A Message from President Paul Lemle
On Organizing for Power
Education is my second challenging career; I was a professional musician for a decade. Neither job made me rich, but I began to understand our superpower in my social studies classroom. We have the ability to draw encouragement and energy from our students. We constantly learn and we constantly connect. Our work really matters. We have real purpose.
This moment requires us to talk about both the challenges we face and the rewards we receive. With the predictable shortage of educators, we must invite people into this serious and awesome profession while recognizing the need to improve conditions for everyone. We know that many of the best parts of the Blueprint are coming—the increased staffing we know educators need and more time to design instruction we know our students need. This can happen if we hold our elected officials accountable for the promises and investments that the Blueprint depends on.
Read FACT or FICTION: The Truth About The Blueprint.
As experts, we need the freedom to negotiate long untouchable concerns like curriculum, calendar, and class size. To get these new rights, we need to build power. Power allows our expertise to shine. It makes people listen. I believe in organizing for power—the kind of power that makes things happen and I invite you to join me on this journey.
I’m calling this column “Where We Stand,” after former AFT President Al Shanker’s column in the New York Times. Why? Because today we stand firm in the conviction that the key to improving our jobs and our schools are one and the same: organize our colleagues, build power, and make the necessary changes ourselves. Our students need us. We stand for them.