Fight for America's Future Tour 2010: Albuquerque

Ernie Pyle Middle School
April 12, 9:30 a.m.

AFT president Randi Weingarten couldn't have picked a better place to kick off the Fight for America's Future Tour 2010 than Ernie Pyle Middle School in Albuquerque, N.M. At a time when punitive approaches to improving schools have become increasingly popular, this school offers a stark contrast. During a press conference in the school's media center, Weingarten, Albuquerque superintendent Winston Brooks and Albuquerque Teachers Federation president Ellen Bernstein praised the cooperative approach that has helped turn around a school in one of the city's poorest neighborhoods—without firing a single teacher.

Before the formal remarks even began, those in attendance were treated to a sometimes hair-raising display of precision rifle exercises by members of the school's Junior ROTC program, which is just one of the various activities that have helped keep some students engaged in school who might otherwise have lost interest.

Bernstein described the collaborative process to redesign the school—along with a nearby high school—that engaged teachers in in-depth discussions about school research and what works best for students. That process has been helped along by both a new superintendent and a dynamic new principal at the school. "Everybody here is working toward a common goal," Bernstein said. "We want to make this a good place to work and a good place for parents to send their kids."

As Weingarten put it, "this school and this district opted to do things the right way. It's not sexy to talk about collaboration, and it's not easy to turn things around," but everyone involved with the school did the hard work necessary to make the school succeed. "This is a place that shows when smart, dedicated educators get together, amazing things can happen."

Superintendent Brooks echoed many of the same points as the union leaders, but he was especially struck by something he hasn't seen in decades as an administrator, and certainly not as a district superintendent. A set of Ernie Pyle parents who were at the press conference wanted to show Brooks their seventh-grader's report card and brag about how well he is doing. "It's a team and a family here," said parent Annette Lucero, herself a graduate of the school, who has worked with the school's educators on the reform plan.

Brooks and Bernstein both responded to a reporter's question about the impact of possible budget cuts on the school, which offers faculty a $5,000 stipend to teach there. Brooks emphasized his desire to keep that commitment, even in the face of a $43 million district deficit. Bernstein said if budget cuts end up raising class sizes or eliminating the teacher stipend, that would certainly undermine progress at the school.

Weingarten used the question to highlight the point of a tour that will take her to cities across the country over the next few weeks: to call attention to the need for additional federal funds to avert job losses when the money from last year's federal stimulus is spent. "At a time when we are trying to turn around schools, the rug is being pulled out from under us" by continuing budget problems, she noted.

Following the press conference, Weingarten visited two classrooms—eighth-grade social studies and seventh-grade language arts. In the language arts class, where the students were working in groups on reports about people they respect and admire, Weingarten went from table to table and asked who their subjects were. Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., Mahatma Gandhi, President Obama and Oprah Winfrey, they responded. Despite the large group of visitors and media representatives in their classroom, the students were remarkably unperturbed and poised in their comments.

Lunch with state lawmakers and education officials
Noon

An impressive group of top Democratic state legislators and education officials came together to meet with Weingarten and other state and local AFT leaders for a discussion about state and national politics.

Over the obligatory New Mexico lunch of green and red chili enchiladas at the AFT New Mexico office, Weingarten thanked the legislators for their efforts to find additional revenue for the state's public schools and limit the impact of the fiscal crisis on public services. But even in a state with a Democratic governor and Democratic majorities in both the state House and Senate, it has been almost impossible for the union's supporters to push through needed legislation to revamp the way the state funds its schools. Similar to the situation in the U.S. Congress, good legislation that has made its way through the state House has died in the state Senate, and Gov. Bill Richardson also has vetoed legislation that would provide additional money for schools.

One state representative, former teacher and longtime AFT member Mimi Stewart, explained to Weingarten that many of the legislators in the room—who have strongly supported necessary changes and cast some tough votes—now face difficult re-election battles because their opponents are painting them as stereotypical tax-and-spend liberals. "We're all very nervous about the upcoming elections," she said.

Some of the legislators asked Weingarten for her advice on how to frame their messages to the public, especially when the state has ended up with a budget that makes substantial cuts in education. "We're all leading in really tough times," especially given the country's economic problems, Weingarten said. "But we either end up figuring out how to lead in a way that helps people, or we end up getting squashed." One approach, she added, is to talk about the value of investing in schools and children, and to highlight how much worse things would be without those investments.

Specifically on education, she urged the state to apply for round two of federal Race to the Top funds. State education secretary Veronica Garcia and Albuquerque Teachers Federation president Ellen Bernstein both said they plan to meet soon to work on putting together a successful application. In addition to gaining the state some needed federal funding, Weingarten said, everyone involved in crafting the application could use that collaborative process to show the public that they are serious about working together for the good of schools and students.

Toward the end of the meeting, AFT vice president Kathy Chavez, who leads the Albuquerque Educational Assistants Association, made a pitch for the legislators to keep in mind that school support jobs also are at risk when budgets are cut. "Too often we are called nonessential," she said. "But schools cannot succeed without us."

AFT New Mexico president Christine Trujillo suggested that the legislators and union leaders keep meeting regularly to push their shared legislative agenda for education and budget issues.

Mark Twain Elementary School
2 p.m.

A tip for second-grade teachers: If you need a topic for a lively classroom discussion, try talking about teeth. Weingarten and Trujillo discovered that when they visited Laura Walsh's classroom at Mark Twain Elementary. Despite the fact that they arrived just about the time the students were supposed to head outside for recess, the visitors quickly got the class chatting excitedly when they asked about losing teeth and the tooth fairy. The inquiry produced lots of silly comments as the kids shared their own experiences.

This is clearly the age when some begin to wonder if their parents are the ones who leave money under the pillow, but many hung onto their belief in the tooth fairy. Tooth fairy or not, they told some amusing stories involving teeth. One left a tooth with a cavity under his pillow; the tooth fairy left the money—and the tooth. Another wrapped her tooth in toilet paper, but her dog ended up eating it before the tooth fairy could find it. And, of course, quite a few of the students showed off mouths with gaps where teeth used to be.

The tooth fairy discussion was a prelude to Weingarten reading a book called Parts, by Tedd Arnold, to the class. It's about a boy who thinks he's falling apart because he is losing hair, belly button lint and teeth. The vivid illustrations and high gross-out factor made it perfect for that age.

Town hall meeting on education and jobs
4:30 p.m.

Weingarten proved to be a big attraction for New Mexico educators, who packed a meeting room at AFT New Mexico headquarters for a town hall-style meeting that focused on jobs and the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

The event drew not only members and activists from AFT locals in Albuquerque and the surrounding area, but also some who drove more than two hours to get there. The meeting included the AFT leaders who spent the day with Weingarten during her visit: Bernstein, Chavez and Trujillo.

Weingarten opened the gathering with remarks that emphasized the themes she had touched on earlier in the day and in many of her recent meetings with members. Educators are being hit simultaneously by the lingering effects of the recession, which is squeezing state and local government budgets especially hard, and by demands, from the Obama administration on down, to reform schools. "You have every issue imaginable hitting at the exact same time" in New Mexico, she said.

On the jobs issue, Weingarten told the educators that the AFT is pushing hard for passage of the proposed Local Jobs for America Act, which includes $23 billion for the upcoming school year to help districts avoid layoffs of teachers and other educators. Those funds could help avert up to 300,000 layoffs in the next school year, she noted.

A bigger chunk of the nearly two-hour session focused on the Obama administration's proposal for reauthorization of ESEA. The administration recently released a blueprint for the law (see earlier story), which Weingarten said places 100 percent of the responsibility on teachers, but doesn't give them the authority or support they need to do the job.

While the blueprint does include some good elements, the AFT is working on its own set of recommendations for reauthorizing the law. Weingarten talked about focusing on what teachers need in order to help students succeed, such as professional development, deep content knowledge and better evaluation systems, as well as related issues such as high-quality standards and curriculum, wraparound services for students and their families, and safe school environments.

The questions members posed to Weingarten ranged from the personal (one teacher's own blueprint for school reform) to the practical (how the jobs bill might help local school systems) to the political (disgust with politicians at all levels blaming teachers for everything that is wrong with schools).

"We've got a lot of work to do," Weingarten said. But she also told them about the morning visit to Ernie Pyle Middle School and how exciting it is that in schools like that one—and countless others around the country—dedicated educators are doing amazing things.

The Fight for America's Future Tour 2010 continues next with stops in California, on April 20 in San Francisco and April 21 in Sacramento. (Dan Gursky; photos by Rick Scibelli.)