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Raising achievement and closing the gaps for ALL students.
OEA Tip-Off
March 18, 2015
Don’t Be Muzzled by LB288!
LB288 poses a serious threat to the work that gives you a voice in policymaking, protects your employment rights,
and assists you in improving your benefits and salary.
Most personally, LB288 limits your ability to determine how you decide to disperse your paycheck. Ultimately,
LB288 is aimed squarely at silencing your voice by defunding your local and state education associations.
The Legislature’s Business and Labor Committee heard testimony on LB288 at 1:30 p.m. on Monday, March 9.
Introduced by Sen. Laura Ebke of Crete, LB288 is paraded as a cost-saving or “payroll protection” plan. In truth, it
is “paycheck deception” – a solution in search of a problem with no other purpose than to defund and hamper Association efforts to influence pro-public school policymaking and the protections membership provides.
Tell members of the Legislature’s Business and Labor Committee
to stay out of your personal accounting and bank transactions.
E-mail them at:
Sen. Burke Harr:
bharr@leg.ne.gov
Sen. Dave Bloomfield: dbloomfield@leg.ne.org
Sen. Sue Crawford: scrawford@leg.ne.gov
Sen. Laura Ebke: lebke@leg.ne.gov
Sen. Jerry Johnson: jjohnson@leg.ne.gov
Sen. John McCollister: jmccollister@leg.ne.gov
Sen. Ernie Chambers does not have an email address.
Laurels Night Reservation
Form... Page 4
Chris Proulx, President, chris.proulx@nsea.org
Omaha Education Association
Phone: (402) 346-0400
Carol Hicks, Organizational Specialist, carol.hicks@nsea.org 4202 S 57 St
Fax: (402) 346-8410
Marlene Wehrbein, Organizational Specialist, marlene.wehrbein@nsea.org Omaha, NE 68117
Website: www.OmahaOEA.org
2015-16 Proposed Association Budget
The OEA Board of Directors has advanced the recommendations of the Ad-Hoc Finance Committee for the 2015-16
Proposed Association Budget. Changes in the budget include:
• Local dues forgiveness for the winner of the OEA Rookie of the Year. Currently,
the winner receives a $100 cash award from Horace Mann.
• Increase the President Stipend to 40 days. Currently, the president is compensated
for 25 days beyond his contracted salary with OPS.
• Increase the amount of monies for committee events to $4,000. Currently, all committees
are allotted $1,000 for events for the entire year.
The Ad-Hoc Finance committee is changing the Investment Policy Statement in how committee members meet. Currently, the committee is required to meet quarterly in face-to-face meetings. A recommendation is to meet once faceto-face and have Web-Ex meetings for the other times.
Loan Forgiveness Deadlines Near
NSEA members interested in Nebraska’s tuition loan forgiveness plan have two opportunities at hand:
• A new round of applications for tuition dollars will open up on Tuesday, April 1;
• State senators are considering LB589, which would extend and expand funding for the tuition reimbursement program. Senators need to hear from educators that the program is worth funding well into the future.
Application Process Opens
Applications for the 2015-16 edition of the Enhancing Excellence in Teaching (EETP) Program will be available on the
Nebraska Department of Education website at 9 a.m. on Tuesday April 1, through May 10. That website is at:
www.education.ne.gov/EducatorPrep/TopPages/EETP
The 2014-15 award is for classes that begin between July 1, 2015, through June 30, 2016.
Additional details that might be helpful prior to applying for the award are found on the website now. The website materials should be self-explanatory; however, it is important to note that the 2015-2016 EETP program:
• Requires that the applicant is enrolled in an approved graduate program that results in a degree.
• Allows applicants to request funds for approved classes that start between July 1, 2015, and June 30, 2016.
• Current and previous recipients must apply again if funding for the 2015-16 award year is needed. NDE will send out
a reminder e-mail to current recipients in March.
How to Keep and Expand the Program
LB589 will extend funding for the loan forgiveness program through 2017, and will increase funding to $2 million in
2016 and to $3 million in 2017. Those who have used the program to acquire advanced degrees – or those who anticipate using the program in the future – are urged to contact their state senator and ask for support of LB589.
Save the Dates:
Important upcoming events - Watch for more details!
Laurel’s Night
Brix Membership Sunday - April 26, 2015
Friday - May 1, 2015
Lesson Plans Clarification
The writing and reviewing of lesson plans has been a subject of concern for some teachers especially at the elementary level. OEA has had conversations with the OPS regarding consistency of expectations across the district.
Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment issued a memo in May of 2014 and reissued the memo on at least two
other occasions. The areas of misunderstanding addressed in that memo are included below.
• It is not the expectation of Curriculum Instruction and Assessment that teachers spend extraordinary amounts
of time on writing lesson plans. Rather it is the quality of the instruction that has the most significant impact on
achievement, not just the writing of a quality lesson.
• Remember it is acceptable to use short fragments or bulleted statements when writing lesson plans. As mentioned, the focus should be on the design of high quality instruction with descriptive feedback not the writing of
long, scripted lesson plans.
• If a staff member is using a section of a pre-developed lesson plan that is available through an OPS adopted curriculum resource, it is acceptable to cite the page number from the curriculum resource as opposed to retyping that
content into their lesson plan.
OEA shared with the district our clarification of the points of the memo.
1) The emphasis of lesson plans should be on high quality instruction and planning, NOT on the writing of a formulaic plan for the purpose of filling in blanks on an evaluation form. The unadulterated scoring guide “met”, “not
met” is the expected tool for evaluating lesson plans.
2) An efficient, effective principal is one who does not spend undue time evaluating lesson plans. Principals in their
coaching visits see teachers in the classroom. They know if the teacher is delivering high quality, effective instruction. While all lessons will have the components of planning, it is important to remember that EVERY written lesson in every subject may NOT have all the steps of gradual release EVERY time. For example: For example: A
whole group reading lesson may have only the “modeled” and “shared”components of Gradual Release. The small
group instruction may be the guided and Independent may be completed during the seatwork portion of the reading
rotations. It is also possible that in some content areas that one lesson may extend over several days. In such cases
the steps may be spread out over several days. Further, some teachers such as special education, ELL, and Speech
are already following IEPs, 504 plans, and similarly detailed plans, already specifically tailored to individual students. These teachers cannot be expected to re-write IEPs to fit the mold of the district plan, when by using the IEP
they are already achieving the intent of the lesson plan requirements.
3) It is acceptable, perhaps preferred, that lesson plans have short, bulleted statements rather than long scripted
passages. Again the emphasis is on the quality of instruction not the look of the plan.
4) Remembering that the intention of lesson plans is to plan a lesson, not to replace the course guide, or the curricula. The plan may simply cite the page number rather than retyping the text. Retyping the text of a district adopted
resource would be an inefficient use of teachers’ time and NOT in keeping with the goals of lesson planning.
5) Teachers on plans of assistance or in their first three years of teaching are expected to use one of the districts
templates when writing lesson plans. Other teachers are not required to use these templates.
If teachers have questions please contact Marlene Wehrbein, marlene.wehrbein@nsea.org, 402-346-0400
Make Reservations for
Laurels Night 2015
Don’t miss an opportunity to honor your fellow educators!
The 52nd annual OEA Laurels Night will be held on
Sunday, April 26th, at the Georgetown Club, 2440 S. 141 Circle
We will honor OEA members with 25 years of service in OPS and those who are retiring. The evening event will
begin with cocktails (cash bar) from 5:00-5:45 p.m. followed by dinner.
The deadline for reservations is Thursday, April 16th, at 5:00 p.m. No reservations can be accepted past this
time. Please include the full name of all members of your group and indicate if you have any special seating requests. If your party is larger than 10 you will be seated at adjacent tables. Payment must accompany each reservation with checks payable to the Omaha Education Association. Please identify one person in your group that
the Table Reservation should be sent to.
For your convenience, postdated checks are accepted and we guarantee that no checks will be cashed prior to April 15th.
If you have any questions regarding Laurels Night 2015,
please contract Lorrie at the OEA, lorrie.krejci@nsea.org
Laurels Night 2015 reservation form
PRINT Names for table reservation
(if applicable, include name of honoree).
Maximum of 10 per table.
Number of attendees_____
@ $30.00/person
Total cost $____________
# of meatless entrees____
Send table reservation
information to :
_____________________
(Name)
Please send payment by check or cash
(checks preferred, thank you).
OEA Tip-Off
The OEA Tip-Off is a bi-monthly
publication printed for members of the
Omaha Education Association.
Direct Inquiries to:
Chris Proulx
chris.proulx@nsea.org
402-346-0400
_____________________
(School)
!DEADLINE!
Thursday,
April 16th
5:00 p.m.
Return to OEA
c/o
Laurels Night
!DEADLINE!
Sue Perkins, Communications Specialist
sue.perkins@nsea.org
Visit us on the web at:
www.omahaoea.org