It was a shooting at a high school in Michigan in 2021 that compelled union activists to co-found Teachers Unify to End Gun Violence. Together, they sought to elevate stories of gun violence in schools and communities in order to change policies. They additionally committed to making resources and support available to educators, support staff and students who face the possibility of gun violence daily.

Co-founders and activists with the organization gathered last month in Washington, D.C., for our national union’s biennial TEACH (Together Educating America’s Children) conference. There they led a workshop titled, “Speaking of Gun Violence: How Do We Ensure Educator Voices Matter?,” and shared their stories of organizing and empowering educators to raise their voices.

Click here to learn more about, join and support Teachers Unify to End Gun Violence.

Abbey Clements (second from right, in photo), a veteran elementary school teacher and survivor of the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting in Newtown, told attendees that surviving that fateful day was just the beginning. She and her fellow survivors had to deal with the repercussions.

“The aftermath is trying to figure out what your path forward is in this new normal,” Clements, a member of our AFT Connecticut-affiliated Newtown Federation of Teachers, said. That meant bringing educators into the discussion around gun violence because, in her mind, they were the “missing piece.”

The increasing number of school shootings motivated Clements to connect with educator colleagues and encourage them to start a national organization for teachers, by teachers, focused on ending the violence. That led to co-founding and eventually serving as Teachers Unify’s executive director.

Click here for our local Newtown teachers union president’s letter in response to last year’s Uvalde, TX school shooting.

“Gun violence has affected every single one of us in this room, directly or indirectly,” said Teachers Unify co-founder and New York City high school history teacher Sari Beth Rosenberg (right).

“My son was in first grade when Sandy Hook happened. You never think that something like this will happen to you…and then it did,” said Sarah Lerner (second from left), a 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting survivor.

“When the news cycle changes, your school isn’t front and center anymore. There’s just so much that schools and communities need, but no one asks us what those things are,” added Lerner, also a Teachers Unify co-founder and an English teacher.

Click here for an on-demand webinar featuring Clements, Lerner and others aimed at supporting victims of gun violence.

La-Shanda West (left), a social studies teacher in Miami and a Teachers Unify ambassador who is also a survivor of gun violence, encouraged attendees to have the “uncomfortable conversations.” As a candidate for school board in a recent election, she used her voice and platform to tell her story and to make sure that her community understands that gun violence is unacceptable.

“You have a right to live in a community where you’re safe and secure,” said West. “And we need to hold policymakers accountable at all levels; not just local, but state and national, as well.”

Elevating educator stories is an integral part of Teachers Unify, added Clements. “If people don’t know what’s going on in your classrooms, what your students are dealing with, even in a broad way, then they can just normalize this,” she said. “Or they can just pretend it’s not happening. But you are the experts, you know what’s happening.”

Click here for recent press reporting on Clements’ policy advocacy with Teachers Unify.

Photo credit: Sari Beth Rosenberg

Editor’s note: includes contributions by Adrienne Coles, AFT

The post Speaking Out on Gun Violence first appeared on AFT Connecticut.

While AFT Connecticut’s annual convention is an opportunity for state federation leadership to take action on priority policy initiatives, it’s also a time to lift up members. The 2023 event’s agenda included a return to the announcement of scholarship program winners as well as the presentation of citations, recognitions and awards. The theme of the event – “Charging Up!” – perfectly captured the engagement, energy and enthusiasm of this year’s well-deserved honorees.

The announcement of our state federation’s scholarship recipients featured remarks by George C. Springer, Jr., who presented the grant named after his father and longtime AFT Connecticut leader. Before introducing grant winner Emily Benson, he shared one of the most valuable lessons he learned growing up in a union household; “nothing changes unless we change it.”

Click here to watch highlights of this year’s scholarships presentation.

Local unions and state federation staff celebrating milestone anniversaries were also recognized, in addition to the many delegates who engaged in grassroots legislative action during the General Assembly’s 2023 session.

Click here for photos of delegations presented with commemorative citations.

Click here for a photo of legislative activists gathered at the convention.

Both recipients of Connecticut’s statewide educators of the year are members of affiliated local unions and their presidents were asked to speak to their respective accomplishments during the awards program. Our Bristol Federation of Teachers’ Carolyn Kielma and our Meriden Federation of Teachers’ Don Askew were each praised for their collective commitment to “helping youth become better humans.”

Click here for a press interview with Askew following the announcement of his selection.

Click here for recent news coverage featuring Kielma’s views on challenges facing her profession.

Our Hartford Federation of Teachers’ second vice president, Stuart Beckford, was presented as 2023 “Unionist of the Year” for consistently “seeking out ways to further the labor movement’s vital work.” Among the many contributions cited by local president Carol Gale was his recent work to establish and grow a Black Caucus within our state federation.

Click here for a photo of Beckford with his award and fellow delegates.

The 2023 Joseph H. Soifer Award was presented to Chad Cardillo, who currently serves as our Meriden Federation of Teachers vice president for secondary schools. His extensive engagement in AFT Connecticut’s political program was among the numerous examples of labor activism that local president Lauren Mancini-Averitt credited for his nomination and eventual selection.

Click here for a photo of Cardillo receiving our annual Soifer award.

Longtime labor activist and local leader Leslie Blatteau (left, in photo above) received the 2023 President’s Award in recognition of her extensive union service, social justice advocacy and political engagement. In addition to her role heading our New Haven Federation of Teachers, she serves on AFT Connecticut’s executive committee and our national AFT’s Program and Policy Committee for PreK-12 educators.

In her presentation, state federation president Jan Hochadel (right, in photo) credited Blatteau for her “upbeat, can-do nature” and devoting seemingly “boundless” energy to her activism.

Two additional union leaders each received a “Special Recognition Award” during the program. Hochadel thanked our state federation’s outgoing PreK-12 divisional vice president, Mary Yordon, for embodying what it means to apply “solution driven union” principles to our policy advocacy.

Click here for a photo of Yordon receiving her award.

AFT Connecticut’s departing secretary-treasurer, David Hayes, was also recognized for his steady oversight and guidance during uncertain times.

Click here for the full “Awards” report provided at the event to convention delegates.

The post Recognizing Activists Who “Further the Labor Movement’s Vital Work” first appeared on AFT Connecticut.

Despite a record state budget surplus, Governor Ned Lamont’s proposed fiscal blueprint calls for destructive cuts to public higher education. Louise Williams (middle, in photo below), the president of our affiliated CSU-AAUP in a recently published opinion piece warned of the consequences; faculty and staff layoffs, student tuition hikes, program cuts and campus closures. She urged action so that “Rome does not have to burn in 21st-century Connecticut:”

As a teacher of history, I often hear that “history will judge.” My students know the legend of the Roman Emperor Nero, who set fire to his capital city and played his fiddle unconcerned as he watched it burn around him. Gov. Ned Lamont is on the verge of earning a similarly unflattering reputation.

The two-year budget that Lamont unveiled in January appears magnanimous on the surface. Shiny pennies in the form of income tax cuts are thrown from the Capitol building to all the residents of the state. These cuts will cost the state $450 million per year. But their impact will hardly be momentous. Individual residents will save a mere $300-600 dollars.

Click here for recent press reporting on the debate over the governor’s budget proposals.

Certainly, lower income families will benefit; the extra money clearly will help those who are living paycheck to paycheck in a state with the worst inequality in the country. But what about Fairfield County’s multi-millionaires? An extra $300 buys a nice lunch at a restaurant in New York City. But will this stimulate Connecticut’s economy? And will this be what the people of Connecticut remember about Lamont in years to come? Probably not, because these tax cuts result in inadequate funding of – and even cuts to – K-12 and public higher education.

Because of the spending cap, we aren’t supposed to touch the $3 billion surplus. So after $450 million in the governor’s tax income giveaways, only $57 million are left to pay for everything else in the budget. Apparently, Governor Lamont has decided that the popularity he may gain from tax cuts is more important than ensuring a brighter future for Connecticut’s children and young people and is preferable to contributing to business success and the economic strength of the state.

What happens when our elected leaders prioritize popularity over people? I can give an example from what I know best, the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities (CSCU). Under the governor’s budget it has been estimated that the system will have to lay off 600-800 faculty and staff, close programs, cut courses, and increase class sizes just to make ends meet.

​​Click here for reporting on threatened cuts to CSCU’s higher education services.

Even that wouldn’t be enough to close the gap: tuition could be raised by 10% each year for the next three years —an increase never seen before in our state. All of this will have a devastating impact. Many students will not be able to afford to go to college or university. Those who do manage to attend will find hollowed out institutions, stripped of the support students need to complete their degrees. A generation of Connecticut working- and middle-class young people will be denied the higher salaries, health, and happiness that higher education is proven to deliver. And once the destruction of the system starts, there is no ending it. Declining enrollments will lead to further cuts and shrinking opportunities.

This is especially devastating now, when students have suffered so much educationally and emotionally under the virtual learning conditions of the pandemic. Now, more than ever, they need additional support and faculty attention, not less. It is uncertain that this generation of students will be able to overcome these obstacles without a stronger and better-funded education system.

Click here for photos from a recent press conference unions organized to expose the cuts’ harm.

Moreover, Governor Lamont’s short-term popularity grab also does not consider the future economic well-being of most people in our state. Every day we hear cries of workforce shortages in key industries that require employees with education and training. There is a desperate need for teachers, nurses, engineers. But this workforce is trained in our public colleges and universities. Our students are Connecticut residents, almost 90% of whom stay in the state. Without an adequately funded public higher education system, this skilled workforce will never grow to meet the need. Connecticut businesses will not be able to compete with those in other states with stronger educational systems. Why did Lego, like so many other big companies, leave Connecticut and move to Massachusetts? They left in search of a better trained workforce in a state with a superior public education system.

Click here for reporting on the recent “moral budget” rally featuring union activists. 

We ask that legislators help Governor Lamont rethink this budget. He must put Connecticut’s future first, before his own popularity. He must invest in public education so that our young people can recover from a devastating pandemic and so our businesses can be competitive.

And Governor Lamont should remember that history not only judges, it also does not forget. He could build a legacy as the “Education Governor,” not the education destroyer. Rome does not have to burn in 21st-century Connecticut. But Governor Lamont must act before it is too late.

Click here for Williams’ original published commentary in CT Viewpoints.

The post “Ensuring a Brighter Future” through Equitable Investments first appeared on AFT Connecticut.