Saturday May 26, 2012
12:00 pm – 4:00 pm
At Linbrook Bowl,
201 Brookhurst St.
In Anaheim ( at Lincoln and Brookhurst )
California’s Legislature recognizes the important contributions of classified school employees and named the third full week of May “Classified School Employee Week” (CSEW) to honor these contributions. This year, that week is May 20–26.
Since 1986, California has taken the third week in May to honor the invaluable contributions of classified school employees. In 2012, we will be celebrating the week with the theme, “Classified Employees: A Legacy of Service.”
Classified School Employee Week began as a resolution at CSEA’s Annual Conference in 1984. Two years later, it was adopted as California Senate Bill 1552 and decreed to be an official recognition of classified school employees. Today, CSEA members celebrate the week with picnics, barbecues and other social events. At work, many members wear CSEA shirts and other symbols of union pride.
Caring about students
Whatever the reason that CSEA members became classified employees, they realize they can enrich the lives of students, not only by performing their duties exceptionally well, but also by serving as friends, mentors, role models and guardians.
Classified school employees interact with students on a daily basis for years, so forming a trustworthy bond is inevitable. In most cases, classified school employees know the faces and names of the students. They inspire students, joke with them, cheer them up and give them advice.
“CSEA members never hesitate to go above and beyond the call of duty to make sure that the students they serve not only receive the support they need to learn, but also to serve as positive role models and to ensure that students know they have someone they can confide in at school,” Association President Allan Clark said.
Each worker from Antioch Chapter 85 interviewed for this story represents a classified job classification. Over a combined 129 years of service to students, these classified employees have refined their crafts and learned about the importance of their roles in education.
Performing important jobs
Every classified job serves a purpose. Some provide support to students and others make sure schools are sanctuaries of education. Due to education budget cuts over the past few years, classified school employees are often required to perform multiple duties and work hard to stretch school districts’ dollars.
In the case of maintenance workers such as Antioch Unified School District’s Tom Sellers, this means using his skills as a welder to make equipment last longer.
“When I come in to work, I always have a stack of work orders,” he said. “I do a lot of cutting, burning and fabricating. I’ve made parts for rototillers, repairs on motorized equipment and brackets. There are many things that the district doesn’t have to buy because we can make them. That saves the district money.”
Sellers doesn’t work directly with students, but they still see the result of his work when they are protected by a metal fence he mended or use a piece of sports equipment he repaired.
“A lot of the things I do are to respond to vandalism by fixing chain link fences and gates,” said Sellers, who has worked for the district for 24 years. “I weld the goals for soccer practice so that the students can use them.”
Students in the classroom often don’t realize how many classified employees worked to create a positive learning environment free of distractions, performing a variety of behind-the-scenes tasks so that instruction can continue without interruption.
Office Assistant Linda Rambeau-Jaime, who has worked for Antioch Unified for 12 years, handles attendance issues, orders supplies for the classroom and makes sure that the copy machines used to print class handouts are functioning properly at Antioch’s Lone Tree Elementary School. She answers parents’ inquiries, and receives medicine and lunches that parents drop off for students. She also performs first-aid on students when necessary.
“Sometimes if these students don’t get patched up, they are going to miss the instructional minutes,” she said. “If they are late, I like to give them tips on what to do to get to school on time. I try to give them some steps they can take to get them in a positive routine so they aren’t late all of the time.”
The contributions of other classified school employees are more evident since they supplement what’s done in the classroom. Dorothy Smith, a paraeducator who has worked for Antioch Unified for 32 years, assists special education students. She helps students by Read the rest of this entry »
This entry was originally posted on Monday, April 27th, 2009
In a joint effort, CSEA and Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District has established a Catastrophic Injury/Illness Leave Bank for our Classified family.
Between May 1st and May 31st, we will be conducting the initial donation period. This bank has been created for you and will be funded by voluntary donations from Classified employee’s, of either earned unused sick leave hours or earned unused vacation hours. Each donation is irrevocable and can be made by filling out the appropriate district provided form (attached). All donations to the Catastrophic Injury/Illness 
Leave Bank are a general donation and can not be donated to a specific member. In order to be eligible to make a withdrawal from this bank, you must have made a donation within a 12 month period prior to your request.
Please donate during the month of May. Once we reach 500 collected hours, then classified employees who have a catastrophic injury or illness will be able to complete an application for consideration. For Further Information Please consult your copy of the contract, Visit our website PYLCSEA.COM , Or contact one of your CSEA Representatives.
Many of you have seen Dr. Smith’s Board update on the District e-mail and this has caused some concern.
Particularly the sentence “In looking at ways to keep the PYLUSD fiscally solvent, cuts were approved last night to classified and management services.”
On Tuesday night the Board of Education approved the layoff’s of 17 Classified workers, and one Classified Manager. These individual’s were contacted personally by Personnel and were represented by CSEA at a meeting on Tuesday morning.
As of now, CSEA has not been told of further plans to layoff.
The decision by the District to layoff the majority of these Classified Workers was due to lack of funds in a Categorical Program.
The rest were also lack of funds for the coming School year but could be rescinded should the funding return.
In our Contract and in California Law the District may layoff for two reasons: 1. Lack of funds 2. Lack of work, as of this time the District has stated that it is due to lack of funds.
CSEA will continue to monitor the situation and we will work with the District to reinstate or reemploy the affected Classified employee’s as soon as possible.
If you have further Questions Please feel free to e-mail or contact Allyson Holt, or any of the Executive board using the contact information provided on the website.
Attention Classified Employees
By now, many of you may have received Dr. Smith’s Budget Update regarding the state of District finances for 2012/2013. As many of you may be aware, a final budget for 2012/2013 has not yet been adopted by the California legislature, therefore any projections about what will be in the budget for2012/2013 and what impact the State Budget will have on PYLUSD finances for 2012/2013, are just that – projections based on speculation rather than reality.
On March 13th, PYLUSD presented its initial proposal for classified negotiations for the 2012/2013 year based off of the current budget projections. Your bargaining team is preparing for negotiations and will be surveying Active Members for their input before presenting an initial proposal. Prior to receiving a survey, any member who has ideas on how PYLUSD could save money or spend resources more efficiently is encouraged to contact your chapter through this chapter website of www.pylcsea.com.
The governor has submitted his proposed Budget for 2012-13. Gov. Brown also had a message attached to this proposed budget. Here are brief selections from that message to “the Senate and the Assembly of the California Legislature:”
“I hereby submit to you my proposed Budget for 2012‑13.
When I came into office, California was facing an immediate $26.6 billion budget gap and future budget deficits of $20 billion a year.”
“The 2011 budget did, however, lay the foundation for fiscal stability. It cut the annual budget shortfall by three‑quarters — from $20 billion to $5 billion or less. It shrunk state government, reduced our borrowing costs and gave local governments more authority to make decisions.
The budget that I am submitting today keeps the cuts made last year and adds new ones.”
“I am also asking that the voters guarantee ongoing funding for local public safety programs. This ballot measure will not solve all of our fiscal problems, but it will stop further cuts to education and public safety and halt the trend of double‑digit tuition increases.”
“My budget plan also includes important reforms. It improves government efficiency and pays down debt. It reorganizes state government to make it more efficient and saves tax dollars by consolidating or eliminating functions. It restructures social service programs to better support working families. It gives substantially more flexibility and decision‑making to local school districts. The plan also calls for bold investments in our future: to assure a reliable water supply, build high speed rail and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
As California’s economy continues to slowly recover — and recover it will — our plan will provide fiscal stability and make California government more transparent and responsive to the people.
I look forward to working with you in the coming year.”
Edmund G. Brown Jr.
STATE CAPITOL • SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA 95814 • (916) 445–2841
Throughout these negotiations, your chapter will conduct its own independent evaluation of PYLUSD’s finances and will communicate with Active Members VIA www.pylcsea.com regarding the process of negotiations.
CSEA has a video entered in the 33rd Annual Telly Awards. Check out the video and vote now by clicking the thumbs up button for CSEA’s video ” I Graduate”.
This wonderful video has been a part of CSEW and many trainings for nearly a year. Please view and vote.
Posted by Robert
Below is the link for The 33rd Annual Telly Awards:
Take advantage of CSEA’s and Union Plus’ amusement park, travel, and entertainment discounts for a fun-filled summer!
Benefits Guide for 2012-2013: Look for the new Annual Benefits Guide in your May/June issue of Focus Magazine. The Discount Ticket Legend can be found starting on page 8. Use this legend to choose from an array of discounts to amusement and water parks, movie tickets, and more.
Amusement Park Highlights: (complete listing available in the Annual Benefits Guide or online at www.csea.com)
California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park: Receive a 25% discount by pre-purchasing tickets through May 26th 2012 on www.calacademy.org/etickets; User ID: csea Password: alligator.
Disneyland: We have 1 day, multi-day Hoppers, as well as Deluxe and SoCal Annual Passes.
Legoland: Second day free.
Universal Studios: 3 Days for less than the price of 1.
Contact CSEA Member Benefits at (866) 487-2732 or visit www.csea.com for more information.
Summer Vacations: Get Away Today: Largest provider of Southern California vacations in the world. Call (800) 523-6116 or go to getawaytoday.com. Use CSEA Tracking Code 54390.
Rental Car Discounts: We offer rental car discounts through Alamo, Budget, Enterprise, and Hertz. Use the phone numbers and discount codes listed on page 3 of the new Annual Benefits Guide located within your May/June issue of Focus Magazine.
Hotel Discounts: Save 15% at Choice Hotels Worldwide! This includes Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites, Quality Inn, Sleep Inn, Clarion, MainStay Suites, EconoLodge, and Rodeway Inns. Go to www.choicehotels.com, click on “Enter your Special Rate ID”, Enter ESM ID 00044073 or call (800) 258-2847 and mention ESM ID 00044073. (Discount subject to availability.)
Union Plus: Hundreds of entertainment, travel, theater and event discounts available across the nation. Call (800) 565-3712 and use ID 744387769. Or go to www.unionplus.org. Navigate to the Travel and Entertainment section and follow the online instruction to create an additional account on the Working Advantage website to get access to these valuable benefits.
Need assistance? Contact CSEA Member Benefits at (866) 487-2732 or visit www.csea.com.
So be at the Ice Cream Social on Weds. May 23, 2012 from 12:00noon - 5:00pm at the ESC, and find out more about CSEA Membership.
May 12 will mark an important milestone for the NALC’s Stamp Out Hunger national food drive.
“It’s our 20th anniversary,” NALC President Fredric Rolando noted. “For two decades now, our annual national drive has proved critical in helping millions of American families—our customers—who are struggling to make ends meet during this continuing recession.
“Each year, the second Saturday in May is a day when all citizens have an opportunity, with the help of their letter carrier, to easily donate food to needy families in their community,” he said.
The drive, the largest one-day food-collection event in the nation, has been a success every year, Rolando said, but the needs are particularly sad, even staggering, in 2012.
“Sixteen percent of all Americans are at risk of hunger—uncertain where their next meal may be coming from. That includes 1 in 5 children under the age of 18, plus 4 million seniors who are forced
every day to choose between paying a utility bill and buying food,” he said.
“Last year, despite many obstacles, letter carriers proudly collected 70.2 million pounds of food, raising the total amount of donations picked up over the history of the drive to more than 1.1 billion pounds,” Rolando said. “With help from our brothers and sisters in the rural craft, alongside other postal employees and volunteers, letter carriers will do what we can again this year to help all Americans.”
Providing branches and volunteers a much-appreciated boost are the drive’s official sponsors: the National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association, Campbell Soup Company, Valpak, U.S. Postal Service, United Way, AFL-CIO, Feeding America, Uncle Bob’s Self-Storage and AARP.
“We are proud to continue our support of the annual food drive,” NRLCA President Jeannette Dwyer said. “It has become clear how such a small act of charity on the part of one person can resonate so profoundly in the communities in which we live.”
Realizing that reminder postcards are key components in drumming up customer participation in the food drive, Campbell’s is donating Read the rest of this entry »
