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S D E A
December 16, 2009
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Letters in Solidarity
Camille ZombroSDEA President Marc Capitelli SDEA Vice President
Camille ZombroSDEA PresidentMarc CapitelliSDEA Vice President
SDEA Members— Overworked, tired, divided, overwhelmed,apathetic. These words are being used to describemorale across the District just as we face the biggestcrisis in generations. This frustration stems fromthe very real circumstance that now more thanever educators are under assailment from so manyangles—even as we struggle to continue serving asthe lone barrier between possibility and the abject poverty looming over the heads of so many of our students. What’s missing seems to be the hope,energy and the condence that we can overcomethese challenges, and that we can build the kind of system our children deserve. But the fact is that notonly can we do it, but
only
we can do it—and our parents and communities will stand with us as wedo.The battles we face are on three fronts: budgetcuts, bad legislation, and our own culture of shoringup broken systems to masks their dysfunciton.Despite chronic under-funding the statelegislature thinks they can cut their way out of thesituation. With no real leadership in Sacramento, the partisan bickering and dysfunction are leaving our students holding the bag. And these same leaders,along with our President and national leaders, are pushing new versions of the same punitive anddestructive legislation for our schools. Obama’sRace to the Top and the next incarnation of No ChildLeft Behind promise only to continue to dismantle public education, punish schools, and divide our communities. How disappointing, and yet howfamiliar to see our so-called friends line up behindthese non-solutions.These cuts and the increased workload theyengender are potentially devastating to educatorsand our students. In school visits, union meetingsand one-on-one conversations, a few patternsemerge as SDEA members talk about the challenges before us. First, we
are
overworked. We’re doingmore with less and the cuts keep coming. Classsizes go up, support staff goes down, but programchanges and new work keeps piling on. Second,we’re shoring up a system that is fundamentally broken. When we purchase needed supplies, work extra hours, and mask the problems, we reinforcethe false notion that we can withstand continuedcuts. We enable legislators who think they can keepcutting and get the same,
or better
, results. Some of our teachers have experienced a 60 percent increasein class size from last year to this year! It is part of our culture and our nature as people who care for children to keep things from falling apart. No onesuggests letting children get hurt, but our dedicationis consciously being taken advantage of by a systemthat has come to rely on our good will. Educationaland political leaders know that we will “dig deep”to soften the brutal blow they are imposing. We canstop this trend. Our new Maintenance of Workloadlanguage gives us contractual grounds to ght back.But this language is only as good as our willingnessto stand together to enforce it.In addition to these real and pressing needs, thefact remains that we’re not spending enough timetalking to one another and organizing. Does your school hold regular, well-attended union meetings?Do you have a site SDEA team in place to diffuse thework of the union? Do you have a way of knowingwhat matters to the staff at your schools and of working together toward solutions? We cannot dothis unless we
all
take on the work of building theunion. No one will do it for us; no one else can.In this month’s Advocate, we highlight the work being led by SDEA members to make sense of themyriad changes in Special Education programs. Wediscuss the new Maintenance of Workload provisionsand how members can take back control of our work lives. And we get a picture of how SDEA membersand parents can impact the District’s priorities andthe year ahead.The truth is that we do have reason for hope.SDEA members are making a difference in schoolsacross the District by talking with parents aboutworking together to save our schools. We are beginning to do the work we need to do to create astrong, united Union. Our great challenges are alsogreat opportunities, and there is no better or moreimportant time than now for us to pull together.Because together, we
are
stronger.In Solidarity,
Educators at the fulcrum of hope
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 certicatedsta,studentsandthecommunity,SDEA/CTA/NEAwillimplementitsmembershipcommitmentthroughinvolvementinpolitics,buildingcoalitions,negotiationsandgrievanceadvocacy andeducationalprograms.
PRESIDENTCamilleZombroVICEPRESIDENTMarc CapitelliSECRETARYRay RufnTREASURERBillFreemanMEMBER,BOARDOF DIRECTORSElizabethAhlgrenMEMBER,BOARDOF DIRECTORSJimGroth
SDEA STAFF
EXECUTIVEDIRECTORSteveJohnsonUNISERV FIELDORGANIZERSMorganThornberry AbdulSayidDonaldMooreJonathonMelloCraigLeedhamCONTROLLER/PROPERTY MANAGERDianaHayesCONTRACTSPECIALIST/EDITOR,SDEA ADVOCATEANDWEBSITEErinClarkCONTRACTSPECIALIST/MEMBERSHIP/ITLarry Moreno
CONTRACTSPECIALISTRaalDobrowolskiSECRETARIESMaureenPurvisTinaDanielsACCOUNTING ASSISTANT/SECRETARYNanetteNajera
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___________________________________________________________In a year fraught with challenges for our Union, SDEA members mustfocus on the steps that will lead us to victory: building capacity andstrength at our worksites.
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BUiLdinG MoMentUM
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SDEA’s special education organiz-ing campaign moves forward.
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WORKLOAD VICTORY
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After a year and a half of nego-tiations, SDEA and SDUSD havereached agreement on workload.
Cover:
SDEA Special Education Steering Committee member Julie Sazama reports back to Association Representatives atthe November Rep. Council meeting.
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Online
This month, The Advocate’s recur-ring columns may be viewed byvisiting the SDEA website:
www.sdea.net
.
SDEA President and Field Organizer Site Visits — November 2009
Working directly with SDEA members and sites is the most important work of SDEA staff and leadership. Each month we willinclude a list of the schools visited by SDEA’s President and UniServ Field Organizers, as well as a handful of sites that deserve to be highlighted for their Union work. The list below includes membership meetings at sites attended by SDEA leadership or staff,as well as organization planning meetings held between Organizers and Association Representatives.
Association Representatives are encouraged to contact their assigned Field Organizer to schedule a site visit. For contactinformation and a list of which organizers are assigned to which sites, visit the SDEA website at
www.sdea.net
.
Barnard Elem.Chavez Elem.Clairemont HSCrawford HSFarb MSFletcher Elem.Hoover HSJerabek Elem.Kearny HSLa Jolla HSLafayette Elem.Lewis MiddleLincoln HSLindberg-Scweitzer Elem.Mann MiddleMarshall MSMarston MSOcean BeachElem.Rosa Parks Elem.Ross Elem.San DiegoSchool of Creative andPerforming ArtsSerra HS Tierrasanta Elem. Tubman CharterSchool
Congratulations toUnion membersat Marshall MiddleSchool, who orga-nized a Novembermeeting with parentsto discuss SDUSD’sbudget and howparents and teacherscan work together toprotect their neigh-borhood school.“We still have work to do aswe build our Union at LincolnHigh. Some recent victorieshave given members con-dence, knowing that when weare united and act togetherwe can get things done. At theend of the day we are SDEA,and if we are going to have areal voice in the work we do,our union must be strong fromthe ground up.” — LincolnHigh AR Liz Gekakis
cover photo by Rafal Dobrowolski
the road ahead
November —December 2009 January —April 2010May — July 2010August —November 2010
the road ahead
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SDUSD budget discussions& initial District “spin”
•
SDEA bargaining cont.
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Possible Layoffs
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SDUSD budget doom &gloom cont.
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SDEA bargaining cont.
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Layoff fight continues
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District’s demands for bargaining concessions
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Fighting back againstbargaining concessions
•
Anti-union ballot measures
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School Board election
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Possible parcel tax
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Bargaining cont.
Thepast fewyears havebeen eventfulones for ourUnion. We’ve facedcrisis after crisis—fromhundreds of layo noticestwo years ago to recentdemands from the Districtfor salary rollbacks andfurlough days. But throughour collective strength andsolidarity we have been ableto weather each and everyone of these storms.It is becoming ap-parent, however, that theapproaching storm is dierentfrom what we have faced inthe past. The timeline aboveillustrates a year pepperedwith more signicant chal-lenges than we have everfaced in a single year as aUnion. The stakes have neverbeen higher. Those whooppose public education andteachers are clearly usingthe present economic crisisas an opportunity to rollback decades of gains andprotections that we onceconsidered secure (and mayeven take for granted).
WILL WE LET THISHAPPEN
? The answer isYES if SDEA members siton the sidelines as simplebystanders. The answer isNO if each and every one of us commits some time andenergy to work collectively asa union for a common goal: To defend our public schoolsand keep our professionstrong.
We
WIN
this ght if:• We focus on both the short term and the long term.• We work with parents to nd common interests and issues thatwe can work on together.• We remain condent and patient.• We stay strong and persist—and resist attempts to divide us.• We commit to strengthening our worksites (by building eec-tive site teams and maintaining two-way communication).• We focus on engaging members at our worksites in
collectiveactions that give them a voice in their futures.
We
LOSE
this ght if:• SDEA members sit on the sidelines and watch.• We buy into the doom and gloom predictions of certain SchoolBoard members and District administrators.• We fail to engage and activate parents and the community inour common cause.• We start pointing ngers and ghting each other.• We get scared and begin to think the worst is inevitable.• We fail to engage, both as a union and as a community, in col-lective
ACTIONS!
How we get where we need to be: What each site needs to build workplace capacity and strength
1. Active and engaged AR2. Complete and functioning site team (ARs, CRs, Organizers)3. Regular site meetings4. Regular ACTION in support of union objectives5. Regular site evaluation and reporting of Union actions
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