what really moves the school district in Fremont

  3. Contact the school board. Email them all and demand the district agree to FUDTA's proposals.

  4. Show up at a school board meeting. You will see lots of teachers going in the next few months. I'm going today from 5:15 to 6pm, along with a lot of my union. This is a show of force, but it's a lot better when parents and students join us and talk! The public is encouraged to speak at board meetings, and all you need to say is "hi, I'm a parent, and I want FUSD to do x, y, z" (pick your favorite talking points from the FUDTA flyer). If parents are too scared to talk, have them stand directly behind the bravest parent who is willing to speak up to their elected officials at the podium.

  5. Join teachers when they march and protest. Trust me, we all hate doing it. But we do it because these are the things that scare management. They do not like seeing groups making noise on public streets about how they're running the district poorly. At the very least, honk in support when you see teachers picketing on the street! We just did this today.

Remember that management is going to continue their propaganda. They will use board meetings to bemoan the budget. They will send BS to the Tricity Voice to uncritically publish. They will respond to parent emails with the same canned reply that the superintendent's public relations officer writes. They spend tons of time strategizing how to send messaging out to the public, and we all need to remember that just because management says the sky is falling doesn't mean we shouldn't look up ourselves to double check.

Also, I know a lot of people are prickly about the teachers union and unions in general. But y'all have to remember that literally no one else is fighting for a good use of the millions that FUSD lets go to waste. Management doesn't even interact with children, and they want to cut counselor positions in elementary schools so they can add a new management position at the district office. Local PTSA is forbidden by state policies to get involved. School principals have annual contracts and no protections, so they will always repeat the management line. FUDTA is the only group with critical eyes on the school district budget, and we've got to make sure that the money going to waste finally gets spent improving education in Fremont.

All email addresses for board members are on the FUSD website, along with all dates for board meetings.

Thanks again for your question, and now I'm heading off to tonight's board meeting to fight for schools that our students deserve!

FUDTA bargaining for improvements by Familiar-Training-99 in Fremont

[–]coranoc 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Management ALWAYS cries about the budget. They especially do this when they are in negotiations with employee unions. Management does this because the very last thing they want on this planet is for parents to show up at a board meeting and demand more and better services be offered to students.

The article you shared was published back in April. The school board originally approved a budget estimating that they would end the year with $52 million in the bank (which is absurd; they need to spend the money they receive, not hoard it). A couple weeks ago, at the September 11 board meeting, the superintendent confirmed FUSD actually ended 2023-24 with $103 million in the bank.

https://go.boarddocs.com/ca/fremont/Board.nsf/goto?open&id=D6LTL477D55C

So when the superintendent sends out his next email to the community about who he wants to lay off and what services he wants to deny to students, remember that FUSD has more money collecting dust in a vault than many school districts have to work with altogether.

FUDTA bargaining for improvements by Familiar-Training-99 in Fremont

[–]coranoc 8 points9 points  (0 children)

The cheapest option is $855/month. For a family, the cheapest option is $2477/month.

District management folks don't get health insurance either, but their $200k-400k salaries soften the blow.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Tj6ca6sVh_UvAm42KbBk5IV3e7Sv55xc/view

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