Another Email Gaffe

How many of these do you think I need to make before I learn not to mess with folks? When I referenced "your social network" in today's email, I was not making a subtle endorsement of either side on question 1. Rather, I was just suggesting that if you are so cave-bound that you were unaware of today's voting, it was hardly for me to alert you to the fact. Why then the message? To remind those only slightly more aware than that to stop by the polls on their ways home.

If I caused you any consternation with that voting reminder, please be assured that it was unintentional.

Catching Up with ...

Just as Fed Chairman Bernanke says that the recession is technically over, the local school budget is about to plunge into a deep hole. Follow this link to read about it in the Press Herald, including Superintendent Godin's comments on it.

By now you may be wondering, why this tone? I have two reasons.

First, it feels like we've been here often, but mostly because we've been someplace like it. I was speaking with a teacher from another district yesterday, and there was some genuine alarm (panic? maybe not, she's got some seniority) in her voice. I said that we were pretty blithe about the whole thing. After all, we freeze the budget just about every year, don't we? She asked the last time we froze the budget in October. Hmmmm.

Second, as money runs out, we'll either do without or find other sources. We have all just become licensed grant-hunters. One solid patch on which to hunt is the NEA Foundation website. MEA also has some grants. Target is funding some field trips but you'll need to use The Google to find the application. Donorschoose is an impressive project that is worth considering.

Yeah, I know that we shouldn't have to fund our own classrooms. I also know that unemployment shouldn't be 10%. The state shouldn't be millions of dollars in the hole. That nation shouldn't be trillions in debt. But we may have to, because it is, it is, and it is. I'm not suggesting that we panic, but neither am I suggesting that this is just another budget squeeze. Forewarned could be fore-funded.

November 3 Elections

So these two dogs are walking on Willard Beach, complaining about the excise tax...

Here's a good Press Herald article about the City Council and School Board races in South Portland.

District 3 City Council candidates: Gary Crosby, Rosemarie Deangelis, Christopher Kessler

District 4 School Board candidates: Kendall Fassett, James Gilboy

District 5 School Board candidates: Tappan Fitzgerald, Alan Livingston

MEA's position on the election

This is quoted verbatim from an email from MEA.

The 25,000 members of the Maine Education Association are facing an “immediate and real threat” that requires an immediate response from every member, every staff member, every friend, and every family member in order to avoid severe and long-terms problems for our profession. That “immediate and real threat” is Question #4 (TABOR).

If Question #4 is approved on November 3^rd, the MEA will need to reinvent itself. We will need to retool our Association to work on statewide and local referendums year-round. What we have been doing for the past several months, is what we will do on a full time basis in an effort to keep our schools funded and members employed. The current problems with the State Budget will become a permanent condition.

We simply can’t let that happen. We simply MUST bring to bear the full power, and every resource within our 25,000 member Association, to try to defeat Question #4 (TABOR) over the next two weeks. MEA, the NEA, and friends of public education from across the United States, have invested more than $1.5 million dollars to help us defeat Question #4. For the next 2 weeks, defeating Question #4 must be, and will be, our primary purpose.

Some of you have asked about the State Budget problems and have suggested that we should spend time planning our strategy for addressing the difficulties that we will all face in light of these problems. To me, it is simply a matter of priorities. WE HAVE TO WIN THE FIGHT WE ARE IN FIRST…..Question #4 (TABOR) must be defeated. While superintendents may be nervously clamoring over pending budget shortfalls, the real battle over the future direction of our State is being fought. There will be no decisions regarding the state budget between now and November 3^rd….but there will be a great deal of hand-wringing. MEA is deeply involved, and closely monitoring, the state of the State Budget. The work that is going on presently is talk about ideas and alternatives…and we are involved in those discussions. But make no mistake about what is the most immediate priority. If Question #4 (TABOR) passes on November 3^rd, all of the current talk about budget problems and shortfalls will change dramatically….and for the worse!

That is why we must devote our Association energy and resources into defeating the “immediate and real threat”. We must work to defeat Question #4. Here is what you can do over the next two weeks:

1.) Talk to your immediate family members and friends about the serious threat posed by Question #4. Don’t be intimidated by the complexity of the TABOR formula…what it will do is more important than how it works. Look at the examples from Colorado. Or simply decide that if you don’t understand it, Vote NO!

2.) Spend 1-3 hours over the next two weeks working the phones at an MEA office. It is easy. It is important. And colleagues are reporting it is actually fun!

3.) Get a bumper sticker on your car. Spread the word over the next 2 weeks that you are Voting No on Question #4. (You might say you don’t like bumper stickers…..well, it is only for 2 weeks)

4.) Talk to your colleagues and other MEA members at school and encourage them to Vote No on Question #4.

The math is simple…..

§ We need 255,000 votes to win on November 3^rd.

§ MEA has 25,000 members.

§ If we can each move 10 voters to support our schools and Vote No on Question #4….

§ WE WIN!

If we don’t Stand Up and Speak Up to save our public schools….who do you think will?

Please stand together as 25,000 members of the Maine Education Association and Vote NO on Question #4 on November 3^rd.

TABOR? Non, merci.

The SPTA-RA heard about questions two and four on the November ballot on Thursday afternoon Jake Sweeney, a field rep from NEA in Maine to organize opposition to these questions, asked members to volunteer a few hours on the phone banks.

I had put in a few hours on the previous night calling folks all over the state. It's not my favorite thing, but it is very important. I hope that more teachers will give a little. If everybody took a shift, we could put some much-needed thrust under the Vote No campaign.

My GR committee colleague Mike has a much more favorable view of phone-banking. He felt no better about it than I did when he volunteered, but click here to read about his experience.

Elementary Specials Revised Schedule

Some folks may be aware that kindergarten and first grade specials (art, music, and phys ed) were significantly shortened to make space for more classes while retaining 45 minute specials classes for grades two through five. Grievance Rep Sally Beatty articulated the SPTA's opposition to this position. The SPTA had several concerns about the situation. They boiled down to reduced instruction in these areas for the kids, inequitable prep time across elementary grades, and the precedent for greater erosion of instruction in elementary grades.

The district administration explored all available options, but could not fully restore the time across the district. In the end, they presented the SPTA with two options: retain the present system or make all classes 40 minutes K-5 (except the 30 Kindergarten phys ed, about which nothing can be done). The SPTA-RA wrestled with the question for some time before reaching a decision to recommend 40 minutes across the board.

It is our hope that concerned parents, teachers, and administrators will find a way to restore the former level of instruction for all students.

Got Quant?

UMaine (Go you Bears!) is considering the development of a certificate program entitled Education Data Specialist. This sequence would be offered in a variety of formats including live sessions in regional sites, hybrid courses, and on-line.

They need to know if there is sufficient interest before they sink a lot of effort into developing it. For more info, contact Walt Harris (581-2467 or wharris@maine.edu).

Link to Education Data Specialist Survey