The Offical Website of the PJSTA

Posted on September 10, 2012 by thepjsta

Terryville and JFK in Solidarity with Chicago!

Terryville Teachers in Solidarity with the CTU!

JFK Teachers in Solidarity with the CTU!

Posted on September 10, 2012 by thepjsta

The Chicago Teachers Union is On Strike

Tonight Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis announced that the CTU will be on strike tomorrow. Among the major issues is the new teacher evaluation system that the city is trying to implement and the city’s insistance on eliminating steps and columns in the teachers’ contract.

There is no overstating the importance of this situation to all public school teachers across the country, including those in Comsewogue.

The Port Jefferson Station Teachers Association is proud to stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Chicago. Wear red tomorrow.

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Posted on September 10, 2012 by thepjsta

Wear Red Tomorrow… and a Sunday Night Update on the CTU

*UPDATE*
No deal has been reached yet. CTU President Karen Lewis has scheduled a press conference at 10 pm. The CTU’s House of Delegates (equivalent to PJSTA’s rep council) would have to approve an agreement and they have not been called to meet yet. More after the presser.

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Please remember to wear red tomorrow to show solidarity with the Chicago Teachers Union in their fight for the soul of public education. My outfit is laid out already…

Now for an update…

CTU and officials representing the Chicago Public Schools have been in negotiations for most of the weekend. While some progress was reported yesterday, a settlement was still not reached. The two sides sat down again this morning and neither side has made a statement since then. It is believed the district is sticking to the elimination of steps in the contract, which could obviously be a sticking point.

The “Wear Red for ED to Support the Chicago Teachers” seems to have caught on as locals across the country are attempting to do that tomorrow. There are other ways you can help as well:

This site gives you information on how you can buy lunch for a teacher who is picketing.
Donate to the CTU’s solidarity fund.
Post a message of solidarity.

Finally, as per AFT President Randi Weingarten, the AFT is planning a day of nationwide support later this week…

Planning a nationwide support day later this week.”@gatorbonbc:RT @dianeravitch Tomorrow, Wear Red for ED to Support Chicago Teachers

— Randi Weingarten (@rweingarten) September 9, 2012

As always, you can follow the action on Twitter with the #CTU hashtag or by following @CTULocal1. Or of course you could just keep checking thepjsta.org!

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Posted on September 9, 2012 by thepjsta

Diamond in the Pines 9/11 Learning Site

On Saturday September 8th, PJSTA members attended the unveiling ceremony for the latest addition to the Diamond in the Pines 9/11 Learning Site. The PJSTA was the first Long Island organization to donate money to buy an engraved brick when the project was just beginning its fundraising efforts in 2011. The memorial was organized largely through the hard work of Rocky Point High School teacher Rich Acritelli. He has led the effort to create this memorial to honor the many lives lost on 9/11, to honor the rescue
worker efforts in the days that followed, and to honor the veterans of the War on Terror.

In the program for the Unveiling Ceremony, the Port Jefferson Station Teachers Association was thanked for our support of this project. “It was one of the main goals to try to get as many educational labor organizations involved with the creation of this memorial. From the beginning efforts in February, 2011, Mrs. Beth Dimino, the President of the Port Jefferson Station Teachers Association, provided much needed assistance in promoting this 9/11 Learning Site to the many unions across Suffolk County. Thank
you for your constant help, support and energy towards this memorial”.

The memorial, located at the park in Coram, first opened in September 2011. It includes a statue of an eagle and plaques listing the names of the residents of Brookhaven and Riverhead towns who died in the terrorist attacks. The PJSTA brick is included in landscape path surrounding the memorial. At the unveiling ceremony on September 8th, six rescue dogs and their handlers were present for the unveiling of a bronze statue of a rescue dog. The statue honors their recovery efforts at the World Trade Center
site. Many moving accounts of the efforts of the canine rescue units were shared, and the ceremony reminded us all of the courage, hard work and teamwork that makes this country so great.

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Posted on September 9, 2012 by thepjsta

A Scab’s Guide to Teaching

In the event of a strike, the Chicago Sun- Times is reporting that the Chicago Public Schools will be opening 144 buildings to be staffed by “principals, assistant principals, Central Office Staff and non-CTU employees, as well as yet-to-be-approved vendors.” They released a guide for those non-teachers to help them prepare for the classroom on Monday. Below is a bit of what is included in the guide:

Among its suggestions on “how to prepare:”

• “Wear a watch — your room may not have a functioning clock.’’

• Dress comfortably as “many schools are NOT air-conditioned.’’

• “You will need to bring your own breakfast and lunch. Please note that you cannot rely on access to refrigerators or microwaves.’’

• “Keep personal items to a minimum.’’

• Sessions for kids run from 8:30 to 12:30 but “you should arrive as early as possible” and be prepared to stay late.

• Bring 30 sharpened pencils, 30 pens and a personal pencil sharpener.

• Bring “stickers or other small inexpensive incentive items.’’

• Bring old magazines and newspapers, puzzles and games.

Non-teachers are given a long list of things to do ahead of time to prepare. They should: study and “internalize’’ recommended classroom management techniques; determine their classroom procedures and “practice explaining them,’’ create a Day One sample schedule, write a supply list and collect it, and “attend trainings.’’

To “create a climate of respect,’’ the tool-kit recommends that non-teachers “communicate with words” and “do not yell, threaten or insult, even if joking.’’

And to make students feel comfortable, they should appear “confident and calm by being firm but friendly. You can accomplish this by writing a general schedule on the board.’’

For third- through eighth-graders, non-teachers are urged to walk students in two single files in the classroom, and “greet each student with a smile and a handshake as they enter.’’

As a “get-to-know-you” game, non-teachers are advised to model a “two truths and a lie’’ game, in which participants share three facts about themselves and students have to guess which one is a lie.

Games to be played during physical education include Simon Says, Farmer in the Dell, Mother May I and Four Corners.