October SVEA Scoop

10.14.25 Rep Council

10.15.25 Site Visit: 🥪

10.15.25 General Business Meeting

10.17-19.25 CTA State Council

10.21.25 Site Visit: La Madera 🥪

10.22.25 Bargaining 💛

10.23.25 Coordinated Bargaining 4:30-6:00

10.24-26.25 LGBTQ+ Conference in Garden Grove

10.22.25 Bargaining 💛

10.29.25 Site Visit: La Tierra 🥪

10.30 .25 Site Visit: Montevideo 🥪

10.07.25 Site Visit: 🥪

10.20.25 Diwali 🪔

10.28.25 Executive Board

10.31.25 Halloween 👻 🎃 👻 🎃

11.01.25 Dia de los Muertos / All Saints' Day

11.03.25 Staff Development Day

11.04.25 Rep Council Meeting

📢💰 New educators—did you know you can start moving over on the salary schedule right now? 🎉 By attending CTA conferences and earning university credit 🎓,

you can boost your pay sooner while growing your skills.

NEW MEMBER GRANTS AVAILABLE!

SVEA doesn’t want you leaving 💵 on the table—

those early bumps in pay add up to thousands over your career! 🚀

✨ Don’t wait—invest in yourself, your students, and your future starting today! 🙌

The CTA Board of Directors will award Incentive Grants for attendance at the following statewide conferences:

Issues Conference

SVEA has been actively inquiring about the state-mandated safety plan that was due in July 2024, yet SVUSD has failed to make this a priority. In the absence of district action, SVEA has been forced to step in and monitor incidents of violence against staff to ensure our members are protected. We urge all members to report any and all instances of violence. This will not stop until both students and the district are held accountable for a safe learning and working environment.

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 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.

As we roll into October, we again want to thank our special education and student services staff – Educational Specialists, Speech-Language Pathologists, School Psychologists, Nurses, Behavioral Specialists, Mental Health Counselors, and other related service providers for your continued support for students and families. Your voices continue to guide our negotiations.

On September 22, 2025, we met for the Special Education Round Table Meeting. Thank you to everyone who came and shared out at the meeting. Your contributions were extremely helpful to facilitate changes or growth in areas that are needed. Below are some highlights from the meeting.

• Discussion and concerns about adult to student ratios in the Mod/Severe Autism Classes. Suggestions were made to go back to a ratio. The District does not currently have a hard student to staff ratio. Discussions were made about how ratios can be helpful, while also not helpful (e.g., aides being pulled to deal with behaviors or bathroom needs). SpEd shared that they will continue to problem solve adult to student ratios on a case by case basis and will continue to work to resolve this problem. Currently, the District has agreed to temporarily decrease rations in Mod/Severe Autism Kindergarten classrooms to 2:1 student to adult ratio with the teacher not being included in the overall ratio. A consideration about taking the teacher out of the ratio for all Mod/Severe Autism classrooms was also discussed.

• Increases in student behaviors were shared out at the elementary level.

• Inconsistent staffing from outside agencies which contribute to the behaviors and problems that arise. Christine Arkadie shared that there are approximately 120-130 agency aides in SVUSD. SpEd recognizes this is a problem.

• Inconsistencies with instructional assistants being hired was mentioned. Regarding openings for positions, the district shared that all office managers have an updated spreadsheet with open jobs/hired jobs in SpEd. The district also shared that they are considering doing more training for new paraprofessionals.

• Discussion about difficulties involving the transition process for preschool students transitioning to elementary. The district is addressing concerns with La Tierra ECC.

• Discussion regarding increase and overusage of SCIAs. Discussion regarding limitations of SCIAs versus adding additional instructional staff based upon programmatic needs.

• Discussion about Instructional Aides was made. At the secondary levels, Assistant Principals are there to assist with SpEd. The district is working on how an agency IA can have access to district chrome books and other software since they do not currently have access to student information.

The next Special Education Round Table Dates are: 11/17/2025, 2/2/2025, 3/23/2025. 5/4/2025. The next meeting involves talking about a process for bringing up new issues to the Round Table, best practices for staffings, and follow-up on items above. Please come and support Special Education.

We appreciate your continued solidarity as we work together toward manageable caseloads and stronger support for our students.

Email Contact:

Kathryn Jaronczyk: studentsupportservices@mysvea.org

Jessica Hokerson: speddirector@mysvea.org

October is a long month for us elementary teachers 🎃 — but remember, it’s the only month without a special day off until March! Hang in there, you’ve got this!

A few important reminders:

• IEPs: If meetings for the same student go beyond two hours in a school year, turn in a timecard. 💰
  

• Social Media: Be careful what you post (alcohol, political opinions, etc.). Sadly, there are more and more groups that are actively looking to target public school teachers. 👎

• Union Communications: Always use your personal email for union matters—never your district email. 🧑🏻‍💻
  

• Student Behavior: We know classrooms are facing more difficult, disruptive, and sometimes violent behaviors. Document, document, document!

• If you speak about it at a school board meeting (and we encourage speakers!) or email SVEA leadership, please keep all student information confidential. 🙊
  

• Discipline Reminder: You may suspend a student from your classroom for the rest of the day of the incident, AND the following school day as well. A classroom suspension is different from a school suspension – YOU have the right to do this.
  

Thank you for standing strong for your students and one another.

SVEA Presents: Taco Tuesday!
Join us for our first-ever Member Engagement Event on Tuesday, November 18, 2025, at the SVEA Office from 4-6 pm.

Come enjoy tacos, coca cola (bottle of course), and adult beverage(s), connect with fellow Saddleback Valley Educators Association members, and spend time with your Leadership and Bargaining Team.