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The upcoming recall of two key members of the current Board of Trustees of the Capistrano Unified School District (Maddox and Winsten) as well as the upcoming electoral defeat of three others, is one of the most inspiring and exciting moments in the history of Orange County democracy. We are seeing conservatives and liberals, Democrats, Republicans and independents, united by shared outrage and realizing they have more in common than not, working together passionately to reclaim one of the most fundamental elements of our civil society – our public education system.
In fact it’s very similar to last year’s mass movement to stop the theft of our Fairgrounds, except that THIS movement is more likely to have a happy ending.
There are confusing twists: For example the current Board, which still calls itself the “Reform Board,” came into power themselves via a dramatic recall a few years ago, as a reaction to the equally abusive “Fleming Board,” helmed by longtime despot James A. Fleming. Many people who supported THAT recall, aghast at the behavior of the new Board they helped elect, are now supporting the NEW recall. Also, there is going to be endless bullshit flying around. SO, I have created this “primer” to help make all the issues, characters and events more clear, for myself, and for you!
The 3 Reasons this Recall is happening:
1. The Board’s betrayal on local control.
Parents and voters of this huge district want to change to a “Trustee Elections By Area” system, rather than have all seven candidates for the Board run in the district at large. They’ve wanted that system for years. It ensures local control and attention to local concerns. It makes it much cheaper and easier for a candidate to run – a candidate doesn’t stand a chance now without 100 to 200 grand. And it would save the district itself $200,000 each election season (every two years.)
The current board campaigned on the promise to institute this reform Then once they came into power they changed their minds, realizing that now they were entrenched it was in their interest to keep it difficult to run. (Much like politicians who get into office running on a promise to back term limits, and then once in office, suddenly realize that term limits aren’t such a great idea after all.)
- Ken “Lopez-Maddox”
And it gets worse. You see, our state has a simple procedure for a school district to shift to that system: a board can just ask the State Board of Education for an election waiver, to save the district the $75,000 in costs for an election just to make that transition. But no, our “Reform” friends had changed their minds on the issue and refused to take that easy simple route to keep their promise, even when requested to honor that commitment by parents’ groups. So, because of the Board’s stubbornness, 75 grand will now have to be spent on an election to decide that question.
And it gets even worse than that: In a successful effort to keep the question off the June 8 ballot, the Board hired attorney Phillip Greer – the ubiquitous Counselor For All Things Slimy – to sue various Orange County agencies, paying him and another attorney over $100 grand of district money. It’s hard to actually say how much taxpayer money was wasted, given that they were fighting government agencies to stave off a popular democratic reform that could already be saving the district a hundred grand a year. Eventually the parents grew sick of the wasted money, gave up and settled for getting the reform on this November’s ballot.
What do YOU think is the most offensive and insulting: The fact that they lied to get into power and then flip-flopped to stay in power? The fact that they wasted so much district and taxpayer money fighting the reform, just to consolidate their power? Or the total BS reason they give for changing their minds about local control – that supposedly it gives the unions more power?
In actuality, “Trustee Elections By Area,” which the district WILL HAVE after November, DILUTES the power of outside influences, INCLUDING unions. But as we’ll see, the bogeyman “Union” is these guys’ excuse for anything they feel like doing.
2. Their Intentionally Forcing the April 2010 Teachers’ Strike to happen.
As the teachers’ contract came up for renewal in the midst of a funding crisis, our “Reform Board” saw a chance to break a union, humiliate teachers, and show who’s boss. Given the undeniably grim state of the economy and the California budget, the teachers were willing to take a pay cut, but only on the reasonable condition that it be temporary, and re-negotiated again down the road when finances might be looking better.
- Mike Winsten
But that wasn’t good enough for the Board, who insisted on unilaterally imposing a permanent cut, take it or leave it. Fanatically anti-labor, the Board made it a point to not sit down with the teachers and negotiate, but instead immediately declared an impasse when the teachers rejected the humiliating offer, and quickly began spending hundreds of thousands of district money preparing for a strike, hiring security guards and preparing “substitutes.” (Personally I prefer the term “scabs” but I’m trying to not alienate anyone here.)
The inevitable, brief, but traumatic strike had massive support from parents and students, and teachers ended up with exactly what they asked for from the beginning – a TEMPORARY pay cut, to be looked at again in June 2011, with a trigger reversing the cut if any kind of extra funding somehow materializes before then. Hence, the strike was as pointless and unnecessary as the last five years of the Vietnam War.
One nice by-product of this wasteful and stupid episode was that the public became so enraged with the board that the recall movement picked up a huge amount of steam, and here we are.
3. Miscellaneous Wastefulness, Arrogance and Incompetence.
I had thought I could narrow it down to three big grievances, but it goes on and on, you can get a well-documented sampling over here. But it can all be classified (including the above two instances) under wastefulness, incompetence, arrogance, or most commonly a combination of the three.
- Anna Bryson
Wastefulness. It beggars belief, and the powers of sarcasm, to consider that this “reform board” swept in with a promise of cutting wasteful spending. We’ve already looked at their waste of hundreds of thousands fighting teachers and fighting local control. Perhaps their most irresponsible habit is their kneejerk litigiousness – they hire high-priced lawyers (friends) at the drop of a hat. And soon after coming to power they awarded many of their biggest supporters with the proceeds of a controversial lawsuit, $100 grand of which came directly from the district’s shriveling coffers – a move that many consider a naked conflict of interest. (More details on that episode here.) By some accounts this Board has already wasted $3 million of school district money needlessly.
Incompetence. These people, driven by whatever motives, found themselves swept into a School Board with no experience running that sort of thing. Well, fine. This specific training is available from the California School Boards Association, but the board members have stubbornly refused to attend. Do they think it’s run by a bunch of liberal Democrats? Hardly – the president-elect is Newport-Mesa board member Martha Fluor, and Orange County’s representative on the group’s board is Saddleback Valley trustee Don Sedgwick, a prominent south county Mormon. But I guess that’s just not the right kind of Republicans for the CUSD Board – I can just imagine them saying, “Oh, they wouldn’t understand what we’re trying to do to this district,” as they preside over a steady exodus of capable administrators and brilliant teachers.
Arrogance. You gotta love Trustee Anna Bryson (whom you’ll meet in the videos below) for her classic shoutdown of an audience of parents: “You are NOT here to question the Trustees!” (No?) Or Trustee Winsten’s snide remark when someone asked “What about your constituents?” – “What ABOUT them?” Or “Lopez Maddox”‘s juvenile habit of addressing the audience quietly without turning his mike on. These are only a couple of memorable moments that encapsulate the Board’s official attitude toward parents, taxpayers, teachers, administrators, even state and county agencies – they’re in charge, they know best, and any disagreement is met with eye-rolls and contemptuous dismissal. Well, it’s too late to dial that back now, they are toast.
Ultimately, this “Reform Board” has not reformed, or even tried to reform, JACK.
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Enjoy:
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Red herrings most comical.
Like a toddler or psychopath constitutionally unable to accept that their actions have consequences, the Board and its apologists search tirelessly (sincerely or not) for secret reasons that ANYONE would want to oppose them. And some of the answers they come up with are really absurd and outrageous.
Give you some examples. Some of the recall supporters (not even most) opposed Proposition 8 and advocate marriage equality. Similarly, some recall supporters (not even most) are pro-choice. Hence, the Board would have you believe that the effort to recall their miserable butts is part of an overall homosexual/abortion agenda.
When the utter implausibility of bringing gay abortions into, say, Marco Forster Middle School is pointed out, they clarify: their opponents are just trying to get on the Board in order to give legitimacy to their other unrelated beliefs and positions. No, for reals. You can check out their arguments here.
Even funnier – at least one recall organizer happens to work with Indian casinos. Ha! Now everything falls into place, it all makes sense. Don’t ask me how, but you’ll hear that – the recall of this Board is a secret stalking horse for Native American gambling interests, even though there are no tribes in the OC and a casino will never be built here. But be afraid – if you don’t stick with the “Reform Board” we are one step closer to turning San Clemente High School into Pechanga West.
Then, of course, there’s their Mack-Daddy Red Herring – the Union! Anybody involved in opposing the Board – from right-wing libertarian businessman to liberal college professor – is really just a Union hack / thug / tool, or sleeping with one, or living just down the street from one. The Recall is a Union-backed-and-funded plot (even though everyone involved denies that and nobody can prove it.) Even the “Trustee Elections By Area” reform is a Union scheme so diabolically clever that the Board nearly fell for it themselves!
And the dog ate the Board’s homework. Nothing is ever their own fault. Pretty hard to have an education movement with absolutely NOBODY having any connection to a Union, but this Recall movement was not instigated by unions, and is not and has never been funded by them. We are aware of pervasive anti-union sentiment in a conservative area, and even though we stand by teachers’ and school employees’ all-American right to organize and be represented, we keep our distance. This Board falls of its own weight.
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Case in point:
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The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters: Meet the “Education Alliance.”
As far back as 1799, Spanish artist Francisco Goya foresaw the problems in the district.
Wasteful? Yes. Incompetent? Yes. Corrupt? Arguably. Indifferent, uncaring, place-holding career politicians? Certainly. But this board is more than all that, something more sinister and dangerous. They are members and tools of an extremist ideological organization, the Education Alliance.
But here’s where I think my fellow Capo Recall scholars get distracted. It’s true that in the past this Alliance has focused on certain “social conservative” goals some of which liberals find objectionable, such as teaching creationism, opposing education of Spanish-speaking students, and resisting non-discrimination measures protecting gays and other minorities. And they did pursue these goals in other districts where they wreaked their mischief in previous years – see Westminster, Orange and Vista.
But I don’t think we should get distracted by those shiny items, which haven’t seemed to be high on the priorities of this particular board. I would point out that the Education Alliance’s website (which interestingly hasn’t been updated since 2007, or even properly completed) lists on its “Mission Statement” several positive goals which the Board has likewise not even pretended to pursue: “Respect for the rights of parents,” “Local control of our schools,” and *choke* *cough* “Financial responsibility and accountability of taxpayers’ funds.”
It seems to me that both the social-conservative wish list and the mainstream Mission Statement are window dressing for two different audiences; and that the Education Alliance’s real mission is simply to starve, destroy and discredit Public Education in general. And at this task, the “Reform Board” is doing a bang-up job.
I’m sensing that a few years ago this Tustin-centered, Ahmanson-funded “Alliance” joined forces with the limitlessly whorish Pacific Research Institute, and these big money boys helped them get their priorities straight. The PRI – keep your ears open for them – helped the Board’s Know-Nothing Intellectual Mike Winsten make his propaganda film “Not as Good as You Think: The Myth of the Middle-Class School,” a dishonest assault on the district he now misrules. The film functioned, and still does, as a rallying cry for the de-funding of public education and its replacement with charter and private schools. (We’ll examine the film in my Winsten profile soon.)
The current Board are essentially saboteurs working to destroy the district from the inside out, as you would expect them to given their beliefs. Fellow citizens, we should really stop being surprised whenever we elect folks who truly and honestly don’t believe in government to run our government, and then they proceed to demonstrate by example how government really doesn’t work, and/or use it as their piggy banks. Gee. Where else have we seen that recently?
The Pacific Research Institute, in between producing whatever slanted studies its gigantic corporate funders demand, spends its time searching in vain for a public or government function that shouldn’t be privatized and run for profit. These people literally think the only functions of our government should be policing our private lives, suppressing dissent, imprisoning us, and regularly bombing and occupying faroff lands.
The beautiful thing here, as with the struggle to save our Fairgrounds, is that so many conservatives and Republicans are seeing the limits of this sort of philosophy. Crises like this help us remember what we all started a nation for, what we all built a government for, and it’s for a lot more than just repression. When Thomas Jefferson died (the Tom Jefferson so beloved of today’s tea-partiers) all he wanted on his tombstone was credit for founding the University of Virginia, which he had dedicated his life to keeping free of tuition. It’s the Children First 2010 alliance, NOT the PRI, Education Alliance, or Board of Saboteurs, who carry on the tradition of America’s Father of Public Education.
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It’s helpful to view the district’s recent events through the eyes of Iranian history.
This section is dedicated to Board apologists who accuse their critics of wanting to return to the corrupt, authoritarian Fleming Years that preceded them (1991-2006.) Specifically Jennifer Beall, who’s been trying to convince me of this nonsense by e-mail.
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- James A. Fleming (dramatization)
Looking at Iranian history of the last 50-60 years helps us remember that sometimes democracy needs more than one Revolution.
It helps us remember that sometimes you can overthrow one group of tyrants and another slightly different group of tyrants rises up to take their place – whether a little better or a little worse is academic.
It helps us remember that an enemy of our enemy is not necessarily our friend.
And that striving to overthrow the new tyrants in no way means we want the old tyrants back.
The fact that we’re fighting to overthrow the Reform Ayatollahs doesn’t mean we want a return to Shah Fleming, his disdain for the law, and his disdain for the parents and taxpayers of the district.
It sure doesn’t mean we’ve forgotten the $52 million he wasted building the extravagant “Taj Majal” district headquarters – hell, we’re still using it now.
- The current CUSD board. (dramatization)
It sure doesn’t mean we’ve forgotten who’s responsible for the stupid-ass location of San Juan Hills High School, and the nasty portables in which our kids were interned.
It sure doesn’t mean we want a “rubber stamp” board that’ll go along with everything the Superintendent decrees, as in the Shah Fleming days – but the arrogance of these Ayatollahs is just as bad as that of Fleming.
It sure doesn’t mean we’re yearning for the days of enemies lists and lawsuits against the district for harassment.
It does mean we know we can do ten times better, our children deserve a real Board of Trustees, and we’re not quite there yet.
The Reform Ayatollahs can call us the tools and dupes of outside interests all they like, but that doesn’t make it so. We know who we are.
We are students, parents, teachers, taxpayers, conservatives, liberals, Americans and voters. And THIS is what Democracy looks like:
- The Children First Alliance 2010 (dramatization)
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[poll id=”282″]
Everybody thinks running a School District must be easy. When they actually get in there they find that they can’t do a better job than the Professionals hired to do the work. It doesn’t matter if its Charter Schools or Private Schools, if it isn’t being run by Education Professionals its not going to serve the children and parents adequately. School Board Members would do well to come into their job looking to learn not teach. The best have been on the board a long time. Not looking for their next election.
Great job separating the players and issues Vern, this is a program worth keeping. Good luck selling ad space.
Great post Vern! Toss the bums out!
I think I have a grasp at what all the fuss is about, now. I like how you used Iranian history to clarify this mess, Vern! Being raised by parents who were teachers, I KNOW how much teachers care about education and seeing students learn. I hope our society grows up and starts treating teachers like the valued assets they are. Education must transcend political polarization, and not be sullied by ambitious wanna-be politicians. I can’t believe how much money this board has wasted! If I had kids in that district I’d be soooooooooooo angry! And no, thank you very much, public schools deserve to remain a part of this nation’s culture. I’m tired of self-serving “conservatives” trying to privatized everything….
Brilliant work, Vern.
Compare it to the pathetic coverage in the Orange County Register, and you will realize how badly we are served by our local media, If only the new Voice of OC could muster as much investigative journalism. Instead VOC seems intent on recycling the pap spewed out by the
Register.
Nice post here Vern. Nice to see the teachers not being vilified for once. Did think the Iranian example could blowup on you. Certainly not easy to use these days. Bold move and you pulled it off.
Great summary of where we stand (a little about why)… South county residents have so much at stake and November is the chance to reclaim our schools and set them back on track. Nice job, Vern.
I kind of like the idea of turning San Clemente High School into a casino. That may be enough for me to vote the current regime out of office if they use that fear tactic. That is if I lived in the CUSD.
Buffets and Blackjack for all in South County!
All I can say is WOW!! What a great synopsis of the problems we are facing at CUSD under the “leadership” of the current inexperienced, ineffective, politically motivated school board. We all need to work together to take our district back from these anti-public education ideologues in in November. Our kids deserve much better than this!
Great synopsis, Vern, thank you!
Excellent post.
Vern this is the most accurate and fair summary of what has been happening here in CUSD that I have ever seen in print. Incredible job! If you read this and want to contribute to help please go to http://www.capounifiedchildrenfirst.org and sign up to help or contribute $$. Also visit the candidate websites for those that are running to replace these tyrants and contribute to them also. We need $$ to fight this evil machine. I hate to ask for money but we need the resources to throw these guys out. Paypal works on all of these sites.
Thanks Vern, and thank you Orange County for empowering the parents, voters and concerns citizens of CUSD.
Recall, Remove, Recover
Other web sites to donate to the SaveCUSD cause:
http://www.caporecall2010.org
http://www.johnalpay.com
http://www.pritchardforcusd.com/
For a laugh go to:
http://www.mikewinsten.com
http://www.kenlopezmaddox.com
http://www.capistranoousd.com
http://www.annabryson.net
http://www.tonybeall.net
Even the current trustees and their puppet masters want you to support the recall 🙂
Here is another web site for some facts about CUSD – http://www.cusdrecall.com
The “cusdrecall” website just listed is nothing but lies and propaganda. Not a word of truth is listed on that site. It is run by Jennifer and Tony Beall and financed by money stolen from our kids in those out of court settlements both of those thieves accepted. If you want to see a site that is complete and total bullshit please visit their hate pages
CUSD Recall.
Did you ever consider that each side has the right to get engaged in any of our posts? There is no need to add your final sentence in making your anti incumbent argument.
As I live and vote in the District I may steal some time from my other projects to do my own research to see what additional facts I can uncover and share.
As we are within 100 days of an election, and wheras there are three seats in the Mission Viejo city council race, my efforts will focus on the candidates once they turn in their nomination papers.
And it’s on, Juice Brother.
Thank you for this most excellent post.
Watching the video called CUSD clowns and seeing the members of the Board speak, their facial expressions, the way they use words, the reactions when others disagree with them makes me wonder: how did any of these people get elected to anything?
If I ran into one of those people at a party, I would immediately run in the other direction until I hit a door and just keep going. And vote for one of them? Never. Ever. Ever.
No one I’ve ever known in my entire life looks or acts that deeply stupid, emotionally damaged, hateful, angry, and did I mention stupid?
Is this not obvious to anyone watching this?
* (smug, silent agreement, with arms folded) *
Well, I did go to the original recall site and noticed a trend in their comments and what’s there as their talking points. Gee, what do they have to say about the recall candidates?
So, it’s okay that GOP central committee members are on the board, ex assembly members, non-parents, people who work for Government employees in Sacramento and in Orange County etc, as long as they are CONSERVATIVE, but GOD forbid a Democratic candidate run for a non-partisan seat who actually has a kid in the schools and lives in the city he wants to represent full time.
So do I understand this clearly? This man has no right to run because his wife writes her opinion and they agree with a lot of other people about social issues that will have absolutely no affect on a school board? I’m not quite getting how this works or how this is fair.
I sense that maybe the Board’s homework has been eaten, perhaps by its dog? That could explain a lot. It would help avoid explanation of why, for example, the “ultra liberal” Huffington Post consistently criticizes President Obama.
No, you don’t understand anything clearly, woman. It’s very simple: As long as somebody doesn’t believe in public education (because of the very very extreme beauty of their “conservatism”) then they’re qualified to make decisions on our public education. If they actually CARE about the issue they’re running for, that’s a DAMNING disqualifier. (Sit down, it will make sense after a while.)
The south OC, (home of Orly Taits), is a conservative bastion where the word “union” is synonymous with the word “mafia”, and social justice a buzzword for totalitarianism. No wonder democratic principles are suspect there. Thomas Jefferson would probably feel creeped out there, not to mention those who don’t vote lock-step Republican.
Having looked at both sides of this debate, and having looked at several year’s CUSD financial statements, these are my conclusions:
1) The idea that the current board is somehow anti-public education is absurd on its face. They have turned down many filings for charter schools in this district, for example, even though the author of this website purports the board would eliminate all public schools. Again, absurd on its face and dishonest at best.
2). In an unscientific polling, close to 35% of the teachers in the district would vote to de-authorize the current union and support a new union to better represent them. The teachers we hear from are a very vocal few who are rabidly pro-union. But a large minority of our teachers are realistic about the massive and unsustainable benefits packages that are in part statutorily required by law, and they understand that these long term liabilities detract from the district’s ability to borrow funds within its budget for infrastructure improvements. Furthermore, this large minority realizes that at some point the money to pay for all this will run out anyway. At that point nobody will have a choice but to cut benefits. There are plenty of private sector examples of where this has happened. I appeal to any reader’s common sense on this issue.
3) Why do we have so many portables? Folks, we can’t print money in Sacramento or in OC – the money has to come from somewhere. Are we going to raise taxes? I don’t think so. Therefore, we are dealing with re-adjusting line items within the current budget to pay for infrastructure. 85% of the annual budget is for salaries and benefits. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out this equation. We are well below our statutory borrowing levels, but any borrowing still has to be put in to the budget. Automatic step-ups (teachers claim they have had no raises for decades) plus unreasonable pension and health care benefits after retirement take away from our ability to borrow for infrastructure long term within our budget. This is, plain and simply, Finance 101.
4) I don’t think anyone directly faults our teachers for this mess, although a majority do carry some of the responsibility. Anyone, including the current board, who is accused of not backing our teachers is being dishonest. With that said, there is only so much money to go around (sorry to repeat that point, but it is critical to this discussion). Our teachers are paid higher than 49 other states on average, and paid more on average than nurses in our community, while working far fewer days annually than an average nurse’s work schedule. Like any employment situation, comparisons and alternatives must be brought to the equation for a dose of reality.
5) I would be for paying our teachers and administrators a bit more in salary but transitioning the benefits system to better match the private sector. Presently teachers and administrators only contribute about 10% to their pension and benefits packages, and have absolute job security. The former is unsustainable and the latter lacks accountability. These sorts of things need to be changed.
6) If anyone reading this does not think the union that represents the teachers (I use the word “represent” loosely, as many of our teachers would not go along with the current union if an alternative union were present) is not against what I have stated herein, they are fooling themselves. This website and it’s author seem to be in the union’s camp, only presenting one side of the argument/discussion, and I would say in a very dishonest and one-sided way.
This boils down to who controls our public education and how can we best afford to pay for it. Do we let the teacher’s union, who lacks the support of a large minority of its existing members and the public at large, or do we shift to more local control by taxpayers and parents. From what I can tell, having spoken with groups from all sides, the current board and a large minority of teachers plus the parents/taxpayers understand what is at stake and generally support the efforts of the board, notwithstanding the misleading and in many cases dishonest comments I see on this site and others.
I suggest everyone reading this takes a step back, do your own research, use common sense, and come to your own conclusions. Don’t take either this site or that of the CUSD board at face value. And it boils down to money. Do we want a union with plenty of cash to spend any way they choose spinning out their propaganda in order to retain control (there is a lot of money at stake) or do we want to use common sense and market principles to bring us to sound and reasonable conclusions.
Do your own homework and think about it.
Very substantive comment which I hope will generate a lot of debate. My first quick reactions:
…close to 35% of the teachers in the district would vote to de-authorize the current union and support a new union to better represent them.
That’s really not a lot, brother. You’re successfully making the case that the union has something like 70% support from teachers. Of course, as you say, that’s “unscientific.” So maybe scientifically it’s 90%.
My mention of “portables” was in the context of decrying the Fleming years and affirming that we don’t jones for them, I was obviously not blaming it on the current board.
…the author of this website purports the board would eliminate all public schools. Again, absurd on its face and dishonest at best.
Little strawman thing going there, I was more saying that the board with most of its actions has damaged the district they’re entrusted with, and that this makes sense given the fact that they’re backed by the Education Alliance and Pacific Research Institute which advocate the shifting of funding to private & charter schools. If I’m guilty of a tiny bit of polemic exaggeration, it’s nothing compared to the rhetoric of the folks we’re fighting against, and they necessitate that.
I appreciate your lengthy thoughtful comment, which should be a treasure trove for productive argumentation.
On second thought I was overly generous in my response to this comment, which the closer you look at it, is pure Board propaganda masquerading as even-handedness. For one thing, CUSD teachers do NOT get paid more than 49 other states.
“Parents/taxpayers generally support the efforts of the Board?” WTF? This commenter sounds like Baghdad Bob. We’ll see in November how true that is, but of course it’s not. The parents of the valedictorian of Aliso Niguel high school tell me that Ken “Lopez-Maddox” got a stony silence from the audience when he was introduced at graduation.
The bottom line is tthere would be more money for everything the District needs if the trustees hadn’t wasted it and paid it to their friends.
Vern, your assessment of the previous post is correct. I would like to add a couple of points.
When “Common Sense” says “3) Why do we have so many portables? Folks, we can’t print money in Sacramento or in OC – the money has to come from somewhere,” the leap in logic makes no sense. Portables allow fiscal flexibility. We have some newer two-story portables that are BETTER than permanent buildings!
Also, Common Sense’s assessment of union support by teachers is misleading. As a democratic institution, unions represent all members equally. But, like a minority that does not support a winning candidate, not all members get what they vote for. CUEA is not an alignment of people with similar backgrounds, political parties, social agendas or age. There is a natural diversity. So the expectation of 100% satisfaction is another logical fallacy. What is true is that the vast majority of teachers value our professional organization and what it has done to promote high standards and fairness.