Abbreviated BESE meetings sidestep ESSA issue

Faster than a speeding bullet, the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education sailed through its slate of meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday in record time. Committee hearings that generally last until the sun goes down (or later) were gaveled to a close with hours to spare, leaving onlookers puzzled more about what did not happen than what did.

New Orleans paraprofessional Yovonda Curtis received a Louisiana Federation of Teachers PSRP Scholarship at the Federation's annual Paraprofessional and School Related Personnel Conference, held on April 1 at the Baton Rouge Crowne Plaza Hotel.
 

Two stalwart Louisiana Federation of Teachers leaders were named to the Louisiana AFL-CIO Hall of Fame in ceremonies held at the union’s annual convention on March 20. Mike Myers of Shreveport and the late Elsie Burkhalter of Slidell were among inductees at the ceremony.

(March 21, 2017) Proposed cuts to the U.S. Department of Education budget would hit Louisiana hard, costing teachers and students over $73 million, according to the Center for American Progress.

Educators’ basic right to join together in a labor union affirmed

New Orleans— The National Labor Relations Board has approved a settlement of a labor complaint filed against International High School of New Orleans, directing the charter school to pay two teachers fired during a union organizing drive

Standarized testing season is about to begin. And as history teaches us, it is inevitable that some educators around the state (and around the country) will be accused of testing improprieties.

Here is an essential guide from LFT General Counsel Larry Samuel to guard against mistakes, errors and stress during testing season.