Public Speaking workshop offered by the Center for American Women and Politics

The Center for American Women and Politics invites you to...

Special Workshop Series
We are pleased to present a special workshop series as part of our Ready to Run™ Campaign Training for Women. The sessions in this series are designed to provide more in-depth training than is possible at the larger conference.
Workshop Series Session #2:
Public Speaking: Effective Presentation and Communications

Thursday, July 14th, 9:00 am to Noon

Eagleton Institute of Politics
191 Ryders Lane
New Brunswick, NJ 08091

The registration fee is $40.00. Fee includes workshop materials and breakfast.
Space is limited to the first 40 registrants, so sign up now!

Session Description: This interactive workshop will focus on effective public speaking and presentation skills. You'll learn how to deliver your message more powerfully and how to identify your authentic style of presentation. Find out the secrets of verbal and nonverbal communications techniques to capture and maintain any audience's interest, as well as specific strategies for dealing with speech anxiety and practice tips.

Workshop Presenter:
Karla Jackson-Brewer, Communications and Public Speaking Expert

Karla Jackson-Brewer is an entrepreneur and the co-founder of Sine Qua Non: Allies in Healing, a therapy practice in New York City. She has been serving clients in the area of personal emotional growth for the past 27 years and more recently has become an emotional intelligence coach for Star Factor, Inc. She is a fellow and vice president of the board of the Woodhull Institute for Ethical Leadership. Jackson-Brewer has consulted with numerous organizations in the areas of organizational and staff development, communications, public speaking, curriculum development, women's issues, issues of diversity in the workplace and in schools, and issues of violence in communities. She currently teaches on and provides personal coaching in public speaking. She is an adjunct professor in the Women's and Gender Studies Department and the Africana Studies Department at Rutgers.
For more information about this workshop, please contact Deanna-Marie Norcross at (732) 932-9384, x223 or dnorcros@eagleton.rutgers.edu.
Center for American Women and Politics Eagleton Institute of Politics
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
191 Ryders Lane, New Brunswick, New Jersey 08901 732-932-9384

Free summer program sent by Leah Owens

The Center for Sustainable Development
Free Summer Program

Dear All,
During the summer of 2011, The Center for Sustainable Development is seeking to implement a comprehensive Back to College Summer Program specifically designed for the young adults of Newark aged 19 and above.
The Back to College Summer Program represents the cornerstone of the Center’s work with Newark Youths. The model features a six week, three days a week program. Students will be taught Essay Writing, Math and Life Skills. The program is designed to challenge our youth to confront the never ending journey of adulthood and the responsibility of creating our lives by design, not by default.
The program focuses on our youth who have dropped out of high school together with those who have dropped out of college and are looking to get back into college but need some form of educational assistance or a kick up the rear.
The program is designed to prepare our youth to meet the challenges of a college education through a coordinated, progressive series of classroom lectures, activities and experiences which will help them become socially, morally, emotionally, physically, and cognitively competent to successfully withstand the rigors of a two or four year college.
The program will also include a mentor paring partnership initiative; the partnership is designed to equip the mentors and mentees with the tools and skills needed to become an effective mentor mentee paring. This section of the program focuses on encouraging a better understanding of youth culture and trends to assist the adult mentor in developing a sound, productive and fruitful relationship with the mentee.
Registration and more information on the program, an Open House will be held at Room 237, Conklin Hall, University Avenue, Rutgers University, Newark, at 2:00pm prompt.
Date of Open House: June 24th 2011.

Program Start Date: 11th July 2011 and end 18th August 2011.
All participating students will be required to report to Room 313, Bradley Hall, Rutgers University, Newark, at 10:00am prompt on the start day – 11th July 2011.

Respectfully,
Obi C. Ene. ene.obi@gmail.com

New York Times article on pension reform bill for New Jersey

New Jersey Legislature Approves Deep Cuts in Benefits to Public Workers

New Jersey lawmakers on Thursday approved a broad rollback in benefits for three-quarters of a million government workers and retirees, the deepest cut in state and local costs in memory, in a major victory for Gov. Chris Christie and a once-unthinkable setback for the powerful public employee unions.The Assembly passed the bill as Republicans and a few Democrats defied raucous protests by thousands of people whose chants, vowing electoral revenge, shook the State House. Leaders in the State Senate said their chamber, which had already passed a slightly different version of the bill, would approve the Assembly version on Monday, and Mr. Christie, a Republican, was expected to quickly sign the measure into law.

Such lack of Compassion

I now understand that our legislature is moving forward on removing heat assistance from the needy, removing medicaid from anyone who makes at least $100 a week, and seniority will be removed from public workers.  

This sounds like Marie Antoinette - "Let them eat cake!"  No compassion

***IMPORTANT***know your Weingarten Rights

In 1975 the Supreme Court of the United States set a ruling that stated "employees have a right to association representation during investigatory interviews by management.  These rights are called Weingarten Rights."

If anyone in a supervisory position questions an employee in order to get some information which could be used for disciplinary action, the employee must:

1.     Be informed that there is a possibility that disciplinary action may take place

2.     Be aware that the interview is of an investigatory nature

3.     Be given the right to receive representation

If we as employees are just being given instruction on how to improve our job, or how to implement some new protocol, then that is usually not an investigation into wrong doing and won't warrant representation.  

If the review has already taken place and the supervisor is just giving information on a decision that has already been made involving discipline, then representation isn't necessary.

When an interview which is of an investigatory nature occurs, there are 2 main rules which apply.

1.     The employee must make a request for association representation either before or during the interview.  Employers have no duty to inform workers of their rights.  Workers who fail to request association representation can be questioned at length.

2.     Once an employee makes a request, the employer must choose from among the following options:

a.   The employer may grant the request and delay questioning until the association representative arrives and has a chance to consult with the employee.

b.     The employer may deny the request and end the interview immediately (and possibly proceed with discipline based on other evidence).

c.     The employer may give the employee a choice of either continuing the interview without representation, or discontinuing the interview.

UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES CAN AN EMPLOYER IGNORE OR DENY A WEINGARTEN REQUEST AND CONTINUE ASKING QUESTIONS.

look it up yourself for more info.  Be In The Know.

The Letter

                 Governor Christie’s Letter for Change

 

We received a copy of a letter sent out by Christie's office with the governors letterhead.  It starts out "Dear School Board Member"  and goes on to say.  " The time for reform is now...We must empower principals...We must...focus our efforts on teachers and children.  I propose that we reward the best teachers, based on merit, at the individual teacher level.  I demand that layoffs, when they occur, be based on a merit system and not merely on seniority.  I am committed to improving the measurement and evaluation of teachers...And perhaps the most important step in that process is to give schools more power to remove underperforming teachers."  He goes on after several 'fluff' paragraphs to say, "The seven bills I submitted to the legislature call for:

 

*     Implementation of a multiple measured statewide evaluation system by the 2012-2013 school year that required observation and evaluation of all educators at least twice per year with summative evaluation at the end of the school year using the rating categories of highly effective, effective, partially effective, or ineffective.

*     Tenure attainment only after ratings of "effective or "highly effective" have been received for the proceeding three years.  Tenure status is lost after an evaluation as "ineffective" for one year or partially effective for two years.

*Reforming laws governing reductions in force ("last in, first out") so that any layoffs are based on effectiveness--not seniority--and determined by an evaluation system established by the Commissioner of Education.

*     Mutual consent that calls for agreement by both the principal and teacher on all teacher assignments to schools.  Where a principal does not consent to a tenured teacher's placement inhis or her school, that teacher will continue to receive compensation for 12 months while searching for an assignment in the district, after which he or she will be placed on unpaid leave.

*     Reforming teacher compensation to focus on an educator's demonstrated effectiveness in advancing student learning, as well as whether the educator is teaching in a failing school or is teaching in a subject area that has been identified as a difficult-to-staff subject area.

*     Due process changes to eliminate a provision requiring a teacher against whom tenure charges were filed to begin receiving full salary and benefits after 120 days of start of the process as well as implementing a firm deadline requiring Administrative Law Judges hearing tenue revocation cases to render a decision within 30 days.

*     Allow for school districts to opt out of the Civil Service System."

 

He wrote the letter addressed to School Board Members to ask them for their support.  There is more to the letter. I didn't copy it all, because there was so much more fluff.  

Think about it

Well, with the new proposals looming over our heads, teachers who can retire, or who are considering retiring are wondering what to do. Every situation is different. Don't allow yourselves to be bullied. I hear that you only need one day to post your retirement. You need more to resign or transfer. If you hear of job openings, let me know because there are people looking for one. (no, not me) Let's make sure we remain one unit, one family of educators. Don't resort to witch hunting and looking for who "should" retire. Let's all rise together or we may all lose.