New York Teacher
Region 1 members seeing red
Apr 14, 2005 10:45 AM
It’s a sea of red in the Bronx where 750 teachers protested outside Region 1 headquarters last month.
More than 750 teachers clad in fire-engine red shirts, scarves and jackets gathered outside Region 1 headquarters in the Bronx March 30 to tell Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Chancellor Joel Klein that they need a contract now and want to be treated as professionals.
“If you’re going to be the education mayor, you’ve got to treat teachers fairly,” UFT President Randi Weingarten told the enthusiastic crowd. “That means a fair contract and that means letting teachers teach.”
Weingarten, the final speaker of the after-school rally, said that all teachers wanted was the freedom to do their jobs well and decent pay. UFT members have gone nearly two years without a contract.
The Bronx rally follows similar large union protests in Staten Island and Queens.
Drivers passing the rally on 3rd Avenue honked their horns in solidarity with the demonstrators.
Both speakers and protesters were in a combative mood.
“If they won’t work with us, they will have a fight on their hands,” warned UFT Bronx High School Representative Lynne Winderbaum from the podium. “We are not giving up our contract. We are not giving up our rights.”
Rising above the sea of signs in the crowd was a large placard depicting an angry red bull with the slogan, “We’re Seeing Red: Contract Now.” Another handmade sign, riffing on a math guide riddled with errors that was recently issued by the DOE, said, “Tell the Department of Education to stop treating us like we are in the ‘forth’ grade.”
Evelyn Delgado, a 2nd-grade teacher at PS 109 with her arm around 3rd-grader Michael, argued that the new policies were putting the children at risk.
“They say we will see this program succeed maybe in two or three years,” she said. “I as a parent am not willing to wait. I want my kid to get what he needs now.”
Marlene Kawalick, a veteran English teacher at Kennedy HS, said that her newer colleagues are quitting in frustration.
“They come in for two years, get their battle scars, and leave because they are not appreciated and are not treated as professionals,” she said.
Kawalick contended that the working conditions for teachers were the worst ever in her 33 years in the classroom.
“They really are destroying the system,” she said.
Ray Nazario, a 1st-grade teacher at PS 90, lamented that the school system is now driven by the needs of regional supervisors, not children.
“No one ever asks me what is right for my students,” he said. “It’s a shame.”
Maxine Candero, a 4th-grade teacher at PS 59, said that she spent three-quarters of her time assessing her students when she would rather be teaching.
“After 23 years as a teacher, I basically know where my kids are at,” she said.
Allan Ettman, chapter leader of Walton HS, informed the crowd that after 85 years his school was closing. He said that morale plummeted, the halls became impassable and crime escalated as the Department of Education placed small schools in the building while stuffing ever more students into the large school, which was already full to bursting.
“Schools don’t fail, policies fail,” Ettman said bitterly. “Supervisors with no experience in high schools fail.”
Meghan Estrada, a first-year teacher at MS 391, said that she came to the rally to show her support for the union and her fellow teachers.
“Once we are together and united, much more can be accomplished,” said Estrada, who was sporting a red sweater and a red backpack with — she noted with a grin — a red lunchbox and red jacket tucked inside.
