Conference center honors Shanker legacy
World's biggest lesson
Ala. local mobilizing district's retirees
Students see space shuttle project through to the finish
Recognition for reading program, cooperation

Conference center honors Shanker legacy

The New York State United Teachers recently dedicated its new state-of-the-art conference center to the late Albert Shanker, a man who helped inspire the democratic dialogue that will fill the center's halls for years to come.

The Albert Shanker Conference Center is a standing tribute to the late AFT president, who was also a founding co-president of NYSUT. Located on the lower level of NYSUT's new headquarters in Latham, N.Y., the center is wired for video conferencing and features a 150-seat auditorium, several smaller meeting rooms and a business center.

"When future union leaders or staff are trained, when we come together to celebrate the governance and democracy of our union, it will be in these halls surrounded by Al's legacy," remarked NYSUT president and AFT vice president Thomas Y. Hobart Jr. at the dedication.

The center features a portrait of Shanker, created by artist Don Almquist, that truly "captures the real Al," remarked Eadie Shanker, wife of the late AFT leader. "No one walking through this conference center will ever have any doubt that Al is personally much loved and that his legacy continues to inform our future."

The portrait is flanked by six brushed aluminum panels that recall the many roles Shanker played in life--educator, union leader, internationalist, civil rights leader, opinion maker and Renaissance man. "Al was able to inspire us to perform in above-average ways and to have faith and continue to believe in the dignity of everyone," said AFT secretary-treasurer Edward J. McElroy at the dedication.

World's biggest lesson

On April 9, children and adults from all over the world will be attempting to break the world record for the "largest simultaneous lesson."

The event, supported by the AFT, is being organized by the Global Campaign for Education (GCE), a coalition of charities, trade unions and citizens' groups worldwide. The goal is to publicize the plight of the millions of children--especially girls--who never get a chance to go to school. Unable to read or write, they are mostly trapped in a lifetime of poverty.

This lesson plan will be taught in more than 50 countries and is part of the GCE's broader campaign to get every child in the world into school by 2015.

AFT members are encouraged to take part by teaching the lesson plan at 4 a.m. GMT (Greenwich Mean Time), 8 a.m. GMT or 2 p.m. GMT on April 9 (in the continental United States, 2 p.m. GMT would be 10 a.m. Eastern time, 9 a.m. Central time, 8 a.m. Mountain time and 7 a.m. Pacific time). They are then asked to return a validation form to the GCE.

Details about the event, as well as the lesson plan itself, registration and validation forms, are posted on AFT Online at www.aft.org. Click on "departments" and then "international" to find the materials.

Ala. local mobilizing district's retirees

A year ago, Nancy Walker and her fellow retirees at the Jefferson County American Federation of Teachers in Birmingham, Ala., considered themselves fledglings. But, in Walker's words, "what a difference a year makes."

Like many retiree chapters nationwide, the Jefferson County retirees are playing an important role in the life of their local union--participating in recruitment drives and volunteering to help out during elections, for example--while maintaining a focus on the issues that most affect them.

Although Walker coordinates a relatively small group of retirees--24 members--she says the chapter has evolved much faster than anyone could have anticipated. Fortunately, Walker has support. Like most retiree chapters, the Jefferson County's retirees received a start-up grant from the AFT's retiree program. The national union often helps locals who are organizing retirees by providing training, staff assistance and financial aid to help strengthen chapters.

Betty Frankl says the local has been equally supportive with its resources. Frankl, a speech pathologist, retired three years ago but still works as a substitute teacher. She also is the substitute teacher coordinator for the Jefferson County local and works closely with Walker on retiree issues. Frankl recently attended a retiree training seminar sponsored by the AFT to help retiree leaders improve their chapters. After the seminar she realized "how much the local helped us."

Recently the union retirees have latched on to an issue that resonates with other Alabama retirees (or those who are about to retire)--and that's a current state law that restricts how much a retiree can earn as a state worker.

The salary restriction in Alabama means that most retirees who have part-time jobs in the state system cannot make more than $18,000 annually if they want to continue receiving their pensions.

A former high school English teacher, Walker now works part-time as an adult education teacher. "So many of our retirees are young and vibrant enough that they have skills, knowledge and strengths to give, but this [law] limits how much we can work, even when we are willing to do so," says Walker.

Although the effort to overturn the law has just begun, the retirees are looking at other areas that may allow them to bring in new members. Retirees are a rich source for membership growth, says Frankl.

Walker sees another benefit as well. "I love maintaining my connection to the AFT. They've been there for me." And now she wants to be there for the union.

For more information about organizing retirees, send an e-mail to RETIREES@aft.org or call 1-800/238-1133 ext. 4526.
 

Students see space shuttle project through to the finish

When the space shuttle Columbia was lost tragically in February, the astronauts had collected a host of data from experiments carried out over its 16-day mission. One of these experiments came from a group of young scientists at Fowler High School in Syracuse, N.Y. Despite the tragedy, the students plan to finish their experiment as a tribute to the fallen astronauts.

The data were available, and the students were committed to finishing their project, says Charlotte Archabald, a chemistry teacher and the project adviser.

The students sent harvester ants out on the shuttle to learn how a low-gravity environment would affect their tunneling behavior; the students were able to check on their project via an Internet link while the Columbia was in orbit.

Although the students hypothesized that the ants would be slower in space because of the lack of gravity, the results were the opposite. The ants tunneled much more rapidly in space than the ants in the Earth-based control project, says Archabald, a member of the Syracuse Teachers Association/AFT.

It took nearly three years for the students to get their project into space. In 2000, the students partnered with scientists from Syracuse University to enter the project in the space supplier SPACEHAB's Space Technology and Research Students program, an education initiative to involve students with space exploration and promote careers in the sciences. The project was slated to launch in May 2001, but the Columbia voyage was postponed 19 times. By the time the Columbia took off this Jan.16, many of the students who started the project already had graduated. Three of the original 30 students are seniors this year, including Abby Golash.

Although the tragedy was "heart wrenching" for Golash, she still would encourage any student to get involved in science. "It was an incredible experience. We really felt like we were a part of NASA," the student says. After the initial shock of the space shuttle tragedy wore off, Golash and her peers resolved to complete the project. "We worked very hard," she adds, and now the students are finishing the project in honor of the Columbia astronauts.

The students will submit their findings to SPACEHAB in May.

Recognition for reading program, cooperation

The ABC Unified School District has received the California School Board Association's Golden Bell Award for its Southside Reading Collaborative. The school system's application process promoted the collaboration between the ABC Federation of Teachers and the school district that made the program successful.

After years of contentious relations between the union and the district, a new superintendent and union president, along with members of the school board and the negotiators attended the Harvard University labor-management program. The goal was to improve labor-management relations so that both the union and the district could focus on student achievement.

Superintendent Ron Barnes and ABC Federation of Teachers president Laura Rico, an AFT vice president, decided to concentrate on improving reading in the schools in the largely poor and Hispanic southside of the district.

Working together, the district and union formed the Southside Reading Collaborative. Principals and teachers in the collaborative meet regularly to share information, ideas and strategies for improving reading in their schools. Each school decides what programs or strategies work best for their students, and district administrators and union leaders provide support by selecting and purchasing materials or visiting other schools to observe programs in action.

The effort has paid off, with all schools in the collaborative showing improvement on the SAT-9, California's assessment.

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