BALTIMORE MEMBERS GAIN MORE TIME TO EARN ‘HIGHLY QUALIFIED' STATUS

Paraprofessionals in Baltimore's public schools have won an extension until June to get their credentials as "highly qualified" teaching assistants under the No Child Left Behind Act, thanks to a state school board decision Jan. 30.

The unanimous vote, which affects 60 paraprofessionals at Title I schools, will allow them to stay in their classrooms until the end of the school year and save the city school system $1 million in federal funds. By the start of classes next fall, paras will have to pass a standardized test, obtain an associate's degree or transfer to a non-Title I school.

"I just think it's great because it's very disruptive to be changing people in the middle of the school year," says Lorretta Johnson, president of the Baltimore Teachers Union paraprofessional chapter and an AFT vice president.

Noting that BTU had requested the extension, Johnson says the remaining 60 assistants-down from 700 originally affected-should make the deadline. The union will work on increasing the number of testing opportunities, she adds, because right now, only two more testing dates remain before the new cutoff in June.

"I'm elated that it's worked out the way it has," Johnson says.

SUPPORT FOR UNIONS STILL ON THE RISE

More than half of U.S. workers who don't have a union say they would join one tomorrow if they could, according to a new national poll commissioned by the AFL-CIO. Workers also support strong laws that give employees the freedom to improve their lives through a union without interference from management, the poll by Peter D. Hart Research Associates shows.

The poll reveals a strong favorable trend toward unions in recent years. The most recent figures show that 46 percent of those surveyed express positive attitudes toward unions-up 6 percent from just the previous year and up more than 10 percent compared with those surveyed a decade ago.

The positive attitudes also translate into solid support for the Employee Free Choice Act, proposed federal legislation that would make it harder for employers to thwart employees from banding together in unions.

Learn more about the Employee Free Choice Act at www.aflcio.org/joinaunion/voiceatwork/efca .

A NEW VISION FOR THE SCHOOL DAY

For affluent students, there's often no divide between what they learn inside and outside the classroom. Before they even start school, these children tend to be exposed to rich learning environments that continue into elementary school, widening the learning gap. The authors of a new study about time and learning make that point as they call for a fresh look at how we view learning.

"We are not getting very far, very fast" because we try to cram all the responsibility for teaching into a short school day, says the report,"A New Day for Learning." It was produced by a task force funded by the C.S. Mott Foundation. The AFT was represented on the task force by Rob Weil, a deputy director in our educational issues department.

Task force member and educational consultant Milton Goldberg puts it this way: "Learning doesn't begin and end at the school door."

The report includes short profiles of programs that have shown promise in moving learning beyond the traditional school day.

The Mott Foundation has funded other initiatives aimed at improving after-school activities, including a two-year grant to the AFT to help align after-school programs with the regular curriculum and standards.

The report is online at www.edutopia.org/pdfs/ANewDayforLearning.pdf .

LIFTING OUR STUDENTS, LIFTING OURSELVES

For AFT support staff who often need to move disabled students and patients, the only thing worse than the toll it’s taking on their own bodies is the fear of harm they might do to their clients.

That’s why the AFT runs conferences on safe lifting and other ergonomic issues. At one such seminar last fall, ergonomic experts reviewed state-of-the-art practices in safe lifting.

Despite having electric wheelchairs and other technical gear, the paraprofessionals still are left moving large people around, participants noted. “They tell you to get help. What help?” asked Andre Eugene, a member of the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) in New York City who works at a residential facility for students with cerebral palsy. His co-workers were too busy to help. “So for years, I did it myself.”

It doesn’t have to be that way.

“There really are ways to correct these problems,” said Nick Warren, an ergonomic expert at the University of Connecticut. “It’s a matter of thinking about them and then taking the steps necessary to fix them.”

The experts outlined how to make a case for lifting machines and other protections. For example, preventing 40 musculoskeletal injuries typically saves about half a million dollars in workers’ compensation claims.

“It’s so important that the workers be involved in the development of a program,” said AFT health and safety director Darryl Alexander, adding that the fine points of using equipment day to day are “something that the managers don’t always catch.”

For information on future conferences or building a persuasive argument for safe lifting, contact Alexander at 202/393-5674 or dalexand@aft.org .