May-June Advisor 2021 web

REPRESENTING

14 CEA ADVISOR MAY – JUNE 2021

TEACHERS HONORED, BUDGET AND POLICY SET AT CEA RA More than 350 delegates

convened on May 15 for the 173rd CEA Representative Assembly, held virtually, to set policy and adopt a budget for the Connecticut Education Association. The CEA RA is the association’s highest policymaking body. The assembly began with the national anthem, sung by Jasade Ashley, a graduating senior at Bridgeport’s Harding High School and a member of the school’s choir. Extending greetings from U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, NEA President Becky Pringle addressed the delegates and acknowledged CEA not only for its strong, visionary leadership within Connecticut’s borders but also the wisdom and insights its leaders have shared throughout NEA. NEA leader applauds Connecticut: ‘Stand in your power’ “As we slowly emerge from a difficult, overwhelming, and sometimes scary year,” Pringle said, “I thank you for all you have done for your students and each other amidst strength, and resilience have made me even prouder to be a teacher and the leader of the largest labor union in this country.” Reflecting on a year marked by social and racial injustice, including acts of anti-Asian hate, Pringle commended CEA for “standing in ever-present uncertainty and obstacles. Your commitment, demanded better for your students. This period of challenge—and for so many of us, loss—has become a time of rethinking and reimagining learning and strategies for both school and union work. You became the leaders you needed to be—in the the gaps and increasing your activism. You spoke up and

NEA President Becky Pringle urges CEA members, “Stand in your power.”

CEA President Jeff Leake addresses delegates at the 173rd CEA Representative Assembly.

and inequities that both deepened and rose to the surface. Over the past year, CEA Communications captured more than 300 local, state, and national news stories featuring the union’s members and leaders. Watch the video at cea.org/cea- videos . “This has been the longest and most challenging year in CEA history,” Williams said. “There was no roadmap, and we all had to work together to build a lighted pathway forward. The spirit and purpose of all successful unions, CEA’s Stronger Together made a critical difference.” Indeed, CEA was the only education stakeholder that consistently drafted and promoted comprehensive safety plans for Connecticut schools, with its recommendations commanding attention in the media and at the State Department of Education. When districts fell short of meeting those standards, CEA members and locals organized and spoke out for safety and accountability. The association’s hard-fought successes included persuading the State Department of Education to allow flexibility in teacher evaluations, extending federal paid quarantine leave for teachers through an executive order from the governor, and statewide vaccination of teachers in March at school-based clinics. These victories, Leake explained, came about after massive CEA campaigns that included petitions, postcards, coalition-building, rallies, television advertising, and ongoing dialogue with state leaders. “The pandemic, of course, is not over, and challenges continue,” said Williams. “We are currently engaged in a battle to end double teaching, where teachers have been required to divide their attention between remote and in-class cohorts.” The pandemic, Leake added, has reinforced the need for in-person learning. As Connecticut’s former education commissioner and now U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona recently observed, “When we talk about equity, in-person learning is the best equity lever we can pull right now, because of interpersonal relationships with teachers, and peer-to-peer interactions.” Williams concluded that just as students are not widgets to be stamped out as ‘career ready,’ CEA teachers are more than essential workers. “You are the guardians of what we cannot take for granted: the

right to our schoolhouse doors.” Pringle commended CEA members for stepping up their activism and helping pass President Biden’s American Rescue Plan (ARP), which allocates billions to public education. She also reminded teachers that, at NEA’s urging, state and local plans for spending federal education relief dollars are required to involve teacher input in a real and meaningful way. She urged, “Lift up your voices and be active in these discussions about ARP money, because you know what your students need, and I have no doubt you will continue to stand in your power.” CEA leaders reflect on union accomplishments, goals moving forward CEA President Jeff Leake and Executive Director Donald Williams echoed Pringle’s sentiments, emphasizing that teachers’ input into the historic $1.1 billion ARP investment can help address the trauma that has been ongoing in many students’ lives, as well as make every school the safe, healthy environment students need

has been the primary obstacle for fairness. We recently discussed uses for federal funds with local presidents and teachers and will be providing CEA’s ideas to the state. One issue where federal dollars can make a difference for health and equity is indoor air quality. There’s a real opportunity to fix every HVAC system and install air conditioning in every school without it, across the state. That fundamental change would transform the safety and use of our schools. Our schools would also benefit from a long-term investment in more teachers, more school counselors, psychologists, and social workers, more music and art rooms, more science labs, and more health clinics.” Williams defined the current moment as a chance to reshape education and big-picture priorities in a way that teachers have recommended for years. Leake added, “It’s no secret that it’s been a school year like no other. The questions now are, What did we learn? And what should be our direction and efforts next year and in the years ahead? “We learned that the weight of the pandemic fell disproportionately on Black, brown, and low-income students and communities. And that has rightly ignited calls for dramatic investments in our communities. “We learned that organizations such as ours must be committed as never before to racial, economic, and social justice. We must take bold action by engaging with others outside our union—with Recovery for All, for example—as well as recommitting to what we do inside our union. Our direction and effort inside our union will be determined by your input and involvement in our Human Rights Commission, our Ethnic Minority Affairs Commission, our Poverty Task Force, our Equity Task Force. You will be partners in deciding our direction and efforts and our commitment to making a difference.” Leake thanked a number of CEA members who had been active on committees or commissions and in leadership roles and will be retiring this year. Shining a spotlight on the difficult work of a pandemic year One of the highlights of the CEA RA was an 11-minute video featuring CEA members, leaders, and staff doing the difficult work of educating, organizing, and advocating in a year unlike any other—marked by school closures, health and economic crises,

In attendance at the CEA Representative Assembly were (left to right) CEA Vice President Tom Nicholas, CEA Secretary Stephanie Wanzer, and CEA Treasurer David Jedidian.

Recovery for All campaign, working with other labor unions, community partners, and faith organizations, to demand a more just Connecticut that directs its financial resources where they are needed the most: toward our students, toward better access to physical and mental health services, toward hiring more educators and avoiding layoffs, toward making upgrades in school buildings to make them safe. You are leading that campaign, because day after day you saw students who faced inequities that were sewn up into every one of our nation’s social systems—not just our education system, but our healthcare and housing and economic systems. All of those inequities within all of those systems compound on our students and on their families, and they were only exacerbated by the pandemic. And as always, society’s ills found their way

and deserve. “We could explore implementing the community schools model, which has the potential to better meet the needs of our students and our underresourced communities,” said Leake. “The fact that a sizable number of students face obstacles like eviction and hunger is a reminder that the education system can’t be expected to solve every problem in society. Schools would be more successful if students’ families didn’t struggle with low incomes, unstable housing, or a lack of healthcare—all problems that can greatly affect learning. We know that even in our well-off communities, there is a need.” “The equity disparities between our districts cannot be eliminated with money alone,” Williams acknowledged, “but traditionally that difference in resources and dollars

lifelong learning and quest for knowledge that protects and improves the future for all.”