Dear Cupertino Teachers,

The District has recently put out information that is not the whole truth.  Are you surprised? 

The CUSD school board passes policy and regulations for the betterment of the school district.  These are called Board Policy which are policy directives for the school district to follow.  The District then passes Administrative Regulations which are the "how to" for the implementation of the Board Policy.

The District has directed school site administrators to tell their staffs that the actions under "work to rule" are illegal and that non-compliance to Board Policy can lead to disciplinary or legal actions. 

Here is the REAL truth!!!

The following are real statements from the CUSD District office:

Statement:  That all teachers are required to assign and return homework.

Truth:  The districts own Administrative Regulation recommends that homework will "be reviewed and returned as soon as possible". 

-          The district does not say they have to grade but only to review. 

Truth:  The Districts own Administrative Regulation recommends that "Homework assignments should respect the following recommended weekly time allotments: Primary 15-40 minutes, Intermediate 60-240 minutes, Middle School 240-360 minutes".

-          The emphasis should be placed on the word "recommend".  Teachers have Academic Freedom under the negotiated contract between CEA and CUSD to teach and assign homework based on students needs, current curriculum and teacher time. 

Under the Districts own Administrative Regulation Teachers may assign Homework and here are some of the Districts own recommendations, for example the completion of unfinished classroom work, practice or review of content previously studied, individual study motivated by particular interests, recreational reading for book reports.

-  Again these are just recommendations under the Districts own rules.

Statement:  Report cards must be filled out completely, including comment sections.

Truth:  The Districts own Board Policy does not mention the comment section as a requirement for completing report cards.  The Districts Administrative Regulation states "nonacademic factors such as behavior will be reported under "Life Long Learning Skills" or in the comment section of the report". 

-          The emphasis is on the skills section OR comment sections.  The district gives the Teacher the option to do the comment section or us the skills section on the report card.