"Enough is enough" is the message San Diego teachers and education supporters sent to the school board at a March 14 rally.
The San Diego Education Association is calling for the district to stop the implementation of its Blueprint for Student Success in a Standards-Based System and bring together all the stakeholders to help the district's Institute for Learning "define and refine a workable plan that everyone can embrace," says President Marc Knapp.
The district developed the blueprint in response to what SDEA considers "legitimate issues"- addressing the gaps in learning for minority students and finding an alternative to social promotion.
More than 6,000 San Diego Education Association members and supporters rally before the school board meeting.
Despite the fact that the document offers a one-size-fits-all approach, "SDEA will be the first to say that many of the concepts in the blueprint make good sense," says Knapp. "We've been promoting some for years. It is the implementation and the educational trade-offs that cause our members to disagree. If we had had an opportunity to help design a logical comprehensive plan together, we wouldn't have sites demoralized and fighting over how they must dismantle school programs and devalue their colleagues."
To fund blueprint priorities, the district is reassigning $8 million in Title I funds to the central office and dictating how 80 percent of the remaining funds will be used. Much of that discretionary money is currently used for nurses, counselors and classroom aides. The district also decided to dictate how integration funds will be used.
The Institute for Learning will rebate the assets to the schools as programs and services, but it will determine what they get rather than the site governance teams.
Rally participants "came not to kill the blueprint, but to plead for an opportunity to work together," says Knapp. The board, nevertheless, voted to implement the plan.
SDEA has filed several grievances, saying the district is violating the contract by adding two hours to the summer school workday, extending the school year at eight schools by 24 days, and piling extra duties on peer coaches without additional pay.
SDEA has also appointed a blue ribbon task force to draft teacher-based alternatives that will address the legitimate concerns raised in the blueprint
