This website is under construction.  Thanks for your patience!

EDU ALSO ENDORSES: Frank Lara (Elementary) and Norman Zelaya (At Large)

The UESF internal election is on! You should have gotten your ballot at home. This election is about exposure and getting members to vote! Here’s how you can help EDU win!

VOTING & BALLOTS

1. Remind UESF members they got a ballot send to their home:

• do an all-call at your site

• post to your Facebook page

• send out an email (never use sfusd.edu email addresses)

2. If ballots are not received by Monday 5/4, call UESF 415/956-8373 for a replacement.

3. Remind folks to sign the outer envelope or their vote won’t count!

4. Organize a voting day at your site, after a staff meeting or during a UBC meeting.

5. Talk to your friends about voting the FULL EDU SLATE!  Encourage them to look at the UESF website for our bios or contact us for more info.  www.uesf.org/elections

MAILING AND PICK UP

1. Ballots must be received by May 18, 5pm.

2. Do not mail ballots after May 11; with the presorted stamp they take longer to arrive.

3. Organize a ballot collection for your site and let me know in advance.  We can pick up ballots on May 17 and May 18th to deliver them to make sure each one gets counted.

VOTE THE FULL EDU SLATE!

EDU ALSO ENDORSES: Frank Lara (Elementary) and Norman Zelaya (At Large)

Your ballot for UESF elections should arrive any day now. Please call the UESF office (415.956.8373) if you have not received yours by May 4. Here’s the EDU slate. When we win, UESF will be a union that stands up for you!

LITA BLANC, FOR PRESIDENT

DARLENE ANAYA, FOR EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT

LISA GUTIERREZ GUZMAN, FOR SECRETARY

TOM EDMINSTER, FOR TREASURER

OTHER EDU EXECUTIVE BOARD CANDIDATES:

ELEMENTARY: PABLO PORTILLO, CYNTHIA LASDEN, MARCI RYAN, & MAGDALENA DEGUZMAN

MIDDLE SCHOOL: HEIDI AVELINA SMITH

HIGH SCHOOL: ANDY LIBSON, DERRLYN TOM, ELLEN YOSHITSUGU

SPECIAL EDUCATION: JULIA KIM

AT LARGE: LARRY ORLOFF

PARAPROFESSIONAL: FRANCIS WALSH

SUBSTITUTE: ANNA SLAVICEK

EDU candidates have been busy….. talking with teachers and paras at schools at more than a dozen schools all over the district during the first few weeks of the campaign. Members are eager to hear what we would do differently if elected. “How will you address member apathy?” and “What will your approach to bargaining be?” are two questions that came up at many sites. Other educators want to know what the union can do to address concerns over special ed, testing and common core.  Candidates will continue to visit schools for the next couple of weeks. Ballots will be mailed out  to members during the last week of April. If you don’t have your ballot by May 4, call UESF and make sure you get a replacement. Make sure your vote counts and get your ballot in the mail!

To learn more…

Schedule a visit to your site. Please contact Lita Blanc alitablanc at gmail.com or Cynthia Lasden notengotia at gmail.com to arrange a site visit by EDU candidates.

A debate for contested officer positions will take place on Tuesday May 5th from 4:00-6:00 p.m. in the cafeteria of Civic Center Secondary School. Come here from EDU candidates.

Check out candidate statements and photos on the UESF website here. 

UPCOMING EVENTS:

join candidates in discussion!

The UESF election campaign is off. EDU candidates are visiting school sites, and your site should have gotten our first EDU campaign piece, a glossy card. We need your help and participation in a number of ways:

1.  SITE VISITS

Please contact Lita Blanc alitablanc@gmail.com or Cynthia Lasden notengotia@gmail.com to arrange a site visit by EDU candidates. We’d love to meet you to hear your concerns and questions Options include:

• Meet and greet at sign-in book
• Lunch time meetings
• After faculty or UBC meetings on site

2. Teachers 4 Social Justice (T4SJ) and Educators for a Democratic Union (EDU) potluck/discussion:

Thursday, April 23^rd

6 to 8 PM: potluck & discussion

Redstone Building

2940 16^th Street @ Capp ( between Mission & South Van Ness)

 3. UESF candidate forum for contested officer positions:

May 5^th

4 to 6 PM

location to be announced (check UESF website or EDU :see links below)

5. VOTING & BALLOTS

Ballots will be sent to your homes by the first week of May. The turn around time is short.

Please encourage voting at your sites and make sure members have received their ballots. The UESF office and election committee should be contacted if members do not receive ballots in a timely manner. (Double check with UESF now if you’ve moved recently!)

Ballots must be received by UESF by Monday May 18^th.

Getting the ballots IN on time can be helped by:

• Early voting
• adding a STAMP (stamped First Class goes faster than pre-sorted) to the return ballot envelope.
• Collecting ballots from your school site and hand delivering them on May 18th

PLEASE consider organizing ‘day of” ballot collection for your site!!

WHAT’S AT STAKE?:

EDU stands for many things, including FULL DISCUSSION of educator and working condition issues. The current UESF leadership has done its best to NARROW and STIFLE full and informed discussion of issues, including

EDU activists have been key voices in holding UESF leadership to standards of transparency and have been important pressure on these and other issues:

• Bargaining accountable to members (elected, bargaining priorities set through democratic discussion) vs a Bargaining Team appointed by & accountable to the UESF President
• Wage and salary increases to help UESF members remain in San Francisco and working in the SF schools
• Resistance to the “testing regime:” unreasonable tests and test time taking over instruction
• Control over professional time
• Trying to restore the hours cut from T-!0/security aides
• Work day and salary issues for child development teachers

EDU stands for:

• Member empowerment and participation
• A democratic union
• Transparency and accountability
• Solidarity: within our union and in our community
• Building alliances for racial and social justice
• Resistance to the corporate attack on public schools & services

Check out our platform as voted on at our last EDU meeting:

OUR VISION

1. MEMBER EMPOWERMENT AND PARTICIPATION

• Encourage democratic debate and discussion at UESF meetings

• Continue to fight for better wages and working conditions for paras

• All UESF members can vote at assembly meetings, not just UBC members

• Ensure an independent parliamentarian – not UESF president – presides

• Elect the Bargaining Team (not appoint)

• Elect – not appoint – members to lead Para, SPED, Elem, Middle, HS

2. TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY

• Transparency in Bargaining: Prioritize on-going communication to and

from members during bargaining

• Post or send agendas and minutes to all UESF meetings in a timely manner

• Ensure budget transparency and accountability for UESF staff and officers

3. RACIAL AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

• Actively participate in coalitions for housing and immigration rights, the

struggle against police violence and other social justice movements

• Advocate for legal separation between schools and law enforcement

• Carry out work actions or strikes over school closures or relocations

• Report regularly to members on SF Labor Council meetings and activity

4. RESISTANCE TO CORPORATE ATTACKS

• Oppose outsourcing to non-union workers and consultants in SFUSD

• Mobilize members to support schools that refuse to test

• Work for progressive taxation