The point of organizing is to unify your local chapter so when the moment comes and "the challenge" arises, you are ready to go. That was the message at this year's Region 2 Fall Leadership Conference, where the theme was "Organizing in Challenging Times."
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Members pay rapt attention in a session on getting chapters prepared to face whatever comes down the pike. |
More than 700 teachers from Redding to Bakersfield attended the conference in Reno. Workshops covered a wide range of issues, including analyzing school budgets, bargaining in districts with declining enrollments, teaching in multicultural classrooms and understanding what constitutes a highly qualified teacher under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).
In discussions about the ESEA and its new definition of "highly qualified teachers," participants expressed confusion and outrage.
"This is just adding insult to injury," said Ed Abair, a member of the Dinuba Teachers Association. "You can only make a dog jump through the hoop so many times before the dog doesn't want to jump any more."
"Who is coming up with these rules?" he asked. "Have they ever sat in a classroom to know what teachers are dealing with?"
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CTA President Barbara E. Kerr chats with CTA Director Mike Green. |
Sending teachers back to school for new credentials or subjecting them to new testing requirements is not going to have the desired effect - unless the desired effect is to get rid of teachers. "The new law is going to force qualified teachers out of the profession entirely," said Abair.
Many conference participants expressed concerns about the current budget crisis and how some school district administrators will use the crisis as an excuse to cut more classroom spending.
"I know there isn't a lot of extra money in the budget," said Mike Lepore, president of the Fresno County Schools Office Education Association. But after the district claimed state budget cuts made it impossible to pay for increased health care costs for teachers and used that rationale to make painful cuts earlier this year, it was revealed that the district got more money from the state and now has excess revenues.
"I worry that they are going to once again cry, 'The ship is sinking,' and use that state budget threat to try and cut teacher salaries and benefits," said Lepore.
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Bargaining team member Shirley Howe from Paradise takes careful notes. |
"Morale is at an all-time low," said Amador County Teachers Association President Julia Mandeson. "We're just waiting for the other shoe to drop. We don't have enough materials and even the students are aware of the problems. The students are asking, 'Where did that person who was so helpful in the classroom go?'"
"Larger class sizes and less support, that's the big 'thank you' we get for working so hard," said Gary Arzamendi of the Merced-Mariposa UniServ Unit. "A lot of teachers are depressed."
"You are the most important instructional material standing in that classroom," CTA Chapter Services Consultant Tamara Yates told participants in a workshop on organizing. "You make the difference for students."
"In tough economic times, districts need to reset their priorities," she said.
Yates encouraged the group to look beyond the current contract. "The biggest mistake we make is not developing organizing plans for the next five years."
Rebecca Zoglman
