ACE and Doc’s Charge

ACE Upholds the Principals That Make Our District Strong

As we approach Winter break, we’ve observed that some of our colleagues are misinformed about what ACE has done or said about Doc’s Charge. We thought we would take an opportunity to make it clear:

As part of our legal charges against the district, ACE used a phrase from Doc’s charge as evidence that the district admin was imposing itself on a decision that should be ours to make: “The professionals who work in our district are proud that we do not have collective bargaining.” 

The phrase undermined our right – both legal and moral – to make that decision ourselves. In fact, it wasn’t even accurate at the time, as our CSEA colleagues had been bargaining collectively for decades. Both the original Judge and PERB agreed with us, instructing them to remove that phrase from Doc’s Charge. The district did not appeal that order when they appealed PERB’s decision.

The ALJ Order

Each of us was hired under Doc’s charge and we all find it inspiring in one way or another – or we wouldn’t have agreed to work here – even if we agree that the one phrase needed to be removed. We have attached Doc’s Charge with the PERB-ordered revision. We want to make the updated version available for educators to print and post in our workplaces to remind us to live up to the high standards upon which Doc built this district.

ACE also upholds the principles that make our district strong through our actions – not just our words. Below we’ve detailed how ACE is actively doing the work to get back to being a district where the words we hang on walls are also the words we live by.

Doc’s Charge	ACE Work
“We believe in high standards.”   The Clovis tradition is one of high standards for our students and staff. This is the core of Doc’s legacy.	In our own work: ACE believes in the highest standards in the work we do. We research. We consult with experts. We include facts and sources in our communication and we painstakingly hold ourselves to acting in good faith and following the best practices of labor unions. Through our affiliation with CTA, we’re also lifting standards of educators throughout the state through initiatives like the CTA Good Teaching Conference and the CTA New Educator Weekend In what we advocate for our district: We want students and teachers to be held to a high standard, but we also want our administration to be held to a high standard. We are the only entity in our district willing to ask questions, do our own research, and hold administrators accountable to Doc’s values.
“We believe competition is an ingredient of high standards: competition against self, specialty areas, and in groups.” Doc stood by his belief that competition was key to success for students, both in academics and in athletics.	In our own work: Competition makes Clovis strong, and it also makes ACE strong. ACE is led by educators who competed through an election process to become leaders. We also debate and vote on our important decisions where we welcome diverse viewpoints and want to ensure the “competition of ideas” in ACE is fair and open. The Competition of Ideas also takes place in CTA State Council – where issues that impact education are debated and decided by local leaders through a huge, inclusive, decision-making process within CTA. In what we advocate for in our district: ACE knows that Clovis competes with neighboring districts and even state-wide to hire the best. That requires striving for competitive salary, benefits, and working conditions.
“We want you to teach students to win with class and to lose with dignity.  But, we also want you to teach them that there is a lot more to being a winner than the final game score.  We want you to teach them to root for their team to win, not for the other team to lose.  We want you to teach our kids what to do when they lose.  We want you to get them off their duffs and get them back in the fight. Don’t you let them give up.” Doc pushed back on criticisms of his belief in competition by pointing out that there was value in both winning and losing if you grow and improve in either case.	How we apply to ourselves: ACE has been doing this work for four years now, and we have experienced both wins and losses, but we don’t gloat when we win and we don’t give up when we lose. We celebrate our victories, we analyze our losses, and we continue doing the work.  For example, after careful analysis, debate, and voting, ACE endorsed Clovis Unified’s Measure A. We knew there was significant opposition and we even got turned down by some of the people we asked to support it. When it won by a narrow margin, we knew that our work mattered, but we also know that we have more work to do to make sure the community and educators have their concerns addressed through transparency, communication, and accountability.
“A fair break for every kid.” Doc clarified that competition can still allow for equity and fairness for those who struggle or face their own challenges.	ACE is doing the work to support educators so the educator can advocate for students’ and a ‘fair break.’ A fair break, for us, means that each kid gets what they need to have an opportunity to access a good education. It might be a learning environment free of frequent disruptive behavior, or one where a student feels safe and included even when they’re different from others. It might be support for students with special needs. Through CTA, we can learn how to best support our students with special needs at the annual CTA SPED Conference. Through CTA, we can also advocate for greater state investment in our schools, which gives more opportunities to more students. ACE School Psychologists have pushed for more time with students to make sure Special Education students get more of the support they need. ACE ASL Interpreters are asking for the same for our DHH students.
“We believe the schools and the students belong to the people.  If our community wants their children to read, write, do arithmetic, sing, dance, play in the band, or compete if forensics – whatever our community wants, we are going to do – but we’re going to do it first class.” Doc’s message was always to do our best for students and the community. He also emphasized that the schools belong to the community, not to us or administration.	In our work: We work hard to include the community in our work, including in our Community Support Committee of Clovis residents who support our effort. We also share out our efforts and our concerns on social media, news media, and at public CUSD board meetings. In our advocacy in the district: We hold the district to its duty to be transparent and accountable to the community. We believe the community has a right to know what is happening in our district and get the facts so we can best advocate for the needs our community shares..
“We’ve got a Clovis image to keep up, and we’re looking for people a cut above the average.” Doc always wanted to “hire the best” to make sure our students were supported by strong, competent educators – and then support them in growing and developing as mentors and professionals.	Applying to ourselves: ACE believes that our Clovis educators are a cut above average, and that’s who we are in ACE as well. We push ourselves to do things well, to remember that we’re always seen as a representative of ACE and as a representative of the district. Applying to the district: It gets harder and harder to hire educators who are, “a cut above the average” without offering competitive pay, benefits, and sustainable working conditions. which is why this is a vital component of advocating for both our students and our educators.  We best serve our students when we are able to recruit and retain the highest quality educators for them.
“So what we’re really saying to you is we think education revolves around teamwork and trust.”	Applying to ourselves: In ACE we instil teamwork and trust through our internal systems of accountability. Our President, Amy Kilburn, is accountable to the policies and decisions of the membership and the Representative Council. The Sub-Committees, in return, are accountable to her and the Executive Board. How we apply to the district: ACE believes that teamwork and trust come from accountability and clear expectations from a union contract – an agreement among equal partners. ACE always offers collaboration and partnership to address issues important for educators.  At the Fresno Madera CTA Fresno Madera Service Center, we hold an annual Governing Board Member and Union Leadership dinner where we bring board members and union leadership from all the local districts to sit down together, share food, and build the relationships that are important for getting the work done.
“We want you on our team, and we want to know that you want to be there.”	Applying to ourselves: ACE wants Clovis educators to stay part of the Clovis team and be part of the ACE team.  Applying to the district: We all are passionate about being part of the Clovis team, but we need to address the issues that make our work unsustainable so that educators can stay in Clovis. We encourage the district to do everything they can to attract and retain the educators our students deserve.
Other Docisms:
“We’re too poor to buy cheap.”	In our work: We know that if we go cheap with our representation, we end up losing more than if we had made an investment in the better option. We’ve partnered with CTA because they offer experience, expertise, and guidance in navigating the nuances and intricacies of social, legal, and logistical aspects of running an effective bargaining unit in service of our unique and specific community. In our advocacy in the district: ACE advocates for competitive compensation, because if you want to hire the best, you can’t pay the worst. At some point Doc’s vision changed to just, “we’re too poor.”
“We all win together or we lose together.”	We believe that building a union takes all of us, so we are working to share with our colleagues the work that has been done on behalf of all educators and students in our district, and to hear concerns and issues that we can help advocate for.