By Sherry Posnick-Goodwin
La Nita Dominique, Adelanto District Teachers Association organizing chair
We caught up with a few chapter leaders at Presidents Conference. Here’s what they are planning for the new year.
Lyn Schrader,
Barstow Education Association vice president
I would like us to work on increasing face-to-face communication among chapter members, the school board, the administration and the community. We have already started working together very effectively. We will continue to invite board members and administrators to CTA functions (luring them with food) so they don’t receive only one-sided information. The information CTA provides is more accurate than the information issued by the state, and those outside of CTA need to hear what we have to say.
La Nita Dominique,
Adelanto District Teachers Association organizing chair
We need to educate our community about the important issues public education is facing and how important these issues are for the children. There’s a lot of misinformation and misconceptions about many issues, especially when it comes to teacher evaluations and funding — and our own people need to come together so we can educate the community. If we promote unity among our members, we can begin working toward other common goals.
Dixie Johansen,
Ravenswood Teachers Association/Service Center vice-chair
I want every one of our members to become more politically astute. We are getting attacked on pensions, tenure, evaluations and our whole way of life. I want everyone to wake up and smell the disaster! Hopefully, more members can come to our Service Center meetings.
Jessica Leishman,
Lakeport Unified Classified Employees Association co-president
I am hoping for more member involvement. People are drained because of the economy, and we need to pull them back in. We have a new copresident and new vice president who can provide some new energy. We plan on being more visible. We want to work more closely with our local teachers, the Lakeport Teachers Association. When we stand together, we are more powerful in our community.
Arturo Balce,
Sweetwater Counseling and Guidance Association president
I want our members to work toward going back to a ratio of 367 students per counselor for students in grades 7-12. Fewer students per counselor means more counselor support. Our current ratio is 400 to 1, and we just found out our budget will be the same as last year. As the new president, I would like to see more face-to-face communication, as well as getting started on using social networking.
John Fincher,
Citrus College Faculty Association president
We would like to maintain the status quo. We have three local board members up for election this year, and we need to protect them. If we lose one of those seats, our chapter will probably suffer. We are in a unique situation — we want to protect our college president, while most want to get rid of theirs. Our president is very open to faculty recommendations and has demonstrated ethical practices.