High Quality
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S D E A
February 17, 2010
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Our proposal isright as rain!
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
The SDEA Advocate is publishedmonthly by the San Diego EducationAssociation. Limited advertising spaceis available; rates are available uponrequest. Letters to the editor and otherconent may be submitted for consdera-tion via email to
advocate@sdea.net
.Email for submission deadlines.
SDEA Mission Statement
The members of SDEA are dedicated toproviding a quality public education.As a professional union advocating theinterests of certicated sta, studentsand the community, SDEA/CTA/NEA willimplement its membership commitmentthrough involvement in politics, buildingcoalitions, negotiations and grievanceadvocacy and educational programs.
PRESIDENT Camille ZombroVICE PRESIDENTMarc CapitelliSECRETARYRay RufnTREASURERBill FreemanMEMBER, BOARD OF DIRECTORSElizabeth AhlgrenMEMBER, BOARD OF DIRECTORSJim Groth
SDEA STAFF
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Steve JohnsonUNISERV FIELD ORGANIZERSMorgan Thornberry Abdul SayidDonald Moore Jonathon MelloCraig LeedhamCONTROLLER/PROPERTY MANAGERDiana HayesCONTRACT SPECIALIST/EDITOR,SDEA ADVOCATE AND WEBSITEErin ClarkCONTRACT SPECIALIST/MEMBERSHIP/ITLarry Moreno
CONTRACT SPECIALISTRaal DobrowolskiSECRETARIESMaureen Purvis Tina DanielsACCOUNTING ASSISTANT/SECRETARYNanette Najera
Special Ed. campaign continues
Last fall, SDUSD implemented a “SpecializedAcademic Instruction” model without adequate preparation or support for the educators responsiblefor its implementation. In response, SDEA membersworking in both special and general education cametogether in September 2009 to identify and prioritizetheir issues. Through a well-attended listeningsession, SDEA members identied the following priorities in Special Education organizing efforts:• IEP document compliance,• Workload demands on both general andspecial educators, and• Implementing an inclusion model that provides for a continuum of services for students and training and planning time for educators.Another outcome of these meetings was theformation of the SDEA Special Education SteeringCommittee (SSESC). The Chairperson of thiscommittee is Mary Jane Zappia, a speech andlanguage pathologist at Bayview Terrace Elementary.The SSESC is charged with planning and leadingour continued efforts to organize around SpecialEducation issues. Their focus is to support schoolsites in organizing collectively to affect positivechange for both special and general educators andour students.At the last Special Education organizingmeeting, SDEA and CTA staff trained members onhow to le uniform complaints with the CaliforniaDepartment of Education. Educators can individuallyor collectively le formal complaints regardingmatters such as failure to comply with IEP documentrequirements, or assignment of special educationteachers to students outside their credential area. TheSSESC has also reached out to the Joint WorkloadCommittee, a subcommittee of the SDEA bargainingteam. Joint Workload Committee members attendedthe Feb. 8 SSESC meeting and discussed theagreement between SDEA and the District to movefrom a caseload to a workload model. Union andDistrict bargaining teams are slated to hold a series bargaining sessions regarding this issue in thecoming months.The SSESC is meeting monthly to supportsite actions during this time of reform and contractnegotiations. The committee’s next meeting will be held Monday, March 8. At that meeting arepresentative group of members from preschool,elementary, middle school and high school siteswill be formally appointed to the committee. Onceformalized, the SSESC will work with SDEA staff tosupport site actions and to advocate for meaningfulreform across the District.
The state initiatives are coming!
by
CAMILLE ZOMBRO
SDEA President and
JIM GROTH
CTA Director
2010 promises to be another high-proleelection year. Here in San Diego, voters will decideon two School Board seats (both John deBeck andKatherine Nakamura are up) and a possible parceltax. Across the state, Californians will choose a newgovernor, elect state legislators, and take positionson a wide range of statewide propositions.A variety of those propositions are in circulationfor signature-gathering right now, and the CTA StateCouncil (including representatives from SDEA) hastaken a position on several. Every CTA member needs to know the facts as we continue to preparefor a busy year. Here’s a look at what’s coming:
“The Repeal Corporate Tax Loopholes Act”(sponsored and supported by CTA):
This initiativewould repeal the $2 billion of new tax loopholes for corporations and oil companies that were added tothe 2009-10 compromise budget passed by the statelegislature last fall. These loopholes were negotiatedin secret with no public hearings.
“The Corporate Political AccountabilityAct” (supported by CTA):
This initiative wouldhold corporations accountable to shareholders before spending money on political campaigns or initiatives by requiring a vote of stockholders on political expenditures.
“The New Public Employees BenetsReform Act” (opposed by CTA):
This initiativewould
signifcantly
alter CalSTRS contributions for new employees by, among other changes: reducing pension formulae from 2.5 percent per year to1.65 percent per year; requiring that retirees couldnot draw from CalSTRS until age 67; requiringretirees to work full time for the last ve years of employment in order to receive locally negotiatedhealthcare coverage; limiting maximum retirement benets to 75 percent of highest earned income; andseveral other changes which would undermine thescal integrity of CalSTRS and decimate the currentretirement system.In addition, campaign groups are organizingto make a concerted effort to qualify a “paycheck deception” act to restrict union political activities.CTA continues to closely monitor these efforts.Check the CTA website for the latest informationon these important issues (
www.cta.org
).
In themeantime, we encourage you to refrain fromsigning petitions to place intitiatives on the ballot.
Top: Teachers chanted together to make surethe Board could hear us inside the building.Center: A fair contract would be music to SDEAmembers’ ears.Bottom: Proponents of public education greatand small turned out on Tuesday to supportSDEA’s bargaining proposal.
photos by Nena Najera
What do we want?A fair contract!When do we want it?
Now!
Over 1,000 teachers, nurses, counselors, librarians,support professionals, parents and community leaders braved the rain and rallied together at the EducationCenter on Tuesday, Feb. 9 to urge the SDUSD SchoolBoard to settle a fair contract with San Diego’s educators.Even while SDUSD teacher pay ranks among the lowest in San DiegoCounty (33
rd
of 43 County districts, according to the
Sacramento Bee
), the SanDiego Education Association has proposed a pay cut in the form of three student-contact furlough days in order to preserve class sizes and protect programs andservices in our neighborhood schools. But the District’s history of wastefulspending, combined with the current economic crisis, puts the future of our students
and
our city at risk. In our Feb. 4 bargaining proposal to SDUSD, SDEAmembers call on the District to make an equal commitment to protecting our students by:• Keeping class sizes low by not laying off teachers,• Preserving core student programs and services like nursing and counseling,and• Bringing San Diego teacher pay up from among the lowest in the Countyonce the current economic crisis has passed.Patrick Henry High School English teacher Mark Frerichs spoke at the rally,demanding that the School Board accept SDEA’s fair and reasonable proposal soeducators and students can get back to the critical work of teaching and learning.“After years of overwork for underpay, in massive numbers and with a uniedvoice on behalf of our kids, San Diego’s teachers come here to offer the Districtmoney,” Frerichs said. “Teachers call on SDUSD to embrace scal responsibilityand accept teachers’ pay cut offer.”
Excerpt from Mark Frerichs’ speech
Teachers are, I say, a lile bit magic. We nd a way to believeanew in our students each and every day. But Mr. Barrera, Mr.Kowba, with you our good will and paence are... well, let’s just saywe’re facing a bit of a budget crisis in the magic department. Yourpredecessors have already squandered much of it by balancing thebudget largely on our backs in the form of below-average salariesand ever-increasing class sizes. Your predecessors have been proi-gate with programs but parsimonious with people — us, your mostvaluable, magical resource. Today, we choose to expend a lile of that magic on our district. We are here today in good faith to strikea bargain. But they had beer not mistake us. We are not CharlieBrown. We choose, for today at least, to believe that this me, withthis chance, our District leadership will nally do the right thing andhold that ball for us.San Diego’s teachers, forced to wait for a fair selement be-cause ‘there is no money’, have watched millions of dollars spenton consultants and AP exams and PSAT exams — the list goes onand on. Yet, do we come here today with hands outstretched,demanding that similar largesse be bestowed upon us? No. Aeryears of overwork for underpay, in massive numbers and with aunied voice on behalf of our kids, San Diego’s teachers come hereto oer the District money. —Mark Frerichs, PHHS
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