Like most teachers and educational support staff in my Arizona public school district, I am a member of the Arizona Education Association and the National Education Association.
I believe that our collective, union-organized voice empowers us to advocate more effectively on behalf of our students. Additionally, an atmosphere of fairness, respect, and professionalism is created for teachers and educational support staff, union and non-union members alike.
Our collective voice gives us the power to fight for one shared value: Every child has the right to learn.
In my district, our voice takes the form of the Certified Bargaining Agreement. This document is authored by the teachers' union and its representatives in collaboration with district administrators. The language contained therein affects all school employees, our students, and their families in significant ways throughout the school day.
"Each elementary and middle school shall be staffed with a minimum of one (1) Registered Nurse. Only RN's will be hired as substitutes for school nurses."
Educational professionals who support classroom teachers have become increasingly important in Arizona. The percentages of Arizona children living in poverty and children with disabilities and special needs have sky-rocketed in recent years.
I was concerned about a new student who was struggling academically, frequently crying, and excessively absent from school. An unhappy first grader is pretty unusual. He mentioned that his mom would not get out of bed in the morning to bring him to school. When he arrived in my first grade classroom, our school became the sixth school he would attend. I tried to start his days with a hug and a big smile and quickly enrolled him in a reading class where he would receive extra small-group instruction (I had 30 students at the time) as well as an after-school tutoring program. Hungry when he arrived, I gave him breakfast every day. Little changed because my student missed so much school. I contacted my school nurse who arranged a home visit with our school social worker, both of whom are dedicated public school employees who belong to the union.
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"The Board shall provide sufficient and equitable distribution of funds to provide for the purchase or replacement of textbooks...Books and/or workbooks for basic reading and math instructional purposes shall be provided for each child."
Being dead-last in per-pupil expenditures (maybe we are 49th this year) means that money is tight for even the most basic of classroom necessities. Teacher salaries are the least of our worries. Of course we spend our own money on our students.
The district recently decided that we would not be ordering consumable math books for our students. Instead, we would be given the opportunity to take a hands-on math workshop this summer where we would be given manipulatives to use with our students for math instruction. As any primary level teacher knows, hands-on learning opportunities lead to greater student success. Ideally, this would occur in every lesson. Unfortunately, many of our primary classrooms are at maximum enrollment numbers. Dispersing materials to 30 first graders and teaching such a lesson within 40 minutes is challenging at best. And experience tells us that we would not be given enough manipulatives for all students; so teachers would end up purchasing the rest. The union representative from my school voiced our concerns, citing bargaining agreement language, and the rest of the district schools followed suit.
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"Textbooks and instructional materials in all subject areas and at all grade levels shall be selected so as to best show the cultural diversity and pluralistic nature of American society. "
Arizona's Legislative craziness and SB 1070 have yet to creep into most public schools. Classrooms in my district are not cesspools of hate. A diverse student population brings a wide range of cultural backgrounds, learning styles, talents, academic abilities and challenges into each classroom.
My first graders are currently studying map and globe skills as well as the concept that "we share the planet" in social studies. A recent discussion included students looking at the globe to locate their family's country of origin and comparing cultural similarities and differences. We found America, Mexico and Tonga on the globe. Students shared family experiences and some very important words to first graders: friend, amigo/a, and feleni.
Thanks so much for reading. Please visit EDUSolidarity to read more posts from teachers like me. :)