Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/229155
MORENO VALLEY ENDS THE BIG CHILL dialogue between Moreno Valley Education Association President Harold Acord and Judy White, Moreno Valley School District superintendent, sitting side by side to dispel myths about managers and unions. IT'S A "HE SAID, SHE SAID" Unions protect bad employees, the graduation rates were low because superintendent says, tossing out the of these problems. first myth. The conference served as Not true, counters Acord. Unions a springboard to increase collaborajust want to ensure that everyone tion year-round, including monthly has due process and school leaders meetings with the district office follow the contract. cabinet, MVEA leaders and classified Managers are anti-union, employees, town hall meetings, and Acord says accusingly, taking on a new teacher evaluation process another myth. that's being piloted at five schools, False, says White. Most managers based on CTA's Evaluation Principles. support teachers, and it shouldn't be "Before, we had a top-down assumed that they're anti-union. collaboration model," says The role-playing allows union Khaleelah Lewis, a teacher who members and administrators to taught a Common Core Literacy clear the air, end workshop at the misconceptions conference. "Now, and open the lines everyone has ownerof communication. ship and is working So does an exercise together to bring it called "Getting Away back to the school From Gotchas." sites. There's a trickThe exchangle-down effect." es happen at a In the two years joint leadership since MVEA and conference titled administrators "Excellence on Purbecame partners, pose: Collaborate, student achievement Coach and Connect." has shot up on state It's designed to tests and graduation Everyone has ownership, improve communica- says Khaleelah Lewis. rates have increased tion so teachers and by 5 percent, says administrators can Anne Adler, MVEA work together to help students inexecutive director, who credits stead of fighting each other. Funded collaboration for the upswing. by donations and grants — including Teacher morale has also improved, one from CTA — it's now an annual relates MVEA member Denise Tellez. event. Other topics at the conference "It's easier to talk, be open and focus on the Common Core stanshare ideas. We're no longer told, dards and cognitive coaching. 'You can't do that.' We are profesMVEA members working with sionals and want to be treated as district administrators designed the professionals. This type of communiconference for several reasons: cation allows for that." A revolving door of superintendents created inconsistency; there was mistrust between teachers and administrators; and test scores and PHOTOGRAPHY BY SCOTT BUSCHMAN Educator 12 Dec 2013 v2.0 int.indd 27 And the winner is… Mount Diablo Unified School District caused negative feelings to "runneth over" years ago when it purchased 3,000 coffee cups with the words "I'm appreciated" stamped in big letters and distributed them to school employees, who angrily returned them en masse at a school board meeting. After years of fighting for health benefits and raises, members of the Mount Diablo Education Association (MDEA) felt anything but appreciated. Morale was at an alltime low, and the district's climate needed thawing. Coffee cups may not have been the right way to go about it, but showing appreciation wasn't a bad idea, thought MDEA President Guy Moore. So he decided to hold the first MDEA Academy Awards ceremony to improve morale, bring different factions together and focus on the positive. "Our district doesn't recognize employees and we suffer from low morale, so we decided to organize our own event to honor employees and volunteers who go above and beyond the call of duty, including teachers, classified employees and administrators." School board members, administrators, PTA members and others joined with MDEA on the project. The superintendent was asked to contribute $5,000 — the cost of the coffee cups — and the district came through. Shortly thereafter, the superintendent was let go by the district, causing more turmoil and upheaval. Enthusiasm temporarily waned with the superintendent's ouster, but MDEA decided the show must go on. A culinary arts class offered to cater the May 17 event. Unions who had partnered with CTA to pass Proposition 30 donated money for the gala, which had 250 attendees. State Superintendent Tom Torlakson, state Sen. Mark DeSaulnier, MOUNT DIABLO UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT READ MORE ON PAGE 28. Administrators Sue Peters and Helena Postrik on the red carpet with MDEA Executive Board member Susan Seeley at the Academy Awards. D ECEMBER 201 3 | JANUARY 2014 www.cta.org 27 12/14/13 3:33 PM