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GAE reviews priorities for public education in ’99 legislature
Georgia Association of Educators
President Essie Stewart Johnson
notes that Georgia has been very for
tunate to have had a governor who
understood the importance of trying
to raise Georgia’s teachers’ salaries
to a market-competitive level with
Other professions in order to attract
apd retain our good teachers. She
Expresses hope that the new gover
nor and legislature will continue the
effort to reach the national average in
'.salaries. Now, however, Johnson
;agys the time has come for GAE to
turn its considerable expertise and
resources toward helping colleagues
grow and get better at what they do.
“We are studying efforts such as
‘peer review’ in hopes of positively
impacting teacher quality by identi
fying members and colleagues who
are having difficulty,” Johnson said.
‘‘We’d then either help them to
become better teachers or help them
realize that another profession may
be better for them. We will not stand
m the way of removing truly bad
teachers from the classroom. What
we must be very careful of, however,
is not going on a witchhunt based on
SAWN EE from 6A
Because of the students’ enthusiasm, eight of
the students were given the opportunity to give
their presentation to the PTA and peers. Pictured
below are the students who participated in the
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| Health Views T |
9 of 10 Back Surgeries Not ■ "
“Necessary Nor Effective”
The above headline is a quote from Dr. C. N. Shealy, a medical doctor who is neurosurgeon at , USf W
the Pain Rehabilitation Center of the University of Minnesota. In studying a number of patients at the
Center, Dr. Shealy found that nearly 70 percent were "repeaters" on lumbar disc surgery. According |
to the good doctor, if the patients failed to obtain relief from the first operation, the second and sub- ;
sequent ones would also prove ineffective. |WP> wMli
Os the 50,000 spinal operations performed in the United States each year, Dr. Shealy believes I -£■
that only lin 10 can be justified. He contends back surgery should only be used as a last resort g
after all other methods have been tried and failed ||MV
Since statistics indicate that a very large percentage of back problems are due to structural or
mechanical defects of the spine, these cases may respond favorably to Chiropractic. The Doctor of
Chiropractic is a specialist in problems of the spine, nerves and muscles. *'-sp r W '.'
Why are there so many problems with the low back? ’
The lower spine is constructed in such away as to allow freedom of movement in twisting, bend- .... - rq nr
ing, etc. Yet this very structure accounts for many of the problems. MIKe ru JP u u,u '
As an example, note that the spine in the low back is supported and protected only by the mus- Board Certified
des, ligaments and discs while the areas above and below the lower spine are supported are sup
ported and protected by the rib cage and pelvis.
Back surgery is a very significant attempt to solve a back problem. No matter whether it succeeds or fails, scar tissue will remain and
the muscle structure will have been weakened. If the spine is fused in one area its movement is restricted and the remaining vertebrae
must work even harder than before.
While there are cases where back surgery may be necessary, it should be employed only as a last resort. Chiropractic has achieved
success with structural and mechanical defects of the spine that would indicate that it should be a first resort for such problems.
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inflammatory political rhetoric.”
Johnson said she that most parents
realize the positive efforts and sacri
fice that the majority of teachers put
forth day in and day out for their
children.
“We are working toward the day
when parents who place their chil
dren in a public school will be confi
dent that their children will receive a
first-rate education.” she said.
“Restoring the public’s faith in pub
lic education is our number one goal
and should be the goal of everyone
associated with the public education
process.”
An important part of this undertak
ing includes an effort by the GAE to
fortify its Instruction and
Professional Development Division,
charged with providing workshops
and seminars which help educators
in their continuing quest to strength
en their classroom skills and enhance
their learning and teaching environ
ments. Examples of these offerings
include:
• National Board for Professional
Teaching Standards Project, which
offers essential information about,
PTA presentation along with his or her name and
the delegate’s name they represented. We at
Sawnee thank the students for their hard work
and enthusiasm.
and assistance in, obtaining National
Board certification. The GAE main
tains that National Board
Certification is a symbol of profes
sional teaching excellence. A
National Board Certificate attests
that a teacher has been judged by his
or her peers as one who is accom
plished, makes sound professional
judgments about his or her students’
best interests and acts effectively on
those judgments.
• Georgia Foundation for the
Improvement of Education, which
awards grants up to SSOO each to
active GAE members who design
and implement local projects that
improve professionalism, enhance
classroom skills and activities,
and/or develop professional teaching
tools.
• Pay for Performance
Workshop that provides teachers
with the skills needed for profession
al growth. The details of an improve
ment incentive will be introduced to
any faculty that believes their school
is performing in an exemplaiy man
ner and can persuasively demon
strate it by identifying and meeting a
Top Row: Claire Smith
(Robert Morris), Suzanne
Bartenfeld (William.
Livingston), Melissa Everett
(James Madison), Mr. Coffen
(Teacher), Brett Seay (Rufus
King), Rex Cox (James
Madison), Samuel Briend
(William Samuel Johnson).
Bottom Row: Pamela
Youngblood (William Blount),
Stephanie Bradley (John
Dickenson).
Photo/submitted
EDUCATION
comprehensive set of performance
objectives reflecting the results in
their school’s educational program.
• Measurement for the
Classroom Teacher Seminar,
which equips teachers with measure
ment skills as consumers, not as
technical experts. The seminar pro
vides the classroom teacher with a
basic understanding of measurement
concepts and procedures as they
apply to building and selecting tests
for the classroom and to interpreting
the varied information obtained from
them.
• Praxis Workshop, which is
designed to teach educators how to
take the Praxis successfully on their
first attempt.
• Home-School-Community
Partnerships Workshop that is
designed to provide an overview of
new concepts of partnerships with
families and communities in public
education, equip participants with
the skills and strategies needed to
develop and coordinate strong fami
ly-school-community partnerships
and to develop skills to improve how
teachers and schools work with race,
class, gender, and cultural differ
ences.
• The GAE/Beginning Teachers’
Institute, also known as “Teacher
Preparation for the Year 2000: A
Workshop Approach,” which is
designed to provide a workable,
sequential, hands-on method to help
first-year teachers, out-of-state trans
fers, mentor/inservice and
student/pre-service teachers and
related advisors become aware of the
necessary elements of effective
teaching and to become more com
petent in recognizing the needs of a
diverse student body. Twenty-five
participants commit to a minimum
of 25.5 hours of study on 10 mod
ules to receive two staff development
unite puph
• GAE Proposal/Grant Writing
Workshop that is designed to pro
vide the novice program planner and
proposal writer with the skills and
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FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS Sunday, January 10,1999 I
tools needed to produce materials
that merit funding.
GAE plans to bolster and add to
these offerings in our quest to do our
part to help increase the efficiency
and ability of our classroom teachers
to work with students, parents and
the community. These workshops
are free for GAE members.
The GAE has also established a set
of 1999 legislative priorities, as
adopted by the GAE Representative
Assembly in April 1998.
Student Learning Conditions
1) Support legislation creating safe,
productive learning environments for
students and working environments
for public school employees:
• Increased funding for in-school
suspension and alternative school
programs;
• Maintain effective coordination of
community collaborative services;
• Fund additional classroom teach
ers to reduce pupil :teacher ratios and
maximum class sizes;
• Provide conflict resolution train
ing for students and employees.
Student Support Programs
1) Fund art, music, physical educa
tion, and foreign language teachers
at a ratio of 1:200 students (K-12) in
each program area, thus providing a
duty-free planning and lunch period
for each teacher.
2) Provide school support person
nel:
• Fund school counselors at a ratio
of 1:400 students (K-12);
• Fund school psychologists and
social workers at a ratio of 1:2000
students (K-12);
• Fund school nurses;
• Fund school bus driver assistants;
• Fund reading specialists in grades
K-8;
• Fund media specialists in Pre-K
through 12th grade;
• Fund technology coordinators
and/or computer lab instructors at
the rate of 1:500 FTEs.
Lottery
1) Support the use of Geoh£ie
Lottery proceeds to
supplant, existing resources for
cational purposes and program! Js
intended by the original legislapqft
adopted by the 1992 Georgia
General Assembly stipulating die
use of lottery proceeds.
2) Funding
• Oppose efforts to authorize the
use of public funds by private
schools.
• Oppose unrestricted allocation ojf
block grants. •'
Legal and Professional
1) Salary ' *
• Increase Georgia’s average
teacher salary to surpass the national
average by continuing to improve
the base salary.
• Support a base salary schedule for
education support personnel. ’
2) Retirement
• Support legislation allowhig
retirement without penalty on cort£
pletion of 25 years of creditable ser
vice in the Teachers Retirement
System of Georgia. '
• Support legislation enhancing
retirement credit in TRS for unused
sick leave. ;
• Support legislation to improve the
retirement benefits of education sup
port personnel in the Public School
Employees Retirement System
(PSERS) by increasing employee
and employer contributions.
• Support a 4038 Retirement Plan
with two for one employer/employee
match and a 6 percent cap for educa
tion support personnel.
Employee Rights
1) Protect academic, political and
personal rights by strengthening the
Georgia Fair Dismissal Act ''
• Support collective bargaining
between public school employees
and local boards of education.
• Support legislation to provide due
process rights for education support
personnel.
PAGE 7A