Cover Story
ESP on a Mission

Bus driver Daylene Davis was one of many support staffers whose fight for better schools turned the tide of public opinion.

How support staff teamed up with teachers to save the schools of Lebanon, Oregon.

Last year Lebanon, Oregon, was a town that seemed to have given up on itself. The central part of the middle school, located right at the entrance to town, was condemned and boarded up. Modular classrooms were strewn across the grounds in front of the doomed school, replacing a beautiful grove of oak trees.

The school had once been the pride of the town. Now it was an eyesore. Several elementary schools were on the verge of being condemned, too.

People stopped moving in. "We were on our way to becoming a nothing town," says Janis Eggert, a school bus driver and president of the Lebanon Association of Classified Employees.

But today the town is making a comeback.

And Lebanon's resurgence illustrates the important role that education support personnel--the fastest-growing segment of the NEA membership, now 327,000 strong--play in advancing the cause of education.

Link to the Community
Support staff usually live closer to a school than teachers do, so they form a crucial, living link between a school and its neighborhood.

That can translate into political support for education.

And political support was the main thing the schools were lacking in this small town 70 miles south of Portland.

School board members had been recalled. One superintendent was so unpopular, his contract was bought out to make him leave. Another superintendent, the one who cut down the oak trees, infuriated the residents.

Schools were crumbling because voters had soundly defeated construction bonds three times in a row. When officials said they needed more money, people simply didn't believe them.

A pro-education group that included representatives of Lebanon's educators hired a consultant to help find a way to pass the bonds. The consultant took opinion polls and offered this advice: Don't try it now. You're not ready yet. The voters are too hostile.

But waiting, to the educators and their community allies, was not an option. Instead, they launched an energetic public information campaign about the state of the schools and assembled an army of election workers.

That army phoned, knocked on doors, wrote letters, put up yard signs. Businesspeople, doctors, senior citizens--anybody who was willing to help rebuild Lebanon--joined the support staff and teachers at the phone banks and in the neighborhood canvassing.

Every household received at least five calls and two door knocks.

"People said, 'Why do you keep calling me?' And we answered, 'Because it's that important,'" says Martin Jones, a fourth grade teacher and president of the Lebanon Education Association.

Supplementing these formal campaign activities was the critical informal campaign--conversations with friends, relatives, and neighbors.

Most of Lebanon's teachers live outside the district, but 85 percent of the support staff are local residents. Their community roots proved vital. More than half of them worked in the campaign.

Daylene Davis, a school bus driver and NEA member with children in Lebanon schools, worked the phone banks. She'd actually voted against the last bond proposal herself, because "I wasn't happy with the district. The school buildings should never have been let go the way they were. Why give them more money?"

But as she drove children to schools all over town, Davis saw the terrible conditions of the buildings. And she thought the community oversight committee that bond proponents included in their plan would hold down waste.

So Davis told some of the voters she called about her own opposition, as a fellow resident, to the last bond proposal. Then she told them why she had changed her mind.

"It was difficult," she recalls. "A lot of times I got yelled at."

But Davis also swayed a lot of voters--and impressed a lot of colleagues.

By chance, the person working the phones across from Davis was her youngest son's third grade teacher, Bonnie Phillips. Phillips came away impressed with Davis's technique. "She had a way of moving into her line, a super delivery," Phillips recalls. "It was fun to listen to."

Voting Day
The campaigners had a double task before them. Under Oregon law, they had to convince a majority of those voting to support the bonds, and they also had to ensure at least a 50 percent turnout.

As the campaign drew to a close last May 9, Martin Jones, Daylene Davis, and Bonnie Phillips were worried. Only Janis Eggert was confident. "I had faith that this community would come through, once they knew what needed to be done," says Eggert.

She was right. The grass-roots campaign spearheaded by support staff produced a 60 percent turnout, with 54 percent voting Yes.

Lebanon has now embarked on a new path.

Association leaders Janis Eggert and Martin Jones survey the once-beautiful campus of Lebanon's partially boarded-up middle school.

Ties That Bind
Teachers and support staff have been invited to work with the architects in designing the new buildings.

In three years, there will be two new schools. All the salvageable old schools will be renovated, and some will sport new additions.

There will even be new trees, helping to restore the feeling that Lebanon cares about itself and its children.

Says Eggert, "If I die today, I'll die knowing I made a difference."

Phillips believes the commitment of the support staff to the campaign saved the day for Lebanon because of their neighborhood ties.

"Anytime you vote on something that will take money out of someone's pocket, you've got to have the people next door excited about it," she says.

"We had a lot of the people next door excited about it."

--Alain Jehlen

A Contract Only Unity Could Win

School employees in Hamilton Township, New Jersey, have worked without a contract more times than they care to remember--once, it was for three straight years. But last Sept-ember, when 1,400 Hamilton teachers and school support staff took a stand and struck to demand a contract, they won so much community support that the school board offered them an agreement in just eight days.

"A big reason for our success," says Barbara Allen, a middle school teacher and vice president of the Hamilton Township Education Association, "is that we have a strong, inclusive Association. Our diversity gave us a broad base of support."

Of the 1,400 HTEA members who struck, 900 are teachers and 500 are paraprofessionals, electricians, and other school support staff.

"Our members have deep community roots," says Allen. "When we stood up for kids on the picket line, the community stood up for us."

Also standing up for the teachers and support staff were 400 school district secretaries, who honored the HTEA picket line even though they belonged to a separate association and had already settled their contract--and despite the fact that they were being fined $50 for every day they missed work.

"The secretaries were wonderful," says Allen. "When they joined with us, it made us all closer and more determined."

"The unity we experienced strengthened our resolve," says Dolores McPhillips, a special education personal care assistant who was on the picket line every day.

"We weren't out there for high wages," McPhillips adds. "For some of us, getting a contract means knowing whether we can keep making a living. When everyone turned out to support us, we knew we were doing the right thing. Parents actually came out to bring us coffee and doughnuts."

An HTEA rally during the strike drew 3,000 enthusiastic supporters.

By the end of day eight of the strike, the school board offered HTEA a three-year agreement providing 13.55 percent pay raises. The settlement also nullified fines against individual school employees.

"Everyone knows that we're a strong Association now, and that all school district workers will be there for each other," says Allen.

"Friendships were formed. You can feel, walking through the school, that we all have stronger bonds."

Q & A
Ten Voices Can Do It Together

Karen Mahurin, a school secretary from Kenai, Alaska, is president of the NEA's National Council of Educational Support Professionals.

What's the one thing you'd want all NEA members to know about ESP members?
Actually, I have two things.

First, we are not recognized for our contributions to the kids. We are seen as less than teachers.

One time, I was at a state convention and worked with someone for more than two days. He assumed I was a teacher. When I told him I was a secretary, he literally turned his back and didn't say another word to me for the rest of the day.

Now, that's extreme. Most people aren't like that. Often, in the schools, we're all one family. But it's an extreme example of a lot of little things that do happen.

Second, many teachers assume we wish we were teachers, but we don't.

In my K-2 school, with all the kids, the teachers, the parents, I'm on the go all the time.

I want to be the friendly office lady, not the mean office lady. The office is like the school's living room. If it's warm and inviting, parents will come in and stay awhile.

I love being the school secretary.

What's the biggest draw for educational support staff to join the NEA?
Well, the liability insurance is very important. Many schools don't have nurses and ESP are being asked to do medical procedures--tracheotomies, blood sugar testing, catheterization. In my case, we had only a half-time nurse.

With the teacher shortage, ESP are being asked to supervise students by themselves. And we're in a lawsuit-happy environment.

But it's also people coming together to advocate for themselves collectively.

We tend to be a quiet group. One voice may be hesitant to speak up. But 10 voices can do it together.

And with the public focus on education, people want to work together with teachers for funding and other school legislation--we're uniting against common enemies.

For more: contact Karen Mahurin at kmahurin@kpbsd.k12.ak.us.

Resources

• NEA has a new set of brochures with extensive information for all educators about the nine categories of ESP members--who they are, what they do, and what their main job concerns are.

  For example, among paraeducators, 96 percent are women, 68 percent have attended college, 86 percent do volunteer community work, 54 percent believe their job descriptions don't accurately describe their work, and 25 percent have no job description at all.

  To obtain these brochures or to find out more about the NEA's ESP activities and resources, contact Michelle Hicks at 202/822-7131 or E-mail mhicks@nea.org.

• The NEA's ESP Web site has news and useful information--everything from grants available from the NEA, to news about ESP, to safety tips.

  There's also a bulletin board and links to other relevant sites. That's www.nea.org/esp/.

• The NEA ESP E-mail list helps ESP members exchange information and discuss issues. Among the recent topics: what locals are doing to gain recognition for the contributions of support staff, news about contracting out and how to stop it, how to win professional development opportunities, and ESP participation in Read Across America.

  The list is open to all members and staff who have access to Internet E-mail. More information is available at the Web site.

  To subscribe, send a message to lyris@list.nea.org. Leave the "Subject" line blank and type SUBSCRIBE ESP in the body of the message. Or subscribe on the ESP Web site.

• A local Web site can be a good way to keep information flowing. The NEA Web site includes a sample Web site designed for ESP locals, including all the necessary files for the site and instructions for changing them to suit local needs. It's at www.nea.org/esp/espnea/sample.