California Educator

Members celebrate Day of the Teacher, protest cuts CTA photo by Bill Guy LEFT: Oceanside Teachers Association members (left to right) Laura Griffin, Denise Lambdin, John Connolly, Beth Martino and DeGolden Williams spend part of their Day of the Teacher celebration rallying for Props. 1A-1F on a highway overpass in Oceanside. BELOW: Franklin-McKinley Education Association President Scott Shulimson talks with reporters at a rally in San Jose. O 24 California Educator | 22-40 June.09.indd 24 june the result of the hard work of FranklinMcKinley Education As sociation President Scott Shulim son, who wore a "Save Our Schools" Tshirt and praised his chapter's organizing chair Yvonne Tran for her efforts. "We got the news out there, and we made a difference," Shulimson said. In Alameda County, members of the San Lorenzo Education Associa tion wore pink and red as they pro tested the San Lorenzo Unified School District's decision to lay off more than 70 teachers, including Sa mantha Terrasas, who had just been named the district's Outstanding FirstYear Teacher. Another pink slipped educator was San Lorenzo High School teacher Judy Smith. "I'm totally devastated," Smith CTA photo by Mike Myslinski n May 13, California Day of the Teacher, thousands of teachers across the state cele brated the day named in their honor with picnics and other fun events — but many also fanned out to pro test loudly against drastic school cuts and layoffs and to raise support for the May 19 ballot measures. CTA President David A. San chez kicked off the day with a live fiveminute interview about school cuts and the special election for "Mornings on 2" on the Oakland Fox affiliate, KTVU. Noting the Day of the Teacher theme — "California Teachers: Standing Up for a Better Tomor row" — Sanchez said, "We can't have a better tomorrow if we ig nore the funding crisis our schools face today." CTA Vice President Dean Vogel stood at a busy intersection near Eastridge Mall in San Jose with nearly 150 educators from several Santa Clara County chapters. Near him, spread out in front of a gas sta tion, was a row of 10 empty chairs with signs reading "California Day of the Former Teacher." Two TV stations covered Vogel and the pro testers asking motorists to vote yes on Propositions 1A1F. Cars honked in support as teachers marched. The protest was told the Hayward Daily Review newspaper. "I love San Lorenzo — the kids, the teachers, the community." In nearby Contra Costa County, hundreds of Mt. Diablo Unified School District teachers and parents protested on Day of the Teacher in Concord, Walnut Creek and Bay Point and urged motorists to pass the statewide propositions and a lo cal parcel tax (which also failed at the polls). The district issued more than 400 permanent pink slips to teachers. In San Mateo County, teachers from San Carlos and Belmont gath ered for phone banking for Props. 1A and 1B at the CTA offices in Fos ter City, and educators from all over Monterey County joined parents in a night of community phone bank ing in Salinas. In Bakersfield, about 1,500 teachers celebrated Day of the Teacher in what has become a tradi tion for them, a picnic in Yokuts Park. But, in what has also become a rite of spring, the teachers seized the opportunity to talk about what further state budget cuts would do to schools. On their minds specifi cally this year was the need for vot ers to pass Propositions 1A1F on the statewide May 19 ballot. "I think if they fail, the state Legislature will essentially have to go back to the battle. They're not going to be at square one, but they're certainly going to have massive shortfalls they are going to have to deal with," Mitch Ol son, president of the Kern High School Teachers Association, told a local TV station that had sent a crew to cover the event. Teachers and parents also worked side by side at the Sacra mento City Teachers Association, calling voters. In Chico, educators from the Butte County Teachers Association, the Chico Unified Teachers Asso ciation and the Thermalito Teach ers Association joined together to observe Day of the Teacher by phoning voters to urge them to vote yes on the ballot propositions. At the same time teachers were phone banking, the Chico Unified School District announced that it would eliminate 135 fulltime positions. Association members in South ern California celebrated the day in a variety of ways that included both advocacy and recognition of their accomplishments. Members from several locals demonstrated at rallies along high ways and very visible public places. Members of Orange County's Tus tin Educators Association lined up with signs at the intersections of Jamboree Road and Airport Avenue and Irvine Boulevard in Irvine, urg 2009 6/4/09 2:01:23 PM

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