Author: Diana Abasta & Kim Allender, Co-Presidents
As we look back on a successful year for our Association, we are more aware than ever of the need to broaden our members’ involvement in Association activities, and to identify and develop future leaders for BTA. Our collective strength is the sum total of our members’ active involvement and support for our Association goals. With that in mind, we offer the following list of goals for 2004.
Continue to build professional parity with district administration. Teachers should be equal partners in all district policies involving curriculum, instructional materials, professional development, classroom environment, and financial decisions that potentially affect classroom instruction. In short, if it affects students, teachers should be included in the decision making process. To its credit, BUSD administration has a tradition of using teachers in Ad Hoc committees to make many curriculum and instructional materials decisions. In today’s climate of politically driven instructional mandates, high stakes testing, potential school sanctions, and wildly fluctuating budgets, it is no longer adequate to have teachers sitting on Ad Hoc committees. In addition to contributing our experience, knowledge, and intellect to these committees, it is now essential to bring our collective power to bear on the full range of education decision making. Only through the combined strength of our Association — gained through political activism, community participation, and effective collective bargaining — can we demand and receive the equal role that teachers deserve (and by any sense of reason ought to have) in the arena of education policy making.
Continue to play a prominent role on the BUSD Budget Committee. This committee continues to play a vital role as a catalyst for reforming the accounting and reporting procedures of BUSD. It is essential for the district to correctly track expenses and revenues and protect the General Fund from unnecessary and unwise encroachments.
Continue to build a constructive, ongoing dialog with school board members. Our school board members have a responsibility to gather information from a wide variety of sources. We must always make certain they hear the ìteachers’ point of viewî, and never be content to allow them to make decisions based only on the ìmanagement point of view.î Further, it is important for school board members to be reminded of the vast difference between talking to an independent, forthright teacher about an education issue and talking to elected leaders of the Burbank Teachers Association. BTA alone has the resources and organizational structure in place to adequately represent the views of all teachers. Through our negotiations surveys, Benchmark newsletters, News from the Table, teacher workshops, Faculty Representatives, Representative Council meetings, and site staff meetings, BTA is uniquely suited to gather information from teachers and represent their collective interests.
Continue to develop connections to the community. Education is a community responsibility. We must continue to make connections with the City of Burbank, Chamber of Commerce, District PTA, and local booster groups so that teachers are always an integral part of the education dialog. Many myths about the ìfailure of public educationî can be dispelled if only parents and other stake holders can hear the truth directly from those who make it happen every day — classroom teachers.
Continue to develop new teacher leaders for BTA. The vitality and strength of our union depends on the active involvement of our members. We encourage leadership diversity, and we encourage new faces and new ideas. Our Association will stagnate and wither without new ideas and new leadership. Just as we realize that our status as teaching professionals is inextricably linked to the strength of CTA and BTA, we must recognize that our strength is dependent on active member involvement, not passive acquiescence.