I was sitting in my friend’s backyard over the weekend, little less than one week before the teachers at C.K.M. are supposed to walk the streets in defiance of the district’s leadership. I was talking to my friend’s dad, whom I have known personally for years, about the fissured educational system in California. His position at the State Capitol oversees mental health systems across the state. Having worked with students in his department and having two daughters of his own in the education system, he has seen up close how inadequate the system has proved itself to be in recent years.
My first question my friend and I presented was “Do we have to go to school on Thursday?” This was likely the first thought many students had, and I would be lying if I said this wasn’t the same for me. The attendance debate was brief, but the conversation that ensued over the breakfast spread, was an interesting one.
The Sacramento City Teachers Association (SCTA) called for the strike once the district ultimately proved it was unsuited for meeting the union’s terms, violating open-meeting laws, and failing to make sufficient changes. Enough conversations with my teachers, SacBee articles, and hallway hearsay have had me convinced from since November that the teachers should not stop pressuring the district. On behalf of my teachers, I was frustrated with the incapacities of what should be a sound and efficient authoritative body.
When the district announced it would begin laying off teachers, I was appalled. It seemed to me like the district was in such panic mode, it didn’t pause to think their options through, or at least consider what an irreplaceable role teachers play in students education. Numerous other solutions could have easily been readdressed in order for the crisis to be stopped or, at the least contained. I can certainly think of one right now.
Both the district and unions could have begun work on a healthy beneficial system had the district possess enough maintenance to meet the teachers’ terms; instead they didn’t pause to recognize that the number one priority in the grand scheme of things is preserving and improving students education. They seemed firmly bent on keeping the upper hand.
I hadn’t realized until that Sunday morning on my friend’s patio that I didn’t know the district’s end of things, and over a plate of french toast I learned, from my friend’s dad, what sort of stress the district has been facing.
He began with delivering the bigger picture. He compared the situation with SCUSD with how other districts in the state, such as Elk Grove or Southern California districts, are faring under state governance. Having eliminated the district level leadership, these districts were forced to cut extra-curriculars, music and arts, and other exclusive programs for students because they were stripped of district funding.
Currently SCUSD faces the threat of state takeover due to the over-weighted budget crisis. Should that happen, programs like 4th R and extra-curriculars would start losing money, and it would be the demise of arts and after school activities for Sacramento students. This, at least, the district is aware of.
Aware of the threat of state takeover, the entire picture started to fall into place. Now I started to see the district in an almost defensive position, taking fire from the teachers and wavering beneath state threats, while trying to manage 77 schools as best they can with faltering leadership and absolutely no money. Knowing this did not make me more sympathetic for their cause, but it did make me realize that maybe district’s appeals for the union to make more reasonable demands are not entirely unfounded.
This strike will be the union’s first strike in 30 years, and that fact alone should be enough to rattle the city and district into acknowledging the real danger Sacramento schools face.
I am sympathetic to the teacher’s cause, but understand the district’s difficult position. In the grand scheme of things, I hope for the best to come out of the strike, and for a solution to be reached that saves my education and the education of the students that will follow me.