Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1518718
April/May 2024 isea.org • ISEA Communiqué 4 SPOTLIGHT If you could have a one-on-one conversation with nearly every educator working in your school building, what would you learn? What do you think the general feeling in the building is? What one thing would most of them want to change? What would most of them want to see more of? While answers to these questions might come out in a building-wide online survey, or maybe through representatives at the building union meeting, nothing can get better results than having in-person meetings. That's the reason behind the Iowa State Education Associations spotlight program. Launched last year, the program deploys staff into buildings for focused conversations. Des Moines Education Association's Kaitlin Doyle, a 15- year veteran of the classroom and the middle school representative on the DMEA's executive board, helped organize a recent spotlight at Goodrell Middle School where she teaches 7th-grade science. "We have been working for about three years in DMEA to bring the district's attention to our lack of retention of middle school teachers," Doyle said. "The spotlight was brought up as a tool we could use to collect some of that data and how – through these one-on-one conversations we could make sure all the people in the building feel like they're being heard." Hosting a spotlight does require coordination with the building administration and members, at minimum. On spotlight day, union staff and local leaders pair up to visit educators during their release time to have short conversations. The interviewing pair take notes of the conversation and turn those over to the local union organizer. This way, the organizer gets the first look at what issues are top-of-mind for members and building employees. Doyle said responses from her school and the other district middle schools will help guide DMEA in its negotiations as well as in formal and informal discussions with district officials with the goal of improving working conditions for teachers – and by extension, retaining more staff. The responses will help the union set goals, improve member engagement and attract more members. "A lot of teachers were excited about being able to talk to people. Administrators at some buildings were nervous," Doyle said. "So we were honest with them – we're losing teachers and the only way to figure out how to keep teachers is to ask teachers what can we do to make this job better." ISEA staff and local union leadership have conducted spotlights in several school district buildings this year including Anamosa, Des Moines, and LeMars. Spotlight By Mike Wiser, editor, mike.wiser@isea.org UniServ Director Joe Judge and UniServ Manager Suzy Card have a discussion between classroom visits at Goodrell Middle School during a March 26 Spotlight. MIKE WISER/IOWA STATE EDUCATION ASSOCIATION. Kaitlin Doyle (right) and Micah McCutchan review a list of Goodrell Middle School staff in the teacher's lounge before setting out for the day's Spotlight activity. Doyle is a science teacher and is the middle school representative on the Des Moines Education Association board. McCutchan is an organizer for the Iowa State Education Association. MIKE WISER/IOWA STATE EDUCATION ASSOCIATION. Interested in finding out how your building can host a spotlight? Scan this QR code to find contact information for your UniServ director and shoot them an email.