sa国际传媒官网网页入口

Last month, sa国际传媒官网网页入口 Public Schools officials sent out a memo to educators that outlined instructional expectations for teachers for the 2023-2024 school year.

The goal behind the memo, they said, was to 鈥渁lign our grading practices so they are clear, equitable, and consistent,鈥� and many of the expectations have to do with how teachers grade students and communicate with their parents.

But not everyone was happy with the memo. Specifically, the sa国际传媒官网网页入口 Teachers Federation, which has a bargaining unit over 6,250 educators strong, said the memo had 鈥渋mpermissible, unilateral changes鈥� that violated the teachers鈥� contract, and filed a July 31 disputing many of those changes.

鈥淲hat the memo addresses should be joint goals 鈥� how can we best assess students鈥� work, assign grades, and communicate with parents. And I know that when we work together, we鈥檒l come up with the best answer,鈥� union President Ellen Bernstein told the Journal.

鈥淚t鈥檚 the teachers who know how best to assess student work, assign grades, and communicate with parents,鈥� she added. 鈥淚 believe we would be more successful and productive if we figured it out together.鈥�

Issues raised in the grievance 鈥� which has drawn criticism in recent weeks 鈥� include claims that APS violated the teachers鈥� contract by suppressing educators鈥� ability to exercise their professional judgment in teaching and by forcing teachers to communicate with parents in ways that are impractical, 鈥渦nworkable鈥� or against their contract.

The filing of the grievance just means APS and the union will get together in front of a district hearing officer to formally hash out their differences, Bernstein said. Nothing鈥檚 been scheduled yet, she said, but added APS has until Friday to respond to the grievance.

In an email, district spokeswoman Monica Armenta said 鈥淎PS doesn鈥檛 comment on pending litigation,鈥� and did not grant an interview centered only on the intent of the memo. Bernstein said it 鈥渨ould be inappropriate鈥� to discuss specific issues raised in the grievance.

Some, however, have hit back on the union鈥檚 grievance, especially homing in on its argument against APS requiring teachers to 鈥減roactively notify parents鈥� if their student is in danger of failing a class.

鈥淚 think the one thing that everyone agrees on is that strong partnership between parents and teachers is critical for the success of students,鈥� said Amanda Aragon, executive director of the education advocacy organization NewMexicoKidsCAN. 鈥淪o to see that there鈥檚 any amount of pushback of 鈥� identification of kids that might fail was really shocking to me, and, I think, very counterproductive.鈥�

In its grievance, the union said the district鈥檚 proactive notification requirement violates the teachers鈥� contract, which says that if a high school anticipates a student may fail a class, they must provide a list of all such students to principals so the students can be scheduled for credit recovery.

Bernstein added that first and foremost, the grievance is about affirming the professional expertise of teachers, not about shirking their responsibilities to families.

鈥淭he most important thing that teachers do besides planning and preparing lessons is assessing students鈥� work and communicating with parents,鈥� Bernstein said. 鈥淭here is nothing about this grievance that denies how important those responsibilities are.鈥�

鈥淚 don鈥檛 want anybody to think this grievance is about not doing the work. It鈥檚 about who is in charge of how I do that work,鈥� she added.

Other issues raised by the union include:

Questions about whether language in the memo would require that teachers use the district鈥檚 student information access system, ParentVUE, to communicate with parents over other forms of communication. ATF argues such a requirement would violate the teachers鈥� contract, and that teachers know best how to communicate with parents.

• Disputing a requirement for middle and high school teachers to weight cumulative grades as 90% semester coursework and 10% end-of-semester exams, arguing such a mandate violates teachers鈥� responsibility, as established in their contract, to evaluate student progress and interpret grades.
• An argument, again citing the student evaluation language in the contract, that a requirement by the district for elementary educators to communicate students鈥� progress via the electronic gradebook would be 鈥渘ot merely impractical but essentially unworkable鈥� because of system overload and the unique grading and lessons used by elementary-level teachers.

The ATF said in its grievance that weeks before the memo was released, top union officials reached out to Chief of Schools Channell Segura at least twice about the memo, but that 鈥渘o consideration seems to have been given to the messages.鈥�

The district鈥檚 鈥渦nilateral鈥� changes also violate the New Mexico Public Employee Bargaining Act, the union argued, because that act requires the impact professional and instructional decisions made by employers have to be a subject of bargaining.

The grievance calls for the district to 鈥渋mmediately (rescind)鈥� every part of the memo the union says violates the negotiated agreement.

The ATF also called for APS to cancel an early-August training 鈥� which Bernstein said took place anyway 鈥� for elementary homeroom teachers, which they say wasn鈥檛 included in training sessions the district and union had previously agreed on for that time.