Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/1530930
go," says Mougeotte, a high school social studies teacher. "It was just a matter of educating our members about the situa- tion and what we needed from them, and then the organizing fell into place." After reaching out to the superintendent and school board to slow down the process and work together (and receiving no response), RTPA issued a cease-and-desist notice and demanded the district bargain the change in working conditions. Later, RTPA leaders amended their complaint to say that the board's policy was illegal, so they were not demanding to bargain the impacts — " We're not putting our members' credentials and livelihoods in jeopardy." Mougeotte says he expected the district to back off the policy, but when it didn't, RTPA turned to PERB. "Every time somebody has told the district 'no this is illegal,' they refuse to accept it and find a new attorney or a new avenue to try," he says. "ey have a policy of 'If you see something, say something.' We saw something, we said something and they still did it anyway." In June, a PERB administrative law judge ruled in RTPA's favor, ordering the forced-outing policy to be reversed and directing the school district to stop trying to circumvent the collective bargaining process. e district has appealed that ruling to the full PERB Board, but RTPA is confident that PERB will uphold its win. Mougeotte says they are thrilled with the initial victory, adding it to a list of recent wins Rocklin members have powered with their activism and using them as energy to keep up the momentum. He's excited about what's next for RTPA members. " We spent a lot of energy and resources for the last few months," Mougeotte says. "e beautiful thing about 'next' for our membership is that next is back in their classrooms, focused on their kids." Temecula Educators Win: PERB overturns extremist policies "It was very clear to our members that this was an attack on our union and it was an attack on them as well. We are the union," says Edgar Díaz, president of Temecula Valley Educators Asso- ciation (TVEA). "You can't say you love teachers and then try to nullify part of our contract." Temecula Valley Unified School District (TVUSD) garnered national attention in late 2023 when an extremist school board majority adopted illegal policies that violated the rights of Teme- cula students and educators and put them in danger. is is the same board that refused to approve a social studies textbook because it included a section on civil rights icon Harvey Milk — so Díaz said TVEA was familiar with their extremist antics when they adopted policies requiring educators to "out" their LGBTQ+ students, as well as banning the display of any flags in classrooms other than the United States and California flags. Díaz says that when the school board made these decisions, it changed educators' working conditions and unilaterally attempted to nullify part of their contract — and it immediately put some of the district's most vulnerable students at risk. "Part of any public school teacher's DNA is that we accept any student that walks through our door. We care about them as students and also as individuals," says Díaz, a 23-year teacher. "When policies are adopted that create division between stu- dents and teachers or that whittle away at the trust people have for educators — that creates distrust and makes it difficult to do our jobs." After an attempt at bargaining went fruitless, TVEA turned to PERB and filed an unfair practice charge over the district's unilateral changes to members' working conditions and the Temecula Valley EA educators and community at a Temecula school board meeting; the board adopted policies requiring educators to "out" their LGBTQ+ students and banned the display of flags in classrooms other than the U.S. and California flags. Courtesy Capital & Main 24 cta.org Feature