An update from the HTEC union.
December 13, 2021
Dear HTH families,
We know many families have reached out asking for answers.
Our union did not plan or authorize the walkout by HTM teachers last Wednesday. However, we are acutely aware and deeply concerned about the conditions and the lack of response from leadership that led so many HTM staff to spontaneously walk out.
We know we have been limited in what we can say directly to parents. However, we know that many teachers and union members will be speaking publicly to the board at their meeting this Wednesday. We are inviting everyone - staff, families, and community members - to attend the HTH Board Meeting on Wednesday, December 15th. We urge all to attend to listen to teachers’ experiences.
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HTH Board Meeting
Wednesday, December 15th, 5;00pm
Please email Clairelise Kip by 4 p.m. on December 14 if you would like to speak during Public Comment. Comments will be limited to 3 minutes each, so if your statement is longer or you wish us to share it publicly, please email it to us.
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Staff members have been in crisis mode for a long time.
When High Tech High certificated staff made the decision to form a union in the Spring, our hope was to have more of a voice in the decisions that impact our students and our lives. A union provides the structure for staff to communicate, decide on collective priorities, and advocate for those priorities with leadership. As we shared in our letter to families this Spring, we want to protect and improve all the things we value about our HTH community.
To make changes to our contract, we first needed to be recognized officially as a union. Once recognized, we could present our collective priorities to the board as the official first step in the bargaining process. The contract can then be negotiated between the two bargaining teams - one formed by the union, and one formed by leadership. Our new union has built the structures necessary to make that happen. While awaiting official recognition by administration, before the end of last school year we elected a bargaining team with staff from all villages and all grade levels. We wanted to be ready to start bargaining as soon as possible. However, HTH leadership has delayed every step of the way. They did not officially recognize the union until the end of August, and finally provided bargaining dates in December. Many staff (at our schools and across the nation) left their positions, so this Fall we held elections to fill vacant seats on the bargaining team, along with officer and representative elections. We held input sessions at each of our 16 schools to gather priorities from all certificated staff across the organization. (See that platform here.) We officially presented that platform to the board in October.
While waiting for confirmation on when administration would be able to bargain, we saw teachers already stretched to the breaking point. Dozens of staff were missing paychecks or benefits, leading some to resign. (This seems inexcusable in an organization where there is a large discrepancy in compensation of central leadership vs staff directly working with students.) In the face of a national staffing shortage, our sub rate could not attract sufficient subs to cover teacher absences. After Academic Coach pay was raised last year so that they could afford health care, this school year it was reduced to minimum wage, making it hard to retain existing coaches or attract new ones - and leaving students without support and staff stretched thinner than ever.
In November, based on feedback we were hearing from our schools, officers scheduled an emergency meeting with Dr. Meadows, and met with him and other members of the administration’s bargaining team. We shared the urgent situations we were seeing and hearing from schools: staff quitting or on the verge of quitting, empty positions and a lack of subs leaving teachers stretched too thin and working without breaks, and uncertain responses to COVID outbreaks. Our request was clear: Schedule bargaining dates to negotiate our first union contract, but also to address these urgent situations and to prevent more teachers from leaving. We expressed our fear that more staff would quit if they did not see clear movement toward solutions. Unfortunately, it took weeks to get straightforward answers on bargaining dates. Last week we were finally offered dates in January, and hope to be able to finally move forward.
In the meantime, staff across schools have been educating under conditions that do not feel sustainable. At HTM, after months of losing staff members gradually, at the beginning of December they learned of the resignation of their director. Two more veteran teachers also submitted their resignation, along with a one-on-one aide. On December 7, a group of HTM staff sent a collective letter to leadership begging for help. On December 8, when Dr. Meadows came to speak to HTM staff, many were so frustrated and disheartened by his response that they walked out of school. While teachers were back in the classroom the next day, we know that some will not be returning after the break. Our organization is losing dedicated educators. It doesn’t have to be this way.
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Our union's message has been consistent: Give us a voice.
The High Tech Education Collective wants to prevent further loss of teachers. We want to make sure we have what we need to give students the support they so desperately need this year. We continue to urge HTH administration to bargain in good faith, and to stop the delay tactics. While we hope HTH will come to the bargaining table without further delay, we also want to emphasize that there are solutions that don’t require bargaining. The board can raise pay for substitutes and Academic Coaches pay without bargaining, as they fall outside our bargaining unit. Most importantly, HTH can be transparent and honest in communications with staff and families. We should be working together with leadership to best support our students through this incredibly challenging year, not begging for basic courtesy and fighting misinformation.
How can families support teachers?
In solidarity,
The High Tech Education Collective Officers
Hayden Gore, President
Roxanne Sepehri, Vice President
Sara Kennedy, Secretary
Rebecca Maldonado, Treasurer
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