Using a phone bank and other organizing tools, support staff at the Oregon School Employees Association's Centennial Chapter 113 spent months recruiting 2,000 classified employees, teachers and social service employees to sign up for First Book, a national nonprofit dedicated to putting books in the hands of children who need them most.
Following a new report detailing how Wall Street sold toxic deals to school districts and municipalities that are costing communities billions in fees, interest and other payments, educators, parents, community members and local officials have joined together for a Day of Action in cities across the country.
Michigan may see one of the closest races in the country. That means it's all going to come down to turnout and the late-deciding voters. The AFT has launched two ad buys in the state, to make clear what's at stake.
The AFT is challenging the assumptions of a new report from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute on school support staff, which suggests that the increase in the number of these employees is "adding more hands, but not necessarily more value."
AFT President Randi Weingarten appeared on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" television show to make the case for teachers' due process rights, to correct widely held misconceptions about the teaching workforce, and to clarify that problems tied to evaluation are often mislabeled as due process issues.
AFT convention delegates unanimously passed a special order of business—recommended by the executive council—to fight back against attacks on unions and teachers like Vergara v. California and Harris v. Quinn, and to fight forward to reclaim the promise of America.