Teachers outraged by intransigence of CTA elites in San Diego Unified budget crisis

Head Counsel Emma Leheny, the real decision-maker for California Teachers Association?

Who really runs CTA? Obviously, not Bill Freeman. He was forced by his superiors to renege on his agreement to pursue legislation to move back the date on which teachers must be informed of layoffs.

In my experience, ALL the "elected" officials in CTA are fronts for the people who truly run CTA: the lawyers CTA's head counsel is Emma Leheny. President Dean Vogel does what he's told.

Rumblings from Teachers After Union Backs Away
February 16, 2012
By Will Carless
Voice of San Diego

...Yesterday, the teachers union stepped away from that deal. Its stance has upset some local teachers, who say the union has botched an opportunity to mend fences with the district while at the same time pushing forward legislation a majority of teachers want.

Late last night, I got this letter from two teachers at Marshall Middle School who are concerned about the direction of the union at a critical juncture for the district. The teachers, who are meeting soon with SDEA President Bill Freeman, want to see more cooperation.

Here's a snippet (I've posted the full letter below):

As educators, we recognize that our classrooms and the learning within is most successful when we embrace the idea of working together to collaborate as we problem solve. Part of this respect comes from recognizing that each person within the classroom has strengths that they can offer in order to achieve the overall goal.

As members of SDEA, we are embarrassed to see that these simple ideas that go to the very core of what we try to foster and develop within our students, helping them become successful adults willing to work with and learn from others, is the opposite of the values SDEA has repeatedly shown in the last two years.

But the real eye-opener for me was the flurry of reader comments I've been reading today on last night's post. One comment, titled an "open letter to Bill Freeman," was left by Mary Laiuppa, an educator, union member, vociferous commenter and near-constant critic of the district.

This time, Laiuppa, whose past comments have praised the union's hard work, aimed her vitriol at the union president:

The union had a great opportunity here and it was just destroyed. Don't tell me the teachers voted against this. No, this was a decision made by the SDEA elites. Sorry but this foot soldier isn't going to roll over and kow tow.

And I'll bet I'm not the only one.

This was a BAD decision. And when it hits the fan I'll be the first to shout "told you so" when the fallout starts to bury the union.

Won't be going down to the offices to make phone calls, stuff envelopes, attend candidate meetings or walk neighborhoods...