Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/1500904
The paradigm shift JUSD hired superintendent Dr. Trenton Hansen upon full return to instruction in the 2022 school year. He restructured some district departments to create a Pupil Services Department and Educational Equity Division. The shift toward JUSD's "Collaboration, Community Schools, and Equity " — espoused for years by NEA-J leaders — was now enthusiastically embraced by district leadership. Hansen explained, "One of the areas of focus in Jurupa Unified's vision is employee relations. We have made it a priority to build relationships with NEA-Jurupa's leaders so that we can keep the lines of communication flowing and work through issues together on a monthly basis." NEA-J took the lead by passing official school board resolutions in support of community schools, which were presented to JUSD leadership. Because of JUSD and NEA-J's earlier collabo- rative successes, many of the pieces needed to successfully implement community schools (see cta.org/educator/five-steps) were already in place. That included JUSD's expanded Parent Involvement/ Community Outreach (PICO) Department, an ongo- ing effort with NEA-J input meant to enhance parent feedback and encourage positive interventions to meet site-identified community needs. Building collaborative structures NEA-J partnered with JUSD in applying for a com- munity schools implementation grant from the state Department of Education. That partnership included joint meetings to educate NEA-J site reps on commu- nity schools and any structural changes. A Memorandum of Understanding between NEA-J and JUSD codified new committees, including the District Community Schools Council and site-based councils, and made provisions for Teachers on Special Assignment (TOSAs) on each participating campus. The mutual goals set at each participating site have also positively influenced contract negotiations. Newly elected NEA-Jurupa President David O'Raf- ferty is pleased that collaborative relationship building is paying positive dividends for JUSD students. "It's exciting and rewarding. By bringing all our education stakeholders together to determine how to meet the community 's needs, we are discovering our true transformational power to change our public schools." For more information about CTA's work on commu- nity schools, see cta.org/communityschools. SANTA CLARA COUNT Y: Educators call for better safety Members of the Association of County Educators (ACE) and SEIU 521 converged on a Santa Clara County School Board meeting in May to shine a light on widespread hazardous working conditions at Santa Clara County Office of Education (SCCOE). Educators and education support professionals shared difficult stories of being attacked and seriously injured by their students. ACE leaders said respon- sibility for these dangerous conditions falls solely on SCCOE's excessive understaffing, high turnover rates and lack of sufficient training, which leaves workers and students at risk of injury. " To be clear, we do not blame the students for any- thing," said Tara Guerrero, ACE president and special education teacher. " This situation is not the students' fault, but instead is a result of management's failures to provide appropriate student-specific training, stu- dent-specific supports, and resources, including staff, to meet our students' needs and to ensure everyone is safe at school. When anyone experiences a pre- ventable injury and no additional support is provided after the incident, we are violating our students' and staff rights to safety." ACE and SEIU 521 leaders issued a joint statement calling on SCCOE to provide safe classrooms for every student and demanding that management implement Cal-OSHA directives to ensure student and staff safety. Bargaining Update, Continued from Page 35 37 J U N E / J U L Y 2 0 2 3