Horseheads Teachers' Association
Spring 2017 Newsletter
Upcoming Board of Education and Budget Workshop Meetings....it's so important!!
It's budget time! Not only are there specific community budget workshops, but budget information is also going to be presented at BOE meetings (anticipated start in March). It is vital that HTA members know what is happening and establish a presence at these meetings. This is our district and we need to stay engaged!
- April 18th (Wednesday)- Business Meeting/Budget Adoption, Gardner Road 6 pm
- May 3rd- Public Hearing on the Budget, HS Multi Media Center 6 pm
- May 15th (Tuesday)- Budget Vote/BOE election at BF, RR and HS 7 am-8 pm
------2018 HTA Elections------
HTA Elections will be held in early June for open positions on the Executive Council as well as Building Representatives. Prior to elections, all HTA members will have the opportunity to nominate any member that they would like. Open positions this year are
- President
- Vice President
- Secretary
- Treasurer
- Representative Assembly Delegates for the 18/19
- Retirement Delegate for 19/20 & 20/21
The next HTA newsletter will provide candidates the opportunity to introduce themselves!
NYS Teachers Retirement System Website
Survey: Americans’ Confidence in Public Schools Grows
According to a recent PDK International survey, the percentage of Americans who give their community’s public schools an ‘A’ is at its highest in more than 40 years of PDK polling. Sixty-two percent of public school parents give public schools in their own communities an A or B grade (The percentage dips to 45 percent with nonparents). When parents grade their own child’s school, grades improve even more. But the PDK poll also found that only 24 percent give public schools nationally the same grade.
“The 25-point gap between ratings of schools in one’s own community and schools nationally is consistent with more than three decades of PDK poll results,” the report noted. “Awareness of a few poor schools can diminish the ratings of all schools together, driving down scores nationally while leaving local scores far better.”
New Gallup surveys also reveal a gap in local and national perceptions of public schools. Nearly half of U.S. adults (47 percent) said they are completely or somewhat satisfied with the quality of education for K–12 students—a jump of 4 percentage points from 2016. When parents were asked about their child’s education specifically, 79 percent said they are completely or somewhat satisfied. Only 21 percent said they are not.
NEA Today Winter 2018
19 museums, nine research centers and the National Zoo at...
"News Literacy" Resources and Training
News Literacy is a curriculum developed at Stony Brook University in New York over the past decade. It is designed to help students develop critical thinking skills in order to judge the reliability and credibility of information, whether it comes via print, television or the Internet.
The Digital Age poses four information literacy challenges for civil society:
- The overwhelming amount of information that floods over us each day makes it difficult to sort out reliable from fabricated information.
- New technologies to create and widely share information make it possible to spread misinformation that looks like it’s from an authoritative source.
- The conflict between speed and accuracy has escalated. We all want information as quickly as possible, but accelerating the distribution of information in the Digital Era has also increased the chances that the information will be wrong.
- The Internet and Social Media make it much easier to select only the information that supports our preexisting beliefs, reinforcing rather than challenging them.
The Center for News Literacy website has classroom and professional development resources and can be accessed by clicking HERE
DON'T FORGET!! Copies of the 2014-18 HTA collective bargaining agreement are available!
-----------HTA on Social Media-----------
We're On Facebook at:
We're on Twitter at:
HTA United
If you haven't done so already, please create an account on our website at http://www.htaunited.org/
Become part of HTA United's communication network!