Campaign Flyer

Original Declaration of Candidacy Speech

I have declared my candidacy for President of CVE. I do not relish the idea of leaving the classroom as I still love teaching, even after 15 years. I hope, if elected, that I will eventually return to teaching. For now, however, I see it as my responsibility to establish a strong voice for teachers in the district. We need a voice to not only protect our interests, but the interests of our students because I do not believe that the District recognizes that teachers are in the best position to improve education, not the administration or university professors. Unfortunately, we currently have no voice, except perhaps as one teacher put it at the District Board meeting: we have a simple pattern of us requesting and the District denying.

I have watched our organization carefully this year, and I still do not even see an agenda of priorities, much less a strategy or plan to achieve objectives. At a meeting in early 2013, I was told by my site rep that CVE wanted to know what issues were important to us; more than halfway through the year, my union does not know what issues are important to the membership? I do not question the commitment of the current leadership and am amazed how some have continued the frustrating task of negotiating without any leverage to bargain with. This is not really negotiating; this is pleading. I am not convinced, on the other hand, that CTA has helped us with local issues as much as they could considering the amount of money we send them (I believe Jennifer told me that they get about 65% of our dues which should be about $1 million [$1200 x 1300 members x .65].

Despite contrary comments which I would generously describe as overly optimistic, I see a union in decline and mired in apathy. This experiment in self-government is failing. I believe that one reason is that the average teacher feels divorced from having an impact. We have a hierarchy of representatives and board members who do not really have time to follow the bi-laws on constantly polling members' opinions on issues. Many members have long-since stopped coming to meetings with their representatives, and there are a significant number of schools without a representative (How are their voices being heard?). Without an ability to quickly have a say, I think members feel less connected to our organization. This is the democratic deal; we agree as a group with similar interests to pursue those interests in the direction of the will of the majority in exchange for having our voice heard in the market place of ideas before things are decided. We are about 1300 well-educated people who I believe would be well-suited to politely debating issues, often in a convenient online forum, and then deciding matters with a direct vote. I think this kind of participation and decision-making could make it OUR union again.

I also believe that teachers feel rather resigned to the outcomes of union/district relations because it has been so long since we actually effectively asserted ourselves. One of my site representatives told me that during the rep training it was explained that CVE has not challenged the District through arbitration (the informal and relatively inexpensive forum to enforce provisions of the contract) in about five years. I also don't think that they have taken an issue before the Public Employment Relations Board, the other inexpensive referee of our disputes, during that time. So the District has been unhindered in asserting itself in basically any way it pleases. 

My administration would analyze the legal issues surrounding temporary contracts (Why do we have teachers working 7 years with a "temporary" contract?; Is this legal?), work requirements ("Non-negotiables" usually involving class environment) which essentially force work beyond the contract hours, the District's duty to consult with the union before implementing curricular changes (Yes, there actually is both a statutory and contractual duty to consult), what protections are available to prevent teachers being forced to develop curricula or materials, and to what degree if any can the District use its flawed data analysis of what makes a "highly effective" teacher in making employment decisions. We would mount a legal challenge whenever reasonable to attempt to protect our interests. We would finally show the District that we are capable of defending our interests.

To address compensation, I believe that we need a lot more information and a way to share that information with the community. Teachers have to realize that every time the District makes major expenditures like handing out hundreds of iPads or hiring hundreds of subs so teachers can go hear the unproven strategy of the month, we are saying that those items are more important than teacher compensation. Teachers need to be aware of the exact costs and make an independent cost/benefit analysis to share with parents. The District, like most districts, will say that their administration costs are low. But I see tons of wasted money that could have been spent to give teaching professionals a sense that they are valued and that this is a career that they can commit to

If you want more of the same organization that we have seen over the last five years, vote for someone else. We put out about $1.5 million in union dues. Right now only a very small portion of that is at our disposal. But for that kind of money, we should have a big chair at the table. We should have our position fully represented in the media and at District board meetings. We should have a proven track record of enforcing our statutory and contractual rights. We should have an organization that allows us to have the entire membership hear our concerns and debate our ideas for improving education and our interests. If you are ready to get started building that kind of organization, I would appreciate your vote.

                        Manuel Yvellez

Boalt Hall School of Law, UC Berkeley 89'


Law Firm of Stutz, Gallagher, and Artiano 89' - 91'

Research Attorney II, San Diego Superior Court 91' - 94'


Homemaker / Student 94' - 98'


Teacher, CVESD, 98' - Present

Please View My Campaign Speech.