The Romans dedicated the month of January to Janus, the god of beginnings and transitions. He was also known as the god of gates, doors, doorways, endings, and time. Janus was said to look to the future and the past. It is a good time for our union to also look to the future and past.
Looking back, 2018 was a significant year in the history of OCCTA! By standing up against HB 7055 and the Janus ruling, our members recruited the most members ever recruited in any previous year, growing our numbers to the highest level ever reached. In September 2017 we had 6,460 members and today we have 7,608 members reflecting a growth of 1,148 members! We can reach more than 8,000 members this year if every member commits to recruiting just one new member.
Additionally, last year OCCTA reorganized to become an independent union, separating from the Service Unit Council. Under the restructuring plan, OCCTA has been able to focus its full attention and energy on member services, member advocacy and member empowerment.
OCCTA leaders and members worked tirelessly to get pro-student, pro-teacher and pro-public education candidates elected and we were certainly successful! The prevailing OCCTA and AFL-CIO endorsed candidates, included school board candidates Angie Gallo, District 1; Johanna Lopez, District 2; Linda Kobert, District 3; and Karen Castor Dentel, District 6. Every one of our state representative candidates were victorious - Anna Eskamani (HD 47), Amy Mercado (HD 48), Carlos Guillermo-Smith (HD 49) and Geraldine Thompson (HD 44). The three candidates we backed for the U.S House seats also won - U.S. Representatives Darren Soto (CD 9), Val Demings (CD 10), and Stephanie Murphy (CD 7).
Our Government Relations Committee sponsored a special Friend of Public Education awards ceremony to recognize the Florida House and Senate leaders who supported public education and OCCTA’s legislative platform. We also sponsored a Solidarity Picnic in August for members to get to know and interact with our endorsed candidates. As President, I am privileged to serve on Congresswoman Murphy’s Labor Advisory Board where I share the union's views on issues pertaining to students, teachers and public education. I look forward to working together with all local, state and national officials to move our agenda forward.
Last year, our union partnered with community organizations and AFL-CIO affiliates to promote important community social justice initiatives. In July 2018, Orlando made history as our City Commission voted unanimously to pass the Trust Act Policy, becoming the first southern city to do so. As president, I worked for 18 months with 36 other organizations of the Trust Coalition to meet with Orlando leaders, and raise awareness to make the passage of this Act a reality. OCCTA members participated in the Women’s March in January 2018 and the March For Our Lives protests in Washington, DC and Orlando in March 2018 to support women’s rights, gun reform and safe schools. I represented OCCTA speaking at the Awake the State Rally, and sat on two panels with state and federal legislators to address gun reform. I also gave numerous interviews on television and radio programs.
OCCTA’s Human and Civil Rights Committee sponsored four public documentary film screenings, partnering with the Global Peace Film Festival and WUCF PBS to bring awareness to social issues, including immigration, racial equality and the environment. Labor rights icon Delores Huerta joined us by phone to answer questions after the viewing of the film, Delores. OCCTA also contributed to the production of Let My People Go, a film that was screened at the Florida Film Festival, dedicated to promoting Amendment 4 .
OCCTA got our pro-public education message out to the community by participating in the Martin Luther King, Jr., Hispanic Heritage and Come Out With Pride parades.
In 2018, we also hosted three successful Action Summits for teachers, parents and school board members to bring attention to unacceptable working conditions, unpaid hours to complete mandated tasks and a punitive evaluation system. The summits were attended by school board members, the press and candidates.
Throughout the year, OCCTA members showed their generosity by donating time and resources to charitable initiatives. We supported victims of Hurricanes Maria and Michael. We welcomed teachers and students from Puerto Rico, donated books and backpacks for students and worked with Maestro Puerto Rico to assist Puerto Rican teachers with certification. We collected food for the Health Care Center for the Homeless and toys and gifts for the Hope Community Center to donate to migrant farmworker families.
Finally, we established a Professional Development Program (Sanford Inspire) with the in-service points being approved by the District. We also conducted a successful summer Association Representative training series to empower our ARs. NEA Benefits partnered with us to host workshops on Degrees Not Debt and the FRS Retirement system. We also sponsored workshops to help educate teachers on the evaluation system and appeals process.
Looking to the future. . .
In 2019, OCCTA will mark its 79th year since its founding . Let us work together to ensure that 2019 is a year we move forward together to strengthen public education, increase teachers’ salaries, and improve working conditions.
Despite claims that the state is responsible for teachers’ poor working conditions and salaries, we know that there are many changes that can be implemented locally to improve both. Salaries, planning time, workload, autonomy, and the evaluation system can, and must be improved to stop the exodus of teachers. OCPS teachers should be given the authority and time to create inspiring lessons, facilitate meaningful hands on activities that will bring joy back to the classroom. They must spend their time teaching, not compiling data to prove they are teaching.
Together we must fight back against those who are working to destabilize and divert much needed funds from our state’s public schools to unaccountable charters and private schools. Together we must stand strong against those who wish to decertify teacher unions, privatize public schools, and silence teachers’ voices.
Since we took a look back, let’s go way back. . .
I spent most of the Thanksgiving and winter breaks continuing to organize OCCTA files and archives. When I became President, I discovered that documents of all kinds had not been filed for years. Box upon box of unlabeled files were stored in helter-skelter fashion, filling an entire office space from floor to ceiling. It has taken over two years to move the files, sort through them, and get the majority of them filed. We are almost done!
While sorting through files, I came across some archives that are interesting treasures. They document the very beginnings of OCCTA and chronicle how far OCCTA has come since it was founded. Among archived files is a 1941 letter from the National Education Association congratulating Orange County Classroom Teachers Association on being the first county in Florida to establish a local classroom teachers’ association.
The first OCCTA board meeting chaired by President Patricia Pickard took place on April 22, 1941 in the auditorium of Memorial Junior High School. The dues were $.25 per year and were collected at schools by an assigned member or the principal. The October 1941 minutes reflected a decision to write to the Superintendent Judson B. Walker to request “a raise of at least 10% for the term 1941-1942 because living expenses have risen 13 percent.” At that time teachers made $1,200 annually.
Minutes and correspondence referenced WWII and related conditions. In an April 13, 1942 letter, J.R. Holbrook, the Chair of the School Board wrote, “We are in the worst war this country has ever known, let us work together and continue the splendid cooperation we have had in the past.”
Sprinkled throughout the union’s earliest archival papers are letters and receipts from Attorney George Palmer Garrett. In 1941 he accepted employment as the union’s attorney for a monthly $20 fee. Mr. Garrett’s son, George Palmer Garrett, was an acclaimed writer and poet who attended Delaney Grammar School and Cherokee Junior High School.
Among notable union members in 1944 were William R. Boone, whose summer address was listed as Peel Avenue and Roger A. Williams, Principal of Apopka High School. The January 27, 1947 board minutes reflected that 325 of 392 classroom teachers in Orange County were members of the Orange County Classroom Teachers Association.
A letter from FEA written on August 25, 1947 called for a “minimum salary of $200 per month for 12 months, with added increments for service and efficiency.” Among the early documents are copies of Western Union telegrams which were sent to the Florida Legislature urging legislators to pass bills favorable to teachers.
In the September 19, 1950 meeting minutes OCCTA President, Mrs. Maynard Evans, summarized survey responses. They included rejecting salaries based on principal evaluations, asking the school board for salary raises based on the cost of living increases, and putting OCCTA informational materials on bulletin boards. The slogan for the 1951 membership drive was “Be Strong, Belong!”
Truly amazing were archival letters and articles that describe the teaching profession. While much has changed in 74 years, so much has stayed the same.
One letter written by the OCCTA secretary 74 years ago to Mr. Cloudburst could have been written today. It says, in part:
“The average person is so inclined to look upon the teaching profession as a nice soft job, with short hours, one day off every week and a nice long summer vacation without ever realizing the years of preparation and expenditure of money necessary to obtain such a profession. Nor do they stop to think how difficult it would be to budget a nine months salary to make it stretch over twelve months. In fact, it would require an expert in financing to show us how it could be done – even to include the necessary living costs and continued professional advancement required – and we teachers have never felt we had the necessary surplus cash to secure such expert aid. Much benefit and breadth of vision might be obtained from an occasional tour to some foreign port, but for us that ambition remains a mere dream.
Probably more of us should have accepted the more remunerative jobs that have been ours to accept or reject, but, unfortunately teachers are cursed with a conscience, which tells us that we can best serve our country by helping maintain the educational standard for the youth of our Nation.”
Likewise, a November 1950 NEA publication could have been written today. It was devoted to the urgent need to raise teacher salaries. It read in part, “Thousands of teachers have left the profession for the higher wages paid by industries. Thousands of others see their students leaving high school and making better wages than teachers of long experience. . . The paycheck of the average factory worker is today at least 80 percent above the year 1939. . .meanwhile teachers’ salaries have increased an average of less than 10 percent.”
The first OCCTA board meeting chaired by President Patricia Pickard took place on April 22, 1941 in the auditorium of Memorial Junior High School. The dues were $.25 per year and were collected at schools by an assigned member or the principal. The October 1941 minutes reflected a decision to write to the Superintendent Judson B. Walker to request “a raise of at least 10% for the term 1941-1942 because living expenses have risen 13 percent.” At that time teachers made $1,200 annually.
Minutes and correspondence referenced WWII and related conditions. In an April 13, 1942 letter, J.R. Holbrook, the Chair of the School Board wrote, “We are in the worst war this country has ever known, let us work together and continue the splendid cooperation we have had in the past.”
Sprinkled throughout the union’s earliest archival papers are letters and receipts from Attorney George Palmer Garrett. In 1941 he accepted employment as the union’s attorney for a monthly $20 fee. Mr. Garrett’s son, George Palmer Garrett, was an acclaimed writer and poet who attended Delaney Grammar School and Cherokee Junior High School.
Among notable union members in 1944 were William R. Boone, whose summer address was listed as Peel Avenue, and Roger A. Williams, Principal of Apopka High School. The January 27, 1947 board minutes reflected that 325 of 392 classroom teachers in Orange County were members of the Orange County Classroom Teachers Association.
A letter from FEA written on August 25, 1947 called for a “minimum salary of $200 per month for 12 months, with added increments for service and efficiency.” Among the early documents are copies of Western Union telegrams which were sent to the Florida Legislature urging legislators to pass bills favorable to teachers.
In the September 19, 1950 meeting minutes OCCTA President, Mrs. Maynard Evans summarized survey responses. They included rejecting salaries based on principal evaluations, asking the school board for salary raises based on the cost of living increases, and putting OCCTA informational materials on bulletin boards. The slogan for the 1951 membership drive was “Be Strong, Belong!”
Truly amazing were archival letters and articles that describe the teaching profession. While much has changed in 74 years, so much has stayed the same.
One letter written by the OCCTA secretary 74 years ago, to Mr. Cloudburst who wrote an article on teachers’ salaries, could have been written today. It says in part:
“The average person is so inclined to look upon the teaching profession as a nice soft job, with short hours, one day off every week and a nice long summer vacation without ever realizing the years of preparation and expenditure of money necessary to obtain such a profession. Nor do they stop to think how difficult it would be to budget a nine months salary to make it stretch over twelve months. In fact, it would require an expert in financing to show us how it could be done – even to include the necessary living costs and continued professional advancement required – and we teachers have never felt we had the necessary surplus cash to secure such expert aid. Much benefit and breadth of vision might be obtained from an occasional tour to some foreign port, but for us that ambition remains a mere dream.
Probably more of us should have accepted the more remunerative jobs that have been ours to accept or reject, but, unfortunately teachers are cursed with a conscience, which tells us that we can best serve our country by helping maintain the educational standard for the youth of our Nation.”
Likewise, a November 1950 NEA publication could have been written today. It was devoted to the urgent need to raise teacher salaries. It read in part, “Thousands of teachers have left the profession for the higher wages paid by industries. Thousands of others see their students leaving high school and making better wages than teachers of long experience. . . The paycheck of the average factory worker is today at least 80 percent above the year 1939. . . meanwhile teachers’ salaries have increased an average of less than 10 percent.”
The Associated Press reported in March 1950 that the NEA estimated that the average teacher works 48 hours per week. The article mentioned that teacher workloads could be changed without more spending. Sound familiar?
The Associated Press reported in March 1950 that the NEA estimated that the average teacher works 48 hours per week. The article mentioned that teacher workloads could be changed without more spending. Sound familiar?
And still relevant today – The Post reported in 1944:
“Low pay is the paramount reason for the flight from teaching.”
“Teachers never get a chance to be spendthrifts. It is because when it comes to pay, teachers are the most underprivileged group among public servants.
“Today teaching is the most underpaid and under appreciated of the learned professions. . .and because many teachers feel that the conditions under which they must operate do not permit them to do a real job of teaching.”
We cannot wait another 74 years for teachers to be respected as professionals, to receive fair salaries and to have improved working conditions. As AFT President Randi Weingarten has said, “Now is a 'which side are you on' moment.” Now is the time to stand up, speak out and fight for our rights.
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