Inside Scoop
Rural Education Gets Squeezed

Big problems are cropping up for small schools in the country.

Seven teachers, 34 kids. Sound too good to be true? It was. Those numbers describe what was the Butte Public School, in Butte, North Dakota, which closed last year, along with many other schools in rural areas of the country. West Virginia alone has closed a fifth of its schools in the last decade. They're all victims of a relentless school consolidation effort, leaving children with fond memories to think about on their new, much longer bus rides to bigger schools.

And consolidation is just one of the severe problems facing schools in rural areas.

How many students are there in rural areas and small towns?
About 11.4 million children go to school in communities defined by the Census Bureau as rural or small towns.

That's about a quarter of the 46.4 million school children in America. They are divided roughly equally between what the Census Bureau calls rural communities (under 2,500) and small towns (2,500 to 25,000).

What are the benefits of small, rural schools?
"There's a strong sense of community," says Pam Brown, a technology teacher who chairs the NEA's Rural Caucus. "Often, the community is staying alive because of the school. And there's more individual attention for children."

Marty Strange of the Rural School and Community Trust, a group that's fighting consolidation, recalls one little girl at a school that was closing. She said, "I'll miss being the only Emily."

What are the advantages of bigger, consolidated schools?
Bigger schools can offer a greater variety of programs, both academic and extra-curricular.

It's easier to organize classes so teachers only teach in their specialties.

Faculty and students are both likely to be more diverse.

"My son was in a class of seven last year," says Brown. "There were two other boys. He didn't have much choice about who his peer group would be."

Bigger schools also offer students a chance to work with more teachers. "Maybe one English teacher is really good at journalism, but the other one is stronger in literature, which is what you discover you like," says Brown.

And let's not forget something of crucial importance to political decision makers: Consolidated schools are often cheaper to run, largely because the classes are bigger.

How about the bus rides?
Transportation is an enormous problem in many districts with consolidated schools. Some students, even small children, spend more than 90 minutes traveling each way.

"My own kids," says Brown, "get on the bus in the dark before 7 a.m., and when they have sports practice they come home in the dark at 7 p.m."

Can we have the benefits of small schools without the drawbacks?
Not easily, because the benefits and drawbacks both flow from smallness.

But sometimes technology can help. For example, South Dakota Education Association President Elaine Roberts points to Mary Cundy of Miller, South Dakota, an experienced calculus teacher, who is leading a class in another school by video, along with her own students.

The regular math teacher for the other class takes part as well. Next year, he'll have the experience to teach this subject on his own, without having had to jump in and sink or swim.

I like peace and quiet. Can I find a teaching job in rural America?
There are plenty of jobs for teachers in rural areas. The teacher shortage is even worse there than elsewhere.

But don't expect to get rich. Rural areas generally pay less.

In the NEA's annual state-by-state salary surveys, Mississippi, North Dakota, and South Dakota seem to compete for last place. All three pay less than three-quarters of the national average.

As a result, some North Dakota schools couldn't fill teaching positions. "Their kids are trying to learn core subjects over interactive television with a screen in front of the room instead of a teacher," Brown reports.

What can be done?
Brown says high-speed connectivity can help provide access to the outside world. Mentoring programs can help rural schools hold on to their young teachers. And free tuition for advanced degree studies can encourage experienced teachers to stay.

Brown argues that states need to take a hard look at their priorities. "In North Dakota," she notes, "we have really beautiful rest areas on our highways. But we're 50th in teacher salaries."

But she adds, "These states can't do it alone. There has to be funding at a national level."

Many rural areas simply don't have the resources. Outside America's metropolitan areas, one in seven people lives below the poverty line. That's not quite as high as in central cities (one in six), but it's much higher than in the rest of metropolitan America (one in 12).

The NEA is pushing to double the federal funds going to small rural schools, especially those in low income areas.

"I'm a product of a rural school," says Amy Simmons, an NEA student leader at Minot State University in North Dakota who grew up in Glenburn, population 450.

"I got plenty of attention from my teachers, and I had opportunities to get involved in 15 things at once--basketball, volleyball, choir, band, class officer, homecoming queen, everything.

"When I have children," she says, "this is what I want for them."

--Alain Jehlen

For more: Visit the Rural School and Community Trust at www.ruraledu.org, the Appalachia Educational Laboratory at www.ael.org/rel/rural/index.htm, and Organizations Concerned with Rural Education (OCRE) at www.ruralschools.org/. And go to www.nea.org and search for "rural."

News: Rights Watch
Standing Up to Anti-Semitism

The Justice Department backs a Michigan teacher in a landmark religious harassment case.

In an unusual move, the U.S. Department of Justice has intervened on behalf of former high school teacher and NEA member Louis Owen in a religious harassment case filed against the L'Anse Area Schools in L'Anse, Michigan. Owen's lawsuit, filed in March 2000, alleges that the district violated his rights under federal law by failing to take any action to stop a campaign of threats and anti-Semitic harassment perpetrated by students.

Owen, who is Jewish, taught history at the L'Anse High School for more than 30 years.

According to the lawsuit, the harassment began during the 1996-97 school year when, on several occasions, students drew swastikas on his classroom walls. The harassment escalated over the next two years into overt threats.

In one incident, Owen discovered that a student had written this hate-filled message on a desk in his classroom:

"WHITE POWER"

"KILL OWEN"

"KKK"

"SKINHEAD"

"DIE JEWS"

Later, Owen found a hangman's noose on the doorknob in his classroom and the following inscription on a locker near his room: "Some people are alive because it [is] illegal to kill them."

According to his lawsuit, Owen complained to his principal and superintendent about each of these incidents, but they ignored his requests for help. In fact, the principal rhetorically asked Owen whether the noose incident was just a "prank."

Frustrated, Owen filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in April 1999, and then sued the school district in federal court.

His lawsuit alleges that the district failed to respond appropriately to his complaints of religious harassment in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Title VII is the federal law prohibiting employment discrimination on the basis of religion, as well as sex, race, color, and national origin.

"This is an important case," said Owen's attorney, Patricia Stamler. "School districts need to get the message that religious harassment--like any other form of harassment--is illegal. And if they don't respond to it in a prompt and appropriate manner, they're going to get sued."

The U.S. Department of Justice agrees.

In September 2000, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Bill Lann Lee certified Owen's lawsuit as a matter of "public importance" and filed papers in federal court to intervene on his behalf.

According to the court papers, the Justice Department wants to ensure that school districts nationwide reasonably respond to this form of harassment.

What's a reasonable response?

Schools should investigate all credible reports of harassment and take immediate and appropriate corrective action, said Stamler.

In his lawsuit, Owen is seeking damages, as well as an injunction requiring the district to enact effective anti-harassment policies in the future.

Sadly, he won't benefit from these policies.

Owen no longer works for the district. After taking extended medical leave due to the harassment, he retired from teaching shortly after the lawsuit was filed.

A jury trial is scheduled in Owen v. L'Anse Area Schools for August 20, 2001.

--Cynthia M. Chmielewski
NEA Office of General Counsel

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Fallout from the Boy Scout Decision

Last fall, NEA Today reported on the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Boy Scouts of America v. Dale. In a 5-4 ruling, the Court upheld the right of the Boy Scouts to deny membership to gay youth and leaders. But backlash against the Boy Scouts indicates that the group may pay a high price for this legal victory.

Already companies such as Chase Manhattan Bank, Levi Strauss, and Textron Inc. have cut financial support for the Boy Scouts. The city of Los Angeles has severed its ties to the group. And Reform Judaism and the Methodist and Episcopal Churches have called for an end to the anti-gay ban.

Additionally, at least 14 school districts nationwide, with approximately 2,613 schools, have terminated their sponsorship of Boy Scout troops, including the nation's largest public school district, the New York City Public School System.

In December, New York City School Chancellor Harold Levy barred all schools within the district from sponsoring Boy Scout troops or recruiting members during school hours.

"The board has a policy against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, and my job is to enforce the board's policy," Levy explained.

Under his decision, however, the Boy Scouts will be permitted to continue using school space after hours.

That's not the case in Broward County, Florida. Last November, the school board unanimously voted to bar the Boy Scouts from using school property because the group's ban on gays violates a nondiscrimination provision in the agreement to use school facilities.

This decision has raised the ire of the Boy Scouts, which recently filed a lawsuit to stop the district. The group claims the board has infringed its rights of free expression and equal access to public facilities.

NEA is monitoring this litigation. Check this space for updates.

--C.M.C.

New From the Professional Library
Books by NEA Members
TV Tips | Web Winners

Departments: Resources
Tests for America

Education Week offers a readable, comprehensive look at standards and high-stakes testing.



A Better Balance: Standards, Tests, and The Tools to Succeed--The Quality Counts 2001 Report From Education Week
By Lynn Olson, Project Editor
Editorial Projects in Education, $10

In planning their comprehensive study of standards and testing, the editors of Education Week had a truly radical idea. Rather than talking only with business leaders, politicians, and academic ex-perts to find out what's happening in American classrooms, they decided to ask teachers.

The 2001 edition of Education Week's annual Quality Counts report includes a national survey of 1,000 public school teachers.

The poll showed that teachers support standards, but not high-stakes tests.

• 87 percent of the teachers said standards are a "move in the right direction."

• 74 percent said the level of standards in their states is "about right."

• 67 percent said their teaching has become too focused on state tests.

• 66 percent said they are concentrating too much on information that's on the tests, to the detriment of other important areas of learning.

• 37 percent support high school exit tests.

• 11 percent support tests for promotion from one grade to the next.

Besides giving the poll data, the writers present teachers' vivid portrayals of what's really happening in classrooms.

The extensive reporting of teachers' views is just one example of the common sense and thoroughness that characterize this work.

Here's another:

The report provides snapshots of each state's standards and testing situation, and each snapshot includes the latest information on student achievement in that state from the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

NAEP is the only program that gives the same set of tests to representative samples of students across the country.

When the state says most of your students are failing, you can use the NAEP scores to make a reasonable judgment as to whether the students are really doing poorly or whether your state has set the bar much higher than other states have.

The report also looks carefully at claims about the supposed public support for flunking students and withholding diplomas based on tests. Public opinion, it turns out, changes according to how questions are phrased.

For example, the Business Roundtable found that more than 60 percent of the public say students should have to pass state tests to graduate from high school, even if they have passing grades in their classes.

But Public Agenda found that nearly 80 percent believe schools should use teacher evaluations along with test scores to make such decisions.

This Quality Counts report paints a broad picture of standards and testing across the country, and also fills in the details state-by-state.

It's an indispensable reference work for anyone who wants to act to protect children from unfair state tests.

To read the full report online or to order a printed copy, go to www.edweek.com/sreports/qc01/.

--Alain Jehlen

Excerpt:
In California, teachers pay less attention to the state standards and curriculum frameworks than to the content of the Standard Achievement Test-9th Edition, according to Latimer, the third grade teacher.

"As far as [standards] driving the curriculum, I don't hear that conversation.... There's the SAT-9 out there."

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New from the NEA Professional Library

Teacher Evaluation and Student Achievement
NEA Student Assessment Series
James H. Stronge and Pamela D. Tucker
72 pp., $5.95 member $7.95 nonmember #2073-1-00-FN

Using student achievement measures in teacher evaluation is an extremely controversial practice, but one that is growing in popularity. James Stronge and Pamela Tucker have written a scholarly and well-researched examination of four approaches to the use of student achievement in teacher evaluation and have identified the strengths and weaknesses of each. Stronge and Tucker conclude that teacher evaluation should be informed by student progress, but they point out the pitfalls in relying solely on student test scores.

To order, call 1-800/299-4200, or check the Web at www.nea.org/books.

Excerpt:
When linking student learning with teacher effectiveness, it is important to remember that student assessments . . . have the potential for benefit or misuse. We propose the following [eight] practices to reduce possible bias and increase fairness when using student assessment data to evaluate educational personnel:

• Use student learning as only one component of a teacher evaluation system that is based on multiple data sources.

• Use student growth as a measure versus a fixed achievement standard or goal.

• Select student assessment measures that are most closely aligned with existing curriculum.

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Books by NEA Members

Why Can't We Talk?
What Teens Would Share If Parents Would Listen--A Book for Teens
By Michelle L. Trujill
Nevada middle school teacher "Mrs. T" compiled this collection of teen experiences to help adolescents and parents communicate. Each section on common problems features a wide variety of teen viewpoints that can be used as conversation starters. 372 pp., $12.95 from Health Communications, 800/441-5569. On the Web at www.whycantwetalk.com.

The Good Teacher's Almanac
How to Become the Teacher You Always Wished You Had
By Tom Smock
Physics teacher Smock has written a practical and inspirational book to guide new teachers and motivate experienced ones. There are sections on finding a mentor, lesson planning, managing paperwork, preserving your sanity, and finding your identity as an educator. 230 pp., $17.95 plus $4 s&h from Van Arsdale House Publishing. Fax orders to 973/691-8477 or E-mail VAHPub@aol.com.

Vietnam Insights
Logic of Involvement and Unconventional Perspectives
By James M. Griffiths
More than 20 years of teaching high school history has culminated in this book by Vietnam vet Griffiths. Vietnam Insights seeks to explain the background of U.S. involvement in Vietnam in an easy-to-understand fashion, while presenting different angles on several common public assumptions about the war. 234 pp., $12.95 plus $2.50 s&h from Vantage Press, Inc., 516 West 34th St., New York, NY 10001, 800/882-3273.

The Ultimate Playground & Recess Game Book
By Guy Bailey
The new third edition of Bailey's The Ultimate Sport Lead-Up Game Book will be available this spring, but this resource book is available now. Phys ed teacher Bailey has put together more than 170 different games and activities for the playground, including sports, traditional games, games for large or small groups, and rainy-day activities. 155 pp., $16.95 from Educators Press, 5333 N.W. Jackson St., Camas, WA 98607, 360/834-3049.

Ask Mr. Teacher
Unbiased, Uncensored, and Untrue Answers to Teachers' Most Urgent Questions About Education
By John Patrick Dodds
Dodds began his "Ask Mr. Teacher" Web site in 1998. His parodied advice column pokes fun at all aspects of the teacher's experience. 66 pp., photocopied, $8.87 plus $1.13 s&h, from John Patrick Dodds, 5485 N. 7th St., Fresno, CA 93710, E-mail jpdodds@hotmail.com.

Hidden Skeletons and Other Funny Stories
By Earlene G. Evans and Muriel M. Branch
Evans and Branch, retired middle school librarians, compiled this collection of anecdotes and comic shorts from the real-life world of education. 79 pp., [NOTE: The price given in the accompanying cover letter is $10 plus $1 s&h, but the price listed on the cover is $15] from Brunswick Publishing Corporation, or order directly from Earlene Evans, P.O. Box 15121, Richmond, VA 23227, E-mail Neenie59@aol.com.

How to Write Powerful Letters of Recommendation
By Susan Whalley
This collection of 50 sample letters by guidance counselor Whalley provides advice on letters for students who've had difficulties as well as academic achievers and student leaders. Includes a list of descriptive words and phrases to stimulate your thoughts. 69 pp., spiralbound, $18.95 plus $3.95 s&h, from Counselor's Toolbox, P.O. Box 653, Carlisle, MA 01741 or www.recommendationletters.com.

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TV Tips

Ancestors in the Americas
PBS
March 23 and 30, 9:00-10:00 p.m. ET, check local listings.

This two-part series examines the history of early Asian immigrants to the Americas. Combining dramatic re-enactments and composite voices with typical historical resources such as primary sources and scholar interviews, the program explores the experience of Asian immigrants and Americans from the 1700s to the 1900s. On March 23, "Coolies, Sailors, Settlers: Voyages to the New World" looks at why and how people from Asia came to North and South America and connects developments in Europe and the Americas to Asian immigration. Airing March 30, "Chinese in the Frontier West: An American Story" chronicles the arrival and experience of Chinese immigrants in California, from the 1850s Gold Rush through the Exclusion Acts of 1882 and anti-Chinese riots in the latter part of the century.

A companion Web site offering teaching guides, related historical documents, a timeline, additional resources and a bibliography, along with resources for researching family history, can be found at www.cetel.org.

After the Storm
USA Network
March 30, 9:00-11:00 p.m. ET, check local listings.

Adapted from Ernest Hemingway's short story set in the 1930s Caribbean, After the Storm follows the fate of two men whose greed gets the better of them as they set out to recover treasures from a sunken luxury yacht.

Voyage of the Unicorn
Odyssey Channel
March 2 and 3, 9:00-11:00 p.m. ET, check local listings.

Based on the book Voyage of the Basset, this two-part presentation follows an antiquities professor who ventures into a mythical world created by his illustrator wife before her death. The professor sorely misses his wife and the spark she brought to their lives, and his young daughters struggle in different ways with the loss of their mother. When the family stumbles into the land of Faerie Isles, their journey becomes one of self-discovery and healing.

70s: Bell Bottoms To Boogie Shoes
The Learning Channel
March 4, 9:00-11:00 p.m. ET, check local listings.

A lighthearted look at the decade that spawned platform shoes, pet rocks, and lava lamps, this two-hour special explores the social history of the 1970s. Interviews with the creators of television shows such as All in the Family and Saturday Night Live, along with musicians and comedians, provide insight into a time marked both by psychedelic pop culture and social and political turbulence.

Destination Future: High-Tech Transportation
The Learning Channel
March 12, 9:00-10:00 p.m. ET, check local listings.

Using virtual-reality tools to show what the future may hold for methods of transportation, futurists, scientists, sociologists, and designers consider how we might get around two years, two decades, and two centuries from now.

Boys Will Be Boys
Fox Family Channel
March 13, 4:00-5:00 a.m. ET, check local listings.

Boys Will Be Boys presents the story of a 15-year-old girl who is victimized by sexual harassment at her school. Though her family supports her, it is only when a lawsuit is filed that school officials become convinced there is a serious problem. The program is presented especially for educators, with one-year taping rights and online support materials for middle school educators, including a study guide and a bulletin board discussion available at www.KIDSNET.org or www.foxfamilychannel.com/cableclass.

The Neanderthal's World
Discovery Channel
March 18, 8:00-10:00 p.m. ET, check local listings.

Well suited to their cold and rough environment, Neanderthals produced more than 60 types of stone tools but were unable to adapt once the ice sheets melted and they were cut off from their hunting grounds. Living in small groups that were increasingly isolated from each other, the Neanderthals slowly died out. This program uses dramatizations with prosthetics and cutting-edge animation to chronicle the rise of the Neanderthals and show what likely happened some 35,000 years ago when their world intersected with that of the Cro-Magnon.

CNN Newsroom: Eye of the Storm
CNN
March 22, 4:30-5:00 a.m. ET, check local listings.

This special CNN Newsroom presentation explores the weather, beginning with a basic explanation of common types and causes of weather and continuing with a look at the science of snowstorms and blizzards and the destructive power of hurricanes and tornadoes. Online simulations from Riverdeep Interactive Learning and discussions with meteorologists and other experts will be featured in an interactive Web cast on CNNfyi.com.

American Writers: A Journey Through History
C-SPAN
Mondays, March 18 through December 2001, 9:00-10:00 a.m. ET, check local listings.

C-SPAN looks at the lives and works of American authors who have considered, chronicled, or influenced the course of U.S. history. Broadcasting live from a historic site each week, the series traces American history through 8 eras and 45 writers. From William Bradford and Sojourner Truth to Black Elk and Upton Sinclair to Ernie Pyle and Betty Friedan, the program explores the eras of the writers, along with their backgrounds and impacts on society and history.

Programming schedules, detailed information on each author, and lesson plans can be found at www.americanwriters.org or www.c-span.org/classroom. Each program repeats on Fridays at 8:00 p.m. and is commercial-free and copyright cleared for educators.

Trade Secrets: A Moyers Report
PBS
March 26, 9:00-11:00 p.m. ET, check local listings.

Bill Moyers investigates the assumption of most Americans that corporations shoulder the burden of proving chemicals are safe and that the government protects them from harmful ones. In the past 50 years, more than 75,000 chemicals have been released into the environment. Based on industry documents, this report looks at how the failure to fully inform Americans of the dangers created by some of these chemicals has placed public health and safety at risk.

Superhuman Body: The Future of Medicine
The Learning Channel
March 27-28, 9:00-11:00 p.m. ET, check local listings.

Four areas of current medicine and healing are explored in this series, including new approaches to treating trauma, improvements in transplant surgery, the harnessing of the human body's natural ability to heal itself, and the use of bacteria and viruses to jump-start the immune system and fight disease. The programs use microscopic, time-lapse, and slow-motion photography along with medical imaging, animation, and documentary footage to provide a glimpse into the future of medicine.

The Sign of Four
Odyssey Channel
March 23, 9:00-11:00 p.m. ET, check local listings.

An Englishwoman calls upon Sherlock Holmes to investigate an anonymous gift of pearls that she has received along with a letter promising to right wrongs done to her, in this original presentation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's classic mystery.

Fight for Your Rights: Take A Stand Against Discrimination
MTV
Public service campaign

This 2001 yearlong campaign is focused on empowering young people to fight discrimination in their communities and within themselves. The campaign addresses discrimination due to religion, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and physical or mental ability. Throughout the year, programming events and specials along with news segments and public service announcements will be aired. A free Youth Action Guide, which identifies key ways for people to fight discrimination, will be available through the MTV Web site, and online components and local grassroots organizing will expand the campaign. For more information, visit www.FightforYourRights.MTV.com.

KIDSNET, a national resource for children's media in Washington, D. C., provides these listings. For more information, go to www.kidsnet.org.

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Web Winners

American Sounds
It evolved in New Orleans, moved to big cities in the East and Midwest, and endeared itself to people everywhere. Jazz, a film by Ken Burns, complements the 10-part series on PBS. The Web site has a history and audio clips of jazz, biographies of jazz musicians, links to the best jazz on the Web, and Shop Jazz for your jazz collection.

Looking Upward
Gape at photos and diagrams of the tallest buildings in the world on SkyScraper Page. Included are aerials of the Haghia Sophia, the largest church in the world when completed in 532 A.D. in Constantinople (now Istanbul) and views of the greater Bratislava metropolitan area in the Slovak Republic. Share your enthusiasm for tall buildings on the amateur's page.

Free to Teachers
The WorldCom Foundation teamed up with six great learning institutions and created MarcoPolo to provide free online resources and training workshops for K-12 teachers. You can download teacher training kits on Internet content for the classroom for elementary grades and above. In geography, you will find nearly 600 maps; in science, you can choose the grade level and content of subjects ranging from the nature of science to habits of mind.

Yahoo for Kids
Yahooligans!, the Web Guide for Kids, has resources for fans of Harry Potter, chat rooms for kids, and links to many things kids love.

Pandas
Project Panda celebrates the return of giant panda bears to the National Zoo in Washington, DC. A companion of Animal Planet shown on TV, the site also features lizards of the world and the animal of the week.

Free to Teachers
Kidsrights publishes helpful materials for children, adolescents, their families, and the professionals who work with children and families in crisis. Its new Web site has valuable resources for helping the healing process.

Best School Site?
You can nominate your school's Web site for the "School of the Week" award, get answers to frequently asked questions or ideas for student projects on HomeworkSpot. You can also take an online tour of the White House, get the national and international news, and see the winners of children's book awards.

For Young Readers
The National Children's Literacy Project publishes Kid's Courier, a free newspaper for students in grades 2-5. Its Web site has interactive games, study aids, cartoons, stories, and other fun stuff.

Introduction to Ballet
Enter the American Ballet Theater Web site to see performance dates, a ballet dictionary, and more.

Search Engines.com
Photos of the "Birthplace of Silicon Valley" in Palo Alto, Calif., and more than 800 specialized Web search engines are on CNET Search.com.

Being Eloquent
A.Word.A.Day teaches its free subscribers the definition and pronunciation of English words one word a day.

Our President
You can check the presidential election 2000 results and keep up with current politics on CNN online.

U. S. Presidents and First Ladies
The Library of Congress has a gallery of portraits of presidents and first ladies on the Web.

Reading
Reading for the Record

Imagine a community so focused on reading that it might just break a Guinness World Record.

NEA members Kim Ezekiel (left) and Donna Brogden with potential record holders.





More than 5,000 of Tifton, Georgia's 37,000 residents gathered at the town stadium last November, but not for a football game or other sporting event. Students, teachers, business owners, and community leaders met to celebrate a remarkable accomplishment. Proclaiming itself the "Reading Capital of the World," the small town organized the largest silent group read and group read-aloud, a feat they hope will land them in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Over three years, the community earned more than one million points through the Accelerated Reader Program, a computerized learning system that tests people on the books they read, then assigns points based on the difficulty of each book. That's the most points ever accumulated in one town.

"We started having Accelerated Reader nights, where parents would come to school with their children, read books, and then take the tests associated with their books," says Donna Brogden, a second grade teacher at Len Lastinger Primary School. The public library even installed the software on its computers.

And it didn't take long to generate reading excitement throughout the community once school and civic leaders, along with the Tift County Foundation for Educational Excellence, set a million-point goal.

Business owners gave employees extra pay for books read, and schools began attracting grandparents, parents, and others who wanted to "earn points" for the town. Many businesses even closed the day of the celebration so employees could attend.

Despite the festivities, NEA member Kim Ezekiel, principal at Len Lastinger, admits that keeping kids focused on reading hasn't always been easy.

"Reading has always been a priority, but we haven't always been successful," she says. "Our school serves a large population of minority and high-poverty children. Some don't always get reading encouragement from home."

That's why, as part of the Tift County Schools initiative, Ezekiel and her staff also implemented two other reading programs at the 620-student school: Reading Recovery for children who need extra help and Literacy Collaborative to give staff long-term, site-based professional development opportunities.

Ezekiel and Brogden agree that they've finally found a winning combination of reading strategies for their school.

"The majority of children are now reading because they want to read, not because they have to," says Brogden.

Still waiting for confirmation of their achievement from Guinness, Brodgen says the children have already learned a very powerful lesson from the community about the joy of reading.

"The November celebration is something we'll talk about for a long time to come," she says, "but the real joy lies in knowing that the long-term emphasis on reading is working."

--Dina S. Gómez

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How To ...
Use Poetry in the Classroom

"Poetry has a place in the curriculum, from pre-K to college prep," says poet Nikki Grimes, whose award-winning children's books include A Dime a Dozen (Dial). April is National Poetry Month and a perfect time to pocket these valuable tips:

• Choose poetry that you enjoy and are passionate about. Good or bad, your attitude in the classroom is infectious.

• Set out to have fun. Remember, if you present poetry as though it were castor oil, you can be sure no one will like it.

• Focus initially on experiencing poetry rather than dissecting it. Read your favorites, and share poems you've created. If you risk reading your own works, it will encourage your students to risk reading their own.

• Give up the notion of "good or bad," "right or wrong" poetry. If you want students to attempt to write poetry, encourage them when they do. Rather than saying, "that's wrong," say, "that's a good start. Here's what you can do to make it better."

• Poetry reading can be a tremendous bonding experience. Set aside time regularly to allow students to read their work aloud in class. Videotape if possible, and make a big deal about it so they'll realize how important their work is and how much you value and respect their self-expression. You'll be amazed what you learn about your students and what they'll learn about each other.

For more: E-mail NikkiGrimes@yahoo.com, read Pass the Poetry, Please by Lee Bennett Hopkins (Harper), or visit www.poets.org.

Learning:
Calculators in the Classroom

Teachers figure they're valuable for relating complex problems, not 7 3 8.

Math teacher Douglas Tucker says calculators let his middle school students tackle tougher math problems from the real world.

On Valentine's Day, Bonnie Hagelberger's first graders at the Monroe Elementary School in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, give a valentine to each other and to the teacher. So how many valentines are there in the whole class?

Hagelberger's six- and seven-year-olds can tackle that problem, although they can't yet solve it with paper and pencil. They also estimate the number of children in the school. They even begin thinking about negative numbers.

Hagelberger helps these children stretch their mathematical thinking with the aid of a powerful tool--the hand calculator.

Although still controversial, calculators are now common in American schools, according to Lee Stiff, president of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, which has strongly promoted them. Calculators are relatively scarce in first grade, but by fourth and fifth grade, they are widely used.

At the Martin Luther King, Jr. Efficacy Academy in Denver, Colorado, Douglas Tucker has used calculators with eighth graders for a unit on the ratios and proportions of the human body. They found some of the Statue of Liberty's dimensions on the Web and used them to calculate some that weren't listed. They've also done a secret-person investigation in which they try to guess the identity of someone in the school by calculating dimensions, like height, from other body measurements. These problems help students understand that ratios exist in the real world, not just in math books, Tucker explains.

"I use calculators to enhance, investigate, do more. They don't replace other ways of doing math. They reinforce them," says Tucker.

Tucker got his own introduction to calculators after a difficult first year of teaching. "I had classroom management issues--typical first-year teacher stuff," he recalls. "I was uncomfortable going page by page in the book. The students didn't like it, and I didn't like it, but I didn't know another way because that's how I learned." His principal suggested a summer in-service program, and there he learned how to make his math classes more interesting with calculators.

Despite their popularity with many math teachers and students, calculators are still controversial. NCTM leader Stiff says most of the opposition centers on the early grades. Some teachers and parents are afraid students will turn to calculators instead of learning basic number facts.

NCTM, Stiff explains, does want children to learn their number facts. "Today's students should be able to do what their parents did, but they should also do more, taking advantage of tools their parents didn't have," he says.

Tucker says he teaches children how to decide when it's appropriate to use a calculator and when it isn't. "I say to them, 'Would you use your bicycle to get from the bedroom to the bathroom? Or would you use it to visit somebody on another street? It's the same with calculators.'"

Hagelberger says more than 100 studies have confirmed that calculators don't keep children from learning number facts. But she says teachers need good professional development if they are to use calculators well.

"We have to ask, 'Will the calculator help my kids understand the material?'" says Hagelberger. "This is a tool we never used in school ourselves, either in K-12 or in college. So how can we learn to use it effectively, and not have it become the crutch the general public is fearful of?" A one- or two-hour class--even a full day of training--isn't enough, she says.

"Teachers need to see calculators demonstrated, use them in class, and reflect on their practice, both individually and with colleagues," says Hagelberger. "This takes time."

--Alain Jehlen

For more: E-mail Hagelberger at hagelberger@anoka.k12.mn.us, Tucker at doug_tucker@dpsk12.org, or Pamela Matthews of NEA's Teaching and Learning unit at pmatthews@nea.org. Visit the NCTM Web site at www.nctm.org.

Dilemma
What do you do when students' late work hours affect their studies?

I taught in inner-city high schools where many of my students went directly from school to work. They did not get off work until 10 p.m. or later. Since classes started at 7:15 a.m., they had no time for homework or outside assignments and were often so tired that keeping them awake was a real problem. Often both their grades and their health suffered.

First, I talked with the students about cutting down their hours, but most felt they had to work to help support themselves and others in the family. They were afraid they would be fired if they asked to work fewer hours.

Next I talked to their parents. Most realized their child's grades were suffering, but there was no other choice. I felt that students were being victimized by employers who couldn't find anyone else to work such late hours for such low pay, so I started writing letters to legislators. A bill was finally passed in the state legislature to limit the hours of working students. (It contained a provision, however, that parents could request these limits be waived, and no one ever verified the parents' signature.)

When nothing else worked, I called or went to the students' place of employment and explained the situation to the manager. In most cases, that worked. I worried that students would resent my interfering, but they knew I cared about them, and many expressed their appreciation. I even had students and parents asking me to speak to employers about reducing work hours.

Jo Walters
Retired
Chattanooga, Tennessee

I allow students to re-do work they have turned in to me on time. They know that they can turn in something and make it better later if time and too many other commitments kept excellence from their grasp on the given day it was due. This helps students stay positive even when they are overwhelmed with work.

I set a firm rule of accepting no late work even if the student is absent unless they or a parent call me personally to inform me that they are extremely ill. I have an answering machine on my school phone and give all students my home number, which is also tended by a machine. Both machines have a time/date stamp.

I emphasize to students and parents how this is preparation for the workplace and a lifelong skill. The self-management needed to get work in on time is the most important learning many students can do.

Leslie Van Leishout
Theater arts teacher
Olympia, Washington

I give students their weekly homework assignments on Monday, and they have until Thursday to complete them. They know ahead of time what they need to do and when it needs to be done by. This helps my college-bound students budget their time and learn better time-management skills. Students who have to work an extra shift just let me know ahead of time to get an extension. When a reading assignment is due the next day, I encourage students to take their books to work and read during their break. I have found that if I am flexible and understanding, my students tend to live up to my expectations of them.

Laura Ann Curran
Junior and senior English teacher
Belleville, New Jersey

When I see that students' late work hours are affecting their studies, I call their parents to voice my concern. Most parents in our area are very cooperative and appreciate my calling. They talk with their children and frequently have them cut back on the number of hours they are working or make them quit working until vacation time.

Marjorie Rios
Spanish teacher
Livingston, Tennessee

Got an Answer?

How do you handle chronic tardiness?

E-mail your answer to dilemma2@neatoday.nea.org. You can also fax to 202/822-7206 or use regular mail. Please include your name, city, state, job title, and grade level, if applicable.

Published respondents will receive a new NEA Today mug!

How I Did It

Lawrence Volpe
Seven Trees School fifth grade teacher
San Jose, California

I found a way to take my inner-city kids on wonderful excursions, with lots of help from the Sierra Club.

In my first year of teaching, I wanted to get my inner-city kids into the outdoors.

I organized, planned, shopped, and rented camping gear and a van, so that I could take 13 students to a national forest for a camping wilderness experience.

I did all the work myself, and it was tough!

It was well worth it, though. I had parents of three students on the trip--and they still go on my trips, three years later.

But it was too much work.

Searching for an alternative, I found Inner City Outings, a part of the Sierra Club that provides outdoor experiences for kids who would not otherwise have them.

The program's philosophyis that the wilderness exists as a resource for everyone, and all people should have access to it. Students develop their interpersonal skills and self-esteem through teamwork and an active relationship with the outdoors.

Inner City Outings supplies all the necessary gear for outdoor adventures. They provide well-trained leaders with experience and a love for the outdoors--at least two come on each trip in case something goes wrong.

If you're not a trained leader, you can go as a volunteer.

The Sierra Club also provides liability insurance.

Although the Sierra Club pays most of the expenses, I ask students to contribute $5 to $20, "or whatever you can afford."

In the year I have been involved with Inner City Outings, I've taken my kids on about a dozen trips.

We've been camping, backpacking in the Sierras, sea kayaking, whale watching, and sleigh riding, and we went on an excursion to San Francisco Bay for International Migratory Bird Day. There are almost 50 ICO local groups across the United States and Canada, conducting as many as 700 outings a year.

For more about Inner City Outings, contact ICO National coordinator Debra Asher, 415/977-5568, E-mail debra.asher@sierraclub.org.

Or contact Lawrence Volpe, lvolpe@fmsd.k12.ca.us, or visit http://www.sierraclub.org/ico/.

Can't We All Just Get Along?

Hoosier teachers and administrators build mutual trust and boost student achievement.

Marion Teachers Association President Judy Creviston and Superintendent Gene Denisar meet regularyly to solve district problems.

The small city of Marion, Indiana, home to several large factories, witnessed some long, bitter strikes in the '70s and '80s, complete with mass arrests of picketers and union leaders. Not in front of its plants, but in front of its public schools.

Warlike labor relations prevailed in the Marion district until the mid-'90s, reports UniServ Director Sharon Casey.

"When I arrived here in 1990," she recalls, "120 grievances had been filed, 30 of which went to arbitration. The head of the American Arbitration Association regional office couldn't believe our local Association. We had the thickest file in his office, with 350 cases!"

Well, times change, and so have relations in Marion. In 1995, the district hired a progressive new superintendent, Charles Coleman, and worked with the Marion Teachers Association to forge a collaborative partnership grounded in interest-based bargaining. That's a process through which the parties identify common concerns, build mutual trust, and use open communications to resolve problems and reach agreements.

This partnership, which remains strong under the leadership of current Superintendent Gene Denisar, has turned this 6,100-student district around in the face of big-city challenges, including the loss of industry, declining tax rates, and a growing number of low income students.

Today, student test scores are rising, suspensions are down, and the graduation rate has increased, and that's just for starters.

Over the past six years, leaders of the 450-member MTA and district administrators have used the interest-based process to tackle every issue that can pop up in a school system.

This relationship starts with a labor-management Communications Committee that irons out problems before they become grievances and extends to a series of joint panels that carefully research individual issues and devise solutions acceptable to all school stakeholders.

One joint committee, composed of teachers, parents, and administrators, has implemented a new, earlier elementary schedule more suited to young risers: 8:00 a.m. to 2:35 p.m. "It's research-based," notes MTA President Judy Creviston. "We haven't seen the results yet--the latest student test results aren't in--but the kids like this schedule better."

Another panel has studied grade-level alignment among elementary, middle, and high schools and discovered the need for a smoother transition between each new level, notes Creviston, a remedial math and language arts teacher at McCulloch Middle School.

Yet another joint committee, involving top administrators and MTA leaders, is planning the district's response to a new Indiana law requiring every school building to draw up an improvement plan with a professional development component.

"We don't want to set buildings up to compete with one another," says Creviston. "We want to allow each school to write a plan that serves its children and area population."

Making this planning process far easier will be an innovative new teacher "review" or evaluation procedure drawn up by, yes, a joint committee after two years of laborious research. The new system, piloted among veteran educators last year and new teachers this year, replaces the old principal-with-a-checklist evaluation with an open-ended process based on peer support.

In a nutshell, this process permits each teacher--with the exception of those vets who prefer the old checklist--to select a support team for the year consisting of two or three colleagues and the building principal. The teacher meets with this team a couple of times a year and is free to request support tailored to his or her needs, from mentoring to classroom observation.

The review process, when fully developed, will involve stiffer training requirements and larger support teams for new teachers and vets who need extra help. But the basic philosophy of the system will be "people helping people," stresses Creviston.

"It's a professional development approach that puts each teacher in control of his or her destiny, based on the idea that good teachers can do an even better job and grow with support."

That kind of backing, coupled with the relaxed atmosphere that grows out of the interest-based process, can only benefit students in the end.

"Whatever we and administrators do, we do together," Creviston concludes. "And in whatever we do together, we keep student achievement foremost on the agenda."

--Dave Winans

For more information, contact Judy Creviston or Sharon Casey at 765/664-1244 or by E-mail at marionta@comteck.com.

What do you do with colleagues who constantly put down good ideas?

In my earlier days, I probably would have dismissed them as "old fossils" or spent energy trying to debate the issue. Now, after 23 years in the profession and finding I could be called the "old fossil," I view these negative opinions quite differently. I have begun to realize the value of listening to criticisms as a troubleshooting opportunity.

We are eager to do what's best for children and may overlook negative points that should be addressed. I try to look at an idea thinking about both the worst- and best-case scenarios.

In addition, if that "negative" colleague begins to see that his or her ideas are given consideration, he or she may become more open.

If the colleague is voicing negative opinions honestly, then at least you will always be sure of where that person stands in any policy discussion. You won't be surprised by an unexpected challenge.

Kathleen Keefe
Fourth grade teacher
Casper, Wyoming

When I have colleagues who put down ideas that I think are good, I try to avoid bringing up new ideas around them. I seek out people who will help me brainstorm new ideas.

June Hunter
First grade teacher
Washington, Iowa

First, I play devil's advocate, acknowledging right up front the potential difficulties we would have to overcome to make it work.

Second, I garner support from other colleagues before presenting ideas to the group. ]]>http://www.nea.org/neatoday/0103/presview.htmlhttp://www.nea.org/neatoday/0103/presview.htmlTue, 07 Dec 2004 05:00:00 GMT

President's Viewpoint
Raising the Floor

In many public schools, children receive a top-notch education. Sadly, in others, student achievement is low. We intend to change that.

The new teacher on the other end of the line was in tears. Her plea to the local Association president was an urgent one: "Please get me out of here. I can't teach another day in this school." This distraught teacher taught fifth graders in the poorest neighborhood in the district, and nothing in her training had prepared her for the problems these children brought with them into the classroom. She was "on the brink of a total meltdown." The last straw had been a student threatening to have his ex-convict cousin "pay her a visit" if she kept "bugging" him about homework.

Hearing the desperation in the teacher's voice, the local president agreed to help.

After hanging up, he sighed. "I will get her transferred to a better school in the suburbs--I know how to work the system. But what about the students back in that inner-city school? They deserve better, too."

Exactly.

Let's be clear about this. Educating children of poverty and extreme social disadvantage is the toughest--and most compelling--challenge we face as educators. In the schools that serve the poor, every educational challenge is more pronounced, every solution harder to implement, and every success sweeter. In this context, "quick fix" is an oxymoron.

I believe the NEA and its members have a special responsibility to step up to this challenge--as problem-solvers, as partners, and, where necessary, as leaders.

To this end, NEA has published Making Low-Performing Schools a Priority--a step-by-step resource book to guide local educators through the school rescue process. And in the coming months, NEA will train activists to jump-start initiatives in each of their local school districts.

Yes, this will be difficult work--even heroic work--done school by school, parent by parent, and student by student. And yes, we take on this challenge knowing full well that the problems of child poverty are bigger than any school. Schools are an important part of the answer, but not the only answer. These students need better schools and better childhoods.

But there are things we can and must do as educators. And here's the good news: NEA members across the country are actively engaged in school transformations. In the Edgewood Independent School District in San Antonio, Texas, for example, the NEA affiliate has forged a strong alliance with its district, parents, and community to chart a new course. Where once there were 26 schools labeled by the state as "low-performing," now there are none.

NEA members are making a difference--from Larchmont Elementary in Takoma, Washington, to Wyandotte High in Kansas City, Kansas, to Azalea Elementary in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Of course for any school improvement plan to succeed, it must be grounded in hope. And the first condition of hope is the belief that the students can achieve. Any teacher who has lost this belief really doesn't belong in a low-performing school.

However, hope, as the old saying goes, is a good breakfast but a poor supper. To translate our hopes into concrete changes, we will also need more resources.

We owe it to the children and ourselves.

Comments? You can E-mail Bob Chase at BobChase@nea.org. If you would like a response, please be sure to include your name and NEA local affiliate.

People
Maryland Teacher Is NFL's First Pick

One teacher's commitment to student athletes pays off with a new title: NFL Teacher of the Year.

When Springbrook High School teacher Joyce Amatucci received a Christmas present in the mail from former student Shawn Springs (inset photo), now a cornerback with the Seattle Seahawks, she wasn't surprised. "He's been telling me for years that he would send me a Seahawks team jersey," says the Silver Springs, Maryland, Spanish teacher. But when she looked inside, she didn't find a jersey. Instead, she found a letter from the National Football League, congratulating her on being chosen as the 2000 NFL Teacher of the Year, a program that honors teachers who've had a positive influence on NFL players.

Along with the letter was a handwritten note from Springs, who graduated from Springbrook in 1993. It read: "This is what you get for all the yelling you did."

"I've been known to yell, as well as throw tantrums," Amatucci agrees with a laugh.

As the unofficial "mom" to every athlete at the 2,000-plus-student school, Amatucci keeps an open classroom door every day during prep period and for two hours after school for free tutoring sessions, in any subject.

She also voluntarily keeps tabs on student athletes' weekly grade sheets through a program she created called "Athletics Support Program."

"The other teachers will E-mail or call me and say, 'You have to help me with so-and-so. He didn't write his paper,' or 'He got an F on his test,'" says the 30-year teaching veteran. "So I'll have a heart-to-heart after school with that athlete, or I might just go over to practice and tell the coach, 'Sorry, so-and-so can't practice today. He didn't do his paper.' And the coach sends him to me."

Amatucci is also involved with the NCAA Clearinghouse and Alternative Education Program for Marginal Students. She also attends every game, every sport.

Amatucci says her commitment to athletes comes easily, especially because the entire school staff supports her role. Ironically, her "meddling" also makes her a beloved teacher. In his nomination form, Springs called her "the glue that keeps the whole school together."

"She makes her students feel secure, safe and cared for," says Springs, now in his fourth year with the NFL, "whether it's having them over for dinner at her house and helping them successfully complete a paper, or giving them a ride home when they stay after school to work on homework assignments.

"She is respected and admired by every student at Springbrook,"adds Springs.

"I'm just overwhelmed," says Amatucci, who was honored with a $5,000 personal grant and a $10,000 check for Springbrook at the NFL All-Star game in Hawaii last month. "Working with the athletes has made my job more fun, especially because I am the antithesis of athletics myself. I get all I need through these kids."

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They've Got (Lots of) Mail

Last March, John Street and his fourth grade students at Newcastle Public School in rural Newcastle, Nebraska, (population: 270) hit upon a great idea: Use the power of E-mail to teach geography.

"I thought it would be clever to send an E-mail from the class asking recipients to respond with their locations and forward our E-mail on to as many people as they could," says Street. Students would then plot the respondents' location on a map.

"I was hoping 500 people would respond," he adds. "Looking back, I can't believe how naive I was!"

Within hours of sending the E-mail to only 20 people in Street's Yahoo address book, students were receiving messages back from China, South America, and several Southern states.

Now, one year later, Street estimates they've received more than 150,000 responses to that first message. In one 24-hour period, the class box received more than 9,000 messages--375 E-mails per hour.

"We get lengthy letters and lots of photographs from all over the world," he says. "People send wedding pictures, baptism pictures, baby pictures, dog pictures. We got photos of a zebra and other animals from a missionary in South Africa, and a man from Antarctica sent us shots of himself on the ice."

Street says the experiment has been a powerful lesson for his small-town school. "I'll never again doubt what a tremendous and sometimes overwhelming learning tool the Internet really is."

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Major Shakespeare

You probably wouldn't expect to find a retired Air Force pilot doing pirouettes and dancing around a classroom of young teenagers to get them excited about Shakespeare.

But Donald Huston, a ninth grade English teacher at Chickasha Junior High School in Oklahoma, has never been conventional.

"I think some people are a little fearful of Air Force majors, just like others are fearful of learning Shakespeare," he says. "I'd like to think I take the fear out of both those things."

For 20 years, Huston flew B-52 planes around the world and lived in exotic locales such as Guam, Thailand, and Japan. When he retired in 1991, "Shakespeare"--a nickname he earned because of his love for the author--began substitute teaching and taking courses toward his master's in English.

"Substitute teaching was a lot like flying," he says with a chuckle. "Except when you fly airplanes you have some sort of control."

With five years of full-time teaching now under his belt, Huston knows that just because he slips into the language of Shakespeare easily doesn't mean that all his students do.

To make them more comfortable, he asks them to insult or compliment each other using Shakespeare's words. It's this creative and animated teaching style that recently earned him a nomination for Chickasha Teacher of the Year.

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Calendar Art Says 'No' to Tobacco

"I'm too smart to start." That's just one of several catchy phrases Russ Shaffer's fourth grade students are repeating these days--students who are too smart to start using tobacco.

For seven years, Shaffer--who teaches art at four elementary schools in Brooke County, West Virginia--has coordinated a calendar of art project featuring his students' artwork and tobacco-free messages.

"The calendars are learning tools," says Shaffer. "The kids don't participate just to draw pretty pictures. They do it to get anti-tobacco messages out."

Shaffer is determined to help kids understand the seriousness of tobacco, which is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States. He's especially concerned by national polls and anonymous surveys in his own classrooms that indicate many young students are tempted to try using tobacco.

By involving them in the calendar project, he's hopeful they'll learn early to avoid the temptation.

"There is a lot of enthusiasm for this project from the kids, parents, and even grandparents," Shaffer notes."If that excitement entices kids to not start smoking, then we've won half the battle."

Last year, the governor of West Virginia used the calendar to try to pass smokeless tobacco legislation.

"My ultimate goal," says Shaffer, "is to have large agencies, like the Cancer Society, see the calendar and use it on a massive scale to bring attention to the cause."

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Close Encounters with Ozzy

It was 1983, a time of big hair and big music. It was also the year clean-cut Ohio math teacher Mark Meuser accepted a dare from his third period high school students and accompanied them to his first hard rock concert: Ozzy Osbourne.

"Looking back, it was an incredible experience," says the 29-year veteran at Gahanna Lincoln High School. "One I wanted to relive and share over and over again."

In 2000, he got his wish. No, he didn't check out the latest hard rock tours. He published a book, Close Encounters (Rivercross), documenting the humorous, touching, and even heartbreaking stories about students who have come and gone from his classroom and how they have touched his life.

His short story about the Ozzy Osbourne adventure, "This Isn't Ozzie and Harriet," is just one of many vignettes that have caught readers' attention. Close Encounters spent weeks on Amazon.com's top five list in Ohio.

From the stunts he pulled in his rookie days to tales of today, Meuser relates the small successes of the classroom as they occur, one at a time.

Meuser says the book reflects his own transformation as a teacher. "It celebrates those moments when teachers and students connect beyond the classroom walls."

News
'We're All Together Now'

In one Colorado district, teachers and ESP unite in the same NEA local affiliate. The payoffs: added respect and even better work with kids.

Election-day rain and snow didn't dampen the enthusiasm of these union supporters in Westminster, Colorado. ESP voted overwhelmingly to bargain alongside teachers.





Jackie Brungardt and Candi Epperson have worked in the same small elementary school in Westminster, Colorado, for 12 years, helping handicapped children get a good education.

Brungardt, a paraprofessional who works with severely disabled students, and Epperson, a special education teacher, have become great friends over the years. Now they're in the same union, thanks to a support staff organizing drive in this Denver suburb by the Westminster Education Association.

Brungardt reports that support staffers, from custodians to bus drivers, are already enjoying more job security and respect. Epperson stresses that the teachers benefit, too. They now have a stronger union, with deeper roots in the community.

Educational support personnel are joining NEA affiliates at a rapid pace.

NEA's ESP membership is now more than 325,000, and growing 20 percent per year. In most cases, however, support staffers and teachers are in separate NEA local affiliates, notes Karen Mahurin, the Alaska school secretary who chairs NEA's National Council for Educational Support Professionals.

Westminster went a different route. A single union for all public education employees made better sense to WEA leaders like Epperson and local President Cherylin Peniston, a middle school social studies teacher.

"ESP were being asked to do more and more with students," says Peniston. "We work shoulder to shoulder with them, and we see how hard they work."

Brungardt has one of the toughest assignments in the Westminster school system, working with children who have severe physical disabilities, many in wheelchairs because of cerebral palsy. One of her students is on oxygen. Others require tube feeding.

Brungardt loves her work. "I see them happy in school, which could never have happened before. I see them included in classrooms. They come to school smiling, and I'm part of their day," she says.

"But it's definitely challenging. It can be hard just to communicate, trying to find out what's wrong.

"When I started 12 years ago," Brungardt recalls, "we had something like 200 percent turnover per year. I'm the only one left. We were the underdogs, pretty much. There was nobody to push for us. It's great to have a union."

Epperson wanted WEA to include ESP because she feels support staff have not been treated fairly.

"They do huge amounts of overtime with no help and very little compensation," says Epperson. "They are frustrated and exhausted. Most of them have second jobs because they can't afford to live on what the district pays them.

"Because of that, we can't get people to fill these jobs," she says. "I've always had excellent aides, but some teachers have waited months without one."

The move to expand the WEA began more than a year ago. The local surveyed its members and found that more than 90 percent wanted to invite ESP to join.

Meanwhile, a meeting of the support staff showed overwhelming preference for WEA over an independent Colorado union of school support staff.

Rather than wait for a formal representation election, the teachers decided to open their organization to ESP right away. They expanded WEA's governing board from 11 to 16, adding an ESP vice president and four other ESP members. The new board then set about recruiting ESP building reps.

Barbara Schmidt, a bus driver who became the new WEA vice president, says those moves convinced ESP that the teachers wanted them in the organization as equals. Jackie Brungardt acted on that signal by volunteering to be the building rep for her school.

In September, WEA launched a full-scale organizing drive, with leaflets and small, personal meetings. There was no real opposition, but Association leaders were concerned about turnout because the union needed at least 30 percent support to represent the support staff.

The weather refused to cooperate on election day, last Halloween. It rained and snowed, a disincentive to come out and vote at one central polling site.

One very sick bus driver insisted on voting before heading for her doctor's office. When the votes were counted that night, WEA had won by 255-10, out of 485 eligible to vote.

The new ESP members of the Westminster Education Association don't have their first contract yet, but change is already happening.

The superintendent is putting support staff on district planning committees. And he invited ESP to the annual beginning-of-the-year staff meeting, where he referred to teachers and support staff alike as "educators."

Now, a new all-staff contract is being hammered out by a unified teacher-ESP bargaining team.

Epperson notes that while teachers all over the district supported the ESP organizing drive, those from small schools like hers were the most enthusiastic. "In big schools, teachers don't see other teachers, much less aides," she said. "They don't have the personal connection that we have. Here, we're family. And we're all together now."

Peniston says the whole school system will benefit from having ESP in the Association because support staffers often have strong community roots, which can translate into political support for funding.

Schmidt began working as a driver after being an active parent in the district for many years, and says she's typical. "Most people I know here are parents and taxpayers. They started off as volunteers."

Jackie Brungardt's priorities for the first contract include raises and getting the district to pay tuition for courses so she can learn more about how to help her students.

"We're all here for the same thing: taking care of the kids," says Schmidt.

She believes children are already benefiting from ESP organization. "We're happier," she explains, "and when adults are happier with their jobs, they work even better with kids."

--Alain Jehlen

For more information, call Westminster Education Association President Cherylin Peniston at 303/427-1734 or E-mail her at WEACEANEA@aol.com.

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Your Dues Did It

• A new NEA handbook, Making Low-Performing Schools a Priority: An Association Resource Guide, is now available on NEA's Web site. This guide, drawn from the work of an NEA task force on low-performing schools, offers practical tips for identifying a school in crisis, turning it around, and sustaining ongoing improvement. Go to www.nea.org/issues/lowperf/priorityschools/.

• Got tax questions but can't find answers? Point your Web browser to the NEA Educators' Tax Guide 2000, produced for folks just like you. The guide gives clear explanations of federal and state income tax law and offers advice on itemized deductions, tax-sheltered investments, and the best tax forms to use. Go to www.nea.org/00taxguide/.

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Kudos to...
Louisianans Tie Yellow Ribbons

. . . Members of the Louisiana Association of Educators are displaying yellow ribbons to focus public attention on the need to boost school employee pay. And they're peppering state leaders with E-mail messages, starting with Governor Mike Foster. "It seems only reasonable," LAE President Carol Davis recently wrote Foster, "that the state that is asking us to lift student achievement to national averages should be more than willing to lift our salaries to the Southern average."

. . . Education Minnesota has won an arbitration decision that upholds a state law guaranteeing school site committees' control of staff professional development dollars. At issue was the LaPorte superintendent's refusal to allow three teachers to attend a workshop that conformed with district professional development guidelines and was approved by the site committee. This administrator's rationale: "budget constraints" and a "staff shortage."

. . . After two months of intensive organizing, members of the Pine Bluff (Arkansas) Education Association have won bargaining recognition from their school board. PBEA--representing teachers, librarians, and other certified personnel--intends to bargain over issues like respect for teachers and pay for supplementary duties.

. . . State employee members of MEA-MFT (formerly the Montana Education Association-Montana Federation of Teachers) have ratified a statewide agreement providing a 4 percent pay increase each year over two years, increases in employer insurance contributions, opportunities to negotiate on the bargaining unit level for pay adjustments in high-cost regions, and a new Labor Relations Training Fund to train managers and union members in bargaining and conflict resolution.

. . . In arctic Greenland, the teachers' union, IMAK, and the government have signed a new contract with the help of a mediator. Now IMAK is withdrawing its appeal to American educators to boycott Greenlandic teaching positions. "The teachers of Greenland are very grateful for your support," IMAK leader Claus Jochimsen tells NEA members, "and will not forget your readiness to show solidarity."

News
Speaking the Truth, Battling Consequences

When her school district retaliated after Louise Kolb backed a parent, Kolb fought back and won.

Louise Kolb, center, survived her seven-year ordeal with the support of husband David, left, and her children Charles and Alice.





New Jersey third grade teacher Louise Kolb isn't one to boast about her classroom technique. When pressed, she'll concede, at best: "I do a pretty good job--I take each child as an individual, meet his or her needs as best I can, and bring the best out of each."

This 27-year veteran, who teaches at Mansfield Elementary in rural Warren County, likes to communicate regularly with parents. "After all," says this mother of two, "parents want to know what's going on in their children's classrooms."

All in all, Kolb is a typical elementary teacher. She thrives around kids and, role model that she is, puts a premium on telling the truth.

And the truth is Kolb couldn't work effectively with a special needs child back in September 1993, even with two periods of daily help from a special education teacher. This eight-year-old boy lived with severe Tourette's Syndrome and other disabilities.

"He really had a difficult time functioning in the classroom," Kolb recalls. "His mother always felt that he needed more than our school could provide, and she was right."

The mother went to a state administrative law court to win placement of her child in a specialized school outside the Mansfield Township district.

To Kolb's surprise, the plaintiff and her lawyer appeared one day at school to serve her with a subpoena to testify in this case.

Kolb felt strongly that there was only one version of the facts, so she declined to "prepare" her court testimony with school board attorney David Wallace and Superinten-dent Carol Burns.

"That means you're the mother's star witness," snapped the lawyer. "We are now adversaries."

During four separate court hearings in 1994, Wallace grilled Kolb on the witness stand for an entire day. Her evidence, including a daily log of the child's progress and his collected classwork, was helpful but not decisive to the outcome of the case.

In June 1994, before the administrative law judge issued a decision, Kolb had a formal evaluation conference with Burns and received a satisfactory rating, a green light to receive a normal pay increment. "I was told I worked well with the school's Child Study Team, and nothing was said about my court appearance," Kolb notes.

But when the judge ruled that the child should be transferred at the district's expense to a special school, this teacher got a rude shock.

At the beginning of the 1994-95 school year, the district withheld her increment, falsely charging that Kolb disobeyed orders on conferencing with the mother and failed to communicate about the child's condition with the Child Study Team.

Mike Mulkeen, the UniServ rep who advised and supported to Kolb every step of the way, calls this disciplinary action "retaliation," pure and simple. "I thought the district would back down on Louise when they lost the student's case," says Mulkeen, now retired. "But they were so arrogant, they took it to the end. This was about doing her in."

Not about to let that happen, Mulkeen teamed up with New Jersey Education Association attorney Nancy Oxfeld to fight a two-front battle to win back Kolb's stolen increment and clear her good name.

These advocates filed a grievance on behalf of the Mansfield Education Association, and they helped Kolb file a lawsuit under New Jersey's Conscientious Employee Protection Act. That law prohibits employers from retaliating against employees for providing information to a public body "conducting an investigation, hearing, or inquiry" into any employer violation of a law, administrative rule, or regulation.

Bit by bit, the union's two-pronged strategy paid off.

In late 1999, NJEA won the arbitration case despite three last-ditch employer appeals of the arbitrator's award. And Kolb was awarded five years of back increments, albeit without interest.

In early 2000, Kolb's lawsuit made its way to New Jersey Superior Court, where a jury decided on its own to award the plaintiff $50,000 from the Mansfield Township school board and $5,000 from Superintendent Burns.

"It's unheard of to fine a superintendent," notes UniServ rep Mulkeen. "But the jury found her to be negligent. Carol Burns knew what kind of teacher Louise was, but she kept silent."

Louise Kolb hadn't envisioned dollar signs when she entered that courtroom.

"This was never a money issue," says Kolb. "I was told I did something wrong and I never did, and I always admit when I'm wrong. I felt I was used as a scapegoat, I wanted my name cleared, and I wanted a jury to hear all this and decide."

"Louise is the quintessential elementary teacher," observes Mulkeen. "She just wanted somebody to say she was right after five years of hassle and grief. She was fighting for a child, not looking to embarrass the administration."

Now that the dust has settled, Kolb explains what motivated her.

"I was worried that this child wouldn't get help in later grades, so I did what had to be done," she says. "Children shouldn't just be passed through the system--I never looked at a child that way."

Kolb's greater reward has come with the knowledge that the student, who spent three years in a school specializing in Tourette's Syndrome, has transitioned back to the mainstream. Now in the 10th grade, he takes algebra, plays in a school band, and can participate more fully in school activities.

"His mother knew that he could grow up to be a functioning member of society, and he surely did," says Kolb.

And what kept this educator functioning during seven years of grief?

Kolb credits her husband, David, also a teacher at Mansfield Elementary, and her children for their "unrelenting support," and stresses that "Mike Mulkeen and Nancy Oxfeld were my guardian angels throughout this whole thing--they stood behind me 100 percent."

Though Kolb has been a longtime NEA member, she never was what people would consider an "activist." Now, she's fully aware that NEA stands up for all members, including the "average" member.

Mindful that "fear of retribution" sometimes prevents teachers from fighting for students who can't speak for themselves, Kolb has sound advice for every NEA member:

"If you get in this situation, call your UniServ rep. He or she is in the position to guide, support, and help the average member.

"After all," says Kolb, "that's why we pay Association dues."

--Dave Winans, with New Jersey Education
Association editor Dawn Hiltner

For more information, contact NJEA UniServ Assistant Director Carol Rosenfeld at crosenfeld@njea.org.

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The Courts Have Spoken. . .

. . . In Georgia, a Federal District Court jury has awarded $300,000 to the Walton County Bus Drivers Association and its co-presidents, Cynthia White and Faye Ramey, for retaliation suffered after the local raised employee concerns at school board meetings. White and Ramey lost their jobs in 1996 after they attempted to notify management of student discipline problems on buses and serious vehicle safety concerns--including use of forklifts rather than racks to lift buses, soft brakes, slipping transmissions, and missing first-aid kits.

"This ruling should be an emphatic wake-up call to school districts throughout the state that they can't prevent local Associations from speaking out," says Terrence Thomas, co-general counsel of the Georgia Association of Educators. "Nor can they prevent one person from representing the Association in matters that concern the school system."

. . . In Maine, the state Supreme Court has upheld an arbitration award reinstating fired teacher Tim Barlow and compensating him for $25,000 in lost pay and benefits. Barlow was dismissed without just cause by the Lamoine school board for allegedly "mishandling" a disruptive student in the lunchroom.

Maine Education Association UniServ Director Brian Kilroy says that Barlow's case brings out the importance of clean "just cause" language and binding arbitration in contracts. "Without these protections," he says, "Tim Barlow would not have been vindicated and restored to his job."

News
Educational Priorities? Ask the Experts--Us!

NEA members have a unique opportunity to work with the new President, Congress on legislation.


School employees just like you will be NEA's most effective lobbyists as the new Congress takes up education legislation. You can help advance NEA's legislative priorities (below) by telling lawmakers about the specific needs of your students and school. After all, you're the expert on education--and Congress needs your input.


Ask any educator about the needs of America's public schools, and you'll get an endless list. Boil it all down to five key points--focusing on more resources for low-performing schools, special education, school modernization, teacher quality, and early childhood education--and you've got NEA's legislative priorities for the new Congress.

If ever there was a year to be quick and concise about priorities, this is it.

In a country split down the middle on practically everything, public education has emerged as the one key issue on which new President George W. Bush can achieve national consensus and win groundbreaking legislation during his critical first year in office.

That's why NEA isn't wasting time.

Right before Inauguration Day, NEA delivered its legislative priorities to Bush's transition team. In just his third day in office, the President responded with his own education program, fulfilling a campaign pledge to put student achievement and school improvement on the nation's front burner.

"This historical moment," says NEA Executive Director John Wilson, "presents NEA with a wonderful opportunity to find common ground with the new administration to ensure that all public schools have the resources they need."

The federal government has never done its "fair share" to promote public education, Wilson stresses.

"This new President could do a great service by focusing on issues like IDEA funding and teacher professional development," says Wilson. "It's unrealistic to expect that local districts and states can tackle these expensive issues alone, without a full partnership with the federal government, especially in a time of a $350 billion federal surplus."

On both sides of the aisle in the new Congress, lawmakers will be looking to NEA's 2.6 million members as "the experts on what it will take to improve schools," adds NEA Government Relations Director Mary Elizabeth Teasley. "We're officially a bipartisan organization. Where we focus on issues, not partisan politics, we'll be in a good place with this new Congress."

Public education is already in a pretty good place in the 107^th Congress, thanks to:

• Progress made in the last Congress. Last December, the departing 106th Congress--deluged with messages from thousands of NEA cyber-lobbyists--increased funding for federal education programs by a record $6.6 billion, or 18 percent. On the funding list: everything from a $323 million increase for the federal class-size reduction program to the first-time funding of up to $1.2 billion in emergency public school repairs.

• An enhanced role for friends of public education. The new House of Representatives retains a highly conservative leadership, still capable of swerving toward regressive causes like teacher basic competency testing or merit pay. But the newly elected Senate is divided evenly between Democrats and Republicans, "making it easier to achieve real debate on educational issues," says NEA lobbyist Joel Packer.

  "This 50-50 split forces senators to act in a more bipartisan manner," Packer adds, "and that means that several moderate Republican senators long supported by NEA, including James Jeffords of Vermont, Olympia Snowe of Maine, and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, will have more influence in debates on the needs of public schools."

• A negative public verdict on vouchers. One of President Bush's less inspired education proposals, federally funded vouchers for students in low-performing schools, will have tough sledding in this Congress, thanks in large part to the shock wave generated by voters' defeat of voucher ballot initiatives--by 70-30 margins--last November in California and Michigan.

  "For a new President who has pledged to unite the nation and end bitter partisanship, this voucher program is sure to divide us," warns NEA President Bob Chase. "Bush has an opportunity to invest in action that produces real results in troubled schools, such as reducing class size, repairing buildings, providing extra help for students who need it, and enhancing teacher quality. Let's invest in programs that have bipartisan support."

• A broad consensus on school needs. Throughout the Presidential campaign, Bush stressed themes like child literacy, early learning, higher standards, teacher quality, and closure of the "achievement gap between disadvantaged students and their peers." While NEA members may not agree with all of the President's approaches to these issues, we're on the same track, and there's definitely room for compromise.

• NEA's vast pool of lobbyists--including you. President Bush has stressed that he's open to suggestions on education legislation. That's a signal for NEA leaders and lobbyists, including members just like you, to educate Republicans and Democrats alike on our legislative priorities.

  "Many of our members have been in tough classroom situations," notes NEA Exec Wilson, "and have come up with the greatest ideas for turning schools around. Lawmakers need to hear about these solutions and how they can help.

"Our five crisply written legislative priorities allow us to efficiently mobilize NEA staff and resources, work for more resources for schools, and make us accountable in Washington, DC to our members on the front lines," Wilson concludes. "But we can't move these priorities without the help of every teacher and ESP in our ranks."

What You Can Do
Go to www.nea.org/lac for more on NEA's legislative priorities and bills moving through Congress. Sign up to become an NEA cyber-lobbyist, and then urge lawmakers to incorporate NEA's priorities into legislation.

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NEA's Five Legislative Priorities for the 107th Congress

1. Low-Performing Schools
Our nation's top education priority should be to turn around low-performing schools, typically serving lower-income rural and urban communities.

NEA recommends that the federal government place the highest priority on addressing the needs of low-performing schools, including ensuring full funding of Title I to reach all eligible students.

A portion of Title I funds should focus on increased accountability through alignment of goals, standards, curriculums, and assessments; strengthened professional development; and the setting of standards for continual student improvement.

2. Full Special Education Funding
Although the federal government has committed to providing 40 percent of the average nationwide per-pupil expenditure to help meet the cost of educating students with disabilities, the federal share currently totals only around 15 percent.

NEA recommends "ramping up" to full funding of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act--IDEA--within six years. Once reached, full funding should be automatic, free from the unpredictable discretionary appropriations process.

3. Teacher Quality
Ensuring a qualified teacher in every classroom must be a central part of any agenda to strengthen public education and maximize student achievement.

NEA recommends a series of targeted new initiatives to help states and districts hire, train, and retain quality teachers. Federal investment should be combined with state funds for statewide, district-wide, or individual school initiatives that demonstrate proof or promise of success in recruiting and retaining quality teachers.

4. School Modernization
America's schools are in desperate need of repair and renovation. Nation-wide, unmet school needs are estimated to total more than $300 billion.

NEA recommends a federal/state/ local partnership to address school infrastructure and technology needs. The federal government should help states meet the interest costs on state or local bonds, through either tax credits or direct interest subsidies. In addition, the emergency repair grant program created last year by Congress should be expanded to meet more of our most urgent needs.

5. Early Childhood Education
How children learn and are cared for before entering kindergarten makes a huge difference in how well they perform in school.

NEA recommends that the federal government, in partnership with states, make substantial, targeted new investments to ensure that every child enters school ready to learn.

Specifically, NEA supports a comprehensive package including universal preschool, full funding of Head Start, expansion of the Child Care and Development Block Grant and Title I preschool services, and expansion and refundability of the Dependent Care Tax Credit.

My Turn
Time To Say Goodbye ... For A While

After seven years in the classroom, this California teacher decided to try writing, something she'd wanted to do since high school. The hard part was telling her students.

By Joanne Levy-Prewitt

Fourth grade teacher Joanne Levy-Prewitt is now trying her hand at freelance writing, though she says, "I miss the kids and my colleagues."





"Why don't you want to be a teacher anymore?" It came as an innocent question from a red-haired fourth grade girl, and it had no simple answer. I struggled with my words, stammering, as I worried that any response might be misconstrued.

Lindsay had come in early to help me prepare for the school day, and her question jolted me from my early morning concentration. "It's not that I don't want to be a teacher anymore," I told her. "It's just that I've always wanted to be a writer, and you can't be a writer if you don't have any time to write. I'm just taking a year off, Lindsay."

There. That sounded like an honest, if evasive, reply. But she wasn't satisfied. "Don't you like being a teacher?" she asked.

"It's not that simple, Lindsay," I said. "I love teaching, and I love the kids, but all my life I've dreamed of being a writer. I've gone through life with stories in my brain, and it just seems like now