I want to share an email with you. It was sent to teachers in my children’s school district by the local teachers’ union. There is a lot of blah, blah, blah about education advocacy organizations at the beginning, and that is to be expected. The union and these organizations (including LEV) don’t see eye-to-eye on certain issues.
But I want you to wade through all of that to the last couple of paragraphs. Read the part where they specifically mention a PTSA parent.
This is my third attempt at a blog post. I haven’t been able to write this without getting emotional and angry. I admit that I’m too close to the issue: This parent – Alison Meryweather – is my friend. She has worked for years on behalf of our school district. She has worked on bond and levy campaigns that support the students, administration, teachers and ultimately, the community.
One issue that the union appears to be upset about is Alison’s support of eliminating LIFO – Last In, First Out – policies for teacher layoffs. Currently teacher layoffs are primarily based on seniority. Alison and Chad Magendaz (an Issaquah school board member) have spoken up in support of eliminating LIFO. They have spoken up to ask that student performance be considered as one measure in determining teacher layoffs.
Should Alison be singled out? What does it do to parents to know that this is what could happen to them if they should disagree with a position taken by their teachers’ union? What does it mean to a community where this happens?
Read this, and tell me what you think.
From: Issaquah Education Association [mailto:ieamembers@earthlink.net]
Sent: Thursday, September 15, 2011 12:10 PM
To:
Subject: IEA Special Update, 9-15-11: Stand for ChildrenIEA Special Update
This update provides information on Stand for Children, an organization that began as a grass roots advocacy group on closing the achievement gap and morphed into a corporate front for several foundations and ultra-conservative groups attempting to turn public education into yet another corporate profit center and to eliminate teachers’ unions.
Jonah Edelman, CEO and Co-founder of Stand For Children, is the son of Peter Edelman, a civil rights/social justice attorney who teaches at Georgetown Law School, and Marian Wright Edelman, founder of the Children’s Defense Fund in Washington DC. The original vision of SFC was to ensure equity of opportunity for all children and make closing the achievement gap a priority of state and national leaders. The original intent was honorable.
I believe the best place to begin to understand the changes to Stand for Children is to read this article by Susan Barrett, ex-volunteer co-leader of the Portland, OR, headquarters for Stand for Children. This will give great insight into the origins and current path of the organization.
http://parentsacrossamerica.org/2011/07/stand-for-children-a-hometown-perspective-of-its-evolution/
In 2009 a total of over $6 million was donated or raised by Stand for Children (SFC) and Stand for ChildrenLeadership Center (SFCLC). Twenty-seven percent ($1.5 million) of that money came from three organizations and three individual families including The Gates Foundation. The Gates Foundation provided SFCLC with an additional $3.5 million in 2010 and another $330,000 grant to SFC/Washington in 2011.
On June 30, Jonah Edelman, founder and CEO of Stand for Children, was videotaped boasting about the political influence of SFC at a meeting of the “wealthy and powerful” in Aspen, CO. The video is 60 minutes long (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddtd0vt6oYE&NR=1 however, the Illinois Education Association has released its own three-minute video of highlights (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxbwvHiYlcE) from the Edelman Aspen video, along with commentary from a courageous Illinois State Senator who refused to cave to SFC pressure. I have attached the transcript of the 60 minute video.
You may be wondering why I am sending this to you. Washington State is a prime target for SFC advocacy, organizing, and lobbying efforts. The SFC/Washington has a current budget of $1.4 million, of which 20% is funded by The Gates Foundation. This would not include money coming indirectly through SFCLC.
The following are examples of how SFC is attempting to influence contract negotiations in our area:
• SFC released a 30-page report on the Tacoma contract negotiations, last spring, that included recommendations for the elimination of salary increases for most advanced degrees and credits, a reduction in sick leave, use of test scores in teacher evaluations, and the use of evaluations to determine who is laid off.• SFC attempted to influence contract negotiations in Bellevue and rewrite their evaluation process to include parent and student input as well as student assessment. An OSPI forum was recently held inBellevue to clarify to the public the intent of the new teacher evaluation process. After the forum, the district dropped the evaluation issue. The Bellevue School District has turned over student data to a private researcher to conduct studies on alternative evaluation models.
• During the recent Snoqualmie Valley contract negotiation, the district proposed revisions to their teacher evaluation process that were provided by SFC. The Snoqualmie Valley Education Association refused to consider these changes and were successful in arguing that the proposed criteria were confusing and inappropriate.
Stand for Children encourages its members to gain positions on school boards and PTAs – especially the legislative representative position. SFC members seek to persuade parents in the community to support SFC-sponsored education legislation. This is why teachers (T) are seeing PTSA support on legislation regarding RiF/seniority/evaluation in their PTSA Newsletters and why Alison Meryweather, the ISD PTSA Council Legislative Rep, and Chad Magendez, an ISD School Board member have proposed legislative goals to the State PTA on merit pay and charter schools.
What can we do about this situation? Teachers can talk with parents and local PTSA leaders to voice the educators’ perspective. We can become the PTSA legislative representative for our local school. We can attend PTSA meetings to contribute to discussions and make sure the educators’ perspective is heard. We can make sure that educators are selected/elected/volunteered to attend the Washington State PTA Annual Legislative Rep Assembly where legislative goals are adopted by the organization. In addition, we can continue to question the conflict of interest in having an ISD school board member openly advocating for charter schools and private groups that will take away State funding from our public schools in Issaquah.
Phyllis Runyon
President, Issaquah Education Association
prunyon@washingtonea.org
While a bond and not a levy, it seems they’d be kissing Alison’s mid-backside to ensure she does her volunteer job well so they can have the nice technology, new buildings, or whatever the bond effort is raising money to fund. In Tacoma 25% of district budget is levy money. Quite a few commenters to TNT’s articles on Tacoma’s teacher strike are threatening not to vote for future levies. (Who knows how many commenters actually vote in Tacoma or for/against levies but those are the statements.)
The letter’s language doesn’t tell the whole story (nor state facts). What are they afraid of?
The letter states concern about Stand for Children’s influence. Washington Education Association (WEA) representsappx. 83,000 teachers. How many members does Stand have statewide – 400, 2,000, 4,000? Is the giant WEA afraid of what can be accomplished by a few concerned, committed parents and community people in a state of 6 million with 1 million children in public school? PTA membership is over 100,000, including teachers. (So some teachers are represented twice.) PTA and Stand members are volunteer members not forced to join (as with union membership/dues).
In Washington state,
From 8/3/10 – 11/3/10:
— Stand for Children PAC gave $136,000 to candidates for state rep and senator races.
— WEA PAC gave $715,000 to candidates for state rep and senator races. The largest recipient of WEA PAC contributions was Claudia Kauffman at about $70,000 to her campaign (total contributions to the Kauffman campaign were $400,000).
The real shame is that both “sides” of education weren’t large contributors compared to all the other PACs (see next sections).
Contributions to all candidates in 2010 were $26 million. Largest donating groups were
— Other $ 1.3 million
— Business $ 5.6 million
— Individuals $ 10.0 million
— PACs $ 5.0 million
— Unions $ 0.6 million
— Caucus $ 0.7 million
— Party $ 0.7 million
— Self $ 1.0 million
— Minor Party $ 0.0 million
— Anonymous $ 0.03 million. http://www.pdc.wa.gov/MvcQuerySystem/ElectionTotals/candidateTotals?year=2010
Neither “side” of the education spectrum were the top contributors. Combined, WEA and Stand PACs contributed less than $1 million to state rep and senator races yet 25% of our state tax dollars funds public education.
Total election contributions for 2010 was $117 million. Largest donating groups were
— Other $ 31.0 million
— Business $ 26.0 million
— Individuals $ 25.0 million
— PACs $ 18.6 million
— Unions $ 11.6 million
— Caucus, party, Self, Minor Party, and Anonymous all donated $ 2 million or less.
http://www.pdc.wa.gov/MvcQuerySystem/ElectionTotals/totals
TWO of WEA’s 19 registered lobbyists (representing appx. 83,000 teachers) ranked in top 50 compensated lobbyists. Per PDC records, Lucinda Young, Wendy Rader-Konofalski, Randall Parr, and Mary Lindquist were all registered lobbyists only for WEA.
— Lucinda Young $ 69,636.38 (very good salary but not exactly the big bucks)
— Wendy Rader-Konofalski $ 71,497.71
— Neither Mary Lindquist nor Randy Parr rated among top 50 compensated lobbyists.
http://publicola.com/2011/05/31/publicolas-2011-legislative-awards-best-lobbyist/.
ONE of AFT WA’s seven registered lobbyists is in top 50 compensated lobbyist BUT she lobbies for 17 different client organizations including AFT – http://orion.pdc.wa.gov/ReportServer/Pages/ReportViewer.aspx?%2fLobbyist+Reports%2fRegistered+Lobbyists&rs:Command=Render):
— Lonnie Johns-Brown $ 76,270.35
NONE of Stand for Children’s 11 registered lobbyists (10 individuals – seems most of their employees are registered as lobbyists) are among the top 50 compensated lobbyists.
NONE of League of Education Voters’ five registered lobbyists (4 individuals) are among the top 50 compensated lobbyists.
Strategies 360, a registered lobbyist for both Stand and LEV, is listed as #6 for most compensation – $340,000 for the year. NONE of Strategies 360′s four registered lobbyists are among the top 50 compensated lobbyists.
I think the teacher’s unions have a right to try to “protect” their official positions, just as I think PTSA groups and your friend Alison have a right to do what they are doing. I don’t think there were any comments that were inappropriate about your friend Alison. If she is going to put herself at the forefront of this issue, she is going to have to expect some backlash. People who stand up to be counted also make themselves a target. It takes courage to do what she is doing. The teacher’s unions are running scared, as they don’t want to lose their absolute power they’ve had over this process for a long time. They will need to absorb change, like the rest of us are doing, or risk the inevitable, which is a loss of even more power for them.
I saw nothing inappropriate in the letter written by a union president to her members. She stated the situation from her perspective and that of many teachers. Seniority has a place in determining who is let go first when downsizing is required. The sad part of this discussion is that we have to eliminate teaching positions in the Issaquah School District or any school district for that matter. Performance is also a factor, but you can’t really measure a quality product at the end of the production period (school year) if all the raw ingredients (students) aren’t equal to begin with or if there are factors beyond the control of worker (teacher). Student performance is not, does not rest solely on the shoulders of our teachers or our schools. Parents are the biggest influence in a child’s ability to learn and succeed. What happens before and after school do matter. And far too many people want to hold the teachers responsible for that time. Parents should be required to attend school conferences, be required to come to school when there are disciplinary actions or celebrations of success. Parent involvement makes a huge difference. And that means more than paying PTSA dues, it’s about the time and effort you spend with your kids, not someone substituting for you. That’s where the community comes in, where business should be supportive of education, not just with the donations to locals district’s foundation, but with policies in place that allow parents the flexibility to attend those all important meetings and events. So much money is spent in the juvenile justice system because we don’t spend the time with our kids before they reach the point of needing that system.
I will support teacher unions because they support our kids, all our kids. They lobby hard to get the resources needed for them to be successful in the classroom and for our districts to have what they need to succeed. Teachers don’t teach to get rich, they teach because they have a passion to share, to give back, to make a difference in the lives of our kids and their families. And if you’ve never seen Wendy in action speaking on behalf of our kids in Olympia and for the teachers who go to work every day to make a quality education possible for all our kids, you’re missing out seeing a fantastic advocate for education at all levels, PK through college/university, community and technical colleges. She earns every penny of her wages and then some, just like our teachers.
I love my PTA, but when we forget that we are the Parent-TEACHER-Association we lose our ability to effect change for the better.
Don’t you think its a bit Samson and Goliath? The most powerful union in the state going after an individual? And, going after someone whose children are in the hands of teachers who are now mad at their mother? It’s one thing to go after a community member who doesn’t have children in the school. But this is a mother, and she has to protect her children, it shuts her voice down.
Kelly,
First, I think you mean David and Goliath, but it was a telling slip.
Second, the union isn’t “going after” your friend Alison. All they did was make a factual statement about her efforts to influence the teacher contract. The letter doesn’t suggest that she even be discouraged from continuing her efforts, let alone stopped. It’s nothing that she would not have said about herself. Are you troubled that she was mentioned by name? Is that all it takes to qualify as “going after” someone? If so, you need to toughen up, cupcake. The same sentence could have appeared in a newspaper and you wouldn’t think the newspaper was “going after” her, would you?
Kelly Munn is working to remove LIFO from teacher contracts. There, I said it. Am I now “going after” you?
Third, the letter is factual and pretty even-handed. Seriously, if you left out the bit at the beginning about SFC morphing into a corporate shill organization and the paragraph about Jonah Edelman at Aspen it could have been a Stand for Children press release. Try reading it again from that perspective instead of reading it like Steve Allen reading a letter to the editor.
Fourth, Stand for Children really has morphed into an astroturf finger puppet for the Gates Foundation. That’s just the truth. These Education Reform organizations are all finger puppets wielded by one hand. That way the Gates Foundation looks like a diverse crowd of people forming a consensus instead of one person speaking with multiple voices.
So, on the whole, I think you need to step back a little. The Issaquah Education Association hasn’t done anything to your friend Alison and they won’t do anything to her.
To suggest that any teacher would take retribution on Alison’s kids in response to the mother’s political activism is to share a very low opinion of the teachers’ professionalism. Do you really think so little of them? How sad.
I am thinking you must not have children…
You couldn’t be more wrong, Ms Mull. I’m thinking that you must not be thinking.
I have two children in public schools and I am one of the loudest activists in my district. My children’s teachers know who I am and have, at times, confirmed with my kids that I am their father.
I cannot think of a single instance in the past ten years when any teacher has treated either of my kids differently in class as a result of my activism. My children’s teachers have been caring professionals who are focused on the tasks in the classroom when they are teaching, not focused on the political positions of the students’ families.
Kelly,
The letter wasn’t from the WEA, it was from the IEA. That being said, there was nothing said that was damaging or not true from their perspective.
Attacking the teachers’ union for championing the rights of those who have seniority, many of whom do a fantastic job of teaching our kids so that the school district can hire and keep teachers at a lower rate of pay? Terminating folks’ employment before they are able to access their pensions? and have to pay thousands of dollars for their health care premiums out of pocket because they aren’t eligible for Medicare? A lot of this is based on economics, and not necessarily what’s in the best interests of our kids. It’s not David vs. Goliath, not by a far stretch. And it seems to me you didn’t have a problem partnering with or accessing the largess of the WEA when we campaigned for Simple Majority. They are champions for all our kids, in and out of the classroom.
The information is not factual. I was a part of Sfand here in Issaquah from the very beginning and never has Stand sat down and tried to get Stand members to be leg reps in the PTSA… we were ptsa reps before we came involved in Stand. Stand has also not gone out and looked for school board members. Not that is wrong.. but the union leader’s information is not true.
Stand in Tacoma has spent a lot of time talking about what they want in a school board member and has tried a few times (only casually as far as I know) to recruit candidates. It happens, I don’t think it’s shocking, or big news. I should think it’s a normal thing for any organization that follows local school issues to do.
It kills me to see LEV, SFC and WEA in these cat fights. We have HUGE problems we need to fix…education funding is a disaster, and we need the power of all the lobbyists and contributions listed above to get moving on it. LEV is at it’s best when it’s working to mend rifts in the education community so we can achieve common goals. Please focus on that.
Here, Here! Matt!!!
I really feel that the (almost exclusive) focus in the past few years on teacher performance and contract terms has created that rift. You are absolutely correct, there are huge issues that everyone involved in the education community in WA should be working on, I wish we’d take the focus off the teachers for a while and stop tearing each other apart.
When I was a PTSA legislative rep (not in ISD) I would have welcomed teacher involvement. I cannot recall one teacher from my district who was involved in PTSA meetings, let alone PTSA legislative meetings. As a mother, I admit I would be very concerned about my children being the target of retailiation from teachers if the union sent out a notice to all its members criticizing my activities.
As a parent, and as a former PTSA legislative chair I am offended that the union assumes that because a parent has an opinion and is exericising her political rights that she has been been co-opted by an outside organization. The comments in the IEA newsletter imply that Ms. Meryweather and Mr. Magendez are not able to analyze a situation and come up a with an independent opinion. There has been lots of research, articles, editorials, TV newsbroadcasts, etc on the topics mentioned in the IEA newsletter. Perhaps the opinons of Ms. Meryweather and Mr. Magendez are based on independent research that may or may not include SFC publications.
When teachers exhibit these types of behaviors I wonder about the classroom experience. Are the students being taught how to analyze a situation or to make leaps in judgment?
The first issue with your statement is that you would have “welcomed” teacher involvement. You should not simply welcome it, you should demand it, and you should ensure that teachers have the opportunity to be involved. It’s a bit tricky to attend a PTSA meeting that is held at 10:00 in the morning while they are teaching. I don’t know when you met for your PTSA meetings, but my experience is that the meetings are not held at a time when teachers can attend. Then you have the nerve to criticize teachers for not being there. You also should not hold all teachers responsible for the comments of one person. Yes, this person represents the teacher’s union, but it is still just one person. For you to extrapolate that to a blanket statement on what kinds of behaviors all teachers exhibit is very wrong. Perhaps I should think things about all parents based only on the action of one. Mrs. Runyon was not saying that this one parent was co-opted by an outside organization, she wrote that Stand for Children has become involved with large corporations with political goals.
The biggest issue, however, is the divide that I see growing between teachers and parents. We are supposed to be an organization that works together to create positive learning environments for all students. Instead, I see some parents advocating for changes to education that teachers do not agree with. I see a lot of blaming of the union and blaming teachers for the problems we have in education. The biggest problem in education is the lack of appropriate funding, period. Yes, there are other concerns, but it starts with funding. It saddens me greatly to watch the attack on unions and on teachers that is happening politically and with organizations such as Stand for Children. It is good old fashioned scape goating, and it needs to stop.
The IEA can paint any portrait that they like about Stand for Children in a persuasive piece to its members. However to put out misrepresentations and then link me to the organization is an affront to my credibility and integrity. The legislative issue currently on the platform, New Model for Teacher Compensation, and the issue for this year, Charters, are all related to my advocacy work with the PTA and have no association with Stand for Children. I have been involved with PTA for ten years, long before Stand arrived in Washington and partnered with PTA, LEV, and a host of other education advocacy organizations. To insinuate that I am a puppet placed by Stand on the PTSA Council is completely false and reprehensible. Why did the IEA choose to omit mentioning my other legislative issue already on the platform- Fund Education First? Our IEA President attends our PTA Council meetings and is free to present the teacher’s views to our membership on a regular basis, I welcome the dialogue. If the IEA truly wants to engage with the PTA as put forth in the email then why would the IEA seek to discredit me/PTA/Stand via the email to it’s members?
Like Alison, I’ve found Stand for Children to be an completely grassroots organization, attracting education leaders from the community and soliciting legislative positions entirely from its membership. They never encouraged me to run for the school board, but it’s through organizations like Stand and LEV that involved parents like Alison and I learned of many opportunities to get more involved. I’m not surprised that key activists from LEV and Stand are finding themselves in more positions of influence armed with the knowledge they need to make a difference, and that’s a great thing for the kids of Washington state.
Alison, do you really think this is “reprehensible?” I can think of a few things in the WA State public education system to which that word could better be applied than to someone taking a pot shot at a PTSA council leg. rep. It comes with the territory. We all nip at each other’s ankles around here like tiny, blind dogs. Stupid.
Here’s what’s smart – what Matt said:
“It kills me to see LEV, SFC and WEA in these cat fights. We have HUGE problems we need to fix…education funding is a disaster, and we need the power of all the lobbyists and contributions listed above to get moving on it. LEV is at it’s best when it’s working to mend rifts in the education community so we can achieve common goals. Please focus on that.”
Yes! We need to table our disagreements and work together single-mindedlely to get tax reform for public education passed in 2012. We blew it in 2010 and our kids are getting hurt right now because of it – larger class sizes, fewer counselors, less tutoring, more fundraising (by kids), no summer school, no evening school, no career counselor… etc. – and that’s just at my school.
This isn’t personal. We are all in it together.
The funding component is the saddest part of this picture. Issaquah is running a bond next February. It is an extraordinary amount of work. We do a huge communications campaign, just huge. I love doing these campaigns, I love talking to people about funding, I love rallying the troops to support our community. But, because I have a full time job, I can no longer run the campaign. There are not enough hours in the day for me to do this anymore.
So, take a guess at who stepped up to take on this volunteer job? Yep…you got it right, Alison.
Our bond committee last met on Tuesday at 7 am. Phyllis sat right next to Alison, while Alison ran the meeting. Phyllis could have easily pulled Alison aside, or asked her to coffee. But she didn’t. She didn’t want to have a one to one, face to face conversation.
What does this mean to our bond campaign? Really? How do we work together? I thought that the bond campaign was a way for us to bridge gaps, to work together, to put aside differences that we have around other issues. Now our difference of opinion damages the bond campaign. Who resigns? How do we move forward? How do we build trust? Really, now what? This is a mess, a total, total mess. At best, this action has a significant effect on our bond campaign, it sets us back months, I don’t want to even speculate on the worst case scenario.
So yes, it would be great if Stand, LEV, PTA, IEA could work together. I thought the bond campaign was the way for us to do that. I know that Alison thought that the bond campaign was a way for us to build bridges, reach out, work together on what we agree on.
What, oh what was the IEA thinking?
Kelly,
Did Alison suggest to Phyllis that they meet after the meeting or maybe some time soon? This is a two way street. I’m not saying that Phyllis couldn’t have talked with Alison, but nothing was stopping Alison from suggesting they get together. It’s all about putting the ‘we’ before the ‘me’. Playing this game of chicken, to see which person is going to move first, it robs the coalition of power and focus. You take your eyes off the prize of wanting to improve things for kids.
IEA is thinking about the kids in the classrooms, all of the kids and the ones they also have at home. Put aside the animosity, find the common and ground and don’t wait for someone to make the first move, you could end up missing the boat. This applies to all concerned. There’s more than enough work to be done in funding and providing education for all our kids. Everyone has an opportunity to be of help and to be a hero.
We had a very candid conversation with Phyllis at our PTA Council General Membership meeting regarding the union advising the teachers not to join the PTA in response to our legislative platform. I had a conversation with Phyllis directly after the meeting. The following day our two PTSA Council Presidents as well as our Region 2 Director met with Phyllis to address the growing tension with the IEA. Phyllis regularly attends our meetings and is free to present the teachers perspective. We want the members to be well informed and aware of the pros and cons of any issue. Needless to say the PTA was taken by surprise by her subsequent email as we have strived to keep the lines of communication open. The main issue though is not just the misrepresentation of facts about PTA/Stand for Children but the targeting of individuals to discredit them in the community. If the situation was flipped and PTA sent out an email regarding specific teachers I am sure that the IEA would be outraged.
Sadly I resigned as the chair of the ISD bond campaign. The IEA is a strategic partner with VIS and PTA and I could not work with someone who was questioning by intentions and integrity behind my back. I truly thought that the bond campaign would bring us together and we could put our differences aside regarding the PTA legislative platform. Unfortunately I was mistaken which has been personally very disappointing.
To be clear, the IEA did NOT advise teachers to not join our building PTSAs. Those words were never spoken. We were educated on the legislative platforms that the state PTA is backing, such as changing teacher compensation models to be based merit pay for performance on tests and backing charter schools. Many teachers took offense to these two platforms, not to our PTSA or to any one person in particular, and the conversation around how to handle our disagreement ensued. We were advised to do as we each, individually, felt comfortable with. We were also advised that if we should decide, on our own, that we could not join our PTSA, that we should still donate the money we would have used to join. As teachers, we all value immensely the role of the PTSA in our buildings. And in fact, we believe that many of our building PTSA parents do not even know what is going on at the state level. They are simply doing all that they can to help teachers and students. We appreciate them, and we want to continue having a good relationship.
That being said, I am not able to attend my building PTSA meetings, as they are held at 10:00 in the morning. What teacher is going to be able to leave their classroom and attend? Therefore, I do not get a voice in what is going on, nor do I get to participate in and possibly influence the discussions that are being had. I find that very troubling. But, I have joined my building’s PTSA this year again. I believe that if I want to have a voice, then I need to be a member. And I do want to have a voice. I believe that if more people had a better understanding of what is truly going on in education and what teachers are dealing with on a daily basis, then they would stop attacking us and blaming us for all the woes of society.
I agree with everyone’s comments about WORKING TOGETHER. This isn’t about one person, or two people, or the entire IEA and PTA. This is about our children. And believe it or not, everything that IEA does, we do to improve the working conditions for teachers and the learning conditions for students. You truly cannot know what it is like to be a teacher unless you’ve spent a day in our shoes.
I don’t really care where your ideology comes from – LEV, Stand or whatever- the reason there is conflict now bordering on hostility is that you appear to have taken advantage of teachers’ uninvolvement in the political aspects of WSPTA to push an agenda while being the elected legislative officer to the Issaquah Council. At least I assume you were elected. Maybe you were appointed. Teachers simply wonder how it is possible for issues that so clearly impact them directly not to have had extensive public discussion before they appeared on the 2010 platform.
If you really wanted teachers to be informed, you wouldn’t hold council meetings at 9:30 on Thursday mornings. You say you “want the members to be well-informed and aware of the pros and cons of any issue.” How sincere are you? You said that Phyllis is there to represent teachers and present our point of view, but that doesn’t tell the whole story. Phyllis is the ONLY one who can come to those council meetings. The rest of us are working. Let me quote from a letter that Phyllis wrote to Challenger teachers after we met with you in April 2011 – a meeting Challenger staff initiated to get you to explain your positions after the fact:
“I understand that during the discussion you were assured that I had been to all the PTSA Council meetings, was present when the goals were discussed and hod not voiced any concerns. I want to clarify that statement. PTSA Council is held once a month. During the last 15 minutes of the agenda – after all the business items – Dr. Rasmussen and I come in to update the Council members of ISD and IEA information. I am not part of the Council. I am not a voting member of the Council. I did not participate in any discussion on the legislative goals last fall. To be honest, most of the discussion, surveying, etc. on these goals would have taken place last spring, before I took office. I can assure you that my predecessor, Neva Luke, knew nothing about them either.”
The letter goes on to say that the only teachers she could identify as having received the previous legislative survey were those who also had children in the district.
If you really believe that having good teachers in every classroom is the most important thing to every child’s success – if we’re so important, why didn’t you ask us what we think are the keys to student success? Why didn’t you, in your capacity as Legislative Officer for Issaquah, organize conversations and brainstorm sessions with teachers? I’d like to know how many teachers you consulted, how many discussions you held, how many teachers you surveyed before you submitted your teacher compensation proposal and your teacher RIFing proposal and your charter schools proposal? The first two are directly aimed at teachers – not students. Why wouldn’t you go to great lengths to get our point of view so you can represent us?
The question going forward, Allison, is “Are you going to represent the views of teacher members in your capacity as Issaquah Council Legislative Officer?”
I’m saddened by this post. It seems that some teachers feel underrepresented and see Alison as their only voice in PTA and Olympia.
All members of WSPTA are permitted to present issues to be considered for the legislative platform. Issues presented are debated at various stages by volunteer PTA members. PTA members submitting issues for consideration are under no obligation as an individual or an elected or nominated PTA representative to ensure every person’s approval at any of those stages before submitting that issue.
If a PTA member isn’t representing members the way they want to be represented, there are other options available. I’m sure there are others, but here are three: 1) A member can go up the PTA chain of command. 2) Any resident of WA is permitted to present issues to their elected officials to be considered in Olympia – everyone has one state senator and two state representatives. 3) I imagine members of teachers’ unions are allowed to present issues to WEA to be considered by WEA. WEA has four registered lobbyists – two I heard testify at all education meetings I attended saying how bills would affect teacher salaries, pensions, etc.
Alison Meryweather has been a child advocate for over a decade. I have had the pleasure of working with her at the state PTA level on various issues and programs over many of those years. She puts kids first without playing political games. She researches issues so she can make informed decisions. My deep respect for this woman of integrity is unwavering.
Chad has also been a child advocate involved in PTA for several years – again, insinuating he is puppet – outrageous.
This letter can be read in two ways, both mentioned here in other comments. But the truth is the letter does imply they are a puppet for SFC – so this perception is now out there, affecting their voices on behalf of kids, not just for Issaquah, but for our state.
This is an unprecedented time in our state– we need to all work together. Our situation is dire and having a teachers union representative imply that any advocate who works (tirelessly in both these people) hard for improving student learning in this state can’t think for themselves is insulting and disrespectful. Their voices have supported teacher issues for years, but because the union disagrees with LIFO, they are now going to mention people by name – must mean PTA has a strong and credible voice if they are nervous about us, don’t ya think?
Alison and Chad – you don’t deserve to be singled out unless it is for your advocacy work over the years. You have truly made a defining difference in the lives of so many children in this state – thank you for all you do.
This letter does not suggest that Ms Meryweather and Mr. Magendez are puppets for Stand for Children, but the objections to this letter suggest that teachers are puppets of the IEA and likewise incapable of their own analysis.
Seriously, let’s not manufacture a crisis over this. It’s not a big deal. All activists, if they make any kind of impact at all, are eventually mentioned by name by people they have made uncomfortable. We all grow a reputation that precedes us. When I meet someone new at Seattle Public Schools the conversation usually starts with them saying “Oh! I’ve heard of you.” It typically ends with them saying “You’re nothing like what I thought you’d be like.” That’s probably because they see that I don’t have horns, cloven-hooves, or a pointy tail.
You cannot keep people from talking about you. In this case, the statement about Ms Merryweather was true wasn’t it? She did propose legislative goals to the State PTA on merit pay and charter schools, didn’t she? In fact, I bet she’s proud of it. That’s not an attack – not of any kind. The other statement, “SFC members seek to persuade parents in the community to support SFC-sponsored education legislation” is also true. What’s the alternative? That they seek to persuade parents to oppose them? There is no insinuation that Ms Merryweather advocates for these positions only because Stand for Children encouraged her to. There is no suggestion that she is a puppet. On the contrary, the suggestion is that she is a leader. There is no attack here.
IEA should host a forum w/ Stand to allow for a full and fair discussion of the issues raised in the email blast to Issaquah teachers. At this forum, Alison and Chad should be given ample opportunity to respond to Ms. Runyon’s accusations. Issaquah teachers should hear all sides of the issue, not just Ms. Runyon’s.
The IEA protests too much. It’s a desperate move for the Union to single out an individual, Alison Meryweather, unless it fears the issues she is raising and wants to discredit her . It’s also a desperate move to misrepresent an opponent’s views. (I will take Kelly Munn’s word on this.) I have worked within my children’s school to make sure that good teachers are rewarded, new teachers supported, and bad teachers shown the door. I complained about a teacher (who had a history in 2 schools of low performance) and ended up being threatened with a lawsuit; even though it was known by other teachers and the admin that this teacher was a problem. It’s hard to stomach the hypocrisy of people who cry out for excellence in education, and, then throw up specious arguments to prevent the removal of bad teachers. It is in the interest of everyone–students, teachers, principals, the district, and the union– to have the very best teachers in the classrooms. As much as the union and some teachers will argue that there is no good method to measure teachers, this doesn’t seem reasonable. We can fairly asses most things by using multiple measures. No one is suggesting one simple litmus test for quality. The shared goal of all of the above shareholders should be having stellar teachers. Those arguing that there isn’t a way to assess education are throwing up dust to obscure the real issue. We need the very best teachers in our public schools to ensure the strength and function of the democracy. Quality public education is the key to the future. There are many issues like poverty that negatively impact public ed., we don’t need to make the situation harder.
I think that we have much more in common that differences. My experiences with the IEA and ISD, including being at the bargaining table in 2007 is that they have a model labor-management relationship. I hold out the same hope for our work with LEV.
For the record, I don’t consider any of your blog posts to be “blah, blah, blah”, Kelly. I’m assuming that you have an important perspective to share.
Regards,
Jim Fotter
Director of Advocacy & Organizing
WEA
“Like Alison, I’ve found Stand for Children to be an completely grassroots organization, attracting education leaders from the community and soliciting legislative positions entirely from its membership.”
Stand is not grassroots. Astro-turf maybe but not grassroots.
That said, the IEA seems a little desperate in singling out Ms. Meryweather. As a fellow activist, I know it is difficult to get singled out.
I want to point out that this letter also makes the allegation that “During the recent Snoqualmie Valley contract negotiation, the district proposed revisions to their teacher evaluation process that were provided by SFC. The Snoqualmie Valley Education Association refused to consider these changes and were successful in arguing that the proposed criteria were confusing and inappropriate.”
To be clear, the Snoqualmie Valley PTSA Council conducted a Community Values Survey and provided results in a report given jointly to the district and the SVEA. We were new to this process and based our survey on the model used in the previous year by Issaquah PTSA Council. Through the entire process from creating the survey, distribution, promotion, data evaluation, and writing of final report, no other outside organizations were involved, it was 100% PTSA and voices of parents in Snoqualmie Valley School District.
I believe Stand For Children and League of Education Voters are doing wonderful work on behalf of kids and it is a shame that the union seems to need to attribute the views and concerns of parents as coming from SFC and LEV as if that gives them a reason and justification to not to accept what parents are calling for.
Alison & Chad,
I take no position on this particular advocacy issue, but I offer a quote that may bring solace for your unwanted notoriety.
“You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.” Sir Winston Churchill
Chad,
Thanks for your principled NO vote for ISD’s adoption of the Discovering math curriculum. I have not forgotten.
mike