With the start of the school year behind us, our real work begins. As a teacher, I’ve always enjoyed riding the palpable energy of the first few weeks of school into the fall; learning the names of new students, catching up with former ones and reconnecting with friends and colleagues. The students are eager to learn, the hallways hum with excitement and laughter and we begin to find the grooves where the work happens.
It’s a good thing we are finding a flow state right now because, frankly, it’s incumbent upon all of us to work together to ensure that our public schools continue to see progress along our union issues: healthcare reform, pension justice, school funding and our work toward inclusion and equity.
And Election Day is a few short weeks away, where we must exercise our collective power by voting for our NJEA-endorsed, pro-public education candidates. You can read the list of our endorsed candidates within this issue.
But reading isn’t enough. We must act.
When we pool our power and use it at the ballot box, it is, in every sense of the phrase, an act of solidarity.
Using our votes to express our voices is unionism in action. Politicians affect all the issues that matter to us. It’s our duty to our students and to our union to stand up and engage; for what’s best for our members is what is best for our schools.
In this issue, you’ll read about the courageous members of the WTSSSPA and their fight for a monumental win at the bargaining table. You’ll also find stories of NJEA members standing in solidarity with one another against the scourge of misguided boards of education that try to balance their budgets on the backs of educational support professionals through privatization. And so much more.
My hope for you is that you will see yourself in the stories on the enclosed pages. As members, the acts of solidarity we take connect us in power and in strength.
