Mountain View Teachers Association Laura Gaber  lgabermtva@gmail.
com February 2017
PRESIDENTS MESSAGE
2017 began with some welcome rainstorms, and there is more
winter wet to come. The rain has been welcome and refreshing for
our environment. At the same time, the tumultuous times we are
experiencing as a country have been difficult, to say the least. Locally,
we are doing what we can to keep the turmoil out of the classroom
and to assure our students and families that we are here to teach and
support their dreams for a bright future. Only time will tell how the
politics in Washington will affect us here in El Monte. We are wearing
red and making our phone calls in the hopes that we can make a
difference to our educational environment in the four years ahead of
us.
Looking back on January, we put on a very successful Loan
Forgiveness Workshop. There was a great turn out, and our NEA
presenter explained various paths to loan forgiveness. Two other
local associations plan to follow our lead and set up a similar
workshop, in case you would like to attend and missed ours. Thank
you very much to Belinda Hyde for making the arrangements and
hosting such a successful workshop. Next up, we are planning a
spring get together with various resources and vendors. There will be
more information to come in the next month.
In other good news, we are beginning a language arts adoption
process. A timeline and rollout plan will be distributed in the next
two weeks and will be coming out of the Ed Services Department. If
all goes well, we should have new language arts materials in our
classrooms by the fall. At the same time, we are beginning the
gathering of data for our new LCAP. Between now and the June 1st
School Board meeting, all stakeholders should have many
opportunities to give input as we begin a new three year LCAP cycle.
Please take full advantage of the opportunities for input ahead.
Currently, we have two matters for which we have initiated a
consultation process: Special Education, and the SEAL initiative. The
Special Education Committee has been meeting regularly, and if you
have any comments or concerns, please direct them to Brenda
Mancia at Kranz Intermediate. The SEAL committee is going to get
underway soon, and comments or concerns should be directed to
Elena Caballero at Payne Elementary. Additionally, we are about to
begin our negotiations with the district for 2016-2017. Thank you for
the responses to the bargaining survey. We had 35% of our members
participate. As we go to the bargaining table in February, we will
keep you updated on the unfolding events.
Finally, CTA has two weekend workshops coming up; one is
specifically designed for new teachers, the New Educator Weekend,
and one is for members at any stage of their careers, the Good
Teaching Conference. More information can be found in this
newsletter and at cta.org. Interested members should contact their
Faculty Rep or any Executive Board member.
Have a great February. Hopefully you have a good roof over your
head.
LAURA GABER
Madrid SRLA
at the Irvine
Half-
Marathon
Go Bulldogs!
There are two CTA conferences coming up.
NEW to CTA:
New Educator Weekend - Irvine March 10-12 and the
deadline to apply is Feb 18. Educators must be in their
first 5 years of teaching.
OLD to CTA:
Good Teaching Conference South - Garden Grove March
17-19 and the deadline to apply is March 2. This
conference is open to all CTA members.
If you are interested in attending either conference,
please let your site rep know, or send an email
to lgabermvta@gmail.com
More than 1 million tell senators to say
NO to Betsy DeVos
NEA-led opposition to confirming Betsy DeVos as
education secretary has reached unprecedented
levels-more than 1 million emails and 40,000 phone
calls to senators from educators and allies in just three
weeks, as the Washington Post reported this week. By
comparison, the year-long campaign that culminated
in passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)
generated 284,000 emails to Congress.
"In my years as a public education advocate, I
have never witnessed this level of public outcry," said
NEA President Lily Eskelsen Garca. "Clearly Betsy
DeVos' nomination-as unqualified and as unprepared
as she is-has touched a raw nerve not only with public
education advocates like me but with the general
public as well.
DeVos has become the most threatened of all
President Trump's Cabinet nominees, as it has become
increasingly likely that no Democrat will vote for her
and questions surface for some Republicans. Read
what Republican educators have to say about the
nomination at Ed Votes. At her confirmation hearing
earlier this month, DeVos struggled to answer basic
questions about testing, the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), school safety, and
more. The Senate HELP Committee votes on the
nomination Tuesday, January 31 but the larger
question is what happens in the full Senate, possibly
the week after. Keep making history and click here or
on the take action button, share with colleagues and
friends, and raise your voice to oppose DeVos as
education secretary.
MVTA Executive Board
President: Laura Gaber, x-6625
Vice President: Leticia Urias, x-4311
Secretary: Jacquella Payne, x-4934
Treasurer: Rose Marie Dominguez, x-6624
Member at Large PreK 3:
Maria Aguilar, x-4674
Member at Large 4 6: Mai Dang, x-6631
Member at Large 6 8:
Mary Aguayo , x-4311
 Today CTA State Council of Education unanimously passed a
resolution in support of the education ALL students deserve.
The resolution asks all Californians, including elected leaders
regardless of party affiliation, to join us in supporting a strong,
inclusive, safe and innovative public education system that ensures
all students can succeed. Our public schools must remain centers of
our communities, and not become corporate profit centers. We hold
these values because all children, regardless of family circumstances,
where they live, where they were born, how they look, who they
love, or the language they speak have the right to a public education
that helps them reach their full potential.
In addition, State Council delegates and I held a news conference
today calling for the rejection of Betsy DeVos as the next U.S.
secretary of education at her Senate committee confirmation
hearing on Tuesday. Her blatant extremist, anti-public school
political agenda violates every student's civil rights at the most basic
level. CTA members are standing together against any policies that
undermine students rights to attend school free of fear, bullying and
discrimination.
There are several items to communicate to your chapters for
immediate action. Urge your members to go
to cta.org/forallstudents to:
Take the pledge to support public education that ensures
all students can succeed.
Read the full resolution passed by CTA State Council today,
Jan. 28, 2017.
Take action on social media by sharing images with strong
messages. In support of students.
Your chapter can use the Advocate for All Students: A Social
Justice Toolkit (at cta.org/forallstudents) to create a safe zone for all
students (including posters, sample social media posts, etc.),
encourage your local school board to adopt the resolution, respond
to hostile acts at school, improve your school climate and more.
Throughout the state, several areas have been pummeled with
storms and this is causing destruction and disruption to many
members. Please make your members who have suffered
significant losses to their primary residences or classrooms aware
of the CTA Disaster Relief Fund and how to apply for these grants.
Below is a summary of the eligibility requirements and each of
the grants available. To get additional information on grant
qualification requirements, click on the four grants below or go to
www.CTAMemberBenefits.org/drf. Attached is the Disaster Relief
Fund brochure and application. The CTA Member Benefits
Smartphone App also includes information about this fund and an
application. Once the application is completed, it must be
submitted to the member's Chapter President for approval and
submission.
Grants are available for CTA Active, Student, or CTA/NEA-
Retired members who are either:
Residents in any city or county declared by the State of
California to have been subject to a natural disaster;
Residents of a dwelling declared unsafe to occupy by city or
county officials due to a disaster, with such declaration free of
negligence on the part of the member; or
Classroom members at a school site where the member,
student(s) and/or the site have experienced losses due to
natural disaster. This "School Site Grant" is to help allay the
costs resulting from the loss of personal classroom materials.
The CTA Disaster Relief Fund provides four different grants
summarized below:
Standard: Up to $1,500 for significant economic hardship
related to damage to the members primary residence,
displacement, or disruption in required utilities;
Catastrophic: Recipients of the Standard Grant may be
eligible for up to another $1,500 if damages exceed $50,000;
Temporary: Up to $500 may be available for members who
are displaced from their primary residence as the result of a
disaster, but do not meet all the requirements for a Standard
Grant; and
School Site: Up to $500 for personal losses due to damage to
their classrooms.

Please contact the FACT Foundation at (800) 233-3709 or the

Member Benefits Department at 650-552-5200
and member_benefits@cta.org if you have questions.

Thank you for helping us get the word out to your members
during this difficult time.

January 2017 February 2017 March 2017

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 2 3 4
School Board
Meeting

5 6 7 8 9 10 11
Executive
Board Meeting

12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Lincolns Representative
Birthday Council Meeting
Holiday
19 20 21 22 23 24 25
Presidents Day
Holiday

26 27 28 Notes: