Debbie Hamme
NOTE: In order to help clarify the position of the various groups involved in the current debate about the role of parent funded positions, we have invited both ACE and "Parents Have Rights" to submit articles. What follows is the submission from ACE.
The union representing the support staff of Culver City Unified School District is calling for the website parentshaverights.org, as well as parent Yahoo groups, to refrain from posting erroneous or misleading information that is fanning the flames surrounding the issue of the El Marino adjuncts.
The Association of Classified Employees-Culver City fully supports parent involvement and participation in their children’s education. Unfortunately, there is a lot of theory, rather than fact, being put out in the public domain that is unnecessarily upsetting parents. It is not, nor has it ever been, our intention to disrupt the El Marino language program or replace the existing adjuncts with other district employees. While we believe that the adjuncts are performing our bargaining unit work, there is more than enough room for compromise and we urge El Marino parents, as well as parents throughout the community, to give us a chance to work through this process collaboratively with the district.
We are aware that volunteers throughout the district may be doing comparable work to our unit members in classrooms every day, but there is a definite distinction to be made between parent volunteers who are in the classroom intermittently and paid employees that do our work on a daily basis. I’ve read several accounts of this issue in recent days that refer to the adjuncts as “paid volunteers,” but how is that accurate when by definition a volunteer is a “person who performs a service willingly and without pay?” We are also aware that there are employees in the district whose salaries are paid by various parent fundraising groups, and those positions are not at issue, either—nor will they be in the future.
At issue, however, are approximately twenty positions at El Marino Language School that have been funded by Advocates for Language Learning El Marino (ALLEM). There are a few different concerns that surround this issue. Several year ago, when the federal law, No Child Left Behind went into effect, all of the members of our unit had to become “highly qualified” in order to keep their jobs. The federal criterion that needed to be met by anyone working with students in the classroom was an AA degree or better—or equivalent training. In an effort to avoid a massive lay-off of our members and to ensure that our members became “highly qualified,” A.C.E. negotiated with CCUSD to provide that training at no cost to the employees, and it was taught in-house. As a result, all current district employees working as support professionals in our district: instructional assistants, librarians, even P.E. aides, have met this criterion. If the adjuncts at El Marino are not already highly qualified, they would be given an opportunity to take the same district provided course to enable them to meet the same qualifications. This benefits not only the adjuncts, but our students.
Secondly, while we applaud all of the parents in our district for their commitment to our schools and students, we realize that not all parent groups will be equally successful in their fundraising efforts. This creates an unfortunate disparity between our schools and creates a climate of “haves” and “have-nots.” For any parent in the community who does not think this would ever happen, you should be aware that while El Marino is fortunate enough to have 20 adjuncts at
their school, La Ballona, which also hosts a Spanish Immersion program has none for their immersion students. So, how can the modeling of target language be an integral part of the immersion experience for the students at one site, but not for the students of the same program at another? El Rincon has four instructional assistants for the entire school, and three of them are restricted to working with only Title I students and split their time between 23 classrooms.
Even if we were to assume that this inequity did not exist, can you imagine a district in which every site had a successful booster club that had total autonomy over who they hired, fired, or how much they paid “their” employees? In what position does that place the district? What is their liability if employees of the booster clubs are involved in legal actions brought by parents or students? Do we even think for a minute that the district would be held harmless if this should happen? Has anyone thought of the chaos having seven different “employers” within one small district would create?
And last, but certainly by no means, least, we’ve seen a lot of rhetoric out there from parents who “support” unions, are actual members of unions, value the important work that unions do, have worked for unions, or value the work the classified employees of this district do every day, but somehow feel it’s appropriate to demonize me in public for wanting to provide the adjuncts they “love” a living wage, a few paid sick days and a few paid holidays by bringing them into my unit. Contrary to what you may have been told, this will not destroy the program at El Marino. It will enhance it.
To all of the people who have posted in their Yahoo groups or Letters to the Editor that I should be “ashamed” of myself for wanting to improve someone’s quality of life and the quality of education, let me assure you, I am not ashamed of it.
I am proud.
Debbie Hamme is a Staff Writer for the Culver City Progress Blog and the President of the Culver City Association of Classified Employees.
George Laase--Clearly the ACE executive board was not prepared for the district-wide parental backlash that seems to be growing at each school site.
ReplyDeleteMs Hamme claims, as her defense in issuing the union complaint now that she was not aware of what the ALLEM adjuncts were doing in the classroom these past 20+ years. Yet, there are ACE employees working throughout the district, including at El Marino. Aren't they supposed to be the eyes and ears of ACE.
If ACE continues to press its claim against ALLEM and the El Marino parents are dissatisfied with the outcome. They, along with the teachers, could take matters into their own hands and decided to petition the district to become a conversion, or better yet, for their children, a mostly autonomous independent charter school. Becoming either catagory of charter school could insulate them from such future union claims.
PART I
ReplyDeleteGeorge, I was not aware of what the ALLEM adjuncts were doing and neither were the past presidents of A.C.E. that I recently spoke to. How can that be? Because unless someone brings a specific issue to our attention for a specific reason, we cannot be expected to know everything that goes on at every site.
Twenty-plus years ago, when the program was started, I wasn't even a district employee. Yet, the district had the responsibility to bring the issue to A.C.E.'s attention and to negotiate with us THEN. The fact that this wasn't done, is a shortcoming on the part of the district--not a commentary on A.C.E.'s sleuthing abilities.
Interestingly enough, I spoke to three different district office employees today who had no knowledge of ALLEM, what it does, what adjuncts were or what they do. They were also unaware of the community uproar over the adjunct issue. At my union meeting last week, only a few members were aware of it. How can that be? Because people tend to focus on issues that directly affect them or their families--in this day and age, they have time for little else.
Believe it or not, ACE employees "throughout the district" focus on the work they were hired to do at their respective sites each day. They may be very knowledgable about what happens at their own site, but they are not "supposed" to be the eyes and ears of the district--nor do I expect them to be. It is not my job as the union president to know the details of operation at every site in the district....I don't think that would be humanly possible.
Kathy Paspalis asserted in an online paper today that I was somehow remiss in my duties as the president of A.C.E. not to have known about the adjunct program even though I work less than a mile from their campus. She was absolutely incredulous because she was an El Marino parent and the school had been her primary focus for the years her child attended that school. Yet, none of my children attended El Marino and I personally know only one parent who's child does. I've dropped student CUMS off in the office a couple of times as a favor to Mrs. Katz when my home school parents were chosen in the El Marino lottery, and I've voted in their cafeteria several times.
Hardly opportunities to learn about their program. And I would venture to say that even though Ms. Paspalis has served on the school board for over three years, there is much that she doesn't know about many of the issues we face on sites throughout this district.
Debbie Hamme
PART II
ReplyDeleteWith all due respect, this isn't solely an A.C.E. issue. The district also has a stake in this. They cannot relinquish their position as the employer for anyone working at district sites, regardless of the funding source, though they have chosen to remain mum right now.
Think about it. They are being asked to shoulder tremendous liability in the event that a booster club employee injures themselves on the job, or accidentally injures a student or district employee.
This was a concern for former Assistant Superintendent, David El Fattel seven years ago when he went to then Farragut Fan Club president, Alan Elmont, to tell him that the computer lab aide they were paying for had to be a district employee. According to Mr. Elmont, Mr. El Fattel told him it wasn't even a union issue, it was a district liability issue. If Farragut was asked to do that seven years ago, why isn't that the district-wide expectation? El Rincon had to do it when their PTA funded the salary of our computer lab aide several years ago. Last year, Lin Howe worked their issues out with the district and A.C.E., and contrary to recent reports in the media, they did not have to cut their anticipated six aides to three.
I've heard that despite Mr. El Fattel's concerns about district liability, he was asked by a former superintendent not to bring it up to El Marino because the superintendent feared what the reaction of the parents at El Marino might be. Now we know.
With regard to the charter issue, I cannot comment--that would be a board issue. I can only assure the community that A.C.E.'s proposal should be completely affordable for ALLEM, unless, of course, ALLEM decides to completely cut their fundraising efforts as a form of protest.
Sincerely,
Debbie Hamme
Dear Debbie,
ReplyDeleteI am proud .... of you!
I am ashamed of the self-important parents who listened to the rumors and falsehoods perpetrated by people who were not happy with the outcome of the School Board election. Mob rule is very unbecoming for well-educated parents, who should know better than to bully, intimidate and threaten innocent people.
I hope that parents involved in this unfortunate travesty will come forward to apologize to those who have been wrongfully vilified.
I am a parent at El Marino, and whlie I support the amazing work that parents do in fundraising, I also know that parents in every other school care as deeply about their children. A school with only 14% of students on free/reduced lunch (El Marino) has a very different capacity to fundraise than one that has 75% of such students (La Ballona). Both programs have immersion programs, but one has to rely on unpaid volunteers and the other one can afford to pay the 'volunteers'.
ReplyDeleteI know that ACE is totally within their right and more importantly, their obligation to their members, to negotiate with the District on this issue. That's what unions do. They are likely to want to find a solution that keeps as many of the current adjuncts as possible because parents have supported the program for so long.
I think the parents are short sighted by approaching the issue in the manner they have - suggesting that the union will get their employees fired. If the District neogtiates an agreement with the union, and ALLEM suggests that some parents will stop contributing in essence they are ensuring that those employees are fired.
If instead, parents were to acknowledge that when the adjuncts become district employees they will be able to save many hours in recrutiing, training and supervising them - that could be better directed to fundraising and that direct supervision from the principal will ensure their work falls within the instructional program (and especially considering the demands of the FLAP grant).
Getting stuck on this fight against the union is very counterproductive and sets our community back.
Dear Claudia,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for speaking out; you are a brave and thoughtful person. You are also a great role model for your children.
Susan Levy