Mona Davidson DSTA President

All she cares about is benefiting all her rich friends--including President Cheeto!

Tell Betsy DeVos: Your Voucher Plans Harm Students Send an email to Betsy DeVos now. Tell her that vouchers harm the 90% of American students that attend public schools, and that she won’t get to destroy our public schools without a fight.

AMEN!!! Teaching is the PRIORITY--not testing!

Standing up for our students and the teachers in our district being allowed to focus on teaching, not testing.
Wearing Red for Ed!

Hate to bug on a Sunday, but I've been receiving many emails, texts and phone calls about the Day of Action. Let me try to dispel the many misconceptions that are out there.
1--This action was suggested by NEA and CTA and they approved our plan, giving us a very large grant that covered more than 3/4 of the expense for the shirts. The other issue that is important to understand is that political action funds are separate contributions from the members dues.
2--This action was discussed at length with our Executive Board. We looked at the many suggested themes and were concerned that since we are in a politically very diverse area, we didn't want to do something that might be perceived as leaning toward one political persuasion over another. This is why we considered the prospect of advocating for our students around how much they're being tested. It also focuses on the idea that teachers should be allowed the time to teach, and not just prepare students for a test. The Exec Board members present at this meeting were: Tricia Schoenfeld, 1st VP; Cathy Jackson, 2nd VP; John Lienhard, HS Director; Anna Harris, MS Director; Tricia Pearce, Cathee Fields, Elementary Directors; Gabby Mitchell, M&HR At large; Trina Gonzales-Alesi, Bargaining Chair
3--This was presented at the last Rep Council meeting soliciting advice as to themes, to ascertain if anyone had issues with the idea around excess testing. Everyone seemed in agreement. Further, reps were sent an email well in advance of the delivery of the shirts and flyers.
4--There has been a great deal of work behind the scenes to make this project a success. Such as working with Dr. Tony Signoret and the district's legal counsel, and they have declared (and sent this to principals across the district) that these activities are perfectly fine and legal. So there are no worries there. Should your principal try to prohibit this activity, please let me know and I will address it with Dr. Signoret.
It is unfortunate that any person would chose to impugn this activity with misinformation which has seemingly created dissension and division among our ranks in an event that was designed promote unity. Regardless, solidarity must take precedence.
I sincerely hope that each and every member of DSTA has a wonderful Day of Action!
P.S. CTA has declared Monday as a Wear Red for Ed day, so we're right in there! Thanks so much

Sadly this, this is just way too true.

Quick reminder for everyone--please be sure to vote for your choices on the potential insurance changes. If you need a ballot sent to your personal email, email me and we'll get it to Simply Voting. You will need to do so before 12 noon on 3.31.17. You may also come to the DSTA Office between 8 and 4:30. We'll publish the results as soon as possible.

Like I always say, you don't see politicians telling brain surgeon's how to do their work! Just because you've been a student doesn't mean you understand how to teach!

Just sayin'.

Don't forget to come to the DSTA Office today (3.28.17) at 3:45 to learn about the potential changes to our insurance/benefits plans. If you can't come today, there will be another meeting at Indio High School on Wednesday (3.29.17) at 4:15. This is very important information and we want to make sure we hear your voices! Thanks.

We have to speak up for the sake of our kids! We CAN stop this, but we have to be united and act!

5 education programs that will lose big under the Trump-DeVos budget - Education Votes With more than $9 billion in education cuts in the Trump-DeVos budget, here are 5 programs that will be seeing a massive impact.

We need to get very familiar with this new Dashboard. You might want to start now!
http://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-california-school-dashboard-20170313-story.html

Introducing the California School Dashboard, your new guide to understanding your child's education Next week, parents will get a look at the California Dashboard, a new school ratings tool that focuses on different factors. But some say it's hard to understand.