The current impasse between the S.B. Unified School District and the teachers will not end well. Learning will suffer and has already suffered because damage has occurred to its ecosystem.
Teachers are not alone in their struggle to gain traction in a city difficult for most to afford. But when district officials do not make teachers a priority, they communicate that teachers are cards they can shuffle around in a con game perpetrated on the families and students in the Santa Barbara School District.
When power is abused, trust is damaged. The district controls the reins of power. If teachers strike in the fall, it is an action of last resort that will cause tangible harm to students and families. District officials can then position themselves as advocates of education and cast aspersions on striking teachers. But without trust in leadership, leaders lose valuable capital to make improvements.
District officials have damaged and continue to damage their credibility and authority to enact concrete change and improvements in our schools. A district needs a strong rudder, leadership that directs an educational vision. S.B. Unified School District can tout its plans for improvement, but without trust between teachers and district officials, the ability to enact plans weakens, navigation falters, and the best laid plans are grounded because of a lack of respect.
Budgets are value statements, and the value the school district places on teachers was evident at the start of negotiations when the district didn’t offer the maximum. Sadly, the district showed its true feelings about learning, students, and teachers.