Sara Kennedy

Letters in Solidarity: A New School Year. A Renewed Purpose.

A New School Year. A Renewed Purpose.

Dear SDEA Family,

Welcome to a new school year.

Whether you are an intern preparing for your very first students, a probationary educator finding your footing, a veteran beginning your twenty-fifth year, or somewhere in between, I want you to hear this before the bells ring, the meetings begin, and the pace of the year takes over:

You belong here.

You are part of something greater than yourself.

Every new school year brings anticipation.
New classrooms.
New colleagues.
New students.
New possibilities.

It also brings uncertainty.
Will I have enough time?
Will I have enough resources?
Will I be enough for the students who need me?

Those questions are real.
So is this truth:
You were called to this work because you have something no curriculum, no assessment, no technology, and no deadline can ever replace.

Your humanity.
Your compassion.
Your courage.
Your ability to see possibility in every child.

That is your gift.

This year, let us remember why we chose public education.
We chose to believe in children.
We chose to believe that every student deserves to be seen, heard, challenged, supported, and inspired.
We chose to believe that public education remains one of the greatest promises we can make to one another.

That promise is worth protecting.
It is worth organizing for.
It is worth showing up for every single day.

As educators, we know this work is not easy.
There will be moments that test us.
Moments that exhaust us.
Moments that remind us why we need one another.

That is why our union matters.

Solidarity is not simply something we say.
It is how we show up.

It is checking on the colleague whose smile seems a little smaller.
It is welcoming the new educator who wonders if they belong.
It is mentoring without being asked.
It is celebrating one another's victories.
It is speaking up when someone is treated unfairly.
It is remembering that none of us carries this work alone.

As you care for your students this year, I ask you to care for yourselves, too. Rest is not weakness.
Asking for help is not failure.
Setting healthy boundaries is not selfish.
Joy is not a distraction from the work.
It is fuel for the work.

Our children deserve educators who are healthy enough to laugh, courageous enough to lead,
and hopeful enough to keep believing.

As we begin this school year, I invite each of us to embrace three commitments.

Hope.
Hope is not pretending everything is easy.
Hope is choosing to believe that together we can make things better.

Truth.
Truth asks us to see one another with honesty, compassion, and courage.
It calls us to confront injustice, celebrate progress, and continue building schools where every child and every educator belongs.

Transformation.
Transformation happens one relationship at a time.
One classroom.
One conversation.
One act of courage.
One moment of grace.
Together, those moments become a movement.

As we move through this year, let us keep our children at the heart of every decision.
Let us care for one another.
Let us choose curiosity over assumptions.
Grace over judgment.Courage over comfort.
Community over isolation.

Let us remember that our union is strongest when we care not only about the contract we bargain, but about the people standing beside us.
When one of us struggles, we reach back.
When one of us succeeds, we celebrate together.
When one of us speaks, we listen.
When one of us needs courage, we lend them ours until they find their own again.
That is solidarity.

And when the year feels heavy, remember this:
We have never been called to do easy things.
We have been called to do meaningful things.
Meaningful work has always required courageous people.

I believe in our educators.
I believe in our union.
I believe in our students.
Most of all, I believe in what is possible when ordinary people choose to do extraordinary things together.
Because we can do hard things.
Together.

Here's to a year filled with learning, laughter, healing, growth, purpose, and possibility.

Welcome back.
Let's make this our best year yet.

In Solidarity,

Monique Barrett

President
San Diego Education Association

Until next time...

Take care of yourselves.
Take care of one another.
Keep our children at the heart of the work.
I'll see you out there.

by Sara Kennedy

Spread the word: YES on 3!

This November, California voters have an opportunity to protect school funding. Proposition 3 would make permanent the tax on the wealthiest Californians. For 15 years, that tax has funded smaller class sizes, school lunches, mental health supports, and Medi-Cal coverage for millions of families, but it expires in 2030. If we don't pass Proposition 3 this November, we'll lose that funding... triggering massive cuts and layoffs for 1 in 6 educators statewide. Our communities need to hear from trusted educators like us… because when teachers talk about what schools need, voters listen! Our wealthy state can afford to fund public education. Our students can’t afford the cuts if we don’t.

Spread the word: Canvass in your community!

• Central San Diego: From the SDEA Union Hall!
• East County: El Cajon, Lakeside, or Santee
• South Bay: Chula Vista, Imperial Beach, or National City
• North County: Oceanside, San Marcos, or Temecula

More resources to get the message out:

• Spread the word about why this school funding matters to YOU by recording a video
• Join a 30-minute messaging workshop to feel more confident about how to talk about school funding with your communities
• More resources from CTA!

by Sara Kennedy

2026 SDEA Awards

At the end of the 2025-26 school year, 2026 SDEA Awards were presented to recognize some of the members and allies who helped build our collective power this past year:

SDEA Board Award: SDEA Election Committee

“Your countless hours of work and resolute commitment to our collective cause have made our SDEA democracy stronger and made us a more powerful union.”

• Sarah Sine, Normal Heights Elementary (Chair)
• Danny Blas, School for the Creative and Performing Arts
• Jason DeMendonca, Millennial Tech Middle
• Lori LaPointe, Garfield High
• Patrick Schoettler, Henry High

Per the SDEA Bylaws, the Election Committee are responsible for conducting all Association elections:

• Ensure that all Association/CTA/NEA election codes and timelines are followed
• Establish election timelines
• Develop and carry out timelines and procedures for paper and online elections
• Prepare ballots for election of officers, board of directors and such other elections as may be necessary
• Count the ballots and certify the results
• Handle initial challenges

The SDEA elections committee spent days counting contract ratification votes this Spring, with almost 5000 turned in

President’s Award: SDEA Organizing Committee

“You build our union's power to win the schools students and educators deserve.”

• Jessica Arreguin
• Monique Barrett
• Amy Childs
• Keashonna Christopher
• Sarah Darr
• Sierra Donaldson
• Rahel Gottlieb
• Stefanie Hayes
• Michelle Hesse
• Rickeena Boyd-Kamei
• Lisa Morris
• Maria Romano
• Matthew Schneck
• Kyle Weinberg

We won our 5% raise and the concrete solutions to address the longstanding Special Education staffing shortages because we mobilized as SDEA union educators through our escalating collective actions at schools throughout the district.

These advances are a testament to the power of our grassroots organizing led by SDEA union educators on our organizing committee:

• In Fall of 2024, members identified priorities at Bargaining Input Sessions across the District and ratified a bargaining platform.
• In Spring of 2025, members kicked off bargaining by holding rallies and walk-ins across the District, and won our first significant tentative agreement after a week of rolling pickets.
• Members kept showing up throughout Fall 2025 as negotiations continued.
• Art Build
• Time’s Up Rally
• Strike Summit
• As bargaining progressed and the Special Education staffing crisis worsened, SDEA union educators proved we’re willing to do whatever it takes to fight for what our students need… even to go on strike, if needed.

We won the demands in our SDEA bargaining platform by coordinating our contract campaign with our We Can’t Wait union sibling locals across the state and getting strike-ready for the first time in 30 years in our district. When we achieved our goal of 90%+ SDEA union educators voting to authorize a strike for special education staffing, we left the district with no other choice but to shut down schools on the day of our strike because you can’t run schools without teachers! This gave our SDEA Bargaining Team maximum power 2 weeks ago to push the limits of what was possible because we had the full force of 6000+ mobilized SDEA union educators behind us. Because WHEN WE GET STRIKE-READY, WE WIN!

Photo credits (L to R) Brooke Anderson, Molly Stewart, Cali Camera

Executive Director’s Award: ICE Out of San Diego Coalition

For the past year, a variety of Labor and community groups have led the resistance to the federal government’s use of masked ICE agents to terrorize our communities. This includes a coalition that has organized weekly rallies outside the Federal Building in downtown and brought community together for trainings on how we can protect students, families, and members. Our members are grateful for the leadership and relationships this coalition has brought to push back and defend our rights.

This coalition is continuing to plan weekly actions. Join an upcoming action or amplify on social media.

Photo credits, L to R: Brooke Anderson, Sarah Darr, Ed Justice Coalition

by Sara Kennedy

SDEA Equity & Empathy Survey

SDEA’s new Equity Team wants to hear from you! As part of our work through SDUSD’s Equity Team Cohort, we created an empathy survey to better understand our members’ experiences, celebrations, concerns, and ideas around equity within our union.

We also want to apologize to members who previously completed the survey and did not see their ethnicity or identity represented. We heard you and have updated the survey to be more inclusive.

Please complete the survey by September 14 and encourage your colleagues to participate. The more voices represented, the better we can understand our membership and strengthen our work together.

Interested in getting involved? Leave your name and email on the survey. Your voice matters!

Take the 2026 SDEA Equity Survey

by Sara Kennedy