January 2020 News

Below are excerpts from the November 2019 Newsletter

GPA Founders and Leadership Update on Collective Bargaining

Dear GPA Families and Community Members,

     Gompers Preparatory Academy continues to meet with the San Diego Education Association (SDEA), in affiliation with California Teachers Association (CTA), to work toward a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). We want to assure you that we are working hard to incorporate the unique needs of GPA into each proposal throughout this contractual process. This takes time and careful planning, as we hope GPA will remain the special school that it is designed to be. Therefore, we hope our GPA belief system will live in every aspect of the union contract. Creating proposals that represent the belief system of our school is revolutionary work that has not yet been done between a charter school and a union. This takes time and an immense amount of work. We consider all stakeholders in every decision, not just teachers or “unit members,” but also our support staff, parents, community supporters, and, most of all, our students. The table below shows the contract “articles” that have been proposed by GPA so far in this process. It is important to note that the original demands, made by teachers in November 2018, included 7 targeted areas; which has now become 17 articles SDEA is proposing upon GPA. Although the list has more than doubled since teachers unionized with SDEA/CTA, those bargaining on behalf of GPA are committed to writing proposals that meet the unique needs of our students.

     Despite the amount of work invested in the articles being passed and our efforts to meet as often as possible while we also operate our school at the highest level needed for students, parents, and staff, SDEA continues to claim that we are not moving fast enough. We have offered additional hours (on top of the hours already scheduled) of bargaining time during the already-busy months of November and December. SDEA was still dissatisfied and reminded us that if we did not find more time to meet with them, their bargaining team members could request to use valuable teaching time to bargain instead of teaching students. Please know that we will continue to do our best to balance the demands to bargain with the needs of the students and the needs of the school.

     While we remain dedicated to reaching an agreement with SDEA that preserves the wonderful, unique spirit of GPA, bargaining has been made more difficult by inflammatory statements that continue to be made by SDEA and members of their bargaining team. One that was particularly troubling was the assertion that all teachers feel there is a “culture of fear and silence” on our campus created by leadership. We are very concerned by these statements as we believe they serve only to create more of a divide on campus. The nature of this language creates an “us versus them” feeling that is often used as a tool to legitimize the union’s presence. It is the opposite of what Director Riveroll, the founders and leadership team believe, as we continue to have an open door policy. This has not changed, nor will it, regardless of the circumstances we have been through in the past, present or future. Furthermore, if this is indeed the feeling of some, which we do not take lightly, we strongly encourage all staff to continue to reach out to any founder and/or member of the leadership team to engage in conversation and receive support; a practice that has been in place since the start of our charter and will remain a staple in how we do business as an organization.

     In addition to the fact that we have always made a practice of being available for one-on-one meetings whenever needed, and that countless staff members continue to drop by, text, call, and visit leadership often, please note the following opportunities staff have been given to share ideas, concerns, and learn together so far this school year:

     Lastly, Gompers Preparatory Academy made a promise to our parents 15 years ago to build a school worthy of our most precious gifts - our children - and to ensure they have a safe and joyful learning environment with a pathway to college. We will work tirelessly and unwaveringly to continue to keep that promise regardless of the new bureaucratic challenges ahead of us.  (Click here to. see the entire November Newsletter)