Long time teacher Chris Guerrieri declines teacher union endorsement (rough draft)

One of the strangest parts of running for elected office is the endorsement process. You meet with these various groups and invariably the first two questions they ask are, who else has endorsed you and how much money have you raised. What’s you solution to the reading problem or how are you going to improve teacher morale are way down the list, that is if they are even asked at all.

When I first decided to run for school board there was one endorsement I wanted more than any others and that was from the teachers. Being one I know what they go through and most of my ideas come from thousands of conversations with them. I believe this is the one group in education that has been woefully underrepresented and done so to our school systems detriment. I also believe educators need a voice in policy making because they know what best works and what doesn’t’ work in the classroom.

To get the teachers endorsement you have to go through DTU though it is a little different than giving a speech and answering a few questions from the body of teachers. Instead you meet with a smaller committee that actually pays to be on it. They ask you a few questions and then vote on whether to endorse or not. They don’t take their recommendations to the membership either. No the buck stops there.

When I meant with them I had some reservations. Now it’s not because I don’t believe in the union because I do. It’s also not because I don’t share a lot of their ideas and goals either because I do them as well. It was because I didn’t want to come off as beholden to anybody especially a group so intimately tied with education. In the inverse it would be like a candidate seeking an endorsement from Pearson testing or a charter school. In a way it just seemed unseemly to me.

I went and I received their endorsement. Being a teacher, union member and a multiple timed published advocate for teachers, it seems a like a no brainier that I would have been right up their alley. I may have been content to just sit back and take it and spend their donation if it wasn’t for who else they also endorsed.

In district one they endorsed Martha Barrett, who has been on the board for arguably the worse ten years since desegregation. If you think the district is heading in the right direction and we have had a good decade then she is the obvious choice. However nobody I know thinks that but somehow as teachers morale dropped, many left the field and teachers went from valued colleagues to easily replaceable cogs under her watch the committee thought she deserved four more years and friends that would be years, 11, 12, 13 and 14 for her. Years I personally don’t think the district can afford.

In three they endorsed Ashley Juarez Smith whose mentor Gary Chartrand funded PEN the alternative teacher organization whose aim is not to serve teachers at a cheaper price but to diminish the power of teacher’s unions and who is on record saying teaching experience doesn’t matter, smaller classes don’t matter and was one of the leaders in bringing TFA to town. If you believe in those things then she is the obvious choice but again I don’t believe in those things and neither do any of the teachers I know. We believe in being allowed to be creative and innovative, we believe we should have rigorous classes and disciplined schools and those things will turn education around. In short we believe in fixing the problems in public education not dismantling public education.

In 7 they endorsed John Heymann and where this pick doesn’t make me cringe though he wouldn’t have been my first or even second choice at least he doesn’t represent the status quo or as far as I know is seeking to dismantle public education. However he has said when talking about the union, he would be teacher’s best friends and he would also fight tooth and nail any organization that protects bad teachers. Now the union doesn’t protect bad teachers but I don’t get the vibe Heymann is convinced that this is not occurring which says to me he doesn’t understand the role teacher’s unions play.

Then in 5 they co-endorsed long time union member, teacher and education advocate, me who has been in the classroom and putting it on the line for teachers for years and perhaps self-servingly believe was the right move but then they also endorsed Betty Burney part 2, Connie Hall. Mrs. Hall did not get in the race until the very last day and only did so after Betty Burney dropped out and gave her personal endorsement.

Once again if you think we are heading in the right direction or have been doing well it makes sense to pick Burney’s hand picked successor but once again I don’t think that is the case. We don’t need some Jane-come-lately who hasn’t been putting it on the line for teacher and students and who hasn’t been in a school for about a decade. If DTU would have co-endorsed me with Gaines-Macintosh (the other candidate in 5) I wouldn’t have liked it but at least I could have said they wanted something knew, not the same old policies and leadership that got us to where we are. Furthermore when they endorsed me and Hall it is the equivalent of somebody endorsing Romney and Obama or rooting for FSU and Florida to win the big game. Where is the leadership this group is supposed to give?

So along with their endorsement of me they endorsed two ladies that represent the status quo, one lady whose mentor wants to dismantle public education and who undoubtedly shares at least some of his beliefs and a man, who where I don’t think would be terrible, I don’t believe understands what the union or what teachers do.

They hedged their best and in doing so in the hopes of garnering some favors down the road they went against their what is best for teachers and ultimately that is why I have decided to decline their endorsement. For those members that voted to support me, thank you, I appreciate it greatly but at the same time I have to do what my conscious dictates.

Friends, you have a real choice in this upcoming election. You can vote for candidates who are for privatization, corporate reforms, the status quo, and teachers as service workers or you can vote for people who believe in fixing the problems in education and that teachers are professionals. Who did the endorsement committee of Duval Teachers United decide to endorse? Well sadly people from both sides.

The choices we make will fundamentally affect the future of out schools, children and city, please don’t hedge your bets, attempt to have your cake and eat it too or go against what is best for our public school teachers and children, like DTUs endorsement committee did.