Don’t forget that you must apply for a full-year unpaid Personal, Exchange, or Career Development leave of absence (whether part-time or full-time) for next school year prior to March 1^st. If you miss that deadline, you will not be approved, (except in extenuating circumstances where such leave requests will not be unreasonably denied).  The language covering leaves can be found in the new PAT/PPS Contract, Article 14.D.1. 

Are you retiring in 5 years or less? Join us for a seminar addressing what you’ll need to know to prepare for retirement, including: How does my pension work? What can I do to prepare now? What can I do with an I.A.P. account? When can I access my other retirement accounts? Is it too late to start saving for retirement? The seminar will be March 1, 2018, 4:30 - 6:00 pm at the PAT Office. You can RSVP here.

This seminar is only open to current members.

Thanks to the recent changes in the tax law, 2017 will be the last year you can deduct union dues on your federal income tax return. Approximately 62% of the total of NEA, OEA and Local association dues may be included as a miscellaneous itemized deduction on 2017 tax returns. Note that this is a reduced percentage than in recent years. Starting in 2018, the deduction for miscellaneous itemized deductions has been eliminated. Please consult your pay stub to determine exactly how much you paid in union dues for the 2017 tax year.

Our OEA staff in Salem are looking for stories to share with lawmakers this legislative session, about teachers’ experiences with disrupted learning in our classrooms.  They plan to hand-deliver a story from one of our members to Oregon legislators every day of the February and March session.  Your stories are a crucial part of the work that the OEA lobby team will accomplish this session. 

How have behavioral challenges and dealing with unmet student needs changed the work you do? What solutions would you suggest to help ensure that all students are able to learn in a safe space? Please take a few minutes to write down your experiences. Our policy makers need to hear from teachers.

All OEA PAC contributors are invited to the OEA PAC Convention, the evening of Friday, March 9^th, and all day Saturday, March 10^th, at the Benson Hotel in downtown Portland. Registration is free, and to participate you must be an OEA PAC contributor.

Please register here.

OEA PAC works to elect pro-public education candidates to public office.  Join us for the 2018 OEA-PAC convention and help decide Oregon's future leaders and the direction of public education.  

Meet the candidates for federal and state offices, including the governor, and discuss your priority issues with them.

If you are not yet an OEA PAC contributor, you can become one now by filling out this form and returning it to the PAT office.

PAT has a goal to have 1-on-1 conversations with at least 75% of our members. We know that these face-to-face conversations are key to maintaining union strength and solidarity.

PAT needs YOU to sign up to be a listener! OEA will pay for your sub, and provide training on the mechanics of how to be a listener and the technology we’re using will be provided on site.

There have been several incidents of hate speech in our schools this year, and the PAT Social Justice Committee wants to ensure these incidents are taken seriously and addressed appropriately by administration. We are trying to better understand the scope of the problem, and how these incidents are being addressed in our schools.

If incidents of hate speech have occurred at your school, please fill out this form and let us know what happened and how it was handled. 

Save the date to attend the Student Debt Forgiveness Workshop for PAT members sponsored by PAT and NEA.  Information will be provided to help you understand the various types of federal student loan forgiveness programs (Teacher Loan, Perkins Loan, & the Public Service Loan Programs) and how to apply for relief.  Additionally, a portion of the program will provide information on basic financial essentials and financial planning.   Thursday, March 15, 4:30 – 7:00 p.m. at the PAT Office.  Find additional information and RSVP here. 

Workshops are only open to current members.

Teachers from British Columbia, Oregon, and Washington are coming together to connect across borders and discuss common threats to public education and ways to challenge hate, bigotry and neoliberalism. 

Date: Saturday, April 7, 2018
Time: 8:30 am - 4:30 pm
Location: Sullivan Heights Secondary School, 6248 144 St., Surrey, British Columbia, Canada

The Advocate, February 7, 2018

• President's Message: A Reminder of What We're Fighting For
• Notice of Resignation or Retirement
• Heads Up -- Staffing for the 2018-2019 School Year to Start Soon
• Performance Evaluations for Probationary Teachers
• Correction on Retro Check Date!
• Correction: PERS Retroactive Contributions
• PAT PAC Endorsements for State Representative
• Reminder:  Cast your vote in the PAT Election
• Join the PAT Delegation at the OEA PAC Convention
• OEA Promising Practices Grant Winners
• Read Across America Grants Available Through PAT
• Let's Engage!
• Addressing Hate Speech in PPS
• Do You Have a Student Loan?
• "I Am 2018" Moment of Silence
• A Cross-Border Social Justice Conference: Reclaiming Common Ground

The night we reached our Tentative Agreement with the District we bargained until 4 AM.  I didn’t go to sleep that morning. Instead, I spent my day in a Kindergarten classroom at Woodlawn Elementary with first-year teacher and proud PAT member, Brittney Whitman.

Do you plan to resign or retire from PPS this Spring or at the end of this school year? If so, it pays to let your supervisor know as soon as possible. An educator who gives written notice of resignation or retirement no later than February 15^th will receive a “notice stipend” of $1250. If the professional educator gives written notice no later than March 15^th, the stipend is $700. 

The notice must be in writing, to the principal or supervising administrator, and payment will be made in the educator’s final paycheck. The stipend does not apply if the resignation is made in lieu of termination, non-renewal or non-extension of contract. Please note—the new contract language moves these dates up one month earlier, to coordinate with an earlier staffing process. However, for this year 2017-18, we agreed to keep the February 15^th and March 15^th dates, to maximize participation. 

The District is now required to post the vacancies for the internal transfer process no later than March 1^st of each school year. Within the next week, administrators will be receiving information about their available FTE for next school year. PAT and PPS will meet this week to review the procedures and timelines for the general staffing process, as well as the middle school reconfigurations and changes at Rigler and Scott. We will continue to provide you with additional information and concrete dates as soon as the specific phases of the process are finalized.

Probationary educators must be evaluated each year during their 3-year probationary period. The process is described in the contract and the Educator Handbook for Professional Growth and Evaluation.  Performance ratings must align with the PPS Performance Evaluation Rubric and ratings must be based on direct evidence included in the written evaluation. 

We are sorry for any confusion we created on the date for retro checks, but the contract language says the check must be issued within five weeks of ratification by the Board of Education. We expect retro checks to be issued around March 15^th (not February 15^th).

PERS contributions for retired members/inactive PERS members will not be able to be made for our retroactive salary increases. 

We originally thought that we had found a way to do this legally.  Unfortunately, we have discovered that PERS will not accept these contributions after PERS members are retired.  The retro check issued around March 15^th for salary and other retroactive compensation will not include employer or employee PERS deductions if the employee is no longer active in the PERS system. 

This does not impact members who are still contributing to the PERS system.

The PAT PAC (Portland Association of Teachers Political Action Committee) is pleased to announce the following endorsements for the Oregon House of Representatives:

• Mitch Greenlick HD 33
• Jennifer Williamson HD 36
• Karin Power HD 41
• Rob Nosse HD 42
• Tawna Sanchez HD 43
• Tina Kotek HD 44
• Barbara Smith Warner HD 45
• Alissa Keny-Guyer HD 46

The PAT PAC Board is elected by PAT PAC contributors. It makes endorsement decisions based on responses to in-person interviews, as well as a candidate’s record. The board considers candidates’ positions on public education, their commitment to union values, and their electability. The PAT PAC Board is still in the process of making recommendations for local races on the May ballot, and will announce more recommendations in the coming weeks.

Vote for PAT Officers, Executive Board Members, and PAT delegates to the OEA and NEA Representative Assemblies using our electronic voting process.  On January 24, a link was sent to your PPS email address directing you to the Voters’ Pamphlet (which includes the Candidates’ Statements) and Ballots.  The link also included videos of the speeches made by PAT Officer and Executive Board candidates at the January Representative Assembly.

Please remember not to vote during work time.  BALLOTS MUST BE SUBMITTED BY 5:00 p.m. on February 9, 2018, to be counted.  

All OEA PAC contributors are invited to the OEA PAC Convention, the evening of Friday, March 9^th, and all day Saturday, March 10^th, at the Benson Hotel in downtown Portland. Registration is free, and to participate you must be an OEA PAC contributor.

Please register here.

This year’s OEA Promising Practices Grant winners are:

Paula Dennis:  Paula is a fifth-grade teacher at Vernon. Paula’s $1,000 grant will support her work organizing a gathering for around 100 middle and high school-aged students of color, together with several adults from the community. Participants will watch the movie Marshall and discuss the real-life skills presented in the film, empowering them through the real life stories of role models from their community.   

Nancy Arteaga:  Nancy is a sixth-grade social studies teacher at Lane Middle School. Nancy’s $500 grant will be used to buy materials to integrate STEM into her social studies classroom.

Congratulations to both winners and the students they are reaching through these grants.  Look for the Promising Practices Grant application next year and consider applying yourself.

Read Across America is a fun and exciting activity sponsored by the National Education Association to encourage reading and support community involvement in our schools.  On Friday, March 2, 2018, we would like every child to be reading in the company of a caring adult. PAT is accepting grant applications. Read the full post to apply.

PAT has a goal to have 1-on-1 conversations with at least 75% of our members. We know that these face-to-face conversations are key to maintaining union strength and solidarity.

PAT needs YOU to sign up to be a listener! OEA will pay for your sub, and training on the mechanics of how to be a listener and the technology we’re using will be provided on site.

All listening will occur on Fridays, and we have Engage! Friday's scheduled throughout February, including  2/9, 2/16, and 2/23.  

So sign up on the PAT website!

Being a listener is a fun and easy way to be an active and involved union member. As professional educators, we know how valuable face-to-face time with other educators can be. While these conversations only last around five minutes, it provides a critical opportunity for member voices and stories to be heard and valued.

There have been several incidents of hate speech in our schools this year, and the PAT Social Justice Committee wants to ensure these incidents are taken seriously and addressed appropriately by administration. We are trying to better understand the scope of the problem, and how these incidents are being addressed in our schools.

If incidents of hate speech have occurred at your school, please fill out this form and let us know what happened and how it was handled. 

Save the date to attend the Student Debt Forgiveness Workshop for PAT members sponsored by PAT and NEA.  Information will be provided to help you understand the various types of federal student loan forgiveness programs (Teacher Loan, Perkins Loan, & the Public Service Loan Programs) and how to apply for relief.  Additionally, a portion of the program will provide information on basic financial essentials and financial planning.   Thursday, March 15, 4:30 – 7:00 p.m. at the PAT Office.  Find additional information and RSVP here. 

Workshops are only open to current members.

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Memphis garbage workers strike, AFSCME has created the "I Am 2018" campaign. On February 1, 1968, Memphis sanitation workers Echol Cole and Robert Walker were crushed to death in the back of their truck because they were barred from seeking shelter in a white neighborhood to eat their lunch out of the rain. The tragedy triggered the strike of the city's 1,300 sanitation workers demanding fair treatment and better wages. The "I Am A Man" protests brought Martin Luther King to Memphis to support them, where he was assassinated on April 3, 1968. 

AFSCME is asking union and civil rights activists to organize a moment of silence to mark the day those workers walked off the job to fight for justice. For more information you can go to: https://iam2018.org/