California Educator

May 2011

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STATE OF EMERGENCY Across party lines JOHN KENNETT proudly calls himself a “conservative evangelical Republican.” But that didn’t stop him from joining his fellow CTA members in Sacramento. Kennett teaches low-income special education students at Paradise Hills Ele- mentary School just seven miles from the Mexican border. His school’s budget for supplies has been cut 25 percent every year, and is now almost nothing. He pays for his own paper. He enthusiastically joined fel- low protesters in lobbying, marching and waving signs at passing cars, wearing his black fedora at all times. “I don’t agree with all the policies that CTA stands for, but I love kids, and want to make a difference in their lives,” said Ken- nett, a member of the San Diego Education Association. “I am disappointed with the political leadership of both parties and want to tell them so. I want to be part of this historic event and tell my grandkids about it.” He went to the offices of Republican leg- islators and “talked Republican” with them. He hopes they were listening. “I tried to build some bridges,” he said. “Politicians have to stop trying to stare each other down, waiting for someone to blink first. The rest of the state is going blind.” A retiree’s perspective Finding unity TERI ROOTS came to Sac- ramento to represent classi- fied employees hit hard by budget cuts. She is the presi- dent of the Ventura Classi- fied Employees Association and a secretary at Buena High School, which has lost classified staff and gained furlough days. “I’m angry and scared,” said Roots. “I have a grand- daughter I’m helping to raise, and I’m scared about what kind of education she’ ll have if we don’t fix things now.” The phrase “We Are One” has new meaning to her. “It was such an amazing feeling to be part of an event where all forms of educators unite and see the impor- tance of standing as one in this fight to preserve the right of every student to an excellent public school edu- cation,” she said. “I will never forget the feeling of standing in the state Capitol rotunda and everyone singing together. All you could feel in that room was unity. We are in- deed One.” PAUL MARKOWITZ came out of retirement to participate in the historic event. “I’ve gone to Sacramen- to and participated in vari- ous activities before, but nothing like this,” said Markowitz, who taught in the Las Virgenes School District for 34 years and belongs to CTA-Retired. He is especially angry that legislators are cutting school funding and blam- ing the problem on teacher pensions. Teachers, he said, are not the problem, they are the solution. For years they contributed to their pensions, and they do not receive Social Security. “The general under- standing is that if you go into teaching, you won’t make the kind of money you’ ll make in other ca- reers, but there’s a livable pension at the end if you stay in the system long enough,” he said. “Without that, who’s going to go into teaching? I’m frightened for the next generation of teachers — if there is a next group of educators coming into the system with the cuts that are hap- pening.” Markowitz stayed for the week with wife Renee Lancon, a retired UTLA member. They marched around the Capitol at a brisker pace than many younger protesters huffing and puffing to keep up. MAY 2011 | www.cta.org 15

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