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BESE Meeting August 16-Social Studies Standards and LEAP Scores

Today the BESE board met to hear an update on the revision of the Social Studies standards and the LEAP scores. Two speakers provided presentations to accompany their updates, but these weren't visible in the live video.

Social Studies standards:

  • Since this was an update, there wasn’t much presented on the individual standards themselves; however it was still very informative.
  • The standards are being revamped, but this does not include the curriculum itself. It is up to each individual school district to purchase curriculum that is relevant to their students.
  • The current standards were last
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Real Estate Hotline

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In order to help our members add value to their union membership, it is a goal of our administration to negotiate local benefits for those who pay dues. The previous Executive Council voted to begin a partnership with two local realtors backed by Coldwell Banker. The idea was to offer real estate workshops to our members as an added benefit. Unfortunately, COVID sidelined that project.


Over the summer, Stephen McCarthy and Judi Camhout, the realtors, approached the new administration about implementation of the program. They were now prepared to deliver workshops on two different pathways to

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Addressing the Letter from the STPSB to BESE Regarding the Mask Mandate

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Several people have expressed concern about this letter from the STPSB to BESE regarding the mask mandate. Here are a few things to consider:

[TL;DR—The STPSB does not have the power to lift the mask mandate. It would take a court ruling for BESE to overrule the governor. In my view, that is unlikely.]

1. On Thursday, June 10, the STPSB voted to adopt a voluntary mask policy for the 2021-2022 school year with 11 Yeas, 0 Nays, and 1 abstaining.

2. On July 28, the union put out an online survey after the district released its back-to-school COVID protocols. Of the 258 employees who took the survey

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Back to School Letter to Employees

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Dear St. Tammany Parish Teachers and School Employees,

It’s the first day of school for the 2021-2022 school year!  We want to first thank you for doing the work that you do.  It takes an army of very special people to ensure that our students have the best education possible while maintaining a safe environment.  Therefore, we want to make sure you know that the hours of time you put into this system do not go unnoticed, and that you are valued and appreciated each and every day.

Next, we want you to know that we have been listening to your questions, comments, concerns, and suggestions.  Our

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CLOSED: Out of Sick Days Form

Please use this form to let us know if you run out of sick days due to quarantining or isolating. This will allow us to collect data to approach the issue of adding COVID days.

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Building Reps and COVID Concerns

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Dear STPSB Employees:

Today I met with Mr. Pete Jabbia and Mr. Cosse to discuss matters of immediate concern. Our first topic was building reps, who will be a vital part of our union this year as well as moving forward. Given that so many directives are left to individual schools to work out, our building reps will have the job of negotiating with administrators directly in order to service the contract and troubleshoot problems. We are in the process of getting out training materials and will post the list on our website. Each school will also have a union bulletin board that will be updated

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2021-2022 School Board Meeting Dates

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Click here to see the meeting dates of the STPSB for 2021-2022 school year.  It was updated on 12/31/2021.

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The Summer Newsletter

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​BACK TO SCHOOL It’s hard to believe that summer is already ending. Many districts had expanded summer school options for students who struggled through the pandemic-year. This left many educators with even less time to recuperate from an especially exhausting year. But as always, the prospect of a new school year brings excitement and opportunity.   LFT staff are preparing to greet new and returning educators at orientations and back to school events all over the state. If you are already a member of the Federation, make sure to check in with your Local representatives at these events so that you can get all the most up-to-date information about your membership and back-to-school goodies. If you aren’t already a member of the Federation, you’re missing out. Make sure to look for us at your orientation to learn more about all that membership has to offer! ​ MORE

Summary of the Session

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Legislative Overview:

The legislative session ended on Thursday, June 10th at 6 P.M. after almost nine weeks of fast-paced and often contentious debate. LFT has tracked hundreds of bills throughout the session and sent our members and affiliate leaders regular updates with the most important information.

Now that the session has ended and the dust has settled, here are the main bills that impact teachers, school employees and students. Like at the end of every session, there is cause for both celebration and dread. We end this session knowing there is more that must be done to help teachers, school employees and students, and through our collective power we will continue to work towards those goals. Here’s what you need to know:

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Week 8 in the Legislature

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SLTs in Teacher Evaluations

LFT has proposed multiple bills this session that seek to protect teachers from having SLTs used in their evaluations this year. These SLTs were not designed for such an unprecedented and incredibly difficult year where schools closed without notice and students bounced between in-person and virtual instruction. Unlike in other states, teachers showed up again and again for our students and developed novel, innovative ways to help students throughout the pandemic. That's why thousands of teachers sent letters to the Senate Education Committee this session asking them to ensure that measures of student growth -- which were not designed for virtual learning or pandemic teaching -- could not be used to adversely affect teacher evaluations.

HCR 107 by Representative Gary Carter asked BESE to take all necessary actions to provide that teachers should be held harmless for measures of student growth used to evaluate teachers for the 2020-2021 school year. Despite the outcry from teachers, HCR 107 failed to pass out of the Senate Education Committee meeting today, with a tie vote. Senator Kirk Talbot, Senator Beth Mizell, and Senator Robert Mills voted against the resolution.

As Senator Jackson pointed out in the hearing, the legislature has passed bills to ensure schools, school districts, businesses, hospitals, and healthcare professions were held harmless this year. Why not teachers? Join us in thanking Rep. Gary Carter, Senator Katrina Jackson, Senator Mark Abraham, and Senator Cleo Fields for supporting teachers!

Threat to Collective Power Passes Senate Education Committee

There are six school districts in Louisiana where the district and the employees have entered into a collective bargaining agreement. House Bill 256 by Rep. Tarver seeks to undermine that relationship and allow potentially exploitative organizations to extract payroll deductions from employees. These organizations could make promises to "represent" and "advocate" for members but wouldn't actually be able to make good on those promises – leaving unsuspecting teachers and support staff left in the lurch.

Join us in fighting for the collective voices of Louisiana educators and ask your Senators to VOTE NO on HB 256.

Uninterrupted Planning Time PASSES House Education Committee

On Wednesday, June 2nd, Senate Bill 128 by Senator Jackson passed the House Education Committee. This bill would mandate that all teachers receive 45-minutes of uninterrupted planning time each day. Planning time could only be used for planning, specific training, or evaluations, and schools couldn't pull teachers to cover classes or attend additional meetings during this time. If passed, this wouldn't go into effect until July 1st, 2022, to give districts time to make the necessary changes to ensure that teachers get their guaranteed planning time. SB 128 is expected to come before the full House for a vote next week.

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