American Education Week — Keeping Students Safe & Secure
During American Education Week (Nov. 12-16, 2018), the Ohio Education Association is taking the opportunity to raise awareness of, and to help eliminate, the stigma of managing a disability or a mental illness.
[Video: Keeping Students Safe — Andrea Beeman, Special Education Paraprofessional, OEA/Maple Org. Support Team]
Each morning, millions of school children face the challenge of living with an impairment, mental illness or disability.
Conditions range from Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, drug dependency, and depression to varied spectrum disorders.
Despite their prevalence, unwarranted assumptions and avoidance by other are also, unfortunately, widespread.
Accordingly, the OEA has called upon state lawmakers to implement a comprehensive school safety strategy that includes meeting mental health needs in schools by providing appropriate supports for our students.
These strategies must not only include essential physical security issues, but also addressing mental health in our curriculum, and appropriate staffing and student support in the form of adequate numbers of counselors, nurses, social workers, and mental health specialists to ensure that all students’ needs are met.
Similarly, the OEA has recently:
- Opposed a plan to use federal funds to buy guns for teachers;
- Sponsored the 2018 National Dropout Prevention Network Conference; and,
- Advocate for programs that establish and support safe learning environments that are free of crime, drug use, and other disruptions.
To learn more about where OEA members collectively stand on the issues, click here! | #WeLoveOurESP | #AEW2018
About Last Tuesday Night….
Let me get right to the point – the election results were deeply disappointing.
We had a very good candidate for Governor in Rich Cordray who was with us on the issues and who pledged to give us a seat at the decision-making table.
We lost an opportunity to have a close partnership with the governor of Ohio.
While we are still diving into the data to understand what happened this year, we know that this was not a normal non-presidential election. The turnout exceeded expectations. It was the highest it’s been since 1994.
“We made important progress in the last General Assembly on such issues as reforms to the Ohio Teacher Evaluation System (OTES).”
As we analyze the election to inform future strategies, we’ll also be re-doubling our efforts to address the issues that our members care about. We made important progress in the last General Assembly on such issues as reforms to the Ohio Teacher Evaluation System (OTES).
Because of the relationships that we’ve built with key Republicans, and who we supported in their re-elections, we’re confident we can make further progress in the next General Assembly.
Here are some things you should know:
- Behind the scenes, outside the heat of the election, a bipartisan group of legislators, school district treasurers, and superintendents have been working on a sustainable school funding model that would adequately fund the cost of educating our students.
- There’s still a lot of important work to be done and hurdles to overcome, but we are excited about the potential for this proposal to create a constitutional school funding system in Ohio.
- We have a bipartisan consensus among legislators that the A to F report card system does not currently serve the needs of our students and must change.
- We have an urgent and immediate problem with graduation requirements and we need a fix this year to avoid having thousands of students denied a high school diploma.
- Now that OTES reforms have passed the legislature, we need to make sure that they get implemented right by the State Board of Education and at local levels.
- We will continue to work with the legislature to fix or eliminate the law (HB 70) that allows for the state to takeover local school districts.
Both candidates for governor talked about the importance of having school funding plans that include providing mental health services and dialing back on testing.
We are committed to making every effort to work with Governor-elect DeWine and the legislature to ensure that they implement policies to support our students on those issues.
Thank you for all that you do. By standing strong, together we will advocate for our students, our members and for public education.
Sincerely,
Becky Higgins,
President
Ohio Education Association
October 2018 Ohio Schools
- COVER STORY: Champions of Public Education – In the 2019 election, support those who support our students and our schools
- Notebook
- Ohio’s 2018 School District Report Cards incomplete
- misleading Poll shows far-reaching support for teacher strikes
- higher pay Help for educators impacted by Hurricane Florence
Moved recently? Contact the OEA Member Hotline to update the address on file at 1-844-OEA-Info (1-844-632-4636) or email, membership@ohea.org. Representatives are available Monday-Friday, from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. | OhioSchools — Past Issues
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September 2018 Ohio Schools
- COVER STORY:Heart and Soul — For Northridge educators, student success starts with respect, trust and understanding
- FEATURE: 2018 OEA Summer Academy
- LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
- OEA opposes US Department of Education proposal to use federal funds to buy guns for teachers
- Educators across the nation are joining the RedforEd movement as advocates for students and public schools
Moved recently? Contact the OEA Member Hotline to update the address on file at 1-844-OEA-Info (1-844-632-4636) or email, membership@ohea.org. Representatives are available Monday-Friday, from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. | OhioSchools — Past Issues
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OEA ESP Aspiring Teacher Scholarship
The $4,000 ESP Aspiring Teacher Scholarship is presented each year to an Education Support Professional member currently enrolled in an undergraduate teacher education program in Ohio or a senior-level education student who has been formally accepted for graduate study in a master’s degree of education program at an accredited Ohio college or university.
Applicants must be current members of the Ohio Education Association. Current members of the OEA Board of Directors and association staff members are not eligible for this scholarship. In addition, OEA Awards and Scholarship Committee Members are not eligible for two years after completion of service on the committee to apply or to be nominated.
The award will be presented at the OEA Spring Representative Assembly.
The online nomination form must be completed in a single session, as you will not be able to save, and return to it at a later time without starting over. In addition it must be received on or before February 29, 2024. Late applications will not be considered.
TIP: Consider using this nomination worksheet as a guide prior to completing the online form. This guide can not be submitted in lieu of the online nomination form.
Please click here to see the rubric that the OEA Awards Committee will use to evaluate each submission.
→ Back to the Scholarships, Grants & Awards Home Page
OEA Opposes Proposal of Federal Funds to Buy Guns for Educators
U.S . Education Secretary Betsy DeVos Proposing Title IV-A Funds be Used to Arm Teachers
The Following Can be Attributed to OEA President Becky Higgins:
“The idea of arming teachers is simply a bad idea. It does not make our schools and our students safer.
The suggestion that Title IV-A funds, which are meant to be used for mental health, bullying prevention, and other programs would be used to put guns into our classrooms is unacceptable.
It reflects the misplaced values of this administration. If we use the funds for what they were intended to be used for, we might start tackling some of the issues that lead to gun violence.
Our focus should be on what we do best — providing a quality education to our students.
Teachers and other school employees should not be asked to serve a dual role by having concealed weapons to face school intruders. Our focus should be on what we do best – providing a quality education to our students.
In a National Education Association member poll, conducted this past spring, educators strongly rejected arming teachers and other school faculty.
The poll also showed overwhelming support for stronger gun violence prevention laws, including wide-ranging and enforceable background checks to prevent dangerous people from purchasing guns.”
Related
• Petition: Urge Legislators to Support Common-Sense Safety Reforms
#ABConduct Tip Sheets
The Ohio Department of Education and Ohio Education Association has a series of career tips on how to recognize as well as address ethical dilemmas.
The initiative is supported by the Buckeye Association of School Administrators (BASA), Ohio Association of Secondary School Administrators (OASSA), Ohio Association of Elementary School Administrators (OAESA), and the Ohio Federation of Teachers (OFTA).
- #ABConduct Tip 1 | Be Smarter Than Your Smart Phone
- #ABConduct Tip 2 | When a Good Coach Goes Afoul
For more information about #ABConduct contact, the Ohio Department of Education Office for Professional Conduct at 614-466-5638 or visit education.ohio.gov/ABConduct.
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Betsy DeVos Just Asked You to Drop Membership
Yes. Really.
As you probably already know, the dark money groups behind the Mackinac Center have launched a full-scale attack on our union. Minutes after the Supreme Court issued their decision in Janus vs. AFSCME the Mackinac Center began emailing educators in Ohio and across the country encouraging them to drop their union membership.
Who funds the Mackinac Center? That’s right—Betsy DeVos and her family.
Have a look.
Source: The Center for Media and Democracy
The Mackinac Center is dedicated to privatizing public education and expanding state and national voucher programs. They know your union stands in the way of their for-profit political agenda. And a big part of their strategy is to weaken your local association and OEA.
How do we know this? Because they said it themselves. Mackinac Center’s parent organization, the State Policy Network, recently released an anti-union “toolkit” instructing their affiliates on how to run so-called “union opt-out campaigns.” The purpose of these campaigns, according to the toolkit, is to “cause public sector unions to experience 5 – 20% declines in membership.”
Betsy DeVos and the dark money groups who sent that email don’t have your best interests in mind.
Every member needs to know – dropping their union membership hurts their union.
- Having a strong union means we can effectively negotiate salaries, benefits, and job protections;
- Having a strong union means we can speak out for kids; and,
- Having a strong union means we can continue to fight back against unfair teacher evaluations, attacks on our pensions, and the expansion of low-paying charter schools.
Protect your students. Protect your contract. Protect your profession. Let every member know that we will not fall for this scam from Betsy DeVos and her billionaire friends. Learn more about the ruling at: www.ohea.org/JanusDecision/.
In Solidarity,
Becky Higgins, President
Ohio Education Association
Page Updated September 8, 2018
Benjamin Local Classified Employees Win Union Election
Joyce Fish loves her students. For 41 years, she has driven the students of the Benjamin Logan Local School District in her familiar yellow bus.
Located in eastern Logan county, near Bellefontaine, Ohio, the terrain can be challenging. “You learn to respect the weather, rugged hills, and steep valleys,” says Dan Fish; yes, Joyce’s husband and colleague.
However, after years of feeling they were not getting any love or respect from district administrators, in December 2017 they reached the Ohio Education Association.
Their efforts paid off — they’re no longer at-will employees and have a seat at the table. Results, tallied July 24, by the State Employment Labor Relations Board, show workers voted an overwhelming 73% in favor of OEA representation.
For the first time in more than 30 years, the district’s 70+ bus drivers, cafeteria workers, educational assistants, and paraprofessional aides will have will have union representation.
They will join the district’s 115+ educators of the Benjamin Logan EA, who have been a part of OEA since 1974.
Joyce and Dan say they’re looking forward to the collective-bargaining process. “Unanswered demands for respect as well as ‘fair and equal treatment for everyone,’ tell a story of professionals who are tired of being pushed around,” says Joyce.
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You Cannot Silence the Voice of Working People
Teaching children is pretty wonderful.
This has been my passion and in the 19 years that I taught, I learned from and have been inspired by my colleagues. I have also been moved by the actions of fellow union members who fought for better wages and safe working conditions.
The energy we are seeing with teachers standing up in the neighboring states of West Virginia and Kentucky and elsewhere as the #RedForEd movement spreads across the country is unparalleled in recent history. Public opinion is with us. A recent poll found that 62% of Americans believe the country is better off with stronger unions.
Yet, while this happening, amid the highest level of support for unions in 15 years, the US Supreme Court in a narrow 5-4, politically-motivated decision ruled that unions – specifically public employee unions — should be weaker. The Supreme Court ruled in the case of Janus v. AFSCME, Council 31 to further tilt the playing field in favor of the wealthy and corporate interests.
The court overturned 40 years of precedent in deciding that requiring so-called fair-share fees to be paid by people who choose not to join a public-sector union but who enjoy the benefits of union representation somehow violates the First Amendment of the Constitution. This doesn’t make sense, and it’s not right.
It also doesn’t make sense that so many people are finding it difficult to get by and provide for their families, no matter how hard they work. It doesn’t make sense that people are more productive than ever, but they’re working longer hours for less money and fewer benefits. And it doesn’t make sense that all this is going on while a handful of very wealthy people have seen their salaries and holdings skyrocket. It is shameful that the wealthy special interests behind the Janus case have succeeded in manipulating the highest court in the land to do their bidding.
"I believe deeply in the power of our collective voice to make sure that every teacher and student has the resources they need to be successful."
I believe deeply in the power of our collective voice to make sure that every teacher and student has the resources they need to be successful. When unions negotiate for working conditions in the classroom, they also negotiate for the conditions in which our children learn. When our unions advocate for us as educators, they also advocate for the students we serve.
Public service workers-teachers, social workers, firefighters, and nurses are more determined than ever to stick together in their unions. Unions remain the most effective vehicle for the power in numbers needed for working people to secure their rights and freedoms, and they provide a pathway to the middle class.
The truth is, when unions are strong, the entire community benefits. Unions use their collective voice to advocate for policies that help all working people — like increases to the minimum wage, affordable health care and great public schools.
Unions help close the pay gap for women and communities of color who have been systematically disadvantaged due to discrimination and prejudice.
African-American women in unions earn an average of $21.90 per hour, while non-union women earn $17.04. When Latinos are members of a union, their median weekly income increases by more than 38 percent.
The wealthy special interests that have benefited from an unfair, unbalanced playing field are now intent on tilting that playing field even more by attacking public-sector unions.
It’s driven by ideological extremists who oppose our basic right to organize. And it’s an attack on more than the men and women who are teachers and custodians and first responders; it’s an attack on anyone who wants to use their voice to fight for something better for their communities.
I have dedicated my life both to helping students and fighting for my community and I won’t back down.
My fellow educators and I are going to continue to speak out and I ask those who feel the same, please join us. Because no great social change — from ending slavery to securing the right to vote for every citizen, to winning the freedom to organize — has been achieved by standing alone.
Becky Higgins
President
Ohio Education Association
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