December 13, 2006 Volume 11, Issue 4

PVFT Supports US Labor Against the War
Sarah Ringler

On October 25, 2003 in the Teamster’s Hall in Chicago, United States Labor Against the War, USLAW, was founded by roughly 154 delegates from 99 labor organizations. For the first time in American History, labor as a group had organized against war.
Since then, more than 140 labor organizations have become affiliated including our own, PVFT. After a vigorous discussion at Ann Soldo Elementary School, we voted to affiliate in Fall 2003. PVFT proudly joins 22 other AFT locals around the US to be part of this organization.

With the war in Iraq 5 months away from its fourth anniversary, USLAW met again in Cleveland, December 1-3, to continue to strategize on how to end this war. I went as a delegate from our local. Cindy Sheehan, Dennis Kucinich, Samir Adil of the Iraq Freedom Congress, John Wilhelm of UNITE-HERE and others spoke of the situation in Iraq. Unionist in Iraq who support a democratic secular nation spoke of the violence and threats to their existence. The consensus was grim and it was agreed that ending this war is going to continue to take a lot of time and energy. USLAW agreed to work to build support for nationwide demonstrations on January 27, that will mark the beginning of the 110th Congress. It will also support actions to end funding for the war and will co-sponsor demonstrations that will occur in March on the fourth anniversary of the beginning of the war; a war that has now gone on longer then WWI and WWII.

USLAW need your help to continue to organize and speak out about the war in Iraq. Since 2003, USLAW has mobilized for large antiwar demonstrations, sponsored nation-wide tours of Iraqi labor leaders, produced a video on the tour, developed workshops around the county, lobbied our representatives, issued reports and has also worked in partnership with Military Families Speak Out, Iraq Vets Against the War, Veterans for Peace and others. They currently have 3 staff people who work tirelessly out of the Washington D.C. office. If you would like to help support this movement, you may join as an individual member for $25 a year. Please email me at sring@cruzio.com or contact Ann at the PVFT office to have a membership form sent to you.

If you are interested in working locally on anti-war events you can also join members of PVFT and other unions in our area in joining Central Coast Workers

Against the War, workagainstwar@yahoo.com. They are co-sponsoring an event entitled Not at Home for the Holidays—A vigil and Action for Peace Now! It will be held on Saturday, December 16th, from noon to 2pm in front of the Military Recruitment Center at 2121 41st Avenue in Capitola.

Upcoming Events Mark Your Calendar

• February 13, 2007
  First General Membership meeting of 2007 will be in the Board Room at the District office from 4:30-630pm. Note this is a Tuesday.

CFT Convention Call

The annual CFT convention will take place at the Wilshire Grand in Los Angeles on March 16 – 18, 2007. The theme of this year’s convention is “Members Leading the Way”. PVFT has a voting strength of 34 delegates and this is a call for nominations for those delegates.

The annual CFT convention is the highest policy-making body of the Federation. Delegates will decide important resolutions and constitutional amendments and elect CFT officers.

This year’s convention should be more exciting than most. On top of doing the work of the union, delegates will be deciding who will lead CFT during the next two years. This year there are two challengers running for President of CFT against Mary Bergan which should raise the excitement just a bit. Campaigning will take place throughout the convention, with the vote taking place on the final day. If you’ve ever thought about going to the convention in the past, this is the year.

Please send nominations to the PVFT office through the pony, or bring your nomination to our meeting on February 13 (please note that this is a Tuesday!). When we receive all nominations, there will be an election of delegates by all members of PVFT. Because of the importance of this election, we will also survey all members regarding support of each candidate so that the delegates can cast their votes to reflect the wishes of the membership. Please consider attending as this will truly be a convention with the members leading the way!

To all members of the educational community:

I am writing this letter to describe how “No Child Left Behind” legislation has affected me and the students I work with in a kindergarten class here at Freedom Elementary School in Watsonville. Every day we rush to get through highly structured lessons involving letters and sounds of the alphabet, as well as stories written by the Houghton-Mifflin reading series. I have often been forced to omit Art, Social Studies, P.E. and Science from my teaching as I try to fit in all the pieces of the reading program that we use in Pajaro Valley Unified School District.

How do students react to this schedule? They look at the playhouse and blocks and puzzles in my classroom, but they no longer ask to play with them. Even five year olds know we no longer have time to play. Sometimes the students in my class and the class next door groan because some reading selections are so unchallenging and redundant in Houghton-Mifflin.

Last week, I was supposed to teach cause and effect in order to help children comprehend stories they hear. I read a book called My Father and I. This story was part of the H.M. reading series. In the story the boy says, “I try to teach my dad how to tell new jokes. We like to laugh.”

Now compare this to the book, Billy’s Bucket, that I found in the local city library. Billy wants only one thing for his birthday, a bucket. When he fills up his bucket and peers inside he sees ‘shrimpy things, manta rays and sharks.’

When Billy’s father asks him if he can borrow the bucket, Billy answers, “No, it isn’t okay. There’s a coral reef in my bucket right now. You must never, ever, ever borrow my bucket.”

This book is full of wonderful language that the children and I can use to ask higher level questions. The first book, My Father and I, doesn’t compare in complexity or imagination to Billy’s Bucket.

Our school district, PVUSD, is sending a group call the DAG team (District Alternative Governance) to observe our teachers and make recommendations. They told our kindergarten team that we need to be more academic. I suppose that means no more playhouses, playdough or puzzles. We have already put those things aside. As the race to higher test scores compromises our teaching more and more every day, the joy of learning is quietly being extinguished.

Sincerely,
Mamiche Young, Freedom Elementary School

PVUSD Leadership Changes Hands

The Board meeting on December 6, 2006 marked a time of change for PVUSD. It was a time for farewells to three trustees and a time of welcome to the newly elected trustees.

Trustee Evie Volpa did not run for reelection and was replaced by Libby Wilson, an Aptos parent. Sharon Gray lost her bid for reelection to Kim Turley, former chief negotiator for PVFT. And Rhea DeHart lost her bid for reelection to Leslie DeRose, also a parent of PVUSD students. Willie Yahiro was the only incumbent to be reelected to his seat.

PVFT wishes the departing Trustees the very best of luck in their future endeavors. Their tireless work for the district is truly appreciated. The union also wishes the new Board good fortune and sincerely hopes that they will keep their focus on the students of the district: their needs, their rights and their potential. The success of our students should be the center of all discussions and decisions made by this new Board.

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