We will be conducting our SMCMTA Board election electronically and readjusting the timeline. Online CTA members are eligible to vote and we must use your personal email address. Please contact us if you think we do not have your correct email or if it has changed.
Here are the candidates for July 1, 2020 – June 30, 2022 term. Where two or more candidates are running for the same positions, names are listed by the CTA 19-20 Random Alphabet.
PRESIDENT
SARAH BRAFF
It has been an honor to serve full time as your SMMCTA President. Prior to this role, I was a teacher at Will Rogers Elementary School for more than twenty years and an active member of the executive board and negotiations team. I am proud of the work SMMCTA has accomplished during my tenure, especially the elimination of the two-tier health benefits for new hires. This will be a new era in education and the future for schools will be challenging. COVID-19 has changed how we teach, how we live and how we learn, and those changes will continue to evolve on a day to day basis. But, I am astonished at how quickly you have adapted to teach on-line learning. You continue to put your students first , and this pandemic has not changed it. Thank you for you dedication. Union harmony remains as important as ever - as is the work we do on behalf of you. To quickly negotiate working conditions to adapt to our remote classrooms, lead the conversation about to grade with equity, to work with an unknown future that changes rapidly. Our power is in our unity and our solidarity. Thus far, nineteen teaching positions have been saved from RIF's and we continue to battle for the rest. And I ask for your vote on my reelection campaign. As your president, I will never stop fighting on your behalf and I ask for your vote in this election.
FOR VICE-PRESIDENT
CLAUDIA BAUTISTA-NICHOLAS
It has been a distinct pleasure serving you as SMMCTA High School Executive Board Representative for the past three years and as an active union representative for several years before. I am in my 29th year teaching and my 17th year at Santa Monica High School. In recent years, at the Executive Board, I have served in the District Leadership Team, in the LCAP Committee, in the Superintendent’s Budget Advisory Committee and more recently helped in Negotiations for our Distance Learning MOU. As your representative, my goal has always been to voice the needs and concerns of our union. I believe that we are stronger when we stand together. This belief has led me to stand next to our teachers as they face possible layoffs. As your Vice President, I can promise to keep your needs at the forefront as we face difficult financial times. In my tenure I hope to strengthen our union by empowering our members with information and engaging us to work together toward our common good. I want to be a members’ Vice President, always open to phone class, texts, ideas, suggestions and feedback. You all work so hard to do right by our students and you deserve union leadership and school district administration that work hard looking out for you.
SHELLY EHRKE
After serving as an SMMCTA Site Representative, Executive Board Member, and Membership Engagement Chair, I was honored to be trusted to help SMMCTA when nominated to finish the vacated Vice President’s term last year. Over this past year I have learned so much about organizing, communication, negotiating, and fighting for our members from within our association, from my work on CTA State Council, through my experience as an NEA RA delegate, and with our Bay Valley Service Center Council. I continue to seek out the expertise of those within CTA and our neighboring locals to learn and improve more. We have only just begun to put in practice what we need to face on the road ahead: a continued fight against staffing cuts, a new contract negotiation, and the uncertainty of post-COVID funding and teaching. And all of this with an eye towards education justice for ALL of our students. I am 100% committed to our members, students, and community in working to make SMMCTA even stronger and more effective than it already is. I hope to earn your vote for Vice President so that we can move forward, better together. Thank you! https://sites.google.com/view/shelly-ehrke-for-smmcta-vice-p/home
TREASURER
GRANT CLARK
This is my 15th year on the executive board and I am running for my 4th term as treasurer. I truly enjoy the work of the treasurer and helping to problem solve issues that arise with our members. We have a great deal of work ahead of us and with your vote, I know we can get a lot done together.
In solidarity - Grant Clark
CHILD DEVELOPMENT SERVICES REPRESENTATIVE (CDS)
ROXANNA “ROXIE” PATTON
I am Roxie Patton and I am running for the open CDS (Child Development Services) seat on the SMMCTA Executive Board. I have worked in CDS for twenty-nine years, as a Preschool Teacher, Lead Teacher and in my current position as a Teacher on Special Assignment (TOSA), K – 3rd grade. For the past seven years I have served CDS Staff on the Executive Board, representing CDS Staff on both contractual and non-contractual issues, assuring seniority is followed when layoffs are a district necessity and to assure both Preschool and Elementary School CDS Teachers have appropriate working conditions. In the future I will continue to support our CDS Staff, work with them to insure the success of our programs and improve our working conditions. Specifically addressing the need for increased time for CDS and Preschool educators to complete their testing, documentation and planning. I consider it an honor to serve on the Board as a CDS Member and look forward to working with you in the future.
ELEMENTARY REPRESENTATIVE
CATHERINE HANDELMAN
I have been involved with SMMCTA for over 6 years. I have served as a site rep and the Executive Board Elementary Representative for the past several years. I feel this time has helped me develop a deeper understanding of the complexities involved in running an effective union. I wish to continue to serve on the Executive Board as your Elementary Representative and further increase the union’s ability to serve its members in all capacities.
HIGH SCHOOL REPRESENTATIVE(S)
SARAH RODRIGUEZ
I am applying for the position of High School Executive Board Representative in order to help support the critical work of SMMCTA leadership and in order to serve our members at SAMOHI and across the district. I have been a high school English and Social Studies teacher for thirteen years, and 20-21 will be my fourth year as an SMMUSD English teacher (SAMOHI). Previously, I was an active member of my UTLA site and chapter when I taught at Crenshaw High School, from 2001-2006. I have been a SMMCTA site representative at SAMOHI since 18-19, and recently attended CTA’s conference on organizing effective campaigns and contract negotiations. If elected, I will work hard to protect our contract, effectively and ethically represent the voices and views of our members, and advocate for equity and the common good.
NATHANIEL “NED” ACKER
I am once again running for the position of SMMCTA High School Executive Board Representative in order to continue the work of our association leadership and to serve the teachers of the Samohi community and across the District with a special focus on the high schools. I am not only a Samohi graduate, I have also been a been a a teacher at Samo for the past 19 years. I am a long time member of this community and I understand the diversity of challenges within it. Prior to that I was an active member of the UTLA when I taught in Watts, and previous to that I helped organize graduate school representatives as the UC grad students became a part of the UAW. I also was an organizer for the Hotel and Restaurant workers for Local 11. I have been an Executive Board member for three and ½ years. And was a site rep before that. If elected, I will continue the work of protecting and improving our contract, and I will faithfully represent all association members to the best of my abilities.
MALIBU REPRESENTATIVE
DANIELLE MURAWSKI
Hello, my name is Danielle Murawski and I am running for Malibu Representative. I have been in the district since 2009, first at Lincoln Middle School and currently at Malibu High School. I have been a SMMCTA rep since 2015 and a member of the Executive Board since 2016. I’d like to continue to represent Malibu on the Board of SMMCTA to ensure that our Union hears the voice of our Malibu members.
We appreciate all of the members who took time to vote on our new contract. We need 75% of our CTA members to ratify, so 534 of our 712 active members.
613 Members voted - 595 voted to ratify, 18 voted against ratification.
(In addition, we discarded an additional 23 "yes" votes that were non-members, unclear, etc.)
As this contract expires on June 30th, 2020, we will be headed back to the bargaining table with a new team.