Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/1380872
the UNION HTEC member and 19-year High Tech Explorer Elementary School educator. W h en all th e school's teach ers could fit in a single room , their voices rang loudly, she says, but now many educa- tors feel disconnected and left out of important decisions, especially related to the pandemic. "Teachers didn't have a seat at the table like we used to," Frost says. "It was harder to get our voices heard." When educators began organizing via Zoom earlier this year, they shared a lot of similar con- cerns, from high teacher turnover to the need for e d u c a t o r a n d s t u d e n t voices in decisions to the fear that HTH had strayed from its mission of equity that attracted so many of the teachers there in the first place. " Th e p and emic real ly showed that the teachers didn't have a voice in our organization. Our hope is that a union can get us closer to bringing equity to life," says King. "is could, should and w i l l b e a u n i qu e u n i o n f o r a u n i qu e school. I see lots of opportunity for more collaboration that leads to better out- comes for students." Building power through unity Two years ago, teachers at the largest c h a r t e r s c h o o l n e tw o rk i n O a k l a n d formed Coalition of Educators for Change (CEFC) to improve sustainability and build power to support their students and communities. With 175 teachers across six schools, CEFC finalized their first-ever contract during the pandemic, w h i c h i n c l u d e s l a n g u a g e t h a t g iv e s teachers control over setting class sizes. CEFC President Victoria Albaracin says t each ers i m m e d i a t e l y s o u g h t t o help the Education Sup- port Staff (ESS) organize — and not into a different u n i o n b u t a s m e m b e r s of a " wall to wall" CEFC that represents all the net- work's educators. " This is what the labor m ovem ent i s al l ab out," s a y s A l b a r a c i n , a k i n - d ergar t en t each er. " You can't be truly unified unless ever yone is included." Paola Zamudio works as a kindergar- ten tutor in the classroom with Albaracin. She says education support professionals have long been unrecognized, unseen and unheard, with working conditions only CTA-affiliated associations organized during the COVID-19 pandemic: • Coalition of Educators For Change Education Support Staff (Education for Change, Oakland) • East Bay Educators United (Leadership Public Schools, Oakland) • High Tech Education Collective (High Tech High, San Diego) • Monterey Bay United (Monterey) • Santa Rosa Academy/ Menifee Teachers Association (Menifee) • South Bay Educators United (Downtown College Prep, San Jose) • Sycamore Academy of Science and Cultural Arts/ Lake Elsinore Teachers Association (Wildomar, Chino) • Yu Ming Educators Union (Oakland) Welcome to the Family 28 cta.org Feature Becky Frost Victoria Albaracin (left) and teachers in Coalition of Educators for Change (CEFC) welcomed Paola Zamudio (right) and the charter network's education support staff, who organized and joined the union last summer.