the voice march 2013
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The Voice March 2013TRANSCRIPT
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The
VoiceThe Nebraska State Education Association March 2013
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What is the worth, the value of a quality education? How do you put a price on 12 or 16 years or more of learning. It’s hard to quantify, but you’ll find a collection of numbers that try to do just that, when you turn to
the
VOICe Nebraska State Education Association
605 S. 14th StreetLincoln, NE 68508-2742 · www.nsea.org
(402) 475-7611 · (800) 742-0047
Volume 66, No. 7ISSN Number: 1085-0783USPS Number: 000-369
Great Public Schools For Every Child
Executive Director Craig R. ChristiansenAssoc. Executive Director Neal ClayburnDirector of Public Affairs Karen KilgarinAssistant Comm. Director Al Koontz
NSEA BoARd of dIRECtoRSPresident Nancy fulton, Wilber-ClatoniaVice President Leann Widhalm, NorfolkNEA Director John Heineman, LincolnNEA Director Jenni Absalon, Lincoln
Official publication of the Nebraska State Education Asso-ciation, Suite 200, 605 South 14th Street, Lincoln, NE 68508-2742. Periodical postage paid at Lincoln, NE, and additional mailing offices. Postmaster: send address changes to The Voice, NSEA, 605 S. 14th Street, Lincoln, NE 68508-2742.
Published and mailed 6 times yearly according to this schedule: September, October, November, February, April and August. Published online only in December, January, March and May.
Payment of annual NSEA membership dues entitles Ne-braska educators to receive The Voice. Total cost of pro-ducing 10 monthly issues of The Voice each year is about $4.84 per member.
Advertising rates of The Voice are available from the assistant communications director. All advertisements and advertisers are screened prior to publication. Ap-pearance of an advertisement in The Voice does not nec-essarily imply NSEA endorsement of either the product being advertised or the views being expressed.
Opening Bell
On theCover: Page 6
UpcomingAssignmentsThrough March 13NSEA District Electionsn What: NSEA’s annual round
of elections to select from candi-dates seeking open seats on one of six NSEA District boards or on the NSEA Board of Directors. n Details: The online vot-
ing takes place through midnight March 13. For details, turn to Page 21.
April 18NSEA-RetiredSpring Conferencen What: This annual gather-
ing of the NSEA-Retired affiliate will feature Nebraska native and Olympic gold medal bobsledder Curt Tomasevicz, among other attractions. n Details: Held in Kearney on
April 18, the event is detailed on Page 22.
April 19-20NSEA Delegate Assemblyn What: NSEA members have
met annually since 1867 to set the Association path for the coming year. This year, the meeting is in Kearney.n Details: It is not too late to
be elected as a delegate. See Page 17 for details!
Public Comment PeriodOpen Through MarchEducators now have an opportunity
to comment on standards for teacher training proposed by the newly formed Council for the Accreditation of Educa-tor Preparation (CAEP).
The CAEP’s Commission on Stan-dards and Performance Reporting has released a draft of the proposed stan-dards. Comments on will be accepted through March 29.
“These new stan-dards are about im-proving results, partic-ularly for P-12 learn-ers. The nation has raised the bar for our students and for our teachers. Today’s teachers must challenge and engage all learners. Now we must raise the bar for preparation programs to help the nation meet these ambitious goals.” said CAEP President James G. Cibulka.
NSEA Director of Instructional Ad-vocacy Jay Sears said the new standards will help better prepare teachers.
“The new standards are rigorous and should help prepare future educators for P-12 instruction to meet the 21st century world of work and college,” said Sears.
The Commission was charged with developing – for all preparation provid-
ers – the next generation of accreditation standards based on evidence, continu-ous improvement, innovation, and clini-cal practice. The Commission was also charged with recommending transpar-ent CAEP public accountability report-ing with multiple measures, including those directly linked to achievement.
Cibulka told Education Week that the standards favor educational outcomes, and emphasize evidence to support
effective practices. “That means being able to link measures on outcomes and impact back to the characteristics of the programs themselves and the nature of the candidates who were
admitted to the programs,” he said.Representatives of diverse and di-
vergent views were invited to serve on the Commission to help shape the standards. The Commission reflects a partnership between educator prepara-tion providers, policy makers and P-12 educators, signaling new demands for collaboration that CAEP expects.
CAEP was formed when the Nation-al Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) and the Teach-er Education Accreditation Council (TEAC) merged. It will be the sole U.S. accreditor for educator preparation.
Educator PreparationStandards Revised
To Comment To review and comment on the
proposed new standards for educa-tor preparation, go to:
caepnet.org/commission/standards/
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“For economic
reasons alone,
Nebraska
policymakers
must make
funding a
priority, must
ensure that
a quality
classroom
awaits every
child.
”
What Forest Witcraft Knew
NSEA PresidentNancy Fulton
“A hundred years from now it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove...but the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child.”
This quotation by teacher and scholar Forest Witcraft (1894-1967) hangs in many of the class-rooms I visit each year. Educators have followed Witcraft’s wise guidepost ever since he first put pen to paper on this topic more than 60 years ago.
Witcraft’s now-famous quotation was the closing sentence on a very short but powerful es-say that first appeared in the October 1950 edi-tion of Scouting magazine. Also a Scoutmaster, Witcraft certainly knew the power that one adult, one teacher, might have in the life of a child. He knew that an adult might “someday mould des-tiny.”
From his Scoutmaster viewpoint – and this applies to educators as well – Witcraft knew that “every boy is a potential atom bomb in human his-tory.” He understood that any child might rise to be a maker of history, a builder of tomorrow.
Consider this Witcraft observation: “A humble citizen like myself might have been the Scout-master of a Troop in which an undersized un-happy Austrian lad by the name of Adolph might have found a joyous boyhood, full of the ideals of brotherhood, goodwill, and kindness. And the world would have been different.”
He said “A humble citizen like myself might have been the organizer of a Scout Troop in which a Russian boy called Joe might have learned the lessons of democratic cooperation.
“These men would never have known that they had averted world tragedy, yet actually they would have been among the most important men who ever lived.”
Growing Student PopulationEducators share Witcraft’s vision of possibility
and potential in every child. They care about their students, and invest considerable time and energy in creating a positive, challenging learning envi-ronment for children with the hopes of making a difference in the life of each child. They know that a quality, well-rounded education is the key to every child’s future and to our state’s economic strength.
Now look at some facts. Nebraska’s population is growing. In the last two years alone, the state’s population has grown 1.6 percent.
Nebraska’s schools are growing even faster. There are now more than 303,000 students en-
rolled in Nebraska’s K-12 schools – an increase of 1.7 percent over the past two years. At the same time, K-3 classrooms have seen a boom, with 9 percent growth statewide. That means many class-rooms are bursting at the seams, and class size is rising.
As school districts work to meet the needs generated by increased enrollment, there are chal-lenges to existing financing relationships at both the state and local levels. Infrastructure needs increase as more students mean additional class-rooms or remodeling of outdated structures.
Unfortunately, state aid to schools for this fis-cal year ($852 million) is essentially at 2008-09 levels ($839 million), and well below the 2010-11 level ($950 million). As a result, programs have been axed, class sizes have grown and lo-cal property taxes have increased as local school districts deal with more students and fewer state dollars.
Schools the BackboneNo one can deny that quality education is a
costly proposition. Public education done cor-rectly is highly labor intensive and essentially constitutes a local industry. By shorting our fund-ing, how many future captains of industry, world-changers, peacemakers, inventors or artists are we short-changing? We will never know.
On the other hand, we know the effect of the school on local communities. Quite often, the school district is the largest employer in – and the backbone of – many smaller Nebraska communi-ties. Investing in public education is a stimulus to the local economy; money funneled through public education is spent locally, supporting local businesses and adding to the economic strength of the local economy.
Quality public schools have a direct impact on housing values in and around the community. Quality public schools attract people to a commu-nity. Strong schools are good for local business; that combination results in strong communities which in turn contributes to a strong statewide economy. Policymakers can, and should, make certain that schools have the adequate and stable funding through a revenue system that is fair, sta-ble, predictable and equitable.
For economic reasons alone, Nebraska policy-makers must make funding a priority, must ensure that a quality classroom awaits every child.
But there is a more important reason. As For-est Witcraft understood, our world will be much different when a teacher is important in the life of every child.
From the President
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NSEA Campaign ToutsStrengths Fosteredby Public Education
The NSEA has launched an effort to raise awareness about the importance of local businesses and public schools working together. The “Good Schools are Good for Business” campaign began in late February and includes a website that provides Nebraskans an opportunity to share stories of how schools and businesses working together create strong schools, strong communities and a strong economy. The entry providing the best example will earn a $1,000 prize to be awarded to the public school of the winner’s choice.
Nebraskans are encouraged to visit NSEA.org to share stories about how public schools have worked or could work with local business to prepare students for the workplace. The campaign provides an opportunity to join with NSEA members to strengthen public education in across Nebraska.
“We all know that public schools are a critical part of our state and local economies,” said Nancy Fulton, NSEA president. “We want to shine a light on those businesses and business leaders that are partnering with our schools and teachers to help our students succeed. To do that, we encourage Nebraskans to share their stories.”
Stronger WorkforceThe NSEA has made a strong effort in
the last two years researching the results
of strong public education and the needs of the community. A 2010 national poll conducted by the National Education Association showed 90 percent of Americans strongly believed that public schools play a critical role in the nation’s economy. Also, 94 percent believed that when youth are better educated, they get better jobs and go on to contribute more to the community as adults.
Fulton said NSEA hopes to create a movement “that will help kids learn the value of community and gain perspective
from beyond the classroom.”“This helps build a stronger
workforce and helps the local economy grow. Connecting with the community is an important part of this effort. NSEA hopes to grow a stronger bond with businesses and community members through constant interaction,” she said.
The campaign includes television and radio spots, the website outreach and news outreach efforts.
Submit entries at:nsea.org/goodbusiness
Education is Good Business
A Word from the Wise: Lincoln businessman Dick Campbell talks with Lin-coln-area students during filming of a commercial for NSEA’s ‘Good Schools are Good for Business’ campaign. Campbell’s family owns Campbell Nurseries.
PleaseRe-ElectSusanStake
as yourCapitolDistrict
President
Experienced& Dedicated.
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Every parent desires a great educa-tion for their children – for all children. They understand that a quality educa-tional experience will offer their child the chance to succeed.
A good education is the path to fi-nancial independence, good health, lon-gevity, creativity, less dependence on societal safety nets, higher rates of civic participation, lessened rates of poverty and a multitude of other personal and social benefits.
But how do we quantify such ben-efits? How do we pin a number to the supposed dividends that result from our collective educational investment – es-pecially as nitpicking gadflies continu-ally demonize public education as inef-ficient and costly?
In their 2007 study, Education Pays: The Benefits of Higher Education for Individuals and Society, Sandy Baum and Jennifer Ma said “uneven rates of participation in higher education across different segments of U.S. society should be a matter of urgent interest not only to the individuals directly affected, but also to public policymakers at the federal, state and local levels.”
As Nebraska legislators consider the state’s future investment in public education, they might be wise to re-call the words of researchers Frederick Harbison and Charles Andrew Meyers, authors of the 1965 book Education, Manpower and Economic Growth. They offered this simple summation: “Education is both the seed and the flower of economic development.”
When pondering our educational in-vestment, legislators and others might consider these numbers as support for the value of a solid education:
According to re-searcher William
Schweke, author of Smart Money: Education and
Economic Development, raising the skills of 19- to 23-year-olds by the equivalent of one grade would increase lifetime earnings by 3.6 percent; reduce the likelihood of births out of wedlock by 6.5 percent; welfare dependency by 5.3 percent; and arrests by 6.2 percent.
In 2011, the Virginia Beach, Va., school district hired an economist to cal-culate the district’s value
to the city and region. District of-ficials hoped to make an argument for school funding based on business prin-ciples.
Dr. Michael L. Walden, a professor of agricultural and resource econom-ics at North Carolina State University, divided the district’s worth into four categories: spending impact; the eco-nomic value of high school and college degrees; future saving in public social costs; and the economic impact on local wealth.
Among the findings: the school sys-tem’s performance cushioned the ad-verse effects on local property values during the recession; the district had a positive impact on public safety, social services and public health costs; and the district operating and capital budgets generate jobs and other spending.
Walden’s conclusion: the school is worth about $1.53 for every $1 spent from the district’s operating fund.
The December 2011 American Sociological
Review reports death rates for less educated middle-aged
adults are about two times higher than those who attain higher levels of edu-cation. The study found that almost all causes of death that are increasing are fueled by high rates of mortality among people with lower education. Further, the American Cancer Society and CDC
tracked more than 3.5 million deaths from 1993-2001 and found that death rates from any cause, and from cancer, heart disease and stroke, fell for adults with at least 16 years of education. But those rates held steady or moved up-ward for those with less than 12 years of formal education.
Peter Muennig of the Mailman School of Pub-lic Health at Columbia
University found that those who gradu-ate from high school live an average of 9.2 years longer than high school drop-outs.
A report by Dr. Dana Mitra of Penn State University, The Social and Economic Benefits
of Public Education, found that invest-ing in public education is far more cost-effective for that state than paying for the social and economic consequences of under-funded, low quality schools. For instance, for every $1 invested in pre-kindergarten education, there is a return of at least $7, said Mitra.
Nobel Prize winner and University of Chicago economist James Heck-man claims that invest-
ments in early childhood education pay a return of 7 to 10 percent. In his study, The Economics of Inequality: The Value of Early Childhood Educa-tion, Heckman argues that “wise and timely” early childhood education in-vestment, particularly in disadvantaged children, will pay great dividends.
“We can invest early to close dis-parities and prevent achievement gaps, or we can pay to remediate disparities when they are harder and more expen-sive to close. Either way, we are going to pay. And, we’ll have to do both for
“The whole people must take upon themselves the education of the whole people and be willing to bear the expense of it.”
– President John Adams
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a while. But, there is an important dif-ference between the two approaches. Investing early allows us to shape the future; investing later chains us to fixing the missed opportunities of the past.”
In 2005, according to the National Health Interview Survey,
about 9 percent of col-lege grads reported having given blood in the past year, compared to 4 percent of high school graduates and 2 percent of those adults who did not complete high school.
Princeton Professor of Economics Alan Krueger is the school’s Bendheim Professor of Economics
and Public Affairs, and is the found-ing director of Princeton’s Survey Re-search Center. His study found income and education “provides robust evi-dence of a substantial payoff to invest-ment in education, especially for those who traditionally complete low levels of schooling.” Krueger also found that evidence suggests benefits “in the form of reduced crime and reduced wel-fare participation are more likely to be reaped from investments in disadvan-taged than advantaged groups.”
His study found that an additional year of schooling is likely to raise an individual’s earnings about 10 percent.
That’s the 2012 un-employment rate for Americans without a high school diploma,
a c - cording to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. High school gradu-ates had an unemployment rate of 8.3 percent, while those with some college experience or an associate degree were unemployed at a rate of 7.1 percent. Those with a bachelor’s degree or more enjoyed an unemployment rate of 4 per-cent.
In their 2007 study, Education Pays: The Benefits of Higher Educa-
tion for Individuals and Society, Sandy Baum and Jennifer Ma reported that 30 percent of high school dropouts were smokers. Only 11 percent of those with a bachelor’s degree were smokers.
According to the College Board (2010), mothers with only a high school
education are 31 percent more likely than others with a bach-
elor’s degree or higher to give birth to babies weighing less than 5.5
pounds. Further, low-birth-weight babies tend to incur high medi-cal costs throughout their lives. Esti-mates suggest an average cost of about $34,500 (in 2010 dollars) for the first year of life, and considerable additional costs throughout life (EPA, Ch.III.2).
In a February 2012 report, the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that
42.4 percent of col-lege graduates volunteered through an organization. That compares to only 18.2 percent of high school graduates and just 9.8 percent of those with less than a high school diploma.
In the 2008 presi-dential election, ac-cording to the U.S.
Census Bureau, 77 percent of college graduates cast a ballot. Only 55 percent of high school grads voted, and just 39 percent of those with less than a high school diploma cast a ballot.
Of the nation’s prison and death row inmates, 82 percent are high school dropouts, according to the
National Dropout Prevention Center/Network.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, that’s the
median weekly income for a full-time worker in the fourth quarter of 2012, age 25 or older, without a high school diploma. The median weekly in-come for a high school grad during the same period: $647. And for a worker holding a bachelor’s degree: $1,168 per week.
The lifetime cost-savings from reduced criminal
activity per high school graduate, com-pared to the average high school drop-out, according to Henry Levin, pro-fessor of Economics and Education at Columbia University. Levin’s findings were presented at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Develop-
ment (OECD) in Paris in 2010.
The lifetime total pub-lic health care savings per high school gradu-ate, compared to a high
school dropout, according to Columbia University’s Levin. These findings were also presented at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Develop-ment (OECD) in Paris in 2010.
That is the difference in cost between one year of public school education in Nebraska
and one year of incarceration for a child at the Nebraska Correctional Youth Fa-cility in Omaha.
The 37th annual report and statistical summary from the Nebraska Depart-ment of Corrections indicated that it cost $68,621 to house a teen in 2011.
Meanwhile, the National Education Association’s annual Rankings & Esti-mates report indicated the average cost of educating a child in Nebraska public schools in 2011 was $10,433.
That is the aver-age extra lifetime total tax payments
a high school gradu-ate will contribute, compared to a high school dropout, according to Colum-bia’s Levin.
Penn State’s Mitra also found that the national,
annual, savings in health care costs would exceed $40 billion if every high school dropout in just a sin-gle year would graduate. Average an-nual public health costs are $2,700 per dropout; $1,000 per high school gradu-ate; and $170 per college graduate.
In his 2004 research, Co-lumbia Univer-sity’s Muennig’s
found that, aggregated over a lifetime, the conservative value of health costs associated with a cohort of 600,000 18-year-old high school drop-outs would be $88.3 billion. Advancing those 600,000 dropouts by one grade, said Muennig, would produce addition-al lifetime earnings of $72 billion.
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The anger exhibited toward public sector unions in Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio and other states two years ago troubled Daniel Boster.
Some of that anti-union sentiment surfaced in Nebraska, as NSEA suc-cessfully fended off anti-union propos-als in the Legislature that would have put an end to collective bargaining and the Commission of Industrial Relations.
The constant stream of negatives aimed at teaching was upsetting. Anti-union forces called teachers “lazy” and “greedy” and said educators were “tak-ing advantage of the system,” Boster re-called in his blog. Oddly, he also found the confrontations and disparaging re-marks inspirational.
“All my experience told me these things weren’t true,” he wrote. “It sud-denly seemed urgent that more people hear teachers’ stories.”
That’s been happening for almost a year now, thanks to Boster, chair of the English Department at Ralston High School, and his wife, Mar-ni Valerio. In what Boster called “very much a grassroots effort,” the couple collected a series of 39 essays from teachers across the country and published those essays last year in What Teaching Means: Stories from America’s Classrooms.
Their book has made waves everywhere. It held ground for the classroom teacher’s point of view in an education leadership confer-ence at Lehigh University in Penn-sylvania. It has given the teacher’s perspective life in classes at Virginia Tech University. Boster and Valerio have given readings in Omaha; Madi-son, WI; Minneapolis; and elsewhere.
“The book humanizes teachers and students with stories about a normal day in American schools,” said Boster.
Talking About the JobBoster has frequently heard over the
years that teachers never seem to talk about their classrooms or their jobs – at least not to people outside the profes-sion. Educators are more than willing to talk with other teachers about their profession, their students and the good things that go on in classrooms. They
thought educators might need a helping hand to reach a broader audience.
“We thought there ought to be a book with teachers telling their stories, telling
their day-to-day lives,” he said.
Both have litera-ture backgrounds. Boster teaches litera-ture and composition at Ralston High, and is co-director of the Nebraska Writing Project. Valerio is an English instruc-tor at Metropolitan Community College in Omaha. Both are NSEA members.
They issued a request and re-ceived 115 essays from 27 states. They winnowed those down to 39 essays and divided them into six categories.
Finding a publisher was even easier. Boster’s Ralston High colleagues, Eng-lish teacher Jeff Lacey and art teacher Calvin Banks, founded Rogue Faculty Press in 2011. Lacey and Banks, said Boster, believe that the intellectual work of teachers deserve a publisher.
With the aid of Lacey and Banks, What Teaching Means was soon a reality.
‘Compelling Essays’The book includes stories about
“everything from the recounting of an
unlikely kindergarten classroom friend-ship to the rugged epiphanies experi-enced in a high school ESL class.” The essays “detail the sometimes joyful, sometimes tragic teaching experiences of professional educators who’ve ren-dered them in prose.”
Reviews have been positive. Dr. George P. White is professor of Educa-tional Leadership at Lehigh University and is director of the Center for Devel-oping Urban Educational Leaders.
He said, “A copy of this book should be given to anyone involved in setting educational policy at the local, state and national levels as it will help drive home the point that teaching is about more than just getting good test scores.”
Linda Christensen directs the Or-egon Writing Project. She called What Teaching Means “a series of compelling essays that remind the reader that what shapes our nation’s schools isn’t laws or standards, but the lives of students and the teachers who nurture them.”
Boster said the public needs these stories now. Teachers do, as well.
“We’re getting messages from teach-ers all over the country who tell us that they have received the book as a gift and, they say, for instance, ‘this book makes me feel not so all alone.’”
What Teaching Means is $18, plus tax and shipping. To buy a copy, click on the “Online Store” link at:
roguefacultypress.com
The Meaning of TeachingBook by Omaha Couple Uses Essays to Explore Teaching
In Conference: What Teaching Means authors and editors after their reading at the National Writing Project Annual Meeting in November. From left, Mary Powell, Ari-zona; Susan Martens, Daniel Boster and Marni Valerio, Nebraska; Alicia McCauley, California; and Danielle Helzer, Nebraska.
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By Anthony CodyAs first appeared in Education Week on Jan. 17, 2013.
Reprinted with permission from the author.Recently, there were two important studies released. One
tells us that the international test data used to declare our schools broken and uncompetitive is bogus. The other tells us we have a very different crisis we should be concerned about: the percent of students who are engaged and excited about school drops dramatically between elementary and high school. The policies pursued to fight the first, phony crisis, are likely to be making our real problem of declining student engagement worse.
When “no excuses” reformers like Michelle Rhee or Bill Gates want to justify their demands for policy shifts in our schools, the first card they play is the one that says our schools are failing in comparison to those of our international rivals. Michelle Rhee’s Stu-dentsFirst ran TV ads last summer that de-picted our students as an out of shape ath-lete bumbling around on a gym mat. Bill Gates on Oprah a few years ago asserted that if we could get rid of all the nation’s “bad teachers,” our scores would rise to the top of the world rankings.
Valid SkepticismBut researchers have long been skep-
tical about these rankings, and careful in-vestigation by Martin Carnoy and Richard Rothstein have confirmed that our standings are quite respectable. Our international stand-ings are depressed not by “bad teachers,” but by the relatively high number of students we have living in pov-erty. They explain:
Disaggregation of PISA test scores by social class group reveals some patterns that many education policymakers will find surprising. Average U.S. test scores are lower than aver-age scores in countries to which the United States is frequently compared, in part because the share of disadvantaged students in the overall national population is greater in the United States than in comparison countries. If the social class distri-bution of the United States were similar to that of top-scoring countries, the average test score gap between the United States and these top-scoring countries would be cut in half in reading and by one-third in mathematics. Disadvantaged U.S. students perform comparatively better than do disadvantaged students in important comparison countries. The test score gap between advantaged and disadvantaged students in the United States is smaller than the gap in similar post-industrial countries...
The authors include this in their conclusion:We have shown that U.S. student performance, in real terms
and relative to other countries, improves considerably when we estimate average U.S. scores after adjusting for U.S. social class composition and for a lack of care in sampling disad-vantaged students in particular. With these adjustments, U.S. scores would rank higher among OECD countries than com-monly reported in reading – fourth best instead of 14th – and in
mathematics – 10th best instead of 25th.So perhaps we are not international laggards after all.But we are aware that test scores are not the thing that really
matters in the long run. In the long run, what we ought to care about most is how well prepared our students are to be happy, productive adults. And higher test scores could actually mean we are doing worse in that regard. The recent Gallup poll re-sults on student engagement draw our attention to another set of indicators, and by these, we are in real trouble.
From a report by Brandon Busteed at Gallup:The Gallup Student Poll surveyed nearly 500,000 students
in grades five through 12 from more than 1,700 public schools in 37 states in 2012. We found that nearly eight in 10 ele-
mentary students who participated in the poll are en-gaged with school. By middle school that falls to
about six in 10 students. And by high school, only four in 10 students qualify as engaged.
Busteed provides a strong dose of real-ity to our test-obsessed system:
The drop in student engagement for each year students are in school is our monumental, collective national failure. There are several things that might help to explain why this is happening – rang-ing from our overzealous focus on stan-
dardized testing and curricula to our lack of experiential and project-based learning
pathways for students – not to mention the lack of pathways for students who will not
and do not want to go on to college.
Confronting the CrisisI recently visited a high school in Albuquerque that has fig-
ured out how to reverse this dynamic. In targeting students who had already dropped out or were disengaged, ACE Leadership High had to confront this crisis head-on. They did so in ways that echo Busteed’s insights, through projects with strong con-nections to the real world these students see around them.
Let’s be clear about why so many students disconnect from high school. As the pressure to perform well on tests is exerted ever more, we have shifted the very reason for our work. When students ask “why are we learning this?” our best answers re-volve around the students themselves. We ought to be teaching things that are really useful in their lives, and which satisfy their curiosity about the world. It is our job as teachers to provoke that curiosity, and build on it. It is our job to make connections to the real world visible and compelling. When our answer to the question “why are we learning this?” is “because it is on the test,” or “because it is Common Core standard 3.6a,” we have lost our way, and our students know it.
It is time to abandon the phony imperatives of test-driven reform, and listen to what our students are telling us.
Anthony Cody spent 24 years working in Oakland, CA, schools, 18 of them as a science teacher at a high needs middle school. He is National Board cer-tified, and leads workshops with teachers focused on Project Based Learning. For additional information on Cody’s work, visit his website, Teachers Lead.
Which is Fake? Which is Real?Two Education Crises:
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It is mid-November and NSEA members at a large metro-area district receive a letter from an administrator indi-cating, “we believe you need to be provided an updated
copy of your rights regarding perpetual background checks.”Enclosed are a number of papers, including a page from The
Background Check Company and an ‘Authorization for Ongo-ing Screening.’ The letter asks educators to complete and return “the Perpetual Background Application form that is enclosed.”
What the cover letter failed to disclose was that by comply-ing, employees gave the district the authority to conduct credit checks and personal interviews with friends and family; to col-lect details about the employee’s “character and general reputa-tion”; and even check into a teacher’s living arrangements.
Further, once signed, the “perpetual” nature of the form al-lowed a background investigation at any time during the em-ployee’s tenure.
NSEA Attorney Nick Welding said the Fair Credit Report-ing Act offers two levels of reports. A credit report offers details about credit worthiness and capacity. “Far more invasive,” he said, is the investigative report.
“It can involve interviews with neighbors and friends about general reputation, character, and can even involve surveillance,” he said.
Attorney Scott Norby said the investigative report “is the most onerous and nefarious type of investigative authorization you could ask anyone to sign.
“And this district asked employees to allow this on a perpetual basis,” he said.
Even though district officials said in-vestigations would not be used, Norby said “there were a lot of red flags.”
Members were concerned about privacy issues, but there was another angle as well. Norby and Welding saw the admin-istration’s request as a unilateral change in conditions of em-ployment, a prohibited practice.
Norby and Welding assisted the local Association in filing a grievance, which led to talks with the school superintendent. The district agreed to drop the request and shred already-col-lected forms. The local Association then dropped the grievance.
Even the simple credit report has consequences beyond pri-vacy – never mind that a school employee’s credit worthiness
has little to do with his or her ability to teach second grade read-ing. Every check of credit nicks the credit standing of the em-ployee in question, said Norby. But the second level of credit checks, the investigative report, would allow the kind of back-ground check a private investigator might conduct.
“People don’t know how invasive, how potentially danger-ous these disclosures are,” said Norby.
Fortunately, there are two bills before the Legislature this year that address privacy issues. LB95 creates the Employee Credit Privacy Act.
Sen. Annette Dubas proposed LB95. It would prohibit em-ployers from “inquiring about or using an employee’s credit history or credit report as a basis for employment, recruitment, discharge, or compensation, except when a satisfactory credit history is an established bona fide occupational requirement.” It would provide protection for current and future employees.
LB58 creates the Workplace Privacy Act and prohibits an employer from requiring an employee or ap-plicant to disclose a user name or password in order to gain access to the employee’s or ap-plicant’s social networking site or profile. Sen. Tyson Larson’s bill would also prohibit an em-ployer from requiring an employee to waive their rights under the act, and restricts the em-ployer from requesting or requiring an employ-ee to log on to a social networking account in the presence of the employer.
NSEA supports both bills, held now by the Legislature’s Business and Labor Committee.
“This illustrates exactly why NSEA is in-volved in the political process,” said NSEA President Nancy Fulton. “In this instance, we
collectively stood beside our colleagues at the local level on a privacy issue. Now, through legislation, we can protect mem-bers across the state on this very same issue.”
Fulton urged members to contact their state senators on these and other issues pertinent to public schools.
The Legislature’s Appropriations Committee is work-ing on a budget recommendation for the 2013-15 bi-ennium. While the needs-based state aid formula for
K-12 schools calls for an increase of about 10 percent, the gov-
Is Your Privacy Risk?
NSEA Action Protects Members at Metro Local;Proposed Legislation Would Protect Your Credit Privacy,Ban Employers From Access to Your Social Media Sites
“In this instance, we collectively stood beside our colleagues at the local level on a privacy issue. Now, through leg-islation, we can protect members across the state on this very same issue.”
— Nancy FultonPresident, NSEA
@
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March 2013 n The NSEA Voice n Page 15
ernor has suggested an increase of only 5 percent. NSEA will advocate for a 7 percent increase. NSEA also supports funding increases for state and commu-nity colleges and the university.
The status on bills of interest:
Your Classroom
NSEA Supports LB506, Class Size: Lincoln Sen. Kate Bolz addresses the elementary class size allowance now in the state aid formula, which provides for one certified teacher for classrooms between 10 and 20 students for K-3 grades. LB506 includes an additional provision to provide a class size allow-ance for grades with one certified teach-er and one instructional paraprofession-al in the classroom with a minimum of 21 and maximum of 28 students.
NSEA Supports LB555, Preparing Students: Omaha Sen. Jeremy Nor-dquist’s Preparing Students for Edu-cational Success Act would distribute grants from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program to fund af-ter-school programs aligned with what students learn during the school day. NSEA’s Jay Sears told the Health and Human Services Committee that the plan would increase the opportunity for more students to extend learning time and raise achievement.
AdministrationNSEA Opposes LB121, Admin-
istrative Waivers: Omaha Sen. Scott Lautenbaugh proposes to allow school districts to hire superintendents who do not hold an administrator’s certificate is-sued by the State Board of Education.
Sears told the Education Committee that a long-standing NSEA Resolution says “all educators shall be certificated by the State Board of Education.” A su-perintendent, he said, must be a teacher.
NSEA also opposes Sen. Ernie Chambers’ LB539. It would bar the State Board from requiring teaching ex-perience as a pre-requisite for issuance of an administrator’s certificate.
“How will an uncertificated princi-pal recognize good or poor teaching if they have never taught? How will an uncertificated principal understand the nuances of good pedagogy if he or she has never studied the process or spent time in a classroom,” Sears said.
Taxes, Budget LidNSEA Supports LB201, Emer-
gency Expenditures: Malcolm Sen. Ken Haar offered LB201, which would allow emergency expenditures by schools and Educational Service Units to address disasters and emergencies, ir-
respective of budget or levy caps. The disaster must be recognized by the Fed-eral Emergency Management Agency.
NSEA Supports LB357 and LB469, Budget Lids and Voluntary Separa-tion Agreements: Malcolm Sen. Ken Haar offered LB357; Norfolk Sen. Jim Scheer LB469. Both clarify and extend the school district budget lid exemption for voluntary separation agreements – early retirement plans – used by dis-tricts to manage budgets. NSEA’s Larry Scherer noted that both bills include a major departure from current statute: school districts must demonstrate that, over a five-year period, savings realized through lower salary for replacement staff offset the cost of the plans.
NSEA Supports LB613, the Tax Modernization Commission: Colum-bus Sen. Paul Schumacher’s plan to conduct an in-depth study of the state’s tax system and provide recommenda-tions to the Legislature for next year.
NSEA Opposes LB593, Charter Schools: NSEA testified against Sen. Scott Lautenbaugh’s LB593, which would allow up to five charter schools within metropolitan school districts.
NSEA’s Sears told the Education Committee that public schools, with
Political Action: With the State Capitol building looming through the windows in the background, Omaha State Sen. Jer-emy Nordquist talks to retired members during NSEA-Retired’s annual Lobby Day. About 50 retired members attended and had one-on-one visits with state senators during the day.
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proper tools and funding, can already meet Lautenbaugh’s concerns about en-suring quality education for children in Omaha. Those tools include high stan-dards and expectations; rigorous, rele-vant curriculum; adequate and equitable funding; small class size, especially in grades K-3; effective educator evalu-ation; a quality administrator in every building; and other items.
Instead of charter schools, Sears said “Nebraska needs the legislature, the state board of education, and the Ne-braska community to focus on support-ing our public schools in their mission of continually improving instruction for the betterment of student learning.”
State Aid
NSEA Supports LB323, State Aid Committee: Sen. Haar’s LB323 would re-establish the School Finance Review Committee to monitor and evaluate the state aid act, LB1059. An amendment would place a teacher on the committee.
NSEA Director of Research Larry Scherer was legal counsel for the Edu-cation Committee when LB1059 passed in 1990. He said the goal was to pro-vide quality education for students in all school districts, regardless of property tax wealth or the wealth of citizens in the school district. The review commit-tee was later a victim of budget cuts.
He said, however, the “current ad hoc arrangement does not provide a long-range view of school financing and misses the critical perspectives of school board members, experts and teachers. Most important, there has nev-er been an adequate, objective evalua-tion of how well the system, with all its moving parts, is working to serve the needs of Nebraska children.”
NSEA Supports LB416, LB645, Teacher Education Allowance: Oma-ha Sen. Rick Kolowski’s LB416, and Sen. Haar’s LB615, with minor differ-ences, would retain the state aid formu-la’s teacher education allowance, which rewards districts that hire teachers with advanced hours or degrees.
In a letter to the Education Commit-tee, retired Kearney and Lincoln teacher and 1992 Nebraska Teacher of the Year De Tonack called the teacher education allowance “a key component in promot-ing quality teachers in the classroom and, as research validates, quality teach-ers are the most important element in helping students learn.”
NSEA Supports LB640, State Aid: NSEA Director of Public Policy Jason Hayes told the Education Committee that state aid has fallen from $950 mil-lion in 2010-11 to $852 million this year.
“As a result, school districts have had to increase class size, cut programs and supplies, reduce staff and raise property taxes in order to try and maintain their ability to provide every child with a quality education,” he said.
Hayes said NSEA supports LB640’s strategy and an interim study of the state aid funding mechanism.
Your Retirement
NSEA Supports LB553, Teacher Retirement: Omaha Sen. Nordquist’s plan would ensure solvency of the Ne-braska Public Employees Retirement System school plan.
Hayes told the Retirement Commit-tee that market declines experienced several years ago have created an ad-ditional funding need from the state of $48 million in 2013 and $60 million in 2014. By 2018, the state would need to kick in $138 million.
To address these and other lesser funding shortfalls, LB553 would elimi-nate contribution sunsets set for 2017. Educators will continue to contribute 9.78 percent of salary to retirement
beyond 2017, rather than drop back to 7.28 percent, the rate prior to 2008. The proposal would also increase the state contribution from 1 percent to 2 per-cent (about $17 million annually), and would make minor adjustments to the plan for first-time enrollees. Future first-time enrollees would see cost-of-living increases for pensions capped at 1 per-cent, rather than 2.5 percent for current educators. New enrollee retirement ben-efits would also be based on an average of five, rather than three, years’ salary, causing a slight reduction in benefits.
The plan would save the state $30 million this year and $43 million in 2014. NSEA also backs LB554, which strengthens the OPS retirement plan.
NSEA Opposes LB638, Cash Bal-ance Retirement Plan: Omaha Sen. John Nelson’s bill would change the re-tirement plan for new school employees from defined benefit to cash balance. The current defined benefit plan recog-nizes longevity and calculates salary and service years worked by an employee to set the monthly benefit upon retirement.
Longevity is one incentive, however, not encapsulated in a cash balance plan. Under a cash balance benefit, an em-ployee has no incentive from a pension perspective to continue long employ-ment with a school plan employer.
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It is Not Too Late and it is ... A Big Deal! Wavering? Wondering whether you should serve as a delegate at Delegate Assem-
bly, and whether your time will be well-spent?The time you invest in your Association always pays dividends, particularly so at
Delegate Assembly. Any member in good standing is eligible to be elected. Here are details about the event in Kearney:
How to get to Delegate Assembly: Your local Association has received details regarding eligibility. Talk to your local president or building rep about attending, or call your NSEA UniServ director at 1-800-742-0047.
Who: Any NSEA member in good standing may apply for election as a delegate. What: Members discuss and set the Association course for the coming year.Where/When: Kearney, April 19-20.Why: Association goals and dues are set, and Bylaws and Resolutions (NSEA’s
guiding principles) are updated. Cost: NSEA covers one-half of a Friday night hotel room for each delegate, a box
lunch on Saturday and mileage for delegates.
Changes toBylaws DueDelegate Assembly DatesArrive in Next Six Weeks
For any local association considering submission of business items for debate at the April 19-20 Delegate Assembly, now is the time to begin that process.
New Business Items, Bylaws Amendments, proposed Resolution, or proposed changes in the Standing and Procedural Rules have strict deadlines:nA New Business Item calls for
specific action. For example, “The NSEA shall ask the Legislature for an increase in teacher salaries.” Due date: Friday, April 5.nA Bylaws Amendment alters the
Association governing documents. For example, a section of the Bylaws could be changed to add a particular duty to the job description for the president. Due date: midnight Tuesday, March 19.nA Resolution is a statement of be-
liefs. For example, “The NSEA believes that all students should have a safe envi-
ronment in which to learn.” Due date: Friday, April 5.nA Standing or Procedural Rule
governs how the Delegate Assembly functions. Current rules call for pro-posed changes to be submitted 30 days in advance to be considered and ap-proved by majority vote at the opening session. Due date: midnight Tuesday, March 19. Changes submitted at the As-sembly require two-thirds majority.
Associations and/or individual del-
egates may also submit New Business Items or Resolutions during the first and/or second business sessions of Del-egate Assembly. Standing and Proce-dural Rule changes may be submitted during the first business session. Those who submit items for debate during the first and/or second business session must bring 500 copies for distribution.
Forms for submitting these business items can be found on the homepage at:
www.nsea.org
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Save With Dave!
Glenn
NEA’s Click & Save program, the online discount buying service for mem-bers, highlights select retailers and merchants each month. Check out these featured “Buy-lights” for March:nGNC: Get 15 percent off.nAdidas: Get 7 percent off.nYoox.com (apparel): Get
3 percent off.Join 284,000 NEA members
already registered for Click & Save. Go to the NEA Member Benefits website, search for Click & Save, and start finding discounts today! The website is at:
neamb.com
Special H&R DiscountsDownload a coupon for NEA mem-
ber discounts at H&R Block! Get up to $15 off tax preparation of your Federal Form 1040 or 1040A, either in H&R Block offices or online. Also, H&R Block has special offers on At Home for do-it-yourselfers. Get details on special pricing and download the coupon at:
neamb.com/hrblock
Surprise, Delight With FlowersWhether it’s to celebrate a gradua-
tion, a birthday, a new arrival, or anoth-er occasion, NEA members can delight loved ones with a lush plant, gorgeous floral arrangement, or gift basket — and get 20 percent off — from 1800Flow-ers.com and 1800Baskets.com!
For details, and to place an order, go
to: neamb.com. Look for 1800Flowers.com at the Shopping and Discounts tab.
‘Twice as Nice’The NEA Magazine Service
is the perfect source for eco-nomical, educational and en-tertaining gifts for yourself, and loved ones. Find more than 900 popular titles and save up to 85 percent off cover prices!
For a limited time, get two years for the price of one on popular titles such as Instruc-
tor, Golf Digest, Latina and Self. Check out these “twice as nice” deals at:
neamag.com/twiceasniceDavid Glenn is Nebraska’s
NEA Member Benefits representative.
Retiring?Attend An NPERS
Seminar SoonAre you among the scores of Ne-
braska teachers considering retirement this year? If so, you’ll want to be in atten-dance at one of the more than two dozen pre-retirement seminars scheduled this spring by the Nebraska Public Employees Retirement System (NPERS) office.
For those anticipating retirement, NPERS mails out enrollment brochures to all eligible members four weeks prior to the seminar.
Under state law, each eligible school plan employee may receive leave, with pay, to attend up to two retirement planning programs. That leave, according to state statute, “…shall mean a day off paid by the employer and shall not mean vacation, sick, personal, or compensatory time.”
Retirement plan members may at-tend a seminar more than twice, but any leave beyond the two days will be at the member’s expense and at the employer’s discretion.
Below is a list of dates and sites for the 2013 seminars. For more details on seminars in your area, call the NPERS Education Services Department at 471-2053, in Lincoln, or toll-free at 1-800-245-5712 from elsewhere in the state. You may also find more information on the website at:
npers.ne.gov
March 1 ....................................LaVistaMarch 6 ....................................LaVistaMarch 7 ................................... LincolnMarch 8 ................................... LincolnMarch 13 ........................S. Sioux CityMarch 14 ................................NorfolkMarch 20 ....................... Grand IslandMarch 21 ................................KearneyMarch 27 ............................ColumbusApril 3 ..................................ValentineApril 4 ...........................North PlatteApril 11 ..................................KearneyApril 17 ............................. ScottsbluffApril 18 ............................. ScottsbluffApril 24 ................................... LincolnApril 25 ....................................LaVistaMay 8 ........................................LaVistaMay 9 ....................................... LincolnMay 16 ........................... Grand IslandMay 30 ...........................North PlatteJune 5 ....................................... LincolnJune 6 ........................................LaVistaJune 12 .................................... LincolnJune 13 ...................................NorfolkJune 19 .................................... LincolnJune 20 .....................................LaVistaJune 26 .......................... Grand Island
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March 2013 n The NSEA Voice n Page 19
Member Benefits
Businesses Can Charge an Extra Fee on
Some Cards. Will They?Brick-and-mortar retailers and online
merchants in 40 states can now add up to a 4 percent surcharge to charges made with Visa or MasterCard.
The surcharge, called a checkout or swipe fee, is allowed by a recent court settlement between retailers, card com-panies and nine major banks, accord-ing to Consumer Action, a consumer advocacy group. The settlement allows retailers to pass on costs of processing credit card transactions to customers – a practice previously banned. But most retailers likely won’t add the surcharge, says Craig Shearman, a spokesman for the National Retail Federation.
The NRF has spoken with many of its members and none plans to charge a checkout fee, Shearman said. In fact, the point of the lawsuit, which was brought by merchants, was to bring down swipe fees, and, in turn, lower consumer prices.
Retailers typically pay card issuers a fee equal to 1.5 percent to 3 percent of a total purchase when they accept a credit card. The settlement allows retail-ers to charge only the amount they pay to process a card, up to 4 percent, said Consumer Action. Shearman said re-tailers also would have to meet several complex requirements to charge the fee.
For starters, the fees are illegal in 10 states (California, Colorado, Connecti-cut, Florida, Kansas, Maine, Massachu-setts, New York, Oklahoma and Texas). Shearman noted that existing Visa and MasterCard rules require companies to handle credit cards the same in all of their stores. So chains with stores in the 10 states that allow surcharges wouldn’t be allowed to charge an extra fee for card transactions in any of their stores.
LowCredit.com reports another nine states are considering a ban on surcharg-es: Illinois, Hawaii, New Jersey, Utah, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and West Virginia.
The settlement also requires mer-chants that add a surcharge to Visa and
MasterCard purchases add a surcharge to other cards with an equal or higher swipe fee, such as American Express. However, American Express prohibits retailers from charging customers an extra fee to use their cards. Businesses that accept all three cards would not be able to add a surcharge, Shearman said.
Retailers also must follow other guidelines if they charge this fee:nThey must disclose at the store en-
trance, point of sale or on receipts that they are charging an extra fee for credit card purchases.nThe disclosure on a receipt must
show the amount of the fee and stipulate that the amount is equal to what the re-tailer pays to process a credit card trans-action. The fees can vary for different types of cards, such as rewards cards, according to Consumer Action. nRetailers cannot charge an extra
fee for debit cards.
By the Editors of Kiplinger’s Per-sonal Finance Magazine, compliments of NEA Member Benefits.
A Credit Card Surcharge?
3 Col 48 pt headline
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March 2013 n The NSEA Voice n Page 21
GEON Offers NebraskaGeography Programs
The Geographic Educators of Ne-braska are back in the field this summer, with two free professional development institutes. Any K-12 Nebraska educator who desires to learn how to put more and better standards-based geography content into their classrooms can apply.
Three hours of graduate credit for ei-ther institute is available through Wayne State College. Participants completing all requirements will receive a $200 sti-pend. The two institutes are:nGeography of the City – Oma-
ha: Based at the University of Nebras-ka-Omaha June 10-14, speakers and presentations will focus on the human and physical geography of the Omaha area. Field study will highlight and ex-plain important locations in Omaha’s urban and economic geography. Par-ticipants will create and share standards-based lesson plans relating to Nebraska geography. Registrants from outside a 50-mile radius of Omaha will receive housing. Participants will receive free teaching materials. Applications are due by May 31. For more, e-mail Steve Cal-laghan at [email protected] of the Frontier:
Northwest Nebraska and More: Based at Chadron State July 14-20, this institute includes field studies, lectures and lessons presented by elementary/secondary consultants. Field study will take place in the Black Hills, the Sand-hills, at Fort Robinson and the Pine Ridge Reservation. Participants will create and share standards-based les-sons. Housing is provided. Applications are due June 3. For details, e-mail Lon-nie Moore at [email protected].
Cather ‘Virtual Tour’Provided by NETV
Nebraska Educational Television has created a virtual tour of Nebraska author Willa Cather’s hometown, Red Cloud, that literature teachers will come to love.
The website uses materials from the 2005 American Masters PBS program Willa Cather – The Road is All program. The program featured actor David Strathairn as narrator and Marcia Gay Harden as the voice of Cather. NET’s Joel Geyer produced the program.
The website includes a look at four areas vital to Cather’s early years: her
family’s home in Red Cloud, the lo-cal train depot, the Red Cloud Opera House, the prairie. Each area includes video links, snippets of text from Cath-er’s writings, photos and maps.
The website is at:roundprojects.com/WillaCather/
index.php
Duck Stamp ProgramPairs Science with Art
As the season for spring waterfowl migration nears, this is the perfect time
for Nebraska students to participate in the Junior Duck Stamp Art Contest. The contest is an opportunity for K-12 stu-dents to connect with nature through ar-tistic creation. The program encourages students to portray native waterfowl in natural habitats.
Exhibition of winning entries will take place at various sites around Ne-braska. The Best of Show will enter the national competition.
Deadline for entry is March 15. De-tails are available on line at:
www.fws.gov/juniorduck
News You Can Use
NSEA Elections Now Under Way! Balloting to fill two score open seats on NSEA district and state governance
boards is now under way.Every member is encouraged to vote in order to elect capable members to lead
the Association for the next several years.All members need in order to vote is computer access and their 10-digit NSEA
identification number. The two-week voting period opened on Wednesday, Feb. 27. Prior to that date, members with valid e-mail addresses on file with NSEA received an e-mail alert detailing the voting process and including each member’s 10-digit identification number.
NSEA members without a valid e-mail address on file received a postcard detail-ing the voting process. To vote, go to the web site at:
www.nsea.orgAlso on the NSEA website: view a list of candidates and a brief biography for
those candidates that have supplied biographical information.
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The NSEA Retired annual meeting and Spring Confer-ence will be held Thursday, April 18, at the Younes Confer-ence Center in Kearney. Curt Tomasevicz, the U.S. Olym-pic gold medal-winnning bobsledder from Nebraska will deliver the keynote at 9 a.m. Two breakout sessions will be available before lunch, followed by the NSEA-Retired
business meeting and legislative update at 1:30 p.m. Che-rie Beam Clark will entertain with a spotlight on Nebras-ka following the business meeting. A dessert reception, wrap up, evaluation, and door prizes will end the day.
Registration and agenda will be online at:http://www.nsea.org/retired
NSEA-Retired Corner
NSEA-Retired JoinsCoalition on Retirement
Nebraska ranks as one of the 10 least tax-friendly states for retirees.
The goal of coalition joined by NSEA-Retired is to develop alterna-tives to the current tax structure that will move Nebraska out of that Bottom 10 ranking over the next several years. At the annual NSEA-Retired Lobby Day in early February, about 45 NSEA-Retired members heard an update of coalition activities.
Following the update, NSEA-retired members left the NSEA Headquarters building and went to the Legislature to talk with senators about various bills that are important to both NSEA and NSEA-Retired, and to help lay the groundwork for legislation to make Nebraska more retiree-friendly.
Legislative Update The Unicameral Update is a daily
news source produced by the Clerk of the Legislature’s Unicameral Infor-mation Office. A print version of the Unicameral Update, a free newsletter offered weekly during the legislative session, is available to be sent to your home. To request the mailing, just call 402-471-2788 or e-mail:
[email protected] website also provides a search-
able archive of news stories for the cur-rent biennium. You can access update information at this website:
http://update.legislature.ne.govOr, join the Twitter world at:
http://twitter.com/UnicamUpdateCurrently there are nine bills aimed at
making Nebraska more retiree friendly. The NSEA-Retired Board of Directors requests that all members, and active citizens, contact their representatives and encourage them to work together
to push a single bill to the floor of the Legislature, working to build stronger schools, stronger communities, and a stronger economy. Such a bill should meet the following two requirements:nImpact the greatest number of
people.nHave the largest amount of money
the state can afford to get back into the hands of taxpayers.
When asking senators to consider tax relief for retirees, please focus on what is fair and equitable to retirees and would have the greatest economic impact. Please contact your senator(s) and let them know your personal story, and why it is important for the state of Nebraska to structure the tax reform to benefit all retirees, not just a select group.
Finally, these two hints:nIf you want to testify before a
committee, you must fill out the sign-in
sheet at the witness table, orally identify yourself and spell your last name for the record, and state who, if anyone, you represent as you begin your testimony. It is important to remember that com-mittee proceedings are transcribed ver-batim, so it is helpful to have your testi-mony written out, in order to be concise. As you plan out your presentation, visit this link to find tips for testifying:
uniweb.legislature.ne.gov/about/testifying.php
nDuring a bill’s public hearing, letters or written communication con-taining support, opposition, or neutral testimony, are accepted by committees. Persons wishing to send written infor-mation should address their correspon-dence to the office of the senator who chairs the committee and ensure that the information arrives before the hearing.
— Renae Kelly, Editor [email protected]
Retirees Work with Senators
Intensity: Attendees at the annual NSEA-Retired Lobby Day on Feb. 5 listen closely as Jason Hayes, NSEA director of Public Policy and Legislative Research offers an update on legislative bills. From left are Gretchen Terpsma, Bennett; Gene Martin, Beatrice; and Joanne Allen, Lincoln.
Olympian Curt Tomasevicz at Spring Conference!
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Extra Credit
Charles A. Brown
Longtime NSEA member Charles A. “Charlie” Brown, Lincoln, died Jan. 28. An NEA life member, he was 93.
He was born on Aug. 28, 1919 in York. He was a Navy pilot and navigator during World War II. He taught eco-nomics and political science at York High School until his retirement. He was the 1973 Nebraska State Teacher of the Year. Brown attended the East-ridge Presbyterian Church.
Survivors include four sons, their spouses, and seven grand-children.
Laura Mae Nelson
Longtime NSEA member Laura Mae (Sutherland) Nel-son, 93, died on Dec. 27, 2012, at Kimball. She was a life mem-ber of both NEA and NSEA.
Born on Jan. 10, 1919, in Pe-tersburg, Nelson developed an early ambition to teach. As her high school class valedictorian, she received a full scholarship to Chadron State Teachers College, and, after receiving her two-year degree, taught at a one-room school near Kim-ball, and then at Chappell. After marrying Leonard Nelson in 1942, she returned to teaching in 1962 when the youngest of her five children began school. She taught third grade for 23 years, while earning a master’s degree from Chadron State. She was active in NSEA, NEA, AAUW, Delta Kappa Gamma and a host of other organiza-tions.
She is survived by five chil-dren, 11 grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren and one great-great grandchild. Memo-rials are to the NSEA Chil-dren’s Fund.
Consolidation: Gains, LossesCenter for Great Plains Studies Offers Symposium
to Review Effects of School ConsolidationThe Center for Great Plains Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln will host
its 39th annual symposium on April 5-6, at Kearney. The 2013 theme is “Gains and Losses from School Consolidation.”
“This theme serves as a launching point to give participants the opportunity to connect school consolidation issues to the preservation of a well-educated citizenry, regardless of particular locations,” Symposium Chairman Peter Longo said. Longo is a professor of political science at the University of Nebraska-Kearney.
The symposium, which is open to the public, will address such questions as: What are the causes and consequences of school consolidation? What are its effects on students? How do we sustain the vitality of rural schools and rural communities?
More than two dozen speakers will present over two days on UNK’s campus and at the Younes Conference Center. The symposium will also feature a concert by the Hutchins Consort, a photography exhibition and sandhill crane watching.
Paul Theobold, author of several books on rural education and a dean at Buena Vista University, will give the keynote address. He has published widely on the topic of community- and place-based education – the idea that learning through the outdoor environment and a student’s community is a key component of a strong education.
For details about the conference, e-mail [email protected], or visit:www.unl.edu/plains
The Center for Great Plains Studies is a four-campus interdisciplinary, research and teaching program. Its mission is to promote a greater understanding of the people, culture, history, and environment of the Great Plains through a variety of research, teaching and outreach programs.
Is Your School Green?NPPD Offers Investigative Package for Students
GreenSchools has nothing to do with painting the school house. Instead, it is a national program designed to make a school “greener through critical thinking and problem solving.
The program encourages students from kindergarten through the 12th grade to take person-al responsibility for improving the quality of their school, home and community environment. Nebraska Public Power District supports the program by providing educational resources, teacher professional development, and classroom programs.
“NPPD offers teachers in energy and sustainability education hands-on, project-based in-struction and tools needed to conduct GreenSchools’ investigations,” said NPPD Energy Edu-cator Jennifer Swerczek.
Students complete the investigations and develop action plans for improvement. One of the key components is an investigative toolkit. The toolkits, which NPPD will loan
to schools, contain light and watt meters, an infrared temperature gauge, a CO2 meter, a con-servation flow meter bag, and other equipment used to conduct investigations.
The GreenSchools program consists of five, student-led investigations designed for the school setting, but also include elements where students can apply learned skills in their home environment. At the completion of each investigation, students develop and implement an ac-tion plan. Swerczek said the school building becomes a learning lab for students.
“This program helps improve students’ academic performance in science, technology, engi-neering, and math, and develops critical thinking skills, and grows student leaders,” she said.
Based on the results, schools can develop an action plan focused on reducing the energy usage, increasing the school’s energy efficiency and improving environmental quality.
Funding may be available for implementing school action plans, and implementing a GreenSchools program could aid schools in applying for the U.S. Department of Education’s new Green Ribbon School Award.
For details, contact Swerczek at 402-336-2701, or visit:www.nppd.com/energy-education/greenschools
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Page 24 n The NSEA Voice n March 2013
Mailed By: The Nebraska State Education Association Suite 200, 605 S. 14th St., Lincoln, NE 68508-2742
Family of Teachers
The Nebel family of teachers: Three retirees in the Nebel family of teachers have 105 years of teaching experience among them – the others just add to the total! Seated, from left, are: Dorothy Nebel Klein, who taught at Boone County Districts 71 and 59; Mary Anne Steinbruck, Omaha; Kim Steinbruck, Omaha; and Joan Novacek, Cedar Rapids. Standing, from left, are Jim Nebel, Steven Steinbruck and Joe Nebel, all of Omaha. Jim Nebel, Joe Nebel and Mary Anne Steinbruck taught for a total of 105 years.
If you have a family of teachers, snap a photo and send it to: Family of Teachers, c/o NSEA, 605 S. 14th St., Lincoln, NE 68508.
Football Behavior PlanFrom Diane Postman, a teacher at Yorktown, VA:
“Years ago, Poquoson Primary School used sports to cre-ate a school-wide behavior incentive program for January. We used a die-cut machine to cut footballs. Each teacher was given a stack. We were asked to carry a few with us at all times. When we saw another class (not our own) that was well-behaved in the hallway, cafeteria, at the bathrooms, or the like, we handed a football to a student in the class. They could also earn a foot-ball for an individual act of good citizenship. Upon returning to the classroom, the teacher talked about what the class did to earn the football and would post it on a paper football field that was displayed outside of her door in the hall. Each time the class earned a football,
their ‘team’ would advance 10 yards on the field. (This was great for teaching counting by 10’s.) When the team reached the goal post, they would earn a touchdown and start over. Tally marks were used to display and track points earned.
“When it was time for the Super Bowl, the totals were giv-en to the principal. We then had a culminating assembly and everyone wore sports-related clothing to school. The principal and assistant principal dressed like football players, complete with helmets and pads! The top scoring classes got to do cheers, and all classes were praised for their behaviors. Examples of
especially good deeds and behaviors were an-nounced for all to hear. This activity was ex-tremely popular and allowed us to “catch ‘em being good” rather than give out reprimands.”
Sign up for Works4Me at this link:www.nea.org/tools/Works4Me.html
Speaking of Teaching“A lazy schoolboy lets his father do
his homework, but a bright one helps his father with it.”
—Evan EsarAmerican humorist, 1899-1995
Follow Abe’sFootsteps
Apply Now for Civil War Fellows Program
Walk in the footsteps of Abraham Lincoln and experience the home of a southern sympathizer in historic Georgetown during a weeklong Civil War Washington Teacher Fellows pro-gram this summer.
As part of the six-day program, edu-cators will also immerse themselves in Lincoln’s ideas at President Lincoln’s Cottage and walk the halls of Cedar Hill, the home of the famed abolitionist Frederick Douglass.
Participants will leave familiar with: an array of virtual tours, the oratory skills to get students on their feet per-forming speeches by Lincoln and Dou-glass; ability to take students on content-driven experiential learning adventures; and excited about using a wide range of primary sources in your classroom!
Fees include hotels, airfare, work-shops, materials and breakfast and lunch each day. All Fellows are eligible to ob-tain three graduate credit hours through Trinity University for $375.
Funded in part by the Catherine B. Reynolds Foundation, the program is offered by the Civil War Washing-ton Consortium. Applications are due March 29. For details, contact:
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