by AFT President Sandra Feldman
July 1998

James Madison is a neighborhood s
chool where kids are expected
to achieve -- and do.

I wish all the education critics and detractors could have joined me at the commencement ceremony for the 1998 graduates of James Madison High School in Brooklyn, New York.

Madison, which happens to be my alma mater, is a neighborhood urban public school, serving children of working families. My niece Marcy, whose father (my brother) works for the telephone company and is a single parent (widower), was one of the graduates, and knowing I'd be there anyway, the school had asked me to give the commencement address.

The students were intoxicating: smart, responsive, and beautiful, of every shade and hue. Here's a sample of last names from the alphabetical roster of graduates: Antoine, Bacovic, Baker, Calderon, Cannon, Darling, De Los Rios, Fedoreiko, Gao, Gonzales, Ha, Ivanchenko, Jackson, Lau, Lee, Martzsenyuk, Morgan, O'Donnell, Phillips....You get the picture.

New York City Mosaic

This is a completely integrated school, made up of that heady Brooklyn mix--African-Americans, Latinos from several different countries, Haitians and other Caribbean immigrants, newly arrived Russian and other Eastern European immigrants, and "native" Jewish, Italian, and Polish families.

Many of the kids have seen quite a bit of hardship. Pranita Singh, for example, wept as she presented Kauna Tisnovsky the JMHS Medal for Excellence in ESL. It had been named for her father Troy Singh, who had died of leukemia last year and who, she said, had come from poverty to "the top: He was a respected Madison High School teacher."

Medals for excellence in foreign languages were given for accomplishments in Chinese, French, Hebrew, Italian, Russian, and Spanish. The one for mathematics went to a young woman, Xin Zhao, who had earned a score of 100 on every New York State Regents examination. The teacher, Mrs. Hanley, who gave the award for excellence in history to Victoria Sirkenovskaya, thanked her students, "who kept me on my toes with their questions."

Great Kids...Involved Parents

The student union president, Shayna Glantz, surprised herself when tears came as she talked of having arrived in this country just three years earlier. She thanked all her teachers by name, to a wildly enthusiastic response from her peers and from the many parents present.

Marcy, I must brag, won the award for performing arts. And because of caring teachers, a loving family, and a low-tuition state university, she will be going off to college this fall, along with 90 percent of her class.

This is New York City, folks. And a neighborhood school (one of many) where real learning goes on because the students are expected to behave and to work hard. A school with great kids....and involved parents.

Despite the obvious hardships, despite the struggle to keep a balance between work and the kids, and to pay the bills, the parents were a strong part of that school community. The P.A. president burst into joyous tears as her daughter walked across the stage to collect that diploma, and you could see on her face how much it had taken, how much she had given, to make this moment happen.

A terrific faculty, fairly senior, with enough retirements occurring so that I could see a nice representation of young teachers. And--guess what--fully, strongly unionized! Just like so many other great neighborhood public schools that deserve support for the excellent job they do.

It's Happening All Over

While this wonderful event was taking place at Marcy's school, I thought about how kids all over the country were getting their diplomas--kids from other city schools and from schools in the suburbs and rural areas--who had been taught by teachers belonging to both teacher unions, the AFT and the NEA. Many of the Madison teachers, who gathered around after the ceremonies were over, asked me about the possible merger between the two unions. They hoped it would come to pass so AFT and NEA would be able to pull together on issues that matter for kids--like higher standards and orderly schools.

Continuing Cooperation

Now, although NEA delegates did not support the merger, there is no doubt that America's teachers want their unions to work together to help children and to enhance and improve public schools--and we will. AFT and NEA have been cooperating on projects to improve learning. And we plan to step up those efforts because America's public schools insure our country's future, our continued greatness, and our democracy by welcoming every child who enters and guaranteeing that child an education.

But in the meantime, oh, how I wish the people who have doubts about public schools could have been in Brooklyn with me that day. It would have renewed their faith.