Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/1509126
Addressing Staffing Crisis With Contract Agreement SCTA members in September ratified a contract agreement that will help attract and retain educators, so every Sacramento student has a full-time teacher. The highlights: • Ongoing, across-the-board 10% pay increase; • Additional 6% increase for staff in difficult-to-fill positions, including special education teachers, education audiologists, school nurses, social workers and school psychologists; • Increase in substitute teacher pay to $355 per day — a more than $100 increase. Organizing and Winning on Election Day At the center of SCTA's problems in SCUSD: Super- intendent Jorge Aguilar, whose legacy is his refusal to collaborate with educators in any way, regardless of the impact on students. SCTA leaders knew that to make any progress on important opportunities like community schools, they needed leaders on the school board who would listen to educators — and that meant unseating incumbents. Educators turned to two community members who showed leadership in supporting educators during the strike (Jasjit Singh and Taylor Kayatta) along with fellow educator and NEA Board member Tara Jeane (all pictured above) to run for trustee seats, focusing the power of their robust site rep structure on talking to as many voters as possible and electing a new majority to the school board. The candidates and their supporters, including many SCTA members, spent thousands of hours knocking on more than 43,000 doors and talking to voters about building the schools that all Sacramento students deserve. When all the votes were counted, the organizing, precinct walking and voter education efforts were successful in electing all three candidates. In June, Aguilar resigned as superintendent after reaching a mutual decision with the school board. I was just reading emails," she says. Fourth grade teacher Ricardo Martinez says it's all about build- ing community at school sites. The site rep at Bowling Green Charter School for two decades, Martinez is a go-to when workers need help — whether it's his fellow educators and SCTA members or front office staff and yard-duty aides. "People are in need of leadership, of someone to talk to," says Martinez. "Power can advocate. To function as a school, we need to be working together." At a school or site without a union representative? Interested in speaking up for your colleagues and building power for your students? Reach out to your chapter leadership and ask how you can become a site rep. Photo portraits by Christie Gimpel, christiegimpel.com. Lori Jablonski GEOGRAPHY, AP GOVERNMENT TEACHER, McClatchy High School Educator for 23 years, site rep for 20 Positions held: Site Representative, Bargaining Team Why site reps matter: "We are the faces of the union. People come to trust us and that's essential to building power — because how do you build power without trust?" Power of strong local sites: "We've had some rocky times with admins. Having a site rep program people trust is essential to getting through that." Site rep pro tip: "Use the union time at your staff meetings. Use that time to communicate with your members and build union power at your school." Words of wisdom: " True democracy is a bottom-up phenomenon, and a site rep program is that in action. SCTA's secret to success has been embrac- ing this democracy." Continued from Page 21 22 cta.org Feature