San Diego Community Schools Coalition Demands More After School Opportunities in San Diego Unified

Parents, students, educators, and community members unite to create change at SDUSD through bargaining

On Thursday, March 16th, Hoover High educators joined parents, students and other members of the San Diego Community Schools Coalition at a rally to demand fair pay, smaller class sizes, more counselors and more afterschool programs for students. The rally was part of a week of rolling pickets at over 140 schools to win our collectively developed Recover, Rebuild and Rise Together bargaining platform.

In February, the SDEA Bargaining Team, together with the San Diego Community Schools Coalition and SDUSD parents, presented our community demand proposal around expanded after school opportunities. This proposal, informed by parent input sessions, is a product of the relationship-building that SDEA members have engaged in during our contract campaign to win the schools our students deserve, including our presentations to parents and continuing with the picket week in March.

Parents told the San Diego Community Schools Coalition that the lack of access to affordable, culturally-sustaining afterschool programs is a significant problem in our district. They are standing up for their right to be actively involved in deciding what enrichment activities are offered in our schools. We have an opportunity as SDEA union educators to join parents in demanding education justice through Bargaining for the Common Good.

Bargaining for the Common Good is when unions partner with community organizations, parents and students to demand transformative changes that benefit the whole community. When union educators fight for students’ and community needs at the bargaining table, we can transform public education together. Across the country, Bargaining for the Common Good has resulted in new policies that help educators do our jobs better while improving outcomes for students, parents, and the overall community.

We need a process that leads to greater equity in designing and providing after school programming. Our after school opportunities bargaining proposal includes the following components: 

Our students deserve more!

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