Racial justice: Tim Wise says the purpose of education is to get free
Whenever we see inequalities in our society we need to remember one thing, antiracist activist Tim Wise told attendees — there are no accidents, just precedents.
Wise, who has written seven books, most recently Under the Affluence: Shaming the Poor, Praising the Rich and Sacrificing the Future of America, talked about how the inherent injustice of the educational system must be transformed — the system was never meant to bring equity.
Recognition: Fierce advocates share Women in Education Award for fighting corporate charters
When accepting her award for Women in Education, along with her colleague Theresa Sage, for their successful fight against the Rocketship corporate charter school chain, Morgan Hill Federation of Teachers President Gemma Abels gave a speech that brought the room to tears. She talked about the tough personal fight she faced thereafter — stage IV ovarian cancer with aggressive chemo treatments and attendant exhaustion.
Legislator of the Year: Jose Medina
Many legislators, although they seem good at first, have a “shelf life,” said Community College Council President Jim Mahler, which expires when they stop responding to the people who elected them. Mahler said to combat this by finding your own candidates. Assemblyman Jose Medina, D-Riverside, winner of CFT’s Legislator of the Year Award, was just who the union was looking for.
Ben Rust Award: John Perez recipient of union’s top honor
After people in leadership at the local where he is the former president, United Teachers Los Angeles, got up to talk about his mentoring, his commitment to growing the movement, and the respect they have for him, the winner of this year’s Ben Rust award, John Perez, got up to speak.
Democracy: Delegates pass resolutions and amendments
EC/TK-12 EDUCATION
Resolution 1 Support best practices in
Local Control Accountability Plans
Resolution 4 Ensure adult education exists
in its best and fullest capacity
Resolution 5 Call for rationality in
testing
Resolution 6 Support for the California
Education for a Global Economy Initiative
Resolution 7 Sponsor an education
technology implementation study
Resolution 8 Create a School Climate and
Student Engagement Advisory Committee
Resolution 10 Create a working group on
teacher induction
EC/K12 Award: Claytor honored with Raoul Teilhet Award
After people in leadership at the local where he is the former president, United Teachers Los Angeles, got up to talk about his mentoring, his commitment to growing the movement, and the respect they have for him, the winner of this year’s Ben Rust award, John Perez, got up to speak.
Solidarity: Rally for public education ends in civil disobedience
At a rally and march for fair pay and quality public education held the Friday of the CFT Convention in San Francisco, hundreds of attendees joined AFT Local 2121, the faculty union for City College of San Francisco, as they marched from the Hyatt Regency to offices of the college’s lead contract negotiator a few blocks away. Two dozen people — community and union leaders as well as members — blocked the entrance and got arrested in an act of civil disobedience. This came right after the union’s largest voter turnout ever for a strike vote, which was approved by 92 percent.
Organizing: Building our union power
In a panel discussion moderated by Joanne Waddell, president of the Los Angeles College Faculty Guild, four leaders in very different situations — three from California and one from Texas, a right-to-work state — talked about what they’d done to significantly increase their membership and get people involved with the union.
The State of Our Union: We are working to “Activate Labor for Justice”
By Joshua Pechthalt, CFT President
Four years ago we talked about the need to pass Proposition 30, a measure that has added more than $6 billion dollars annually to the state budget after years of devastating cuts. Now we have to extend it. The measure for which we are gathering signatures — The Children’s Education and Healthcare Protection Act — will raise $5 to $11 billion a year, eliminate the sales tax increase, and continue to ask wealthy Californians to pay a bit more in personal income tax.
CFT supports families of missing Mexican students
Survivor tells horrific tale of persecution and murder
Angel Neri described the unique education given students at the Raul Isidro Burgos School in Ayotzinapa, Guerrero, in his speech at CFT Convention. The school takes students from rural farming communities, trains them as teachers, and then encourages them to return to work in schools in the poorest, most remote communities in Mexico. This has earned the school the enmity of corrupt and violent elements of Mexican society.
Robert Chacanaca: The workers’ advocate
When he accepted the Raoul Teilhet Educate, Agitate, Organize Award, Robert Chacanaca, known as “Chaca,” asked for a moment of silence to remember Teilhet, the former CFT president who successfully pursued collective bargaining.
Alisa Messer: Advocating for women and diversity
Joined onstage by other women from City College of San Francisco, English instructor Alisa Messer received the CFT Women in Education Award.
Paul Fong: A champion to educators
Politics is the lifeblood of the work we do,” said CFT Vice President David Yancey. “Great political allies are worth their weight in gold.”
Classified staff: We wear many hats
Lab techs. Secretaries. Bus drivers. Groundskeepers. Food service workers. The varied hats classified staff members wear cover a multitude of job roles, said Carl Williams, a senior custodian and president of the Lawndale Federation of Classified Employees. He had members pick up a hat and come on stage when they heard their job title called out.
Laura Rico: Ben Rust Award recipient inspired two generations
Laura Rico has worked in education for more than 40 years, starting as an early childhood teacher at the Artesia High School Children’s Center in the 1970s where she became a member of the ABC Federation of Teachers.
Floor debate: Delegates tackle rich array of social justice and education topics
Delegates took on social justice concerns, passing a resolution from the United Educators of San Francisco and the CFT Executive Council to officially support the “Black Lives Matter” movement. Resolution 23 calls for community meetings, teach-ins and curricula, such as what’s already posted on UESF’s website and AFT’s Share My Lesson.
Jeff Duncan-Andrade: The effect of toxic stress on student lives
Jeff Duncan-Andrade grew up in Oakland, the youngest of seven children. He remembers one day when his mother sat him down, showed him a glass of water, and asked him if it was half full or half empty.
Betty Yee: State Controller’s story of immigrant success
Betty Yee said she owes her job as California’s 32nd controller in part to public education — the San Francisco Unified School District and UC Berkeley. She offered a heartfelt thanks to the CFT for its work to get her elected in a tight race.
Tom Torlakson: Suspends Academic Performance Index despite Duncan’s threats
Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson has a vision consistent with educators, according to CFT President Joshua Pechthalt.
“He’s going to fight for public education” Pechthalt said. “He’s not going to let the ‘deformers’ have their way.”
State of the Union 2015
Delivered by CFT President Joshua Pechthalt on March 21, 2015
Good morning CFT members, guests and staff, I want to thank all of you for taking time to help make the CFT a strong, vibrant and progressive voice in the California labor movement. It is your activism and your commitment to our union that makes this organization such an important voice for social justice, for our members and for our students.
Raoul Teilhet: Delegates celebrate life of courageous former president
Raoul Teilhet, president of the CFT from 1968 to 1985, who oversaw the successful struggle for a collective bargaining law for education employees, was “a rock star,” said AFT Vice President and United Educators of San Francisco President Dennis Kelly. CFT President Emeritus Miles Myers read a poem and thanked Teilhet for the good times. Long-time CFT staffer Annette Eisenberg told of Teilhet leaving a registration form on her desk after finding out she had never voted, and how he made everyone feel they mattered.
Leader of Moral Mondays Movement brings delegates to their feet
North Carolina’s Reverend Barber says it’s time for some righteous indignation.
“These are serious times,” Reverend William Barber II told the CFT Convention delegates on Sunday morning. Barber is president of the NAACP in North Carolina and the leader of the fast-growing Moral Mondays Movement, which protests cuts to education, healthcare and food stamps. He worked delegates into a fervor telling them that sometimes they needed to get out of their conference seats and go into the streets to fight back against things they think are wrong, and that it’s time for some righteous indignation.
Attorney General launches anti-truancy campaign
Keynote speaker Attorney General Kamala Harris told Convention delegates she wouldn’t be standing there if not for her first grade teacher, Mrs. Wilson, who attended her graduation from law school.
AFT President continues to champion issues of California educators
From helping pass Proposition 30, which raises billions of dollars for education, to fighting back against Vergara v. California, a lawsuit filed on behalf of nine student plaintiffs which seeks to dismantle teachers’ rights, AFT President Randi Weingarten stands up for California educators and students.
Los Angeles mayor allies with CFT and educators
In some cities, the education unions and the mayor engage in battle. But that’s not the case in Los Angeles where Eric Garcetti was elected mayor in May 2013 with early support from the CFT. He welcomed Convention delegates Friday morning by saying he always keeps his education background in mind.
San Diego education advocate named Legislator of the Year
CFT’s Community College Council President Jim Mahler called state Senator Marty Block, who represents the cities of San Diego, Coronado, Del Mar and Solana Beach, the union’s “go-to guy on every issue for decades,” when awarding Block the CFT’s Legislator of the Year Award.
Field representative Dick Hemann honored with Ben Rust Award
It’s not his height, his beard or his “elfin face” that make Dick Hemann stand out, said United Educators of San Francisco President Dennis Kelly. It’s his jokes.
CFT Convention delegates working to “Reclaim the Promise”
A recap of Convention 2014
The Reverend William J. Barber II, president of the North Carolina NAACP, and leader of the growing “Moral Monday” movement contesting his state’s descent into the nineteenth century at the hands of its Tea Party government, provided a parable to the 600 elected delegates in the waning hours of the California Federation of Teachers’ 72nd annual convention, held in Manhattan Beach over the March 21-23 weekend.
CFT Convention delegates elect leadership slate
Speakers laud union’s accomplishments and inspire future campaigns
Midway through this year’s state convention, CFT President Josh Pechthalt and Secretary Treasurer Jeff Freitas ran unopposed as part of a slate called QES-Quality Education Slate and the entire slate was elected by acclamation.
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