What is going on behind the curtain in ABC? Why does ABC make it look so easy?
I had a conversation today and someone made the comment that there is more than meets the eye in ABC. This person got to see the preparation going on behind the curtain and she was flabbergasted to suddenly realize how complicated the budget dance has become over the last five years. The union and district partnership has made all of the budget decisions and the impact of 30 million dollars over the last 4 years in budget cuts seem.....not so bad. I often wonder if the community aware of all the changes and sacrifices going on behind the scenes by both the unions and administrators? I just don't know.
I have been involved with education for 16 years and I have never seen so few people do so much for students and community. I do see that --
Administrators are drowning in testing expectations, shrinking school site budgets, cut programs, higher class sizes, fewer teachers to get the job done, organizing fundraiser after fundraiser to shore up against bigger and bigger budget cuts ...etc
Teachers are treading water as they have larger classes, fewer resources, continual testing demands, continuing trainings and state requirements to keep a credential, public character assignation's by those who will gut/cripple public education for their own profit and gain, pension attacks, salary cuts, and greater and greater expectations from the public during the worst recession in 60 years.
How do we make it look so easy?
The simple answer is communication, but the complex answer is a network of communication much like the many anchoring strings of a spiders web. In most places a school board meeting is an unknown, full of surprises and tense situations that leave the observer to wonder if there is any sense of unity on the school board or in the school district. What makes ABC different from all other districts is they way labor and management do business on a daily basis behind the scenes constantly communicating in an effort to create winners on both sides. For example, the local school site union representatives meet on a monthly basis with their principals to work on the school issues or concerns together and when there are no contract concerns they collaborate on a deeper level then your typical union labor relationship. Both parties use these "standing meetings" to work on creating a better school site that will address the ever changing needs of the student populations. This is VERY typical in ABC, working together, seeking solutions at the ground level of education in the schools and neighborhoods our district in collaboration with the community. Sadly this is not the "norm" for other school districts.
ABC is also different because the observer often hears a universal message that shows an understanding at all levels in our school district. There are few surprises at ABC School Board meetings because of all the countless hours of preparation and communication between ALL STAKEHOLDERS prior to the meeting. A universal message is much easier to digest than a crazy multi-headed hydra of opinions that you get watching other districts' school board meetings. I think ABC makes it look easy and maybe that's why there are so few people at the school board meetings. When people know that they don't have to worry about what is happening at the schools where their children are being taught they can focus on other aspects of their life that satisfy their needs.
ABC makes it look so easy...
....and there lies the problem in ABC right now. How do we gain the attention of the parents and community during the most crucial time in our recent history. Our public schools cannot sustain the amount of improvement and quality of services without the help of the tax payers. I hear myself saying more often that "we are a victim of our success" and that we are struggling on how to engage the community so that we can gain support for schools on a Local, State and National level. Schools are not like a business where you file chapter 11 and you close up the store. Schools will continue to function but with fewer and fewer victories for students if WE as a community do not get involved in the future of public education.
Albert Shanker, one of the founding voices of the American Federation of Teachers had a vast vision about what a teacher union should represent and how it should work in junction with the community to create better schools. At the time of his tenure as AFT National President, Unions were focused on mainly "bread and butter issues" that only concerned the needs and wants of their union members. Shanker thought that the American Federation of teachers needed to be embedded in the community because without the support of the community there was little to shield public education from corporations and idividuals who would dismantale public education for profit. Sadly, this was the demise of many other unions in America. Shanker stated in his New York Times column in 1970 that "Now is the time to...bring together parent, teacher, supervisors, and community boards to work out plans and programs for change in our schools." Today many of our school districts are loosely embedded in the community in a time where public education needs the full support of the community. Without the support of the communities we serve, public education as we've we know it will be dismantled in a deregulation profit grab of tax payers money. We need to save education for our future generations and preserve the one unifying institution that shapes all americans. Solidarity is key.
The ABC Federation of Teachers is having a general meeting on the budget, March 6th 3:30 at Artesia High School in Lakewood. This meeting will be attended by teachers in the ABC School District; however, I would like to give an open invitation to any member of the community who may want to know more about the state of the budget in California and its impact on ABC. Hope to see you there!
In Solidarity,
Ray Gaer
President, ABC Federation of Teachers
