Award-Winning Newspaper of United Teachers Los Angeles • www.utla.net Volume XLVII, Number 8, May 25, 2018

‘Teacher storm’ gathers in LAUTLA’s All In escalation moves toward possible strike vote in fall.

The national wave of teacher protests hit LA on May 24, with more than 12,000 people rallying loud and proud in down-town LA to defend public education.

“We are here in the spirit of West Virgin-ia, Arizona, Oklahoma, and Puerto Rico,” UTLA President Alex Caputo-Pearl told the crowd at Grand Park. “Teachers are taking action because we’re too close to the tipping point of losing public educa-tion. Just like in those states, if we don’t change the direction of the district and the state of California, we won’t have a public education system in five years.”

Rebecca Garelli, a middle school science teacher who helped lead the walk-ins and successful strike in Arizona, brought soli-darity from the front lines of that fight.

neighborhood public schools like Dorsey High, where Students Deserve coalition leader Marshe Doss attends 11th grade.

“Words can’t even describe how thank-ful I am for all of you—the UTLA teachers here today—fighting for a new contract, for our dignity, for school funding, for what our schools deserve,” Doss said. “Students deserve a school that meets our needs—a school with a full-time nurse, with a full-time librarian, with all sorts of electives. We deserve a school where there aren’t 42 other kids in my classes, a school where I don’t get pulled out of my math class every day and searched for weapons, a school with more college counselors—a school where I feel like they want me to succeed.”

Even with a projected $1.7 billion reserve,

“The teacher storm has been brewing for quite some time, has finally descended, and I am so proud to stand here with you all during this historic time,” Garelli said. “Our profession has collectively realized that we are targets of a massive plan to defund and destroy our public schools.”

In California, decades of underfunding have left the state 46th out of 50 in per-pupil funding. Although California is the fifth-largest economy in the world, it ranks 48th out of 50 in teacher-student ratio. In LAUSD, the shameful underfunding of schools is exacerbated by the district’s open-door policy for the corporate charter industry, which has grown at a 287% clip and sucks $600 million from our schools every year. That financial drain starves

LAUSD refuses to make progress on UTLA’s contract demands that would help sustain the district into the future, including fair pay, less standardized testing, more voice for educators and parents, regulation of charter schools, lower class sizes, support for special education, and more counselors, school nurses, psychologists, and teacher librarians. UTLA members were out in force on May 24 to call for LAUSD to make prog-ress for a fair contract.

“We’re here to demand that the district start negotiating properly,” Gage Middle School teacher Ted Hampton said. “We want a raise so that my principal can hire talent and so that we can pay our bills and take care of our families. We want

Vote Thurmond & Newsom on June 5

Make the pick for public schools

Page 6

(continued on page 5)

United Teacher • for the latest news: www.utla.net May 25, 2018

2

President’s perspective

The time to force change is now

By Alex Caputo-Pearl UTLA President

On May 24, more than 12,000 of us gathered in Grand Park for the All In for Respect rally in the spirit of teacher re-bellions happening across the country. We gathered because—just like in West Virginia, Arizona, Oklahoma, and Puerto Rico—we’re too close to the tipping point of losing public education. We gathered because if we don’t change the direction of the district and the state, we won’t have a public education system in five years. We gathered because we know that the time to force change is now.

Our members created an electricity at the May 24 rally I haven’t seen since February 2015 with our Stand at Grand rally number one. It is clear that if the district does not agree to improve our schools and end its unfair labor practices, a supermajority of UTLA members will be prepared to vote to strike in the fall. As I milled through the gathering crowd before the program started, as hundreds constantly poured down the steps from the train station to the park, so many school groups talked with me excitedly, passionately, and with resolve to fight: Shea Franklin Shanks (whom I taught next door to in Compton my first years of teaching) and the Sharp Elementary group; Scott Banks, Mike Finn, and the Marshall High group; Gricelda Gutierrez and the Telfair Elementary group; Rosa Melendez and the Mulholland Middle group; Stuart Hall and the Wilmington Middle School group; and so many more.

The front page LA Times story, with the

incredible, electric photo of the mass of our members in Grand Park, was the tip of the iceberg in fantastic media coverage.

The power of our May 24 rally was multiplied by the partners with us yester-day and every day of this fight: students, parents, community members, school staff from SEIU Local 99, Reclaim Our Schools LA, ACCE, LAANE, Students Deserve, UFCW, CSEA, Padres En Contra De La Privatizacion, the Alliance charter educa-tors who just filed for union recognition, student performers, the incredible move-ment music of LAUSD alumna Martha Gon-zalez of Quetzal and the musicians with her, the inspiring students from Southeast High School who have organized sit-ins against charter co-location, speakers who spoke of the strike in Arizona, and so many more.

More than 12,000 of us rallied on May 24 because we know that public education will not be saved by billionaire privatizer Eli Broad. It won’t be saved by the California Charter Schools Association, which drives the unchecked expansion of the charter industry at the cost of public education’s existence. It won’t be saved by Antonio Vil-laraigosa, whose gubernatorial campaign is being funded almost exclusively by 14 wealthy privatizers. It won’t be saved by criminally indicted LAUSD School Board member Ref Rodriguez and the board ma-jority that depends on his corrupt vote. And it won’t be saved by the LAUSD superin-tendent—or should I say millionaire CEO of LAUSD—Austin Beutner.

We are who will save public educa-tion in Los Angeles with our vision for a sustainable, thriving system that respects educators and serves all students.

Our vision:• Lower class size. It’s shameful that

California is 48th out of 50 in teacher-stu-dent ratio and that the district refuses to agree to our class-size contract demands.

• More nurses, psychologists, counsel-ors, librarians, and mental health support for our students. It’s shameful that Cali-fornia has 8,091 students per librarian and

the district refuses our contract demands to increase critical health and human ser-vices staffing.

• A stronger voice for educators and parents in local school decisions.

• A fair salary increase. It’s shameful that the LA School Board accepted a 174% pay raise last year and offers its educators only 2%.

• More music, arts, ethnic studies, and electives for our students.

• Common-sense regulation of the 287% growth of corporate, privatized charter schools that drains $600 million from our schools every year.

• Support for special education• Administrative accountability for

school safety and discipline.• An end to over-testing and top-down

mandates that steal days of instructional time from our most vulnerable kids.

• A leadership role for LAUSD in sup-porting immigrant students, challenging racism, advocating for affordable housing, and creating green space at our schools. It’s shameful that LAUSD wrings its hands about the impacts of poverty and racism on students but won’t stand up and use its power for real policy change.

• Investment in the Community Schools model. LAUSD needs to take a page from cities like Cincinnati, Austin, and Baltimore and fund a Community School model with broader and deeper curriculum for our students, systematic parent engagement, and wrap-around services for families.

This is the vision that will save public education in Los Angeles—and I challenge Austin Beutner to embrace it.

Early signs are not good that this will happen. Beutner was installed by the school board majority despite an utter lack of qualifications to be the leader of a public school district. His expertise as a millionaire private equity investment banker is in dismantling institutions and selling them off for profit. Our schools don’t need investment bankers—we need

(continued on next page)

United Teacher PRESIDENT Alex Caputo-Pearl NEA AFFILIATE VP Cecily Myart-Cruz AFT AFFILIATE VP Juan Ramirez ELEMENTARY VP Gloria Martinez SECONDARY VP Daniel Barnhart TREASURER Alex Orozco SECRETARY Arlene Inouye

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Jeff Good

BOARD OF DIRECTORSNORTH AREA: Karla Griego, Chair (Buchanan ES), Mark Ramos (Contreras LC), Rebecca Solomon (RFK UCLA

Comm. School), Julie Van Winkle (LOOC Liason)

SOUTH AREA: Maria Miranda, Chair (Miramonte ES), Ayde Bravo (Maywood ES), L. Cynthia Matthews

(McKinley ES), Karen Ticer-Leon (Tweedy ES)

EAST AREA: Adrian Tamayo, Chair (Lorena ES), Ingrid Gunnell (Salary Point Advisor), Yolanda Tamayo

(Lorena ES), Gillian Russom (Roosevelt HS)

WEST AREA: Erika Jones Crawford, Chair (CTA Direc-tor), Georgia Flowers Lee (Saturn ES), Noah Lippe-Klein

(Dorsey HS), Larry Shoham (Hamilton HS)

CENTRAL AREA: José Lara, Chair (Santee EC), Kelly Flores (Hawkins HS), Tomás Flores (West Vernon

ES), Claudia Rodriquez (49th Street)

VALLEY EAST AREA: Scott Mandel, Chair (Pacoima Magnet), Victoria Casas (Beachy ES), Mel House (Elementary P.E.), Hector Perez-Roman (Arleta HS)

VALLEY WEST AREA: Bruce Newborn, Chair (Hale Charter), Melodie Bitter (Lorne ES), Wendi Davis

(Henry MS), Javier Romo (Mulholland MS)

HARBOR AREA: Steve Seal, Chair (Eshelman ES), Karen Macias-Lutz (Del Amo ES), Jennifer McAfee

(Dodson MS), Elgin Scott (Taper ES)

ADULT & OCCUP ED: Matthew Kogan (Evans CAS)

BILINGUAL EDUCATION: Cheryl L. Ortega (Sub Unit)

EARLY CHILDHOOD ED: Corina Gomez (Pacoima EEC)

HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES: Mallorie Evans (Marlton Spec Ed)

SPECIAL ED: Lucía Arias (Sub Unit)

SUBSTITUTES: Benny Madera

PACE CHAIR: Marco Flores

UTLA RETIRED: John Perez

AFFILIATIONS American Federation of Teachers National Education Association

STATE & NATIONAL OFFICERSCFT PRESIDENT: Joshua Pechthalt

CTA PRESIDENT: Eric Heins CTA DIRECTOR: Erika Jones Crawford

CFT VICE PRESIDENTS: Arlene Inouye, John Perez, Juan Ramirez NEA PRESIDENT: Lily Eskelsen Garcia AFT PRESIDENT: Randi Weingarten

AFT VICE PRESIDENT: Alex Caputo-PearlNEA DIRECTOR: Mel House

UTLA COMMUNICATIONS EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Alex Caputo-Pearl

COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Anna BakalisCOMMUNICATIONS SPECIALISTS: Kim Turner,

Carolina Barreiro, Tammy Lyn Gann, Pablo SerranoADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT: Laura Aldana

EDITORIAL INFORMATIONUNITED TEACHER

3303 Wilshire Blvd., 10th Fl., LA, CA 90010Email: UTnewspaper@utla.netUTLA main line: 213-487-5560

ADVERTISINGSenders Communications Group

Brian Bullen: 818-884-8966, ext. 1108

UNITED TEACHER accepts paid advertisements from outside companies and organizations, including UTLA sponsors and vendors with no relationship with UTLA. Only approved vendors can use the UTLA logo in their ads. The content of an advertisement is the responsibility of the advertiser alone, and UTLA cannot be held responsible for its accuracy, veracity, or reliability. Appearance of an advertisement should not be viewed as an endorsement or recommendation by United Teachers Los Angeles.

United Teacher (ISSN # 0745-4163) is published nine times a year (monthly except for February, June, and July) by United Teachers Los Angeles, 3303 Wilshire Blvd., 10th Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90010. Subscrip-tions: $20.00 per year. (Price included in dues/agency fee of UTLA bargaining unit members.) Periodicals postage paid at Los Angeles, California. POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to United Teacher, 3303 Wilshire Blvd., 10th Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90010. Telephone 213-487-5560.

Alex speaking at the May 24 rally: “Are you ready to fight for our students? Are you ready to fight for our schools? Are you ready to fight for respect?” 

5 critical actions Let’s use the momentum of the May

24 rally to get critical work done at our school sites over the next two weeks—work we absolutely need done before summer. Read more details in Alex’s column and please make sure you do every one of these ASAP:

1. If you haven’t yet, sign an All In membership card to protect us against the coming attacks of the US Supreme Court, and get it to your chapter chair.

2. Vote for Gavin Newsom for Governor and Tony Thurmond for State Superin-tendent before or on June 5. This is critical to defeating privatizers Antonio Villaraigosa and Marshall Tuck.

3. If you haven’t yet, sign the Schools and Communities First petition to get our $11 billion revenue measure on the ballot.

4. If you haven’t yet, sign the “Take Action” contract escalation commit-ment petition in support of taking strike votes in September, if we find it neces-sary to do so.

5. Help make sure your school has a UTLA chapter chair next year and get the notice of chapter chair election form in ASAP.

We are the ones who will save public education in Los Angeles.

United Teacher • for the latest news: www.utla.net May 25, 2018

3

Get connected to UTLA Facebook: facebook.com/UTLAnow

Twitter: @utlanow

YouTube: youtube.com/UTLAnow

4 Wilton EEC community fights for teacher targeted by administrator Kimberly Hinston wins her job back with support of parents and colleagues.

6 Supporting candidates who support public education UTLA endorsements for California’s primary election on June 5.

7 Colleagues honor their own for excellence UTLA members recognized with Platinum Apple awards.

8 Students and teachers lobby side by side for increased funding Group travels to Sacramento to talk to legislators about AB 2731, which would close tax loopholes for hedge fund managers.

More rally photos on page 5.

In this issue

PRESIDENT’S PERSPECTIVE (continued from previous page)

investment in our kids.Beutner and LAUSD need to pick a side.

Are they on the side of parents, students, and educators or on the side of closing schools, firing teachers, and destroying public education?

How we winHere’s how we win our vision for public

education.First, the district needs to stop sitting

on a $1.7 billion reserve and spend it on kids and classrooms.

Second, state officials in Sacramento need to get California out of 46th place among the 50 states in per-pupil funding. Everyone needs to jump onboard UTLA’s 20 by 20 campaign to reach $20,000 per student in per-pupil funding by the year 2020. Three critical initiatives are in the works right now to help do that. UTLA is part of an historic effort to get the Schools and Communities First initiative on the California ballot to generate $11 billion annually for public education and social services. We are part of the national effort to make support for HR 2902 a bright line issue in every US Congressional race, as it finally would get the federal government to live up to its financial promise to special education students. And there’s California Assembly Bill 2731, which would close the hedge-fund and private equity tax loop-hole (and, in fact, Beutner himself may be hit by this tax as someone very involved in private equity). Legislators on both sides of the aisle agree that this is an unfair tax break for the financial sector.

Third, we must stop privatization. LAUSD needs to bargain regulation of corporate charter growth and co-locations with us. Accountability for charter opera-tors includes not letting them silence their own teachers. We support our unionized charter educators, including the coura-geous teachers at Alliance, in forming and strengthening their union. We must all sign the All In membership cards to stop wealthy privatizers from using the impend-ing Janus decision in the Supreme Court to undermine our union. And, we need to stop privatizers Antonio Villaraigosa and Marshall Tuck at the ballot box.

Five end-of-the-year actions To win, we organize. We know that

when we escalate with collective action, we win; when we join together with parents, students, and school communities to build power, we win. We did this in 2014 when we pushed John Deasy out as superinten-dent and in 2015 when we won a 10% pay increase. We did this earlier this year when we saved our healthcare from steep cuts. And now we’re doing it to win a contract that LA students and educators deserve.

There are five critical things that all members must do before the school year wraps up so that we are positioned for absolute, maximum strength.

1. If you haven’t already, sign your UTLA All In membership card

Last week, our members were targeted by the ultra-right-wing Freedom Foun-dation with emails urging them to drop UTLA membership. We knew this attack was coming—the group has hit our sisters and brothers with well-funded campaigns in Washington, Oregon, San Diego, Co-

10 Passings

14 WHO Award winners

17 Join PACE

18 CTA State Council unexpired term elections

20 UTLA-Retired

21 Bilingual issues

22 Classifieds

rona-Norco, San Bernardino, and other places. The Freedom Foundation is a front group for corporate special interests and the ultra-wealthy who want to cut public ser-vices and jobs, reduce employee pensions, and turn public services like education over to private corporations. They’ve set their sights on unions because we’re the biggest obstacle to their agenda. Getting 100% of our members committed to our union is how we protect our retirement, our health-care, and our professional future. Sign the All In card and get it to your chapter chair.

2. Before or on June 5, vote for Newsom and Thurmond

We must stop privatizers Antonio Vil-laraigosa and Marshall Tuck from getting elected by voting for Gavin Newsom for governor and Tony Thurmond for state su-perintendent on June 5. Take a look on page 6 at Villaraigosa and Tuck’s donors—and their connections to Betsy DeVos, Trump, Eli Broad, and other privatizers—to see who would have their hands on the levers of power in California if they are elected.

3. Be sure you’ve signed the Schools & Communities First petition

If you haven’t signed the Schools & Com-munities First petition or seen one yet, ask your chapter chair as soon as possible. We’re working to get the Schools & Communities First funding act on the 2020 ballot. By as-sessing commercial properties at fair market value, the act would reclaim $11 billion an-nually for schools and local services. We can no longer afford to keep giving billions of dollars in tax breaks to millionaires, bil-lionaires, and big corporations.

4. Commit to our possible strike vote in the fall

Since March, UTLA members have been signing the “Take Action” petition to commit ourselves to escalating actions to put pressure on the district for a fair contract. Talk to your chapter chair and make sure you checked the box “Septem-ber strike vote if necessary” on the contract commitment petition. We know from West Virginia, Arizona, Oklahoma, and Puerto Rico that part of escalation is getting strike-

ready. We will fight and negotiate as hard as we can for an agreement this year, but if the district continues to refuse to come to an agreement and end its unfair labor practices, we will take strike votes in the fall and we must be ready to walk.

5. Make sure your school has a chapter chair

With a possible strike vote in the fall, it’s critical that every site have a UTLA chapter chair in place for the 2018-19 school year. Current chapter chairs must report the results of the election at your site to UTLA, even if you have been reelected. If your school hasn’t held your election yet, talk to your colleagues and make it happen.

It’s a privilege to do this work with all of you. You are wonderful. Stand with pride as an educator, and as a fighter for public education. Congratulations on reaching the end of another academic year, and let’s move into the summer inspired by the tre-mendous energy of May 24. We are together, the community is with us, and we can do this. Have a wonderful, wonderful summer.

Alex with SEIU Local 99 members marking their contract victory. UTLA’s declaration of a sympathy strike with Local 99 helped push LAUSD back to the bargaining table. Read more on page 4.

United Teacher • for the latest news: www.utla.net May 25, 2018

4

Kimberly Hinkston was targeted for standing up to bully principal.

Agreement reached the same day UTLA vowed to join picket lines.

In September 2016, when Kimberly Hinkston got her first key to her own class-room at Wilton Place Early Education Center, she was beyond excited. Having worked her way up from a teaching assistant at other LAUSD schools, Hinkston was ready to get to work and be a part of a family-focused school. As a bonus, her principal went out of her way to make her feel welcome.

But Hinkston soon discovered there was a dark side to being liked by the principal, who started telling her which teachers to trust and whom not to talk to, with the divide falling largely along racial lines.

“She was grooming me for her inner circle, always telling me ‘I’ve got your back,’ ” Hinkston says. “She told me, ‘We need more teachers here like us,’ pointing to her skin color.”

Even in the world of dysfunctional ad-ministrators, the stories staff members would tell about the Wilton EEC principal were alarming. Teachers on the princi-pal’s good side could take longer breaks and didn’t have to follow the school rules. Favored teachers were pulled to hang out in the principal’s office, disregarding the staffing ratios needed in the classroom. The principal hired family members as aides who, with the authority of the familial connection, would undercut teachers’ di-rections. One unfavored teacher was given a demanding class she did not want to try to force her into early retirement.

Hinkston, as a probationary teacher without the job protection that comes with permanent status, tried to lay low.

“What really got me was that I could see great teachers being targeted,” Hinkston said. “They were excellent educators but they were being persecuted simply because they were on the principal’s bad side.”

An act of conscienceThe turning point came, Hinkston says,

when the principal tried to get her to fabri-cate an allegation against another teacher. When she refused, the principal warned Hinkston that there would be repercus-sions for not falling in line.

Sure enough, in staff meetings where Hinkston used to be praised, she was now belittled. The principal issued a trumped-up conference memo claiming that Hinkston had left children unsupervised and other false allegations. Even under this pressure, Hinkston knew LAUSD had to be alerted to the serious issues with the administrator. At the end of the 2016-17 school year, she wrote a detailed email to the local district director and the LAUSD Ethics Committee laying out the princi-pal’s unethical behavior.

“I thought long and hard before doing it,” Hinkston says. “I was 100% sure I was going to lose my job, but I had to do something.”

The district’s response to her email was a meeting with LAUSD, in which the dis-trict official sided with the principal.

“They told me I was the first to ever complain about her,” Hinkston says.

At first it seemed like Hinkston’s coura-geous move was going to make things worse. Someone had stood up, but nothing was going to change, giving school staff the im-pression that the principal was untouchable.

The problems were exacerbated by

On May 8, SEIU Local 99 reached a tentative agreement with LAUSD after more than a year of bargaining. The agreement was the product of months of organizing by Local 99, includ-ing worksite picketing, a 94% YES vote for strike authorization, and announcement of a one-day strike on May 15 linked to unfair labor practices by LAUSD.

UTLA’s swift joining of that one-day strike helped spur action. The day that UTLA announced that educators would join Local 99’s picket lines, LAUSD—after refusing to bargain over the weekend—reached out to SEIU for a meeting, and a deal was reached that afternoon.  The lasting message of SEIU’s victory is that escalating actions and solidarity among

the fact that the school did not have an active UTLA chapter. UTLA Area rep Pablo Murillo, who had begun organizing the site, said that on his first visit to Wilton, no one came to the meeting and he sensed fear in the hallways. It was becoming clear that the issues with the administrator could only be addressed if the school stood together to advocate for change. Hinkston stepped up to be the new UTLA chapter chair.

“We can’t stay in the shadows”The Wilton EEC staff began the 2017-18

school year with some hope, vowing to hold regular union meetings and work together.

“I started to feel like, with one collective voice, we can do this,” Hinkston said. “Ad-ministration does not have the right to ruin teachers’ lives and reputations and hurt our students’ education in the process.”

Murillo encouraged staff members to document examples of egregious behavior by the principal.

“We need more people to say it,” Murillo told the staff. “The district will always side with an administration unless there is compelling weight of evidence and voices speaking out. These allegations are serious, and we have to address them. We can’t stay in the shadows.”

Murillo compiled a devastating report detailing charges of unethical, discrimi-natory, and unprofessional behavior by the principal. Attached were 11 staff state-ments, parent letters, and petitions. There were so many allegations that Murillo organized them into an annotated, col-ored-coded binder.

In November, armed with the testimo-ny-filled binder, Murillo and Hinkston went to the district to meet with Staff Re-lations. Five days later, the principal at Wilton Place EEC was removed.

The victory was short-lived. In Decem-ber Hinkston received a notice of suspen-sion for the earlier false allegations and then a notice of nonreelection, meaning that she would lose her job at the end of the school year. The timing was suspect to say the least: The principal had made the allegations in July—right after Hinkston had sent her original email to the district—for an incident that had happened all the way back in April.

“I was so tired by this time,” Hinkston said. “I love the kids, I love the parents, and my reputation is everything to me, but I wasn’t sure I had any fight left in me. I decided I was fine with walking away quietly.”

She told Murillo her decision, but after letting it sit for a few days, they decided to fight.

“As a probationary teacher, Kim had limited rights under the contract, but it is our duty to challenge unjust actions,” Murillo said.

Community starts organizingStaff members started talking to parents,

letting them know that Hinkston was being let go and sharing concerns they had with the principal’s divisive style and unethical behavior, in case the principal’s removal was only temporary.

“It turned out that parents had many of the same problems with the administrator as

union sisters and brothers can push LAUSD to do the right thing for our schools.

UTLA has been in the forefront of supporting our co-workers’ fight against these unfair practices and in support of their workplace rights and respect. SEIU 99 represents workers who are essen-tial to our schools—custodians, bus drivers, warehouse workers, building and grounds workers, special education assistants, teaching assistants, cafeteria workers, campus aides, and more. 

Now it is time for LAUSD to address UTLA’s key bargaining priorities, in-cluding lower class size, increased per-pupil funding, fair wages, and increased staffing, including nurses, counselors, psychologists, and librarians.

the teachers, and they loved Kim,” Murillo said. “They know she’s a great teacher.”

In January, the parents and UTLA members started a campaign of escalat-ing actions building to March 13, the date after which Hinkston’s termination would be final. The parent-driven actions included rallies in front of the school, a petition drive, and phone calls and emails to the school board. Murillo distributed flyers to early education centers across LAUSD, asking chapter chairs to pass them out to their parents.

As pressure mounted on LAUSD, Murillo and UTLA Elementary Vice President Gloria Martinez met with the Local District West superintendent and presented their evi-dence about the false allegations against Hinkston, including witnesses who con-tradicted the principal’s version of events. Within just over a week, the suspension and the nonreelect notice were removed, and Hinkston’s positon at Wilton was saved.

“I’ll never forget when the parents told me, ‘We’re here to help,’ ” Hinkston says. “In the end, everyone is here for the babies. Our classrooms are a home. It’s family style here at Wilton.”

Hinkston says that there are still issues to work on at Wilton, including mending left-over staff divisions, but the school is peaceful and the new administrator has made it clear that “that was then, this is now.”

“This is the environment I wanted for my students when I first started,” Hinkston says. “It took a lot, but in the end it was worth it. Every teacher should have the right to follow their conscience without fear of losing their job.”

Community saves teacher’s job

Union solidarity helps avert SEIU 99 one-day strike

The Wilton Place EEC community (above) rallied behind Kimberly Hinkston (below) when she took a courageous stand against an unethical principal.

United Teacher • for the latest news: www.utla.net May 25, 2018

5

more librarians, counselors, psycholo-gists—everything at the school to help our students.”

For Fishburn Elementary teacher Brenda Labrousse, “respect” means honoring the professional knowledge of teachers.

“We need to be trusted that we know what to do in the classroom,” Labrousse said. “We know the standards and how

As part of our escalating actions building to the May 24 All In for Respect rally, UTLA members picketed school sites on April 19, followed by boycotting faculty meetings in May.

“Teachers at this time of the morning are usually in the classroom preparing lesson plans and working with students who need extra help,” Dena El-ementary chapter chair Martha Gandara said at her school’s lively rally on April 19. “But today we had to come out of our rooms to send this message to our district: We demand a fair contract.”

The boycotts began May 2 to show LAUSD that we can withhold our labor if needed to get the district to make prog-ress on fair pay, lower class size, and other demands for better schools.”

“As a faculty, we boycotted together

to show we’re united behind the purpose of ensuring that our schools are given the proper resources to help students succeed,” Fulton College Prep chapter chair John Howard said.

For more shots from April 19, check out our Facebook album at facebook.com/UTLAnow.

This is how we do rally prep: Picketing & faculty meeting boycotts

Fulton College Prep unites behind faculty meeting boycotts in May.

#ArmMeWithResources picketing in April at Dahlia Heights.

FAIR CONTRACT (continued from the cover)

“I love that UTLA is fighting for Community Schools,” Dorsey High School student Marshe Doss said at the rally. “A school that is fully resourced in my community, so I don’t have to leave my neighborhood to go to a school with college counselors, with nurses, with electives, with therapists.”

to meet them. We’re always getting top-down mandates that take time away from what we’re doing.”

Kennedy High School teacher Amarpreet Kooner backs UTLA’s contract demands for more resources for her special education students and lower class sizes all around.

“We can have 50 students in a Spanish class,” Kooner said. “With that many, all you can do is look them in the eye and hope you can channel something into them.”

The May 24 rally was the culmination of a year of escalating actions—from regional

rallies and school-site picketing to faculty meeting boycotts. If LAUSD refuses to come to an agreement and end its unfair labor practices, UTLA will take our fight to the next level in the fall.

“We know from West Virginia and other states that part of escalation is getting strike-ready,” Caputo-Pearl said. “We will negoti-ate as hard as we can for an agreement this year, but if the district continues to refuse a fair contract, we will take strike votes in the fall, and we must be ready to walk for the respect we and our students deserve.”

United Teacher • for the latest news: www.utla.net May 25, 2018

6

GAVIN NEWSOM - GOVERNOR TONY THURMOND - SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION

Paid for by Political Action Council of Educators, Sponsored by Teachers Unions, Including United Teachers Los Angeles. This advertisement was not authorized by a candidate or committee controlled by a candidate.

Support candidates who support public education

UTLA endorsements for June 5

STATEWIDE RACES

Gavin NewsomGovernorTony ThurmondSuperintendent of Public InstructionDave JonesAttorney GeneralRicardo LaraInsurance CommissionerDr. Ed Hernandez Lieutenant Governor of California

STATE SENATE

Mike EngState Senate District 22Maria Elena DurazoState Senate District 24 

ASSEMBLY

Christy SmithAssembly District 38Luz RivasAssembly District 39Jesse Gabriel Assembly District 45Wendy CarrilloAssembly District 51

LA SUPERIOR COURT

A. Veronica SaucedaLA County Superior Court Seat No. 4Lucy Armendariz LA County Superior Court Seat No. 67

Gubernatorial and state superintendent candidates Antonio Villaraigosa and Marshall Tuck claim to be progressive Democrats who care about public edu-cation—but their major donors tell another story.

If Tuck and Villaraigosa win, who will be pulling the levers of power in our state?

• People with close ties to DeVos and the voucher movement: Hedge-fund manager William Oberndorf, a major right-wing donor, has con-tributed $2 million to elect Villaraigosa. Oberndorf has a history of supporting anti-union measures, such as Prop. 32, which would have denied our mem-bers participation in the political process, and Betsy DeVos’ American Federa-tion for Children, a conservative dark-money group that promotes the school privatization agenda, including vouchers for religious and private schools. 

• Wealthy individuals who fought against increased school funding: One of Tuck’s biggest supporters, David Crane, actively opposed Prop. 30, the 2012 measure that prevented $6 billion in cuts to education in California. Tuck himself said about Prop. 30 that saving public education fund-ing was “not a great use of taxpayer money.”

• Mega-donors who gave to Trump: Villaraigosa is being funded by some of the same mega-donors who helped elect Trump. Those include contribu-tions from Susana Chandi, who contributed $500,000 to a pro-Trump super PAC, and NASCAR CEO Brian France, who endorsed Donald Trump for president.

Who are the wealthy mega-donors funding the Villaraigosa-Tuck campaigns?

• The usual pro-privatization suspects: Names we have seen before—Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, Eli Broad, the Walmart family, and former NY Mayor and billionaire Michael Bloomberg—have contributed to pro-Tuck and pro-Villaraigosa efforts. In Villaraigosa’s case, just 14 donors make up the $17 million driving the independent expenditure campaign by the California Charter Schools Association. All are backers of the unregulated expansion of charters that drains funding from public schools and, if left unchecked, will lead to school closures, layoffs, and healthcare cuts.

SOURCES: Finance documents filed with the secretary of state’s office; LA Times: “A Few Rich Charter School Supporters Are Spending Millions to Elect Antonio Villaraigosa as California Governor”; Sacramento Bee: “Marshall Tuck Hedges on Proposition 30 School Funding Extension”; San Diego Free Press: “Shedding Light on Marshall Tuck’s Shady Money Trail.”

Help counter the billionaires’ outsized influence by supporting candidates who will fight to save public education instead of dismantling it—Gavin Newsom for Governor and Tony Thurmond for State Superintendent. 

Final days to get out the vote!

Cast your ballot—Return absentee ballots by June 5

—Find your polling place at www.lavote.net/locator

Make the call for public education:Volunteer for phone banking!

Thru May 31 & June 4-5 4–8 p.m. June 2 11 a.m.–3 p.m., 4–8 p.m.

June 3 2–6 p.m.

Sign up at utla.net/PACEUTLA Building (3303 Wilshire Blvd., 90010) Meals provided

United Teacher • for the latest news: www.utla.net May 25, 2018

7

UTLA members recognized with Platinum Apple awards.

What makes a great teacher? The answer is complex and often elusive, but one thing is certain: Educators can be the best judge of excellence in the classroom and in our schools. Every year, UTLA members get a chance through the UTLA Platinum Apple awards to single out a staff member—a classroom teacher or health and human services professional—for special recognition.

Educators are nominated by their col-leagues for their achievements such as developing an innovative curriculum or an outstanding program or for exhibiting exemplary instructional techniques. The winners are then selected by the UTLA Platinum Apple Committee.

Here’s a look at the accomplishments of this year’s winners, who were celebrated at a May 18 dinner with friends, colleagues, and family.

Kathy HerEl Camino Real Charter High School

Kathy Her is a compassionate, dedi-cated social studies teacher at El Camino Real Charter High School. She lives out her educational philosophy that every student, regardless of racial, financial, or social status, deserves to be exposed to the highest level of rigor. She believes that equity, more than equality, should be the cornerstone of the academic journey. Ms. Her is a remarkable teacher who truly be-lieves her students can change the world.

—Carlos Monroy Jr.Chapter Chair

Andrew MolnarAcademic Leadership Community

Andy Molnar is a caring and innovative educator who dedicates many hours to motivate and help his students reach their goals. This has included preparing his stu-dents to run the marathon. Every student, regardless of running ability, is taught to make their own personal goals. Andy is tactful and friendly, using methods that students respond to because he creates an environment of mutual respect. Andy excels in every aspect of our profession.

—Meghann LeeChapter Chair

DeAnna SteidlOlive Vista Middle School

DeAnna Steidl is an exceptional and gifted educator who is able to empower not only her students, but the entire population at Olive Vista Middle School. She engages them in learning through self-reflection that positively impacts their character and academic achievement and brings out their leadership potential. Since assisting and guiding new teachers is one of her passions, she feels a strong sense of duty to support new staff members as they navigate the waters of LAUSD, and she has been a mentor to several of our new colleagues.

—Leonard GoldbergChapter Chair

Claire KeatingUCLA Community School

Claire Keating supports students to think critically about the world around them and engages students as agents of social change. As a teacher at UCLA Community School, Claire upholds the mission of the school and fulfills her responsibility as a social justice educator. To ensure access for a diverse group of students, she uses a biliteracy curriculum in Spanish and English and uses culturally relevant pedagogy and instructional materi-als. She prepares her students with meaning-ful lessons for life in a global reality.

—Hannah CynnChapter Chair

David ZavalaRobert Fulton College Prep

David Zavala is a remarkable music teacher who has built an excellent music program from the ground up. With his lead-ership, the program has received numerous awards, including the Grammy Signature School Enterprise Award and first place at

the San Francisco Heritage Festival. He runs a disciplined, refined, and collaborative class-room. He believes that teaching music is more like teaching skills for living. Mr. Zavala leads students in the mastery of musicianship.

—John HowardChapter Chair

Ebony BatisteYES Academy

A fifth-grade teacher and UTLA chapter chair, Ebony Batiste believes in getting things done and not waiting for others to do them. Her professional accomplishments include authoring the book Too Bad My Teacher Doesn’t Know. In her classroom, she finds innovative ways for her students to be successful. For the school at large, she is a leader who promotes excellence for students. She also serves her community as the City of Huntington Park’s Health and Education Commissioner.

—Richard LagerUTLA Member

Shinkai KarzaiPalms Elementary School

Shinkai Karzai is a natural leader who has shown herself to be professional, innovative, caring, and conscientious. She inspires a sense of trust and confidence in her students and works hard to foster their academic and emotional growth. She is highly effective with children of all ages, ability levels, and linguistic and socioeconomic diversity. For the last several years Shinkai has mentored countless new teachers.

Shinkai Karzai is a remarkable teacher.

—Derek SpencerChapter Chair

Sandra KogaSecond Street Elementary

Second Street Elementary School is a far better place because of the quiet but omni-

presence of first-grade teacher Sandy Koga. She has been a teacher at Second Street School for 36 years. It is as if her goal is to fly un-noticed under the radar, as she performs a myriad of teacher-sponsored activities. She created engaging learning situations that promote student independence and choice. The unassuming manner in which she engages students, staff, parents, and the com-munity at large deserves to be recognized.

—Rananah LubovitchChapter Chair

Elizabeth SussmanBroadway Elementary

Elizabeth Sussman cares deeply about her students, colleagues, and public education, and she goes out of her way to help others. Her classroom is an engaging environment in which students are held to high stan-dards. She is a veteran teacher who always supports her colleagues. Ms. Sussman also works closely with parents to help prepare fifth-grade students for middle school. She is a tireless educator and colleague.

—Meghann SerilChapter Chair

Maritza Vallejo FerrándizBroadway Elementary

Maritza Ferrándiz takes her responsi-bility as an educator very seriously. It is not uncommon to find her working until late in the afternoon, creating lessons to scaffold for her students’ individual needs and making time to meet with parents. She has mentored and inspired many student teachers at several universities. Ms. Fer-rándiz regularly volunteers to provide translation when needed. Her commit-ment to inclusion and cultural diversity is infused in every aspect of her teaching. She is a model to all.

—William K. TylerChapter Chair

The Platinum Apple Committee is Caro-lina Saucedo (Chair), Janette Gembitz, Hilda Ornburn, Claudia Silva, Gwendolyn Terry, and Sydney Yarbrough-Baune. Conference secretary is Princess Sykes. Corporate sponsorship by the National Teachers Associates (Platinum Sponsorship) and First Financial Credit Union (Silver Sponsorship).

Colleagues honor their own for excellence

United Teacher • for the latest news: www.utla.net May 25, 2018

8

Other educators in LA’s largest charter chain expected to follow.

Charter school teachers may take strike vote over affordable healthcare, just cause for dismissal, and other priorities.

Alliance teachers file for union at three schools

TAS educators up the fight for basic rights

A clear majority of the educators at three Alliance College-Ready Public Schools filed cards with the  California Public Em-ployment Relations Board (PERB)  in May, authorizing UTLA as their union. Because a majority of the teachers at Alli-ance College-Ready Middle Academy #5, Alliance Gertz-Ressler Richard Merkin 6-12 Complex, and Alliance Judy Ivie Burton Technology Academy High School signed union authorization cards, an election is not necessary under state law. These three schools, with more than 100 educators, are the first to file. Others in the 25-school charter chain are expected to follow. 

“For most of us, this was a simple choice—real decision-making or no deci-sion-making,” says Alisha Mernick, an art teacher at Alliance Gertz-Ressler Richard Merkin 6-12 Complex. “How can you be a professional and say nothing?”

The most common issue for union sup-porters at Alliance is that teachers feel they lack decision-making authority when it comes to having a say in professional issues affecting their classrooms and their students. 

“We know the kids,” Mernick says. “Many of us have advanced degrees. We are professionals and want to have our

Charter school educators at The Acceler-ated Schools (TAS) have been in contract negotiations with their employer since April 2017. They entered negotiations with the goal of dramatically improving their school for students and for themselves, at a time when the school was seeing a 30% to 50% teacher turnover rate each year.

To make their school a place that would serve the students and community well, they knew that attracting and retaining talented educators had to be a top priority. To do that, they would have to improve the way teachers were treated, and they entered contract bargaining with four simple goals:

1. A salary table2. Affordable healthcare3. Binding arbitration in the grievance procedure4. Just cause for discipline and dismissal. These four priorities are the minimum

standards for virtually 95% of teachers and are fundamental to recruiting and retaining staff and allowing teachers to advocate for their students and for themselves without fear of retaliation. Yet, it was these basic rights and protections that the teachers at TAS found themselves fighting for. After many worksite solidarity actions such as button days, red shirt days, leafleting parents, petition drives, attending Board meetings, work-to-rule actions, and 20 bar-gaining sessions, the teachers of TAS have managed to win one of their goals: a salary table that rewards experience and education, something they were once told by manage-ment’s attorney would “never happen.”

professional judgment and knowledge of our classrooms valued. Surveys and focus groups don’t cut it.”  

Other key issues that sparked teacher efforts to organize include high turnover, inadequate healthcare benefits for teachers with families, and a compensation system where much of a teacher’s income is based on an evaluation process that is seen by many as not objective or fair and that the administration has arbitrarily changed at least three times in the past four years.

From its beginning in 2004, teacher turn-over at Alliance has been high, exceeding 25 percent of the teaching force per year across the network of schools in some years, and as high as a 40 percent churn rate at individual Alliance schools. Many teach-ers, frustrated by a top-down approach to delivering education, opt to leave after only a year or two, often seeking positions in districts where teachers already have a voice through collective bargaining. 

Teachers at Alliance first began organiz-ing a union in 2015. Initially, Alliance’s school leadership said in their first memo to employees that they would not “endorse or denounce any particular union or unions generally.” However, Alliance’s educators

AB 2731 would generate funds by eliminating unfair tax breaks for the financial sector.

Parents, students, and teachers lobby together for school funding

Teams of teachers, parents, students, and UTLA staff fanned out across the state capitol in Sacramento on May 14 to talk to legislators about an urgently needed bill: AB 2731. By correct-ing a glaring inequity in the tax code, the bill would raise an estimat-ed $1 billion annually for public schools and civic priorities.

While in Sacramen-to, the group also joined the Poor People’s Cam-paign and the 40 days of moral action to combat poverty and discrimination.

Sponsored by Assemblymember Mike Gipson and Reclaim Our Schools LA, AB 2731 would close one of the most egre-gious pieces of the tax code: the carried interest loophole. The loophole allows private equity fund managers to reduce their tax bills nearly in half by having their earnings taxed as capital gains instead of income.

The lobbying day was organized by Reclaim Our Schools LA and included members of UTLA, ACCE, LAANE, and other community groups.

AB 2731 passed out of the Revenue and Taxation Committee hearing April 23. Support for the bill is building in Sac-ramento, but so is opposition.

Fixing the education funding crisis and moving California from 46th in the nation in per-pupil funding will take multiple measures. In addition to AB 2731, UTLA members have been part of a historic effort to gather signatures to qualify the Schools & Communities First funding act for the 2020 ballot. The measure would reclaim $11 billion an-nually for schools and local services by assessing commercial properties at fair market value, while maintaining Prop. 13’s protections for homeowners, renters, and agricultural land.

Both AB 2731 and the Schools & Com-munities First funding act are part of UTLA’s 20 by 20 campaign to reach $20,000 in per-pupil funding by the year 2020.

Unfortunately, the teachers and manage-ment are at an impasse on the remaining three issues. TAS management is holding to their positions of freezing their healthcare premium contributions so that any future increases would be 100% borne by teachers, advisory instead of binding arbitration so management has the final authority over the outcome of a grievance, and lastly, the ability to dismiss any teacher, for any reason, without cause or explanation, at the end of each school year.

As the teachers proceed to impasse pro-cedures, they are strategizing on how to win the rest of their bargaining priorities—very basic rights that all educators deserve. Included in that strategy may be a strike authorization vote. The educators at TAS have long known that it may take a strike to win their demands. It’s a decision that they hoped they would not have to make, but one they may be forced to make very soon.

have been barraged by an employer-fund-ed and often illegal anti-union campaign. 

The number of unionized charters is ac-celerating. There are currently more than 1,600 charter school educators in unions at 40 charter schools in LAUSD’s geographical boundary. Interest in union organizing at Al-liance has grown in recent months as teach-ers in West Virginia, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Arizona, and Colorado have taken action to

advocate for more school funding, higher wages, and better teaching conditions.

“Across the country teachers are taking back education from those calling the shots, many of whom never stepped foot in a classroom,” says Sylvia Cabrera, a resource teacher at Alliance College-Ready Middle Academy #5. “Now it’s our turn. Orga-nizing can be challenging, but we do this because it is necessary.”

Alliance educators with labor and civil rights icon Dolores Huerta before a news conference last year. Huerta defends the teachers’ right to form a union and has called on Alliance management to stop its illegal anti-union campaign.

Charter school educators at The Accelerated Schools (TAS) are fighting for basic rights that 95% of teachers already have. Contract talks are at an impasse and the teachers may be taking a strike authorization vote soon.

One of the four teams of educators, parents, students, and UTLA staff who walked the halls of Sacramento to talk to legislators about the impact of AB 2731.

MENTAL HEALTH AND WELLNESS

Healthy mind, body, and spiritMental and emotional wellness are important parts of your overall health. Being good to your mind is just as important as being good to your body — and that means living a healthy lifestyle, paying attention to how you feel, and doing simple things to take care of the whole you.

Stick to a sleep schedule

Lack of sleep affects your mood, mental sharpness, and ability to handle stress. It’s also linked to mental health conditions like depression and anxiety. To create a healthy routine, go to bed and wake up at the same time every day — even on weekends.

Move your body, lift your mood

Exercise can release tension, tame stress, and improve your sense of well-being. Plus, it can relieve some symptoms of depression and anxiety as effectively as certain medications — all with no side effects.

Find your words

Speak up if you’re struggling. The people in your life are there for a reason, so be honest with your loved ones if you’re having a rough time. They can’t help unless they know you need their support.

LOOKING FOR MORE HEALTHY INSPIRATION?

Visit findyourwords.org and follow us @kpthrive.

Social icon

Rounded squareOnly use blue and/or white.

For more details check out ourBrand Guidelines.

Services covered under a Kaiser Permanente health plan are provided and/or arranged by Kaiser Permanente health plans: Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc., in Northern and Southern California and Hawaii • Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Colorado • Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Georgia, Inc., Nine Piedmont Center, 3495 Piedmont Road NE, Atlanta, GA 30305, 404-364-7000 • Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the Mid-Atlantic States, Inc., in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., 2101 E. Jefferson St., Rockville, MD 20852 • Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the Northwest, 500 NE Multnomah St., Suite 100, Portland, OR 97232 • Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Washington or Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Washington Options, Inc., 601 Union St., Suite 3100, Seattle, WA 98101 • Self-insured plans are administered by Kaiser Permanente Insurance Company, One Kaiser Plaza, Oakland, CA 94612

Ple

ase

recy

cle.

60

64

490

9 N

ove

mb

er 2

017

United Teacher • for the latest news: www.utla.net May 25, 2018

10

UTLA’s annual event thanks retiring members for their years in education.

New retirees and well-wishing family members joined UTLA staff and officers at the UTLA Retirement Dinner Dance in May at Luminarias. The annual event is UTLA’s way of giving back in some small way for the years of dedicated service our members gave to UTLA and the students of LAUSD.

The Dinner Dance Committee is Cecily Myart-Cruz (Co-Chair), Billy Tyler (Co-Chair), Laura Aldana, Eric Barrientos, Rosa Beasley, Susie Chow, Michael Kaplan, Bruce Lee, and John Perez.

Kent Butzer Kellegrew, 94 years young, passed away April 6. Kent was born in Minnesota but spent his childhood in Salina, Kansas, where he survived the ravages of the dust bowl. He served as an Army corporal in the Pacific theater during WWII. Wounded at Hacksaw Ridge, his battlefield return was cut short only by war’s end. Several fellow soldiers cred-ited him with saving their lives, and they stayed in touch throughout their lifetimes.

He returned to post-war Los Angeles where he met and married Mary McAullin. Kent graduated from USC with a BA in Education. He had a 32-year career as an LAUSD elementary school teacher and was active with UTLA. He also was a mover for Bekins during summers. Kent and Mary raised two sons.

Later, he married Bonnie Thompkins. Kent continued to substitute teach and volunteer into his late 80s. Throughout his life, he enjoyed calligraphy, reading, and

any party. He walked daily, even with ad-vanced throat cancer. He attended Wings Over Wendy (a veterans group) and a men’s discussion group up until the last weeks of his life. He was a kind, gentle, and tolerant man. He happily greeted each day with “top of the morning” and every day was “tip-top.” His positive attitude was an inspiration to all.

As a WWII vet, he was sent to New Orleans last summer, accompanied by his grandson. Their airfare, hotel, and food were comped.

Kent was a member of UTLA’s Christa McAuliffe committee and attended a plan-ning meeting this year. He will be missed by all who knew him. Kent is mourned by his sons Kent (Diane) and Scott (Denise) and grandchildren Brandi, Matt, and Eric. He is also missed by his stepchildren Andy, Lauri, Kerri, and Robert and grandchildren Jason, Brandon, Cassie, Jamie, Heather, Julie, Shawna, and Eric.  Donations in Kent’s honor can be made to the Gold Coast Veterans Foundation.

Longtime UTLA employee Margaret Mary Ruiz passed away on Easter Sunday, April 1. Margaret was born December 8, 1957, in San Pedro, California, to John and Phyllis (Feliciana) Ruiz. She is survived by her children, Steven and Elisa, and siblings, Lilian (Paul), John (Peggy), Roy (Mary), Lisa (Dennis), and Alex, as well as countless family members and friends.

Margaret dedicated her life to her chil-dren, family, and close friends. She truly was the most amazing sister, aunt, cousin, friend and, of course, mother. She was always the one you could count on when in need, even if it was just to talk or to

get out and get air. No matter the day or time, she knew how to make the problems disappear with her words of advice or a big hug.

A hardworking and dedicated employ-ee, Margaret spent more than 35 years with UTLA, always willing to lend a helping hand or to teach her “old school way of doing things” as she had her “books of knowledge” ready to use at any given moment. Margaret ultimately retired from UTLA, continuing to work there as a retiree as needed through the past few years. She will be missed greatly at the office as she turned longtime coworkers into family.

Margaret’s latest passion were her trips out of town, especially to New Mexico. She loved the road trip there and relaxing on the ranch with her cousins and family who still lived in the area. She often joked that one day she would drive out there and not come back. While

she said she was there for relaxation, the real reason was the chile—she always brought back red and green chile to share with others.

While her trips to New Mexico were planned, she made plenty of spontaneous trips to Las Vegas or wherever she could get away to, specifically for concerts. She always said, “Nothing beats live music” and definitely kept everyone in mind for her trips. Many got the “I have tickets to go see a concert next month, I’m comped a room and tickets, let’s get away and have a good time” phone call.

If you were lucky enough, then you knew her true hidden passion was making her famous carrot cake or Kahlua vodka cake, and recently, her favorite Jell-o shoot-ers. It was her specialty and she took pride in telling everyone her secret ingredient was “the love” as she always said, “Don’t forget the love when making things—you can taste the difference.”

Margaret’s illness and passing occurred so suddenly, but she was surrounded by nothing but love and support until her last breath. So many longtime friends and family wrote, called, and came to sit by her bedside to make sure she knew how loved and respected she was. She was indescribable to many but she was truly one of the most passionate, loving, and caring people. Her dedication to making sure the people around her were taken care of was undeniable. It is an under-statement to say she will be missed.

Send news of passings to UNITED TEACHER, 3303 Wilshire Blvd., 10th Floor, LA, CA 90010 or by email to UT-newspaper@utla.net.

Retiring in style

Passings

Margaret Mary RuizKent Butzer Kellegrew

His jacket says it all: William Warren Chavez Mitchell celebrates his retirement.

Debra Grant (here with UTLA Secondary Vice President Dan Barnhart) leaves LAUSD after a 34-year career, including 24 years in the classroom and then 10 years as a Deaf/Hard of Hearing teacher.

Like many retired educators, Fernando Ledezma will keep working after leaving LAUSD, advocating for public education and immigrant rights. Ledezma is a former UTLA Board member.

UTLA-AFT Vice President Juan Ramirez wel-comes Corina Gomez, the UTLA Board member for Early Education. She is retiring after 30 years at Pacoima EEC.

2018 retirees at the UTLA dinner dance

Kunakorn Chaiprasert (with UTLA President Alex Caputo-Pearl) spent 32 years teaching the children at Anton Elementary.

United Teacher • for the latest news: www.utla.net May 25, 2018

12

A living lesson: The power of an education movement to change public education.

From the Secretary

Defying the odds in West Virginia

West Virginia has gone down in history for inspiring a national education move-ment to sustain public education. It was the spark that lit up other “right to work (for less)” states: Oklahoma, Kentucky, Colorado, Arizona, and, most recently North Carolina.

After ten years of schools facing cuts while corporate profits climb, educators, along with public workers, students, and parents, are making it very clear that “enough is enough.”

Why are they fed up? Educators are struggling to take care of their families and their students as wages have declined, healthcare rates have climbed, the priva-tization of schools has rapidly expanded, and school funding has decreased.

Public workers have seen their wages sink to an all-time low, congruent with the decline in union density across the nation, which has dropped from 20.1% in 1983 to

10.7% in 2016. West Virginia teachers, who are among the lowest-paid in the nation, typi-cally work multiple jobs to make ends meet, similar to our members here in LA. (Check out UTLA’s Facebook story about “Captain Wendy,” who, in addition to being a full-time music teacher at Venice High School, has two other jobs as a lead sailing instructor and running a captain’s academy.)

We have many stories of struggle and hardship in UTLA because our salaries have not kept pace with the cost of living, which has increased by 27% over the past 10 years. Each state has a slightly different variation of this story, but the main message is the same: Something has to change for public education as an institution to continue.

Under a false narrative of failing schools and failing teachers, public education has been starved of resources and commitment as schools have become privatized across the nation and globe. While we know that in New Orleans and Detroit public educa-tion has been dismantled, the “red state” wave of resistance gives hope for a differ-ent outcome. What West Virginia did and how they did it gives us a living lesson for the fight for public education that other states have followed.

In the heartland of the coal miner strikes

West Virginia was the first of the red state teachers’ unions to shut down the schools through a statewide strike last March. It is the heart of “coal county,” where gen-erations of residents have worked in the timber, steel, and natural gas industries that have shaped West Virginia’s economy.

Structural shifts in the U.S. economy

have led to the decline of manufacturing and mining, replacing it with low-wage retail work (e.g., Walmart) while giving tax cuts to wealthy corporations. This has led to an economic and social crisis that was put on the backs of public workers in West Virginia, resulting in epidemic poverty.

For teachers, what started out as alarm about changes to their Public Employees Insurance Agency (the health insurance provider for West Virginia’s public workers) quickly spread to outrage as the knowledge about the larger crisis became public.

Katie Endicott, a teacher from Central Mingo High School, describes

how support snowballed at a town hall meeting: “The eyes of West Virginia were on us. In 1990, the last time teachers went on strike, it was Mingo County that started it. So everyone was wanting to know: What does Mingo County think?”

Their answer was resistance and solidar-ity. As we now know, all 55 counties in West Virginia went on strike, shutting down the state for nine days. The strikers emerged with an agreement that was not only good for teachers, but also for supporting public education in West Virginia and making pos-sible a 5% pay increase for all public workers.

By Arlene Inouye UTLA Secretary

Organizing wins breed optimism at Labor Notes Conference

This year’s Labor Notes Conference in April brimmed with op-timism, in large part because of the wave of organizing successes around the country. The keynote speakers were teachers from West Virginia and many other activists across the country, whose tenacity and common- sense presentation of the plight of public schools and public school teachers have proven to be tremendously inspiring.

Since 1979, Labor Notes has been the voice and the network of union members and labor activists who are on the front lines in our workplaces and our communities, organizing new workers and agitating together.

Labor Notes’ semiannual conference is an indispensable way for UTLA members to connect with rank-and-file members, staff, and union leaders and to share our expertise, experiences, and strategies in dozens of workshops. This year, UTLA members presented in the following sessions: “Educators Take on School and Community Violence: A Dialogue,” “The Funding Our Schools Deserve,” “Black Lives Matter in Schools: Fighting for Public Education Around the World,” “Unions Prepare for Janus and Right to Work,” and “Researching Your Employer and Coordinated Bargaining.”

In “Educators Take on School and Community Violence,” UTLA Board member and Saturn ES teacher Georgia Flowers Lee was part of a panel discussion that looked at what safety means in different communities and why the needs of communities and their vision of safety must be in the forefront when decisions are made about resources at a school.

North Hollywood Zoo Magnet teacher Jennifer Gottlieb, new to Labor Notes, reflected on what she learned at the conference. First, that unions need to form broad coalitions to address broad goals and achieve long-term success. For example, Philadelphia has a coalition called Our Cities, Our Schools that is similar to our Reclaim Our Schools LA. Second, the political role of local unions needs to be multifold and they need to have an impact on state laws.

Continuing the conversation: Teachers’ union members from other states and Puerto Rico will be at our Leadership Conference to share with UTLA members on July 27-29.

Puerto Rican teachers fight back against austerityAt the end of April, police pepper-sprayed members of the Puerto Rican teach-

ers’ union (FMPR) as they protested against the U.S.-imposed Fiscal Oversight Board’s plan to close 266 schools, lay off 7,000 teachers, cut their pensions, and impose charter schools. A previous strike in 2008 won a ban on charter schools on the island. But in an example of what Naomi Klein has called “disaster capi-talism,” the destruction caused by Hurricane Maria has been used as an excuse to open up schools to privatization and impose draconian austerity.

On May 1, teachers led a one-day strike against the plan and were joined by many other workers and students from the University of Puerto Rico protesting the Oversight Board’s proposed doubling of the cost of tuition. Tens of thousands of people wearing red shirts rallied in the capital of San Juan and were met by police in riot gear deploying tear gas and pepper spray. At least 20 students were arrested. As Mercedes Martinez, the president of Teachers’ Federation of Puerto Rico, described: “Today was a day of pure struggle. I just got home from going to the police stations to check on our people. They sent over 1,000 police to intimidate the protest. People are hurt and in the hospital. It was brutal. They chased students to their homes, entered without warrants, and arrested them. This is the class struggle.”

On May 7, teachers struck again, this time to stop a new plan to make stan-dardized testing 15% of teachers’ evaluation. The test scores are also being used to label and close schools that suffered major interruptions to instruction due to the hurricane.

—Gillian RussomRoosevelt HSUTLA Board

To support the FMPR: Post a photo or video on your Facebook page (tag UTLA) and/or send a donation to their fund drive: www.paypal.com/pools/c/84aVxpBqO6.

UTLA members Arlene Inouye (left), Georgia Flowers Lee (center) and Gillian Russom (fourth from right) in solidarity with West Virgina educators at the Labor Notes Conference.

(continued on page 20)

United Teacher • for the latest news: www.utla.net May 25, 2018

13

How does making millions off the lives of working people qualify you to lead a public school system?

Secondary matters

Austin Beutner: Because billionaires know best

As of the writing of this column, the Bil-lionaire Bloc on the LAUSD School Board has elevated Austin Beutner, a would-be billionaire and private equity banker, to be the top educational leader in the Los Angeles Unified School District. If this were Twitter, this would be a direct message to him.

Dear Billionaire Banker Beutner:I understand that you have never had

a teaching credential, single subject or multiple subject. You’ve never had a pupil services credential either. You are not a licensed clinical social worker, nor have you ever received a Tier 1 or Tier 2 ad-ministrative credential. You’ve never had a nursing license, or a CLAD, or even a food-handling certificate.

You’ve never even gotten a 30-day sub-stitute permit, nor spent one day with an emergency credential.

You’ve never passed, or even tried to pass, the CBEST.

You’ve never done a tardy sweep, never assigned homework and had to wonder why it didn’t get done.

You’ve never broken up a fight between seventh-graders, or saw one developing and headed it off by giving up your lunch break to sit and talk it through.

You’ve never had to call home and explain why a son or daughter won’t be passing your class and graduating on time, because they didn’t complete the assignments they agreed to do weeks ago. And you’ve never stayed late that same Friday afternoon in June, to give that student a third or fourth chance to finish their missing work, and walk on stage.

You’ve never comforted a frightened kindergartner on the first day of school, or been there for an anxious senior on their last day of school.

You’ve never gotten to school early for an IEP, or stayed late to make sure your Students Run LA club gets practice.

You’ve never had to make a call to DCFS and file a child abuse report, or had to sit in a meeting with parents of that same child.

You’ve never given up your weekend to make sure that every single one of your students’ papers has been graded and is ready to hand back, complete with feed-back, on Monday.

You’ve never put a band-aid on a first grader’s booboo, or sat through lunch de-tention with sixth-graders.

You’ve never been first on the scene when a school community has lost a student, teacher, or staff member, and you’ve never been the last to leave campus at 7 or 8 o’clock at night.

You’ve never sat through a faculty meeting on blood-borne pathogens or completed, even once, your child abuse awareness training.

You’ve never had to recommend that a student be held back a grade, and you’ve never had to question what more can be done, by you or others, to move that student forward.

You’ve never given a student an “A” for excellence, or a “D” as a wake-up call, or an “F,” because you simply couldn’t justify anything else.

You’ve never sent a kid to the coun-seling office, and you’ve never been in the counseling office seeing those kids for whom school is not working that day.

You’ve never changed a diaper for some of our youngest or most challenged stu-dents, and you’ve never built a sense of dignity and self-worth in a child, day after day, one IEP goal at a time.

You couldn’t tell the difference between

a student with serious emotional needs, a student with sleep deprivation, or a student with a big hoodie, good head-phones, and new music.

You’ve never had to check a student out of school because their family was evicted from their home, and you’ve never checked a student into school two months before the end of the semester because the charter school knew the SBAC was around the corner.

You’ve never had to figure out whether a student’s hugging is age appropriate or a form of harassment, and you’ve never chaperoned an eighth-grade dance, vol-unteering on your own time to make sure that a safe space for youth was created.

You’ve never sat in a locker room filled with young athletes after a season-ending loss, or felt their joy of beating a rival on your home court, field, or gym.

You’ve never collected field trip forms, or anonymously chipped in for a prom dress.

You’ve never organized a student club, tutored after school, or led a parent meeting.

You’ve never told a kid their art project is amazing, or had to cut the last deserv-ing girl from the JV softball team.

You haven’t called a parent to let them know their child has been injured, or that they injured someone else, and you’ve never had to figure out whether involv-ing the police in a situation would make it better or worse.

In short, you’ve never been there as an educator, and the only reason you are here now is because of the sheer ar-rogance of the wealthy and powerful that says knowing how to make millions off the lives of working people as a private equity hedge fund manager qualifies you to lead a public school system of people who do this work every single day—work you’ve never once done, nor deigned to appreciate, in all your years of making money on Wall Street and failing everywhere else, as Villaraigosa’s deputy mayor, as a publisher, and as a would-be politician.

Make no mistake, you are here, not for your credentials, not for your experiences as an educator, but for your billionaire networking skills, and your willingness to tear apart institutions like companies or our public school system.

What you have done is proved yourself to your billionaire buddies (Eli Broad, Reed Hastings, Frank Baxter, and Betsy DeVos) and their reliable votes on the school board that you can be trusted to begin the project of dismantling the last, best hope for public education in Los Angeles.

It is an unqualified insult to the 35,000 educators of UTLA—frankly, to almost every employee in this dis-trict—to suggest that you possess any qualifications to lead a school system filled with people who live lives you don’t understand, and who do work you’ve never even tried to appreciate. #BackOffBillionaires.

By Daniel BarnhartUTLA Secondary Vice President

ESTATE PLANNINGWant to avoid probate?Seeking peace of mind?

Don’t do it yourself. Let a fellow teacher be your lawyer. Sheila Bayne is a full time

teacher with LAUSD and has been an active member of the California Bar for over 30 years.

Complete Estate Planning Package: n Living Trust n Living Will/Advance Health Care Directives n Power of Attorney

n Trust Transfer Deeds n Pour-over Will and supporting documents n Personal consultation

Discount for UTLA Members:

$750(Joint trust for spouses: $ 1095)

Also: n Probate n ConservatorshipsCONTACT THE LAW OFFICES OF SHEILA BAYNE

at 310-435-8710or e-mail: sbayne@SafeAssets.net

State Bar #123801

United Teacher • for the latest news: www.utla.net May 25, 2018

14

UTLA/NEA honors people and groups making a difference.

News from UTLA/NEA

WHO awards: Recognizing public education warriors

There’s no better way to end an active year as a union than taking time to recognize exemplary people and organizations that have given so much to public education and our students. Every year UTLA/NEA awards WHO (We Honor Ours) recogni-tion to UTLA activists who fuel the union through their work advocating for their pro-fession, lobbying elected officials, building connections with the community, and more.

The awards were given by the WHO Planning Committee, based on nomina-tions from fellow union members. Here is a little more about the unique contributions of each winner.

Local WHO awards

RICARDO ABREURic serves our union on all levels: as an

active member of the South Area leadership team, Area Steering Committee member and cluster leader, member of the UTLA House of Representatives and Raza Educa-tors, and elected member of the CTA State Council and NEA Representative Assembly.

As a South Area Steering Committee member, Ric makes sure that member con-cerns are heard and addressed. He is con-stantly presenting motions at Area meetings where those concerns are addressed and asks that UTLA move on them. He engages in con-versations with members and union leaders

that are critical to our profession, students, and community, not only at the local level but also at the state and national level. He is a valued and respected member of the South Area team not just because of his knowledge and experience but also because he is willing to put in the hours needed to ensure that the team runs successful meetings.

Ric is also very involved in UTLA’s po-litical program, and he has worked on mul-tiple school board campaigns. Some of the political work includes precinct walking, phone banking, lobbying local public ser-vants, and attending political forums.

Ric is an activist and organizer who commits to doing affiliate work to improve working conditions and learning condi-tions. He challenges others to step out of their comfort zone and learn about the com-munities in which they teach. His passion for union work and his time commitment to that work has not gone unnoticed.

EBONY BATISTEEbony is a dedicated chapter chair at

YES Academy, South Area Steering Com-mittee member, cluster leader, House of Representatives elected member, and PACE Committee member.

As chapter chair, she is constantly looking for ways to assist her chapter to improve working conditions at her site. She is not afraid to speak up when con-tract violations occur. She makes sure that members at her school know the direction that UTLA is taking and the work that is asked of them to ensure victories, such as the recent agreement protecting our healthcare. Her chapter has participated in most if not all escalating actions leading to the Stand at Grand and those that have occurred this year in support of the Schools LA Students Deserve campaign.

As a South Area Steering Committee member and cluster leader, she is in con-stant contact with chapter chairs in her cluster. She delivers UTLA’s message to them, and they in return let her know of any school site issues. She also makes sure that all chapter chairs in her cluster get materials they need to make their chapter chair duties more manageable.

Ebony’s involvement in politics has earned her appointment as Health and Edu-cation Commissioner in Huntington Park, where she contributes from the perspective of a Huntington Park resident and educator.

As a House of Representatives member and PACE member, Ebony makes sure to engage with the issues presented by asking questions and researching issues. She is willing to learn and engage in dif-ficult topics. Ebony is looked up to by her peers for her activism and sincere desire to help protect member rights and for her contributions in improving the working conditions of the members she represents.

JOYCE JENNINGSJoyce Jennings is an activist and or-

ganizer in South Area UTLA, serving as chapter chair, South Area Steering Com-mittee Member, House of Representatives elected member, PACE elected member, and UTLA Prop. 39 Committee member.

As chapter chair for many years at Manhattan Place, Joyce has organized her chapter to support the escalating contract action campaigns and helps members when they need UTLA representation. Joyce was also diligent in documenting violations from a charter operator that co-located at her school site. Along with the members at her site, she pushed back against those who were trying to take over the school. She made sure to alert the district of the charter operator’s poor practices, and the charter operator became aware that Joyce and the Manhattan Place chapter were not going to allow for inequities. The charter is no longer co-locating at Manhattan Place, and because of that work Joyce joined UTLA’s Prop. 39 Committee. As a Prop. 39 Commit-tee member, she has the responsibilities to assist chapters that are currently co-located or in danger of becoming co- located.

Her work doesn’t stop there. As a House of Representatives and PACE member, she has become an important voice represent-ing South Area members. She sees the importance of engaging with members to properly represent them in UTLA’s gov-erning bodies. She is not afraid to speak

her mind about issues that are important to our members. In PACE she is working very hard to get more members enrolled as PACE members.

STACIE WEBSTERStacie Webster is an active Central Area

member who has shown commitment in all levels of service. Her work within UTLA first began as she assisted as vice chair and later co-chair for 10 out of the 20 years she has been at West Vernon Elementary. In addition to serving as chapter chair for the last three years at West Vernon, Stacie has become an essential and active participant on the Central Area Steering Committee, in the capacities of secretary, cluster leader, and event planner for winter and end-of-year celebrations. Stacie’s dedication has been evident, whether it’s a Central Area phone bank or the Reclaim Our Schools, Build the Future and Fund the Fight, or other UTLA campaigns.

Stacie’s activism within UTLA expands into her roles on the UTLA House of Repre-sentatives, the Prop. 39 Committee, and the Human Rights Committee. She has balanced

By Cecily Myart-CruzUTLA/NEA Vice President

WHO award winners and supporters (front row, from left): Joyce Jennings, Ebony Batiste, four members of Padres Unidos, UTLA/NEA Vice President Cecily Myart-Cruz, Stacie Webster, Michael Gonzales. Back row: Members of Reclaim Our Schools LA, Dr. Raissa White, CTA Vice President Theresa Montano, Ricardo Abreu, and UTLA/NEA Director Mel House.

WHO State winner Michael Gonzales and UTLA/NEA Vice President Cecily Myart-Cruz. Gonzales was chapter chair at the first LAUSD school threatened with takeover by the parent trigger. His school community successfully pushed back, and Gonzales has helped shape CTA’s strategy on handling parent trigger.

(continued on page 16)

Call for UTLA Specials

1(888) 999-4202

FREE CONSULTATIONSNo Interest Financing

LASIK14914 Sherman Way

Van Nuys, California 91405

United Teacher • for the latest news: www.utla.net May 25, 2018

15

Salary Advancement Courses for Educators

Contact us for the latest schedule at our Los Angeles Locations.

Visit sandiego.edu/lacourses or call (619) 260-4585

Convenient | Relevant K-12 Applications | Practical Curriculum

West Los Angeles & CarsonKaren Rose(310) 745-1099

Downtown Los AngelesCraig Yokoi(310) 874-4090

Sherman Oaks & Santa ClaritaJennifer Krauss(805) 559-3060

Monterey ParkJim Burk(800) 664-6130

BurbankVicky Montes(323) 559-5960

Downey & Los AlamitosTim Brown(310) 292-1039

$329 FOR THREE SEMESTER UNITS OF GRADUATE LEVEL EXTENSION CREDIT

To Fight for Our Schools, Our Communities, & Our Profession

2018 UTLA LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE

July 27-29Bonaventure Hotel in LA

For Chapter Chairs, Co-Chairs, and Vice Chairs

Sign up today!Info: http://www.utla.net/about-us/leadership-conference

Ready!

Support for housed teachersUnder former superintendent John

Deasy, many educators were victims of the “teacher jail” system. Caught off guard and often falsely accused, they were left to suffer alone, under house arrest and unsure of what to do. LAUSD’s abuse of “teacher jail” has lessened since the de-parture of Deasy, but we still need to be vigilant about each and every case.

Some things that UTLA members may not be aware of: Teachers who run afoul of their administrators no longer get sent downtown to be “housed.” Instead, every day between 8 a.m. and 2:45 p.m., they’re restricted to their own houses and obligated to call in to the district twice daily. They’re paid their regular salaries, but they’re forbidden all contact with their schools, which can make mounting a defense difficult. In the mean-

time, district personnel investigate the cases of these teachers. Housed teachers are not kept informed of the status of these investiga-tions. No formal hearing takes place until the district reaches its verdict, so accused teach-ers have no chance to influence the process.

UTLA’s Standing Committee for Unjust-ly Housed Teachers meets monthly during the school year to support these teachers. From time to time the committee intro-duces motions at House of Representatives meetings. The committee also represents “reassigned teachers”—teachers arbitrarily relocated to other schools. Regular meetings will begin again in the new school year.

If you’ve been recently removed from the class-room, please contact Luis Vicente Ovalles, staff rep for housed teachers, at lvovalles@utla.net.

Ph.D., with any questions: raissawhite@yahoo.com.

Free salary point seminar on Korean studies

The National Korean Studies Seminar (NKS) is a five-day free educational seminar designed for teachers, school administrators, and related staff members to provide them with enriching information on various aspects of Korea’s history and culture. Seminar activities include lectures given by renowned scholars in the field, hands-on activities such

as arts and crafts, Korean food sam-pling, and cultural excursions such as visits to LACMA’s Korea Hall, the Friendship Bell in San Pedro, and the Korean Immigration History Museum. Seminar dates: Monday through Friday, June 25 to 29. Lo-cation: Korean Cultural Center LA (5505 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, 90036). The seminar is free, but a $50 check needs to be mailed to secure your spot (check will be returned on the last day of the seminar). One LAUSD salary point or three units of USC continuing education credit available (fee for university credit). For details or to register, please visit https://nationalkoreanstudies.com.

GRAPEVINE (continued from page 23)

United Teacher • for the latest news: www.utla.net May 25, 2018

16

her work at the local level and within UTLA to move on and work at the state level, where she has participated in CTA’s Future Leaders Workshop. She was recently elected a NEA Board of Director and currently works on the Equity Team Committee. Her participation within the Equity Team helps bring a voice of awareness on issues to the LGBTQ com-munity and the needed alliances between gay, straight, and non-binary communities, all with the purpose of increasing member participation and representation throughout our members.

RAISSA WHITEDr. Raissa White has jumped enthusiasti-

cally into UTLA and CTA work. She has been a cluster leader for the West Area Steering Committee, a CTA State Council member, and an NEA RA delegate. She completed the CTA Ethnic Minority Early Identification and Development Program (EMEID), from which she brought information around af-filiate work back to our members.

It is her work as a PACE delegate and on the UTLA/NEA Ethnic Minority Affairs Committee (EMAC) as a Women’s Issues Lead that has shown her talents around member outreach and engagement. As a PACE committee member, she got the most people signed up to join, using her position as an itinerant theater arts teacher to talk with members at various school sites to discuss the importance of UTLA’s political program as well as CTA’s advocacy plan.

Raissa was one of the lead delegates during the recent lobbying meetings with local legislators and spoke as an educator

and parent on the need for transparency and accountability of charter schools. She continues to maintain relationships with legislators, giving educators a voice in their offices. As a part of the EMAC team, she helped plan UTLA/NEA’s first new member event, where with others she gave a presentation to a packed house of new educators explaining why it is important to not only get involved in UTLA, but also engage in affiliate work with CTA and NEA.

Dr. White is also a part of CTA’s Equity and Human Rights Planning Committee, CTA’s Long Term Strategic Plan Work Group, CTA’s African American Caucus, and NEA’s Black Caucus, and she is on the executive team of the NEA’s National Board-Certified Teachers Caucus. During these political times, with the anti-union Janus case looming, activists like Dr. Raissa White are going to be the people who help not only UTLA but also CTA and NEA stay strong.

State WHO awardState awards are given to UTLA/NEA

members who have given outstanding service at the state or national levels of UTLA.

MICHAEL GONZALES Michael Gonzales is a long-time UTLA/

CTA activist and has been an amazing voice at the statewide level for UTLA. He has been on the Valley East Steering Com-mittee (though he teaches in Valley West) and has served as a CTA State Council member, NEA RA delegate, PACE commit-tee member, chapter chair, and president of his neighborhood council.

As chapter chair at the first school in LAUSD to be hit with the parent trigger, Michael immediately went to the connec-

tions he had made in CTA for support. For resources and strategies, he connected with the president of the Adelanto teachers’ union who had faced the parent trigger, and Michael’s school collectively and successfully pushed back on the parent trigger at his site. Michael became pivotal in helping CTA craft policy and create resources to help schools when threat-ened by the parent trigger. This work led to CTA fighting back against legislators and publicly fighting back against or-ganizations such as the Parent Revolu-tion, which pushes the destructive parent trigger process.

Michael has been a huge advocate for transparency and accountability for charter schools, using his voice on his local neighborhood council to craft and pass a resolution around these issues and sharing this template with CTA leaders across the state to take to their neighborhood coun-cils. He has also been part of crafting NBIs for NEA RA on charter school accountabil-ity, co-locations, and parent trigger laws.

Michael is also an officer in the CTA Hispanic Caucus and has been a vocal member of CTA’s Ethnic Minority Advi-sory Committee (EMAC). Through these positions, he has been a strong voice for UTLA, has been an integral part of build-ing coalitions across locals and regions statewide, and continues to be a leader who brings people together.

Michael has worked both of CTA’s school funding campaigns for Prop. 30 and 55 and local school board races (helping defeat anti-union school board members), and he continues to get more actively in-volved in CTA’s political program as the ABC member representing UTLA.

CTA President Eric Heins keeps saying, “It’s all about building relationships,” and Michael personifies that. He actively has built relationships across regions and na-tionally to strengthen UTLA. He under-stands that our work is not just local—that what we do in UTLA can send ripples through the nation.

Gold WHO Community AwardsGold awards are given to people or organiza-

tions whose leadership, acts, and support have demonstrated them to be true friends of public education, educators, or students.

PADRES UNIDOSPadres Unidos was founded by commu-

nity parents in 1999 in the city of South Gate. At the time, overcrowding in schools was highly problematic. Padres Unidos advo-cated for students, as their focus at the time was for the district to build more schools to relieve the overcrowding. Because of their efforts, large numbers of new schools were built in the communities, which hadn’t been seen in more than two decades. They have partnered with Southeast LA County cities for the purpose of uniting with parents, teachers, and other community members to build healthy, supportive neighborhoods for families and children.

Padres Unidos has taken it upon them-selves to always step up when concerns over possible new charter operator startups or charter school co-locations are threaten-ing our schools. When there is a potential loss of resources due to charter operators wanting to take educational space and re-sources away from our students, they have helped organize parents in the community of South Gate to push back on this agenda. They have mobilized parents and attended many board meetings, demanding that

elected officials move to stop the growth of new charter schools and possible charter school co-locations that compromise our public-school resources. They were suc-cessful in convincing the LAUSD School Board not to issue the charter of a new school to operate on our school campuses. They have successfully helped prevent the possibility of schools proliferating in South Gate, particularly on the South Gate Middle School campus by stopping a charter school co-location twice, and they will continue to do so if needed.

RECLAIM OUR SCHOOLS LAReclaim Our Schools Los Angeles (ROS-

LA) is a powerful organization advocating for public education, putting students and parents in the lead. Their partnership with UTLA, Students Deserve, ACCE, LAANE, BLM, and other organizations has, over the past two years, had a dramatic impact on the lives of students, schools, and the public education system as a whole in Los Angeles.

As part of the national network of the Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools, ROS-LA is standing strong for public education, organizing with the national Week of Action to protest the failed Betsy DeVos education plan and organizing with parents to fight against unregulated charters and co-locations. They have also been one of the key forces fighting for community schools in LAUSD. ROS-LA is powerfully organizing for fully funded, community-driven schools. To move on those two goals, they have organized mul-tiple activities like posadas and office occupations to push billionaire charter supporters at ExED, Netflix, and others to support the 20x20 school funding ini-tiative and community schools, NOT unregulated charter growth.

ROS-LA stands firmly with educators. They have consistently educated members in opposition to the potential damaging effects of the anti-union Janus Supreme Court case and support the right of edu-cators to have strong unions. They work closely with UTLA and participate in educator actions. As UTLA continues to organize its contract campaign, ROS-LA has found deep connections and overlap with the work of educators. The strong demands for fully funded Community Schools that provide critical services and resources for students, charter regulation, democratic schools, and charter oversight put us shoulder to shoulder with them in the fight for real community-led and community-driven public schools.

Strongly on the side of parents and educators, ROS-LA is also consistently on the side of students. Most recently, ROS-LA has been deeply supportive of the Students Not Suspects campaign to end random searches. Co-sponsoring a student-led forum on Making Black Lives Matter in schools, ROS-LA united with student leaders and UTLA to push for an end to random searches and in support of restorative justice in Community Schools. Time and time again, ROS-LA has pro-moted the leadership of students, parents, and teachers and pushed for the public schools our students deserve.

The 2016-2017 UTLA/NEA WHO Awards Committee: Debby Schneider-Solis (Co-Chair), Elgin Scott (Co-Chair), Olga Calacuayo, Carmen Acosta-Esterman, Joseph Esterman, Michael Kaplan, Bruce A. Lee, Maria Miranda, Claudia Rodriguez, and Yolanda Tamayo.

NEWS FROM UTLA/NEA (continued from page 14)

5-Day Immersive Educator Training Experience

Join educators from around the country to learn research-based strategies to improve instructional practice, understand higher standards, and put in place the equitable practices that accelerate learning for all students.

San Diego, CA · July 9–13, 2018 Register at StandardsInstitutes.org

Presented by

United Teacher • for the latest news: www.utla.net May 25, 2018

17

Join PACE: Invest in our political futureThe Janus v. AFSCME lawsuit is

designed to dismantle public educa-tion and undermine our country’s democracy. In a post-Janus world, the enemies of public education will target their attacks on teachers’ unions with coordinated member-ship drop campaigns designed to force unions to cut back on staff, representation, legal services, and contract and organizing campaigns.

Teachers’ unions could be diverted from essential political work

Without a strong membership recommitment drive, Janus could negatively impact the infrastructure of teachers’ unions and significantly hinder our partnering with other stakeholders to elect and engage with responsive legislators to promote im-proved learning conditions and fully staffed schools, to demand charter opera-tor accountability, and to concertedly fight back against a cor-porate takeover of public schools that would allow for-profit compa-nies to run public schools with tax-payer money.

Janus, in a worst-case scenario, could take the “public” out of public education

An already uneven playing field would further tilt in favor of for-profit and non-union-ized charters funded by the mega-rich, handing classrooms over to corporate CEOs and the wealthiest 1%, and turning schools into a busi-ness. This is why it is imperative for teachers’ unions to invest in our political capacity.

Join PACE or increase your contribution level

Contributions to PACE, our political action fund, help empower UTLA and preserve public education. When you are approached during the All In campaign about signing a new mem-bership card, please join PACE. And if you are already a PACE contributor, please increase your contribution level.

If you have already submitted an updated membership card and now want to join PACE

or up your contribution level, please email evaughn@utla.net to

leave your name, employee number, mailing address,

email address, cell phone number, and school/work site. Put “PACE Contribution” in the subject line. You will be sent a PACE pledge form to

complete and return postage-paid.

“I am a PACE Plati-num-Plus-Plus member, because I believe that contributing to PACE makes a huge impact. As the saying goes, if you don’t have a seat at the table, you’re probably on the menu. Frankly, I would much rather ‘just teach,’ but the truth is, nobody can close the classroom door anymore. To fight for what we need for our students, fami-lies, and members, we must engage. We can’t engage politically with dues money, which is why every PACE dollar counts. Are YOU contributing?”

—Mel HouseElementary P.E. Teacher

UTLA Valley East Board Member

UTLA & PACE: “I’m All In”

United Teacher • for the latest news: www.utla.net May 25, 2018

18

CTA State Council Unexpired Term election notice

CTA State Council Unexpired Term election timeline

CTA State Council Year-Round Absentee Ballot Request

Are you interested in representing UTLA/NEA members at the state level? CTA (California Teachers Association) State Council, a policy-making body that meets quarterly, has openings for representatives to fill unexpired terms. If you wish to run for one of these positions, complete and return the self-nomination form by U.S. mail to UTLA/NEA VP Cecily Myart-Cruz at UTLA. The form must be received by 5:00 p.m. on August 13, 2018. The election will be held at the August 22 Area meetings. For those members who cannot vote at their Area meetings, voting will also be held at the UTLA building from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on August 22.

Self-Nomination Form

Name

Employee number

Address

City Zip

Home phone

Non-LAUSD email address

School

School Phone

I certify that below is the signature of the candidate whose name appears above.

Signature Date (Required)

Return this request to UTLA/NEA VP Cecily Myart-Cruz by 5:00 p.m., August 13, 2018, via U.S. mail to UTLA, 3303 Wilshire Blvd., 10th Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90010. Forms may also be dropped off at UTLA headquarters on the 10th floor during regular business hours from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (attention: Cecily Myart-Cruz). NO FAXES OR EMAILS.

Form must be received by UTLA by August 13, 2018.

Involvement opportunity

CTA Unexpired Term electionsBy Laura Carls & Deborah Schneider-Solis UTLA/NEA Election Committee

UTLA/NEA members will elect CTA State Council representatives for unex-pired terms at elections scheduled this year for the August 22 Area meetings. These delegates will join the other UTLA representatives when the council begins for the 2018-19 school year.

The State Council acts as CTA’s pol-icy-making body, meeting four times a year. Each representative is expected to serve on a standing com mittee, which debates business items involving aca-demic freedom, retire ment, civil rights, political action, teachers’ rights, and state-wide nego tiation issues. State Council represen tatives also vote for CTA’s state-wide officers. In the 2018-19 school year, all State Council meetings will be held in Los Angeles. All necessary expenses

for represen tatives are covered by CTA, including hotel, mileage, and food costs. Meetings begin at 9 a.m. Saturday, 7:15 a.m. Sunday, and usually end around 4 p.m. both days. Subcommittee meetings on Friday evenings and voluntary caucus meetings before and after the general weekend meeting times can enrich the representative’s knowledge of issues facing California educators. UTLA del-egates are rewarded for their time and effort by getting a chance to make a state-wide difference in education.

If you find the idea of participating on a statewide level intriguing, fill out and mail in the self-nomination form on this page to run for CTA State Council. Forms are due by August 13 via U.S. mail (no faxes or emails). Forms may also be dropped off at UTLA headquar ters on the 10th floor (attention: Cecily Myart-Cruz, UTLA/NEA VP) during regular business hours from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

I am requesting an absentee ballot for the CTA State Council Election for the unexpired term.

My vote will correspond to CTA’s election guidelines, which allow for voting by mail for CTA members on formal leave. This request must be received by 5:00 p.m., August 13, 2018, by U.S. mail to UTLA, 3303 Wilshire Blvd., 10th Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90010, Attn: Cecily Myart-Cruz, UTLA/NEA VP. I understand that my request will be checked for accuracy by election committee members. Absentee ballots will be mailed August 17, 2018, and must be received via U.S. mail by 5:00 p.m., on August 22.

Name

Employee number

Address

City Zip

Home phone

Non-LAUSD email address

School

School Phone

UTLA area (Circle one) N S E W C VE VW H

Absentee ballot requested for:

CTA State Council

August October

Check one: CTA/NEA Board member Formal LAUSD leave

I hereby declare that the above information is accurate.

Signature Date

May 25, August 10: Nomination forms, time line, and absentee ballot request forms in UNITED TEACHER.

August 13: Self-nomination forms and absentee ballot requests due to UTLA building by 5 p.m. by U.S. mail (no faxes or emails). Forms may also be dropped off at UTLA headquarters (see the receptionist on the 10th floor) during regular business hours, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

August 14: Letters sent out acknowl-edging receipt of nomination forms.

August 17: Absentee ballots sent out.

August 22: Elections at all UTLA Area meetings and UTLA headquarters from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

August 22: Absentee ballots due back to UTLA by 5 p.m. by U.S. mail only (no faxes or emails).

August 24: Area and absentee ballots counted. Letters sent to winners and results will be posted at www.utla.net by the end of the next business day.

September 3: Deadline to submit election challenge in writing to Cecily Myart-Cruz, UTLA/NEA Vice President, pro-vided a runoff election is not required.

September 10: Absentee ballot for runoff sent.

October 3: Runoff election, if needed, at Area meetings and at UTLA headquar-ters from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

October 3: Absentee ballots due back to UTLA by 5 p.m. by U.S. mail only (no faxes or emails).

October 5: Area and absentee ballots counted. Letters sent to winners and results will be posted at www.utla.net by the end of the next business day. Those who are not elected delegates will become alternates.

October 15: Final date for challenges to be submitted in writing to Cecily Myart-Cruz, UTLA/NEA Vice Presi-dent, provided an additional runoff election is not required. Please contact Vivian Vega for appropriate form at 213-368-6259.

Return this request to UTLA/NEA VP Cecily Myart-Cruz by 5:00 p.m., August 13, 2018, via U.S. mail to UTLA, 3303 Wilshire Blvd., 10th Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90010. Forms may also be dropped off at UTLA headquarters on the 10th floor (attention: Cecily Myart-Cruz, UTLA/NEA VP) during regular business hours from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. NO FAXES OR EMAILS.

Form must be received by UTLA by August 13, 2018.

United Teacher • for the latest news: www.utla.net May 25, 2018

19

A motion passed by the UTLA House of Rep-resentatives calls for a report to be published in the UNITED TEACHER that lists all union-paid travel by UTLA officers and directors outside of Los Angeles County. Below are the travel ex-penses incurred from June 2017 to November 2017, with an explanation as to how the travel relates to UTLA business.

NEA-RA Convention in BostonThe following officers and Board attendees

were reimbursed the standard $2,000 or less (higher amounts noted and are often due to additional responsibilities): Lucia Arias, Dan Barnhart, Frederick Bertz, Wendi Davis, Kelly Flores, Tomas Flores, Georgia Flowers-Lee, Corina Gomez, Ingrid Gunnell ($2,470), Arlene Inouye, Gloria Martinez, L. Cynthia Matthews, Jennifer McAfee, Maria Miranda, Cecily Myart-Cruz, Juan Ramirez, Javier Romo, Elgin Scott, Jennifer Villaryo, and Ingrid Villeda.

Purpose: At the RA, UTLA representatives join del-egates from across the country in debating on motions and setting policy for the NEA, one of UTLA’s national affiliates.

AFT TEACH Conference in Washington, D.C.Attended by Ingrid Gunnell ($1,545), Gloria

Martinez ($2,763*), L. Cynthia Matthews ($1,596), Hector Perez-Roman ($1,616), Juan Ramirez ($2,029), and Adrian Tamayo ($904).

Purpose: To connect on best professional practices from educational experts around the country.

National Council of Urban Education Associations Conferences in Boston and Portland

Attended by Mel House ($1,408), L. Cynthia Matthews ($457), Cecily Myart-Cruz ($1,940), and Elgin Scott ($757).

Purpose: To set policy for urban councils for the year.

Meetings with legislators in SacramentoAttended by Gloria Martinez (two trips: $496

and $596) and Juan Ramirez ($317)

Purpose: To meet with legislators on charter over-sight and accountability bills, including AB 1217, which was eventually successfully defeated.

CTA Presidents’ Conference in San JoseAttended by Cecily Myart-Cruz ($999*).Purpose: To join chapter presidents from across the

state for meetings and workshops.

Congressional Black Caucus Meeting in D.C.

Attended by Cecily Myart-Cruz ($2,757*).Purpose: To represent educators at the leading policy

conference on issues impacting African Americans and the global black community.

NEA meetings in D.C.Attended by Cecily Myart-Cruz (two trips:

$372 and $604).Purpose: To represent UTLA in her elected role as

UTLA-NEA Vice President.

National Public Education ConferenceAttended by Cecily Myart-Cruz ($2,035*) and

Gillian Russom ($705).Purpose: To connect with policy makers and educa-

tors fighting the privatization of education nationwide.

The Advancement Project’s Birth to Five Conference

Attended by Corina Gomez ($540).Purpose: To join early learning supporters in learn-

ing about promising practices that improve the lives of young children and their families.

California Labor Fed meetings in Sacramento

Attended by Juan Ramirez ($662).Purpose: To represent UTLA on the California Labor

Federation’s Executive Council.

NEA Ethnic Caucus Symposium in Las Vegas

Attended by Cecily Myart-Cruz ($1,684).

Officer and board travel expenses

WINA DODGE JOURNEY

FROM CALIFORNIA CASUALTY

Life is a journey with lessons to learn, detours to endure, but most of all experiences to enjoy. Navigate the road ahead in the comfort of a

2018 Dodge Journey courtesy of California Casualty.

Wherever your JOURNEY takes you... We’ll be there.

Enter today WinAJourney.com©2018 CCMC. CA Lic#0041343 No quote or purchase necessary. Photo may not be representative of actual vehicle package/color. See website for complete details.

Auto and Home Insurance

Purpose: To participate in a joint effort to educate our organizational constituency about the systemic patterns of inequity that continue to disenfranchise communities of color. 

NEA Joint Conference on Racial and Social Justice (HCR) in Boston

Attended by Georgia Flowers-Lee ($485), Ingrid Gunnell ($436), Arlene Inouye ($274), Cecily Myart-Cruz ($1,870*), Juan Ramirez ($1,402), Jennifer Villaryo ($270), and Ingrid Villeda ($1,774).

Purpose: To attend workshops and panels on issues that impact educational opportunities for communities of color, LGBTQ, and women.

Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools Meeting in D.C.

Attended by Alex Caputo-Pearl ($1,376) and Juan Ramirez ($1,477).

Purpose: To plan coordinated national actions to fight privatization.

Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute in D.C.

Attended by Juan Ramirez ($2,207).Purpose: To represent educators at a national event

that connects Latino youth with business and politi-cal leaders.

* Includes expenses for other UTLA members who attended.

Results should be sent to UTLA ASAP.

Has your school elected a chapter chair yet?

With our contract campaign in full swing, the 2018-19 school year is going to be a critical year for our campaign for the Schools LA Students Deserve. It’s crucial to our success that we have UTLA repre-sentation at every site.

Election of 2018-19 chapter chairs, co-chairs, and vice chairs at all UTLA sites should have been completed by now. Current chapter chairs must report the results of the election at their site to UTLA, even if they have been reelected.

Chapter chair election form: A chapter chair election form has been distributed to each chapter to report your results; it can also be downloaded from www. utla.

net/members/chapter-chairs. Any chapter that has not completed and returned the chapter chair election form should do so as soon as possible.

Leadership Conference in July: The annual UTLA Leadership Conference is one of the best ways to prepare newly elected chapter chairs, reconnect current site leadership, and reinvigorate our veteran leaders. This year, the confer-ence will be held in downtown LA, July 27 to 29. To make sure every chapter chair gets invited in time to reserve a room, it’s crucial that we receive the Notice of Chapter Chair Election form as soon as possible.

United Teacher • for the latest news: www.utla.net May 25, 2018

20

Report from the March 16 General Assembly Meeting. What premium-free healthcare means for you.

By Mignon JacksonUTLA-Retired Secretary 

UTLA Treasurer Alex Orozco brought greetings from UTLA and spoke briefly about UTLA’s continuing contract cam-paign for the Schools LA Students Deserve.

Delegate elections: Dr. Sandy Keaton was elected as the UTLA-R delegate to the AFT Convention in Pittsburgh.

President’s report: UTLA-Retired Presi-dent John Perez spoke on the topic of gun violence and the nationwide 17-minute student walkouts at schools in protest of gun violence. He also spoke on the continu-ing UTLA contract campaign and the May 24 UTLA rally at Grand Park to make clear educators’ demands.

John emphasized the importance of all UTLA-Retired members joining PACE so that we can elect pro-public education candidates who will fight for our pensions and benefits. He pointed out that 96% of PACE funds are used for LAUSD School Board candidates—the people who vote on contract and healthcare agreements. He also reminded everyone that we are fortunate to have a zero-premium monthly payment for our healthcare.

Treasurer’s report: Mike Dreebin report-ed that the UTLA-R budget is $49,663 and we have 4,308 members.

Health benefits report: Loretta Toggen-burger reviewed the Health Benefits FAQ from the LAUSD Health Benefits Commit-

tee that focused on the current flu season, noise-induced hearing loss, and hearing aids coverage. If you have any questions or concerns, contact Loretta Toggenburger at ltogg@att.net or 818-516-8602.

Legislative report: Mary Rose Ortega, our legislative reporter, spoke on the California Alliance for Retired Americans (CARA) Senior Vote Campaign, which is focusing on the five Congressional dis-tricts where the incumbents continue to vote in favor of demolishing our social insurance programs.

Guest speaker: Jackie Wiley, education outreach coordinator with the California Department of Business Oversight, spoke at length on the many and wide-ranging scams perpetuated on seniors. She provided suggestions on how to not be a victim. Her emphasis was to “VERIFY” before you act or make any commitments when contacted by phone, email, or mail. The number to call for help or support is 866-275-2677 (the office of the Department of Business Oversight). She also highlighted some of the most popular scams, including people making claims about unsolved IRS prob-lems, “no response” Jury Duty summons, Amazon shipment information verifica-tions, and new Medicare cards. She urged people to always read the small print and suggested using the free Nomorobo service (www.nomorobo.com) to stop robocalls and telemarketers. There was a Q&A period at the end of her presentation.

Retirees’ corner Note from the UTLA-R President

By John PerezUTLA-Retired President

Premium-free healthcare and lifetime benefits were granted to LAUSD employ-ees by the school board in the late 1960s and were negotiated into our first contract in the mid 1970s—but that does not mean that we will always have them.

Since contracts have to be periodically renegotiated, all this can change in 2020, when our current healthcare agreement expires. The tenor of those negotiations will depend on who is on the school board in 2020. We know what lifetime benefits means—we will have benefits for as long as we live—but what does premium-free healthcare mean for you and your family?

Premium-free health-care is not some-thing that is guaranteed. The only thing that is guaranteed is that bargaining for a successor healthcare agreement will begin in 2020. I have a brother and sister, both retired teachers on Medicare who did not work in our school district. They both pay premiums of more than $200 a month for their healthcare; I pay nothing, zero, zilch, nada! Most educators, whether retired or active, pay something every month for their healthcare.

Let’s look at some state and national numbers to see what premium-free health-care means for you and your family. The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) recently created a Family Budget Calculator on what it costs a typical family of four for various services in each county in the

nation. I looked at California and here is what I found. The cost of healthcare for the average family in Los Angeles County is $795 per month. Meanwhile the cost of healthcare for teachers in the U.S. has been on a steady rise since 2007.

Vox, a public policy news site, recently looked at what healthcare costs are for teach-ers. Adjusted for inflation, the nationwide cost for a family health plan for teachers has increased from $5,755 in 2007 to $7,174 in 2017! In 2007 teachers nationwide paid 35% of the premiums for their family health plans. In 2017, that had increased to 38% of the premiums.

Premium-free healthcare is not a given and must be negotiated every three years. This is why I have been urging you to join PACE. What is better for you and your family: to join PACE at $10 per month now or wait until Eli Broad and the privatizers totally control the LAUSD School Board and we all start paying $200, $300, $400, or $500 per month for our healthcare?

If you have misplaced the PACE card we sent to UTLA-Retired members and you need a new one, call the UTLA membership de-partment or email me and we will send you a new one. Our active colleagues know that joining PACE is the cheapest way to protect themselves and their families from the Broad-ies and the privatizers. During the recent healthcare contract ratification, thousands of our active colleagues joined PACE, and PACE membership went up 47%. Join your retired and active colleagues and join PACE today!

John can be reached at vpapabear46@aol.com.

FROM THE SECRETARY (continued from page 13)

Withholding our laborAt the UTLA House of Representatives

meeting on April 18, West Virginia teacher Nicole McCormick joined us via Skype. We were inspired and encouraged by what she shared. Here are some of the lessons for us at UTLA as we escalate for a strike.

• West Virginia educators had issues that were worth striking for, including their sur-vival as educators. They put out the facts and insults from elected officials, which stirred up anger and the urgency to take action.

• They spread their message through public town hall meetings, one-on-one conversations, school meetings, and Face-book and other social media channels, resulting in thousands of public workers and educators taking to the streets.

• They built broad support in the com-munity by caring for their students by providing food to replace the free breakfast and lunch they typically receive.

• They saw their struggle as one and the same and inclusive of all public employ-ees. Bus drivers, cooks, clerical workers, and teachers came together along with support from miners, steelworkers, and other union members.

• Rank-and-file members took owner-

ship of the fight. Women, who are 75% of the union, stepped up as leaders. As Mc-Cormick stated, “We are the union bosses.”

• They didn’t back down, even with threats of being fired and losing pay. They understood the power of the collective. Early on they made the decision to go all the way to a strike.

West Virginia teachers say it best when they say, “If West Virginia can do it, anyone can.” While West Virginia did not have an active teachers’ union, they had each other. Together they learned the facts, searched their souls, took a stand, and participated in the most aggressive collective action possi-ble: a strike. I have no doubt that what they experienced will stay with them forever, in a similar way that many of our members re-member the UTLA strikes of 1970 and 1989.

UTLA is nearing a crossroads where we too will decide how far we are willing to go and what we are willing to strike for. We are left with the following questions: Are you and are we strike ready? And if not, what will it take to get there? If it is not the members of UTLA, who will fight for public education?

West Virginia and the national move-ment inspires me and renews my hope in the impossible. This is indeed an exciting and historic time for all of us to seize the opportunity and momentum as we call for dignity and respect for our students, ourselves, and our profession.

June 5 electionsVOTE & VOLUNTEER

Info @ www.utla.net/pace

United Teacher • for the latest news: www.utla.net May 25, 2018

21

Why are fewer schools celebrating the holiday?

Bilingual education: The quiet neglect of Cinco de Mayo

Here’s a list of popular explanations— with answers—as to why Cinco de Mayo isn’t celebrated in schools on the level that it used to be.

1. We’re testing—there’s no time to organize an assembly

Why can’t planning and practice for a Cinco de Mayo celebration be done in April? That way, students are ready to perform even if El Cinco lands on a test day. In middle and high schools, only certain periods test. Lunchtime can be used for activities. We can be creative. 

2. They don’t even celebrate Cinco de Mayo in Mexico

While it is true that Cinco de Mayo is not celebrated much outside of Puebla, Mexico, or by the Mexican military, there is a rich history that speaks to why it should be celebrated in the U.S. and purged of its commercial co-optation. 

3. Not all my Latino kids are Mexican. I have Central American kids, and I don’t want to offend them 

Since when is learning about another culture offensive? The only offense is assum-ing that all your Latino kids are Mexican—that is what offends people. If schools do not offer opportunities for Central Ameri-can kids to celebrate their unique and dis-tinct cultures and only focus on Mexican culture, that is what offends people. Like

Cesar Chavez said, “Preservation of one’s own culture does not require contempt or disrespect for other cultures.” There is plenty of room for us to celebrate Mexican, Salvadoran, Guatemalan, and other Central American cultures. In fact, our Mexican kids need to learn more about El Salva-dor, Guatemala, and Honduras, so that we can confront the chauvinism that informs too many Mexican perspectives on Central Americans. We also need to confront reflex-ive and automatic “Mexican-hating” that is often a result of the horrible treatment ex-perienced by Central American immigrants as they make their way through Mexico. 

4. It’s a drinking holiday, and it’s usually the focus of insulting cultural appropriation and commercialization

It’s true that Cinco de Mayo has indeed been co-opted by beer companies and other corporations looking to cash in on Latino dollars, and themed events are common in sports bars and many other venues. But if the only place we don’t celebrate is schools, that makes no sense. If we don’t teach the true reason behind the holiday, we’ve ceded the historical memory to corporations, cultural appro-priation, and profiteering. 

When Mexican American teachers and administrators comprised a small minority in LA schools, Cinco de Mayo was more prominent. Mexican American teachers

were more fundamentally aware of the need to celebrate the culture because they remembered how schools insulted their culture and made them feel ashamed to speak Spanish. Mexican American educa-tors were also fresh off the Chicano Move-ment, so they were much more politically aware and active. That early generation used Cinco de Mayo as it is supposed to be used: to honor the culture and to celebrate it. Now that Mexican American and other Latino teachers and administrators form a much more significant number of the educator ranks, the quiet neglect of Cinco de Mayo has set in. Too many of these Latino educators do not realize that they

INNOVATE CREATE REJUVENATE

Earn 2 Salary PointsAnd Enhance Creativity

in Your Practice

For more info & to register: 213-627-9621 x 114

inner-cityarts.org/professionaldevelopment

CREATIVITYPRACTICUM

JULY 11-17, 2018at INNER-CITY ARTS

MT-1161140.0 12/17 ©2017 United HealthCare Services, Inc. 17-6442-B

Insurance coverage provided by or through UnitedHealthcare Insurance Company or its affiliates. Administrative services provided by United HealthCare Services, Inc. or their affiliates.

Learn why our health plans earn high marks from school districts.

UnitedHealthcare is committed to providing a broad portfolio of customizable health plans and specialty benefits, such as dental, vision, life and disability offerings.

We also offer a number of wellness programs designed to get — and keep — teachers and other school district employees actively engaged in making decisions about their own health.

For more information, call Carissa Green at 714-252-0350.

owe a debt of gratitude to the Chicano Movement for opening up the doors to opportunity. Too many Latino educators nowadays talk about generic educational issues without the addressing the need to be culturally responsive. 

Thank you to Javier San Roman of the Ethnic Studies Now coalition and a specialist in Standard English Learners for writing this. San Roman works at Mary McCloud Bethune Middle School.

—Cheryl OrtegaUTLA Director of Bilingual Education

cortega@utla.net

United Teacher • for the latest news: www.utla.net May 25, 2018

22

U T L A C L A S S I F I E D SCLASSIFIED AND DISPLAY AD POLICY: UNITED TEACHER will not accept ads for legal services in the areas of worker’s compensation or personal injury; nor

advertising for tobacco or alcoholic beverages; nor advertising deemed misleading or offensive to members; nor advertising inconsistent with the programs and

purposes of United Teachers Los Angeles.

How To Place Your UT Classified Ad Print your ad from your computer or use a typewriter. Count the number of words in your ad. Area code and telephone number count as one word. Email and web ad-dress count as one word. Street address counts as one word. City and state, includ-ing zip code, count as one word. Abbreviations and numbers are considered words and are charged individually. The classified ad rate is $1.50 per word for each time your ad runs (there is no charge for LAUSD job share/employment available ads). Multiply the number of words in your ad by $1.50. This is the cost for running your ad one time in UNITED TEACHER. If you’re running your ad in more than one issue, multiply the one-time total by the number of issues you wish the ad to appear. We have a ten word minimum ($15). All ads are payable in advance by check or money order. Please make check payable to UTLA. The deadline to receive your classified ad at the UTLA Communications Dept. is noon on the Monday that falls two weeks prior to the publication date. Any questions? Call 213-637-5173 or email Laura Al-dana at laldana@utla.net.

tact me if you are in the Northeast, or Northwest

schools near the Northeast border. I prefer to work

at a school very near Burbank or Glendale areas. If

interested, please get in touch ASAP. The deadline

to apply is April 15. 818-939-8498.

Job Share need for 2018-2019 school year in

Northwest District. Afternoon position, teaching

first grade, great school, awesome faculty. Must be

a team player. Contact Guadalupe, 661-309-3041.

I’m a loyal, dedicated, hardworking second-grade

teacher. I would like to work the morning shift for

any grade K-5. I will come to your school. Please

contact me 818-939-8498 ASAP to job share this

Spring (2018) and beyond.

Job share partner wanted for the 2nd semester

2017-18 school year and beyond. Your school or

mine- Harbor Area preferred. I have enjoyed my pre-

vious job share experience. If interested please con-

tact me at 310-918-4163 or sbfetters@yahoo.com.

Job share partner wanted for 2018-19 school

year and beyond. Afternoon position, teaching

first grade, great school, awesome faculty in the

Northwest District. Must be a team player. Contact

Guadalupe at ggm4446@lausd.net.

I am a first-grade teacher looking for a job share for

the 2018-019 school year at my school or yours. I am

interested in teaching kinder through 2nd grade. My

school is in Westchester or I am willing to travel to your

school South District or East to the Gardena area. If

interested please call or text Ellen at 310-245-5494.

LAUSD POSITIONS AVAILABLE

Alexander Hamilton High School is anticipating

multiple positions in the Social Studies Department

due to retirement and relocation for the 2018-2019

school year. We are interested in both experienced

AP teachers and teachers just starting their career.

Come join a thriving, vibrant academic community.

Please send inquiries and resumes to Kim Pollock

at khallgre@lausd.net.

The New Fairfax High School Police Academy Mag-

net seeks a teacher credentialed in biology and

chemistry who is eager to develop a future forensic

science class and work with an LAPD and LASP of-

ficers to oversee a physical conditioning class (no

PE credential required—this PE class is only for the

first year). Contact Kelly Cohen, Magnet Coordi-

nator, Fairfax High School, to submit your resume

and 2 letters of recommendations. (323) 370-1230,

Kelly.cohen@lausd.net.

Melrose Elementary Math/Science/Technology Mag-

net, one of LAUSD’s most innovative instructional

programs, is expanding in the 2018-2019 school

year and is hiring five teachers in grades K-5. Inter-

ested teachers should submit a letter of interest and

resume that lists two references including current

administrator to mathew.needleman@lausd.net.

BOOKS

California Missions, Secondary Teaching Techniques,

Stories, Computers, Quit Smoking: PaulRallion.com.

FOR RENT

Retired UTLA school nurse has her 2700 sq. ft. gor-

geous Lakehouse for weekly summer rent—master

suite with jet tub, paddle boat, community swim-

ming pool, hiking trails, just minutes from Olympia,

WA. Come, relax and have a peaceful summer ex-

perience. $300 per night or $1,500 week. Call Mary

Abramson, R.N. 360-400-2844.

REALTOR

Emad Elias Realtor Cal BRE# 02055714. Your

trusted partner in real estate: 818-646-8014,

eelias01@mac.com.

LAUSD EMPLOYMENT

Job share/employment

available ads in LAUSD

employment section are FREE.

JOB SHARE

Job share with me! Teach history part time at John

Marshall High School. Email me at nfefferman@

gmail.com.

Are you a teacher with a special ed or single sub-

ject credential in any subject area? Are you willing

to teach various subjects and help with operational

duties? I am seeking a job share partner for half of a

split-day assignment for the 2018-2019 school year

at my continuation school in the northwest San Fer-

nando Valley. (818) 352-8635.

I am interested in a Job Share position in Second-

ary Physical Education for the 2018-2019 school

year. Northwest Valley; prefer near Camarillo. I

would like to split the week, or split the year. Con-

tact me at clj1279@lausd.net

I am a hardworking, personable second-grade

teacher, with experience in TK-2, looking to job

share at your elementary school. I have taught at

one school for the past seven years. Classroom

management is a strong area for me; my partner

should be structured but friendly, as well. Punctual-

ity is also very important. I am looking for someone

whose principal has already approved them to job

share. Job sharing at my location is, unfortunately,

not an option. I will work M-F morning shift, but will

attend all staff meetings. I am hoping to job share,

with you, beginning in the Fall of 2018-2019 school

year and beyond. This is a long-term arrangement

for me, and must be for you, too. Please only con-

The Humanitas Magnet for Interdisciplinary Studies

located on the Grant High School campus is antici-

pating various positions available for the 2018-2019

school year. Come be a part of a brand-new magnet

where collaboration is key. Please send inquiries or

resumes to Ronald Arreola at rarreola@lausd.net.

Polytechnic High School’s Math, Science, and

Technology Magnet anticipates an opening for a

talented math teacher for the next school year.

Our magnet supports 400 9th- to 12th-grade stu-

dents. We offer a rigorous college prep program

designed to prepare students for university studies

in fields that require a strong background in math

and science. We are looking for an individual able

to teach Algebra through AP Calculus. Must have

a desire to challenge and support students. Please

send inquiries or resumes to Jayne Couchois at

jcouchoi@lausd.net.

Various positions are open and available for quali-

fied teachers at Birmingham Community Charter

High School. Join a vibrant community of educa-

tors at BCCHS. Apply on EdJoin.org.

Lorena Street Elementary teacher Yolanda Tamayo has been elected to fill an open seat on the UTLA East Area Board of Directors. Her election was certified by the UTLA Board on May 7.

Tamayo elected to East Area Board

ADVANCEMENT OPPORTUNITIES

Are you ready for a new challenge? Are you ready for a position outside the classroom?

Are you interested in administration?

Earn a Master of Arts in Educational Administration plus a Preliminary Administrative Services Credential . . .

in LESS than 2 years!

NEW COHORTS CLOSE TO WORK OR HOME STARTING August 27, 2018 Fall Semester

Apply Now!

On Campus Cohort

El Camino Real Charter High School LAUSD LD Northwest Administrative Office

Orville Wright Middle School STEAM Magnet John Burroughs Middle School

LAUSD LD East Administrative Office (Soto St.)

"The joint Tier 1 Preliminary Services Credential and Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership Program at California State University, Northridge is by far the most sensible, cost effective option for any educator interested

in pursuing a career in educational administration.

Students benefit from the real world experience and expertise of the instructors, the close student-to-faculty ratio, the convenient schedule designed for the working professional, and the strong peer relationships one develops, all

while learning the skills required for successful entry into an administrative position upon graduation." - Jay Benoit, Restorative Justice Teacher, Van Nuys High School, ESC North

Classes meet one night a week beginning at 4:20 PM

FOR INFORMATION CONTACT: Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

California State University, Northridge (818) 677- 2591

http://www.csun.edu/coe/elps

United Teacher • for the latest news: www.utla.net May 25, 2018

23

U N I T E D T E A C H E R

GRAPEVINESummer sessions at Trade Tech on labor issues

The Labor Center at Los Angeles Trade Tech College is offering summer classes on labor issues. Summer Session 1 (June 11 to July 13) classes include “Labor in America,” “Labor History,” and “Intro-duction to Unions.” Summer Session 2 (July 16 to August 16) classes include “Working Class in Cinema” and “Labor Law Update.” For more info, go to http://college.lattc.edu/laborcenter or email laborcenter@lattc.edu.

Free Summer professional development at LACMA: Art+Film Teacher Institute

Collaborate with colleagues from your school at LACMA this summer to create a short film while learning strategies for in-tegrating the visual arts into core curricula. Over the course of this free three-day profes-sional development program, filmmakers, teaching artists, and museum educators will guide you and your colleagues through the process of writing, filming, editing, and screening your own short film. The Art+Film Teacher Institute introduces teachers to arts-integration methods that promote student development of tech and media literacy, primary source analysis, and skills associated with project-based learning. Program activi-ties and materials address California Visual

and Performing Arts Standards (VAPA), the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for English Language Arts & Literacy, and the LAUSD Media Arts Standards. The Art+Film Teacher Institute will run on August 8, 9, and 10. Participants are required to attend all three days of the program, arriving at LACMA by 8:30 a.m. and departing after 4 p.m. each day. Breakfast and parking valida-tion are provided. Each participating school will receive one free iPad upon completion of the program as well as season passes to the 2018-19 Evenings for Educators professional development series. Principals, coordinators, and teacher liaisons from K-12 schools in Los Angeles County are encouraged to apply by Friday, June 29. Due to capacity limitations, they are only able to accept applications from teams of four, five, or six teachers. Partici-pating teachers are eligible for one LAUSD salary point credit upon completion of an additional assignment. To access the program application, please visit www.lacma.org/students-teachers/teacher-programs.

Salary point class on ukuleleMusicians and non-musicians are welcome

at “Ukulele for Teachers,” taught at the Coffee Gallery Backstage in Altadena. The class is a fun, basic introduction to ukulele, taught by LAUSD Teacher of the Year Bartt War-burton. This is LAUSD’s only authorized ukulele salary point class, and it’s geared

especially for teachers. Learn to use ukulele in your lessons, for every grade level and every content area. The class meets three Saturdays, July 7, 14, and 21, from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Ukuleles can be provided, with prior arrangements. The class fee is $149 and you get one salary point. Bartt provides every-thing: lessons, beginner chord/song charts, booklets, instruments (with prior arrange-ments), video lessons, a webpage to share ideas, and lots of support. Register online at Bartt.net, where you’ll also find a lot more info about this class. Email/text questions to Bartt@Bartt.net or call/text 818-568-3595.

Salary point course on less stress, more learning

The three-salary point course “Creating a Conducive Environment Through Build-ing Healthy Relationships” aims to reduce toxic stress experienced by teachers. Edu-cators constantly find ourselves in stressful situations at home, on the freeway, and at work, but this course teaches you how to help make your classroom a “stress-free” environment for better learning. Enroll at www.education4equity.com/utla. All classes 100% online.

Summer salary point program at Inner-City Arts

“Creativity Practicum” is an innovative summer program for teachers who would like to take a deeper dive into developing arts-infused classrooms. In five packed days, participants will share their practice and expand their repertoire through a variety of hands-on arts activities including bookmak-ing, watercolor exploration, visual narratives, drawing, cartooning, poetry, storytelling, songwriting, animation, drama, and dance. Emphasis is placed on implementing strate-gies that support individual growth, develop-ment of community, restorative and trauma-informed practices, and the development of a compelling and engaging learning envi-ronment. Participants may earn two salary points. Dates: Wednesday to Friday, July 11 to 13, and Monday and Tuesday, July 16 and 17. Tuition: $180 until June 22, then $225; discounted tuition available through work-study. For more information or to register: www.inner-cityarts.org/professionaldevel-opment or contact Zoë Tomasello at PD@inner-cityarts.org or 213-627-9621, ext. 114.

Play performance to celebrate Asian Pacific Island Heritage Month

In honor of Asian Pacific Island Heritage

Month, the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA) is bringing together API labor and community organizations for a performance of a new play, Tam Tran Goes to Washington, on May 29 at 6 p.m. at the Robert F. Kennedy, Coconut Grove Theater (701 S. Catalina St., Los Angeles, CA 90005). This inspiring play celebrates the life and legacy of Tam Tran, a talented Asian undocumented young woman, who emerged as a national leader in the immi-grant rights movement. Admission is free, although APALA is accepting contributions to UPLIFT, the undocumented API youth organization, to support their work to stop deportations. RSVP (seats are limited) by registering as “Going” in the Facebook Event at https://bit.ly/2rBDSAP .

Support for Computer Science teachers

MfA Los Angeles is trying to gauge in-terest in a fellowship for secondary school teachers of computer science. The exact details of the proposed fellowship are still being worked out but are expected to include an annual stipend of approximately $10,000 and cutting-edge professional development geared specifically toward computer science teachers. Candidates should have 5+ years of experience teaching computer science for grades 7-12 in a high-need public school in the greater Los Angeles area. Master’s degree preferred (in CS, other STEM field, or education). Please visit www.mfala.org/cs.html for more information.

Free salary point classes for third-grade teachers

Calling all third-grade teachers: This free one salary-point class is all about you. “Creative Experiential Professional Devel-opment” utilizes third-grade standards across the curriculum. Immerse yourself in a two-day experience to explore ELA, math, history, science, dance, music, theatre arts, visual arts, health, and technology. Use innovative techniques that use mul-tiple intelligences, creativity, technology, and culturally responsive materials and resources to integrate and “UNcommon” the Common Core. This salary point class will be taught by a teacher who has been with LAUSD for 19 years, is a National Board Certified teacher, and an elementary theater teacher. This class focuses only on third-grade standards; however, all teach-ers are welcome. Space is limited and is on a first-come, first-served basis. Don’t miss

this opportunity to create and collaborate. Register on the Learning Zone, Course Number 55-11-788. Three sessions to choose from: June 15 and 16; June 18 and 19; or June 20 and 21 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Location: UTLA building in the second floor audito-rium, 3303 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90010. Contact Dr. Raissa White,

*Invisalign discount is applied to regular full price treatment and may not apply to contracted insurance plans.Hablamos Español #BlueHillsDentalSmiles

Panorama City7942 Van Nuys Blvd

West Covina1208 W Francisquito Ave,

Ste E

Cudahy7903 Atlantic Ave, Ste G

Long Beach2306 E 7th StPalmdale

2140 E Palmdale Blvd

5 Convenient Los Angeles Locations!

At Blue Hills Dental, your oral health is our first priority! We offer full service dental care for your whole family from exams and cleanings to cosmetic and complex care such as:

We’ve proudly cared for Union members and families for over 20 years!

Spanish/English ExamplesT is for TIGER/tigre T is for TELEPHONE/teléfono

Matching Beginning Sounds!

Avoid ABC Delays!.

www.phonicsforlatinos-abcsincommon.com(310) 836-6730

.

(continued on page 15)

ccu.com / financialeducationAdvance your financial education today.

We put members first by offering the solutions and education needed to secure a stronger financial future. This program will equip you with critical knowledge and skills to make the financial decisions that are best for you. Eyecatching visuals, audio, and easy step-by-step learning makes this tool a great resource for any age.

Federally insured by NCUA. © 2018 California Credit Union.

FinancialEducationCenter

Financial BasicsTake control of your finances

Major Life TransactionsPrepare yourself to handle life’s biggest moments

Retirement PlanningPlan now for a secure and happy retirement

Teacher ResourcesUtilize interactive online tutorials to teach financial education basics