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UESF
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Building Power from the Ground Up
Reprinted from the December 06 edition of the SF Educator
Let’s face it, problems come up at schools. Principals step over the contract - evaluations are done unfairly, newfangled district programs are implemented unilaterally. Facilities are inadequate – no bathroom keys, mice running around stirring up trouble, overcrowded classrooms. As educators, it sometimes seems like an awful lot to put up with, just to do what we love.
But by sticking together, we can make it work.
“You’d be surprised what you can accomplish,” says Martin Luther King Jr., middle school teacher James Galgano. “When you operate as a group, with vigilance, you earn the respect of your co-workers, and the site administration is forced to be responsive. When problems come up, we work as a cohesive unit.”
Indeed, the Union Building Committee (UBC) at Martin Luther King, Jr. has an impressive list of accomplishments over the past few years, including: obtaining adequate classroom space for teachers, forcing an indoor air quality inspection and subsequently repairs of the building, and negotiating a policy to provide a safe and private room for a breast-feeding mother.
“For us, it all starts with our weekly UBC meetings, and then holding those monthly meetings with the principal,” adds James. “We have a voice in all aspects of the school operation.” This includes getting three UBC members elected to the School Site Council, and even incorporating UESF/SFUSD contract language and shared decision making protections into the School Site Plan. See, “UBC in Action - MLK Middle School Shows How it is Done” on page 6 for more examples of what a successful UBC can accomplish.
Although it’s not easy, the faculty stick together in order to make sure their rights are protected, and that they can do their jobs. “It takes a lot of vigilance to make sure any gains are maintained,” continues James, “but we’re committed to making it work.”
Lowell High School is another example of a strong UBC. This year, when a new principal was hired, she declared a school-wide discussion on teaching. Her place, she explained, was in the classroom, not in the principal's office. Early on in the semester she began her mission to drop-in on every teacher's classroom, the goal being to enter into ‘collegial conversations.’
“When it became clear that she was using these ‘collegial’ drop-in sessions as a basis of evaluation, a clear violation of the contract (Article 16.12), even forcing teachers into out of cycle "assessment sequences"(article 16.5), we jumped together as a group and sent the unequivocal message to her that this was not o.k.,” says Social Studies teacher and Building Representative Ken Tray.
Though the issue has yet to be resolved, Ken stresses that quick action from a united faculty was key. “Our effectiveness in stopping these coercive evaluations and affronts to our profession rests clearly on the strength of our Building Committee,” Ken adds. “We have to assert our professional rights, otherwise there is no guarantee that they will be respected.”
The Sentence
It all starts with Section 25.3.7 of our contract - a simple sentence that enables us to take on the problems at our school, and solve them. But it goes beyond that. This sentence is the foundation of our power to participate in the governance of our schools.
Section 25.3.7: “The UBC shall meet with site administration to share information and ideas with the goal of achieving consensus agreement on matters of mutual concern regarding the operation of the site including staffing, assignment, programming, facilities management and planning, staff development, and budgeting, and including timelines and deadlines as set by district administration, and all other matters pertaining to school policy and operations.”
Just what can you do
with a UBC?• Meet with your principal once a month to discuss school site operations.
• Elect a representative from the UBC to the School Site Council.
• Review and discuss any changes in district policy for implementation at the school site level.
• Review and question the site budget.
• Understand the issues of everyone at your site, and develop a plan to address them through the power of the UBC and Building Representative.
• Attempt to resolve conflict between UESF members and the administration at your school site level.
• Send representatives from you school site to the UESF Assembly, to participate in governing your union.
“I’ve been organizing for 30 years,” says new UESF field representative Allan Brill, “and I’ve never seen a sentence that conveys so much power and influence to workers at the site level.”
As part of our contract, principals are required to meet with the UBC once a month. Furthermore, they are not only required to seek input from those on the UBC, but to actively seek consensus on a wide range of issues. In fact, pretty much anything that goes on at the school. From this all things flow.
Though the relationship to a principal is not always a good one, a successful UBC does not have to necessarily be confrontational. In fact, a well functioning UBC ideally should create an environment of mutual respect.
Glenda Allen, a teacher at Rosa Parks elementary, has just such a relationship with her site administrator. “We have a right to meet on a monthly basis, a right to have input and knowledge of the operation of the school,” says Glenda. “We work as a team - it’s not about arguing or confrontation.”
A quick look at Rosa Parks, and you might think it would have its fair share of issues. This year it received the Japanese Bilingual Program (JBBP) at its site, merging two sets of students, and two faculties. Glenda serves as Co-Building Rep along with two other members, including one from JBBP, creating an environment that facilitates trust between the different groups. So far the transition has been a smooth one. They deal with their issues out in the open, and stick together.
The power of a well-organized school was reinforced recently for Adina Shmuckler, a teacher at Lafayette Elementary, who was forced to discipline a child in her classroom, and felt it was appropriate that the student be suspended for the day. Unfortunately for her, the principal at her school disagreed, and attempted to return the child to her classroom after just an hour.
As a former Co-Building Representative, and a current member of her UBC, Adina knew full well that it was within her contractual rights to suspend the child for a day (see Section 22.3). So she contacted her staff rep at UESF, and along with her Building Representative, went to work things out with her principal.
“It wasn’t handled in an adversarial way,” says Adina. “No feelings were hurt, and we didn’t have an argument. We had a discussion, and she agreed to follow the word of the contract.” She continued, “With our contract as a foundation, the relationship between teachers and the site administration works.”
Of course, when relationships between faculty and the site administration are not so strong, the presence of a UBC becomes even more important. The current situation at Lowell is one such example. Other examples abound of site administrators stepping over the contract line – from surprise evaluations, lack of enforcement of student discipline, to arbitrary enforcement of district policies – and sometimes morale gets low and people don’t put up a fight. Fortunately for folks in this situation, there is ready help available.
Get By With a Little Help from Your Friends
“We’ve almost got it down to a science,” says Area Representative Pat Crawford, referring to visiting schools and educating members about the UBC. “Of course, it’s not rocket science, the contract is very clear about our rights. Setting up a UBC is a fairly simple process; the benefits are many. A UBC gives staff a legitimate voice in decision making at the site. It provides staff the ability to identify and defuse many,if not most, problems before they get out of control, thereby creating/maintaining a healthier environment for all.”
Pat, a retired teacher and 32 year veteran of SFUSD, is part of a team of Area Representatives whose task is to help people organize at the site level, and provide support by answering questions, and getting things going. Along with UESF staff, Pat and the other Area Reps are available to visit schools and get things going (see sidebar on page 4).
“When teachers and paras are ready to take a stand together as a group, then a UBC is just around the corner.”
It’s this standing together that really is at the heart of a good UBC. Meagan Devine, a math teacher at Balboa High, feels the UBC is an essential part of making her large, and often hectic school work.
“If you don’t have people looking out for each other, then people tend to just stay in their rooms with their doors closed – you don’t know what’s going on. With the UBC, people keep in touch, and they know they have a means to resolve their problems. It’s a system based on trust and shared responsibility,” says Meagan.
Last school year, it took an extraordinary effort to get a decent raise and a fair contract. It was the organization at the school sites, expressed through the Building Committees, that really made all of it possible. But the purpose of school site organizing, and the UBC, goes beyond that.
“It is this shared responsibility that is essential to not only making sure that we stand up for ourselves, and enforce the contract, but also that we are doing the best we can to give the best education out there,” says UESF President Dennis Kelly. “We all work hard (too hard sometimes), and if we work together, we can have a strong say about how our schools are run and how our students are educated.”
UBC In Action - MLK Middle School Shows How it is Done
The following ten items represent the kinds of issues and actions that a UBC can undertake. They are real examples in recent years from Martin Luther King Middle School, provided by Building Representative James Galgano.
1. Obtaining a classroom for a Special Day Class teacher who previously taught his students in the school hallway, basketball court, and atrium.
2. Reducing the number of meetings and additional work necessary to comply with School Assistance and Intervention Team (SAIT), because they were too burdensome and counterproductive.
3. Setting up weekly lunchtime meetings and expanding the number of representatives on the UBC to better address the needs and concerns of site membership.
4. Getting a commitment from the district to conduct an indoor air quality inspection of the school site, leading to necessary structural repairs to fix the problem.
5. Holding monthly UBC/Administration meetings to resolve membership contractual concerns.
6. Compelling the site administrator to return a classroom to a resource specialist, who had previously been removed.
7. Standing together as a union to support UESF contract negotiations, by implementing weekly ‘Work to Rule’ day, holding weekly informational pickets, distributing literature to surrounding neighborhoods, and attending UESF meetings and marches.
8. Getting three UBC members elected to the School Site Council, and getting UESF contract language and shared decision making protections written into the School Site Plan.
9. Moving a faculty member into a new office, when previous office contained electrical equipment potentially emitting dangerous electromagnetic rays.
10. Negotiating a policy to provide a safe and private room for a breast-feeding member of the union.
Link to upcoming training dates
