Illinois staff back on the job after reaching agreement
First-ever job action by Farmington teachers and
support staff lasts a week

Teachers and support staff in Farmington, Ill., were back at work Sept. 19 after ratifying a new contract that brought an end to a weeklong strike in the 1,500-student school district near Peoria. Members of the Farmington Federation of Teachers walked off the job Sept. 12—the first such job action in the local’s history—after overwhelmingly rejecting the school board’s final contract offer. The local represents approximately 100 school employees.

The pact addresses two of the main issues that prompted the strike. The district agreed to limit the contract to three years, as the union had wanted, and also agreed to 3 percent annual raises for all staff. The district had proposed raises of barely 1 percent for some staff. The union won some concessions on the issue of retirement incentives, but the board would not agree to an extra year of incentives the union had pushed for.

“The 3 percent across the board for us was a very big win,” says Illinois Federation of Teachers field representative Lisa Uphoff, who works with the local. As with many strikes, the job action left union members feeling both energized and angered by some of the school district’s actions, Uphoff noted. “The teachers and support staff have a new unity and solidarity among them, and it will show in the classroom.” She also thanked the community and the students for their support.

Union members were angered by the district’s decision to cancel their health insurance the day before the strike. The district also refused to extend the school year to make up for the missed days.

Even though Sam Houston High School in Houston, Texas, began the school year designated as low-performing, veteran teacher Peggy Washington is sure the school can turn things around before the school year is over. She has given up the classroom to become a full-time teacher mentor to help make this happen.

“I thought I was going to miss the kids, and I do. This is a make-or-break year for us. I couldn’t pass up the chance to help the school.”

Sam Houston, one of the oldest public high schools in the Lone Star State, is also one of three high schools in the Houston area that the Texas Education Agency (TEA) has labeled “academically unacceptable” or “low-performing” for two straight years.

Under state law, these schools either had to shut down or be reconstituted; the TEA chose to reconstitute them. Each school has had to make some wholesale changes in its staff and operations as part of the reconstitution process. One of the biggest and most promising changes has been the formation of a partnership between the Houston Federation of Teachers and the Houston Independent School District.

The union teamed up with the district to train more than 300 faculty members at Sam Houston, Kashmere and Yates High Schools using “Foundations of Effective Teaching,” one of the courses in the AFT’s educational research and dissemination (ER&D) training program.

The principals of the schools asked the union to provide the training, and the district agreed to finance it, says HFT president Gayle Fallon.

The union also is working with faculty at Austin High School, which has an acceptable academic performance rating, but requested the ER&D training.

Fallon says the union has formed an “uneasy truce” with the district since the new superintendent, Abelardo Saavedra, came on board. As school superintendent in Corpus Christi for seven years, Saavedra was used to working with the union, says Fallon. “He doesn’t see us as the enemy.”

The union also has seen a change among members who are involved in the training.

“We have gotten tremendous feedback from new teachers and longtime members,” says Fallon. “Many are saying this is the best in-service they ever have had.”

Washington, a teacher for 22 years, most at Sam Houston, fell away from the union several years ago but returned when the union called on teachers to get involved in the ER&D training and teacher mentoring program. “I may not help everyone, but if I can get one person to stay at Sam Houston or stay in teaching, it’s all worth it.”

Although Sharon L. Taylor does not teach at any of the schools in the partnership, the union activist and former building steward volunteered to help. Taylor, a special education teacher at Harper Alternative School in Houston, trained faculty at Kashmere Senior High.

Taylor volunteered because she saw a need. “Professional development is important on all levels. It benefits everyone,” she says, noting that the focus on classroom management and the guidance on how to handle student behavior  was ideal for new and veteran teachers alike.

The fact that “we were teachers ourselves, tried and true in the classroom,” made it easier to connect with the program’s participants, says Taylor. Her work with teachers at Kashmere has caught the attention of administrators at Taylor’s own school. They recently asked her to share the ER&D training with her colleagues at Harper.

NYSUT promotes healthy lifestyles
'24/7 Let's Go!' program encourages youngsters to eat right, stay fit

Healthy children are more likely to grow up to be healthy adults. That’s the basis of “24/7 Let’s Go!,” a new program introduced last spring by the New York State United Teachers Health Care Professionals Council. The goal of the program is to promote healthy lifestyles to children while they are young.

“24/7 Let’s Go!” is aimed at helping every child develop a healthy lifestyle,” says NYSUT president and AFT vice president Richard Iannuzzi. “We want schoolchildren to begin developing good habits now. The younger they start, the healthier they’ll be.”

NYSUT launched a pilot program for 5,000 New York public school students in March. The program has been so successful, it has been expanded to  more elementary schools throughout the state. Kathleen Donahue, NYSUT’s second vice president and an AFT vice president, will be spearheading the program’s expansion.

Students are encouraged to build healthier lifestyles by engaging in daily physical activity and developing good eating habits. Students earn stickers for participating in healthy activities and can track their progress  by placing them on an action chart, which has a list of 24 healthy activities, such as walking the dog, jumping rope or eating a banana.

NYSUT encourages teachers and school nurses to use the program as part of their classroom and school curriculum. And the union encourages parents to get their children involved in the program.

“Every child will be encouraged to participate,” says Iannuzzi.  “The idea is to make good health habits fun so they actually become habits.”

“As educators and healthcare professionals, we have a responsibility to help children build healthier minds and bodies,” notes Anne Goldman, chair of NYSUT’s Health Care Professionals Council. “The ‘24/7 Let’s Go!’ program is one way to make that happen.”

Members of PSRP unit in colorado look forward to
a bright future
Douglas County local signs up members, prepares for
first contract

Since winning a big organizing victory in June, an AFT local of PSRPs in Douglas County, Colo., has been signing up new members at a rapid pace. The classified employees chapter of the Douglas County Federation of Teachers and Classified Employees, which represents more than 2,000 PSRPs in the fast-growing suburb of Denver, has recruited 300 members just a few months after the victory.

While the AFT had long been the bargaining agent for teachers in Douglas County, it took a new superintendent to open the door for similar rights for the classified staff. After a tougher-than-expected campaign, partly because of some internal resistance from school district staff, the final vote was 576 for AFT and 378 for no representation.

While pay and benefits were a concern of Douglas County PSRPs, issues related to due process, just-cause dismissal and a formal grievance procedure were even more important, says AFT national representative Barbara Pallazzo, who coordinated the campaign. Along with membership recruitment, the local is gearing up to negotiate its first contract. In the meantime, a classified employees handbook is helping guide some new policies for PSRPs until a contract is in place, says Tiffany Osland, the vice president for the classified unit.

“This is all new and exciting,” says Osland, who is on full-time release to work for the union. “It’s a complete change of mentality for classified staff.” But she adds that the union has solid activists working throughout the district, which has helped with recruitment efforts.

Pallazzo says the campaign’s success was due in part to the support of the Douglas County teachers local as well as AFT Colorado and its affiliates.

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