the

ADVOCATE

S D E A

November 18, 2009

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ADVOCATE

IstrIct

beatIng

the

budget

drumpage

pot

and

dIffuse

statIstIcal

jujItsupage

Democracy

See story, page 4

i n a c t i o n !

eatures

the

ADVOCATE

___________________

ackling

orkload

New Rep. Council structure elicitsAR feedback.

___________________

ere

gain

At the local and state level, newstructures are emerging.

epartments

the

ADVOCATE

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ONCE MORE, WE MUST RISE UP TO PROTECT PUBLIC SCHOOLS

As the District begins to sing a familiar song, educators must reach outto parents and the community to defend public education.

etter

from

the

resident

and

ice

resident

____________________

alliance-BUilding

SDEA hosts County-wide bargain-ing discussion.

argaining

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association rights

ARs, make sure you know whatrights you are entitled to in repre-senting members at your site.

noW

oUr

ights

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cta: getting organiZed

New statewide plan will increasemember advocacy.

dVocate

olUmns

orking

aBor

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GRIEVANCES 101

SDEA wins pre-arbitration settle-ment on grievance process.___________________

TIME FOR REFORM

Until meaningful healthcare re-form occurs, unions will be forcedto focus on insurance, not wages.

November 18, 20093

adVocate

___________________

rganiZing

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and

Is the sky really falling? Or is theDistrict once again using the bud-get to chicken-little out?

Above:

SDEA members gathered on Tuesday, Nov. 3 to brainstormand prioritize a list of the issues in special education that most ad-versely impact educators and students.

Cover:

SDEA members casttheir votes at the special education meeting. (See story, page 4.)

photos by Rafal Dobrowolski and Morgan Thornberry

_______________________________________s

Pecial

ction

Pecial

edUcation

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nea: rttt still a ProBlem

Secretary of Education Arne Dun-can continues to push a deeplyawed “reform” plan.________________________

sdea-r: VerY Beneficial

SDEA-Retired provides a list of benets resources.

Letters in Solidarity

Camille ZombroSDEA President Marc Capitelli SDEA Vice President

SDEA Members— After their families, no one cares more aboutAmerica’s children than their teachers. Everyoneknows this. But in tough economic and politicaltimes, many seem to have forgotten that the working people who populate our schools chose their dedication to the next generation of Americans as acareer. Caring about kids and doing our part to buildthe future is what we do for a living.And the work we do is amazing. From thecafeteria to the classroom, from the front ofce tothe football eld, and from the counseling ofce tosixth grade camp, we are the guts and the essentialorgans of a system which provides a quality learningenvironment for every child. But we do all this whileworking in a system that is criminally under-fundedand tragically disrespected.Before our state’s economic crisis began,Governor Schwarzenegger’s own studies revealedthat California’s public schools are under-funded byas much as 40 percent. This was before we took an$18 billion hit over the last two years. It’s hard towrap our minds around such staggering numbers, but the reality of these numbers is played out everyday in our schools. The supplies we purchase, theextra work we do, the students we have no timeto reach, and the frustrations we put up with areroutine. We’ve gotten used to doing more with lessin an increasingly unstable environment.Outside the doors of our schools, parents aregenuinely worried about their children’s futures.In their panic, some are turning to divisive anddestructive solutions like breaking up the District,changing their schools to independent charters, or dismantling the hard-fought gains of educators inthe name of saving their children’s future.It’s time for all of us, parents and educators, tostand up for our schools.We cannot be the generation that oversees thedismantling of the free and quality public educationsystem that is supposed to be the right of every child. Neither can we afford to be the generation that losesthe union rights, decent wages, and the healthcarewe and our families deserve.The work ahead is daunting but it includes verynecessary, practical and concrete steps. We must talk to each other and to the parents of our students. Wemust take time out of our busy schedules to makeactivism a critical part of our professional lives.We must decide to stand together and to lock armsaround our schools.This month’s Advocate highlights the work being done by SDEA members to take ownership of the direction of the union and of public education.Our leaders and staff are restructuring how we spendour time and resources to maximize our collectiveengagement in the ghts ahead. We are workingsmarter by partnering with San Diego county unionsand organizing to ensure CTA is supportive of andaccountable to SDEA.We can and will get through the challengesahead. We will win in the same way unions and parents have won every positive change to our publicschools: by standing united for our students. Thank you for all you do and for all you will do to stand upfor our schools!In Solidarity,

Public education under attack (again)

SDEA OFFICERS

10393 San Diego Mission Rd.Ste.100,San Diego,92108

Phone Fax

(619)283-4411 (619)282-7659

Web Email

www.sdea.net advocate@sdea.net

SDEAAdvocate ispublishedmonthlyby the San Diego Education Asso-ciation. Limitedadvertising space isavailable; rateson request.Letterstothe editorandotherconentmay besubmittedforconsderation viaemail.

SDEA Mission Statement

The membersof SDEAare dedicatedtoproviding aquality publiceducation.Asaprofessionalunion advocating theinterestsof certicatedsta,studentsandthecommunity,SDEA/CTA/NEAwillimplementitsmembershipcommitmentthroughinvolvementinpolitics,buildingcoalitions,negotiationsandgrievanceadvocacy andeducationalprograms.

PRESIDENTCamilleZombroVICEPRESIDENTMarc CapitelliINTERIM SECRETARYRay RufnINTERIM TREASURERBillFreemanMEMBER,BOARDOF DIRECTORSElizabethAhlgrenMEMBER,BOARDOF DIRECTORSJimGroth

SDEA STAFF

EXECUTIVEDIRECTORSteveJohnsonUNISERV FIELDORGANIZERSMorganThornberry AbdulSayidDonaldMooreJonathonMelloCraigLeedhamCONTROLLER/PROPERTY MANAGERDianaHayesCONTRACTSPECIALIST/EDITOR,SDEA ADVOCATEANDWEBSITEErinClarkCONTRACTSPECIALIST/MEMBERSHIP/ITLarry Moreno

CONTRACTSPECIALISTRaalDobrowolskiSECRETARIESMaureenPurvisTinaDanielsACCOUNTING ASSISTANT/SECRETARYNanetteNajera

Camille ZombroSDEA PresidentMarc CapitelliSDEA Vice President

Upcoming Budget Townhall Meetings

Thursday, Nov. 19, 6:30 to 8:00 p.m.

Serra HS (Media Center), Katherine Nakamura

Thursday, Dec. 3, 6:30 to 8:00 p.m.

San Diego HS — Arts (Theater), Richard Barrera

Wednesday, Dec. 9, 6:30 to 8:00 p.m.

Mission Bay HS (Auditorium), John de Beck

Tuesday, Dec. 15, 6:30 to 8:00 p.m.

Lincoln HS (Theater), Shelia Jackson

Thursday, Dec. 9, 6:30 to 8:00 p.m.

Madison HS (Theater), John Lee Evans

Members address special ed. quagmire

November 18, 20094

adVocate

Democractic unionism in action

November 18, 20095

adVocate

On Tuesday, Nov. 3 dozens of concerned SDEA membersattended the Special Education Organizing Meeting called toaddress several of the most pressing special education issuesfacing all bargaining unit members. The District has recentlyimplemented a variety of changes that impact special educators,general educators, parents, and our students. The goal of themeeting was to collect and prioritize issues members feel directly prevent them from meeting students’ needs. SDEA in no wayopposes inclusion—rather, our members are opposed to unilateralchanges made to meet the needs of the District, not the child.The recent changes in special education do not only affectspecial education teachers, they affect all teachers and communitymembers. The move towards more inclusion and mainstreamingof special needs students into general education classrooms, particularly at a time when a familiar chorus has begun to sing the budget cuts tune, when support staff have been cut, when changeshave been implemented without the commensurate and necessarytraining for all teachers and staff, puts the whole educationalcommunity in a bind. Many of these changes have been imposedunilaterally, without any input from the affected parties, includingSDEA members and parents. This meeting aimed to address thesevery points, and also how we as a Union can begin address the paradigm shifts taking place in the world of special education.There exist three main issue areas where SDEA memberscan inuence and shape these special education changes. The rstof these are issues within the scope of collective bargaining, asdened by the Educational Employees Relations Act, which can be bargained into a union contract. Resolution on these issues can be reached in various ways. Union members can le grievances toenforce current contract language surrounding special education.Members can utilize currently existing structures like the JointSpecial Education Caseload Committee to create and enforce binding contractual concepts and changes in the special educationarena. Additionally, SDEA members can propose and push for improved contract language during bargaining time. This takessignicant amounts of education and outreach to members,followed up by organizing members to stand behind grievancesand proposals.Second, there are issues that are dened by state or federal lawor by district policy which lay out what the delivery of serviceslooks like for special education students and teachers, and other regulations that directly affect these groups. Union members,individually or jointly, can le “uniform complaints” to theapplicable agency or oversight bodies to challenge substantialviolations of the law or laws. Or union members, acting collectively,can organize around particular issues at the site or district level to put pressure on administration to implement changes benecial for students and teachers. Enforcing such changes takes due diligenceand documentation, and organizing members to stand united behind these complaints and proposed changes.Last, there are issues regarding how school administrationchooses instructional and program models. Although selection of curricula falls within the purview of administrative rights, this doesnot mean that this process cannot be inuenced by key stakeholderssuch as parents and teachers. Union members can organize aroundnew models, ideas, programs and changes that the present to keydecision-makers at the District and Board levels. Accountability iscrucial. Decision-makers need to be held accountable to the impactof their decisions. Again, accountability takes organizing unionmembers to educate parents, pressure the decision-makers and tostand strong and united for our students.The Nov. 3 Special Education Organizing Meeting aimed toclarify and prioritize SDEA members’ special education issues,gauge members’ commitment to organizing around these issues,and to establish a Special Education Committee that would be theUnion’s vanguard of change in the realm of special education.The meeting began with a general introduction and presentation of where Special Education stands today and howwe accomplish a resolution to the issues members have raised:working together and focusing on key issues. The meeting wasstructured to be an organizing meeting, not a gripe session. Theemphasis was using democratic union procedures to identify the problem, develop an action plan to address the problem, and thenact to change the problem.Those present were broken into elementary, middle, and highschool grade level groupings, where members had small groupdiscussions based on input from their sites. Those site issues werethen prioritized, discussed, and brought back to the whole grouplevel. Members committed to attend a subsequent organizingmeeting, scheduled for Wednesday, Dec. 2, where a plan of action on the priorities will be developed. Additionally, memberssigned up for the new Special Education Steering Committee,and committed to turn out more members for a Special Educationforum that will be hosted by the Union in the near future.

photos by Rafal Dobrowolski and Morgan Thornberry

Members generated and prioritized special edu-cation issues at a special meeting on Nov. 3.High school teachers brainstorm and categorize special education concerns while SDEA Board Mem-ber Jetonne Jordan keeps record.

Clockwise from upper left:

1. Debbie Williams (center) participates in a small-group brainstormingsession with the high school group. 2. Elementary school teachers work together to identify howchanges in special education have impacted their students. 3. Claudia Weimer casts her vote! 4. Aftergenerating and categorizing special education concerns, members participate in a prioritization exer-cise that will inform SDEA’s work around these important issues in the coming year.