The president of the Santa Barbara Teachers Association explains the conflict currently rocking the Santa Barbara Unified School District in the latest episode of Santa Barbara Talks with Josh Molina.
“You can only keep people down until they decide to fight back,” said Hozby Galindo, president of the Teachers Association. “Right now, that is what teachers are doing. They are voicing their opinion. They are telling their own stories.”
The Santa Barbara Teachers Association and the Santa Barbara Unified School District are currently at an impasse in contract negotiations over a salary increase and other benefits. A mediator will now be called in and if no resolution is reached, a second impasse will be declared. After that stage, the union would be allowed to strike.
Galindo, teachers and students have launched a full-on campaign to pressure the district to give teachers a salary increase next year.
Galindo answers several questions in this podcast and addresses the following topics:
- What do the teachers want?
- How did the two sides get here?
- Thoughts on Superintendent Hilda Maldonado leadership
- Views on the turnover in the SBUSD administrative cabinet
- Comments on the students walkouts and how they brought him to tears
Galindo also shares his personal story of being born in Mexico, coming to the U.S. as kid, and eventually becoming a respected math teacher at La Cumbre Junior High School.
Please hit subscribe on YouTube to get content first and visit www.santabarbaratalks.com to consider a contribution. Josh Molina owns this podcast series, which focuses on housing, education, transportation, culture and business. Molina is a journalist and college instructor at Santa Barbara City College.