Classified Articles
Classified
News for and about classified employees and paraprofessionals working in public schools and community colleges, and support staff in private schools.
Classified professionals move from “Aspiration to Action”
Conference gives front-line activists the tools to organize and lead during troubled times
First came the pandemic protocols. About 100 participants from 15 AFT locals across California had to test negative for COVID before entering the Council of Classified Employees conference area.
Then came the fireworks. “We need to march in the Capitol for the next Classified Appreciation Week. If they don’t want to recognize the work we do, we need to toot our own horn,” CCE President Carl Williams roared in his welcoming speech. Williams drilled down on “Aspiration to Action,” the conference theme.
AVERTing disaster: Every second counts
Surviving an “active shooter” on campus takes quick decisions and actions
The names of the schools are etched in our minds: Columbine High, Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook Elementary, Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High, Uvalde Elementary. Gunmen with grudges have struck at all grade levels and in every corner of the country.
Most shootings take place at businesses, but news stories more often focus on schools. Deadly shootings are, in fact, tearing up U.S. schools at a record pace. According to Education Week, as of October 24 there have been 40 school shootings this year, with a toll of 34 dead and 88 injured.
Carl Williams tapped to co-chair AFT PSRP Program and Policy Council
Demystifying the acronyms, from AFT and CFT to PPC and CCE
The AFT groups classified employees, support staff, and paraprofessionals together in its Paraprofessionals and School-Related Personnel (PSRP) division, representing more than 370,000 workers in public and private preK-12 schools, colleges, and universities across the nation.
CFT’s due process bill succeeds, puts classified on even footing with faculty
Summer Assistance expands to community college staff, Juneteenth becomes official school holiday
Governor Newsom capped the 2020-22 legislative session by signing a flurry of bills that CFT sponsored, co-sponsored or supported. Senate and Assembly bills with strong bearing on classified employees ranged from due process during workplace appeals, to a fair repayment plan for accidentally overpaid wages.
Following are the new laws CFT fought to win for classified employees and paraprofessionals.
CFT endorses Yvonne Walker for CalPERS Board
Voting period — November 5 to December 5, 2022
Update: On December 8, CalPERS announced that Walker won the election for the board seat. Learn more here.
The CFT has endorsed Yvonne Walker for the retiree seat on the CalPERS Board, in a run-off election starting November 5.
How does a district build a village for teachers and staff?
Innovative, affordable, and comfortable housing in Daly City welcomes new and veteran employees
The Jefferson Union High School District knew it had a problem holding onto staff. The district was losing about 25% of its certificated and classified employees yearly, and a survey showed that many were leaving the Daly City school district because of the high cost of housing.
Trades workers, custodians ready for increasingly dangerous workplaces
PHOTO GALLERY
CFT conference tackles tough issues of coronavirus, toxic chemicals, climate change, active shooters
Dozens of classified members from locals up and down California recently met at Compton College for the first Custodial and Skilled Trades Conference hosted by the CFT Council of Classified Employees.
“We have talked about this for years, and put it off for two years because of COVID, but here we are,” said a buoyant CCE President Carl Williams.
The new normal for special education instructional aides
‘‘SpEd IAs’’ face student pandemic trauma, larger classes, and low pay
California schools have returned to in-person learning, but acute staff shortages are hobbling the return. The hardest positions to fill are often special education instructional aides.
For “SpEd IAs,” as they are known from early childhood programs to post-secondary classrooms, there is no “social distance” with their students. Assignments may require feeding children, changing diapers, and handling medical equipment. Emotional outbursts can also be physically punishing to paraeducators.
AFT task force tackles national staff shortages in education
CFT seeks to set minimum salaries and hourly pay
COVID didn’t create the national staffing crisis we face, but the pandemic has stretched classified and certificated members so thin that some schools have been forced to shut their doors.
AFT has stepped up to the challenge and created an Education Staffing Crisis Task Force co-chaired by Carl Williams, head of the CFT Council of Classified Employees and an AFT Vice President, and Michael Mulgrew, leader of AFT’s largest local union, New York City’s United Federation of Teachers.
CFT equity bill ensures staff paid during personnel investigations
Union urges expansion of Summer Assistance Program to community colleges
“Fighting an unfair firing can be a lengthy process,” said Tina Solórzano Fletcher of San Diego’s AFT Guild, Local 1931, which represents faculty and staff at local community colleges. “Our certificated members who appeal a termination continue to receive compensation. Our classified employees should also.”
Classified leaders hit the road to meet locals
Listening tour leads to greater understanding, solidarity
After more than a year of Delta and Omicron surges and other COVID-19 pandemic obstacles, officers of the CFT Council of Classified Employees embarked on a statewide listening tour of AFT local unions representing classified employees.
“There will never be a perfect time, so we just hit the road,” said CCE President Carl Williams. “Our members have heard what we have to say. Now they want to be heard.”
Overwork, underpayment, burn out and blame, lead to staff shortages
Unions speak to pandemic-driven shortage of teachers, subs, paras, classified
For years, California elementary and secondary schools have had teacher shortages, particularly in areas of special education, math, and science, but it’s grown worse since the pandemic started, with fewer teacher candidates getting credentials, and 26% more teachers retiring in 2020 than the year before.
What does gratitude look like? Find out from three members deep in student debt
How AFT’s legal victory with the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program will change lives
In 2018, Jessica Saint-Paul, who has a doctorate in medical science and teaches public health and health occupation courses at Southwest and Trade Tech colleges, attended a benefits conference put on by her local, the Los Angeles College Faculty Guild. They covered Public Service Loan Forgiveness, a federal program that promised if you worked in public service for 10 years and made 120 payments, the remainder of your loan would be forgiven.
What does classified work look like 20 months into the pandemic?
Staff shortages, vaccine mandates, strict school bus protocols, but also pay raises and lots of union support
California schools reopened to a new normal. Classified staff are getting their arms around vaccine mandates and making safety protocols part of their daily routines. And nearly every district, from rural elementaries to urban community colleges, are facing serious labor shortages.
Work with formerly incarcerated, homeless students lands staff top honors
California Community Colleges honor two outstanding CFT members
Each year the California Community Colleges recognizes five classified employees for their leadership, commitment and ethics. The 2021 honorees include two dynamic and talented CFT members in the Los Angeles area.
More equity for classified — CFT wins layoff notice equal to certificated
Another new law provides reduced probation period for college staff in non-merit districts
Classified employees will see more equity with their teacher colleagues thanks to union-sponsored bills signed by Governor Gavin Newsom in October. One new law provides equal treatment for classified and certificated employees during layoffs, and another aligns the probation period for community college staff in non-merit and merit districts.
A brief AFT history of paras, classified employees, and social justice
VIDEOS: How paraprofessionals and support staff became an integral part of AFT
In the early summer of 1919, when the American Federation of Teachers found out that the Boston Men Teachers’ Union were intent on ensuring that the Boston Women Teachers’ Union would never achieve equal pay to them, the AFT sent a stern letter telling the men that is not what unionism is about and to stop their actions. The men left the union and even though the AFT knew losing members was dire in 1920, it was the right thing to do.
History, solidarity, reunion mark annual Classified Conference
PHOTO GALLERY
The annual Classified Conference was held October 15-17 with nearly 125 people making the trek to Las Vegas for CFT’s first in-person conference and a pre-pandemic style but COVID-safe program with plenary sessions, workshops, and social events.
Classified staff and paraprofessionals were happy to see each other again after nearly 19 months of pandemic isolation, and a virtual conference last year. They joined together under the theme “Classified Professionals — The Heart of Education.”
Classified members feel the love during Back-to-School Tour
CFT leaders provide encouragement, support for safe working conditions
CFT’s top officers embarked on a statewide Back-to-School Tour in mid-August as many classified employees and teachers headed back to campus in-person for the first time since the pandemic forced distance learning for California schools and colleges. The road trip included stops from North Bay Counties to San Diego County, in both urban and rural districts.
Urge governor to match classified layoff calendar to certificated
Send a letter in support of AB 438 now!
Please take a moment to write to Governor Newsom and urge him to sign Assembly Bill 438, which would match the classified school employee layoff calendar to the layoff calendar for teachers.