PrintAFT members and affiliates in Texas and elsewhere are mobilizing to help the tens of thousands of their neighbors and fellow unionists who have suffered devastating losses from Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana and along the Gulf Coast.
"This effort is what the AFT is all about—offering help and assistance to our brothers and sisters when they need it most," says Linda Bridges, president of the Texas Federation of Teachers.
TFT has set up a statewide toll-free number for AFT victims displaced by the storm, and phone contacts will be available at TFT offices in Austin as well as in Houston, San Antonio and other affiliates both large and small across the state. (See TFT Web site for details.) The AFT represents nearly 15,000 teachers, paraprofessionals and school-related personnel and some higher education faculty in the affected areas of Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi, including 6,500 in New Orleans alone.
"The folks who answer the calls will be able to refer the members to the appropriate agencies" for relocation assistance, explains Bridges. TFT also is making office space available to the United Teachers of New Orleans should UTNO need a base of operation in Houston to assist their members who have fled to Texas. TFT leaders also are talking to school districts across the Lone Star State, helping them assess their capacity for dealing with the influx of displaced students. And the state affiliate is providing every local with a menu of strategies for helping to ease the transition of Katrina victims into Texas schools; it will cover everything from help in obtaining school supplies to securing suitable clothes and school uniforms for students.
Currently, AFT affiliates in Texas are helping members meet their most immediate needs. Because of the storm, "New Orleans teachers' first paycheck didn't come through, and there's no denying the urgency of the situation," says Gayle Fallon, president of the Houston local. "We're an AFT local, and we're here to help."
While much media attention has focused on the expected influx of huge numbers into cities like Houston, San Antonio and Dallas, "a lot of our smaller cities will be affected, too," says Bridges. "I think every city along the Gulf Coast will be impacted. We are making sure that all of our locals have a way to get information into the hands of any AFT member who lands in their district."
In Louisiana, the AFT has helped the Louisiana Federation of Teachers establish a toll-free number, 888/238-5646, for members in that state. The state federation is also providing critical information on the LFT Web site for teachers and school staff displaced by the disaster.
In Mississippi, approximately 800 teachers, staff and school related personnel have been directly affected by Hurricane Katrina, says AFT state federation president Greg Kelly. About 350 reside on the Mississippi Gulf Coast and the other 450 were in the direct path of Hurricane Katrina as it roared over the rest of the state, he notes.
"We are just beginning to receive information regarding our individual members, but many have told us they have lost everything thing, including their homes."
The condition of our schools is currently being assessed, but some schools were either destroyed or suffered significant damage, he reports. In addition, many schools that withstood the storm surge are now being used as temporary shelters for affected families, so it may take more than a month to find these families new shelters so that schools can open.
Even as they struggle to recover from the punishing effects of Hurricane Katrina, Alabamans are reaching out to thousands of desperate evacuees who have fled across counties and across state lines in an effort recover their lives. Vi Parramore, president of the Jefferson County (Ala.) AFT, says that communities across the state, which includes the hard-hit Mobile and Gulf shore area, have greeted newly located families from their state and from neighboring states with support, generosity and kindness.
"Everybody wants to know how to help, and I think there is going to be plenty to do," says Parramore, who is on the board of directors for the Red Cross. "We are only beginning to envision what's going to be needed when you start to talk about relocation of 750,000 Americans."
Approximately 3,500 evacuees are expected to take up extended stays in Jefferson County, located in north central Alabama. Shelters set up at the local civic center, fair grounds and several other locations filled quickly with victims from several states who lost everything to Katrina, Parramore says. Many of the shelters house "families with limited funds who ran out of money staying at motels" in the area, she says. One of her first priorities, she says, is to work with local and state officials to help displaced educators get the waivers they need to find quickly work in schools now burgeoning with displaced students. "I've also talked with the superintendent about the need to provide counseling and support for as many displaced kids as possible—and our teachers also need support for dealing with this."
In Florida, where hundreds of members also suffered losses when Katrina swept across southern Florida on Aug. 25 before hitting the Gulf Coast, affiliates there are now asking how they can help their colleagues in Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi, reports Pat Santeramo, and AFT vice president and president of the Broward Teachers Union. "These people were not focused on the problems here in Florida as much as they were on what was happening in New Orleans and other towns in that region."
BTU has already sent out an e-mail message to 13,000 members promoting the AFT's Disaster Relief Fund.
Also, because of a growing number of enquiries from AFT members throughout the country asking how they can help, we have posted a "What You Can Do" page on our Web site.
Updated Sept. 8, 2005
