VOL. 35, NO. 1 | FALL 2015

PSRPReporterTHE NATIONAL PUBLICATION OF AFT PARAPROFESSIONALS AND SCHOOL-RELATED PERSONNEL

Snack videos turn kids into celebritiesPAGE 11

Emergency exitPAGE 9

Every member an activistPAGE 6

Clockwise from lower left: Al Shanker (wearing sign) and Bayard Rustin, a picket line for New York City paraprofessionals, and Chicago school secretaries.

PAGE 4

OUR MISSIONThe American Federation of Teachers is a union of professionals that champions fairness; democracy; economic opportunity; and high-quality public education, healthcare and public services for our students, their families and our communities. We are committed to advancing these principles through community engagement, organizing, collective bargaining and political activism, and especially through the work our members do.

RANDI WEINGARTENPresident

LORRETTA JOHNSONSecretary-Treasurer

MARY CATHRYN RICKERExecutive Vice President

JENNIFER CHANGDirector of Communications Operations

WILLIAM A. PRITCHETT News Director

ANNETTE LICITRA Managing Editor

ADRIENNE COLES DANIEL GURSKYVIRGINIA MYERSMIKE ROSEContributing Editors

LAURA BAKERJANE FELLERSEAN LISHANSKYCopy Editors

MICHELLE FURMANPAMELA WOLFEGraphic Designers

SHARON WRIGHTProduction Specialist

JENNIFER BERNEYProduction Coordinator

AMY MARTIN DARLING SHAWNITRA HAWKINSALICIA NICKProduction Staff

PSRP REPORTER (ISSN 1076-8564, USPS 011542) is published quarterly by the American Federation of Teachers, 555 New Jersey Ave. N.W., Washington, DC 20001-2079. Phone: 202-879-4400www.aft.org

Periodicals postage paid at Washington, D.C., and additional mailing offices.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to PSRP Reporter, 555 New Jersey Ave. N.W., Washington, DC 20001-2079.

MEMBERS: To change your address or subscription, notify your local union treasurer or visit www.aft.org/members.

Letters to the editor may be sent to the address above or to online@aft.org.

PSRP REPORTER is mailed to all AFT PSRP members as a benefit of membership. Subscriptions represent $1.75 of annual dues and are available only as a part of membership.

© 2015 AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS, AFL-CIO

Cover photos: AFT ARCHIVES, WALTER P. REUTHER LIBRARY, WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY

2 REPORTER | FALL 2015

Stressed outSurvey results show need for focus on workplace demands

THE RESULTS OF A NEW AFT SURVEY on well-being, working conditions and stressors for school support staff and teachers across the country provide much-needed information about sources of stress on the job. The first-of-its-kind, 80-ques-tion survey was filled out by more than 30,000 educators and paraeducators.

Among the findings:§ Eighty-seven percent say the demands of their job are at least sometimes interfering with their family life.§ Seventy-eight percent say they are often physically and emotionally exhausted at the end of the day.§ More than 75 percent say they do not have enough staff to get the work done. § Only 1 in 5 school employees feels respect-ed by government officials or the media.

§Only 14 percent strongly agree with the statement that they trust their administra-tor or supervisor.

Among the greatest work-place stressors were new initiatives without proper training or professional de-velopment, along with man-dated curriculum and stan-dardized tests.

After concerns about stress on the job were reported to the Badass Teachers Association (BATs), the survey was de-signed by a group of members from either the AFT or BATs,

and it was reviewed and refined by a workplace stress expert and a professional pollster.

The AFT and BATs now are calling on the U.S. Department of Education to conduct a scientific study that would shed light on the concerns raised in our survey.

‘Dignity in our work’Custodian sets tone for new task force on professionalism

OUR UNION’S NEW task force on profes-sionalism, a broadly representative group of union leaders and community activists chaired by AFT Executive Vice President Mary Cathryn Ricker, held its first meeting this past spring in Washington, D.C.

The group is tasked with looking at what it means to be treated as a professional in any workplace; barriers to professional treat-ment in the workplace and in society; and strategies for eliminating those barriers to make it easier to attract and retain qualified employees, gain greater respect for our work, elevate the dignity of all workers and create professional work environments.

The meeting featured a panel discussion on “dignity in our work,” with presentations by Sonia Chavez, a custodian with Ace Janito-rial Services; Lauren Lawrence, a special edu-cation teacher who is a member of the Black Youth Project 100; and Ed Muir from the AFT’s research and strategic initiatives de-partment. Chavez gave a powerful talk about the difficulty of earning a wage that can sup-port her family because of the way the federal government subcontracts custodial services. Participants watched a video about organized efforts to get the federal government to treat Chavez and workers like her more fairly.

Chavez’s remarks serve as a reminder that, besides advocating for professionalism for our members in the union, we also must focus on the dignity of all workers and lift up everyone’s profession, Ricker said.

AFT President Randi Weingarten asked task force members to think about how we move to a workforce where people are treated well economically and professionally. The group’s next meeting is this fall, and its work will result in a resolution for the 2016 AFT convention next July.

Custodian Sonia Chavez speaks out on earning a living wage.

AFT

STA

FF P

HO

TO

Add your voice to the call for a

scientific study on stress:

go.aft.org/workplaceconditions.

Join the professionalism chat on Twitter at #AFTPRO.

78%

of respondents report they are

often physically and emotionally

exhausted.

AS WE REFLECT ON 100 YEARS as the American Federation of Teachers, there is one expression I keep coming back to: We are our union.

Our union was founded a century ago to establish a voice for teachers and other school personnel so they could combat factory- like conditions in public schools, advocate for fair pay and better working conditions, promote the needs of their students, and stand up for greater autonomy as profession-als. Our union’s heart, our soul, our courage and our power lie with our members and our communities. They always have.

Today, 1.6 million members strong, our identity grows out of the proud history built by AFT members, who, through the tumult and change of the past century, stood up for the principles that ground us. Those who came before us built the AFT into a union of professionals that champions fairness; democracy; economic opportunity; and high-quality public education, healthcare and public services for our students, their families and our communities. This has been our century-long journey. As we continue this journey, we have many reminders that we are our union.

We are Norma Becker, a public school teacher from New York City and the mother of two young children, who, along with 35 other teachers, boarded a bus in 1963 and headed to Farmville, Va., to open Freedom Schools, where she and others taught black children who had been shut out of their pub-lic schools.

We are Margaret Cotter and other female teachers in Boston, who first joined the AFT in 1920 in order to achieve equal pay, and were supported by then-AFT President Charles Stillman, who said: “Sex discrimi-nation in salary and working conditions belongs to the old order.”

We are Lorretta Johnson, who helped to build our union into a powerhouse repre-senting those who touch the lives of children in our nation’s public schools—starting 50 years ago with her fellow paraprofessionals in Baltimore and culminating with her work today as the AFT’s secretary-treasurer.

We have a proud history. As we celebrate 100 years, we need to look at who we are to-day and who we will be in the future.

I don’t have to tell you that the principles we stand on are under attack. Unions are squarely in the crosshairs of those who want to preserve a status quo that benefits an ever-smaller advantaged class. During a time when income inequality is at its worst since before the Great Depression, corporate-backed politicians have launched an all-out assault on unions—from statehouses to court houses—and thereby on the communities our members serve.

Despite these attacks, the tide is turn-ing—support for unions is at the highest it has been in years. According to a recent Gallup poll, support for unions went up by 5 percentage points in the last year. Today, nearly six in 10 Americans approve of unions.

In places where union membership is higher, children are better off. A new study by researchers at Harvard University, Wellesley College and the Center for American Prog-ress found that “low-income children rise higher in the income rankings when they grow up in areas with high union member-ship.” And union women experience a small-er gender wage gap than their counterparts

in nonunion workplaces. A report from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research found that female union members earn 89 cents for every dollar a male worker earns, compared with 77 cents on the dollar for their nonunion peers.

Let me put it simply: Unions built the middle class, and we can rebuild it. Although our numbers have diminished, our deter-mination to create a better life for everyday Americans has not.

This reality is the driving force behind our efforts to reach out and speak to 100 percent of our members during our 100th year. Be-

cause if we can connect with our members, engage with our members—exchange values, aspirations and challenges—then we will ac-tually have the power to change things.

What it means to be a union is to have each other’s backs, to walk in each other’s shoes and to make progress together.

Our power comes from all of us raising our collective voice—and that is only pos-sible when we connect to all of our members in personal and compelling ways. I hope you will join me as we work toward a future that builds on our past—by creating a present defined by all of our voices, speaking out, together.

FALL 2015 | REPORTER 3

WHERE WE STAND

We are our unionRANDI WEINGARTEN, AFT President

Follow Randi Weingarten: twitter.com/rweingarten.

Our union’s heart, our soul, our courage and our power lie with our members and our communities. They always have.

Lorretta Johnson, at left, and Norma Becker, above.

CH

AR

LES

B. S

CH

ULT

Z

4 REPORTER | FALL 2015

As we celebrate the 100th anniver-sary of the AFT over the coming year, paraprofessionals and school-related personnel have much to be proud of. What follows is a look at the origins of our union and how it grew when PSRPs brought their talents and voices to the AFT.

THE REASON FOR A UNION IS solidarity, but early days of the AFT saw separation, even segregation, among our first locals. There were male locals and female locals, black locals and white locals, elementary and high school locals.

Many of the first affiliates of the American Federation of Teachers faced withering in-timidation—so much so that a few collapsed after their inception nearly a century ago. The AFT affiliate in Gary, Ind., for example, was established at the same time as our original band of hearty Chicagoans on May 1, 1916, but disbanded under pressure from a steel strike. The original Oklahoma City federation, likewise launched on May Day 1916, foun-dered through “lack of interest and courage.” The Punxsutawney, Pa., federation, created about a year later, perished at the hands of school board opposition, and now its town is known mainly for a groundhog.

Another local, this one in Illinois, had the opposite problem: Its school board was said to be “too friendly” and many couldn’t see the need for a union. A pay increase likewise killed our local in the coal town of Shamokin, Pa. One affiliate in Boston disbanded over dis-

parities in men’s and women’s pay. Only when Chicago’s small,

distinctive unions began uniting in the AFT did they make themselves stronger. Our heartiest members

FOR SCHOOL AND COLLEGE SUPPORT STAFF, OUR HISTORY SHOWS HOW UNITY MAKES US STRONGER

hung tight and in 1937 merged four local unions into one, AFT Local 1, the Chicago Teachers Union.

The School Secretaries of Chicago, orga-nized in 1930 as AFT Local 224, were the first PSRPs (paraprofessionals and school-related personnel) to merge into Local 1. Today, the ranks of Chicago PSRPs range from payroll clerks to technology coordinators.

NEW YORK CITY

When it came to organizing New York’s class-room paraprofessionals in the late 1960s, United Federation of Teachers President Al Shanker, later to head the AFT, made it clear that the union must welcome all school em-ployees, regardless of race or level of educa-tion, and must push for a “career ladder” so that members could advance their education, leading to job equity across school staff.

Some teachers stood in the way of the paras, and some paras balked at joining a group they perceived as racist. Addressing teachers who resisted the entry of the mostly black, Hispanic and less-educated parapro-fessionals into the UFT, Shanker threatened to quit—the only time he ever did so. He said he would not want to be part of a union that rejected the paras.

With this vision, Shanker fought a tide of racism and distrust to call for a vote on ac-cepting paras into the union. Voting began in June, and by the time ballots were fully counted in November, the paras had won. Shanker later called this his proudest mo-

ment and “the greatest thing the union ever did.” Within a month, the UFT laid out de-mands for a big wage hike, pensions, vacations and holi-day pay for the paras, most of whom were paid only about $2 an hour.

The union and the school board then began nego-tiations that produced a 140 percent pay boost and

major new benefits for paras, including pro-fessional development. Within 25 years, the career ladder had helped more than 8,000 paras develop into teachers, making it the largest source of minority teachers in the city and one of the most successful affirmative action programs in the nation.

“Many PSRPs across the country are not in the AFT and there are many of them who do not have any effective organization fighting for them,” Shanker said years later, noting that only a union can bargain for regular salaries, pensions and benefits. “You do not get those benefits without a good, strong organization, an organization that believes in not just do-ing a little better, but really believes in trans-forming the role of school-related personnel and understanding that in a school, nobody should be a second-class citizen.”

BALTIMORE

Maryland is another place where AFT PSRPs made history. On a late summer day in 1963, a young mother named Lorretta Johnson (pictured above right) boarded a bus in Bal-timore with her 6-year-old son, Leonard Jr., and rode to the March on Washington. “I went because I needed to be part of chang-ing America for my sons,” she says.

1970New York

1983Baltimore

PHOTOS COURTESY OF AFT ARCHIVES, WALTER P. REUTHER LIBRARY, WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY

FALL 2015 | REPORTER 5

1930 The AFT starts organiz-ing support staff. F i r s t among them are Chi-cago s choo l secretaries.

1946 The fed-eral school lunch program begins.

1965 The El-ementary and Secondary Edu-cation Act autho-rizes funding for classroom para-professionals.

1970 The AFT begins repre-senting paras in New York City.

1971 An AFT r e s o l u t i o n 100100

recommends or-ganizing school personnel.

1972 The AFT c r e a t e s t h e Committee on Paraprofessionals.

1973 First para-profess iona ls conference.

1975 I D E A , the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, expands ranks of special ed paras.

1977 First PSRP conference.

1978 Lorretta Johnson is elect-ed to the AFT executive coun-cil and is named

chair of the AFT paraprofession-als committee.

1980 The AFT first publishes AFT Reporter for paraprofession-als. It will grow to encompass all school and college support personnel.

1 9 8 3 T h e paraprofession-als committee, renamed the PSRP Commit-tee, expands to 14 members, including bus drivers, custo-dians, food ser-vice employees, school secretar-

ies and college classified.

1987 Delegates pass resolutions on school bus safety.

1 9 9 1 F e d -eral commercial driver’s rules are applied to school bus drivers.

1995 School transportation workers become subject to federal drug and alcohol testing.

2000 AFT PSRP launches a pro-fessional devel-opment initiative.

2002 Nevada CSEA votes to join AFT PSRP,

starting a trend among CSEA locals, including Colorado and Oregon.

2005 Due to r e v i s i o n s i n federal law, the AFT provides guidance and coursework so paras become fully qualified.

2 0 0 8 P S R P C h a i r L o r -retta Johnson is elected AFT secretary-trea-surer, becoming the union’s first PSRP off icer. Ruby Newbold is elected to chair AFT PSRP.

For that march, our union helped mobi-lize 250,000 Americans. Their collective voice, together with the voices of allies and champi-ons, led to the passage of the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act and other progressive programs. “At the time, we weren’t think-ing of the march as part of history,” Johnson says. “For us, it was about responsibility and accountability.”

Johnson is still fighting for a better Amer-ica. Inspired by her mentor, Al Shanker, she has gone from paraprofessional to union leader to secretary-treasurer of the AFT. These days she serves as treasurer for the A. Philip Randolph Institute, named for an elder statesman of the civil rights movement. And in a single arc from that march, Johnson now chairs our task force on racial equity.

She understood from the beginning how the civil rights and labor movements walk hand in hand, and she used that understand-ing to help build an entire division of the AFT, starting with paraprofessionals in Baltimore.

Reflecting on the importance of educa-tion, U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) praised Johnson in the Baltimore Afro-Ameri-can newspaper in 2010. Calling her “a woman who exemplifies much of what we should be learning from our history,” Cummings said she “never stops reminding us that the educa-tion of our children is the single most impor-tant force in building our future prosperity.”

SAN FRANCISCO

San Francisco has earned its reputation as a good labor town. Chartered by the AFT in 1919, the San Francisco Federation of Teach-ers has played roles in both the labor and civil rights movements.

Member activism led to a paraprofes-sionals chapter in 1972. Despite a challenge

1979San

Francisco

in 1985, when a competing group sought to decertify the local as the sole bargaining agent for paras, the AFT affiliate won by a ra-tio of nearly 2 votes to 1. The union went on to negotiate a “longevity” program, which gives permanent status to more than a thousand of the most senior paras and provides them with paid vacations, movement on the salary schedule and district-paid dental benefits. Later, the union struck an agreement with the school district, setting up a career lad-der in which the union and district enable paraprofessionals to complete college, earn credentials and become teachers.

INSPIRING OUR FUTURE

Nobody understands the need to know AFT history better than Lorretta Johnson. To keep the middle class moving forward, she says, we need to know what it took to build a middle class in the first place. “Americans have to understand what labor has given to them,” she says, and “America has to know that the labor movement is not going to die because there will always be new leaders emerging.”

Be a part of history! Visit us at www.aft.org/100years

6 REPORTER | FALL 2015

PSRPs with a planALABAMA

“If you’re so smart, why don’t you come up with a plan?”

That was the challenge thrown at members of the Jefferson County AFT in Alabama this spring after they questioned a decision to lay off 227 PSRPs. Members responded by coming up with a plan that not only preserved all the jobs but laid the groundwork for well-earned raises.

Here’s how it went down: When a new school superintendent arrived in Jefferson County a little over a year ago, union lead-ers started meeting with him right away, and it wasn’t long before they caught a whiff of impending layoffs. Union members met in February to plan for contingencies, in-cluding offering each other such practical steps as putting off buying a car or a house.

“We’re kind of like weather forecasters,” says local President Marrianne Hayward. “We don’t know this is coming, but we want to be prepared.”

By March, layoff rumors had circulated through the local media and the superin-tendent was “super furious” with the union for sounding the alarm, Hayward says. Crit-ics implied that AFT members were becom-ing hysterical over nothing.

Sure enough, though, the school board

on March 26 voted 3-2 for reductions in force, with a list of targeted PSRPs to be is-sued the next day. Classroom paraprofes-sionals and office support staff were called to the district office. No friend or represen-tative was allowed to accompany them. Two sheriff’s deputies were posted, creat-ing an even more ominous environment.

“With spring break scheduled for the next week,” Hayward says, “these people were going to have a million questions and nobody there to answer them.”

Not only would the layoffs be bad for students, but they would create terrible hardships for families. One PSRP was shell-shocked: Her husband is on partial dis-ability, and she is the economic mainstay of her family. Another had scheduled her last chemotherapy for July, but employees’ jobs and healthcare benefits would expire on June 30. A few affected PSRPs were only six months from retirement.

“There were just a lot of heartache sto-ries like that,” Hayward remembers.

The Jefferson County AFT’s 2,000 mem-bers immediately began calling the school board, scheduling meetings and asking ques-tions. As the calendar rolled into April, issues surfaced: Why only these two job classes? Had any consideration been given to hard-ship cases? Was the district in such dire straits that it really needed to save $13 million right

away? If so, why was the district’s top financial officer given a $10,000 raise?

That’s when the superintendent jumped in with an invitation that union members would have appreciated at the outset : “If you’re so smart, why don’t you come up with a plan?”

Our members were happy to oblige, even though the district declined to provide any financial information. Within days, the union posted a four-point plan on its Face-book page:

§ Rescind the layoffs.

§ Hire an outside auditor to examine the school district’s finances.

§ Appoint a financial committee to explore and recommend alternative cost savings.

§ Fire the district’s chief financial officer, who had approved all previous expendi-tures in addition to recommending her own raise.

With the union’s proposal in hand, the school board voted to appoint a financial task force. Each board member appointed one member to the task force, which in-cluded union representatives.

The task force found $8 million in cuts without laying off a single PSRP. In late May, the school board adopted the revised bud-get. And by the end of June, it voted to pro-vide raises for every classified employee.

How activism gives us voice, strengthens our communities and keeps us on the job

WITH OUR UNION and the labor movement engaged in a battle “over who holds the power in our economy and our democracy,” the AFT executive council this summer adopted a resolution to increase the number of member activists in our ranks and to encourage everyone our union represents to join.

The AFT is working with state affiliate leaders to develop a strategy that can double the number of member activists, triple the number of members who engage in union activities of any kind, “and—in this our 100th year—reach out and speak to 100 percent of our members.”

The executive council will consider the plan in October. Building from this, our state and local unions will develop and implement their own plans. Meanwhile, paraprofessionals and school-related personnel (PSRPs), through their unions, continue promoting public education, rescuing schools from ill-conceived experiments, and nurturing students so they can learn, grow and thrive.

For more PSRP activism: www.aft.org/PSRP.

FALL 2015 | REPORTER 7

A little goes a long wayOREGON

You might be amazed at how easy it is to bring new members into the union fold. Consider Tim Taylor, treasurer of the Port-land Federation of School Professionals, who got nine co-workers to sign up earlier this year simply by stuffing fliers into their mailboxes at school.

He’s quick to point out that he didn’t even design the fliers, which list 47 benefits of membership across the top and provide a membership application across the bot-tom. In the upper right corner, Taylor pho-tocopied a note with his name on it. “I just added a little something,” he says.

As the building representative, Taylor is part of AFT-Oregon’s push to sign up “fair share” payers in the PSRP affiliate, Local 111.

In Oregon, all public employees pay their fair share of the union’s cost of negotiating and administering contracts. This system could change next year, though, if Oregon voters decide to become a so-called right-to-work state, where employees no lon-ger would pay their fair share. That’s why

people like Tim Taylor and Belinda Reagan, the local president, decided to go full bore in signing up members. For between $4 and $10 per paycheck, fee payers can step up to membership. With that comes a voice in the workplace, union voting rights, financial counseling and a slew of discounts.

“Fair share is just a few dollars less than our dues, so we decided this was a perfect opportunity,” Reagan says.

And did they ever seize that opportunity. They started the membership drive in mid-February by sending a letter to every fee payer, an effort that brought in 60 to 70 new members. Next, they decided to shoot for 111 new members (Get it? Local 111) and sent out emails. By July 1, the local hit 153 new members, blasting past its goal. It now has about 700 members.

“That’s mammoth for us,” Reagan says. For his part, Taylor enjoys talking with

recruits who bring him their applications, adding: “I still have a lot to learn.”

Doing what’s rightCALIFORNIA

Nobody ever promised that becoming an effective site representative was easy, but it can be deeply rewarding. That’s the experi-ence of Genia Scott, an after-school educator who makes it her mission to bring fair share payers on board as members of the Berkeley (Calif.) Council of Classified Employees. Her co-workers sometimes think they’re mem-bers because money is deducted from their

paychecks. That money isn’t dues, though. It’s a fee for their share of bargaining and administering their contract.

Scott is intensely proud of her job. Each day after school, she works mainly with kindergartners on colors and patterns by having them make lanyards and beadwork. She teaches them sequencing (first, second, third), the difference between uppercase and lowercase, how to tell time, and how to count by fives and 10s. Her job is about academic enrichment for all.

Scott takes her union role equally seri-ously. Although she understands why PSRPs might not want to sit in a meeting, she is adamant about the importance of involve-ment—at a minimum, knowing what’s in your contract. “You’ve got to come to the meetings,” she exhorts members. “That’s how you find out information.”

As a result of Scott’s engagement, her school has only one fee payer left among two dozen members. Scott is constantly enlist-ing new helpers, gauging their interest and readiness. When another school doesn’t have a building rep, she “branches out” to help members there. In return, they show up for big meetings and rallies.

Not that it’s so easy to get involved. PSRPs have varied schedules, some hold down oth-er jobs and some live far away. Scott tries to catch them in the mornings, and if she stays late, she can reach almost everyone.

Partly, she is driven by curiosity. She goes the extra mile to solve problems, in the course of which she learns the ins and outs of the contract. But mostly, she is driven by a sense of fairness—that contract provisions are there for a reason.

“If it’s right, it’s right. If it’s wrong, it’s wrong,” she says. By building the strength of our union, she aims to make sure it’s right.

Tim Taylor, left, scans in union applications, while Michelle Batten, below left, and Belinda Reagan plump up the membership roster.

Genia Scott makes it her mission to sign up everyone.

PHO

TOS

CO

UR

TESY

PO

RTL

AN

D F

EDER

ATI

ON

OF

SCH

OO

L PR

OFE

SSIO

NA

LS

RU

SS C

UR

TIS

8 REPORTER | FALL 2015

LAW BRINGS RAISES TO SUPPORT STAFF PSRPs in Denver are celebrating a big win on pay and benefits because of their work with school officials and their engagement in Colo-

rado’s political process.In September, members of the Denver

Federation of Paraprofessionals and Nutri-tion Service Employees saw raises of up to 33 percent. Thanks to teamwork in bringing funding issues to light, PSRPs in the Denver public schools got raises to at least $12 an hour, a hike benefiting 700 paraprofessionals and 500 food and nutrition workers.

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper invited students, paras, food service workers, custodi-ans and other school personnel to join him in signing the bill.

WE HAVE A VOICE AGAIN IN JEFFERSON PARISH The Jefferson Parish (La.) School Board approval of a collective bargaining agreement with the Jefferson Federation of Teachers marks the return of school employ-ees having a voice in education. The new three-year agreement covers more than 3,000

staff, both PSRPs and teachers.Three years ago, the previous school

board created a firestorm in the community by disrespecting its educators, refusing to acknowledge they were part of a union and rejecting their long-standing contractual rela-

tionship. Parents, union members, businesses and other community activists succeeded in electing board members who wanted to work with school staff. The board’s vote in August was a giant step in that direction by reinstat-ing collective bargaining.

A GIFT OF READING TO HONOR SPECIAL OLYMPIANS To celebrate the U.S. delega-tion to the 2015 Special Olympics World Games, the AFT joined partners First Book and Coca-Cola on July 27 in announcing the donation of a 50-book collection to the adap-tive physical education department of the Los

Angeles Unified School District. AFT Vice President Kathy Chavez, a former

special education bus driver and paraprofes-sional, joined the Special Olympics cheerlead-ing squad from Michigan, along with the AFT’s partners. The curated book collection features titles focused on the values of the games, including diversity, inclusion, over-coming adversity, athletic excellence, hard work and persistence. MEMBERS SHIFT MOMENTUM OF LAW-MAKERS Members of AFT-West Virginia played a starring role this spring in turning a potentially catastrophic legislative session into solid inroads for public schools. Calls and emails totaling nearly 350,000 helped

turn back extreme legislation on charter schools, alternative certification, state academic standards and more—attacks pro-moted by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). “The outpouring of activism by teachers and school service personnel had a direct impact on this session,” AFT-West Virginia President Christine Campbell, a na-tional vice president, told the AFT executive council in June.

AFT FAMILIES WIN SCHOLARSHIPS AFT family members won 11 of 106 Union Plus scholarships awarded in June. The winners will use their awards—from $500 to $4,000—to attend college. Union members and their spouses and children are eligible to apply for scholarships through the annual program. More than 5,400 people from 36 unions applied for Union Plus scholarships this year. Many winners are studying biology, bioen-gineering and other sciences. One wants to pursue cancer research, another occupational therapy; several aspire to become doctors.

In addition to career goals, these students are committed to community work. Winner Mona Abutouk, in California, tutors children, coaches college students with disabilities and interned at a hospital for children. Sydney Busch, in Minnesota, volunteers at a science camp for girls.

Task force on racial equity is seeking solutionsWill put recommendations before AFT executive council later this fall

LORRETTA JOHNSON wants it to be known that the AFT’s task force on racial equity is not strictly about the deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., Eric Garner in New York or Freddie Gray in her hometown of Baltimore, all on a long list of unarmed black men killed at the hands of police.

“Ferguson is not the issue. The real issue is closing the achievement gap for African-American males,” Johnson told hundreds of PSRPs gathered last spring in Washington, D.C. Our union’s secretary-treasurer and longtime PSRP chair is looking for answers from an AFT task force that has prompted courageous conversations among members this year. At the PSRP conference, members said children of color need more nurturing, and need adults who don’t merely say what kinds of behavior they expect but who, as pro-fessionals, model that behavior. Kids need to see more people of color in leadership.

School safety officer and athletic coach Mark Griffin of California confirmed that young black males often lack good role mod-els. “All they see is what’s on TV—athletes or thugs,” he said. “That’s what they see as suc-cess. They need someone to tell them they can be somebody.” As a black man raising five children, Griffin emphasized the need for African-American history in the curriculum.

The first meeting of the task force, June

19-20 in Baltimore, represented affiliates throughout the nation. Across differences in race, ethnicity and gender, members brought their experiences to bear in developing rec-ommendations in education, economics and criminal justice. Proposals ranged from inter-ventions with male students of color to work-ing with police unions on racial awareness.

Johnson commends them. “I am so proud of the way AFT members brought their sledgehammers to Baltimore and started swinging away to dismantle racism,” she said. “Human beings constructed racism. Human beings can tear it down.”

PSRP leader Shelvy Y. Abrams, an AFT vice president from the United Federation of Teachers in New York, said she was pleasantly surprised by the diversity of members who volunteered for the task force.

The task force continued work at a second meeting Aug. 20-23 in St. Louis, aiming to bring recommendations to the AFT executive council in October. AFT leaders expressed readiness to put the results into action.

Driver, monitor safely evacuate burning busEMERGENCY EXIT

IN THE NEWS

PSRP activists on racial equity include Kathy Chavez of New Mexico, center, and Shellye Davis of Connecticut, right.

AFT

STA

FF P

HO

TO

EIGHTEEN SCHOOLCHILDREN left through the front door of their bus as the rear burst into flames.

Thanks to two Florida AFT members, a school bus driver and monitor, the children safely escaped a fiery bus on the way to school in May. Driver Augustus Simpson and monitor Dorothy Manning, members of the Orange Education Support Professionals Association in Orlando, evacuated the bus of preschoolers through fifth-graders in minutes.

While nearing the school entrance, Simpson heard a pop and saw a red light on his dash. Manning told him she saw smoke in the back, and said, firmly, “Let’s evacuate the bus now. Let’s go.”

Everyone left through the front door as the bus burned. Firefighters came promptly, Man-ning says, “but we were already long gone.”

Parents took video of the vehicle engulfed in flames.

Union and school officials, as well as par-ents, are calling the pair heroes.

The driver and monitor have worked together for years. Simpson has driven for the district for 22 years, long enough to remember when a train hit a school bus about a decade ago. Everyone has remained diligent about safety ever since, even the kids who stay quiet as they approach railroad tracks, listening for bells and train whistles.

The pair credit frequent safety training and drills, and they in turn train their riders, some as young as 3. “She’s very good with these kids, you know?” Simpson says. “She lets them know this is not a joke. Even the babies stay quiet.” Manning says she’s glad her kids remembered what to do.

Although their bus was gutted, Simpson and Manning got right back on a different bus that afternoon.

“We’re like family,” Simpson says. “We’ve got to get the kids home.”

FALL 2015 | REPORTER 9

Driver, monitor safely evacuate burning busEMERGENCY EXIT

Top: Augustus Simpson, left, and Dorothy Manning in their new bus. Above: The charred remains of their burned bus.

PHO

TOS

BY

NIC

OLE

GO

ENN

ER

10 REPORTER | FALL 2015

AFT members train in how to help grieving studentsListen. Show empathy. Don’t be afraid of feelings.

THE DESIRE TO HELP students grapple with strong emotions as they face the death of a close family member or friend is something nearly every school employee has faced. Now AFT members have begun a process of training their colleagues in research-based strategies to help ease the effects of grief so that children can continue to grow and learn.

With guidance from the Coalition to Sup-port Grieving Students, more than a dozen members from around the country gathered in Washington, D.C., for two days in July to train as trainers, using as their curriculum GrievingStudents.org, a multimedia resource developed specifically for school personnel. The website was launched earlier this year.

An AFT/New York Life survey in 2012 revealed overwhelming interest in helping support grieving students—along with strong demand for training—and served as an impe-tus for the session. In the survey, educators said they did not feel appropriately trained in providing support to grieving students.

By exploring strategies and tools during the AFT seminar, members geared up to train at least 25 employees in their schools or districts on how to interact with individual children and how to promote the creation of grief-sensitive schools. This train-the-trainer session is another in a series of trainings and one of the ways the AFT is responding to the needs of our members.

Helping children cope

Interacting with students helps them get through the natural grieving process so they can begin to focus on other aspects of their lives. But some educators aren’t sure what to say, afraid they’ll cause the child more pain. It’s important to know that a student’s grief is caused by loss, not by talking about it. Saying nothing actually communicates a lot to chil-dren, telling them you may not care about them or that you’re incapable of providing

the support they need. They may even think you disapprove of their grief.

At the training, the AFT members pre-pared for working with their schools to spread the word about understanding grief or loss—from a parent’s death to incarcera-tion or military deployment—and providing support over time.

Cultivating a grief-sensitive classroom starts with understanding. Four safe things you can say are that death is irreversible, that all life functions end (for children who won-der if the deceased is cold, hungry or lonely), that every living thing eventually dies, and that people die for specific physical reasons.

Here are some practical strategies: Be present and authentic. Listen more, talk less. Don’t try to cheer people up. Accept expres-sions of emotion. Show empathy. Don’t be afraid to show emotion. Step in to stop harm-ful behaviors if safety is a concern. Postpone tests or assignments as necessary.

Grief is not a disease

Loss and bereavement are natural aspects of life and should not be “pathologized,” or treated like a disease, says Tom Demaria, who helps run the coalition, which includes the AFT, the National Education Associa-tion, and groups representing counselors, psychologists and school administrators. Training can help school employees recog-nize any symptoms of trauma or depression, and it also can help provide the skills needed to avoid pulling students out of class at a time when the structure and regularity of school can be comforting.

Finally, school staff should deal with feel-ings first. Don’t rush to create scrapbooks, memorials or a Facebook page—although it’s fine to start planning them. Go to the wake, funeral or shiva call. Make yourself available. You will want to become aware of holidays, birthdays and other dates that can trigger grief, and to learn how both you and your students can manage them.

Don’t forget yourself, either. Self-care is important when tragedy strikes the school community.

For the full complement of videos and teaching modules, see the coalition’s mate-rials at www.grievingstudents.org. For re-sources for parents and families, see www.newyorklife.com/achildingrief.

A student’s grief is caused by loss, not by talking about it.

Interested in hosting face-to-face training?

Contact the AFT at childgrief@aft.org.

Supporting Your StudentLEARNING WHAT TO SAY AND WHAT NOT TO SAY

DON’T SAY: “I know just what you’re going through” or “You must be incredibly angry.” We can’t know what anyone else is feeling, and the student may be feeling many things at once.

JUST ASK: “Can you tell me what this has been like for you?”

DON’T SAY: “Remember the good things in life, too.”

JUST ASK “What memories do you have of him?”

DON’T SAY: “At least he’s no longer in pain.” In fact, reconsider any statement starting with “at least” because it seems like you’re minimizing the pain.

JUST ASK: “What have you been thinking about since he died?”

DON’T SAY: “I lost both my parents when I was your age.” This is not a competition. Avoid comparing your losses with somebody else’s.

JUST ASK: “Is there any way I can help?”

DON’T SAY: “You need to be strong for your family.” This puts even more pressure on a student.

JUST ASK: “How is your family doing?”

1

23

4

5

FALL 2015 | REPORTER 11

School’s healthy eating videos turn kids into celebritiesA cooking show, an apple orchard, a marathon and more

HERE’S WHAT CAN HAPPEN at a K-3 school when teachers and support professionals come together and use a little inspiration, perspiration and willingness to let everybody promote healthy snacks.

Specifically, what can happen is “Snack Scene at 3:15,” a weekly series on Bee TV at Bower Hill Elementary School near Pitts-burgh, where students watch videos on how to make “no cook, no knives” snacks. They learn how good food can be fun, taste good and lead to a healthy future. Beyond kids’ en-thusiasm, “Snack Scene” has caught on with parents and the community.

At the school of nearly 800 students in Pe-ters Township, AFT member Meghan Myers leads a wellness committee. Using the dis-trict’s wellness policy as its springboard, the committee first found success in a marathon called Kids of Steel, which asks young people across 10 counties to commit to walking 25 miles, then converging on Pittsburgh to run the final mile together. As they learned the ways of a marathoner, students learned about healthy eating. Their interest and PTA sup-port led the school wellness committee to think about how it could expand.

Myers then won a Just Move grant to bring exercise and fitness education to classrooms. Tammi Hanak, also an AFT member, created

a deck of “exercise cards,” each depicting a Bower Hill educator modeling a fitness move. Hanak led assemblies teaching the moves to students. Seeing her energy, Myers asked Hanak to join her as co-chair of the wellness committee. Their first foray was to a confer-ence on childhood obesity, which opened their eyes to a whole-school strategy for nu-trition awareness: a kids’ cooking show.

Hanak already anchored the news seg-ment of the school’s internal TV show. Now she would host “Snack Scene,” while Myers took on logistics. School counselor Fred Traumuller, passionate about technology,

stepped behind the camera. With administra-tors’ approval, videotaping kicked off in late 2013. The first 12 episodes focused on snacks that students could make at home without knives or stoves.

Talk about healthy eating

The show relies on a big team: paraprofes-sionals and teachers, as well as a school psychologist, gym teachers and a librarian. Administrators round out the group. “Snack Scene” also draws in community partners, including grocery store and healthcare di-etitians. Photocopies of every recipe used in the first 12 shows went home with kids, and teachers helped Hanak connect weekly epi-

sodes to the curriculum. During dental health month, an episode starring a paraprofes-sional who once worked as a dental hygienist showed students how certain foods should be avoided during school hours because kids don’t get a chance to brush their teeth.

“Snack Scene” took off. Students begged to appear on the show. Parents noticed their kids getting more vocal about trying new reci-pes. Riding that first wave of success, Myers suggested the show host a “Top Chef”-style competition. More than 100 students sub-mitted recipes, and 16 kids were selected to compete in four grade-specific qualifiers, with their peers picking a winner for each grade. Finally, the winners from each grade met in one last competition.

Dreaming bigger

Hanak spent the summer thinking about how to build on the program’s success. In 2014-15, the team coordinated with educators to align the show’s content with the curriculum; hosted several episodes on location, such as at a supermarket and apple orchard; featured the local fire chief to discuss kitchen safety; and showcased the school garden.

In a 10-question survey completed by sev-eral hundred families, parents overwhelm-ingly reported that the show has heightened their children’s interest in healthy food. They credit the program with changing the actual behavior of kids—and families. One parent said her daughter “now explains to us about the foods we are eating and their nutritional value. She does at least try more new foods and is excited when she makes a healthy choice.” Another confided, “Mom has increased her own knowledge on nutrition.” One wrote: “My kids were like, ‘Wait till you see what I can do with this banana!’ ”

PTA leaders call promoting wellness a “mom problem,” saying that sure, parents can serve healthy food, but it takes some-one other than mothers—someone seen as “cool”—to persuade kids that good food can be yummy. As host, Hanak is the cool one.

“Snack Scene” has become a phenom-enon that defines Bower Hill. This year, a $3,000 grant will go to further the school’s healthy environment. The team will buy a video camera, fitness T-shirts, food, prizes and supplies. More on-location shows are planned, as well as a Facebook page.

Catch “Snack Scene” episodes at

bit.ly/SnackSceneVideos.

PETE

RS

TOW

NSH

IP S

CH

OO

L D

ISTR

ICT

Local media was all over “Snack Scene.” The newspaper covered it and a cable TV channel aired episodes.

We are moving!

FALL 2015 | “Ferg

uso

n is n

ot th

e issue. Th

e issue is clo

sing

the ach

ievemen

t gap

for A

frican-A

merican

males.” —

LOR

RETTA

JOH

NSO

N, A

FT Secretary-Treasurer PA

GE 8

PSRPs LIKE what they see in presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. So much so that PSRP leaders and others on the AFT execu-tive council voted overwhelmingly in July to endorse Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination for president.

As a children’s advocate, as first lady of the United States and later as a U.S. sena-tor, Clinton has led many initiatives for the well-being of children and families. She stresses the need to raise wages, reduce cost pressures on families, help workers develop professional skills and make sure students can afford to pay for college. She stands for workers’ rights, for our ability not only to make a decent living but to have a decent life and set our kids up for a bright future.

Hillary Clinton has actively fought to modernize workplace standards so that they reflect modern working conditions.

“Throughout my career,” she says, “I have stood with all workers as they exercise their right to organize and bargain collectively.”

She also addresses head-on the con-tracting out of public services, which has hit school bus drivers and food service work-ers particularly hard—causing them to lose both work and pay. This kind of privatiza-tion is now beginning to wreak havoc across school and college support services, in-cluding information technology, pay-roll, groundskeeping, and facilities engineering and maintenance.

“I do not believe that we should be con-tracting, outsourcing or privatizing work that is inherently governmental in nature, including school services,” she says.

We need an economy that works for everyone. We can’t allow anyone to make less than a decent living and be left scram-bling to retire. People’s hard work should be recognized and rewarded. That’s why it’s important who will become our next presi-dent, because who we elect can make the difference in reshaping our economy and reclaiming the promise of public education.

In vision, in experience and in leader-ship, Hillary Clinton is the champion work-ing families need in the White House. She is a tested leader who is prepared for a fight on behalf of students, families and commu-nities. And it’s not just that she shares our values. Members told us loud and clear that they believe she is the right candidate—not just to earn the nomination, but to win the White House.

Hillary Clinton has shown that she is ready to work with us to confront the issues facing children and working families. She is the champion we need.

AFT endorses Hillary ClintonShe will fight so working people can build a good life

How you can join in supporting HillaryWHO WE ELECT president in 2016 can make the difference in lifting up families, reshaping our economy and reclaiming the promise of public education.

Excited to join the fight? Show your support now! go.aft.org/hillarysupport

Find out what positions Hillary Clinton takes on issues affecting PSRPs. www.aft.org/election2016

Watch as AFT members support Hillary. go.aft.org/hillarysupportvid

HILLARY FOR AMERICA

PSRP Reporter has outgrown its print home and is moving to an all-digital platform.

This means: ■ Expanded coverage■ More timely news■ More room for member voices

PSRP Reporter: All the same great information and inspiration, plus easy access and interaction.

Sign up for the new PSRP Reporter at AFT.to/Reporter.

We are moving!