Sometimes you can have too much of a good thing! In this case our 2009 SAUSD thread has so many comments on it that it is now running too slowly. So we are starting this new thread for the second half of 2009.
So far this year we have had plenty to write about. The State budget cuts have had a devastating affect in Santa Ana. Layoffs have ensued.
To top this all off, the SAEA cut a weird deal with the SAUSD that essentially cut benefits for all the younger teachers. And then the SAEA held elections.
Now more budget cuts loom…and all the other issues remain. I expect this thread will fill up too before long…
June 23 Board Meeting
In a 3-2 vote, both John Palacio and Roman Reyna voted no on the following two items:
4.0 Approval of Classified Employee Lay-offs
5.0 Approval of classified standardized work-year schedules (reduction in work year)
In a 4-1 vote, John Palacio vote NO on the adoption of the 09/10 budget.
http://www.sausd.us/1443102812408810/site/default.asp <—READ more about YOUR board here
Drum Roll…ladies & gentleman…the SAUSD Board of Education…..
José Alfredo Hernández, J.D. – President
(lawyer)
Rob Richardson – Vice President
City Councilman
Assistant to the Assistant to Pulido (Mayor of Santa Ana) in other words…what DOES he do???? Anyone???? Is he a councilman now?
Audrey Yamagata-Noji, Ph.D – Clerk
employed as the Vice President of Student Services at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, Calif., <—the only one who has TAUGHT a day in her life
John Palacio – Member
Board memeber since 1998
Consultant
Roman Reyna – Member
director at the YMCA of Orange County
Commissioner of Housing and Redevelopment for the City of Santa Ana
More Links here:
http://tinyurl.com/eddiehaskell
http://orangejuiceblog.com/tag/rob-richardson/
http://tinyurl.com/SAUSD-board
Next, we need Susan Mercer to get their email addresses and PHONE numbers where the people can contact them.
We do not want voice mail or message…we want to be able to talk to them or email them PERSONALLY. Everyone knows john’s email:
jpalacio@pacbell.net
Susan, can you please get their CONTACT info thanks in advance.
re: John Palacio
Yes, you don’t have to convince John to keep classified (that’s his baby)…CSR is another story.
I almost forgot the MOST important questions to ask them:
1. How much $$$ do you get for being on the Board?
2. Do you receive a health benefit package for being on the board? If so, what is it?
3. What other freebies do you receive (perks) for being on the board?
We are on the verge of finding this out anyways…so ask away…they should tell away because we will report away 🙂
I know that at my site, we heard word via some other teachers at other sites, that each school would have a TOSA at their site and we insisted that if that is the case, that this person should be teaching a regular load of classes. It is completely outrageous and ridiculous to expect that a full time teacher will be doing an administrators job when teachers have over 40 students per class. The administrators at my level have not been cut in any way. Why should administrators get a break while teachers have to live with outrageous class sizes that are far above our contractual limits? Could it be that while we have cut everything in sight, we are expecting an increase in standardized testing via this stupid thing called “common assessments”. So now in order to accommodate increased multiple choice testing, another full time person needs to be hired to handle all of the paperwork. I say no, and so does the staff at my school.
If you go to the curriculum tab at the district website and click for math, then click on guidelines for high school placement, you’ll find that one of the criteria for placement is each student’s score of the third benchmark.
1. The middle school Algebra pacing guide led teachers to believe the third benchmark test would target quadratics. Nope- not one question.
2. No one told the middle school teachers, and therefore the students did not know, the “importance” of a student’s score on the third benchmark test.
3. When, exactly, did the purpose for benchmark testing change? It was introduced as an aid to teachers and hence an aid to students. Benchmark testing has morphed into de facto evidence for administrators to use in evaluating teachers as well as placement tests for students.
Tmare exactly…
This is all I heard from my principal as well…”I can’t do all the Celdt testing, SSTs and counting of the tests” by myself? Why not? We stay LATE to do what we HAVE TO DO…stay late and skip dinner like the rest of us…blah blah blah…
Nice lady, but she whined to me DAILY how she could NOT be alone in that office…with just the secretary. Well, if you can’t do the job…then go do something else.
In a nutshell folks…let me define for YOU what a TOSA (teacher on special assignment) REALLY does…
A TOSA is the assistant to the principal basically. In other words…the dumpee of the principal. I’ve watched what they’ve done for years (it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure it out).
If the principal doesn’t want to count tests, they give it to the BRT or the the TOSA. I am not saying that they aren’t hard workers, but they are not working with CHILDREN directly is my point.
Their purpose is to make life easier for the office and the principal. Hire a classified person (2-3 of them) at the same price as the 1 TOSA who is basically a principals’s pee on…just an idea.
Lastly, they can choose to give me a list of what they do, but after watching them over the years, I can truthfully tell you…”it ain’t that.”
Raventhepirate,
The same thing of elementary…the benchmark pacing guide told me what to cover and then when it came time for the test…not 1 question.
Ex. 3rd benchmark K said to cover calendar and clock
The test was about patterns, counting and everything else but a clock or a calendar…what a piece of work those people are who create those and get paid $90,000 a year for telling me info that is not even correct…time to wake up people.
With all the discussion regarding budget cuts, I’ve not seen anything coming from the fed, state, county or SAUSD suggesting that alot of this testing (common assessments, STAR, writing proficiencies, CELDT, etc.) be scaled back. At my middle school, the students are so overtested they do not take any type of testing seriously anymore. When one of these tests is given, stduents are told over the PA syste3m that this is a “very important test” because it will determine placement for next year, etc. If that’s true, why at the beginning of the school year are the students so misplaced?
Regarding TOSAs, we had so many at our school there was a continuing power play going on among them. We had TOSAs supervising students at lunch, TOSAs doing wall displays when visitors where expected, TOSAs monitoring student traffic in halls, TOSAs walking around looking to ding teachers for anything they could find, TOSAs acting as executive assistants to the principal, etc. While all this was occurring, teachers were teaching to classes of unruly students with no support whatsoever.
I’m upset that the principals are/were such strong advocates for their TOSAs while at the same time being unusually quiet regarding classified cuts, increased class sizes, etc.
The more things change the more they remain the same in our district.
Anon (411)- we were told that the benchmark tests wouldn’t be going away any time soon because of the SATE/DATE status of the district and certain schools. Progress assessment is apparently a requirement of it.
I agree with you wholeheartedly on the issue of students being over tested. At the high school level we have as many as seven tests/year, including CAHSEE, Benchmarks, District Writing Assessments, and the actual STAR itself.
For English at least, the student’s 8th Benchmarks (along with other tests and factors) were supposed to be used to place students in the 2nd hr of English- “Strategic Support.”
As for the TOSAs at my sight, they are constantly working their butts off crunching data for teachers and trying to find curriculum and coordinate testing help that will attempt to get the kids who just can’t perform up there. I for one value the work they do, and wouldn’t want their job for the world.
Bratcher? Now there’s a loser. Why does this district continue to bring back bad administrators?
At my site, we have never had a TOSA. In fact, when a few of us heard about this, we had to ask what it was. One of the AP’s at my site is assigned to handle testing. The third benchmark this year took three class periods of instruction away from students. I’d have to agree that the lowest students are so burned out by tests that by the time the STAR test (no matter what anyone says, the only one that matters in any real way), they really don’t care at all. We love to lie to them, telling them that a test will matter in some real way when in fact it does not. The benchmark tests have been a complete joke, schools have different schedules and the pacing guides are ridiculous. Just another waste of over 1 week of my time that I could use to help kids prepare for the STAR test. Now they want us to come up with “common assessments” that will further take more of our time. I’d like to know when you are actually supposed to teach because it seems to me that about 1/3 of the kid’s time is spent either testing or doing other things. Back to the topic, the teachers at my site will be more than angry if we end up losing even one teacher, have larger class sizes and then they give us a pseudo-administrator called a “TOSA”. We will be angry enough to go to the board and make them aware of this situation. An administrator has handled all of this stuff up until now and I expect that they should continue doing it. Like Jill already said, hire back some of the classified staff to handle this stuff. I’m constantly amazed that one of our AP’s sits in her office until 6:00 counting out pencils for tests, how much do we pay her to do that, $80-$90 an hour? It’s absurd.
#411
Wow! That sounds just like Willard! Especially the power play between them all. There were twice as many TOSA than secretaries!
Now that the 09/10 Budget is out, some new calculations and observations can be made regarding the District’s reserves, which continue to be far in excess of the 2% required by the State for districts of our size. Furthermore, the increase in reserves from original budget projections to actual end-of-year figures is phenomenal.
There is more than enough to fund CSR and restore other certificated and classified positions and hours. (Of course, the District does not present the information in the following format to the Board.) Also, keep in mind that the District has not yet received a good portion of their federal stimulus money which is therefore not included in the 09/10 budget.
While I agree that it’s important for the District to be fiscally responsible, the fact is, we’re not a bank. An outsider, or even state policymaker, might look at reserves like these so far above the state requirement and start to wonder if we’re not overfunded. It seems like it’s been forgotten that this money is supposed to be used to serve students and improve achievement – that that’s what we’re all supposedly here for.
I invite anyone, who may be interested, to work with me on producing this information – perhaps someone familiar with spreadsheets or willing to learn. (There are a few of us gathering already.) This is the kind of information that I believe the union should be preparing for use in negotiations and to save jobs.
Even though I was unsuccessful in my bid for SAEA President, I will continue to work on this because I believe it needs to be done (I also find it very interesting). Perhaps the union will find a way to make use of this information for the members’ benefit. In the meantime, I will continue to bring it to the attention of the Union, the Board Members, and the public.
07/08
Amount above required reserve in original budget: $5.9 million
Amount above required reserve at end-of-year: $17.6 million
With Fund 17 (Special Reserve Fund) included, the figures are as follows:
Amount above required reserve in original budget: $14.8 million
Amount above required reserve at end-of-year: $26.8 million
08/09
Amount above required reserve in original budget: $4.3 million
Amount above required reserve at end-of-year: $19.9 million*
With Fund 17 included, the figures are as follows:
Amount above required reserve in original budget: $13.8 million
Amount above required reserve at end-of-year: $29.4 million*
*These amounts are based on the District’s estimates. Final figures are often much different, usually higher. (In the one-month period from the May 26th report to the Board to the June 23rd report, the amount above the required reserve increased by $1.2 million.)
Future Year Projections
For 09/10, the predicted amount above the required reserve is $3.8 million. With Fund 17, the amount above the required reserve is $13.3 million.
For 10/11, the predicted amount above the required reserve is $2.2 million.
For 11/12, the predicted amount above the required reserve is $2.5 million.
Fund 17 projected reserves are not available for these years.
Okay I have tried to call the union several times today and no answer. It either goes to voicemail or it just rings. I want to know what they will do about subbing in the district if you do not get called back. I got an email this morning from Susan Mercer regarding an outside email address. Maybe I should email her and ask her what she will do about making sure we get on the sub list with no problems.
415 – Our site pulls the Special Ed IAs (used to pull the BIAs until that classification was eliminated) out of the classroom to count pencils, etc. God forbid that our school would ever stoop so low as to have an AP actually handle test-taking responsibilities. In fact, for the two previous years, a non-district employee did all the test-taking responsibilitites. We had a consultant known as a Data Analyst that coordinated all test-taking responsibilities. Unbelievable, huh?
outside e-mail address? if she’s prez of SAEA she should be conducting business with the SAEA e-mail address. this sounds very suspicious. maybe she did flee to Argentina. don’t cry for me Argentina.
Yeah here is what the letter said….
Hi,
I’m finalizing the email list of all RIF’d teachers. Unfortunately, I don’t have a non-district email address for you.
Please email me a non-district email so I can send you RIF updates during the summer.
If you don’t want to receive the updates or don’t have a non-district email please let me know too.
Thanks!!
Susan Mercer
President Elect, SAEA
I sent out a letter to Personnel and the sub desk today.
Let’s see what happens. I sent a copy to John Palacio as well so that they just can’t ignore me. Tick tock…
As stated so many times before, the district does not allow the union to use district e-mails, please provide your own e-mail addresses if you are in a situation where communication could be very important. I have had to tell this to the people at my site so many times and I’m getting tired of saying it, we have so many people who refuse to give out their e-mail addresses and this has made communication with all teachers virtually impossible. There’s nothing fishy here except for the fact that the union is UNABLE to use district mail.
Please check your new Blue Shield insurance cards. Mine arrived today and now my entire family has been excluded (myself included) from insurance and my husband has been switched to the HMO, not what we signed up for. My daughter has a doctor’s appointment on Wednesday, the first day of Blue Shield and as of now, she is not covered. Check carefully people, I’ll probably be on the phone for a good portion of tomorrow.
Dear #417
I hate to rain on your parade but you won’t be hearing back from anyone until August or Sept. This is not my first rodeo with rif’s. Downtown they don’t know what is happening. When the dust settles they will call those teachers rescinded back in. Those not called will be ignored. They may or may not be notified when school starts back in and then the sub list will then be attended to. *They* will not be hurried. You can’t contact *them*. You can’t visit them. You are a non entity until they deem you worthy of notice. This is how it is. It’s not fair; it’s not what was promised you. But it’s what reality is. I’m real sorry! It makes a bummer of a summer if you are expecting any kind of fairness or action. And I remember how I felt when it was explained to me all those years ago that, fair or not, this was how it is. A difficult pill to swallow! And one I didn’t believe for too many years. And, unfortunately, one that never seems to change.
Tmare,
I had the same problem with my new blue shield card and had to cancel a doctors appointment. When I called BS (seems appropriate)I reached a very helpful person that authorized our doctors and said new cards would be out in 7-10 days. It seems, at least with HMO’s, you need to have signed up for the group provider your doctor belongs to instead of just the doctors provider number. Then you can specify your doctor within that group. Of course I’m still waiting for the new cards to see if they got it right.
The problem for me is that we didn’t even sign up for the HMO and no one in my family received a card except my husband. I talked to someone else and they said that both people received cards, so it looks like someone really screwed this one up. I have to figure it out quickly because my daughter’s doctor only takes the PPO and her appointment is on Wednesday. Thanks for the info Anonplus.
tmare,
I totally understand. Not exactly the same problem. That’s a pretty big leap of a mistake in your case. As I mentioned I called Blue shield via the 800 number and the rep I talked with was very helpful. Of course until I get new cards that are correct I’m stuck without being able to get meds or see my doctors so now it’s a waiting game to see if they get it right. If it makes you feel a bit better I have since found out where I plan to retire virtually has no doctors that will take this new plan unless I change back to PPO which I can’t afford..good luck! The district should issue a jar of vasoline as part of it’s employment package!
I’m really curious how this one is going to turn out. The district acted like it was no big deal to change carriers in the middle of the year. I am still waiting to see how our deductibles will be handled, since they’ve been paid to another company for the year and there’s still six months left in the year, I’m less than confident that this will turn out well. My daughter’s appointment isn’t really an optional thing at this point, it has to happen this week and could potentially cost a lot of money if the district doesn’t figure it out. I’m calling Benefits first thing in the morning and trying to find out if she can go in tomorrow (the last day of Blue Cross PPO). Typical SAUSD crap.
#423 Thank you, but I am one step ahead of the district on that one. John Palacio is watching this one for me. If I don’t hear back from the district or the sub desk by Thursday, he is handling it. He is their boss and he WILL get action for me….”Jill is back to being a John fan again…thank god.” I couldn’t stay mad at him too long. I do think he is there for us if we really need a caring soul. I apologize to John for being upset with him for a few months over this process. He does care and he will make sure that we are on that SUB LIST.
Tmare,
I have a friend who was let go and she is still supposed to be receiving benefits. She went to the dentist yesterday and guess what happened?
She wasn’t covered any longer. She was fuming mad and she needs dental work. She called the district and of course got the run a round.
Can someone *Union, *District or John please tell us what is going on with benefit situation right now? People can’t make medical appointments with this worry…this is ridiculous.
I’ve spent a good deal of time on the phone this morning. It all started with a phone call from my daughter’s doctor, I didn’t even have to call him, his office called to tell me that as of tomorrow, my daughter was no longer insured. I called the benefits office and spent a great deal of time on hold, I’m sure there are lots of people calling. I explained the situation and was told that it was the district’s mistake and they will fix it today. I then received another phone call from the doctor’s office telling me that my daughter now shows up in the system, but under an HMO and they don’t take the HMO. I called back and was told that they are on a conference call with Blue Shield and will call me back and straighten it all out today. I will continue to call them every two hours until the doctor tells me that it’s been straightened out.
You can subscribe to this…I got this today…
State Superintendent Jack O’Connell held a conference call on June 23, 2009 to review potential uses of ARRA funds and to have an initial discussion of quarterly reporting requirements. The following is also posted on the CDE ARRA webpage at http://www.cde.ca.gov/ov.
<—I NOTICED THAT THIS LINK IS BROKEN though
State Superintendent Jack O’Connell’s June 23, 2009 Teleconference with Local Educational Agencies
American Recovery and Reinvestment Update
I. State Superintendent O’Connell Open and Welcome
The goal of the California Department of Education (CDE) is to ensure that the implementation of the American Recovery ad Reinvestment Act (ARRA) is done with transparency and accountability.
To date, more than $2 billion have been released to California ’s public education system under ARRA and the amounts going to each LEA from the largest programs have been posted to the CDE ARRA webpage. Local Education Agencies (LEA) can expect to receive the State Fiscal Stabilization Funds (SFSF) based on categorical reductions (announced June 12) in the first part of July.
Today’s call affords us the opportunity to briefly review potential uses for ARRA funds, and to have an early review of the guidance on quarterly reporting requirements that the federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released on June 22, 2009. Questions remain about the reporting requirements, SFSF state plan, the Race to the Top Fund and other competitive grants. As we get confirmation from Washington , we will share it with you and will continue to keep you apprised of developments concerning ARRA implementation through CDE’s ARRA webpage, http://www.cde.ca.gov/arra Update from Office of the Secretary of Education, Kathy Radtkey-Gaither, Undersecretary of Education, Office of the Secretary of Education
The State Fiscal Stabilization Funds are critical to help bridge the financial gap LEAs are facing during this budget crisis. We will continue to work with CDE on our plan to compete for the Race to the Top Grants.
Update from Washington, David DeSchryver, Brustein & Manasevit, CDE Federal Liaison Officer
June 22 release by OMB: Guidance ARRA Quarterly Reporting Requirements available at http://www.cde.ca.gov/ar/rr/index.asp.
Highlight of the OMB guidance:
Section 1512 of ARRA requires reports on the use of ARRA funding by recipients no later than the 10th day after the end of each calendar quarter.
The first report is due on October 10, 2009, covering the period ending September 30, 2009.
What reporting is required under Sec. 1512?
1. Total amount of funds received; and of that, the amount spent on projects and activities
2. A list of those projects and activities funded by name to include:
a. Description
b. Completion status
c. Estimates on jobs created or retained
The online recipient reporting tool is expected to be available for the quarterly report due October 10, 2009 at http://www.federalreporting.gov
The federal Department of Education (ED) is working on guidelines for the State Incentive Grants (“Race to the Top” grants) and we anticipate the guidelines will be released in mid-July.
IV. Title I
Suggested uses posted at: http://www.cde.ca.gov/ar/ov/potentialuses.asp
Establishing a system for identifying and training highly effective teachers to serve as instructional leaders
Training teachers to use a new reading curriculum that aggressively works on improving students’ oral language skills and vocabulary or builds teachers’ capacity to address the academic achievement gap
Strengthening and expanding early childhood education by providing resources to align a district-wide Title I pre-K programs with state early learning standards and state content standards for grades K–3
Establishing or expanding fiscally sustainable extended-learning opportunities
The key is to make sure the spending is going toward programs supplemental to the core
V. Individuals with Disabilities Act
The IDEA ARRA funds constitute a large one-time increment in IDEA, Part B funding that offers states and LEAs a unique opportunity to improve teaching and learning for children with disabilities
Generally, funds should be used for short-term investments that have the potential for long-term benefits, rather than for expenditures the LEAs may not be able to sustain once the ARRA funds are expended
Potential Uses include:
Student focused spending such as obtaining state-of-the-art assistive technology devices to enhance access to the general curriculum for students with disabilities
Staff-focused spending, such as providing intensive district-wide professional development for special education
Expanded availability of inclusive placement options for preschoolers with disabilities (For more guidance consult the CDE webinar on Models of Preschool inclusion at, http://www.scoe.net/SEEDS/resources/lre/webinar09.html)
If you have additional questions regarding ARRA funding under IDEA, please consult the Frequently Asked Questions on the CDE webpage, http://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/se/as/arrafaq.asp
VI. State Fiscal Stabilization Fund
CDE provides resources produced by ED to illustrate examples of potential uses of ARRA funds to drive long-term educational reform and Improvement (http://www.cde.ca.gov/ar/ov/potentialuses.asp). These are the initial ideas the U.S. Department of Education is hearing from the field, but they are not comprehensive. These ideas are meant to spur thinking. All reform initiatives should be considered as a component of your standards-based reform strategies.
Focus spending on advancing core reforms and assurances of ARRA:
Improving teacher effectiveness and the equitable distribution of highly qualified teachers.
Establishing data systems and using data for improvement
Establishing College- and Career-ready standards and high quality valid, and reliable assessments for all students, including ELLs and students with disabilities
Establishing intensive support and effective intervention for lowest-performing schools
__________________________________________________
Now, just so you know…(the canned teachers who mean diddly squat to the district) have formed their own committee. Patricia is working with this committee on the budget end to make sure that the district is doing things on the up and up. Patricia is working on the financial end of things and that’s all I am going to say on that “committee” which could include a lawyer…so the district better be on the up and up.
We are WAITING for the union to do the following:
1. Get the names of teachers let go on the PRIORITY sub list and we do NOT wish to pay one fee for fingerprinting.
2. We are asking the UNION (Ms. Mercer) to post the names of the canned teachers IN ORDER OF SENIORITY by CREDENTIAL on their site or at least send us “that list”. It is public record and will give us all peace of mind. We deserve that much, Susan…by “hiding it” it just makes you look devious and we just have to keep calling and hounding you.
3. The displaced teachers would also like a list POSTED (Ms. Mercer) because they, too want to make certain that they know their # at all times as well.
Why is this so difficult? Why do they continue to HIDE this from people? This is ridiculous that everyone has to beg to get their # and we have the right to see who is ahead of us and below us on the list.
4. We need to have peace of mind that the benefit situation will be handled so people can make medical appointments over the summer when they do it the MOST.
Speak of the devil…I just got a call from Rosie Rosales and she is making sure that we are on the sub priority list.
She told me my # but wouldn’t send me “the list” of names or people. She told me to get that from the Union …so here I am asking the Union to get the list POSTED or sent out…AGAIN.
Rosie told us all “to be patient”. I have met with her before and she is pretty good to deal with. She wanted to help, but I want that list of names.
John, can you get that list for us?
Well, it’s now 2:45 and I’m still waiting for the district to call back regarding benefits that are supposed to start tomorrow, now all I get is a machine. I phoned the union to give them a heads up for potential problems, I now know two couples who received their cards this week, one couple received cards with both names and the other only with the employees names. Check your insurance everyone before you have to do what I am doing today.
2nd Update from Susan Mercer (received toda)
Here’s a SUMMARY…
RIF teachers need to tell the District of their interest in subbing by calling Blanca Godinez at 714-558-5716 or emailing her at blanca.godinez@sausd.us <—I already did this (emailed) cc: John Palacio (heard NOTHING from her) I do things in WRITING always
You will not need to be fingerprinted
You will not need a TB test. (unless its due)
Long term positions will be offered to RIF’d teachers first.
The sub-system has a feature by which the District can tell it who has priority. RIF’d teachers will have priority. The system will call all the RIF’d teachers before calling the subs.
Please remember that you start getting your daily pay after subbing 20 days within a 60 day period; on the 21st day. Therefore, your paycheck in September and probably October will have subpay.
If you applied for unemployment, verify with the unemployment office how subbing will affect your unemployment.
Regarding the Special Education Internship Program; if you enrolled in the Special Education Intern program through the Orange County Department of Education and you got a Provisional Acceptance letter please give a copy to Rosie Rosales in Human Resources by July 15th or as soon as you get it. The District will call the teachers who where accepted into the intern program to offer them Special Education openings. The calling will be done by seniority. When the RIF teacher accepts an opening their RIF will be rescinded.
_________________________________________________
I see what they plan to do (just a prediction) they are going to hire interns back before us…baloney…..they better not being doing this.
Jill,
Most of the to be interns are already RIF teachers. I tried to get into the program, but it was already full. I wonder if this is their way of trying to get people to teach special education since they have a lot of openings. So of course RIF teachers will go through the program if they have the 10,000 bucks it costs to go through it. The way I understood the letter is that they will hire those interns based on their seniority of the RIF list. So yes that means that they may have been hired before you, but because they chose to go in the program, they get to get an internship and get rescinded under special education.
An update on benefits. One of my colleagues who retired this year just called me. I had told him of the problems I was having yesterday. He wondered why he hadn’t received a card from Blue Shield so he called and found out that none of the retirees have benefits as of tonight at 12:00. The district neglected to send in the list of the retired teachers and so they apparently sent it in this afternoon and they will need to wait for Blue Shield to process it.
I was given a new medical ID# number and gave that number to the doctor, the doctor’s office ran the numbers and it still shows up as an HMO, not a PPO, so I’ve spent all day on the phone and I’m back to square one. The district person says that she can’t call the doctor because when she tried (several times), the doctor’s number has been disconnected, this is the doctor that I have called both 10 minutes before talking to her and one minute after talking to her. She says that the district phones won’t allow her to call him. Again, typical SAUSD.
434 Yes, thanks I am aware of it…I attended the special ed meeting…but I am not paying $10,000 to teach/work in the Staba Ana Unif…
All I am saying is…they must be put in “special ed” assignments.
Mr. Ching is keeping a close eye I’m sure.
Want me to make ya all a little chart….
Step 1 Rif teachers (mscredential) tell them to go to Special Ed meeting
Step 2 District/Union makes DEAL with Fullerton and Chapman …you scratch our back..we’ll scratch yours
Step 3 Mercer comes to schools pushes RIF(ed) to get special ed and math credentials
Step 4 Teachers dumb enough and desperate enough pay $10,000 to get “this program” that one can get at an accredited program online for half the price…
Step 5 Enroll the fools into the $10,000 club…give them their job back but as an “intern”
Step 6 District gets a “cut” from the 2 colleges or whatever they call themselves (thieves) and everyone is happy.
Step 7 Teachers work for the district under deplorable conditions while the district is laughing all the way to the bank in their Mercedes
I don’t mean to offend anyone…I am just telling it like it really is…
Does anyone see a pattern here?
Benefits going backwards
Pay going backwards
Class loads going HIGHER
Cronies staying
High Salaried staying
The sacks of potatoes fired
Behind the scenes garbage going on
Union doesn’t post list or numbers
District won’t post list or numbers
I don’t believe for one minute that the sub phone is set up like that…can I come down and see for myself what names will be on that sub phone? I am not just going to take the word of the devious.
I doubt until I trust…I trust when I am not deceived.
Riffed teachers are also supposed to be called for sub jobs in order of their hire date. Will they be putting that info into the system also?
I’ve never heard of a sub desk system that can do this, but I will be contacting the owner of the system to find out what “exactly” the system can do. I may just CALL a few other district’s to find out what “their” sub desk phone can do.
Susan, I appreciate the fact that you could be trying over there. I don’t want to be hard on you, but at the same time, I don’t want to be naive either.
JillI love all that you have been saying lately. I too don’t think the sub desk can do that either. Although I am only a second year teacher, I am still a person who is a number on the RIF list that does not want to get replaced by somebody new coming in to sub for the district. If they do not hire back, we make up half of the sub list I am sure. I however, am not sure how many subs they had on last year. It always seems to me as though we are short subs all the time in middle school. It seems to me as if it would be easy to sub 21 days in a 60 day period. When I was a sub for SAUSD, I use to get calls non-stop to sub. What I do know is that they did send out the paperwork to the subs who subbed this year. They had to turn it in by a certain date to be back on the sublist for next year. I spoke to a sub who subbed at our school and told him that he would most likely not sub if they do not hire a lot back because the teachers will be the ones to sub. So in the end, who knows how many people will get hired back and how many will be on the sublist. I too will keep a close eye to make sure I damn well sub before somebody else does who was a sub last year and not a teacher. I can go on forever here, but I will leave it at this.
I went from PPO to HMO and added my husband. I have paperwork to prove it. Tomorrow will be July 1st and all I have to show for the change is one HMO card for me – nothing for husband. And nothing for the change in dental. Guess I will have to call benefits. Ugh!
#422
Be prepared to wait around. You might want to try the Blue Shield number to verify spouse coverage, I know of only one person who received their card with their spouses name on it, they may only issue cards to the primary holder of the policy. Who knows, but from today’s experience, I’d try Blue Shield first, not the district, if they say your spouse is covered, ask them for another card for him/her.
tmare thanks. I have to call them anyway because I can’t locate any info on my card that shows the Dr. I chose so I’ll have them check on his eligibility at the same time.
Even though I didn’t choose the HMO, so of course, I didn’t choose a doctor, the letter goes on about possibly not getting the doctor I chose and mentions something about the doctor listed, but there is no doctor listed, so I understand what you are saying. I guess we all need to understand that this is a mess, those that fix it earliest are probably the winners. So, ready, set, go!
Anon #442 & 444
As I mentioned to tmare I had some problems with my HMO coverage and cards too. While it wasn’t much help for her problems what happened to you is close to what happened to me. I received only 1 card. My name was on the front as the provider and my spouses name was on the back with the wrong doctor. A call to Blue Shield giving my new ID number off the card brought up all the information to the representative I was talking to.
He changed the doctors and said I would have my corrected cards in 7 to 10 days. That was Friday. Today (Tuesdday) I got the cards. My name is on the front of the cards but on the back of one is my name and doctor group and on the back of the other card is my spouses name and doctor group.
The call didn’t take forever either. When given the chance just start saying representative to get a live body to talk to. One other thing. I don’t know if it is normal or not but maybe because the cards are so flimsy and cheap I got two sets..hope that’s a little help.
COBRA Question
I spoke to a friend today who told me that she got her COBRA payment down because of The American Recovery And Reinvestment Act. It seems as though I qualify for it, but how do I apply to it? Does it have to be done through the district?
Thanks, Anonplus, I’m sincerely hoping that everyone doesn’t have the crazy experience that I had today, it’s still not resolved, but I’m hoping it will be by tomorrow at 9:00 am. There seems to be some inconsistency with listing spouses on cards, some have it, some don’t. It would seem that a call to Blue Shield might suffice for most of you, consider yourselves lucky.
Has anyone received new dental cards yet?
State puts 19 school districts on ‘negative’ financial list
http://www.scpr.org/news/2009/06/30/school-districts-negative-financial/
My question for the day is: We need 8 Assistant Superintendents because???????????
We need assistants to the assistants because??????
We need BTSA because??????
We need TOSA because???? (not working directly with children) some may, not all do…<—see no one ENFORCES what they “do” really. They make it up for the day. Coffee, tea anyone?
Once again, I am not sure that what to think about this article because Patricia has told me differently (she is keeping a close eye on their finances).
I am still wondering why we STILL have all of the bigwigs and why we are cutting the people who work directly with children.
Lastly, the SAUSD is NOT a bank and therefore should not be run as such (hanging on to stimulus money that was meant to be used to save jobs and help children) not HOARD it and bank it.
Remember, the SAUSD is NOT a bank…it’s a school district that is supposed to be servicing CHILDREN not adults. So the $$$$ should NOT be used to service the assistant superintendent and Jane’s perks. Sick of all of them…Reallllly
I also HEARD that the reason the music program always stays is because Mendez (asst sup) used to be a in a band and that’s his baby. See, the TRUTH always comes out in the end.
I HOPE that this district is taken over by the state and that all the bigwigs LOSE their jobs.
For once, they would KNOW how these people feel year after year (not necessarily me) I could care less REALLY (numb from it all now).
I truly believe that something BETTER is out there and that won’t be difficult to attain because the SAUSD is pretty bad….the WORST in fact that I have EVER worked for and I have worked for 2 other school districts. They didn’t treat their employees like this district does. I worked for the San Bernardino Unif for 12 years and also worked in Riverside as their District Reading Specialist. Neither district treated their employees like sacks of potatoes. I prefer living in Orange County, but I would work for SB again definitely if they were in this area.