utno announces winner of makeover...

April 2008 Advocate �4650 Paris Avenue • New Orleans, LA 70�22 • 504-304-2�60; 866-793-8866

American Federation of TeachersUnited Teachers of New Orleans

A D V O C A T EA P R I L 2 0 0 8

VOLUME 2, ISSUE 7

The AFT-UTNO

UTNO Announces Winner of Makeover ContestPair of Special Education Teachers at Clark Submit Winning Application

On March 19, United Teach-ers of New Orleans announced Clark High School special edu-cation teachers Jasper Baena and Bernadine Henderson as winners of our Bridging the Gap Classroom Makeover Contest.

“While we had many good applications, one in particu-lar stood out to all the judges as exceptional,” said UTNO Community Organizer Katrena Ndang at the presentation of the winners, which took place in Clark’s library.

Ms. Ndang made a point of thanking all of UTNO’s commu-nity partners as well as the do-

nors who are making this pos-sible, particularly the National Conference on Public Employee

Retirement Systems, Lowe’s, Exxon-Mobil, Home Depot, Zulu and NOMTOC clubs and the Green Project. She also thanked the Recovery School District and NOPS, who “have been our partners in this since the beginning”, as well as Clark High School Principal Novelt Estrella.

UTNO President Dr. Bren-

Tenure- Your Right as an EducatorIf you currently work for the

RSD, you may not be offered tenure as part of your employ-ment.

Tenure is a form of legal pro-tection against being arbitrarily or unfairly fired or suspended. It is a legal right that comes from the Louisiana Constitution; el-ementary and secondary school teachers have been eligible for tenure in Louisiana since 1922.

The concept is simple: once you have completed three years of good service as a probation-ary employee, you should have

the right to expect that you will continue in your job— without threat that you can be fired for speaking your mind, for teach-ing what you believe to be the truth, or because an administra-tor wants to move someone else into your position. As a profes-sional, tenure gives you the right to stable employment.

However, this isn’t just about your rights as a professional educator— this is also about en-suring an excellent education for

(see Makeover on page 4)

(see Tenure on page 5)

In This Issue

UTNO President Dr. Brenda Mitchell presents Bernadine Henderson and Jasper Baena with

a check for the makeover

Educators at McDonogh 35 Demand Changes page 2

The Struggle for Retiree Healthcare page 5

Andover Bread Loaf Workshop page 6

Indiana Teacher, Students Bring Books to New Orleans page 7

2 April 2008 Advocate

Educators at McDonogh 35 Demand ChangesOn Thursday, March 27, ed-

ucators at McDonogh 35 High School were tired of their voices not being heard and decided to take matters into their own hands by staging a one-day sickout.

These educators were under-standably upset about a number of issues, including excessive meetings with inadequate notice that impacted planning and per-sonal time, both during and after the school day.

These educators did not feel that their concerns were being heard by the administration ei-ther at the school site or at the OPSB, and open dialogue be-tween school administration and instructors had broken down.

To assure quality education, it is essential that teachers and other school employees have ad-equate time to plan their lessons and to perform the large number

of administrative tasks required of them. This time must be pro-tected from arbitrary decisions of administrators.

Teachers and school employ-ees also need to have a voice in school policy, not only by hav-ing a strong contract but also mechanisms through which em-ployees can voice their concerns to school administrators openly and without fear of retaliation.

These educators felt the need to stand up and be counted, and to have a voice at the worksite. Because of their actions, some of the issues that brought this to a boiling point are now out in the open and can be resolved.

Some of you may have the same or similar concerns at your school site. The most important part is that your voice be heard. UTNO staff members are here to assist you when you are having

difficulties at your school, and can help you with the technical and organizational challenges of creating a plan to make positive changes. Successful activities need to be carefully planned for maximum effectiveness.

This month’s Orleans Parish School Board meeting will be held on April 15 at 5PM in the auditorium of McDonogh 35. We encourage all educators who are concerned about issues and policies that affect NOPS schools to attend this meeting.

If you are having difficulties at your school and are ready to take action to improve teaching and learning conditions, contact an organizer at the UTNO office by calling (504)304-2160 between the hours of 11AM to 7PM, Mon-day through Friday.

Collective Bargainingis the

KEYTo VOICE for teachers and school employees

To BETTER LEARNING CONDITIONS FOR OUR ChILDREN

To IMPROVING STUDENT AChIEVEMENT

To BETTER SChOOLS for our city

Join UTNO Today!

April 2008 Advocate 3

Our StandDr. Brenda MitchellAFT-UTNO PRESIDENT

Seeing the Big PictureIn any struggle, the hardest

part can be having patience. It has been a long and difficult struggle for educators in this city not only individually, as we rebuild our lives and return to our careers, but collectively as well. Our collective struggle to rebuild our union is no easy process, and at times we are so busy with this work that we may forget to reflect not only on what we’ve been through but where we’ve come from, and to see the big picture.

Part of this is learning from the experiences and struggles of those who have come before us. We were very saddened to hear the RSD is not planning on offering tenure to instruc-tors (See Tenure, front cover). However, many of those who the RSD is trying to deny ten-ure to— young, inexperienced educators just starting this great career— often don’t fully under-stand what tenure is or why it is important.

Many instructors do not know the role of tenure histori-cally in securing freedom for educators from arbitrary firing. Younger instructors particu-larly do not know that there was a time when female teachers could be fired for being mar-ried or becoming pregnant, and that it was only through a long

struggle that teachers secured freedom from this intrusion into their personal lives.

Tenure is a similar story. Without tenure, teachers are wide open to being suspended or fired unfairly and arbitrarily. Too often politics come into the classroom, and too many times in our history, administra-tors have attempted to remove teachers for both political and personal reasons that had noth-ing to do with the quality of their teaching.

But tenure is far from the only issue we are facing. We are currently lobbying legisla-tors at the state level to try to get some resolution on the issue of retiree healthcare for all teach-ers, whether they teach in RSD, NOPS or charter schools. While we have seen some proposals that give us hope, we will not rest until we have returned to a system where no educators have to worry about how they are go-ing to pay their medical bills in the twilight of their lives.

We are making progress in other areas as well. We were very proud to announce the winners of our classroom make-over this month (see Classroom Makeover, front cover), and look forward in coming months to unveiling a room that is worthy of the dedication that they give

to their work. We also continue to make

progress on our first post-storm contract with the OPSB. Now that we have a strong contract negotiation team that repre-sents all NOPS schools, we can speak with one voice for better conditions.

As hard as we all work, it is also important that we take the time to get to know each other and to relax. On March 19, we held an event for charter school employees, and we are look-ing forward to holding another event in coming months for RSD and NOPS as well.

Make no mistake, UTNO is coming back, and as we re-build we are building a stronger union, one step at a time.

It’s Your Newsletter- Make Your Voice Heard

We welcome comments as well as stories, photos and sto-ry ideas from the front lines. Please limit submissions to 500 words and send to UTNO Com-munications Director Christian Roselund, [email protected], (504)304-2160.


da Mitchell noted the long in-volvment that UTNO has had in advocating for improved school conditions, and particularly the work of UTNO’s Health and Safety Committee, adding that such work will continue. “We don’t see this as one makeover, but as the first makeover,” said Dr. Mitchell.

The winning teachers, Ms. Henderson and Mr. Baena, teach children with severe learning

disabilities. UTNO President Dr. Brenda Mitchell said that she was particularly pleased that UTNO is offering the makeover to a pair of special education teachers. “My hat is off to all the professional educators,” said Dr. Mitchell, “and particularly to those who work with our special needs students. Theirs is not an easy job, and too often their con-tributions are forgotten.”

Ms. Henderson and Mr. Bae-na teach together and applied jointly to the program. Both teachers responded emotion-ally to the surprise announce-ment. “I want to say thank you to everyone who is making this possible,” said Mr. Baena. “The children that we work with could really benefit from improved fa-

Special Ed Teachers Win Makeover Contest(continued from page 1) cilities. Hopefully this makeover

can make that a reality.”United Teachers of New Or-

leans would like to thank Deb-bie Schum of the RSD, Sabrina Montana of Councilwoman Cynthia Hedge-Morrell’s office, and everyone else who took time out to attend the March 19 announcement.

A design team from Delgado

Community College led by Inte-rior Design Professor Erin Sand-ers began work shortly after the announcement, and will com-plete their design work in April. Demolition will begin shortly thereafter, and another event will be held in April to mark the “groundbreaking” of the demo-lition process. Watch the UTNO web site for further details.

The surprise announcement caught Baena and Henderson off guard

RSD Director of Educational Issues Debbie Schum at the announcment

Henderson, Baena and Clark Principal Novelt Estrella with the Lowes Team

(From left) Erin Sanders, Henderson, Elizabeth Sullivan and Charlotte Sorina

Washington of Delgado, Baena

Delgado student Elizabeth Sullivan measures Henderson and Baena’s room

UTNO President Dr. Brenda Mitchell stressed the important work special

education teachers perform

Clark Principal Novelt Estrella praised the hard work of Baena and Henderson


our children. A number of stud-ies, most significantly one con-ducted in 2005 by the National Bureau of Economic Research, indicates that veteran teachers are our most effective teachers. Other studies report what we all know to be the truth— that in in-ner-city areas like New Orleans, teacher turnover rates are high. In order to retain veteran teach-ers, we need to assure this free-dom from arbitrary dismissal.

Tenure also protects your freedom in the workplace, and there are many cases where teachers have used tenure to fight for and win the right to teach what they knew to be the truth in the face of adver-sity. According to Jewell Gould of the American Federation of Teachers, “It is a real threat that a group of individuals can take over a municipality and dictate the terms of the curriculum.” Gould says that tenure has also been historically important in protecting not only the political but the personal rights of teach-ers. “Teachers in the past, with-out tenure, could be fired for be-ing pregnant,” notes Gould.

The RSD is attempting to deny all of this to educators. We all need to stand together to as-sure that new teachers retain this essential right, so that our educators can continue to be free to fulfill their duties without fear of arbitrary or capricious punishment.

To get active and to join a team to work on assuring ten-ure for educators, contact the organizing committee at your

school. Together we can keep education free. All of us— edu-cators, parents, and especially our children— deserve this much.

No Tenure for RSD Teachers(continued from page 1)

The Struggle for Retiree Healthcare

Many of you have expressed your concerns over retiree healthcare, and United Teach-ers of New Orleans is very con-cerned about the lack of retiree health care for some of our members. As a first step towards resolving these issues, UTNO leadership has been meeting with state legislators to lobby for adequate retiree healthcare for all educators.

Fortunately, some mem-bers of the New Orleans state congressional delegation share these concerns. These legisla-tors are currently proposing bills that would address the lack of secure funding for retiree health insurance as well as to provide health insurance for some em-ployees who have fallen through the cracks of the new systems that have been created post-storm and may be nearing re-tirement.

However, even if this legisla-tion is successful, there are many educators whose needs will not be provided for, as there is cur-rently no plan in the legislature to address the needs of many charter school employees.

UTNO’s retirees have been active on this issue, however neither they nor UTNO leader-ship can do this alone. We have a long uphill fight against us, and it will take mass involvement to assure that all educators have health coverage they can count on when they retire.

Call UTNO Political Organiz-er Myrtis Johnson at (504)304-2160 to join the Retirement Health Care Committee today.

UTNO Holds First Charter School EventOn Wednesday, March 19,

more than seventy-five charter school employees packed the Wisdom Hall on St. Bernard Av-enue for UTNO’s first charter school event. Teachers, para-educators and clerical workers from schools around the city came down to meet with teach-ers from other charter schools over food, drinks and dancing.

“It’s really great to see teach-ers from other schools,” said a charter school teacher who at-tended the event. “A lot of the time we feel so isolated.”

“Many of you work in sepa-rate schools for separate op-erators, but New Orleans is one city and we are one union,” said UTNO President Dr. Mitchell to the assembled educators during a break in the music. She also recognized the achievements of Sophie B. Wright Charter School, which recently moved to over 60% membership.

UTNO is currently planning a similar event for RSD and NOPS employees. Watch the UTNO web site for more details.


Starting May 15, applica-tions will be accepted for an ex-citing writing and professional development retreat for educa-tors. The Andover Bread Loaf Writing Workshop is a program designed to help educators de-velop their talents as writers, create curricula, and initiate ex-citing interdisciplinary projects in their classrooms, schools and communities. The workshop is held in rural Massachusetts and will take place July 6-19.

Most of the participants who enroll in the workshop are teachers from urban centers in the United States, however the workshop draws educators from Native American reserva-tions, rural schools and com-munity organizations, as well as from cities in India and East and South Africa.

The workshop includes two all-expense paid field trips to the historic city of Lawrence, Massachusetts and to the Bread Loaf School of English in Mid-dlebury, Vermont.

All costs and fees for suc-cessful applicants are covered by the Andover Bread Loaf or-ganization. The workshop is funded through contributions from individuals, foundations, businesses, schools and school systems.

To apply for enrollment in the 2008 workshop, send 1) your name, address, telephone num-ber, school, grade level you teach and number of years teaching, 2) a short letter of interest that highlights your teaching experi-ences and your reasons for at-tending the workshop and 3) a letter of recommendation from

a colleague or administrator who is familiar with your role and performance as an educa-tor in one envelope to:

Lou BernieriDirector, Andover Bread Loaf180 Main StreetPhillips AcademyAndover, MA 01810

Writing/PD Workshop Accepting ApplicationsMore information is avail-

able by contacting Lou Bernieri at [email protected] or at (978)884-8452. Locally, inter-ested educators can also contact Jim Randels at [email protected] or at (504)982-0399.

On May 21, United Teachers of New Orleans will hold elec-tions for all offices in the union, including offices created by the new constitution. These include President, six new Vice-Presi-dent Positions, Secretary, Trea-surer and six At-Large Member Representatives. Additionally, Building Representatives will be elected at every school site that employs UTNO members from May 1-10.

If you wish to run for office or you know someone who is inter-ested in running for office, come by the UTNO office to pick up a nomination form. All UTNO members who joined on or by January 30, 2008, are eligible to run for office, and all members who joined on or by March 15, 2008 are eligible to vote in union elections.

Contact the organizing com-mittee at your school for more information about Building Representative elections.

Dates for the May Elections are on the facing page.

Union Elections Are Coming

The payout to individuals from the UTNO/OPSB settle-ment has slowed down, with more than 4,500 having received the initial $500 payment for a total of over $2,250,000 paid out to date. FARA, the firm han-dling distribution of the funds, will begin in April to place ads in major newspapers in several cities including Houston, Dal-las, Jackson, Memphis, Birming-ham and Atlanta to attempt to contact those who have not yet received their check from this payout.

If you know any individuals employed by the OPSB on August 29, 2005, who have not received payment from this settlement, please have them contact FARA at [email protected] or at (504)832-4800 so that they can begin the process of address verification and payment.

UTNO/OPSB Settlement Update


Important Dates for Union Elections:

April 30: Official nomina-tion of candidates for of-fice at the General Mem-bership Meeting

May 1: Nominees are noti-fied if they qualify as can-didates

May 1-10: Election of Building Representatives at school sites.

May 21: Election of Officers

May 26: Release of election results

Indiana Students, Teacher Bring Books to New Orleans

On March 25, a group of stu-dents from Hammond, Indiana brought roughly 17,000 books they had collected for distribu-tion to New Orleans schools to the UTNO office. The students, led by instructor Tameka Singh of the Hammond Area Career Center, started a non-profit business called Helping Hands and collected the books over a period of several months.

Ms. Singh says that she was motivated to do something to help after witnessing first-hand the destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina during a tour of flood-damaged neigh-borhoods as part of the AFT’s Human, Civil and Women’s

Rights Conference in October 2007.

“Two years later, the scene is

still horrific,” said Singh. “How-ever it is still more horrific to see that, in one of the richest countries in the world, there are schools and libraries without books.”

Singh and a group of her students also raised $525 in monetary donations, which will be distributed to appli-cants to the Bridging the Gap Makeover for purchasing sup-plies and making minor im-provements to their rooms.

United Teachers of New Or-leans will be distributing the books to public school librar-ies in NOPS, RSD and charter schools throughout the city in

coming weeks. Check the UTNO web site for updates.

Hammond Area Career Center students Simone Ridgell, Frederick McKinney and

Christopher Thomas

UTNO Organizing Director Larry Carter helps unload some of the 17,000 books

In March, United Teachers of New Orleans continued our negotiations with the OPSB to-wards our first post-storm con-tract. Additionally, UTNO lead-ership held meetings with the contract development team. Members of this team will be sitting at the negotiating table in upcoming bargaining sessions.

We will be having more meet-ings with the OPSB in April, and are looking forward to finalizing our contract by the end of the school year. UTNO salutes all the educators on the contract development team who are making sure NOPS teachers and school employees not only get a contract, but get the contract they need and deserve.

OPSB Negotiations Update

Be an active part of rebuilding our union.

Call UTNO today!

UTNO(504) 304-2160www.utno.org

UNITEwith your colleagues

BETTERTOGETHER


Yolande Thurman is not a shy person. She radiates confi-dence, and is passionate about improving teaching and learn-ing conditions for the children that she serves. Talking to Ms. Thurman, it also quickly be-comes clear that she is willing to fight for what she believes in. “I’m not one of these people who says amen to everything,” Thurman admits.

A native of New Orleans’ third ward, Thurman attend-ed Augustine High School and Southern University of New Or-leans before seeking her teach-ing certificate. Her first involve-ment with UTNO was through a program designed to help minority teachers pass the Na-tional Teaching Exam. “It’s not just what you know,” Thurman points out, “It’s how to take the test.”

She began teaching at Phyllis C. Wheatley in 1993, later mov-ing to Fannie C. Williams. After the storm, Yolande Thurman was hired at Harriet Tubman El-ementary School in Algiers. She says that the new school took some adjustment, particularly dealing with a different student population. “It was very difficult that first year,” says Thurman, “These kids have seen a lot.”

Thurman says that she wel-comes the smaller class sizes at Tubman. “I might have 24, 25 students. It’s still an inti-mate amount of students,” says

Thurman. She also says there is strong community among the educators at Tubman, who she describes as “like family”.

However, Thurman says that Tubman is struggling in a number of ways. She points to inadequate planning time for instructors in the ACSA as a se-rious issue. Thurman helped es-tablish LEAP tutoring at Tub-man this year, a move which she felt was essential for the students. “I don’t think it’s anything extraordinary that we did, but we gave the kids confidence.” She says the tutoring was focused on more than academics. “We worked on positive thoughts and positive attitudes along with building their skills. We know if you think you can do it, that’s half the battle.”

She says that she is con-cerned about the difficulty that Tubman is having in retaining staff, and lower pay in charter schools is one of the difficul-ties. “We want to help the kids and to make a difference. Why not make top dollar? How could you value me if you’re paying me less than everyone else?” asks Thurman.

But Thurman sees the lack of adequate support for new teachers as a bigger stumbling block. Thurman says that working in this new environ-ment and watching new teach-ers struggle, she has come to ap-

preciate even more what union was able to provide before the storm. “As I worked, the union became a vital part of my pro-fessional development,” states Thurman. “The union had set up several professional devel-opment trainings, and provided a certificate to show the district that you had done your PD.”

She says the issue of reten-tion of teachers is important not only because schools need ex-perienced teachers, but for the way that it affects the school. “Every time a teacher leaves, we hate it. We lose part of our fam-ily,” explains Thurman.

Thurman says that she will continue to fight to make Har-riet Tubman Elementary and all Algiers Charter Schools better places to learn and to teach.

“If we continue to get infor-mation and guidance from the union, we can empower our-selves and continue to bring changes. If we stay here, we can make a difference.”

Making A DifferenceAn interview with Yolande Thurman, Harriet Tubman Elementary

PROFESSIONAL VOICE

Yolande Thurman at her home in Algiers

utno announces winner of makeover...

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