Protesting the Picketers

By Julie Rine, Minerva Local Education Association

It was the second day of the Spring RA in Columbus. As my colleague and I walked to the Convention Center, a young teacher in front of us talked on her cell phone. When she ended the call, she said to us, “You’re teachers, right? With OEA? Get this, my friend said she heard there are picketers outside the convention center!” The three of us discussed who else was meeting that day that would warrant protests. We knew there was a dance competition and some volleyball tournaments and MARCON, whose members might be a little eccentric, but surely weren’t the cause of protests.

Imagine our surprise when we neared the convention center and saw that WE were the cause of the protests. The signs read OEA Kills Babies and OEA Advocates Homosexuality. There were only a few protesters, and it was a short walk from where we were to the main doors, but it only took a few people and a few steps to fire me up. As we got closer, I yelled that I had no agenda other than accepting all of my kids.

“Oh yes, you do! You all do!” a woman yelled back with pure hatred in her voice.

My blood boiling, I started walking over to her, but my colleague pulled me away. “Let it go,” he said.

But as I sat through the meeting that day, I could not let it go. I still can’t. It infuriates me.

Yes, I love and accept my LGTBQ students. I treat them the same way I treat my straight students, my poor students, my rich students, my blonde students, and my short students. I try very hard to treat all of my kids with respect regardless of their backgrounds or baggage, their identities or their ideas, even when I don’t particularly like their attitudes or approve of the choices they make.

OEA is an organization focused on one issue: public education. As members, we are making a statement that we care about and support public education. There are OEA members who support pro-life groups, and there are OEA members who believe, for religious or other reasons, that being gay is a choice, an immoral choice. But being members of the OEA doesn’t mean we have to agree with each other or with a candidate whom OEA supports on those or any other issues; it means we share a position on public education.

One of my colleagues once gave me the advice that we cannot focus on the fantasy of how things should be, but instead we must deal with the reality of how things are. The reality is that we have kids in our classrooms every day who are in great pain, who feel that the way they feel or the choices they have made are unacceptable and wrong. They are bullied and beaten down by words or fists. They are mocked and made to feel like freaks. They have lost friends and family because of who they are or what they have done. That’s why it is unfathomable to me that anyone would not want our classrooms to be a place of safety and acceptance, a place where a teenager can feel respected and be treated with common decency. One of my favorite writers, Jon Pavlovitz, has been called a LGBTQ ally. His response to this? “I’m an ally for all people; I just consider LGBTQ people, people.” As professionals, this is how educators must view our students. We must be an ally and an advocate for all of them.

Those who protest with signs at our meetings don’t seem to understand what OEA is all about. OEA does not dictate how we must feel about gay rights or abortion or any other of the countless current topics that merit discussion and dialogue.

OEA cares about how we feel about educational issues, and that is why we have RA assemblies where we are given a voice. There were some hot topics at the Spring RA, several debates and spirited discussions, and it’s okay for us to have different opinions, even on topics that impact public education. But there is one belief that must unite us no matter our personal feelings about anything else: being an OEA member means that we believe that every kid, regardless of sexual orientation, race, gender, family situation, ability, religion, or socio-economic status, deserves to have a fighting chance at success and a quality education. Some may protest what they think we stand for, and that is their right. What matters most is that WE understand what we stand for, and that we are united in advocating for all of Ohio’s kids.

Moving Towards Better Education Policy,
One Step at a Time

by Dan Greenberg, Sylvania Education Association

Picture this:

• Adequately funded public schools across the state
• Low-performing charter schools shut down
• Authentic assessments replacing the mountain of standardized tests
• An end to the practice of tying teacher pay and ratings to standardized test scores.

I can’t even put into words how much better our education system would be; how student and teacher morale would improve, how many programs and courses could be restored, how much more authentic learning could happen in classrooms across the state…

Knowing that these reforms are what schools need, teachers, parents and children have worked for these changes, in a variety of ways, throughout this school year. They have hosted forums, engaged in conversations with community members, started support groups on Facebook and contacted elected officials.

Despite all of the advocacy, however, none of these issues has been resolved.

Knowing that these issues still linger, it’s easy to get depressed and frustrated. However, if we ever want to win this struggle for public education, we can’t afford to get discouraged. We have to focus on the things we have gained this year.

Before this school year started, how many people knew what the State Board of Education did, let alone that we even had a State Board of Education? Yet, because the State Board of Education sought to remove “5 of 8” language for staffing education specialists, like art teachers and counselors, people across the state were moved to action. Over 70,000 emails and letters were sent to Board members, and although the “5 of 8” language was ultimately still removed, the awareness and engagement that came from this issue has prompted state legislators to take up the cause thanks to advocacy efforts from parents and teachers.

There have been gains on charter school accountability as well. The narrative that we need more “school choice” is changing, as people realize that school choice, with little or no oversight, leads to big profits for charter school tycoons like William Lager and David Brennan, not better schools for Ohio’s children. Countless newspapers have run stories about charter school abuses, and there are efforts in the legislature to create laws that force charter schools to be more transparent.

The area of testing is where we’ve made the most gains. Although many didn’t realize, as the year began, just how terrible the standardized testing situation was going to be, a great awakening happened this winter, as classrooms turned into testing zones. People began to realize that the tests were about labeling teachers, not helping kids. They saw the money and time that was wasted on the tests, and the toll the tests were taking on children. They knew that something needed to be done, and so parents, teachers, students, school board members and administrators advocated together. School boards made resolutions against the tests. Superintendents across the state spoke out, explaining the testing flaws. Parents and students shared their stories, explaining the undue anxiety and suffering children were experiencing.

From the outcry came action. Senator Peggy Lehner formed the Senate Advisory Committee on Testing. Finally, there was a committee that included a broad-base of education stakeholders.   Among them were teachers from around the state. This shouldn’t have been a big deal, but considering how many state education decisions have come without teacher consultation, this was huge. The Committee’s recommendations included a reduction in the number of tests and the amount of time spent on testing, as well as more accommodations for students on IEPs and a “safe harbor” for the impact of test scores on teachers and school districts. While the recommendations don’t pull the plug on standardized testing, they do offer significant improvements to the system. If adopted, the changes will have a positive impact on schools next year.

So, while we haven’t achieved the education system we know is best, we have made gains. We have raised awareness of the issues, we have engaged more people and we have forged alliances with parents, administrators and many others, knowing that we are far more effective advocating for change together than on our own. While I know the struggle for great schools and sensible education policies is a process that will take years, the progress we’ve made this year gives me hope that we will eventually achieve our goals.