It is with great joy and optimism that I share that I have won election to the position of Board Secretary in my local, Sacramento City Teachers Association, and re-election as representative to the State Council of the California Teachers Association. I look forward to continuing to serve my fellow education professionals.

My work at the local will center on building our organizational capacity. We will be reaching out to sites and members so that we can speak strongly as one voice for our schools, children, and classrooms. As secretary I will be supporting the ongoing efforts of the local to increase communication with our members. I will also be looking at developing members for leadership because we need the voice and opinion of our members to be strong and effective.

My work at State Council will center on my work as part of the Assessment and Testing Committee. The work on this committee is crucial for two reasons. First the testing that is rolling out needs to be looked at critically and carefully. We’ve had a decade of standards and testing based accountability and these have NOT helped our communities, our schools, and our children. We have been punished, our schools have been punished, and this has caused enormous hurt to students and communities. We need to put testing in its proper place. We need to have a greater emphasis on assessment that we create and control. This will enhance our professional standing, a necessary step in regaining control of our profession.

I need the assistance and input of all members so the concerns are addressed. We all will need to work together to make our union and our profession better.
Image credit: thank you note for every language by woodleywonderworks, on Flickr