HISD Fails To Address Discipline Concerns

Is discipline at your school out of control? In December HFT brought into consultation several concerns to the administrations attention regarding student discipline.The responses we received indicated that the administration simply does not understand the magnitude of this problem. We are not making this up. Teachers and support staff are fearful for their safety and for the safety of the students. We cannot continue to allow the type of student behavior described last month to continue. When will HISD make it clear that they will not accept disrespect, cussing, skipping, and bullying in the schools? The numbers referred for discipline barely scratch the surface. Below is from the minutes of the December Professional Consultation meeting:

HFT Items

A.   Campus Discipline

We are getting repeated and very disturbing reports from schools regarding student discipline. We will bring one of them (very long) into the meeting. To sum up the complaints:

1. Teachers are receiving no support regarding student discipline. Students regularly get away with actions including disrespect, cussing, skipping, and bullying. Students are sent to the office only to be returned. There is no fear on the part of students of any consequences.

Response: As of December 6, 158 students from the middle school level had been referred for discipline.  Ninety students (59%) were referred under discretionary placement.  The other 68 students (41%) were referred for either mandatory or local mandatory placements.  Out of the 90 referred discretionary placements, the Middle School Office only denied two; those were instances where the schools did not demonstrate that they had followed district guidelines, as they did not allow for the student’s due process. In both instances, the discipline infraction was a Level I offense that should be handled on campus.   

Additionally, HFT referenced the incident at Deady MS in which the SSO became involved because the assistant principal did not follow the guidelines. In this instance, twelve referrals were sent to the Middle School Office and all twelve students committed the same offense. The incidents were cut and pasted and in some cases the names were not changed.  The principal of the school was not notified of the discipline and the referrals were sent without her reviewing the process. The SSO had to intervene to coach the new assistant principal through the proper documentation process.  Four of the twelve referrals resulted in discretionary placements and the other eight were Level I classroom management issues that should be handled by the teacher.  

2. Students often are not sent to ISS.

Response:  Students are placed in ISS depending on the infraction.  Again, Deady MS was in question and the campus and the district are addressing those issues.  Luis Gavito, Armando Alaniz, and Tony D'Angelo conducted a campus walk to determine needs and make recommendations regarding discipline programs.  The principal is being mentored and a campus wide discipline program is being implemented.  

3. There is a huge backlog (so reported) in getting students removed to disciplinary alternative schools. Some principals have informed faculty members that they are forbidden from sending students to disciplinary alternatives by their SIO.

Response:  Please see above. There was one instance in which the SSO became involved and that was due to the school not following the guidelines.  The SSO did not forbid any referrals but coached the administration through the proper process for documenting student behaviors and ensuring that the due process for students was followed.  The referrals, twelve, had been cut and pasted and the referrals all indicated the same offense, at the same time, and on the same day by the different students. In some cases, the names had not been changed. The process typically involves a three-day suspension of students while the documentation is gathered and in some cases while a manifest determination is held for students with disabilities.  The process is not held up, but is a result of how accurately the schools have documented discipline in our systems.  Failure to follow the process by the campuses holds up the process, not the school offices.  

4. Why are SIOs part of the DAEP referral process?

Response: The SIO's are not part of the process. Again, one SSO was involved in coaching and ensuring that the law was followed and due process was followed by a school, Deady MS. 

5. What is the purpose of the “sentencing guidelines”? The name alone defeats the entire behavioral and academic purpose of a DAEP.

Response: The name “sentencing guidelines” does not exist.  The purpose of the Secondary Schools Offenses and Maximum Consequences Guidelines are to ensure that all campuses are disciplining students in a consistent manner.  The district was recently cited by the Texas Appleseed Study as a district with an over-representation of African American males and students with disabilities disciplinary cases.  In reviewing the DAEP referral process with principals this past summer, the guidelines were developed to ensure consistency in the disciplinary process.  Students across the district were being sent to a DAEP for a wide variety of offenses and for lengths of time that were inconsistent with the process.  Currently, students of color, particularly African American males, are overrepresented in the DAEP setting.  The attempt is to coordinate and coach the school leaders through the referral process, provide guidance in properly documenting discipline, and ensure that due process is followed.   

6. These reports are too widespread to be a coincidence. Why has the district chosen to stop complying with Chapter 37 of the Education Code?

Response:  The Board approved HISD Code of Student Conduct: Your Rights and Responsibilities is aligned with the requirements of the Texas Education Code Chapter 37.  Campuses have to follow one new step in submitting “discretionary” referrals, which now require approval from the school offices. However, these referrals do not involve offenses that may create “safety-risks” on campuses. As part of the procedures, campuses have to show that all campus-level interventions and supports have been exhausted before making the decision to remove a student to a DAEP for general misbehavior.  

October 4, 2012 Instructional Consultation

On October 4, 2012 HFT President Gayle Fallon, Executive Vice President, Andrew Dewey, and Grievance Director Joanna Pasternak attended HISD consultation.  This is the monthly meeting with HISD top administration to discuss concerns, and when new policy is presented to us for input before going to the HISD Board for a vote. Each month HFT submits an agenda of issues that are of concern to members.

A couple of things that came out of our discussions with HISD:

This year, HISD has had a huge increase in class size waiver requests. 1211 request have been submitted to TEA from HISD.  Each waiver is for one class (K-5 where class size is capped at 22:1 by TEA). The most often used reason that a campus requests a waiver is lack facilities (Not enough classrooms). HISD's Mark Smith said in the meeting that we are to report to him if a campus that requested a waiver has rooms that were built to be classrooms but are not being used, or are being used for something else. He indicated that he will not approve a waiver under those circumstances. Let us know if this is happening on your campus.

We addressed the issue of training outside work hours and received a response from Chief Academic Officer, Dr. Julie Baker*. We also brought up the fact that on-line training has gotten out of hand and that HFT will file a dispute if this is not brought under control. Teachers cannot be mandated to take 5-7 hour online training modules on their own time. Planning time is not to be used for training. When on-line training was 1-3 hours a semester, we let it slide.  But now HISD is putting 6-7 hour modules on-line and mandating the training. Send us any documentation you get mandating on-line training and the time for the training as stated on the module. Teachers have always and will continue to get training on their own time that they think is valuable or to fulfill their required training hours with TEA.  But, no teacher can be mandated to take a specific training that is not offered during normal work hours.

*Response from Chief Academic Officer Dr. Julie Baker:

“Training is offered during the week. Teachers are not required to complete the training on their own time. It is the responsibility of the   principal to pay for subs or extra duty pay if the district has not already made that commitment for certain trainings. Yes, the stipend/extra duty pay for a  full day of  Saturday training is $100.00.”

MORE ON 12 MONTH EMPLOYEE PAYROLL RECONCILIATION

Dear Members,

HFT continues to work on the issue of employees being billed for
payments in advance.  So far, HISD agreed to:

1. Allow employees to pay back advanced days with leave or vacation
days instead of pay deductions.

2.  Agreed to forgive half of advanced days for employees WHO WERE 12
MONTH EMPLOYEES ON AUGUST 10, 2012.

3.  Agreed to work with employees who were 12 month employees as of
August 10, 2012, and who were billed and already repaid the full
amount.  HISD payroll will meet with the employee (employee needs to
call and make appointment) to reconcile, go back and apply leave days
and refund any money overpaid by the employee as a result of the
advance pay billing.

However, HFT thinks the intention of the Board was that all employees
who were active employees as of August 10, and being billed for the
advance pay, would have half of those days forgiven.  We do not see
why a 12 month employee who had their job changed to 10 month in
August should be penalized by having to pay the full amount when 12
month employees get half forgiven.  We will continue to press for
this.

Unfortunately, anyone who left HISD over the summer and had the full
amount deducted from their last check will not be getting a refund.
This had been HISD's policy and practice for years.  Just as teachers
who resign before HISD announces a buy out are not able to get the buy
out.

Any HISD employee who is being billed should make an appointment with
HISD payroll and have HISD explain to them the specifics of THEIR
amount due, the amount of vacation and leave they have, and how they
wish to resolve it.  If any current employee already paid, they need
to make an appointment to reconcile the days owed and any leave or
vacation they have and decide if they wish to use days and get a
refund of the cash or payroll deduction they already paid.

HFT Wins Pay For New Teachers!

When HFT went to the New Teacher Training in August and discovered that the newly hired HISD teachers were not being paid for 3-4 full days of training, we filed a grievance on their behalf. 

HFT WAS THE ONLY ORGANIZATION THAT PROTESTED HISD NOT PAYING THE NEW TEACHERS FOR THE AUGUST TRAINING.

After several delays, and with the hearing officer pressing to schedule the case, on Tuesday, HISD's attorney asked for "48 hours to find a settlement"

Today, we are happy to announce, HISD sent a letter to every new teacher telling them that they will paid $125.00 for every day that they signed in for the training!  SEE THAT LETTER BELOW.

ALL HFT MEMBERS CAN TELL ALL NEW TEACHERS IN HISD, WHETHER THEY ARE HFT MEMBERS OR NOT, "YOU'RE WELCOME", AND "THIS IS WHY WE HAVE A UNION!!"

HFT Reduces 12 month Employee Debt by Half

Good news!

Over the last couple of weeks HFT has been been in talks with the administration over the plan to make 12 month employees pay back up to 20 days of pay that had been advanced to them when they were hire. Last night the administration recommended and the school board approved a plan that will reduce the amount of time that must be repaid in half. The following is from the board agrnda item:

"Specifically, the new recommendation proposes that one-half of the days advanced to each

employee be forgiven. Employees affected owe from a minimum of 9 days to a maximum of 20 days. This proposal will reduce the span of days to be reimbursed by the employees to a minimum of 4 ½ days to a maximum of 10 days."

"Based on board policy, each employee is advanced a minimum of 22 combined leave and vacation days as of September 1 of each year. Under the revised proposal employees will continue to have a choice of whether to use vacation/leave days or payroll deduction to satisfy the days owed to the district. Further, the revised proposal recommends that the timeframe for employees to utilize payroll deduction to reimburse the district for days advanced, should be increased by one year from the original proposal. The recommended proposal to reimburse the district for days advanced is now as follows:

• Employees will be forgiven one-half of the days owed
• Employees may reimburse the district using vacation days, local and/or state leave days from 2011–2012, 2012–2013, and 2013–2014
• Employees may reimburse the district through payroll deduction to be spread
  over 2012–2013, 2013–2014, and 2014–2015."

HFT is aware that this new proposal still places a burden on the 12 month employee but it is a smaller burden than first proposed and it may be settled over a three year period instead of two years. It may also be settled with days that are advanced over those three years (including this year) so it does not have to come out of current accumulated leave.

Perspective Check RE: Jones Feeder Pattern Comments

My last blog praised Secretary Duncan for pushing back against the blame game after a comment that was leveled by one of the varsity players in HISD Education Politics. In my efforts to identify an alternative to just blaming teachers I reviewed the Jones feeder pattern data for any blaring facts we should be focusing on. Here is what I found:

1. EVERY elementary school in the feeder pattern is Exemplary or Recognized- Alcott El, Cornelius, Golfcrest, Kelso, Seguin are all Exemplary under the state standards. Brookline, Garden Villas, and Gregg are recognized. Hartman was acceptable under the state accountablility ratings. ALL schools met Adequate Yearly Progress for the past 3 years.

2. Attendance rates seemed to decline overall as students matriculated to the next level.

3. Schools (obviously) and class sizes increased while parental participation decreased.

Now, does being exemplary or recognized mean that all students are reading on grade level? Of course not, however the discrepancy between the top accountability ratings at these schools and the 80-90% off grade level when they hit HS is enough to make you go, huh??

Does anyone else notice a problem here? How can a school have such high rankings if kids are off grade level? Is there a problem with the accountability system? Think we've established that. I think there are some other factors at play here that need to be addressed and haven't been included in any accountability system. Enter points 2 and 3 above.

Exactly how many times can a student be caught skipping class before the negative EVAAS rating is used to hold the student accountable and not the teacher? Oh, Wait a minute??? The only accountability measures they have included is withholding graduation-- the very thing we are trying to accomplish so that schools can be recognized for the work that they do. They still went to prom last week, didn't they teachers? We have all been frustrated when the sob story is used to overrule consequences for behavior or failure to attempt to perform...

Our education system has always done the parent involvement thing backwards. The overwhelming level of parent involvement happens at the elementary level when the greatest need is between grades 8 and 10. Kids are vulnerable at this age and have a tendency to get lost. Get them to 11th grade on time and they are likely to finish. If they are driving to MS, then we have a problem. Yet larger class sizes and less parental involvement seem to be the norm. I wish our schools would require that commitment contract from students and parents starting in 6th grade. If we can get them through 10th, then we can let them start developing more autonomy and making more adult decisions.

The job of our elected school board should be to take the lead on policies that we know work, instead of using the cane approach on just the teachers. We are on the wrong track and no one seems to get it. Until we do the hard work to lay out those policy alternatives that will matter and find people with the courage to implement them, things will only get worse.

Get involved in your next school board election. If every member tithed 20 bucks a year and committed to volunteering 3 hours of time we would have $284,000.00 and 887.5 days worth of volunteer time to make the changes we know will positively impact our schools, our students and our communities. Is that really too much to ask?

Post Script-- At the last HISD Board meeting Ms. Harris stated that she supports teachers and the statement that she made came out wrong. I, for one, believe that she didn't mean the statements to come across the way they did. She has actually done things through actions not just words to support teachers and help bring in programs to help you do your jobs--- However words matter. Maybe she has been spending too much time around some of the other board members that I would have naturally expected to hear teacher-bashing from. Members e-mailed me multiple copies of the video prior to my blog proving that people do listen to what our school leaders say and why we need to make sure what we say is what we mean. I've had to learn that lesson my own way here recently on another matter. You keep watching and make up your own mind!

Snaps for the Secretary of Education

It is no secret that I have been critical of the Dept of Ed regarding their policies that seem to solely blame teachers for chronically failing schools. However, I also have a duty to give credit where credit is due and the Secretary deserves a HIGH 5 for his rebuke of our school leaders choosing to play the blame game. He certainly got a front row seat to view the philosophy of education in HISD.

HISD published a clip of the video where at about 8min and 40sec into the clip our District 4 Board Member blamed the middle and elementary teachers in the Jones feeder pattern for the 80-90% of students that were not on grade level in reading. Further, she went so far as to advocate inciting outrage and picketing (something I thought we were always blamed for) against those teachers and their schools.

The response from the Secretary was notably humane as he rightly pointed out that the blame game doesn't help students succeed. We ALL have a responsibility to ensure that our kids are successful, including the kids themselves. HISD consistently points the finger at teachers, as evidenced by Harris’ remarks. The question is then how to HUMANELY hold teachers, students, parents, the District, community and state responsible for doing their part? No system can be successful when appropriate parameters aren't defined and enforced for all the responsible parties within said system. No matter how exceptional the engine, my truck won't run if the tires don't do their job..

We take our kids the way they come to us. We can't change them, their parents or our communities out as easily as I can change my tires or HISD thinks it can change out our teachers. Who would want to come teach in HISD under the type of philosophy that we have seen evolve here over the past few years? I bet a few people realize how penny wise and pound foolish they may be when that large cadre of dedicated career teachers in HISD decides to stay home for good. Most mid-career teachers already intend to bail for suburb jobs closer to home at their first opportunity.

Maybe we can change out the Board if we all decide to work together (and not for retreads of the same failed model). It is certainly going to take more than just a few of us, so get involved.

Check out the video yourself:
http://www.houstonisd.org/HISDConnectDS/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=67377dbbacd68210VgnVCM10000028147fa6RCRD&vgnextchannel=9339e02e91b23110VgnVCM10000028147fa6RCRD