November 2019

Jump into November with your commitment to get out and vote! Speaking of elections, we want to take a minute to thank everyone that has stepped up to run for office in the name of fighting for public education, or those that worked on campaigns for candidates that they believe will best represent what we value.

But there is no time to rest! November 6th is the day that we need to look forward and work towards becoming better prepared for the 2020 elections and NEA will be kicking it off with a House Party! You can join them by hosting an event in your area, your house, a local library, etc. Get together with a few friends and watch Lily’s livestream from NEA Headquarters and engage in conversations around what you want in a public education candidate! See here for more information: https://educationvotes.nea.org/presiden…/host-a-house-party/

Another important part of the national picture is the 2020 census. The results of the census is used for decision making around school funding and electoral districts. As an educator, there are different ways that you can get involved. The Census website has a library of resources available to help you bring the census into the classroom: https://www.census.gov/programs-surve…/…/2020-resources.html
We have also been hearing that workers are definitely needed to help with the census count, See here for more information: https://www.census.gov/programs-surve…/…/2020-resources.html

Our past Executive Director, Marla Kilfoyle will be joining our current Director, Melissa Tomlinson to host a professional development webinar on November 19th at 8 PM EST/5 PM PST. They will be going through all that you should know around student and educator data privacy - something that we are seeing more and more concerning headlines about.
Make sure you register in advance to have the webinar link sent to you so that you can join! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/webinar-educators-toolkit-for-…

Some things we are keeping our eyes on - besides the obvious call for Betsy DeVos to testify about the student loan issues - Little Rock is still coming showing signs that they are not ready to sit down and give up the fight yet! Things are intensifying as community support is growing.
Indiana is getting ready for a big #RedforEd day of action at the state capital on November 19th.

And one last reminder before we go...make sure you show your educational support professionals just how valuable their work in our schools is on November 20th! They are the backbone that often brings our community and our schools together to provide what our students need!

Elections have consequences, as we have seen in the past three years. As a result, BATs have been working hard to get politically involved at all levels.

But, it's not always the elected official that is the the only issue - sometimes it is the people that they appoint to office.

Our *favorite* person for example, Betsy DeVos.

We all worked hard to fight against her appointment. Yet she was confirmed and now we are seeing even more ramifications.

You may have seen the headlines already: "Democrats call on Betsy DeVos to testify on student loan forgiveness after contempt ruling"

(Read the full article here: https://www.cnn.com/…/betsy-devos-testify-loan-f…/index.html)

Here's the summary. The Department of Education was ordered to stop collecting on some debts in May and fined $100,000. This adversely affected thousands of borrowers.

On October 28th the Chairman of the Committee on Education and Labor, Congressman Bobby Scott called upon Betsy DeVos to "appear before the House Committee on Education and Labor on Tuesday, November
19, 2019 to discuss the status of the nearly 60,000 outstanding borrower defense claims from defrauded
Corinthian College students at the U.S. Department of Education (Department)."

(Read the whole letter here: https://edlabor.house.gov/…/2019-10-28%20Chairman%20Scott%2…)

The same day A. Wayne Johnson, who was briefly in charge of the Office of Federal Student Aid before heading up an initiative to improve the student loan repayment process, quit his job to run for Senate in Georgia. With student debt relief as his main platform piece.

The deadline for Betsy's response was November 1st. We have not hear anything. Have you?

Perhaps we need to call Congressman Scott's office to make sure the passing of this deadline has not gone unnoticed? Maybe we need to call our own state's Representatives to have them inquire about the status of the hearing that is scheduled on November 19th?

After all, fair is fair when it comes to accountability.

Join educators Melissa Tomlinson, Executive Director of The Badass Teachers Association and Marla Kilfoyle, NPE Grassroots Education Network Liaison and former Executive Director of The Badass Teachers Association as they give updated information on the struggle to protect data privacy in our schools and classrooms.

The webinar is free but you must have a reserved ticket. Webinar log in will be sent via email a day prior to the event. Certificates of participation will be emailed to participants upon completion of the webinar.

Sign up here to receive webinar link: bit.ly/BATPrivacy

Actions. Strikes.

Before, during, and after.

The planning for all of this starts can start a year before the public action, sometimes even earlier.

The analysis of what goes into your contract demands is involved, especially if your focus is on social justice. Bargaining for the common good requires conversations with community stakeholders.

Still learning about bargaining for the common good? Here are some concrete examples: https://smlr.rutgers.edu/si…/default/files/ciwo_bcg-memo.pdf

Some organizing work is done even without the sole purpose of the likelihood of a strike. Communication and network building is important to pushing a movement forward.

Then there are the questions that you must be prepared to face after a strike, or an action. How do we make sure everyone feels that they had a say in decision making; including when and how to go back to work or ratify a contract? What planning needs to be done to continue organizing after a strike, to keep momentum building, to keep the district accountable for the new contract, to keep everyone on the same page for the next fight? How do we identify leaders from the actions and movement that we just experienced? How do we keep members engaged and involved?

There are no easy answers for these questions, and the answers will look different in different situations. But it is important that we come together to hear from the lessons of others so that we can use this advice to guide us in our own local and state work.

Join us for our next BATs Quality of Worklife Webinar on December 3rd at 8pm. bit.ly/QWLFFOB