Tag: PJSTA

The PJSTA Agenda

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The PJSTA has been ahead of the curve regarding the testing issue, as is evident by the fact that every PJSTA member was given a PJSTA shirt in April with the message, ” Our students are worth more than a test score”.  It’s gratifying to see that the “stop the testing” work Rella and I have been doing is starting to not only get noticed but also develop a strong following.  The PJSTA message has been clear and consistent for quite some time now:

1) BOYCOTT Newsday because they do NOT report the truth.

2) FIRE KING because he supports the privatization of Public Education by allowing NYS testing to be created and graded by Pearson, while King’s own children are exempt from the same Pearson testing that King imposes on all the other children in NYS.

3) STOP THE TESTING and THE COMMON CORE because the only purpose they serve is to harass students.  Classroom teachers can and do create adequate testing for the students in NYS, We don’t need Pearson to create tests for our students.

4) GET RID OF THE APPR because Superintendents like Joe Rella don’t need NYSED to insinuate themselves into the workings of their School Districts. They already have evaluation procedures in place that work!

5) FUND LI SCHOOLS appropriately based on the taxes that are taken from Long Islanders. If LI was a State our students would rank number 1 in the country!

6) DEMAND that NYS policy makers allow School Districts to create budgets without unfunded crippling mandates.

7) VOTE for those policy makers that support students, teachers and public education, like Steve Engelbright.

8) Vote AGAINST Cuomo, Flanagan and LaValle because they do NOT support students, teachers and public education.

9) SUPPORT NYSUT PRESIDENT DICK IANNUZZI because he stands in support of  teachers, students and public education. The PJSTA would like to thank President Iannuzzi for choosing the PJSTA to be a participant in NYSUT’s LAP Program,

10) READ THE PJSTA BLOG at  www.thepjsta.org

11) GO TO THIS WEBSITE and sign the petition to end testing and stop the common core:

“Learning is more than a test score…” Tee-shirts

Just a reminder, PJSTA members should be wearing their “Learning is more than a test score” tee-shirts tomorrow for the first day of the 2013 ELA exam.

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North Bellmore’s BOE joined Comsewogue’s last week in issuing a resolution against the use of standardized testing in New York State.

Another Newsday hatchet job here.

Long Island Opt Out’s Jeannette Brunelle Deutermann responded with the following…

Newsday, you have missed the mark yet again. There is an awakening that has been occurring throughout Long Island, New York State, and the Nation. Parents are finally educating themselves on the state of our educational system, and we are horrified by what we have found. Excessive testing on educationally inappropriate material, an experimental common core curriculum which eliminates inspired and creative learning, selling of our children’s data without our consent, and a system which vilifies the only component in this equation putting our children first; the teachers. John King, whose own children do not take part in state assessments, claims his goal is “college ready learners”. Instead he is creating an epidemic of children who are uninspired, dispassionate, bored, and stressed; An epidemic of children who hate school. What is the use of “college ready” when our children won’t even WANT to go to college?

Educators warned the State years ago that if they continued to leave teachers, parents and students out of the equation, the parents would eventually rise up. And rise up we have. Newsday has discounted us as troublemakers and complainers. We are over 7,000 strong JUST ON LONG ISLAND, and our numbers grow by the day. We will no longer sit idly by while businessmen and politicians dismantle our educational system. We will take back our schools. Thousands of children across the State will not be taking part in this week’s state tests. Do not discount us. We will be heard.

All Members Please Read… ALL PJSTA MEMBERS SHOULD BE AT THIS

Please view the rally flyer.

All PJSTA members should be there.  Among the speakers at the rally will be Comsewogue’s own Beth Dimino and Joe Rella.  Additionally there should be BOE members, parents, and students as well.  The rally is not just for Comsewogue.  People from other communities will be there as well.  It is expected folks from Port Jefferson, Three Village, Mount Sinai, Miller Place, and Rocky Point will be there as well.  We have all felt the effects of the state’s new ed policies this year.  Now is our time to push back!

Feel free to bring your children, friends, neighbors, and anyone who cares about public education.  Making signs in protest of the tax cap and of standardized testing is also encouraged.  The CTU had a lot of funny and creative signs… look to them for inspiration if you’d like!

Don’t let this happen to public education!

Diamond in the Pines 9/11 Learning Site

On Saturday September 8th, PJSTA members attended the unveiling ceremony for the latest addition to the Diamond in the Pines 9/11 Learning Site. The PJSTA was the first Long Island organization to donate money to buy an engraved brick when the project was just beginning its fundraising efforts in 2011. The memorial was organized largely through the hard work of Rocky Point High School teacher Rich Acritelli.  He has led the effort to create this memorial to honor the many lives lost on 9/11, to honor the rescue
worker efforts in the days that followed, and to honor the veterans of the War on Terror.

 

In the program for the Unveiling Ceremony, the Port Jefferson Station Teachers Association was thanked for our support of this project. “It was one of the main goals to try to get as many educational labor organizations involved with the creation of this memorial. From the beginning efforts in February, 2011, Mrs. Beth Dimino, the President of the Port Jefferson Station Teachers Association, provided much needed assistance in promoting this 9/11 Learning Site to the many unions across Suffolk County. Thank
you for your constant help, support and energy towards this memorial”.

The memorial, located at the park in Coram, first opened in September 2011. It includes a statue of an eagle and plaques listing the names of the residents of Brookhaven and Riverhead towns who died in the terrorist attacks. The PJSTA brick is included in landscape path surrounding the memorial. At the unveiling ceremony on September 8th, six rescue dogs and their handlers were present for the unveiling of a bronze statue of a rescue dog. The statue honors their recovery efforts at the World Trade Center
site. Many moving accounts of the efforts of the canine rescue units were shared, and the ceremony reminded us all of the courage, hard work and teamwork that makes this country so great.

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PJSTA Members: PLEASE WEAR RED ON MONDAY!

The situation in Chicago has been well documented on our blog (here, here, here, and here too!).  As the above graphic suggests, their fight is truly our fight.  The CTU is on the front lines of the war against public education.  They are now four days away from a strike with their strike date set for September 10th.  As a result we are asking ALL PJSTA MEMBERS TO WEAR RED ON MONDAY.  Red is the CTU’s signature color.  We are doing this to raise awareness within the education community about the CTU’s incredibly important fight and to show our support to our brothers and sisters in the Chicago Teachers Union.

To briefly update you on the story, the CTU reported yesterday that merit pay is now off the table.  The city, lead by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, is still trying to ram through an ill-constructed teacher evaluation system, an extended day, and is seeking to eliminate step increases.  Additionally they have cancelled an agreed upon 4% raise, trying to make it 2%, while increasing the length of the day by 20%.

Today, our parent union, the American Federation of Teachers, issued the following statement in support of the CTU:

WASHINGTON–(ENEWSPF)–September 6, 2012.  Statement of American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten in support of the Chicago Teachers Union.

“Yesterday, on a call with her fellow AFT executive council members, including the union’s three national officers, Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis reported on the status of the CTU’s ongoing negotiations with Chicago Public Schools, the CTU’s hope for a settlement, and its preparations for a strike if a settlement is not reached.

“Chicago’s teachers want what is best for their students and for Chicago’s public schools. And they want to work in an environment that respects their work and their role as partners with administrators in ensuring that every Chicago child has a chance to succeed. The AFT and its members stand with the CTU.

“Chicago teachers have already agreed to a longer school day—and offered ideas to make it not just a longer day but a better day by investing in art, music and other subjects that expand and enrich our children’s minds. And they’ve galvanized parents and community to support these ideas.

“No one takes a strike lightly. CTU members feel that a clear message has been sent by the school district that they and their work are not valued. This message is demonstrated not simply by the school board’s denial of agreed-upon pay raises, but also by Chicago Public Schools’ exclusion of the CTU from conversations it had with outside groups about potential school closings.

“CTU President Lewis and CTU members are committed to working around the clock to reach a fair, substantive agreement that keeps them where they want to be: on the job, in the classrooms, educating Chicago’s students. That will remain their goal if a strike is not averted.”