"Heroes of the Past"
From Camille Zombro's Fall Leadership Speech
Co-Written with Marc Capitelli

Fellow members, welcomed staff, CTA Secretary/Treasurer Dean Vogel, CTA Di rector Dianne Jones, SDUSD Trustee John deBeck and other honored guests, welcome to the 57th annual SDEA fall leadership Conference!

In my state of the union address, we will be assisted by Gail Boyle and Don Crawford, former SDTA presidents and former and current SDEA employees. We find it appropriate to borrow their voices to bring alive those who have led us in the past. Listen to those voices because we continue their struggle today.

A cadre of San Diego teachers, revolutionaries of their day, comprehended that an injustice committed against some of their members is committed against all of them. They put their jobs on the line because they knew that this injustice must not stand.

Born from the fires of discrimination in 1917 and 1918, SDTA arose from the wickedness of a Board of Education that fired 18 teachers. A school board, that had been newly elected, and obtained the name of "the solid 3", foreshadowing a board that took power some eighty years later. 18 teachers were chosen from a group of teachers who refused to sign an oath of loyalty and servitude to the Board of Education.Weeks later they were finally told the reason they were fired. They were not:

"absolutely and unqualifiedly loyal to our government and institutions and 100% American... several were under surveillance by the authorities for Pro-Germanism".
School Board Member, 1918

Teachers stood fast. High school and junior college students joined the cause. Principals resigned their position in protest! The San Diego newspapers raised a storm of protest. The Chamber of Commerce stood with the teachers.

In the end your brothers and sisters prevailed. But, we know that even in victory all is not sweet. Not all the teachers or administrators came back to teach in San Diego. Some did not come back to the profession they loved. Lives were shortened by the thoughtless political action against people who cared not just about children, but cared enough about their profession to stand up to "the solid 3".

On who we are...
Let us make our Teachers' Association all that it should be. All that concerns teachers or children in school should be the business of the association. What happens to one teacher might happen to any.

Join, not as a matter of advantage, but as a civic duty, and lend a hand. You have ideas. Put them into writing and hand them or mail them to the president or to a member of the board or directors.They will be referred to the board or to the proper committees and all possible will be done to carry them into effect. Be active. Be available. Help whenever you see the opportunity. You are a teacher, do your part with cheerfulness and enthusiasm to make your organization all that it can be. Encourage other teachers to do likewise and in time the teachers of our children will come to occupy the position of dignity and influence in our American life.
Greetings from Our New President, by E. L. Moore, SDTA resident November 6, 1922

We stand today on the shoulders of GIANTS!

The state of our Union in 2006 is characterized by external political strife and uncertainty. Last fall, we joined with our CTA family all over California to defeat the governor's attacks on education. We were a 9th inning team though, kicking into high gear in the final weeks of the election.

We have voted to support our friend, John deBeck, who is running unopposed for the first time. However in District B, the district where the single largest numbers of our members reside, we took no position.

That is not the entire picture! We are reaching out! Our leadership is actively seeking meetings with community leaders and policy makers at all levels. It will be a long road to build the power needed to push sensible and proactive legislation from the School Board, to the state house, to Congress.

On Politics...
Lesson 1: For people in Sacramento, a deal made is a deal only as long as there is enough pressure and power to make the deal work.

Lesson 2: From time to time politicians can suffer from temporary amnesia. They can forget their friends and supporters, and allow their votes to be swayed by political considerations.

Lesson 3: For every victory won there is a price to be paid. Whether it is continuing to battle opponents to protect what was won, or fending off attack from those who perceive you powerful and therefore dangerous to them, political victory is seldom inexpensive.

Lesson 4: There are good and honest legislators who are willing to work hard, vote their principles and do what is right even when it may cost them politically.
Personal Observations-Sacramento Scene,
by Frank Caso, CTA Director -September 1990

Internally we must assist our members to understand the political reality that standing by in educational politics means that someone else is going to put forward an agenda and it wont be our agenda. We do not have the money that Exxon and Chevron have gouged from our gas tanks. We do have the people, the reason why organization is the key.

On Attacks on Public Education...
"The attack on public education will again be renewed by its enemies with greater intensity. Reduction of educational costs, curtailment of curricula, breaking up of the solidarity and morale of the teaching profession will be attempted by the production of new legislation. Bills will be introduced covering tenure... removal of the constitutional guarantee and the state fixed charges for school support, doing away with physical education and other curricular activities... [and the] elimination of adult education."
Greater need for Defense of Free Public Schools Seen, Official Bulletin of the San Diego Teachers Association May 1934

In the past we have been organized over an election or a strike, reaching peaks and descending into valleys in our capacity to carry out our political agenda. Today, politics means that we must remain in a constant state of readiness, able to respond quickly and effectively to our needs.

On Member Involvement...
It is no simple thing to focus interest upon matters, which do not evoke shock, conflict, rebellion, or the excitement of suspicion of motive. The daily practice, which leads to a championship performance, rarely makes headlines. So it is with the work of SDTA.

Today off Point Loma the visible Pacific Ocean was almost indolently calm. Without the skin diver's intimate knowledge of the vibrant, teeming activity beneath the surface, the Pacific was, in fact, dull.

To some dues-paying-only SDTA members the Association is always surface deep. For them, it is always, "What have you done for me recently?" Actually, this self-centered attitude is most helpful since it stirs the conscientious, working member to constant re-examination of the effectiveness of our Association.

Often, however, the working member is so engaged in the struggle beneath the surface toward a specific objective that he isn't even aware of the stillness. He seeks the satisfaction of achievement, oblivious to headlines or self-glorification.
The President Speaks, by Burt "Kenny" Vorce, SDTA President February 1964

The State of our Union in 2006 is that Shared Decision-making, according to an honest source at the District, sits at "ground zero." After so many years of struggle and hard work to build, not only the concept, but the reality of Shared Decision-making we are told that we must again get the buy-in of our administration.

The good news is that we are talking... In a recent meeting between SDUSD and SDEA leadership, we finally agreed to adhere to the Shared Decision-making procedures, as adopted by the Board of Education in 1998. Thanks to your efforts, we were able to produce a survey, showing that over 77% of sites are interested in Shared Decision-making training. We have a verbal agreement to launch Shared Decision-making trainings this fall.

And we're still talking... Our leadership will meet with Patrick Dolan, a consultant on Shared Decision-making, to review and lay out the next steps toward building a meaningful partnership between SDEA members, administrators, and the parents and communities we serve.

We are reminded that, power concedes nothing without demand. It is up to us to demand our rightful seat at the table where decisions that affect our work and our students are made. Our interest is to build the necessary infrastructure to make San Diego Unified America's Best!

On teachers being told that
"It is up to the teachers to show where {the money for a raise} can be found..."

...I must confess that my ire has risen a few points higher each successive time that I have hear this stock alibi in the last 40 years. Every Board member and teacher from then till now has known full well where the money comes from, and if he hasn't there has always been a group of citizens perfectly willing to provide that information, and it isn't the teachers' obligation to go to the Board of Supervisors and ask for an increase in the budget. It's the obligation of the Board of Education. I condemn the idea and the too prevalent practice of determining what the level of the teachers' salary shall be by the amount which remains in the supervisors' budget after every other public expenditure has been taken care of. The quality of service to youth should not be only such as is attracted by crumbs.
The History of SDTA, by Gilbert Deer, Founding member of SDTAFebruary 1946

The State of our Union in 2006 is a divergence from our past. Our artificially low staffing ratios and other critical issues, demand that we roll up our sleeves and take part in the conversation of how our district will prioritize the budget. In order to provide adequate services and adequate compensation, we must diverge from our stance that it is up to the Board of Education to figure out how to make this happen.

With the demand to sit at the table comes the responsibility to participate. We can't pick and choose. We can't eat the dessert without choking on the vegetables! So the tough decisions about health care, staff sizes, and other disagreeable tasks must not be avoided. We can't demand a seat at the table unless we're willing to participate in the entire conversation. The true power of SDEA is the relationship that leadership has with members. You must build your relationships with your staffs so that we hear their voices at Rep Council. The more responsibility SDEA takes, the greater the need for Rep Council to know our members.

On Collaboration...
"The time has passed when a single, inspired leader can conceive, promote and implement his ideas. In the future educational decisions will be group decisions. It does not follow that the individual will shrink in importance or that the group will dominate. In this transition of authority, the non-conformist need not be silenced and the individual volunteer worker must not lose identity or responsibility."
SDTA'S FORWARD MARCH! CTA Executive Secretary Dr. Arthur Corey
June 1963

Our course in the next few months and years is to lead the SDEA renaissance with a vision and commitment to openness and transparency to
provide you and our members with all the information needed to make intelligent choices about difficult issues. With your commitment, this must be SDEA.

Our task is to construct SDEA as the leader in urban education, building the kind of workplace where every person is respected for the contributions they make, every person is heard and their ideas evaluated; every student succeeds to their ability. With your strength, this will be SDEA.

Our vision is of 8000 teachers standing together in solidarity and support of each other. With your commitment, and our member's involvement, we are SDEA.

Our duty is to take our rightful place at the table

• To prove that an urban union can collaborate with administrators in building an urban school district that excels
  
• To enlist, with respect, support staff in our cause
  
• To educate schools boards that are sometimes in the dark

All of this we must do to create a school district that fulfills the promise of each student and respects the integrity of each employee.

On Courage and Vision
"We get courage, by seeing things, by having a vision of something - a vision that takes us beyond the little things around us - by seeing beyond the selfish affairs of the moment to the unselfish affairs of the future"
Quoting Dr. Will Crawford (Crawford High School namesake) from an address he gave to SDTA, 1951

The highest mountain we have to climb now is within ourselves.

Together we must leave the bitterness of Bersin behind us.

We have been tempered by that experience and we will never forget the lessons we learned:

• We can never step back from what is right for our students and for our members
  
• Our strength comes from unity and organization, power begets power
  
• An injustice to the least of us, any school employee is an injustice to us all
  
• Money does not fix problems, 1Z2 billion dollars of Blueprint money proved that, but, our collective, collaborative wisdom can.

We are proud of our past because we continue the struggle that our forbearers began and which will continue long into our future. Our history echoes from the past on the powerful words of those who carried out the mission we persist with today.

On Teachers as Professionals...
In reading over the history of the San Diego Teachers Association, it was inspiring to find that the original purpose of our Association, way back in June 1918, was "to form a teaching profession in San Diego..." And that statement, made over 38 years ago, concluded with this sentence, "Whatever we may be in individual, civic and religious relations, professionally we must be united."

We are prone to forget that teachers before us struggled to establish for us this professional status which we all hold dear. But let us not be prone to laxity and indifference-rather let us rededicate ourselves to the task of proving, not only to the public but to all of our colleagues, that TEACHING IS A PROFESSION.
The President Speaks, by Marge Collins, SDTA President
Fall, 1957

The new reality is we have a Superintendent that cannot and should not lead this School Board alone. We have a school board that struggles to understand that NCLB guarantees only one thing:

that every school will fail, not that every child will succeed. We have members who have little history of the union movement and what that
movement has meant to the working brothers and sisters of this country.

So we have our work cut out for us. We must continue to represent our members with a new voice.

• Speaking with the wisdom of our members because we have listened.
  
• Proud in our democracy because exercising it is healthy.
  
• Strong in our belief that we make sound choices because we have a fully informed membership and leadership.

Let me close with a borrowed reflection about how we should be sitting at "the table", a reflection borrowed from another young president and when
you overlay it on the fabric of our Union today it becomes more profound for us:

So let us begin anew-remembering on both sides that civility is not a sign of weakness, and sincerity is always subject to proof. Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.

Let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of belaboring those problems which divide us.

And if a beachhead of cooperation may push back the jungle of suspicion, let both sides join in creating a new endeavor, not a new balance of power, but a new world of law, where the strong are just and the weak secure and the peace preserved.
John F. Kennedy -- January 20, 1961