At the end of August, Advocate Bill Tschida retired after 24 years of supporting ACSA members with a variety of professional legal issues.

He personally assisted over 2,700 members in addition to the hundreds of members who attended his administrator rights presentations at ACSA Personnel Academies. He is one of the original part-time advocates who joined the group back in July 2000 when it was formed. He is a lifetime educator who used his experiences as an administrator and his human resources background to assist and improve the lives of ACSA members statewide. He will be sorely missed, but his legacy lives on. Thank you, Bill!

We are excited to announce that Chris Downing has joined ACSA as our new Member Assistance and Legal Support Advocate.

Downing brings a wealth of experience to the role, having most recently served as superintendent of Anaheim Elementary School District (2018-24), where he was instrumental in promoting academic excel lence, fostering collaboration and ensuring fiscal stability. Prior to that he also spent three years as a local district superintendent at LAUSD. With his knowledge of the California Education Code and extensive leadership experience, Downing will be a tremendous asset to our team. His ability to navigate complex legal and administrative challenges will help us continue providing top-tier support and legal advocacy to our members. Welcome, Chris!

Meet the ACSA Member Assistance & Legal Support Team: Janet Morey, Sharon Dezutti, Joseph Jones, Gary Rutherford, Lloyd Wamhof, John Almond and our newest advocate, Chris Downing. Each year, the team provides confidential professional assistance on a variety of topics to approximately 800 members, including reviewing over 100 contracts. This is in addition to dozens of presentations around the state at ACSA personnel and superintendents academies, regions, Leadership Summit, New Superintendents Seminar Series and Superintendents’ Symposium. Advocate Joseph Jones also provides strike preparation assistance to districts statewide.

There is no cost for services provided by staff members, and approximately 75 percent of the requests are handled and completed by the advocates. If a regular member needs an attorney and they’ve been with ACSA over six months, there are three levels of support. Level 1 is two hours of attorney time at no cost to the member. Level 2 is $1,000 where ACSA pays 60 percent of authorized costs and the member pays the balance. Level 3 is $4,000 where ACSA pays 60 percent of authorized costs and the member pays the balance.

ACSA currently has seven panel attorneys who specialize in education law and charge ACSA and its members a discounted hourly rate. To access this service, simply fill out the request form at www.acsa.org/legalsupport. You will also find helpful articles on this webpage written by member assistance advocates to assist you and answer many of your professional and legal questions.