TVEA Spotlight

Good Evening,

TVEA continues to support our members by effective Communication and Representation, as well as Recognizing those going the extra mile to provide support to others.

We look forward to the TVUSD Site Administration Team Recognition Event next month, acknowledging the exemplary support provided to our members over the challenging last thirteen months.

Internal to TVEA, our Executive Board has completed the selection process for our 2020-2021 Executive Board Awards which I will share tonight:

First, the 2021 CTA “We Honor Ours” Award. This regional level recognition has two TVEA recipients this year: Bargaining Chair Brian Balaris, and Executive Board Middle School Representative Lauren Davis.

In other recognitions, our TVEA Co-Committee Members of the Year are Elementary Bargaining Reps Mike Brewer and Christina Fenney.

Our “Super Site Leaders”, who provide site members a liaison to TVEA are:

Belisa Guerrero (TLES), and Cheri Skinner (TTES) at the Elementary Level, Chris Pepes (MMS) Middle school Level, and Veronica Kubes (TVHS) and Barbara Mueller (CHS) from High School.

TVEA will also be presenting Bella Vista Middle RSP Teacher Karen Hogan an Outstanding Service Award for her multiple roles as a “Special Education Advocate” over the years.

TVEA practices member advocacy while maintaining humility in our representative role, and we use deliberative processes before adopting a position on an internal or TVUSD initiative.

An example of this is the fact that TVEA has not yet announced a position on TVUSD’s consideration of modifying in-person instruction for the remainder of the 2020-21 year.

Our Bargaining Team met with TVUSD last Friday to explore what might be the impacts and effects of such a change and will continue to negotiate in good faith.

Currently, we are executing a survey in which we will utilize member feedback to effectively represent any member consensus in the next negotiations session later this week.

Its’ easy to assume a position for a prospective policy based on an individual’s passion or that of a single community faction. Evaluating policy after having achieved comprehensive stakeholder feedback and charting costs versus benefits is more time consuming, yet also more responsible as well.

Presuming as the community representative the Governing Board is to provide direction to TVUSD supporting or not supporting a modification of in-person instruction, it would seem asking and collectively evaluating questions such as the following would be prudent:

-Has TVUSD communicated any potential changes to the community? Has comprehensive community feedback been facilitated, gathered, and reported?

-Do parents and families of our nearly 27,000 students view more in-person instructional time as a benefit at this juncture of the school year? If so, how does a schedule change impact potential family costs such as transportation and childcare?

-Does increased in-person instructional time at this juncture provide a benefit to students social-emotional well-being? If so, does it outweigh potential costs of a such as less teacher – individual student attention in a more crowded classroom? Does a learning environment with mandated face coverings in larger cohorts inhibit effective classroom communication?

-Organizationally, how is TVUSD impacted by placing this topic front and center in the current district policy agenda? What are the resource costs related to our personnel? How might temporal costs impact planning for the myriad variables associated with a successful full return to in-person instruction in August?

These are just a few of the potential questions to be fully considered before the Governing Board provides direction for structural changes in the late phases of the 2020-21 school year.

Thank you.