Happy Holidays: President's Message

​Happy Holidays:

VTA wishes all our members a Happy Holiday season.  May you enjoy your well deserved rest and spending time with family and friends.  The VTA office will be closed December 20-January 4th and re-open January 5th.  If you have an emergency please email me at vistateachers@gmail.com.  I will be checking my email. 

CTA Good Teaching Conference South:
VTA will be sending 30-35 teachers to the Good Teaching Conference.  It is on a first come basis please contact VTA Secretary, Lisa Ingles, to reserve your spot at the conference. 

The CTA Good Teaching Conferences are designed to support excellent teaching and learning practices for classroom teachers. Offering a variety of diverse workshops in curriculum content areas for K-12 teachers, the conferences provide opportunities for professional development and offer time to network and share ideas with colleagues and experts in the field. 

The Good Teaching Conference also features two different, full-day pre-conferences on Friday. One pre-conference focuses on the new Common Core Statewide Standards in the areas of curriculum, literacy strategies, technology and assessments. The other pre-conference concentrates on planning now for retirement and what educators need to know to prepare for retirement and to make good financial decisions. Click Register Online to find out more about these great additions to the Good Teaching Conference. You may be eligible for release time for the Retirement Planning Pre-Conference.

Date: March 20-22, 2015 | Location: Sheraton San Diego 

New Evaluation System:
The new evaluation system has a Personnel handbook to explain the different procedures and even includes a rubric for each of the standards and sub strands.

You can find it on the District website:   http://vistausdca.schoolloop.com/file/1346929853202/1346929755224/4166738374462020987.pdf

You can also find a link to it on the VTA website at www.vistata.org

Unit members with permanent status who have been employed by the District for at least ten (10) years shall be evaluated only once every five (5) years if the employee is highly qualified under State and Federal Law and if the teacher’s previous performance evaluation certifies that the employee meets or exceeds District standards.

The other new section is: The evaluator may withdraw consent for this evaluation option at any time with cause.

Previously the administrator could refuse the five year evaluation for any reason, now they must show cause. Along with having a five year evaluation cycle you are not responsible for writing goals on non-evaluation years. 

For probationary or temporary teachers:
26.1.2.1. Probationary/temporary employees (hereinafter referred to as "Probationary" for purposes of evaluation) shall be notified in writing after April 30 of the preceding year or before September 15 of the current year regarding their evaluation and the process.

26.1.2.2 The written notification shall also include the following information and directions: The evaluator’s(s’) suggested time and date for the pre-evaluation orientation meeting to be held no later than October 1.

Probationary teachers will be observed twice before November 20th and the observations will cover three of the sixth Standards for the Teaching profession. Another observation will be conducted between November 20th and March 1st.

For adult Education or hourly certificated teachers working more than twenty (20) hours a week:

26.1.3.1 The employee and evaluator(s) shall determine the date of the pre-evaluation orientation meeting.

There will be one observation conducted for teachers being evaluated.

Contact barbara49@gmail.com or vistateachers@gmail.com if you have any questions about your evaluation.