Boots on the Ground

A couple days before election day my brother, who lives in North Carolina, gave me a call. Both of us serve as Presidents: Me for a labor union and he for a corporation. As you might expect, our perspectives on things like elections can be quite different.  While this is often the case, I have detected in my sibling a new curiosity about his west coast brother’s perspectives on politics in general and labor specifically.  

First, it was the Chicago Teacher’s Strike he wanted to know about.  So I told him.  I explained to him the issue of standardized testing as a component of a teacher’s evaluation, and why this issue was so important to not only Chicago teachers, but Chicago parents as well, who overwhelmingly supported the strike.

He then asked me about the involvement of our union in the election.  I said to him, “You know when you hear a campaign talk about the “ground game” in a campaign? That’s us.  We’re the people volunteering on the phones, knocking at your door and standing on a busy street corner in the rain waiving signs.”

His response: “I never knew any of this stuff.  How come I don’t hear anything about these things?” 

This response is exactly the reaction I’ve had to the post-election commentary that has inundated the airwaves.   Our political punditry is filled with talk of strategies that did or did not work, messages that resonated with voters or didn’t, and an analysis of campaign gaffes that may have turned the election one way or another.  What is almost never talked about is the fact that the ultimately more authentic difference maker in this election and many others is that ground game I told my brother about. 

I must admit that there are parts of me that like to think of myself as above the political fray.  “Politics is a dirty game,” I sometimes think.  “Let others play that game.  It’s not for me.”  But when you spend time with the educators of the Edmonds, Northshore and Shoreline Education Associations as they do the hard work of supporting pro-public education candidates, the work doesn’t seem dirty at all.  In fact, it is inspirational to be with educators who demonstrate their dedication to their students, colleagues and communities by doing the hard work that an election season requires.  

   

Hundreds of SEA, EEA and NSEA members volunteered to man phone banks, doorbell on behalf of public education.  

What did we accomplish?

We elected a governor that has pledged to protect collective bargaining. This reaffirms the bargaining table as a powerful place to have our collective voices heard as we advocate for our students and our ability to take care of our own families as we do so. 

We Re-elected State Senator Rosemary McAuliffe, a proven advocate of public education, and effectively resisted the tidal wave of money for negative campaigning her opponent received from so-called education reform groups like Stand for Children.

We elected State Representative Gerry Pollet.  Gerry is another proven advocate of public education.  Gerry also ran against a tidal wave of cash provided by groups like Stand. 

 

These are major victories and we should celebrate. Congratulations to us all; Special thanks go to the real people who did the real work to support a real public education system in Washington State.  

-David Guthrie

Knocking On Doors

I really was surprised that my 9 year old boy, Calvin, was excited about joining me Saturday morning.  I had been confident that, when I made him the offer, he would opt out for something traditionally more fun such as playing with his neighborhood friends, reading Harry Potter for the ten thousandth time or well, anything other than what I was offering.  Instead, he was genuinely excited about heading out the door to join me and some other adults to knock on people’s doors to talk with them about public education. Really.

Much of my surprise stemmed from the fact that I was not excited at all.  Yes, I had committed to do doorbelling in support of state Representative Gerry Pollet in the 46^th legislative district, but when the time came, I thought of all sorts of things I’d rather be doing.  I know that Gerry truly understands the experience and concerns of real educators in real classrooms and that having a legislator like him in the state house is important; still, giving up 2 hours on a Saturday for the cause seemed daunting.

Calvin and I hopped in the car and headed over to campaign headquarters: Gerry’s house.  There we met the candidate and other educators, some from Shoreline, others from Seattle.  Calvin and I were paired up with Bob Murphy, a math teacher at Franklin High School.  Bob took the even addresses, we took the odd.   

As we went to knock on our first door, I was feeling envious of those on the other side watching football games, reading the paper, cooking & relaxing. I was also a bit nervous about the fact that my boy and I were about to interrupt someone’s Saturday bliss with our intrusion.  Never-the-less, I reminded Calvin to “Stand where you can be seen, speak clearly, and be proud to talk about your school.” 

And then a funny thing happened:  While we certainly knocked on many doors without even an answer, some doors did open and good conversations happened.  There is something about introducing yourself as a teacher that compels people to listen.  Once folks realized that we were not asking for money, were not trying to sell them a vacuum cleaner but, were instead talking about education and the importance of having law makers who truly want to support the work of educators and the learning of students, that initial tension of the moment left and was replaced by a sense of community.  Plus, how can anyone really be mean to you when you are standing there with your fourth grade child!   

But I think there was more to it than having my kid with me. In a very real way, Calvin and I were extending the same sense of community we experience as teachers and students in the classroom to those on the street.  We were lending our authentic voices to the conversation going on in our state and nation about public education, and our credibility as practitioner and student was unimpeachable.  And by knocking on someone’s door, we were breaking through the fortresses we build around us that hurt our ability to have real conversations with one another. 

For our fellow citizens to understand what is truly at stake, we will need to make what is happening inside the walls of our classrooms and schools visible to those outside of them, many of whom have not set foot in a school since they were a kid. Whether than means knocking on doors, calling them on the phone, speaking to our neighbors on the street or having a conversation at the grocery store, this needs to happen. 

    

And I realize now that my advice to my son is advice that I and other educators may also find useful:  “Stand where we can be seen, speak clearly and be proud to talk about public schools.”

We have so much to be proud of.  Let’s start telling our stories. 

Got Justice?

Many of us (teachers) may see ourselves as basically apolitical. Maybe even “aunion.”  I know I did. 

When I entered the profession in 1985 I was full of confidence in my ability as an individual to transform education one student at a time. “Why in the world would I need a union for that, I thought.” Not only did I think it; I said it.  I remember telling a colleague in my department (and also the Vice-President of our district’s union) that I believed that, while unions had once had their use, we were in a new time and that perhaps unions were no longer needed.

Plus, I was a professional who had been raised by professional parents.  Weren’t unions for blue collar workers?

And I was pretty sure I didn’t need politics either.  My life was fine. Things were good. While I was interested in politics in general, (I followed Presidential politics) I saw no reason to be politically active as an individual.  I was here to help kids. That's all that mattered.

As I gained more experience, my attitudes changed.  That experience included:

• Working with some good principals and superintendents, and working with some very bad ones as well.

• Watching elected policy makers lurch from one educational fad to another

• Seeing the end of meaningful professional development replaced by a focus on testing, parsing the results, more testing and more parsing of the results

• Seeing my purchasing power eaten up by inflation, health care expenses and pay cuts

• Watching expectations for my performance and workload increase while resources to accomplish the task decreased

• Witnessing a Corporate-backed education reform regime that stresses testing and firing teachers as a form of “accountability” while continuing to refuse to invest real money in making educational opportunities equal for all students.

And all of these things occurred while I worked as hard as I could to be the best teacher I could possibly be. 

 

But how come that wasn’t enough?  When and why did teachers become the enemy in some people’s eyes?  

As I’ve become clearer about my role as a teacher, I am beginning to get some answers to this question.  Yes, I am a teacher of children, but I’m also an advocate for justice.   

Advocating for justice has never been popular.  Ever.  As we organize to change the status quo that I have outlined above, there are many forces who want to keep things just like they are, or make them even worse if it suits their economic or ideological needs.  Teachers and our unions are one of the few organized groups left to resist injustice in education, and that makes us a target of the powerful. We’re solidly in the way of those who would like to reduce teachers to a kind of interchangeable part on an education assembly line and who see public education as an untapped opportunity for profitable privatization. 

The irony is that those with the most power are charging teachers with being an obstruction to progress.  To this I plead guilty; especially if that “progress” is unjust and ultimately, hurts my students’ education and opportunity rather than helping it. 

I’d like to believe that the privileged, naive kid who began life in the classroom at age 22 has learned a thing or two about expanding his understanding of what it means to be an educator that fights for justice.

Political activism is one way we work for justice for our students and for our own families. I hope you will join me this fall in the fight for what is right.