Where Are We At?
By Camille Zombro, SDEA President and
Marc Capitelli, SDEA Vice President

Reflection is useful, if sometimes painful. We were thinking a few days ago about what we set out to do and how we are doing. It was sobering. We have a ways to go. It was also a rush. We have begun to make progress. We have had a lot of help in the past few months. Members, member-leaders and staff have joined the effort to chart a new course for SDEA.

A metaphor may be appropriate at this point. We all know the story of the Titanic. What we often forget is that if an ocean liner could "turn on a dime" the Titanic would be with us today. That beautiful ship just grazed the iceberg. Our "ship of state" has that same kind of inertia. Once set on a course, it takes sustained effort to alter that course.

Picture, if you will, a hundred or so people, like little tiny tug boats, valiantly trying to save the Titanic by pushing her out of the way of the dreaded iceberg. We face many icebergs in our path from the Governor to the Anti-Union Tribune to an indifferent School Board who does not seem to understand salary comparability and the value of their employees. You might think moving the ship is a lost cause. We have begun to notice, however, that more and more little tiny tugs are joining the effort and beginning to move the behemoth in a new direction. Her course has changed to warmer waters where she can sail forth for years to come. The concerted efforts of those who have joined the fray are making a difference in our union.

Our "all member meetings" during the month of March underscored a weakness: not much member involvement; and a strength: you stepped
forward to help when asked. That is the nature of our organization. Volunteers do much of our work; the more people help, the quality and amount of work improves, and the less each one has to do.

It's hard being patient. We wanted everything to be "fixed" by this point. Well, with age comes more wisdom. There is no fix. We can steer her toward calmer waters, but our ship will require some course corrections in the months and years ahead. As we remind our students, we have to be patient at times.

There is a learning curve as one assumes leadership. Ours has been mostly smooth, but we have swamped a few boats in our wake and we own up to that. While we won't change our commitment or our enthusiasm, we will sound the foghorn to let people know we are coming.

Our investment for the future is different. The Board of Directors and the Representative Council have committed to strengthening our work by providing better training that honors our new leaders' time. Sometimes long and frank discussions have moved us forward with new understandings of what we need to accomplish as an organization. The Board and Representative Council have taken bold new steps from providing clear direction to CTA about NCLB to giving SDEA new direction about organizing.

Our greatest challenge remains involving the membership at large. It is not enough to provide more opportunities for hearing you. To be effective we need to get you involved in our union. We don't have all the answers as to how to do that. We will keep seeing you at school. We will keep listening to you. We will keep our faith with you. If you have ideas to involve more of our members in our union, please email us at zombro_c@sdea.net or cap@alum.calberkeley.org.

We have settled in for the long haul and that has helped to sharpen our mission. We are committed to changing SDEA to be more effective, more responsive and more positive. We know these things:

• we must continue to build a more open and transparent union where ideas are not just tolerated, but embraced,
  
• our strength comes from our unity of spirit and purpose,
  
• our collective strength is enhanced as each of us learns to understand the power we possess and grow the courage to use it,
  
• as we each assume the burden of those who are afraid and speak for those of our students who are being left behind, we stand taller,

when our core union values stand for raising all of our brothers and sisters to a higher level, we transcend the good in pursuit of the great.