April SVEA Scoop

04.29.26 Presidents' Summit

05.04.26 SPED Round Table

05.05.26 Executive Board (change)

05.12.26 Rep Council (change)

05.19.26 Mediation Session 3

RIF Update: Tracking the NumbersHere is a clear breakdown of how the RIF numbers have shifted as SVEA continues to advocate for every member. Our goal remains the same: diligent review and total rescission.

Original District Proposal: SVUSD alerts SVEA of intent to RIF 9 certificated staff members.

3.03 HR Meeting:
The district reduces the total count to 8 positions.

3.11 Bargaining Session:
The district finds funding for 1 position, and 2 others are shifted to elementary reassignments. This leaves 5 RIF positions, but the district identifies 10 teachers to receive notices.

3.12 SVEA Files Objections and Questions

3.12 SVUSD Delivers Notices:
Notices were to be delivered on Thursday 3.12 and Friday 3.13.

3.12 Victory:
The district maneuvers Chemistry to avoid a reassignment and eliminates 2 RIF notices. All are rescinded before delivery on 3.13.

4.14 Victory:
Five PE RIF notices are rescinded.

Current Status:
We are now down to 3 outstanding Social Science RIF notices for 2 RIF positions.

SVEA will continue fighting for every member and will continue to say clearly and loudly: no SVUSD site is overstaffed. There should be no cuts coming from the classroom while the district office exempts itself from reductions.

Thank you to everyone who responded in the April poll regarding retirements. Now it's time to let SVEA know that you are retiring so that we can celebrate your countdown to freedom. Please respond to Vice President Beth Anderson by April 30th. mailto:vicepresident@mysvea.org

DUE TO A CONFLICT WITH THE MEDIATOR, OUR 3RD SESSION WAS POSTPONED.

We remind members that the mediation process is confidential and we are not at liberty to discuss until the proceedings have been finalized. In the meantime, the bargaining team SVEA has submitted our Intent to Bargain, and is working on building our Sunshine Document for the May Board Meeting.

Please do not invite parents to engage in bargaining discourse on ParentSquare. While we objected to the District’s use of the platform for their bargaining update, we received a cease and desist on Wednesday, February 11.

SVUSD has proposed a “SVEA Shadow Program” to get a firsthand look at what is happening in our classrooms. If the district truly wants to understand our reality, we welcome that—but it must reflect real classrooms, not "pony shows." That means showing students being students, high class sizes, heavy caseloads, and the constant multitasking and triage we manage every day.

To ensure our members can show this honest reality without fear, SVEA has a signed MOU to protect educators from any evaluative processes during the shadow. Showing our collective power means being transparent about our working conditions while knowing our rights are secured. Participation is strictly voluntary, non-evaluative, and confidential, with no recording or documentation tied to members.

If you are willing to pull back the curtain and show the district the honest reality of our schools, please let us know.

Interested in being more active in SVEA? Join us this July at Summer Institute!

The CTA Summer Institute features 10 different and intensive trainings designed to grow your skills as a local leader and prepare you for success. OSCC and SVEA will cover your costs!

Learn more: www.cta.org/summerinstitute

Please log-in to CalSTRS with you new log-in credentials and verify your data, use your retirement calculators, and explore your retirement options. Do not use your phone number, if you inadvertently use the wrong number it triggers at phone call in, wait times are excessive. Try not to call unless its an emergency, save yourself!

NEW TEACHERS: start planning your retirement NOW—don’t wait until you’re 40. If you’re considering purchasing service credit, it was cheaper yesterday than it will be tomorrow, so act early. And remember, any stipend position feeds into your Defined Benefit Supplement account—take those opportunities now, so your contributions have the maximum time to grow with interest. 💲📈

21 months past the originally stated implementation date, SVUSD has finally developed and released a Workplace Violence Reporting Form. SVEA has been consistently advocating for both a formal reporting and tracking system for workplace violence incidents as well as comprehensive workplace safety plans at every school site. While this new reporting form represents progress toward better violence prevention, significant concerns remain.

We have continued to request access to site-specific safety plans, yet SVUSD has informed us that these plans are not digitized and must be reviewed in person at the district office—a process that is clearly impractical in the event of an emergency when immediate access to safety procedures is critical.

In the meantime, we encourage members to use the SVUSD workplace violence reporting form so incidents are formally documented with the district. SVEA has also updated our internal reporting form, which now focuses only on tracking incidents and has been simplified to make it much easier to complete. Our goal is to ensure we have a clear understanding of how many members are experiencing injuries or violence on the job, so we can continue advocating for stronger safety protections across SVUSD.

Definition of Violence:
Violence includes any act or threat of physical harm, intimidation, harassment, or aggression directed at an individual. This can involve hitting, pushing, grabbing, throwing objects, verbal threats of harm, or any other behavior that causes a person to feel unsafe or physically endangered while performing their duties.

Teachers are reminded that under Education Code, you have the protected right to suspend a student from your classroom for acts of willful defiance and violence. Importantly, the student may not be placed in another teacher’s classroom during the day of suspension or the following day. School administration cannot prevent you from exercising this right, regardless of the student’s grade level, age, or IEP status. Special Education students are also subject to teacher suspension, with additional requirements after the fifth (10 days) suspension. When suspending a student, you are required to make an attempt to conference with the parents, which may be conducted by phone.

SVUSD emails

Superintendant Crystal Turner: crystal.turner@svusd.org

Trustee Suzie Swartz: suzie.swartz@svusd.org

Trustee Amanda Morrell: amanda.morrell@svusd.org

Trustee Barbara Schulman: barbara.schulman@svusd.org

Trustee Dan Walsh: daniel.walsh@svusd.org

Trustee Michele Sparks: michele.sparks@svusd.org

President: Mandy De Groote president@mysvea.org

Vice President/Organizing Chair: Beth Anderson vicepresident@mysvea.org

Secretary & Membership Clerk: Erin Maguire secretary@mysvea.org

Treasurer: Toni Fields treasurer@mysvea.org

Tk-6 Director/PAC Chair: Juli Stowers TK6Director@mysvea.org

Intermediate Director: Kerry Nahas IntermediateDirector@mysvea.org

High School Director: Corey Murphy HighSchoolDirector@mysvea.org

SPED Director: Jessica Hokerson SPEDDirector@mysvea.org

Itinerant Director: Brittany Case ItinerantDirector@mysvea.org

Student Services Director: Kathryn Jaronczyk studentsupportservices@mysvea.org

Bargaining Chair: Andi Suter bargainingchair@mysvea.org

CTA Rep: Mike Bartetzko ctareps@mysvea.org

CTA Primary Contact Staff: Frank Oppedisano foppedisano@cta.org

SVEA is here to support you—but knowing where to start can make all the difference in solving issues quickly and effectively. If you have a question or concern, please follow these steps:

1. Start with Your Contract
   Before reaching out, take a moment to review the collective bargaining agreement. Many questions—especially those related to working conditions, timelines, and rights—can be answered directly by the contract.

2. Contact Your Site Rep First
   Your site representative should always be your first point of contact. Site reps have in-depth knowledge of your specific school context and can often resolve issues directly by working with administration.

3. Next Step: Reach Out to Your Director
   If you're not seeing progress through your site rep or if the issue is more complex, your area director is your next line of support. Directors are well-versed in the contract and can provide additional guidance and advocacy.

4. Escalate When Needed
   When necessary, your director can escalate concerns to the SVEA Officers or connect you with our CTA Primary Contact Staff for further assistance.

Remember: you are not alone. SVEA is a team, and we’re here to support you every step of the way. By following this process, we ensure the most effective and collaborative response to any challenge.

Elementary Corner

We made it through March! Only about 30 school days left! But who’s counting…

i-Ready: Questions We Can’t Ignore

Did you know there is an active lawsuit against i-Ready? It is raising concerns about how student data may be collected and used. A recent article, Lawsuit Targets i-Ready Maker Over Student Data Privacy Concerns, outlines the case, which alleges that student data may be collected and shared with third parties without direct parental consent. The company denies these claims, and the case is ongoing—but it raises serious questions we can’t ignore.

That alone should make all of us pause.

In our district, i-Ready is primarily used as a diagnostic tool, and when students engage seriously, it can provide useful snapshots. But that’s not always what’s happening.

We’re seeing students rush through the diagnostic just to finish—which means the data we’re asked to rely on isn’t always valid. And yet, those same scores are still being used to guide instruction and decisions.

At the same time, across sites, it’s starting to feel less like a support tool and more like a mandate that’s crowding out real teaching. When students are spending large chunks of time on a screen clicking through lessons, that’s time they’re not:

• reading real books
  

• writing
  

• engaging in discussion
  

• working in small groups with a teacher
  

That’s not why we became educators.

We’re also seeing diagnostic data used in ways it was never intended—to drive pacing, justify decisions, or create pressure around scores (how much PLC time do we spend discussing i-Ready data?!?). A screening tool should inform instruction, not replace professional judgment.

And then there’s equity. Because of funding limits, not all students even have access to the i-Ready Personalized Path. At some sites—including mine—only about 20% of students can have access to it.
So we have to ask:

If this is essential for learning, why isn’t it available to all?

Here’s where we stand:

• We are the experts in our classrooms—not an algorithm
  

• Assessment data must be accurate to be meaningful
  

• Technology should support instruction, not replace it
  

• All students deserve equitable access to resources
  

If you feel that i-Ready is being overused, misused, or creating inequities at your site, please email me.

Because when a “tool” starts driving instruction—and raising serious questions about data and equity—it’s time to push back.

In solidarity,
Juli Stowers

TK6Director@mysvea.org

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