Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/1522302
Camino United For Students How a small chapter organized a community to win big changes for their students By Karmen Lee Ortloff Camino Faculty Assn. members and supporters. I T S T A R T E D I N November with a district-leaked, closed-ses- sion video of leaders speaking in degrading terms about school staff and PTO activists and ended with the resignations of a superintendent and four school board members. " We received a tip that the district posted a recording of a closed-session meeting, so we were able to hear our superin- tendent, board members, chief budget officer and more saying horrific things about staff and parent leaders. We had to prepare those that were talked about before they watched because it was really hurtful," said Camino Faculty Association (CFA) President Cora Dillard. e small community of Camino is a one-school district of less than 450 students in the foothills of the Sierra Mountains. CFA counts just 26 members. e local had already been orga- nizing with community leaders (efforts that resulted in a 10% investment in teacher salaries last year), so when the video leaked, its word-of-mouth meeting in Dillard's classroom was packed with parents, grandparents, teachers and other staff. e first order of business: unifying the community by formalizing a coalition. "Camino United for Students (CUFS) was born with a mission of delivering 'School Leadership Our Students Deserve.' We made sure to frame students at the center of everything we do," reported Dillard. e community sought guidance on how to hold district leadership accountable, which required a new school board and superintendent. "Some in the audience were skeptical we could make it all happen." Community members packed the next board meeting in November with CUFS-branded signs demanding resignations. Board meetings were usually held in the school cafeteria but knowing a crowd was inevitable, the district switched the loca- tion to a tiny, difficult-to-find portable at the back of campus with space for 15 chairs. Att endees quickly stacked chairs to accommodat e th e standing-room-only crowd . W hat followed were hours of parents and staff sharing stories of abusive behavior by the superintendent, which the board's inaction tacitly approved by way of no consequences. "It was very emotional and raw. Parents and staff got up and shared their experiences: the superintendent asking a middle school girl her sexual orientation (because she courageously reported a student threat to kill all gay students); threatening 20 cta.org Advocacy