June 2, 2011 Consultation Agenda

HOUSTON FEDERATION OF TEACHERS

Please include the following to June 2, 2011 Instructional Consultation agenda:

1. Displaced teachers

What is the cost to HISD for providing hearings for all the teachers who have been displaced due to RIF? Is it less expensive than placing these teachers into vacant positions? The district has the flexibility to decide to non-renew these teachers and pay the cost of the hearings or to place these teachers into vacant positions at no cost. These teachers have not been identified as ineffective, they have been non-renewed for budgetary reasons. Why is HISD choosing to waste taxpayer money on these unnecessary hearings?

2. Elementary “Apollo” schools.

Young Elementary has just been designated an “Apollo” school. Teachers who were selected to remain at this school for the next year have been directed to sign a contract that commits them to working on weekends with no extra pay. These teachers have already signed their regular teacher contracts for the upcoming school year. Why are they being asked to sign a separate contract and what will be the consequences of not signing the “Apollo” contract? Is this happening at all of the new “Apollo” schools?

3. AP and IB scores used in teacher evaluation

Who decided to include AP & IB scores as student performance measures on the teacher evaluation? When the DAC met on the 29th of March there was no mention of these tests on the document we worked from. (The document was dated March 24th). On April 11th DAC members received an e-mail which included a table showing that AP and IB scores would be used. The table appeared at the bottom of page 11 of the document. There was no cover letter saying that major changes in the performance measures had been made. The effective teacher website provides a document dated April 7th which includes a table showing the use of these tests in more detail. These tables were not provided to the DAC at the March 29th meeting and were still not provided at the meeting of May 19th or May 26th. There were no DAC meetings between March 29 and May 19. The DAC was completely cut out of this important decision regarding student performance measures. Who did make this decision?

4. Extended year

There are principals directing teachers to come back to work on Saturday or Monday to check out of the school. This is a result of the district deciding to use June 3rd as the make-up day instead of the original make-up day of May 30th.

5. Local flexibility regarding state mandates

During the recent session of the Texas Legislature HISD had a lobbying position advocating the flexibility to ignore certain state mandates. This flexibility if exercised, could have the effect of raising class sizes, eliminating the minimum salary schedule for teachers, extending the school year for students, and furloughing employees to save money. These would be permanent solutions to a temporary problem. Perhaps HISD should take a lesson from the City of Houston. When faced with similar budgetary problems, the city had the flexibility to sit down with the Firefighters Union and come up with a local solution. The solution protected jobs and salaries while maintaining needed services for the people of Houston. Instead of lobbying for the right to impose top down decisions damaging students and employees, perhaps HISD should have been in Austin advocating for a local option collective bargaining bill.