Commemorating 9/11

Today is a special day in our nation's collective consciousness. For those who were living on September 11, 2001, the world changed forever on and after that date. We no longer felt safe as a nation or as a people. People we did not know set out to deliberately kill people they did not know but hated for some reason. As of September 11, 2001, the United States and its citizens would never be the same. Our sense of safety was forever destroyed.

There have been commemorations and ceremonies that have been held all over the nation this weekend to remember those lost in the devastation of 9-11. The ceremony that I attended was a panel discussion which was held at Washington Lee High School in Arlington, VA. On the panel were Arne Duncan, US Secretary of Education and Laura Fornash, recently appointed Secretary of Education for the Commonwealth of Virginia. Joining them on the panel were educators from Arlington Public Schools who were asked to reflect upon what they were doing and thinking on 9/11/01. Some of the panelists were individuals who are teachers now but were students in Arlington at the time of the event.

Moderating the panel was Superintendent of Arlington Public Schools, Dr. Pat Murphy. The focus of the panel discussion was to talk about what thoughts the panelists had had during the day on 9/11/01 and how it had impacted them. The common theme that came out of the discussion was that for those individuals who had children of their own, their first thoughts went to concern about their own children's safety. But they all quickly shifted to being concerned with the more immediate matter of taking care of the children in their care in their classes. To the person, there was pride in the professional manner that they and their colleagues had behaved and how they had acted collectively to maintain a sense of calm in the midst of chaos and to make sure that their students felt comforted at a time of terror. Many of their students were concerned about their own parents who worked in the Pentagon which had been the target of one of the attacks just a few miles from their respective schools.

Ten years later, upon reflection on the events of that day, there was concern about the loss of innocence of the generation who is growing up in the post 9/11 world. But there was also pride in their collective belief that they have demonstrated a commitment to being ready just in case there is ever another similar event. Everyone prays that we never have to deal with another 9/11 event...but we must be prepared just in case.

So, today was about remembering and offering comfort to those who were directly impacted by 9/11. I offer my deepest respects and regard for all of the First Responders and condolences and sympathy for the families who lost a loved one during that terrible day. I fervently pray that we never have to deal with a similar event ever in our future...but I also want to convey from my heart of hearts that it is important that we remember and honor those who were lost and for those who have lost loved ones.

Until next time.

Kitty

East Coast Earthquake, Hurricane Irene, and School Openings

This past week has been one for the record books in Virginia. Last Tuesday afternoon while I was having a quiet conversation with my assistant, the VEA Headquarters in downtown Richmond began to shake, rattle, and, yes, even roll a little. For a moment, I wondered what kind of furniture they were moving in the office on the floor above me. It was just a coincidence that furniture was being moved, but I couldn't imagine what in the world could be making that much racket. When the sensation of rattling outside the building started, I briefly thought a really big truck was rumbling by, but then that no longer made sense...it sounded more like a train racing by the window, and then it hit me...earthquake!

For those first few seconds, we were at a loss as to what to do. Earthquakes don't happen in central Virginia...at least not earthquakes of any magnitude. I recalled a very slight tremor which I experienced back in 2003, but this was a whole different experience. This felt serious...and of course, it was.

We evacuated the building and stood outside taking comfort in the fact that everyone was okay, the building seemed to be in tact, and the shaking had finally come to a stop. Within minutes of returning to the building, we learned through the Internet and through phone calls that there had been a 5.9 earthquake that had struck at the epicenter in Mineral, Virginia, a little town about 50 miles away. Schools and homes in that little town were damaged. Children and teachers have been displaced. Some of the schools may not be able to re-open because the structural damage is too great. The lives of the entire community have been seriously disrupted.

The next couple of days, aftershocks occurred with just enough frequency to keep people on edge, and almost as soon as the aftershocks settled down, all eyes turned toward Hurricane Irene...a deadly storm which seemed to be heading straight for the North Carolina and Virginia coastline. Ironically, those of us who were here in 2003 remember when Hurricane Isabelle hit during the first weekend of September. Isabelle knocked out trees and power lines and people were inconvenienced for days. Hurricane Irene has had a similar impact. Even as I write this post, many of my neighbors and friends are still without power themselves. I have been one of the lucky ones who lost power briefly on Saturday but had it through most of the storm and continue to say little prayers of thanks every time I turn on a switch and something comes on.

Schools have been closed for the teacher work week so far this week, the week for many when they would be setting up their classrooms and attending faculty meetings and getting their class rosters and preparing for opening next Tuesday. I just got the call from my school division that buildings will remain closed tomorrow because of widespread power outages that continue.

I share all of this because it has occurred to me to wonder how all of these events are impacting our students, and what must we as adults do to make sure that our own nerves and feelings of concern don't get translated to them any more than necessary. Children are extremely intuitive and they pick up on subtle cues. You might tell them that everything is okay, but if you don't really believe it, they are going to know it.

In order for children to learn, however, they need to feel safe, and it is our primary job to create a sense of safety and security so that they can relax enough to want to learn something new. A worried child who is distracted by fears that he or she may or may not be able to articulate is not going to be receptive to learning a new concept or memorize a new fact or create a new work of art.

That brings the effort we as educators make to create a nurturing learning environment to a whole new level, it seems to me. I would offer that we each do whatever we need to do in order to take care of our own needs for a feeling of safety and security so that we can be genuine in communicating those feelings of safety and security to our students.

If earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, and tornadoes don't teach us anything else, it reminds us that we are not in control the way we would like to think we are. But that doesn't mean that we should succumb to despair or depression. It is a fact that we are NOT in control the way we would like to think we are. Nothing more and nothing less than that, and the sooner we accept that simple fact, the better off we all are. In the meantime, however, we need to support one another, and most of all, we need to remember that our children look to us to set the tone and create the learning environment that they need in order to grow and achieve.

Please take care of yourselves so you can take care of the children who are in our care.

Until next time.

Kitty

Back to School Time

I was allowed to speak at the Grayson County Convocation last Friday. They are already getting ready to go back to school as are many of our colleagues out in the far southwestern portion of our Commonwealth.

I delivered the following speech, and it has received so many positive comments and thank you's that I decided perhaps it would make for a good post today. So here goes:

Good Morning:

It is an honor and a privilege for me to be with you this morning.

It is hard for me to believe that you are already getting ready to start school. Time seems to be moving faster and faster, and it is hard to keep track of where it has gone.

For me, back to school time is such an exciting time. We are unusual, I believe, in that as a group we get the chance to start fresh—from scratch, so to speak—every single year. There is no other job that I know of where you get to put a punctuation mark on one year, take a breath and a break, and then start “fresh” like we do. Just think of it. We get a “do over” every year! We get to start with a totally fresh slate. And that goes for our students as well.

You are about to embark on a new year that is going to be unlike any other year you’ve ever had. And for the first day, at least, we all—teachers, administrators, and students alike—have hope that it is going to be our best year ever. We may be disabused of that notion by the end of the first day, but we all start out, don’t we, with extremely high hopes?

I have always loved the first day of school. It didn’t matter if it was the first day as a student or as a teacher. Everyone is so excited. Parents are taking pictures at the bus stop, kids are bouncing off the bus at school fresh faced and ready for a new year. The class rosters are neatly posted on the doors and everyone feels a sense of anticipation. The excitement and energy on campus is palpable. Every new year brings with it a sense of promise and hope and a whole host of possibilities.

And that brings me to something that I would like to share with you. It is a sad story, but it is an important one, so I hope you will bear with me.

I learned this week of the tragic and untimely death of one of our VEA members. Her name was Dawn Reddick and she was only 29 years old. She had been teaching in Charlottesville, VA since 2007, and she taught 3rd grade at Clark Elementary School.

Last Friday night (July 29, 2011), Dawn and three others were shot in a random drive-by shooting in Newark, New Jersey. Dawn died the next morning from her wounds. It has been reported that Dawn attempted to shield a 7 year-old-child who was standing nearby when she was shot. There are no suspects and there is apparently no motive. Dawn was certainly not the target. She was an innocent bystander killed by a senseless act of random violence. An act that is all too common in our country these days and one that has become so commonplace that we rarely take note of it anymore…unless it involves one of our own.

With your permission, I would like to take just a moment of silence to think about Dawn and her family, her students, and her school colleagues in Charlottesville. PAUSE

Thank you.

The reason I wanted to tell you about Dawn is that she was by all accounts, an exemplary teacher. Parents of the students she had this past year reported that their kids had decided that this was the best year they had ever had and they couldn’t imagine ever having a better one…and they were only in third grade!

What a testament to Dawn and the impact she had on her students. What a loss to them and to the teaching profession and the countless students she might have taught in the future. So young and struck down so senselessly.

I wanted to share that with you because I want you to imagine for a moment what kind of year you would need to create for your students this year in order for them to say that it was the BEST YEAR THEY HAD EVER HAD and they couldn’t imagine it GETTING ANY BETTER THAN THAT? What sort of atmosphere would you need to create? What sort of climate and culture and personal relationships would you need to build and foster? What ingredients would you need to bring to the year in order for YOUR students to declare at the end of the year that they couldn’t imagine a better year?

Don’t you want your students to feel that way about you and about the year they are about to have? I know I would. What a legacy for such a young teacher to have created. I am sorry that I won’t ever have a chance to meet Dawn Reddick, but I hope to carry her story around with me. She embodied the best of what we all have to give…and we need to honor her memory by trying to make this our best year ever regardless of what we are teaching or who our students are.

And because we at the VEA want this to be your best year ever, I want to offer the resources and support that the VEA and the GCEA have to offer to provide the kind of help hat you need in order to be successful.

You know, sometimes teaching can be a lonely enterprise. We tend to feel pretty isolated a lot of the time, and recently, we have felt like we are in heated battle, haven’t we? You can’t turn on a TV without hearing some reference some way some how to how public education in this country has gone to the dogs and teachers are responsible. Moreover, we are blamed for being greedy because we have high salaries and rich benefits and a pension that is the envy of everyone. What a load of….bunk!!!

I am sorry, but is there any person in this room who feels that you are being grossly overpaid? That your benefits are totally out of line with the job you perform everyday? That you are going to be so rich off of your Virginia Retirement System that you can retire to an island in the Caribbean and never worry about money again? Well, that’s the picture that is being painted of you, and it is high time that you help start to set the record straight.

Most Virginia educators have not had a raise for 3 to 4 years. Most of us have had to pay MORE for benefits because what our school divisions offer doesn’t cover the full costs. And your VRS benefit? If you go out with full service after a 30 + year career, you will receive about half of your annual salary based on your highest salary average for the last 36 months. I doubt that any of you are going to be taking that and retiring without a care.

What you can do, however, is retire with the knowledge that because you took reduced salaries over the years and because you gave your professional life to public education, your retirement benefit won’t expire before you do. The difference between what we currently have and what the Governor and some pretty powerful legislators in Richmond want to do is that we are currently covered for life. If they have their way, we will be switching from a defined benefit plan—one which offers a lifetime benefit—to a defined contribution plan where you will be expected to put in more of your own money and then when the money runs out…well, good luck to you.

You know, people often say to me that they aren’t members of the VEA because of different and assorted reasons. They don’t understand the benefits of membership. They don’t think they will ever need the liability insurance and there are certainly cheaper ways to get that, and we know that. We also get beaten up a lot because of our political activity. I even once said—before I knew any better—that I didn’t think teachers should be “political.” I thought we should be above the “dirtiness of politics.” And, I know that some of our competitor organizations like to say that they offer the same benefits as VEA without the political component. That’s not necessarily true, by the way, but they like to say it.

The only trouble is that everything you do in your classroom from day one is tied to some sort of political decision. Do you think SOL’s weren’t or aren’t driven by politics? Think again. Textbook and technology adoption? The length of your school day, what is allowed to be taught and who is allowed to teach it? All driven by political considerations. Licensure and evaluation policies? Political. Salaries and benefits? Your pension???? Definitely political and becoming more and more so by the minute.

So, tell me, why WOULDN’T we want to be involved in politics if it drives what we do professionally every single day in every way?

Don’t you want to have some semblance of control over you professional destiny? Then get involved in the GCEA. Learn what is going on. Learn how you can help.

You know, I also often hear the question, “What’s the VEA doing about…” and you can fill in the blank. Salaries, benefits, pensions, testing, accountability, and the list goes on. I always want to say, well, tell me, what are YOU doing because we are all in this together. I take my marching orders from my members when we have our annual meeting every April. Our Delegate Assembly sets VEA policy not me as the president. I simply act on and am the spokesperson for those policy decisions that have been deliberated upon and voted on in those meetings.

So, if you want to have in impact on your profession…if you want to make a difference…it is time for you to get involved! Join the GCEA if you haven’t already. Learn what we are doing to promote our profession, and to advocate for students. Because that is what we do. I get up every morning and ask myself, what am I going to do today to promote the education profession, preserve public education, and advocate for the students of the Commonwealth of Virginia. That is what I am committed to. What are you committed to? I hope that it is to making this the best year you and your students ever had…and to standing strong for your profession for indeed, if you don’t, no one else will.

The VEA is committed to protecting and preserving the VRS benefit that you currently have, but we in Richmond cannot do that alone, and that is not the only battle that looms before us this year. The forces against us have grown more powerful and more vocal. They are convincing the public that the VRS is a burden and it is one they no longer want to be responsible for. The VEA Legislative Committee voted last month to protect and preserve our retirement system even though by all accounts, we are going to be the last hold out. We are about to engage in an ugly battle and it will become uglier because our opponents can smell blood. They are aware of what has happened in Wisconsin and Maryland. They are feeling bolstered by the successes of their colleagues around the country.

Other items on the Governor’s legislative agenda for this year includes discontinuing continuing contracts, pushing through a Florida model voucher and tax credit plan, continue to promote charter schools, push for the 65% plan which is a VERY bad idea…but that isn’t stopping him or his friends in the House of Delegates.

This is a time when we need every teacher and support professional in Virginia to join with the VEA in our battle to protect what is rightfully ours. When legislators—when your Governor—tells you that we are not putting in any money into our retirement system which is what makes it so burdensome, you need to set the record straight. Those of us who were around in the early 1980’s made a deal with their localities and with the state…we won’t take a 5% raise and we will let you put that 5% into our pension funds. Does that sound like it was a freebie to you? Now, all these years later, they want to renege on that agreement and we at the VEA are saying, no. Not just no, but heck no! A deal is a deal. To me, it is more than just a deal…it is a covenant, and it is one that I am committed to protecting and preserving to the best of my ability…but I definitely need your help.

So, let me close by saying, if you are already a member of your local association, thank you. If you aren’t, you are going to need to make a decision…do you turn your back on the one organization that if fighting every day on your behalf, or do you join with us and join the fight? We need you…every single one of you, so please, join with us. You need us as much as we need you, and we have a long battle ahead where every person’s voice counts.

Thank you.

Busy, Busier, Busiest

For anyone who might ever wonder about my schedule in the summer time, let me just say, it is busy. I feel like I have been on the go pretty much non-stop since my last post in mid-June. Even as I write this message on my new iPad, I am sitting in the Boston airport (Logan) waiting to go home from a five day conference for state leaders from around the country. We started off Friday afternoon with a General Session that included NEA President, Dennis Van Roekel, Vice President, Lily Eskelson, and Secretary-Treasurer, Becky Pringle. The topic of that session was "what keeps you going in these challenging times?" And make no mistake, these are challenging times!

All of the officers offered personal stories and anecdotes about what they do to keep themselves energized and motivated even in these tough times, but the thing that resonated with me perhaps the most was Dennis' reminder that it is important to remember who you are at the end of the day and not to confuse yourself about who YOU are as opposed to the office you hold and the position you currently have. That struck me as an important distinction and one that I have tried to practice in the course of my term because at some point, I will no longer have this job or hold the title and I will need to be in touch with who I am as a person as opposed to being the temporary holder of a title.

The rest of the training from Saturday through this morning had to do with building skills that will help to determine how to address upcoming challenges and how to frame a message that will capture the attention and imaginations of our members and the public at large. It was excellent training, but I admit, I am tired and ready to go home.

I haven't really rested up yet from the 10 days in Chicago for the NEA Convention. That was also a busy time, and we accomplished a lot of good work.

Tomorrow I turn my attention to our Legislative Committee meeting, and next week, we re-launch the Reggie Smith Training Academy under its new name: The Reggie Smith Organizing School. Over 200 VEA leaders will be convening at the University of Richmond for 2 1/2 days of training, camaraderie and fun. I am particularly excited about this event because it represents a campaign promise when I ran for president four years ago. It is exciting and gratifying to me that we are getting that training off the ground again at last.

I will also be going to my first NBPTS conference next week for just a couple days, and I am very excited about that.

And then, believe it or not I will be returning to DC for a NEA meeting and then traveling to Grayson County where they will be getting to go back to school already. Summer? What summer?

So, that is a quick summary of what has been going on and what is coming up. I hope anyone reading this is having a great summer yourself and that you are healthy, happy, and well.

Until next time.

Kitty

Graduations and Retirements

Graduations are occurring even as I write this particular message. Generally, high school graduations and college/university graduations are the ones to come to mind first when one thinks of "graduation," but these days, there are graduations from kindergarten, elementary school, and middle school as well.

Graduations are all about transitions. One moves from one point in time and one phase in life to another, and the graduation ceremony--regardless of the level whether it be from kindergarten or a doctoral program--marks the moving from one phase into another. It is an exciting time for both the graduate and his/her family.

This is also the time of year, however, when another type of "graduation" is taking place within the ranks of my VEA colleagues, and that is retirement. In the same way that a graduation marks a transition, so does a retirement from one career into another or from full time work to full time leisure.

As president of the VEA, I often get invited to speak at retirement functions whether they be receptions or banquets, and it is one of my favorite things to do. I get to congratulate my association colleagues on a job well done. Whether they have spent just a few years teaching or working as a support professional in the public schools--or whether they have spent their entire adult lives dedicated to the profession--as they retire, they also transition from one way of life into another.

This message is intended specifically for them--the retirees who are celebrating the end of their school careers and are moving on into the next phase of their lives. Many of them are young enough that by the end of their lives, they may well have been retired from teaching longer than they ever taught.

So, if you are retiring this year, I hope for you that as you enter this new phase of your life--as you transition from the world of school into another new experience--that you do so with joy and anticipation. You have served your students and your colleagues with honor, dedication, and good humor (or you wouldn't have lasted long enough to actually retire) and now it is time to rest. Good luck to each of you. And please, don't be a stranger. Stay active in the VEA through the VEA-Retired group which is an active, vibrant and supportive element of our organization. We need you.

Until later.

Kitty

Town Hall Meeting in Arlington, VA

One of the more official or ceremonial duties that I have been performing since becoming President of the VEA is service on the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Commission Brown v. Board of Education Scholarship Committee and the Special Subcommittee on the 50th Anniversary of Public School Closings in Virginia.

The Subcommittee has been conducting Town Hall meetings in the various locations where schools were closed as the result of Virginia's Massive Resistance efforts during the late 1950's and early 1960's as school boards and communities around Virginia refused to desegregate their schools in spite of the Brown v. Board of Education ruling in 1954.

Most Virginians are aware, I believe, of the fact that Prince Edward County Schools closed their doors rather than to integrate, and their schools remained closed for five years. Not as well known is the fact that schools were also closed in Warrenton, Norfolk, Charlottesville, and Arlington, VA.

To draw attention to the past and to attempt to avoid such folly in the future, the Subcommittee on the 50th Anniversary of Public School Closings in Virginia has been conducting Town Hall Meetings in the locations where schools were closed. Those who were impacted--teachers, students, administrators and members of the community--have been invited to each event in order to share their personal story of how the closing and ultimate re-opening of the schools impacted them personally and professionally.

Commission members include Chair, the Honorable Senator Henry L. Marsh, III who has been the driving force behind the important work of the Commission. Other members include folks from community groups, professional organizations like the VEA, and individuals who have a vested interest in making sure that the history of the Civil Rights Movement is not forgotten.

Yesterday's Town Hall Meeting was held at Kenmore Middle School in Arlington, VA. About 75 people turned out for the afternoon event from 2:00-4:00. Invited speakers included a former guidance counselor, former students, a former principal, a former assistant superintendent, a former chairman of the NAACP, and the current pastor of the Mt. Olive Baptist Church.

Special guest speakers included Mrs. Gloria Thompson and Mr. Michael Jones, two of the four Arlington students who first integrated the Arlington Public Schools on February 2, 1959 when they started at Stratford Junior High School with the assistance of heavy guards and state police who were on the school premises to keep the four African American students safe and to ensure that the transition toward integration would be peaceful.

Some may wonder why these Town Hall Meetings have been scheduled and why they are necessary, but as an attendee at two of these events--the one in Charlottesville and now the one in Arlington--I can attest to the value of having people tell their personal stories.

There is great power--and I believe a great necessity--in reminding us that we must be vigilant not to get too complacent about where we are in terms of the history of the Civil Rights Movement. We must remain cognizant of our history so that we never repeat it.

Indeed, I was struck by the irony this morning of the news from a nearby high school where a racially charged incident took place just yesterday. Students of color are still finding themselves harassed because of the color of their skin, and we must do whatever we can to communicate to the larger community that this is simply unacceptable. We may have come a long way since 1954...but we still have much to do and a long way to go.

The next--and last--Town Hall Meeting will be held in Prince Edward County in October.

(The photo at the top of the page is of a band ensemble of Kenmore Middle School students who played a few pieces for those of us who attended the luncheon before the Town Hall Meeting began.)

New York Times Article on Teacher Pay is Right On!

Two of my colleagues sent me a link to an article this morning that I thought was too good to keep to myself. In fact, I have forwarded it to all VEA Board members, local presidents, UniServ and Headquarters staff members, and I just now shared it on my Facebook page. Since I hadn't updated my blog for a while (sorry to those who do actually read it), it made sense to share it here as well. It is an article that came out yesterday in the New York Times.

I am embarrassed that it has taken me so long to write this post. I got busy with preparations for the Convention which was held in Roanoke April 7-9, and then I took some much needed time off. I enjoyed a spring break for the first time since taking office, and while I didn't actually get to take the whole week, it was nice to take a couple of days off. I didn't go anywhere...just enjoyed time at home with my two dachshunds, and I got some things done around the house that I had been putting off for lack of time and opportunity.

The Convention is now "old news" but it went well. This week coming up is the May Super Week in Washington, DC and it promises to be a very busy one. I always chuckle at the name, "Super Week" because it seems that the goal is to cram as many meetings into four days as possible--and they do a very good job of it, indeed.

We are experiencing something of a lull here at the office these few weeks between spring break, Easter, and the end-of-year activities that always accompany the closing of schools for the summer. I am already receiving invitations to retirement dinners and receptions.

Coming up soon is our annual President's Training for local presidents. This year our training is being held in the beautiful setting on Smith Mountain Lake at Mariner's Landing in Bedford County. I look forward to a productive weekend with our local presidents--new and returning--while we network with one another and gather new and tried and true tools on how to build a stronger organization.

We are also gearing up for our annual NEA RA which is going to be held in Chicago this year. and on the heels of our return from Chicago, we will be celebrating the reconstitution of the Reggie Smith Academy under its new name: Reggie Smith Organizing School or RSOS. The dates for RSOS are July 26-28 and it will be held at the University of Richmond in Richmond, VA. We haven't conducted a leadership academy for several years now, and I am excited about getting this training back on our calendar.

That pretty much brings me up to date on what is going on at the moment. Don't forget to read the article above. It will be well worth your time.

Until next time.

Kitty