Sharing Our Stories

Today, AFT-MI members turned up in Lansing to talk to legislators about a number of issues important to educators in Michigan.

One of the bills that might go to vote during this Lame Duck session is HB 4639.  This bill would give the EAA the authority to take over schools throughout the whole state.  Currently, 15 schools in Detroit are under EAA authority.  I won't even go into what an unmitigated disaster the EAA is.  Eclectablog has done an amazing job covering this train wreck, please give that site some more traffic.

As for the bill, support for it has been largely partisan.  Many Republicans are eager to expand the EAA's powers to other "failing" schools.  Luckily, the AFT has had a huge impact on stopping the district's expansion.  All the AFT-MI did was transport teachers from EAA schools to Lansing and let them tell their stories to legislators, this past spring.

One of the legislators who heard those teachers stories was Republican Senator, John Poppageorge. He initially supported the EAA, but changed his mind after listening to teachers tell their stories.  One of the teachers told the senator that the EAA was a Potemkin village.  Clearly, that analogy made an impression on the senator, as he repeated the phrase to us today to describe his opinion of the EAA.

We have voices, but they are useless if we don't use them.  Teachers have been under attack across the nation at an unprecedented level over the last several years.  If we engage, even minimally, in the political process and simply tell our stories, even members on the other side will listen.