Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/1543424
ASTA, with 1,125 members, secured its community schools MOU in January 2023. " The MOU will last the length of the [five-year] CCSPP grant," says ASTA President Geoff Morganstern. "We also are working to extend to year six of the grant with our existing funds so the sustainability discussion will be for the 2027–28 school year. We'll then recommend that we update the MOU once all inter- est-holders collaboratively decide what sustainability will look like." For the MOU, ASTA and the district formed a subcommittee of the community schools steering committee to make language recom- mendations for both parties to consider at the bargaining table. "Contract bargaining is historically between the union and the district. We pitched the subcommittee idea to the district in the spirit of community schools and collaborative leadership — to use the community schools process to create collective bargaining. This also helps build parent and community relationships, as we are not excluding them from something so central. ASTA's relationship with the district as a result of community schools work helps both parties get through tough challenges, as with the 2023–24 layoff fight. The work also strengthens family and community support for ASTA's goals. "We use our contacts and relationships to build support. We were very successful in fighting layoffs by engaging our community, and now through the We Can't Wait (WCW) campaign. After talks with ASTA and the district, the school board passed a resolution supporting WCW. [Relationships] help us get further down the road because the board and community are familiar with and gen- erally supportive of the goals." Students vote for their representatives for the Community Schools Site- Based Steering Committee at Marina Vista Elementary in Richmond; photo: Kelly Johnson, Community School coordinator. 5 Sustaining community schools' practices and relationships 5 A Dexter Middle School (Whittier) post about its community schools steering committee. a. Pittsburg Education Association President Celia Medina-Owens says, " We're looking at the sustainability of community schools practices that we are implementing, meaning will we continue these practices when the funding runs out? Our vision is to change systems within our schools, even without state funding, so the services we pro- vide are sustainable. "At our one comprehensive high school — with 167 PEA educators and 3000+ students — a sus- tainable practice is the community closet where families can get food and clothing; it 's a hub for families to support literacy and treat anxiety. This is not funded by grants — we use LCAP funds. Other community schools use grant money to provide glasses to students, so we have to think how to continue this service." b. Anaheim Secondary Teachers Association (ASTA) has been at the forefront of the community schools movement in California for years — so much so that the NEA-funded National Community Schools Learning Lab is run through ASTA in collaboration with the Anaheim Union High School District. (NCSLL hosts CTA locals and community schools teams from around the country in multi-day trainings.) Currently, three- fourths of district schools are community schools; plans to transition the rest to community schools in the next year, funded by the district, are underway. a. b. 35 W I N T E R 2 0 26