Newest articles on The Sacramento Press tagged as "s c t a"

Dirty Pool: SCTA Style

2011-06-02T19:54:38Z

By Henrietta Cisneros, freelance correspondent.
June 2, 2011
12:00 p.m., PST

Dirty Pool: SCTA Style

Members of the Sacramento City Teachers Association (SCTA) and a faction of teachers at Hiram Johnson high school are waging a new kind of warfare. Children at Hiram Johnson High School and throughout the Sacramento City Unified School District (SCUSD) are being misguided and manipulated by a group of teachers and union bullies as a means of ousting seasoned principal, Felisberto Cedros.

Conflict erupted on the Hiram Johnson campus between Cedros and a group of teachers shortly after he was appointed principal last year. Cedros implemented new policies at the school ranging from a dress code for teachers (teachers were wearing flip flops and shorts to work), no pets at school, no food or drink in the classrooms, to ensuring that best teaching practices were being utilized in each classroom. Cedros also initiated a summer long cleaning spree in which many teachers were told to remove their personal belongings from their classrooms. During the summer cleaning phase a school employee noted that she observed custodial staff remove six beds, old and outdated textbooks from the 1960’s, and open food items that had been expired for nearly three years. It was also suggested that many classrooms were infested with rat and dog feces.

Some teachers on the campus have resisted the changes almost from the beginning. Now, in a retaliatory effort, many of these teachers have resorted to drafting students on the campus to do their dirty work. That’s right; kids are being recruited and manipulated as a means of assisting SCTA in “dirty pool” tactics. This plan comes to fruition this evening at 6:30 p.m. at the SCUSD Board of Education meeting. Tonight, school aged children that have been taken advantage of and unduly influenced will be marched in front of the School Board in an effort to do away with a principal that has fought valiantly to eradicate an atmosphere of low standards and poor teaching on the campus. Why? Simply put, there are some teachers on the Johnson campus that want things to go back to the way it used to be. How did it used to be? Student expectations were low. Teacher standards were nearly unheard of. Teachers rested comfortably in their poor performances while the union approved former principal treaded quietly until he could retire.

It is apparent that Cedros and his administrative team have created a climate of new expectations at Johnson high school. Many teachers and students on the campus enjoy the new expectations and challenges. Some students have exclaimed that they feel “more prepared for the world after high school.” It is evident that the new leadership is making a difference.

Tonight’s board meeting will be important. Tonight can be a defining moment in the direction we want to take our schools. Do we want “old guard” union lackeys with a track record of failure and low expectations running our schools or do we want leaders with intestinal fortitude that are willing to do what it takes to get the job done? Our children are certainly worth the debate.

The public is encouraged to attend and speak at tonight’s school board meeting. The meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. at the Serna center located at 5735 47th Avenue, Sacramento, C.A. 95820.

Teacher Raises Afoot? Optimistic on School Chief's Hiring Practices !

2010-08-05T17:50:10Z

We teachers have all been sacrificing lately for the good of students and the financial solvency of Sacramento City Unified School District. I have an SCUSD-tested plan, however, to help us improve our financial and working condition, especially in light of the SCTA-generated concessions to our District. Here’s what we do.

Apply to the SCUSD school board to use the title, “Chief”, in front of our employee classification. For example, I would take over the moniker, Chief 6th Grade G.A.T.E. Teacher of Phoebe Hearst (it’s better to use capital letters…more credibility). You can immediately see how much more grandeur it gives a lowly teacher. But there are a host of reasons why we all should use the title, Chief:

*It improves student discipline. We all understand the importance of students deferring to classroom authority. Quiet kids make for productive kids.

*Classroom learning is enhanced. Studies show that totally compliant children make marked gains on standardized tests, the only true reliable test of student achievement.

*Teacher appearance necessarily will approach some higher standard. Let’s face it, a Chief Anything can’t come to school to improve learning for students in, say, jeans and sneakers!?! I’m a proponent of the bowtie, for example. You all must have lots of ideas on how we can dress ourselves more properly. Let’s do mandatory in-service on how to enrich a school community by what Chief teachers wear. If only we could enlist some administrative help with teacher wardrobes.

*Parent-teacher conferences will go more smoothly and there will be more of them as well. No parent is going to dare skip the chance to talk to a “Chief” Teacher, and those pesky questions about student progress will be a thing of the past.

But this is the best news. We’ll all get huge raises. I don’t know how the Superintendent does it, but it’ll happen. He’s so confident that he replaced the Chief Financial Officer of SCUSD with a Chief Communications Officer. The financial predicament we face must not be all that bad, I guess! Maybe we’ll all just talk our way through the mess. I’m all for it anyway; it’s way easier than doing math and stuff.

So that’s one chief at $100,000 plus per year. His Chief of Staff? Again up into the six figures. The new proposed Chief of Family and Parent Engagement is expected to cost a bundle. We don’t exactly know how much the new Chief of Accountability will make, but the District spent $52,000 for a North Carolina outfit (none available in our state, I guess) to study accountability for us, so you know it’s going to cost a lot to hire someone to oversee how students, and eventually teachers are doing. Gotta be in the $100,000 plus range, though. All totaled SCUSD boasts seven new chiefs and counting. Heck, Mr. Raymond is spending thousands of dollars just to move secretaries, I hear. So any of you certificated people out there that know some secretaries, let them know about what we can do for them, too. Let’s spread the wealth!

So my plan then, placing a capital Chief in front of our lowly titles, will automatically generate an average salary increase of $42,000 per year, roughly a $1 for every student we serve--- if you look at finances the way our District does. And don’t worry about the school board; they’ve approved every Chief thrown at them. Besides, the Sacramento Bee hasn’t questioned the impropriety of any of our Chief’s Chiefs. It’s all on the up and up. You see, friends, we’re golden; we can’t lose.

So let’s start applying then. The District is apparently long on dollars, longer on Chiefs. The only thing we may be in short supply of is common sense. But we can solve that with a new position…..Chief of Better Judgment. Of course, we’ll have to run that by the SCUSD Communications Department for fiscal soundness.

Erik Knudson
Applying for Chief Random Article Writer status as the Need Arises

S C T A Annual Crab Feed

2009-12-31T03:57:19Z

Do you like crab? Dancing? Wine?

Bidding on auction prizes? Winning “stuff” in raffles?

The SCTA Annual Crab Dinner is our big event that brings teachers and the community together to raise funds for scholarships.College tuition and fees are higher than ever and our scholarship program is a way that teachers and SCTA can help. Well then…

S C T A

Sacramento City Teachers Association

Annual Crab Feed

Scholarship Fundraiser

Saturday, February 6 from 5-10pm

Elk's Lodge, 6446 Riverside Blvd in Sacramento, CA

View Google Map

sold out last year, so buy early and often

TICKETS ON SALE NOW!

SCTA at 916-452-459