March is Reading Month
LAMPHERE FEDERATION OF TEACHERS
AFT Michigan #1614
March 2007
March is Reading Month
Governor's Budget Proposal--With the elimination of the Single Business Tax, the current state budget is in need of some revenue enhancements. The Governor's current budget proposal has been presented to the legislature. To read more about it, and the impact it could have on schools and your community go the the AFT Michigan website--http://www.aftmichigan.org. See what you can do to help.
Lobby Day--AFT Michigan is hosting a Lobby Day in Lansing on April 18th. If you are interested in attending please let your building rep know.
Surveys-- Two surveys will be distributed in the next month. The first "Building Minds, Minding Buildings," is a project of the AFT. Many teachers and students are in buildings that are in drastic need of repair and renovation. The AFT would like a good picture of what conditions we work under, and what conditions are students are learning in. The "Contract Study Survey" will be distributed later this month to gather information from you in order to help your LFT Bargaining Team prepare for contract negotiations. Please fill these out so your thoughts are heard. Building reps will be collecting both of these surveys.
AFT Michigan Quest--AFT Michigan will be conducting it's biannual professional development conference on May 4-6th in Bellaire, Michigan. The program will include an intensive workshop on teaching reading. It is approved for SB-CEU credits. The LFT Executive Board voted to fund attendance for up to 16 members, with priority given to LFT Executive Board Members first. Funding includes your conference fee and hotel. If you are interested in attending send your name to either your building rep or Judy Schram. There will will be a drawing for conference attendance if the interested number exceeds 16.
GLOBAL CAMPAIGN FOR EDUCATION ACTION WEEK
The week of April 23-29 has been selected as this year's Education Action Week by the
Global Campaign for Education. Teachers unions and activists in more than 90 countries
will use the week to promote access to education as a basic human right for every child.
Before and during the week, classrooms and other groups worldwide will take part in
innovative lessons and poster campaigns to make sure that universal education remains a
priority for policymakers. The Global Campaign for Education has prepared materials for
teachers. To request materials, send an e-mail to iad@aft.org and put "Action Week
materials" in the subject line.
NAEP REPORTS: A CALL FOR ACTION BEHIND A MIXED PICTURE
NCLB COMMISSION RECOMMENDATIONS A NONSTARTER, McELROY SAYS
The AFT has several concerns with recommendations released Feb. 13 by the Aspen
Institute's Commission on No Child Left Behind (NCLB). Topping the list of concerns is the
commission's recommendation to require every teacher to be deemed a "highly qualified
effective teacher" (HQET) based on student test scores. In a statement, AFT president Edward J. McElroy calls that
proposal "a nonstarter" for the committees in Congress that will deal with NCLB
reauthorization. "If we have learned anything in the years since NCLB was enacted, it
is that teachers and paraprofessionals working in classrooms are the ones who know best
what works and what does not," McElroy says. "Our members have had five years of
experience with NCLB, and they know now that the law’s school accountability
mechanism, the 'adequate yearly progress' (AYP) formula, is not a useful tool in
distinguishing between good schools and schools in need of help." The AFT is troubled
by several of the report's other recommendations for NCLB,
including its failure to call for more support for struggling schools and its lack of a
comprehensive fix for AYP. The AFT has developed its own set of recommendations for revising NCLB, which resulted
from town hall meetings with members and careful deliberations with the leaders of AFT
locals. "Such recommendations are a starting point for a discussion in which AFT
leaders and members intend to be active and vocal participants," McElroy says.
March is Women’s History Month
In 1978, the Education Task Force of the Sonoma County Commission on the Status of Women
in
Three years later, the United States Congress passed a resolution establishing National
Women's History Week, which was expanded to a month in 1987 at the request of the National
Women's History Project. Every year since then the U.S. Congress has issued a resolution
for Women's History Month to be held in March.
Thomson Gale at http://www.gale.com/free_resources/whm/index.htm has assembled a collection of activities and information to complement classroom topics every day. Within this site, teachers and students can read biographies of significant women through time, take a quiz based on women and their achievements, follow a timeline of significant events in women’s history and enjoy activities to celebrate women’s history. Materials can also be found at the National Women’s History Project’s Web site, www.nwhp.org.
Respectfully submitted,
Judy Schram
LFT President
