After the Conference..... Reflect and Re-Energize with Steve Farber's Book

For those of us who attended our CSLA annual conference, I hope you are as inspired as I am!  The energy was high all weekend starting with a tour of Google, some practical and hands-on workshops at Santa Clara COE (thank you Peter Doering), a thought-provoking talk about engaging our students curiousity and natural desire to 'find out' by Tasha Bergson-Michelson; then great vendors who had lots to share with everyone, to our breakout sessions on so many topics everyone found something of interest during every block, to Sun. evening's CYRM banquet of great conversation with colleagues, authors, illustrators and a wonderful presentation by Gennifer Choldenko. 

But it didn't end there! On Mon. the energy continued to build with our Leadership Summit and a fabulous presentation from Steve Farber about qualities of extreme leadership which I must say, not intending to brag, I believe the teacher librarians I know have these qualities already!! Love, energy, audacity and proof.  Because of Steve's admiration of the work of teachers he has made his newest book available for FREE to all educators.  Please take advantage of his generous offer and share what you learn from it with the other teachers at your site. 

Access your copy of: The Radical Leap Re-Energized.  Please let Steve know what you think and that you were informed of this through CSLA. 

Thank you Glen for organizing a great leadership summit.  Thank you Jane and Janice for a great conference.  Thanks to everyone on the conference committee who made it all run so smoothly with such a positive energy.  Please share with us, in the comments, something that stood out for you from the conference.

Attending the Google Tour?

Here is an interesting recent blog post from KQED's MindShift titled Why "Googling it" is not Enough.  I especially found the comments section an interesting read.  Read before attending the tour as you will have an opportunity to ask questions.  Tasha Bergson-Michelson wrote another post for them last March - Builiding Good Search Skills: What Students Need to Know which you might also want to read before the tour.  Another great graphic that I found about Googling can be found here: Get More out of Google (make sure you zoom in to see it).  Have fun everyone!

Political Odds and Ends a Week Prior to Election Day

Our CSLA Advocate, Jeff Frost sent this report to CSLA leadership yesterday. We would like to share it with our membership and Listserv members. I hope it is helpful and informative to you. As an Association we do endorse a yes vote on Proposition 30 and a no vote on Proposition 32. Jeff's article is below.

Please do exercise your right to vote your own hearts,
Pam Oehlman
CSLA President

Political Odds and Ends a Week Prior to Election Day

Recent Polling on statewide propositions

Scott Lay, who does an outstanding daily blog on current political events
called Around the Capitol, is out with his most recent poll averaging - 10
days prior to election day.  As a reminder, these averages look at the broad
field of public polls, which are then weighted on recency and methodology.
Here are the current numbers:

Proposition 30: Temporary Taxes to Fund Education. Guaranteed Local Public
Safety Funding. Initiative Constitutional Amendment.

Yes: 49.0% (-1.8%)
No: 41.2%
Undecided: 8.7%

Proposition 31: State Budget. State and Local Government. Initiative
Constitutional Amendment and Statute.
Yes: 26.5% (-4.2%)
No: 42.3%%
Undecided: 31.1%

Proposition 32: Prohibits Political Contributions by Payroll Deduction.
Prohibitions on Contributions to Candidates. Initiative Statute.
Yes: 41.7% (-2.7%)
No: 46.0%
Undecided: 11.0%

Proposition 33: Changes Law to Allow Auto Insurance Companies to Set Prices
Based on a Driver's History of Insurance Coverage. Initiative Statute.
Yes: 54.8% (-1.0%)
No: 33.6%
Undecided: 23.1%

Proposition 34: Death Penalty Repeal. Initiative Statute.
Yes: 43.5% (-0.4%)
No: 44.3%
Undecided: 12.2%

Proposition 35: Human Trafficking. Penalties. Sex Offender Registration.
Initiative Statute.
Yes: 79.7% (-2.5%)
No: 12.3%
Undecided: 8.0%

Proposition 36: Three Strikes Law. Sentencing for Repeat Felony Offenders.
Initiative Statute.
Yes: 67.0% (-4.5%)
No: 20.6%
Undecided: 12.5%

Proposition 37: Genetically Engineered Foods. Mandatory Labeling. Initiative
Statute.
Yes: 49.0% (-7.2%)%
No: 38.6%
Undecided: 12.2%

Proposition 38: Tax for Education and Early Childhood Programs. Initiative
Statute.
Yes: 41.2% (-0.9%)
No: 48.7%
Undecided: 9.9%

Proposition 39: Tax Treatment for Multistate Businesses. Clean Energy and
Energy Efficiency Funding. Initiative Statute.
Yes: 54.2% (-0.5%)
No: 30.7%
Undecided: 15.1%

Proposition 40: Redistricting. State Senate Districts. Referendum.
Yes: 44.2% (+0.0%)
No: 25.8%
Undecided: 30.0%

Poll shows Molly Munger chipping away at Jerry Brown's support

Ever since the beginning of the campaign, Gov. Jerry Brown and his allies
have worried that Molly Munger's rival ballot measure would siphon away
support for his tax plan. It appears they were right to be concerned,
according to a new USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll.  Support for Brown's
tax measure, Proposition 30, sank nine points to 46% in the last month amid
a barrage of criticism from Munger, who is pushing Proposition 38.  Poll
data show that fewer of Munger's supporters are also willing to vote for
Brown's measure, falling 10 points to 75%. In a close election, that kind of
drop can be decisive, said David Kanevsky of American Viewpoint, a
Republican firm that worked on the poll.  "The legacy of Proposition 38 will
be what happens to Proposition 30," he said. "If Proposition 30 loses by a
very close margin, you could make a case that Proposition 38 helped kill
it."

Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, a Democratic company, also worked on the
poll, which surveyed 1,504 registered voters by telephone from Oct. 15 to
Oct. 21. The margin of error is 2.9 percentage points.

Brown's plan, Proposition 30, would increase the sales tax by a quarter-cent
for four years and raise income taxes on the wealthy by one to three
percentage points for seven years. The governor says it's the only way to
avoid billions of dollars in cuts to public schools this year.  Proposition
38, which Munger has bankrolled with tens of millions of dollars, would
increase income taxes on most Californians on an ascending scale and spend
the money on schools, early childhood education and debt payments.

Pollster Stan Greenberg said Brown can still pull out a victory on Election
Day, Nov. 6.  "This is likely to turn back," he said.

GOP's California Dream Dashed

A very interesting article by Jake Sherman in Politico, shows how the
congressional races are going in California.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Republicans started the year with high hopes for a
revival in this reliably blue state.  The party spent millions of dollars
working to identify and bring out Republican voters, after a nonpartisan
redistricting process created a dozen competitive seats where there was just
one before.  But the Golden State isn't the golden opportunity the GOP
thought it was this cycle. Nearly every Republican in California and in D.C.
privately concedes the same thing: They could wake up on Nov. 7 having lost
every competitive seat in the state.  House Republican leaders, who hoped to
be on offense in California, are now playing an expensive game of political
defense.

The story of why this is happening is best told in California's sleepy state
capital, which has morphed into the most competitive House media market in
the country.  Two Republican incumbents in GOP seats - Reps. Jeff Denham and
Dan Lungren - are on the ropes against well-funded Democratic challengers.
Despite their own polling - which has shown both men below 50 percent - they
refuse to concede the race is truly close.  The American Action Network -
which has spent tens of millions of dollars supporting House Republicans -
has had to spend roughly $3 million to prop Denham up - their biggest
expenditure in the nation. Internal polling has both races near a dead heat.
And because Republicans are on defense in those two seats, they can't lend
help to GOP challenger Kim Vann, a 37-year-old county executive, who is
running against liberal Rep. John Garamendi in a barely Democratic district
that stretches north of Sacramento. In fact, the media market is so
saturated, outside groups are having difficulty finding air time to buy.

A series of missteps, a popular incumbent president, a saturated media
market and a population with a large percentage of minorities makes winning
seats in this state a tall task for House Republicans.  They also can't
really criticize the health care law, which is more popular here. And
incumbents are difficult to dislodge.  In essence, the national party's
entire election playbook is rendered ineffective in California.  To show how
uphill the climb is here for Republicans, perhaps their best hope for
knocking off a Democrat is in a Stockton-area seat, where Ricky Gill - a
25-year-old Indian American with piles of cash - is trying to paint Rep.
Jerry McNerney as a Bay Area liberal who moved into the moderate valley to
save his political career. Here's the problem: President Barack Obama won
that district by 16 percent in 2008.

And it's not only Northern California where Republicans are seeing their
fortunes flip. In Palm Springs, Rep. Mary Bono Mack (R-Calif.) is seeing her
race tighten. In San Diego, Rep. Brian Billbray's race is also close.
Republicans counter and say Democrats have made mistakes too. They didn't
find a candidate to run against Republican Rep. Gary Miller in a Democratic
seat in the southern part of the state. Republicans are also poised to hold
a seat in the northern part of the state, and snatch another in the south.
It's crucial that Republicans make inroads in California because it's now
the most competitive House landscape in the nation. To build - and sustain -
a strong majority in D.C., both parties will have to learn how to win in the
state. So far, it's bedeviled Republicans.  "This state is the road for the
Democrats to go back to the majority," McCarthy said in an interview. "It's
a very competitive state. We're building a long-term narrative to win
seats," adding that their goal stretches beyond this election cycle.

Republicans face stiff headwinds. They're 30 percent of the electorate, and
have been on a steady decline. They don't boast a single elected minority in
a state where Asian Americans, African-Americans and Latinos are the drivers
of the population. The only woman in the Republican delegation is Bono Mack.
"What happened is the Republicans' complete and utter inability to connect
with Latino voters and Asian-American voters in this state," said Garry
South, a Los Angeles area consultant who ran Gray Davis's campaign for
governor. "It's going to be the death knell for the Republican Party. Far
from being able to rebuild itself, the California Republican Party is in
danger of becoming just another special interest group."  Plus, they're
tethered to a national Republican Party that has policies far out of step
with the state.  "I always hear people say, 'We're going to change the
California Republican Party and make it different and do different things.'
But no matter how much money the California Republican Party were to raise
and spend, we are stuck with the way the Republican Party is run in
Washington," said Matt Rexroad, a Sacramento GOP consultant who once was a
political aide to Minority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). "We might like to
be different to make it more palatable here in California, in the larger
view of Republican politics, the sorts of things people would advocate for
wouldn't work in the United States."

One additional note on this story is that there is very strong evidence that
the House of Representatives will remain in Republican hands in the 2013-14
session even though its majority will likely shrink by a dozen or more.

Read more:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1012/82955_Page2.html#ixzz2AdS0Zc9J

Department of Finance Releases Revenues for September

On a final note more focused on the state's budget rather than the
elections, the Department of Finance (DOF) released its monthly report on
state general fund revenue collections for September.  The DOF reports that
overall revenues for September were below estimates used to build the
current budget. General Fund cash for September was $147 million below the
2012-13 Budget Act forecast of $7.096 billion.  Year-to-date revenues are
now $379 million (-2.1%) below the expected $18.374 billion.  This data
shows that the state's economy is remaining steady but is not showing rapid
signs of strong growth.



The DOF's assessment of overall economic indicators highlights modest labor
market improvement and some improvement in the housing industry.
California's unemployment rate dropped from 10.6% to 10.2% in the last
month. While public sector employment has declined by 41,000 jobs in the
past year, California's private sector has added over 303,000 jobs since
September of 2011. The median price of existing, single-family homes sold in
August was $343,820--a 15.5% increase since August of 2011. This was the
highest statewide median price since August 2008.

5 Great Reasons for Attending the CSLA Conference in November

by Joan Kramer

The following arguments will help make the case to your administration that attendance at the November CSLA conference  will benefit the entire school because:

1.  You will save your school money in times of shrinking budgets.

• CSLA workshops and sessions provide time-saving, money-saving and innovative ideas that all teachers and students can use.  There are links to math and science curricula that will save your school money in selecting the right program for your students.  One workshop is titled  “50 Free Online Reference and 2.0 Tools (K-12)” – with long-time expert Peter Milbury.

• You will learn new ideas from the workshops and sessions, and equally as important, from fellow teacher librarians whose expertise and experience in the field will enhance your ability to serve your teachers and students.  Take a look at the conference preview for workshops.    

• The many exhibits will give you an opportunity to review products and services that might fit the exact needs of your school. This networking with vendors is invaluable, often providing cost-saving solutions to some of your school’s needs.

• One of your important duties is selecting resources for your library and school, and the CSLA conference includes experts in Young Adult and Children’s literature.  The book repair workshop is invaluable for those with restricted budgets.   

• If you register before Sept. 30th, you will save even more money – between $35 and  $45 for full registration.

2.  You will become a more effective teacher librarian

• Innovative ideas, strategies, and technology that you learn at sessions and from colleagues will serve your users and help you manage your time more efficiently.  These include many of the latest Web 2.0 tools and social networks that students enjoy and teachers need to know.

• Your network of library resources will grow from meeting people from all over California at the conference. Some of the benefits from past conferences have included connecting with the California State Library, resources from the University of California including the California Digital Library  and Calisphere educator resources  and UC educator resources, CTAP resources, etc.   All of these are free resources that make you and your teachers more effective and provide additional resources for your students.

• Sometimes very simple ideas can enhance your efficiency as a Teacher Librarian – for example, learning from an experienced TL specific techniques to involve your administrators and teachers so that they utilize library resources and services more effectively.

• Learning from other TLs what has made their program successful can help you implement the new ideas, or adapt them to your own situation.  We may think we cannot or do not have time to do something innovative until we learn how it was done by another TL.

• You will be more valuable to your school because you will have the tools to teach the Model California School Library Standards, Digital Literacy, Internet Safety, Cyber Safety for students, Copyright and more.

3.  You will learn how to advocate for your library program

• Our advocates in Sacramento share important legislation that affects school library programs.

• The school library consultant to the California Department of Education recommends important ideas and strategies to support site library programs.

• Other TLs often have great ideas on how to make you INDISPENSABLE to your school, and district.

4.  You will bring fresh new innovative ideas to your school that will energize your teachers and students and, most of all, YOURSELF!!

5.  You will bring recognition to your school library and enhance its reputation by participating in professional development and showing your commitment to innovation and improving services to all stakeholders.

Promise yourself that when you return you will provide your administrator with a written report and share the information you learned from sessions, workshops, vendors, informal meetings and special events with your school staff. 

Conference Wiki

And the TL of the year is......

from Nina Jackson

     This year the Long Beach School Librarians Association presented the Teacher Librarian of the Year Award to Jane Brooks from Cabrillo High School. If you asked Jane why she was given the award, she would say, “I don’t do anything special!”  But Jane does many things very well and she IS special.
     Some years ago, when she was the Teacher Librarian at Cubblerly K-8, she invited other TLs to come once a month after school to share lessons, materials, and challenges. This is so very typical of Jane; she sees a need, and does everything in her power to fulfill it. She is the most resourceful person I know. She knows where to go and who to ask and doesn’t know the meaning of “no.”
     When developing the collection for the new library media center at Cabrillo, she knew her student population and hand picked every title.  She was sure to select books of interest to her students as well as books to develop critical thinking skills and to challenge her students to stretch and reach for the highest achievements.
     She has transformed the library at Cabrillo into a warm, welcoming oasis. All are welcome, and all come, knowing that they will behave appropriately. No nonsense and mutual respect is the abiding theme.
     Jane goes to great lengths to obtain materials for students and faculty alike. It might be an interlibrary loan from another TL, driving by the Office of Multimedia Services on the way home so that a teacher might have just the right video for her class the next day, or working a deal with the local big box store to purchase materials at a reduced price. She works tirelessly for her students and staff in developing collaborative lessons that meet today’s educational standards.
     Jane seeks out professional development, attending workshops and conferences with the California School Library Association, American Association of School Librarians, and the American Library Association. She seeks innovation and new technologies, providing foundational guidance to staff and students. She is a past president of the Long Beach School Librarians Association and has served as a board member in many capacities since. In addition, she is a site leader at Cabrillo, and presently serves on Cabrillo’s Shared Decision Making Committee. Jane also has worked for our Long Beach Public libraries for many years and she epitomizes the best in both school and public librarianship.
     To sum up Jane in three words, she is tenacious, resourceful and dedicated.  Oops….. One more word…. SPECIAL.

The Importance of Union Affiliation and Leadership

by Joan Kramer

Dear CSLA members, Teacher Librarians, former Teacher Librarians, retired Teacher Librarians, and supporters of school libraries:

Several times I recall reading discussions on Calib that highlight the need for Teacher Librarians to become involved in our local unions – whether AFT or NEA affiliates – and at the state level as well. 

After attending the CTA (NEA) State Council meetings for the past year, I have concluded that the only way we will get recognition from our unions and fellow teachers is for us to be active and get elected to our local boards and as state council delegates, to both CTA and CFT.   I know this adds another burden to our already complicated and encumbered lives.  But it is not enough to have liaisons to our unions.  We must have active leadership of our locals and participation in all the fights that are now part of the attacks on public education – which means that as TLs we take positions on high-stakes testing, VAM evaluations of teachers, privatization of public schools, and imposition of the Common Core State [sic] Standards.  We must continue to oppose the “charterization” of our school which is a big reason why so many of us are losing our jobs – our money is going to charters which do not hire teacher librarians nor fund school libraries.  [LAUSD TLs did a search of charters in our area and I only found one “affiliated” charter that had a library and hired a classified employee to work in it. There is one charter high school that still hires a Teacher Librarian and I believe, allows their teachers to belong to our local union.  This is the exception to the rule.]  One reason we TLs are constantly in danger of being cut is because we lose more and more students to “Independent” charters that don’t even include libraries in their budgets.  Los Angeles has the highest number of independent charters in the United States.  Our Teacher Librarians used to number 150, and now we have only 50 that are funded by the central district.  Any other positions for TLs are funded by some of the individual schools, but not many.

CTA state council meetings are powerful and meaningful to teachers and support staff on so many levels.  Not only are they grappling with the nuts and bolts of state budgets, and how they affect local districts, they are defining the very issues and endorsing the politicians who will impact our lives for some time to come.  CTA (NEA) is one of the most powerful forces in California politics, and our State Council, which meets in October, January, March and June, is where these decisions are made.  Every Teacher Librarian might benefit from attending at least one session to see 800 teachers, representing their local chapters, giving Yea or Nay to every important issue that affects the people of the state of California. An example of an extremely critical issue that was passed on at the June meeting was the draft “CTA Teacher Evaluation Framework” a project of three years that CTA members know is critical if we are to pre-empt the attempt to pass VAM and other misguided and inaccurate evaluation methods for teachers and other staff.

One liaison from CSLA to CTA is not enough.  A liaison cannot speak or vote.  We have been assigned to the Student Support Services Committee that is comprised of counselors, psychologists, nurses, and Teacher Librarians.  We are rarely considered in the deliberations of our meetings although everyone there speaks to the importance of libraries.  Fortunately the liaison from CTA to CSLA, Renee Ousley-Swank, is part of the curriculum committee where she has made great inroads into affecting policy.  Had I understood better what the role would be, I would have endeavored to be an active part of my local chapter – UTLA – a formidable group in the first place.  Many of you who reside in smaller districts stand a much better chance of being elected to your local chapters and then to the state council.

In January of this year three of Los Angeles’s Teacher Librarians spoke at the Student Support Services Committee at the invitation of Arlene Inouye, our local UTLA chapter Treasurer and a former Speech Pathologist.  This committee is one of several committees that comprise CTA State Council, and as such has a voice in influencing CTA policy and decisions.  Our TLs explained the precarious situation we were in in Los Angeles. On the advice of Susan Midori-Jones, the CTA Consultant to the Student Support Services Committee, Arlene Inouye initiated a Williams Complaint campaign on behalf of all support services staff in Los Angeles – all of whom are constantly in danger of being cut.  Nurses, counselors, psychologists, social workers, and teacher librarians went to their school communities and were able to collect 600 Williams Complaint forms at 175 schools – showing unequal access and services to students.  In May, these forms were submitted to the Board of Education.   While for the most part they have been dismissed as “inapplicable” or “inappropriate”, Arlene also learned that several schools were told by the Superintendent to hire more nurses.

The Williams Complaint Campaign could be waged on a state-wide basis on our behalf.  We need to carry out the battle for our jobs on as many fronts as we possibly can. 

But ultimately I believe we also need to support the larger issues that affect teachers in order to forge ties and win support and recognition at both the local and state levels of our unions

Sincerely,
Joan Kramer

eCOLLAB-Free Professional Development from AASL

AASL has recently launched a new service - all their webinars, podcasts and other resources from various AASL professional events available to members for FREE (or for a subscription price to non-members).  Tagged "Your eLearning Laboratory: Content, Collaboration, Community" these resources are invaluable to you for your own learning needs as well as providing material for you to use when providing presentations to your own staff, administrators, boards and parent groups.  Visit the website today to see what they have to offer and bookmark for future use!  eCOLLAB