A New Tone

Organizing what’s at Stake


Apparently, the theme of the October rep council was unity and organizing. The message from the leadership was unity within the local. According to Webster’s dictionary, unity is the state of being one; oneness, a whole or totality as combining all its parts into one. I have to say that all the organizing activities have come from the organizing committee and dictated to us. These activities have been extremely narrow and modest. There is too much at stake and we are not doing enough. We need to do more! I did express my concerns with the president prior to this rep council meeting.

At the October rep council meeting was an organizing activity under committee reports. Rick Willis our CTA Executive Director conducted a “Rep Council Organizing Conversation” with the rep members. We broke up into small groups and addressed two questions about organizing strategies... However, the responses were not brought back to the body for discussion. Once again, leadership missed an opportunity to listen to rep council members input on organizing or anything else. I went to the president and expressed my frustration with the format of this information gathering activity.

.We need to reach out to activist parents who are our potential allies and advocates. Dr. Harter has the ear of our activist parents. I feel we are wasting precious time by not stepping up our out reach effort to the communities. Use resources to mobilize communities.

UTR needs to boost its image, change our tone, be visible and educate the community about classroom issues. Focus grassroots energies on activist organizing activities that promote personal commitment to achieve victory in bargaining. For example, Saturday morning several of us leafleted the District’s Parent Conference Training and within one hour we made contact with over 100 parents.

The last thing we can afford is concessions. We are headed down that road if we don't reach out to build a base of support in the communities. The communities don't realize what goes on in the classroom. It is our responsibility to strike up that conversation. They need to hear our story, issues and better understand what happens to their students. Through my lens the stakes haven’t been higher than they are right now in this economic crisis.

Diane Brown