Sara Kennedy

Bargaining Update - December 4

In yesterday’s 9th bargaining session, we reached one tentative agreement but spent the majority of our time discussing the same handful of proposals we’ve been focusing on for the last few sessions - and hearing the same excuses about why we’re still waiting for responses on some of SDEA members’ most widely and urgently felt issues.

We finally reached a tentative agreement on Reduced Workload Plans. This means that more educators in our bargaining unit are eligible for this program, which allows certificated staff who are nearing retirement to work less than full time in the years before retirement while getting full-time pension credit and fully paid family health benefits. With this agreement, educators who are part of the CalPERS pension program are also eligible - mostly those who started in classified roles. Read the full Tentative Agreement on Article 31: Reduced Workload Plan.

The District presented a counterproposal on Article 33: Discipline. Unfortunately, the language they proposed is still unworkable for educators, so we will need to continue discussing how to strengthen this article to give educators the professional respect they deserve, particularly when it comes to clarifying verbal vs. written warnings and how these are stored in members’ personnel files. Read all of the District’s proposed changes to Article 33: Discipline.

At this point in bargaining we’re continuing to go back and forth on the details of each proposal, so both bargaining teams shared counterproposals on articles we’ve been discussing for several sessions. 

The District submitted counterproposals on the two related articles on Evaluations, bringing us closer to agreement on how to incorporate a clearer and more fair evaluation process in our next contract:

• Article 14: Performance Evaluation Procedures

• Article 18: Peer Review & Enrichment Program (PREP)

SDEA submitted counterproposals on: 

• Article 5: Employee Organizational Rights, proposing scheduling New Hire Orientations that respect educator prep time at the beginning of the school year.
• Article 17: Summer School/Intersession Hours & Conditions of Employment, still advocating for a fairer system for Summer School hiring.
• Article 36: Community Schools, bringing us closer to agreement as we iron out details for Community Schools Site Coaches.

Delayed Conversations:

While we’ve made small steps toward solidifying our next contract and have come to agreement on some small pieces, the District has still not even responded to any of our proposals with a significant price tag, including proposals which critically impact educators across the District. In our first two sessions back in February and March of 2025, we proposed language to improve wages, address the crisis of Special Education staffing, end Fall excessing, and expand mental health supports. The District has yet to submit a single counterproposal on any of those articles. In the case of Special Education staffing, the District isn’t just stalling on discussing solutions - they’re violating our existing contract and have been for years. For a District that brags about supporting educators and being a “gold standard” for bargaining with us, things feel less than golden… not at the bargaining table, and certainly not in our schools and classrooms where our students don’t have what they need and deserve.

What’s Next?

Our next bargaining session is on December 18, just before Winter break. The day before, the SDEA board will review strike vote results and decide whether to set a strike date in February. 

It’s important to be clear about what this strike vote is for. SDEA members are voting on whether to authorize a 1-day Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) strike over the District’s ongoing violations of our current contract, specifically around Special Education staffing. A ULP strike is not the same as an open-ended economic strike like we are seeing from other union educators across California. Economic strikes happen only when bargaining reaches impasse and breaks down. That’s not where we are. We are making progress at the table… far slower than we want, and certainly not at a “gold standard” pace, but progress nonetheless.

Our ULP strike vote is about holding the District accountable for the contract we already have, and about showing our unity in defending our students’ right to fully staffed schools. And if SDEA members authorize a 1-day ULP strike, it sends a clear message: SDEA educators are prepared to take action!

Across California, other unions do point to San Diego as an example of investment in educators. That’s because for decades SDEA members have used their collective power to hold leadership accountable. It is our solidarity that is the real gold standard. Every action we take, from wearing SDEA shirts to standing on a picket line, shows that we are united and ready to fight for ourselves and our students. We Can’t Wait!

Stay engaged:

Attend your union meetings, and if you haven’t already, vote on our potential 1-day Unfair Labor Practice strike. (Learn more here about why SDEA’s Representatives are recommending a YES vote.)

Stay informed:

Use our tracker to see all proposals exchanged so far, all tentative agreements reached, and a legend to understand what all the formatting means!

In Solidarity,

SDEA’s Bargaining Team

Kyle Weinberg, SDEA President, Ed. Specialist: Mild/Moderate, English and History Teacher; Laurie Bailon, Restorative Justice Teacher, Bell MS; Carly Bresee, Ed. Specialist: Moderate/Severe, Lafayette ES, Sarah Darr, SDEA Secretary, WCW Campaign Organizer & SLP; Christina Gallegos, ECSE Teacher, Rodriguez ES; Candace Gyure, School Nurse; Stacy Hernandez, SDEA Bargaining Chair & 2nd Grade Teacher, Dailard El.; Andrew Melia, School Psychologist, Riley School; Elizabeth Miller, Ed. Specialist: Mild/Moderate, Lewis MS; Eri Nall, Head Counselor; Kiki Ochoa, History and Ethnic Studies Lead Teacher, Lincoln HS; Lori Schmersal, PE Teacher & Coach, Clairemont HS; plus SDEA staff Anthony Saavedra, Executive Director,  Sara Holerud, Organizer, and Rafal Dobrowolski, Contract Specialist

by Sara Kennedy

Bargaining Update - November 6

Yesterday was the eighth bargaining session between SDEA and San Diego Unified. You might be double checking the date, because it feels like you’ve read this update before: Still no proposals on anything with a significant price tag. There were ongoing discussions on some of the same articles as last time. At this point in bargaining it’s normal to have a lot of back and forth on the details of contract language - that’s the nature of negotiations. However, our progress is certainly slowed down by the fact that the District still has not provided any proposals on our “big ticket items”: Special Education staffing and supports, wages, ending Fall excessing, expanding mental health supports, or even extending the ECE TK co-teacher stipend.

Once again, the District brought no counters related to pay. We did, however, come to a tentative agreement on Article 34, which is a shared commitment to advocate for more funding for our schools. The reality is that while SDEA educators will need to urge the District to responsibly spend every available dollar on the resources our students need, we all need to advocate together at every level to improve the abysmal funding for public schools in the wealthiest state in the US. Read the full Tentative Agreement on Article 34: Revenue for Public Education

While we’re still inching forward on air filtration and other repair issues, we’ve made significant progress on Community Schools, and we’re establishing structures to ensure that educators have a voice in improving our evaluations process. 

Article 11: Safety Conditions of Employment 

We again urged the District to prioritize classroom air filtration, reintroducing our previous proposal based on professional standards originally suggested by the District. We also discussed improving the process of requesting repairs by setting clear timelines. Our proposal would allow site-level fixes when possible and escalating to central PPO when needed. This would speed up responses to educator concerns and reduce the current bottleneck caused by routing all concerns directly to a central department. Read all of SDEA’s proposed changes to Article 11: Safety Conditions of Employment.

Article 14 and 18: Evaluations and Support

Our proposals for Articles 14 and 18 leave the current contract language as is, but clarifies the introduction:

• Referring to the current agreement on evaluations in the 2025-26 and 2026-27 school years.
• Giving authority to a Joint Evaluation Committee to amend that agreement next school year if needed.

While both SDEA educators and administrators are motivated to improve our evaluations process, our priority is always ensuring that evaluations are used to support educators, not punish them. Read all SDEA’s proposed changes to Article 14: Performance Evaluation Procedures and Article 18 Peer Review & Enrichment Program (PREP). Make sure you’ve also checked out the current information about evaluations (including a summary and FAQ.)

Article 36: Community Schools

We are very close to an agreement that empowers Site Governance Teams at Community Schools and supports sustainability for this critical equity strategy that we fought for and won as union educators together with families and community allies! Read all of the District’s proposed changes to Article 36: Community Schools.

Most of our staffing discussion yesterday was focused on Summer School, along with two additional proposals that had minor adjustments: 

Article 17: Summer School/Intersession Hours & Conditions of Employment

We’ve made some movement toward a more fair system of staffing Summer School, balancing the needs of individual sites and programs with the rights of SDEA members interested in this opportunity. The District’s proposal yesterday would reduce opportunities to teach summer school unless it is hosted at your school site, which is not fair for educators at sites that never host. This means we can’t accept this proposal as is and we’ll be countering it. Read all the District’s proposed changes to Article 17: Summer School/Intersession Hours & Conditions of Employment.

Article 5: Employee Organizational Rights 

The District proposed a minor update to New Hire Orientation. Read all the District’s proposed changes to Article 5: Employee Organizational Rights.

Article 31: Reduced Workload 

We accepted the majority of the District’s last proposal, with minor adjustments. Read all of SDEA’s proposed changes to Article 31: Reduced Workload.

What's next?

Our next scheduled bargaining date is December 4, 2025. The District has yet to meaningfully respond to our proposals on wages, mental health supports, or fair compensation for our lowest-paid educators, but we’ll continue to show up and demand a contract that addresses the glaring needs in our district.

We need our 6000+ SDEA union educators to stay ready, so we don’t have to get ready! We need to keep up the momentum we’ve built so the District knows that our needs are urgent and that we’re serious about our demands… and so we can accelerate if needed. We Can’t Wait!

Stay informed:

Even through all the details of bargaining, we can stay focused on our demands for a new contract that ensures fully staffed schools, improved educator pay, and stability for our students and communities. Keep track of all proposals so far here, and access full campaign information here.

In Solidarity,

SDEA’s Bargaining Team

Kyle Weinberg, SDEA President, Ed. Specialist: Mild/Moderate, English and History Teacher; Laurie Bailon, Restorative Justice Teacher, Bell MS; Carly Bresee, Ed. Specialist: Moderate/Severe, Lafayette ES, Sarah Darr, SDEA Secretary, WCW Campaign Organizer & SLP; Christina Gallegos, ECSE Teacher, Rodriguez ES; Candace Gyure, School Nurse; Stacy Hernandez, SDEA Bargaining Chair & 2nd Grade Teacher, Dailard El.; Andrew Melia, School Psychologist, Riley School; Elizabeth Miller, Ed. Specialist: Mild/Moderate, Lewis MS; Eri Nall, Head Counselor; Kiki Ochoa, History and Ethnic Studies Lead Teacher, Lincoln HS; Lori Schmersal, PE Teacher & Coach, Clairemont HS; plus SDEA staff Anthony Saavedra, Executive Director,  Sara Holerud, Organizer, and Rafal Dobrowolski, Contract Specialist

by Sara Kennedy