Which Side Are You On? Our Fight For Safe, Welcoming Schools

We’re seeing a wide gap between federal priorities and educator realities.

Educators in San Diego are experiencing the daily consequences of underfunded public schools: An ongoing Special Education staffing crisis, pay cuts to our lowest-paid educators, and a cost of living that makes educators and families alike struggle to stay in our communities. Yet the most recent federal budget included further cuts to education while shifting massive funding increases to immigration enforcement. With billionaire tech companies making money off the deportation machine, this is all part of a growing pattern of diverting resources away from schools and working families to line the pockets of billionaires.This Labor Day, SDEA members and thousands of other San Diegans asked: Which side are YOU on?

SDEA educators are on the side of our students.

Stability for students and communities is one of the three pillars that SDEA and thousands of other educators across the state are fighting for. In January 2025, at the very beginning of this administration’s immigration crackdown, SDEA representatives voted to explicitly clarify that safe and welcoming schools mean protecting our immigrant students. Since SDEA educators have fought hard for District leadership that shares their priorities, SDUSD leaders have also been clear about their commitment to protecting students on campus. California State Law, our SDEA contract, and District policy do provide some overlapping protections to prevent ICE from accessing schools, if they operate within the law.

The reality: ICE raids are getting closer and closer to our schools.

  • On August 14, a parent at Linda Vista Elementary was kidnapped while waiting to pick up their child - less than a block away from the school. Read local coverage here, and SDEA’s statement here.

  • While there has been only one documented ICE arrest at an SDUSD school, similar detainments have happened across the region and beyond. iNewsSource is mapping ICE arrests of parents at schools in San Diego here.

  • In the early hours of August 22, community members identified ICE vehicles in the parking lot of Herbert Ibarra Elementary. The community raised the alarm and shouted at the agents until they left. Read coverage here, and see video from Unión del Barrio below:

https://youtu.be/9f523dc1XTA

As union educators, we have the power to stand up with our communities.

“We’ve been talking a lot about keeping ICE off campus - that’s important, but that’s not enough. It doesn’t matter whether these kidnappings are happening on campus or during the day… when ICE is staging in our school parking lots, and when they’re kidnapping parents around the corner, up the street, or in our communities, this is a direct attack on our students. We stand in unity with all workers everywhere, and we demand that our communities, and especially our schools, be free of ICE terror. As labor activists standing in resistance to growing fascism in our country, we ask workers everywhere, which side are you on? Do you stand with our students, families and the workers that make up the backbone of our community or not? The time for labor to unite in defense of students is now! Schools need to be safe places to teach and to learn, and that’s something worth fighting for.” - SDEA Board Member Mary Ann Belmontez, August 22 press conference at Ibarra.

Our power: Solidarity with families, community members, and workers

On August 19, SDEA joined labor and community partners at a Nonviolent Direct Action Training to teach hundreds of San Diegans how to exercise their legal rights and flex their collective power. At the September 3 Rep Council, SDEA representatives heard from Unión del Barrio about how to identify ICE vehicles in their communities, and about their community patrols like the one that identified ICE at Ibarra recently. 

Continued partnerships with labor and community will be essential in our ongoing fight for safe schools and communities. When our communities are under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back!

What can YOU do?

Attend your next union meetings, and keep showing up! This is essential in building to our peak collective power as a union, which we can use to stand up for our students and our communities. Here are three other things you can do today to specifically build capacity and solidarity with immigrant communities.

  1. Follow community organizations like Unión del Barrio or ARE who are offering local trainings.
  2. Check out this resource from NEA (particularly page 7-8) for key legal parameters when engaging in immigration advocacy.
  3. Build shared solidarity with union siblings with these urgent calls to action from Labor Day 2025 - it’s time to stand with all workers!

 

by Sara Kennedy

SDEA Members are Getting Strike Ready!

Last school year, SDEA members developed a bargaining platform and showed up in support: holding walk-ins, passing out thousands of flyers to families, and picketing at 125 schools. Our collective power has already led to some progress at the bargaining table with a 1.5% retroactive raise and progress on evaluations, but as SDEA members return to the bargaining table next week on September 11th, we know we need to keep up the collective pressure:

To win all the things we’re still fighting for, we need to build on the momentum of last year and get ready for our peak power as a union: Strike readiness!

SDEA is getting strike-ready!

In August, site and program leaders attended a full-day Union Academy focused on Strike Readiness and what that would look like at their site. SDEA hasn’t held a strike vote in decades, so leaders invited experienced voices to share concrete examples: Georgia Flowers-Lee, who shared insight from UTLA’s recent strike, and Nate Gunderson, NEA organizer and “Strike Doula” who has supported striking educators nationwide. Their concrete examples helped leaders begin drafting their own plans to start the year strong.

What’s the next step?

Attend your September union meeting to work on your local strike readiness plan together (and learn more about the details of the first union-wide action of the year!)

  • Not sure when your union meeting is? Ask your site or program representative!
  • Not sure who your rep is? Reach out to the SDEA office!

by Sara Kennedy

Special Education Caseload Overages: Time to go beyond grievances

Special Education Caseload overages are impacting us all.

Many SDEA educators are already over caseload, and according to Sections 29.1.2. and 29.1.3. in the contract, once an educator is over caseload for 10 consecutive workdays, the District must increase Special Education staffing allocation at their site. 

👍The good news: SDEA members bargained a pathway to a free Special Education credential into the SERP agreement last year, as a way to fill SpEd vacancies and offset retirements. Today, the District communicated to SDEA leaders that almost all SpEd vacancies have been filled by SDEA members taking advantage of this pathway program. This is exactly why SDEA members bargained this agreement, and why members on the bargaining team have proposed this as a permanent pathway in Article 29 of our next contract. Offering free credentials for members interested in filling critical Special Education vacancies is a win for everyone involved!

👎The bad news: It’s too soon to tell if filling these vacancies will be enough to balance caseloads, and the District has yet to settle the last two years of caseload grievances. 

District-wide caseload grievances: An annual tradition that impacts everyone.

When the contract is violated, SDEA members can file grievances - individually, in groups, or as an entire union. For the past six years SDEA members have filed union-wide grievances to get stipends for educators over caseload. However, the grievances from 2023-24 and 2024-25 school years still remain unsettled.

Keep in mind that grievances are only one way to solve problems, and that the muscle behind them is always organizing. SDEA members have already been organizing in support of Special Education staffing: Rallying at a January SDUSD Board Meeting alongside CSEA colleagues to highlight the urgency of Special Education staffing, and forming delegations to meet with individual board members to personally share how this staffing crisis impacts students. The District had another chance to address staffing at the bargaining table, when SDEA members on the bargaining team proposed changes to Article 29 to ensure more concrete, enforceable caseload limits. The District has yet to respond to that proposal and has continued to offer lowball settlements to grievances that are now years old. It’s clear that grievances and negotiations aren’t enough: Educators are still overloaded, students are still underserved, and real solutions are long overdue. We can’t wait! 

SDEA members proved last year that we are ready to show up and fight. Now it’s time to STAY ready.

 

We’ve been gradually escalating our actions, and we need to be prepared for something bigger.

Special Education staffing was identified as a key part of our We Can’t Wait campaign for our next contract: It’s the very top issue on our platform, and educators and community members have been showing up strong in support! While Special Education staffing isn’t the only urgent issue facing educators right now, it is one where SDEA members have already exhausted their other options. If caseload language continues to be violated, the next step in escalation will be strike readiness. Just before the school year started, SDEA site and program representatives spent the day at Union Academy learning about strike readiness and seeing examples of effective strategies. They started conversations that will continue with you at union meetings in September. Make sure you attend your union meetings to find out more and get involved! 

Not sure who your union rep is? Reach out to the SDEA office!

What if I am over caseload?

If you are already over caseload, it is a good idea to start keeping records of your weekly caseloads. This documentation will be important to get settlements for existing or future grievances, especially if there is a discrepancy in the District data.

Ed. Specialists over caseload should download or print weekly caseload reports directly from PowerSchool IEP (PSIEP) and ensure there is a date and timestamp on each report. In addition to that, download or print your caseload report on any day your caseload increases or decreases.

by Sara Kennedy

Latino/a/x Rising: Building Community Together

All San Diego County CTA Educators are invited to this FREE CTA San Diego County Service Center Event on Saturday, September 6! Click here to download a flyer to share, and RSVP here by September 4.

 

 

by Sara Kennedy

Progress on 2025-26 and 2026-27 Evaluation models

SDEA members have reached an agreement with the District on Evaluations for the 2025-2026 and 2026-2027 school years. This evaluation process is modeled from the Alternative Evaluation that currently exists in Section 14.7. of the union contract.

This evaluation model change is intended to shift away from the former evaluation model (commonly known as the “Stull”). Instead of the often punitive Stull, the intention is an evaluation system that allows educator support in areas of self-determined need. In the rare occasion that an educator receives a less-than-satisfactory evaluation during their on-cycle evaluation year, educators will receive support from their peers through a new Advisory model. Supporting educators so they can be successful is a part of our We Can’t Wait campaign, and this agreement is one step in the ongoing effort to streamline and improve the evaluation process.

In the upcoming weeks, look for more information, including a more detailed summary, FAQ, and resource documents on the SDEA website. In the meantime, read the full Memorandum of Understanding on the Educator Evaluation Plan for the 2025-2026 and 2026-2027 school years here:

MOU: Educator Evaluation Plan 2025-26 & 2026-27 (8/19/25)

by Sara Kennedy

September 1, 2025: March with your union on Labor Day!

On Monday, September 1, join fellow SDEA members as we march alongside our labor and community partners to fight for the rights of working people.

We will meet up at 9:45 am at the Center on Policy Initiatives' (CPI's) table in front of the San Diego County Admin Building. See the approximate location here and what the table looks like:

Wear your SDEA shirt so we can find one another in the crowd!

See more information and RSVP if you want updates from event organizers!

by Sara Kennedy

Statement: ICE kidnapping at Linda Vista Elementary

Yesterday afternoon, near Linda Vista Elementary School, a parent was detained and kidnapped by ICE while waiting to pick up their child from school. 

SDEA members have worked hard to ensure that District leadership prioritizes protecting our communities, and we urge them to continue speaking out and providing valuable resources. 

We also know that we can’t stop at policies on paper and a shared commitment to keep ICE off campus. As educators, we know that what happens off campus impacts our school communities, too.  As union educators we know that we have the power to fight for what matters to us: Safe, stable, welcoming schools and communities, both within and outside the school doors.

Our power is in our solidarity. We need to get organized! We’ve seen educators and communities in Los Angeles stand up to ICE raids, and we must be ready to do the same in San Diego, especially with a federal administration that prioritizes immigration enforcement over community care.

Next week, SDEA members will join labor and community allies for a Nonviolent Direct Action Training to prepare for future raids. We are not alone, and we cannot afford to be bystanders. An Injury to One is An Injury to All!

In solidarity,

Kyle Weinberg
SDEA President

by Sara Kennedy

Nonviolent Direct Action Training

San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council and UCSD’s Labor Center (along with a variety of other community organizations) are holding a Nonviolent Direct Action Training, to train our local community how to to prepare our local community to organize against raids and protect each other.

by Sara Kennedy

Letters in Solidarity: Paid Special Education Credential Pathway to Fully Staff Schools

Paid Special Education Credential Pathway to Fully Staff Schools

We hope that everyone is making the most of your well-deserved break as we all recharge and prepare to ramp up our contract campaign next school year. The overarching demand in our bargaining platform is fully-staffed, stable and inclusive schools and through our collective organizing efforts last school year, we elevated the ongoing special education vacancies in our district as a key issue that we must tackle together. 

The special education staffing crisis impacts our vulnerable students with disabilities by depriving them of educators who can provide targeted support to meet their individual needs. It’s also a problem we will continue to face moving forward: Like other districts throughout the country, our number of new teachers in special education credential programs has not recovered to what it was before the pandemic.

In January, SDEA union educators from throughout the district rallied at the board meeting at the Ed Center to highlight the lack of progress on implementing concrete solutions to staff vacant special education positions. In March, we proposed a package of improvements to fully staff special education as part of our We Can’t Wait contract campaign demands:

  • $4000 yearly stipend for education specialists
  • Monthly stipend for special education teachers over contractual caseload caps
  • A monthly case management day where education specialists are released from instruction by a visiting teacher
  • A pathway for educators to add a Special Education credential paid for by the District, to help fill vacancies 

SDEA special education leaders who have absorbed month after month of caseload overages also recently met with all five of the SDUSD board members to convey our urgency to explore all possible solutions to fill special education vacancies and get our highest need students the supports they deserve. While this resulted in some progress and got us closer to resolving the unionwide grievance related to exceeding contractual contract caps from last school year and the previous one, we know that this is a band-aid that doesn’t address the larger problem of the ongoing staffing crisis.

As part of our agreement with the District to offset retirements from the Supplemental Early Retirement Plan (SERP), the District has already agreed to pay for SDEA bargaining unit members, including those on temporary contracts, early childhood educators and visiting teachers, to add a Special Education credential in exchange for committing to work in a Special Education vacancy. For those who have already enrolled in a program or who are interested in participating, make sure to fill out the District’s interest form by June 30, 2025 (Note: You will need to be logged into your District email). Check out the SDEA Special Education Credential Pathway hub for extensive answers to Frequently Asked Questions and other resources.

by Sara Kennedy

SDEA History Corner: Rooted In Solidarity

by Gail Boyle, President of SDEA-Retired

This is Part 2 of our SDEA History Series. See Part 1 here!

San Diego’s first strike wasn’t teachers, it was San Diego High School students.

Think of the requirements for dismissal today: Just cause, with significant documentation and a right to representation. That is because we have a contract and a union. Not so in 1918. On June 4, 1918, a list was issued of 18 teachers at San Diego High who were being dropped from employment. No reason was given, just a notice that their services would not be required next year.

This was big news in San Diego! It attracted much furor. For 18 consecutive days, the three newspapers dedicated a total of 125 columns to a discussion of the situation and demanded a reason. The Board of Education sent the papers a shocking and libelous statement that the teachers were disloyal to their country. The students of San Diego High, through their elected ASB, demanded a better explanation.

The San Diego High ASB Executive Committee subsequently notified the student bodies of the high school and the junior college that there would be a meeting in the stadium during lunch on June 6th. The meeting of 1800 students was orderly and lasted 1 hour, forty-five minutes. They passed a resolution: “Resolved that the student bodies of the San Diego High School and Junior College leave, and not return to school until the Board of Education has given satisfactory reasons, other than political, for the dismissal of several teachers, and furthermore, that they offer to reinstate all who are not proven inefficient.”

Photo from San Diego History Center

The School Board called the police headquarters to report a riot. Police rushed to the school, but finding neither a riot, nor anyone trying to produce one, left. One newspaper headline says how many students were attending school: “EXTRA! FIVE PEOPLE GOING TO HIGH SCHOOL!” The District was losing $600-$700 daily from ADA funds, as nearly all students refused to attend. 

The San Diego Chamber of Commerce and the Rotary Club started a recall petition of the “Solid Three” board members. Other civic organizations, including the PTA, joined the recall effort in support of the students. The students boldly called for a mass meeting of the community at Balboa Stadium, inviting the School Board to join them. The Board sent a message back saying that they had “executive business” and respectfully declined, but the community attended. 

The School Board decided it would withhold diplomas to all the seniors, an action blocked by the District Attorney because the teachers and principal had already passed the students. A motion that the School Board reinstate the dismissed teachers was greeted by a response from one board member that she was “too busy with other things...” 

Finally, the Board responded with a reason: “Again, the question of whether we should have in our schools teachers who are absolutely and unqualifiedly loyal to our government and our institutions and 100% American is not a debatable question…several among those dropped were under surveillance by the authorities for pro-Germanism and these teachers were dropped for that reason.” Except, the San Diego Union editor was told by the Bureau of Investigation, Department of Justice, that no teachers on the list had ever been investigated. The dismissed teachers sued the School Board for libel. Ultimately, the teachers were offered reinstatement. Some returned, one a familiar name: Elizabeth Freese, who a San Diego school is now named after. Many of the teachers decided there were better places to work. 

A group of teachers met at a home, 4277 Jackdaw Street, to discuss the formation of a permanent professional organization. Teachers were backed by the president of the Normal School, E.L. Hardy, who issued a public statement that the interests of teachers would never be protected until they had a professional organization. Today the Normal School is known as San Diego State University, Hardy Elementary is named after E.L. Hardy, and through an amazing coincidence, that same home on Jackdaw was later the home of Hugh Boyle, the President of SDTA during the first teacher strike in 1977. 

The new professional organization was put into place for the 1918-1919 school year, modeled after the Los Angeles Teachers Club and Minneapolis Teachers Association, set its goal: “to form a teachers association which shall have for its aims the development of the teaching profession in San Diego, and eventually throughout the State of California, on the basis of professionality and legal status that shall clearly define and establish the relations of teachers to one another, to superior officers and governing boards and to the community.” 

Starting a union was an important first step, but it certainly wasn’t the last. Learn more in our next History Corner!

by Sara Kennedy