Latest accomplishment: I founded a new ESP local in Tucson.
Our members, over 90 percent of whom are Hispanic, evaluated our agenda
and decided we had different needs than teacher colleagues in the
Sunnyside Education Association.
We took control of our destiny and formed our own local. But we still
work closely with our sister local by attending board meetings together
and brainstorming solutions to common problems. Now we can go at the
administration from two sides!
We figured that, with a collective voice and the support and leadership
training given by the Arizona Education Association, we would have
a good chance of empowering ourselves.
My best achievement: recruiting my vice president and grievance chair
Tony Silvain, who by himself has recruited over 100 members, and the
classified committee that negotiates for ESP. A year ago in the SEA
we had 89 ESP members. Now we’re at 200-plus.
