<< How big are these schools? I.e. how much ground does each chapter leader
have to cover? 50 people? 100? This sounds like an awful lot to dump on
one person. At the GTFF we have 7 or 8 officers to do all this, plus lots
and lots of volunteers. Of course, if the schools are in different locations, this
makes sense. >>
The size varies: the largest high schools have thousands of students, and well over 100 teachers and other pedagogues, but they are a minority of the schools -- the are many more elementary and middle schools, and there are also many much smaller high schools. In addition to a chapter leader, a school may have a number of delegates to the delegate assembly based on the number of union members; they also exercise a leadership role in the school. In the larger high schools, the chapter leader is relieved of 1 of 5 daily classes to do union work, but it is still a huge, overwhelming job. There are also a number of people on a chapter executive, usually a person from each subject area (Science, English, Math, etc.) who help run a school chapter.
Dennis again: << If I had a nickel for every time someone in the AFT told me, "But you grads don't *really* work all that hard, you're just *part-timers*" I'd be rich enough to retire to Monaco. My own experience is (1) I worked like a dog as a grad, and barely had time to breath, (2) all my friends worked like dogs, and (3) everyone I met in other departments worked like dogs. The mental and psychological pressures are very, very intense, and lots of people dropped out, burned out, or couldn't hack it; meanwhile, you go heavily into debt, because tuition and fees are skyrocketing out of sight (even at relatively cheap state schools like the U of O). I was lucky, in that Comparative Literature is a terrific department and gave me lots of support. Still, now I have 71K of debt and no prospect of earning 40K for at least ten years, a pretty normal situation for my fellow grads. >>
This was not a topic of discussion I initiated; I simply responded to the suggestion that if stressed-out, over-worked, time deprived graduate students could do something union wise, certainly the leisure class of teachers and such could also do it. Well, I have done both jobs, and all I can suggest is that until one works for a year as a teacher in an inner city school, it is best to refrain entirely from such comparisons. There are far too many people who have done both, like I did, and know that the two experiences are not even remotely comparable. Sure, when I was a graduate student, I would say all the things that you do, and they were true. But I have to tell you, after 14 years of daily teaching in an inner city high school which started by walking through metal detectors in the hopes of preventing the introduction of weapons into the school, the suggestion that nobody has it harder than a graduate students sounds so empty. It instantly evokes for me a picture of a whining suburban kid talking about the problems of ennui without the slightest conception of what it might mean to be an African-American or Latino/a kid in an inner city, with life and death issues confronting you on a daily basis. The use of such comparisons will lead to quick and complete dismissal on the part of folks who have actually walked the walk under incredibly difficult circumstances.
<< So are you involved in the UFT's leadership, Leo? Any spicy rumors we know know about? >>
There are always spicy rumors, but I m not sure which would be of any interest to LBO types.
Leo Casey United Federation of Teachers 260 Park Avenue South New York, New York 10010-7272 (212-598-6869)
Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never has, and it never will. If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet deprecate agitation are men who want crops without plowing the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightening. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its waters. -- Frederick Douglass --