Working mother shines spotlight on educators

Elizabeth warren figured that somebody with way more experience and offspring would be picked for Working Mother magazine’s back-to-school cover. As it turned out, she was wrong. Spurred by a union notice “calling all teacher moms” to submit a short essay to the magazine, Warren was tapped within weeks and is smiling from the cover of the August/September issue.

Warren never expected to win the Working Mother honor because she considers herself an average person living a normal life. “What I do is what everybody else does,” she says. Which is precisely the point.

The Connecticut high school English teacher and track coach applied for the honor at the prompting of Patti Fusco, president of the West Haven Federation of Teachers, and urging from fellow AFT member Dana Clifford, who now proudly considers herself a “casting director.”

“She definitely was a good choice,” says Fusco. “She’s an excellent teacher. She even coaches, which a lot of young teachers with children aren’t able to do.”

Warren began her teaching career seven years ago in Bridgeport, Conn., an urban school district. Eventually, she moved to a school in West Haven, where she had grown up. In November, she plans to run in her first New York City marathon.

An agenda to reach all children

In July, the aft unveiled a plan to improve student achievement, enhance the professional status and effectiveness of teachers, and provide aid to children who are falling behind.

“Charting the Course: The AFT’s Education Agenda To Reach All Children” focuses on five key areas fundamental to student success: teaching quality; safe and orderly schools; early reading instruction and intervention; common, knowledge-rich curriculum; and intensive assistance to high-poverty schools.

It calls for establishing clear academic standards and a transparent, fair accountability system, and giving teachers a central role in ensuring teacher quality. These and other agenda goals can be accomplished “by using collective bargaining and collaboration with school districts to cultivate smart solutions to difficult problems,” the report says. “We can do it by focusing on what research tells us works, not on unproven and unworkable new schemes.”

The AFT “will pursue improvements in these areas at the bargaining table, through legislation and through professional development.”

The report and background papers are available at www.aft.org/teachers.

Sign up now for AFT Human rights conference

The aft civil, human and women’s Rights Conference will be held at the Loews New Orleans Hotel from Oct. 26-28.

This year’s conference promises to explore issues such as the healthcare crisis, the 2008 elections, and growing economic and education disparities in our communities.

Conference workshops will cover a wide range of topics, including the resegregation of schools, HIV/AIDS awareness, the war on workers’ rights, and community coalition building.

Time is running short to register. For details, call the AFT human rights and community relations department at 202/879-4434 or you can download the forms.