Last month, we published an article about the election for State Superintendent of Public Instruction which set the record straight on some of the accomplishments of AALA-endorsed candidate Tony Thurmond. The article also informed readers that this race is set to break all fundraising records and be the most expensive campaign in the state. With absentee ballots in the mail and millions being spent on television ads, mail, radio, and Internet advertising, we question why so much money is being poured into the election for a nonpartisan office that will head the California Department of Education, but have limited authority over school funding or educational policy.
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The Center at Cathedral Plaza was awash in a sea of red, white, and blue as administrators converged for an evening of networking, enjoying refreshments, meeting with colleagues, and making new friends at the AALA Annual Fall Reception. Lucky attendees won a TV, a notebook computer, and gift cards.
AALA President Juan A. Flecha brought the house down when he thanked his supporters for reelecting him and advised the audience, using the words of President Trump, that in less than two years his administration has accomplished more than any administration in the history of the country!
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Unit J members in good standing will be receiving an AALA survey shortly by email. The purpose of the survey is to understand what Unit J members are thinking and what their priorities are for the upcoming negotiations with the District. The results will be analyzed by the Unit J Bargaining Team in order to best
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The focus of this week’s Update is to answer the many questions that have arisen as a result of the 2017-2020 Successor Agreement between the Los Angeles Unified School District and the Associated Administrators of Los Angeles.
Q: Did the Board of Education approve the 2017- 2020 Tentative Agreement (TA)?
A: The Board of Education APPROVED the TA at its first regular meeting of the year on Tuesday, August 21, 2018.
Q: When will the negotiated raise and the retroactive pay appear on the pay warrant?
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As you may know, the District and UTLA have been in negotiations for a new contract for more than a year. The union is asking for a 6.5% salary increase, class-size reductions, discretion to determine which standardized assessments are used in classrooms, and more school nurses, librarians, and restorative-justice advisors, among other things. The District’s position is that funding these demands will lead to immediate bankruptcy. To learn more about the District’s offer, click HERE (or visit www.lausd.net); for more about UTLA’s position, click HERE (or visit www.utla.net).
Recently, UTLA conducted a strike vote in which 98% of those voting
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BREAKING NEWS!
The Board of Education approved the AALA Tentative Agreement on Tuesday, August 21, 2018. Key provisions are:
3% on-schedule wage increase retroactive to July 1, 2017
3% wage supplement retroactive to July 1, 2018
Addition of a third career increment, which will be 50% greater than the second career increment
A special appeal process for School Support Administrators who are released from their positions for other than District operational needs.
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This week’s Update begins with an association. What comes to mind when you read the title “Gone with the Wind?” Scarlett O’Hara, Rhett Butler, Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable, are names that probably come to mind for many of us. What may not immediately come to mind is Margaret Mitchell’s name. She is the author of the great novel “Gone with the Wind” upon which the blockbuster movie was based. Our point is that the movie would never have been made had she not written the novel. The same goes for AALA’s School Support Administrators and AALA’s Unit J. Like their Hollywood counterparts
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AALA members overwhelmingly ratified the 2017-2020 Tentative Agreement (TA) with LAUSD. With all votes counted, 98% of those voting were in favor of the TA. The next step is for the Board of Education to approve it at its next regular meeting.
HIT THE GROUND RUNNING!
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Some Unit J members are rightly wondering if the recent contract negotiations applied to them. The negotiations and upcoming ratification process are for certificated frontline managers. However, AALA is looking forward to the approaching Unit J Negotiations. The AALA Unit J contract is the only contract in the District that expired this
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Last week’s Update welcomed E Basis Administrators with useful and helpful tips to tackle the 2018 school year. This week, it is the most opportune of times to welcome the association’s B Basis Administrators. And what a welcome it is! AALA’s AMAZING certificated bargaining team reached a Tentative Agreement (TA) after nine months of negotiations with the District on
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We want to give a warm welcome to all E Basis administrators as they return to work from their very brief vacations. We hope that you had time to rest, relax, renew, and enjoy good times with family and friends. As always, we know that you will hit the ground running to prepare your schools and other sites for the start of a new year. In light of that, this issue of Update will primarily consist
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Sadly, national politics seem to be playing out in our own backyard. Proof positive is a recently released report from the L.A. Unified Task Force (formerly headed by now Superintendent Austin Beutner) entitled Hard Choices (click HERE). The report squarely places the blame for the District’s lack of achievement and finances at the feet of classroom teachers and frontline managers. The irony of the report is the apparent absolution of District-represented senior leadership and the Board of Education, both past and present. Yet, it is they who make policy and propagate resolution after resolution, ultimately burdening teachers and administrators with bulletins, memoranda, and reference guides by the thousands.
So it is important
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By now, you have learned of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Council 31, et al. (Click here) The heavily anticipated 5 – 4 ruling reversed over 40 years of legal precedence (Abood v. Detroit Bd. of Ed., 431 U.S. 209, 1977) and strikes down laws in California, New York, and 20 other states plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, which held that employees who are represented by a union should pay their fair share of fees to support the union that represents them in collective bargaining, contract administration, and grievance adjustment. The Abood case, in a unanimous decision from the Supreme Court, affirmed that because the “designation of a union as exclusive representatives carries with it great responsibilities, it inevitably also entails substantial costs.”
Justice Elena Kagan offers a brilliant synopsis in her dissenting opinion in the Janus case, calling out the five opposing jurists as “Black robed rulers overriding citizens’ choices,”
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This week’s Update is in memoriam to the death of the professional career of more than one of our members. Once again, AALA members find themselves in the crossfire of harsh disciplinary action with little to no progressive discipline. Once again, administrators are being released from their assignments with little notice, no evaluation, and no reasons given. And to make matters worse, those fortunate enough to not be victims, cannot yet inhale a sigh of relief because the District reserves the right to change assignments up to the last working day of this month. More than one AALA member was released from their administrative assignment at the 11th hour last year.
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“Prestidigitation,” loosely translated, means actions taken with quick fingers! And with the stroke of a red pen, a couple of vaguely opaque sentences, and a dash of hocus pocus the District made the unthinkable happen in the Superintendent’s Final Budget 2018-19: The disappearance of Program 13027 funds.
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It is important for AALA and its members to ALWAYS have our EYES WIDE OPEN. Take some important time to read the New York Times article entitled “A New Principal Pushes for Change. Then the Investigations Start” (click HERE). The article strikes at the heart of what many administrators know, are living and experiencing
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Last week’s page one article, A Sea of White, resonated throughout the District with AALA membership. We received numerous letters thanking us for printing the general sentiment of LAUSD frontline managers. Because of the current toxic and retaliatory climate in the District, members are hesitant to voice their concerns, or heaven forbid, complain! Therefore, since you have entrusted AALA with your concerns, it is incumbent upon your leadership to step out and be a voice for those who, for fear of retaliation, cannot speak. Below are just some of the most compelling communications we have received.
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AALA administrators are at a disadvantage when it comes to showing solidarity, especially when in the middle of negotiations. They cannot beat the strike threat drum because the contract prohibits work stoppages for administrators. Wearing T-shirts on a given day is also almost impossible, especially if you are the sole administrator at a site. And even if we did, the most reaction we would receive is probably a quick head turn for dressing more casually than usual. Moreover, administrators cannot leave their work sites and descend upon a Board meeting to show unity and solidarity.
Being the problem solvers we are, and because we are now at the negotiations table, the idea emerged to
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It has come to our attention that for the last couple of months the Update and any communication from AALA that is sent to an lausd.net address may have been diverted to the recipient’s junk mail. While we are not clear on the reason, we know that it is not the intention of the District to restrict
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