June 2010 Focus
June 2010 Focus
June 2010 Focus
focus
on educators
focus on educators is an award winning publication of the Pittsburg Education Association/CTA/NEA
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Chris Coan
PEA President
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PEA Leadership 2009-2010
President
Chris Coan
Willow Cove Elementary/ PEA Office
Elementary Vice President Rep. Council Meeting Calendar
Cindy Joy September 16
Parkside Elementary October 21
Secondary Vice President November 18
James Vaughan December 16
Riverside High School January 20
Secretary February 17
Sarah Mathias March 17
Highlands Elementary April 21
Treasurer May 19
Vacant June 9
Committee Chairs ******************
Grievance Committee School Board Meeting Calendar
Iris Contreras August 26
Foothill Elementary
September 9
Richard Higgins September 23
Pittsburg High
October 14
Negotiations Team October 28
Marc Sternberger - Chair November 18
Political Action Committee December 16
Iris Contreras and Steve Longley - Chair January 20
Elections Chair February 17
Jim Goble – Chair March 3
Human Rights Committee March 24
Ruth Foster – Chair April 14
Women’s Issues Committee April 28
Deborah Cummings May 12
PEA Organizing Team May 26
Jim Vaughn and Bebe Vaughn - Chair June 9
CTA State Council Representatives June 23
Chris Rohde - Pittsburg High ******************
Denise James, Valorie Baca, Sandra Wilbanks - AEA Are you Getting your PEA
Alternate Information???
Cindy Joy - Parkside Elementary
CTA Director District C Having the site reps attend their monthly meeting and then
Eric Heins – Willow Cove Elementary reporting back to you is vital in the communication chain
of our Association.
NEA Director for California, District 3
Marc Sternberger – Special Education/MLK
Roll call at last May 19 Rep. Council Meeting:
Technical Editor
Adult Ed. – absent
Susan Harrison – PEA Site Secretary Foothill – present
Heights – absent
Focus on Educators Highlands – present
is a publication of the Los Medanos – present
Pittsburg Education Association CTA/NEA Marina Vista – present
1901 Railroad Avenue #A Parkside – present
Pittsburg, CA 94565 Stoneman – present
Phone: (925) 432-0199 Willow Cove – present
fax: (925) 432-4854 MLK – present
E-MAIL:peatchrs@att.net Hillview – absent
Rancho Medanos – present
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PHS – absent
Riverside – present
We strongly recommend that you register a What Can Local Chapters Do?
beneficiary. By registering a beneficiary, you will have
peace of mind, knowing that proceeds will be paid All local associations should advise its members of the
according to your specifications. If you have not requirements of the law and of the necessity to follow the
registered a beneficiary, or if you can’t remember whether mandatory reporting provisions. They should also ensure
you did, or you realize it’s time to update your that the school district is providing comprehensive in-
beneficiary, please take a few minutes to do so online by service training with respect to the detection of child
following these steps: abuse.
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Educate teachers in the correct ways of dealing with students shined through from day one. She is a well liked
students. Explain how “touching” students or any type of teacher who makes great connections with the kids. She comes
physical contact can lead to false accusations. to us from New Mexico. Growing up, she didn’t see herself as a
teacher. When she went away to college her plan was to
Local associations should ensure that all members fully become an engineer. She married her husband Marv, who was
understand the appropriate steps to take to protect their job a cattle rancher and saw her life as a wife and mother living on a
and credential status in the case of either alleged violation ranch. When her husband made a career change, she ended up
of the reporting laws or accusations of child abuse against going into teaching. She felt drawn to the career from her time
the member. tutoring kids. She taught in New Mexico until her husband’s job
change brought her out to Pittsburg. We are very happy to have
her at our school. CONGRATULATIONS Becky on being
district teacher of the year!
The Validity of Walk-Thru’s
“Teachers of the Year”
It has come to my attention that a couple of the
administrators that have performed walk-thru’s for the last
5 years have not been completely knowledgeable in what
they are sent to observe. After a recent walk-thru two very Josefina Diaz, Foothill
professional teachers accompanied the administrators at a Josefina Diaz is Foothill’s Teacher of the Year for 2010. She
walk-thru at their school site. At the end of the walk-thru is a great gift to the teaching profession and we are lucky to
they all met together to process and create the write-up have her as a member of our team. Josie, as we call her, is very
from the observations. There was much misunderstanding passionate and committed in all that she does for her students.
on the part of the administrators as to what they were Josie received her Bachelor of Arts from Cal State San
Bernardino and her credential from Cal State East Bay
observing. The principals of ELD Strategies and how they
University.
are properly done with a class were incorrect. The
Josie has been a teacher for four years but she has
alignment to the standards for the grade level were
been in the educational field since she was 19 years old. She
incorrect. The time frame on the “I-we-you” of a lesson began as an instructional assistant then became the Coordinator
were incorrect given the fact that it is the end of the school of their After School Program. Her student teaching was done at
year. Language arts writing strategies were incorrectly Foothill in Mrs. Steffani’s Kindergarten class. When she became
defined (i.e. a cloze sentence frame). A teacher was fully credentialed she applied for a 4th grade position in the Dual
praised for covering the entire observation check list Immersion Program at Foothill where she was for three years.
within 15 minutes. The students got nothing out of the 15 Right now she is a second grade teacher in a regular,
minute lesson. This is crazy and not teaching! It is doing a mainstream second grade class.
dog and pony show! We are very happy to have someone as intelligent,
committed, passionate and knowledgeable as Josie Diaz in our
I have spoken to Dr. Wilson, Linda Rondeau and staff.
Dorothy Epps about my concerns and how the whole
process of classroom observations appear to be invalid.
Until the walk-thru administrators get training and Sandi Dias, Stoneman
knowledge in ELD Strategies, language arts processes, the Mrs. Sandi Dias, a second grade teacher at Stoneman
grade level standards specific for each grade level and Elementary, brings to her staff and community a wealth of
what is reasonable to observe within a 15 minute time experience and knowledge. She has been a teacher for 32 years
view I believe the following: We should NOT hold much and has taught everything from preschool to adult education and
value in the feedback from these observations. They have special education. She came to Pittsburg Unified School District
the weight of a grain of sand. C. Coan in 1982 and joined the Heights staff. After a few years at Heights
she moved on to make an impression at Los Medanos and
******************************* Foothill, before settling in at Stoneman. She has been an active
Presenting Becky Pounds, Hillview staff member as grade level lead teacher, mentor teacher, and
has served on numerous other committees. Throughout her
“District Teacher of the Year” years, Dias says her favorite part of the job is how no two years
have been the same. She looks forward to the diversity in each
year, and she says the changes are exciting challenges that
Hillview’s teacher of the year is Mrs. Becky Pounds. She keep her feeling young!
teaches Algebra and Pre-Algebra. Even though she has only When she is not teaching creative lessons that utilize
been at our school for a few years, her dedication to the both the Open Court curriculum and her depth of experience in
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education and children, Dias can be found knitting sweaters,
blankets or teddy bears. On the weekends, Dias enjoys time on
the green, cheering on her daughter, an award-winning golfer
PEA Executive Board 2010-
and recent high school graduate. Dias also manages to squeeze 2011
time in to plan new projects for her husband to complete on their
cabin in Lake Almanor. Election Results
She is grateful for the support of her colleagues at
Stoneman and always believes it takes a village to be V.P., Secondary Arthur S. Pruyn
successful! V.P., Elementary Cindy Joy
Secretary Tammy Carr
Treasurer Gale L. Higgins
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to strengthen our local by having ties with the local
community and a positive presence. The third part of the
Organizing Academy is Internal Organizing and I focused
on that one. I applied for a grant from CTA for $9,000 and
got it. This grant money will be spent trying to strengthen
our local association with better communication, meetings
with members at school sites and general membership
meetings, a PEA Web Site, and retreats for the Executive
Board and Committee members and chairs to plan and
strategize. All in all it was a start with a game plan. Now
we just need YOU to join in and help. C. Coan
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teacher in a small minority of a school it can be damaging “When You Thought I Wasn’t
to the self in ways that may go back to aspects of racism.
Looking”
The presentation also included statistics mentioning the Author, Mary Rita Schilke Korzan
shortage of black teachers, especially male teachers. 2%
of the United States 4.8 million teachers are black men When you thought I wasn’t looking, you displayed my
and ½ of black male teachers leave the profession before first report, and I wanted to do another.
retirement compared with 30% of all teachers. Sharron
also emphasized the responsibility of African American When you thought I wasn’t looking, you fed a stray
teachers to support each other and advance achievement in cat, and I thought it was good to be kind to animals.
leadership roles.
When you thought I wasn’t looking, you gave me a
During lunch we had a keynote speaker named sticker, and I knew that little things were special
Lateefah Simon who works with the Lawyers Committee things.
for Civil Rights. Not only was she an excellent speaker,
but she is a Mills woman (my alma mater). Lateefah When you thought I wasn’t looking, you put your arm
encouraged all teachers to keep going, to continue to be around me, and I felt loved.
that positive force in a child’s life. She used her own life
experience to emphasize the necessity to build up a child’s
self worth when other areas of their life can be so
destructive. It was quite moving and something I will When you thought I wasn’t looking I saw tears
cherish to have been a part of as an audience member. It come from your eyes, and I learned that sometimes
renewed my sense that one person can make an impact on things hurt--but that it’s all right to cry.
the course of a child’s life in an extraordinary way.
When you thought I wasn’t looking, you smiled, and
The last workshop I attended was Empowering African it made me want to look that pretty too.
American Students to Learn: Strategies for Closing the
Achievement Gap. The presenter, Reena Doyle, showed When you thought I wasn’t looking, you cared, and I
wanted to be everything I could be.
all of us quotes from students about what they need to
love to learn and if they should be paid to learn. Some of
When you thought I wasn’t looking--I looked...and
the messages were heartbreaking like, “Teachers care
wanted to say thanks for all those things you did
about us, but not me…” and “You have to like children… when you thought I wasn’t looking.
stop telling me you don’t like children”. There was a
consensus about being paid to learn. In a word they
wanted the money to go towards education. In summary *******************************
there are gaps, but there are no definitive answers because
we are all individuals. We as educators must use our “What Teachers Make, or
professional judgment and want to create an environment
in which students want to learn, even if this means veering Objection Overruled, or If
from the system. Things Don’t Work Out, You
The conference was a wonderful opportunity for me in Can Always Go To Law School”
terms of growth. It also solidified some ideas I’ve had
regarding leadership. I feel like I can branch out to help Author, Taylor Mali
others on this road to achievement in leadership and be an
advocate for students. He says the problem with teachers is, “What’s a kid
going to learn from someone who decided his best
option in life was to become a teacher?” He reminds
CORRECTION: The “Alcosta Leadership
the other dinner guests that it’s true what they say
Conference” article in the May issue of the Focus was
about teachers: Those who can, do; those who
written by Deborah Cummings – the Women’s Issues
can’t, teach.
Chair.
*******************************
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I decided to bite my tongue instead of his and resist I make them understand that if you got this (brains)
the temptation to remind the other dinner guests that then you follow this (heart) and if someone ever tries
it’s also true what they say about lawyers. to judge you by what you make, you give them this
(the finger.)
Because we’re eating, after all, and this is polite
company. Let me break it down for you, so you
know what I say is true: I make a
“I mean, you’re a teacher, Taylor,” he says. goddamn difference! What about
“Be honest. What do you make?” you?
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