Bargaining Team Co-Chair 

What is your name and what are your pronouns?
Francisca Alvarez (she/her/ella)

Where do you work and what do you do?
I work at Scott Elementary [as the] School-Based Instructional Coach (SBIC). As the SBIC, my work centers on improving instructional quality and academic outcomes for historically underserved students by partnering with teachers to implement equitable, culturally responsive, and data-informed practices.

What is a proud accomplishment of yours as an educator?
As an educator of color, my greatest accomplishment is supporting teachers in creating student-centered systems and lessons where all students feel seen, valued, and affirmed. I encourage educators to reflect on the impact of their instructional choices and to ask who benefits from each decision. Every action I take is grounded in what is best for students and their uncertain future, and what is best and sustainable for teachers to do their work.

Why is being a union member important to you?
Being a union member is important to me because serving students well requires that teachers have a strong voice in the decisions that impact their learning. [PAT] helps create a balance of power by ensuring educators, those who know students best, have a seat at the table. Through the union, teachers can advocate for solutions that are sustainable, practical, and grounded in real classroom experience rather than theory alone.

Bargaining Team Co-Chair

What is your name and what are your pronouns?
Mike Carlip (he/him)

Where do you work and what do you do?
Rapid Response Team - Board Certified Behavior Analyst

What is a proud accomplishment of yours as an educator?
Just making it through that first year. I switched careers and had no idea what I was getting into. And if I had it to do over again, I'd make the same choice 10 out of 10 times.

Why is being a union member important to you?
Through [PAT], I have the privilege to stand shoulder to shoulder with amazingly talented people who are all striving to do our best for our students. I can think of few things more important.

Bargaining Team - HS

What is your name and what are your pronouns?
Bryan Dykman (he/him)

Where do you work and what do you do?
I work at Franklin High School. I teach 9-12 ELA and AVID.

What is a proud accomplishment of yours as an educator?
I've created my own senior English ELA course, Science Fiction, which hundreds of students have taken over the last 10 years. I've coached basketball at Franklin, including 3 years as the JV Men's Head Coach. I've organized several 9th grade poetry slams. And, I've looped with two groups of AVID students, teaching them 9th-12th grade and watching them go from shy freshman to confident, college-ready seniors!

Why is being a union member important to you?
Education is a massive system that takes an organized, group effort to change and improve. Educators know best how to make their schools thrive: the union empowers all of us to make those changes, together.

Bargaining Team - HS 

What is your name and what are your pronouns?
Sarabeth “Sb” Leitch, she/her

Where do you work and what do you do?
McDaniel: ELA & CTE teacher: Dual Credit Creative Writing & Communications; The Oracle (newspaper) & The Mosaic (lit mag) adviser; retired basketball coach; and former building rep.

What is a proud accomplishment of yours as an educator?
Helping foster moments where students feel confident in creating a collaborative space and courageous in sharing their voice, writing, and art with me, their peers, and the community.

Why is being a union member important to you?
So many reasons!

1) My colleagues inspire me, challenge me, and support me, so being a part of an organization framed by collective action matches my passion and my values.

2) When Dr. Bettina Love shared how unions can be the way we shape both our schools and our communities to be more joyful, communal, transformative, equitable, and culturally sustaining, I made the commitment to become a more involved member of our union. And I’ve seen this truth in action when working with other members, admin, and PAT leadership when dreaming and scheming.

3) This affirmation from Chani Nicholas has been guiding me in the last year: “I know that being ‘self-made’ is a marketing scheme. I know that none of us got here on our own and no one builds anything solo. Everything comes into existence through a lacework of interconnection.”

Bargaining Team - HS 

What is your name and what are your pronouns?
Sunshine McFaul-Amadoro (she/her)

Where do you work and what do you do?
Grant High School teacher of awesome writers! (Language Arts/AP/Dual Credit)

What is a proud accomplishment of yours as an educator?
It's hard to single out ONE proudest moment. I feel pride on a daily basis because I get to do what I do.

Why is being a union member important to you?
Being a part of a strong union is everything to me. I value being a part of something that is actively working to make existence in this grind we exist in just a bit better for everyone. We are so much better and stronger as a collective force!!

Bargaining Team - HS 

What is your name and what are your pronouns?
Rion Roberts

Where do you work and what do you do?
Lincoln HS, Social Science. I teach Political Economy, IB History HL 1/2, and Queer Studies.

What is a proud accomplishment of yours as an educator?
I am rather proud of my ability to build inclusive classrooms that allow students to feel they are in a humorous, open, and reciprocal environment, which allows them to take risks and be vulnerable without the baggage and performance that have to carry and put on daily. Personally, I am proud of my ability to communicate complex concepts of political philosophy and critical theory that I have spent and academic career studying in a way that students can readily understand and instantly apply.

Why is being a union member important to you?
Education, as an industry and institution, regularly isolates, silos, or otherwise individuates teachers experiences. Being a member of a union combats this loneliness and shows us all a way of being that is rare in advanced industrial societies: acting in concert, sharing our experiences, building our collective strength. In short, it shows us how to act in solidarity, how to support others and allow ourselves to be supported.

Bargaining Team - Returning Bargaining Team Member, HS

What is your name and what are your pronouns?
Using the Colonial alphabet, Hpiizhi Htaali Maoi. Please don't try and pronounce it. Really. You can call me Walker. My pronouns are He/Him/His

Where do you work and what do you do?
I am an Advanced Math Teacher at Roosevelt, this year teaching Geometry and Financial Algebra.

What is a proud accomplishment of yours as an educator?
My proudest moment as an educator was today, seeing my students marching, chanting "Whose streets? OUR streets" today to protest ICE and police violence. SO proud. Tears.

Why is being a union member important to you?
One grain of sand is an irritant if it is even noticed. A sand storm can strip a granite column to nothing.

Bargaining Team - CTE

What is your name and what are your pronouns?
Luke 'of hazard' Hotchkiss, he/him

Where do you work and what do you do?
Benson Tech, Building Construction Teacher

What is a proud accomplishment of yours as an educator?
I love it when students build things/solve problems in the shop that I didn't know how to do.

Why is being a union member important to you?
Being a union member is important to me because sometimes I make poor choices and need help.

Bargaining Team - Athletic Coaches

What is your name and what are your pronouns?
Rhonda Holmes (she/her)

Where do you work and what do you do?
I work at Roosevelt High School. I’m a Paraeducator in the SES department, supporting students in the classroom with social emotional support. I am also the head dance coach for the Varsity True North Dance Team. This is my 3rd season coaching and my 3rd year as a paraeducator at Roosevelt. I have been with the district for 4 and a half years.

What is a proud accomplishment of yours as an educator?
A proud accomplishment that I have had as an educator is watching the students I support graduate and have them come back to visit me. I enjoy hearing their successes in life after high school. I make a commitment to my kids that I will always be there to support them anyway I can even after high school. I will always be a part of their village.

Why is being a union member important to you?
Being a union member is important to me because it lets me know that I am not alone. I have a group of people who care and are willing to fight together for what is right for not just us as employees, but for the students as well.

Bargaining Team - K-8

What is your name and what are your pronouns?
Josuee Hernández, he/him/él

Where do you work and what do you do?
I'm at Faubion PK-8, and I teach ELA to 8th graders, Creative Writing to 7th graders, and PE to 6th graders.

What is a proud accomplishment of yours as an educator?
I love seeing my students succeed when they understand a literary device, or cleverly turn a phrase in a piece of writing. Every day has accomplishments worth celebrating.

Why is being a union member important to you?
Because teachers—really all workers—are so much stronger together. We don't have to advocate for better schools and learning conditions on our own. As a collective group we can ensure our students receive the best education.

Bargaining Team - K-8 

What is your name and what are your pronouns?
Alex Prahl (she/her)

Where do you work and what do you do?
I teach 5th grade at César Chávez K-8

What is a proud accomplishment of yours as an educator?
I am proud to see so many of my students come back, visit, and share their own accomplishments and plans with me.

Why is being a union member important to you?
Being a union member has made all the difference in my career. It’s given me a sense of belonging, empowerment, and inspiration.

Bargaining Team - MS

What is your name and what are your pronouns?
Georgie Steeves (she/her)

Where do you work and what do you do?
Harrison Park Middle School, 8th grade science

What is a proud accomplishment of yours as an educator?
Not any one accomplishment. Anytime a student grasps a new concept around how the world works or how we work. The 'oh wait, it's THIS?!' realizations. It's still makes me proud. Still thrills me.

Why is being a union member important to you?
Teachers have huge hearts and we give so much--our time, our energy, our resources. It can be a greedy profession. Unions help protect us--by providing us fair, safe, and hopefully sustainable working situations. Unions can give us and by extension our students a teaching and learning environment where we aren't burned out and over-burdened. Where we can focus on our students and our craft and still have energy left to enjoy our lives with friends and family.

Bargaining Team - MS 

What is your name and what are your pronouns?
Valerie Tuner (she/her)

Where do you work and what do you do?
SS7, SS8, & ELA8 at Mt. Tabor Middle School

What is a proud accomplishment of yours as an educator?
Recently, I was reading aloud portions of ‘Fahrenheit 451’ to my ELA8 class, and the students were completely absorbed in the story (as evidenced by involuntary gasps at the “right” moments). I’m proud that my colleagues and I chose to follow our hearts and teach a full-length novel again this year, and I’m proud of the collaborative work we do as a team in my building.

Why is being a union member important to you?
Being a union member is important to me because I believe in the power of numbers. I appreciate knowing that others have my back as we all push together for better learning and working conditions in our schools.

Bargaining Team - K-5

What is your name and what are your pronouns?
Angela Bonilla (she/they/ella)

Where do you work and what do you do?
I am currently serving full time as PAT President. My last position was an Instructional Coach at Scott Elementary. I was a 4th grade Spanish Immersion teacher before that.

What is a proud accomplishment of yours as an educator?
As an educator, I am really proud of the moments in my classroom when students learn (through our circle time and the way we build our community) that their voices matter, that they have bodily autonomy, that they have to make a choice to learn, that I will always be there to support them.

Why is being a union member important to you?
Whenever I felt powerless at work, I leaned into union work because that is where our power lies. We will always be stronger together, because when we lose our fear, they lose their power.

Bargaining Team - K-5 

What is your name and what are your pronouns?
Caroline Coholan (she/her)

Where do you work and what do you do?
I teach 31 5th Graders at Llewellyn Elementary. This is my 17th year of teaching, all in PPS.

What is a proud accomplishment of yours as an educator?
I am most proud of my commitment to advocate for my students and families, and my colleagues as a building rep, committee member and now a bargaining team member.

Why is being a union member important to you?
Our union is another way we serve our students. Our contract and advocacy directly impacts their education as well as our working conditions. I am in service to my union for the same reason I am in service to students, the right to a free, equitable, quality, public education.

Bargaining Team - Returning Bargaining Team Member/K-5

What is your name and what are your pronouns?
Francisca Alvarez (she/her/ella)

Where do you work and what do you do?
I work at Scott Elementary [as the] School-Based Instructional Coach (SBIC). As the SBIC, my work centers on improving instructional quality and academic outcomes for historically underserved students by partnering with teachers to implement equitable, culturally responsive, and data-informed practices.

What is a proud accomplishment of yours as an educator?
As an educator of color, my greatest accomplishment is supporting teachers in creating student-centered systems and lessons where all students feel seen, valued, and affirmed. I encourage educators to reflect on the impact of their instructional choices and to ask who benefits from each decision. Every action I take is grounded in what is best for students and their uncertain future, and what is best and sustainable for teachers to do their work.

Why is being a union member important to you?
Being a union member is important to me because serving students well requires that teachers have a strong voice in the decisions that impact their learning. [PAT] helps create a balance of power by ensuring educators, those who know students best, have a seat at the table. Through the union, teachers can advocate for solutions that are sustainable, practical, and grounded in real classroom experience rather than theory alone.

Bargaining Team - Speech Language Pathologists

What is your name and what are your pronouns?
Moira Finnegan (she/ella)

Where do you work and what do you do?
I am a speech-language pathologist (SLP), and I work at Franklin High School.

What is a proud accomplishment of yours as an educator?
About 10 years ago, I was part of a small group of educators and parents who started an advocacy group called Decoding Dyslexia Oregon. We were successful in getting a law passed that requires schools across the state to screen young students for signs of dyslexia, and to provide training to elementary teachers so they can recognize signs of dyslexia and have some familiarity with approaches to reading instruction that can be more effective for dyslexic students.

Why is being a union member important to you?
It’s important to me to be a union member because we are stronger together and can advocate more effectively for the working conditions we need to provide our best service to students and families without burning ourselves out.

Bargaining Team - Special Education- Learning Center

What is your name and what are your pronouns?
Revi Shohet (they/them) and Therapy Dog Mika (she/her)

Where do you work and what do you do?
I work with middle schoolers as one of the Learning Center teachers at Bridger Creative Science School. Mika is a professional lapdog who mostly hangs with grades 6-8, but we occasionally do classroom visits with the younger students. Her presence helps people feel regulated and reduces the overall levels of anxiety and stress.

What is a proud accomplishment of yours as an educator?
Some of the proudest moments are when my students have been struggling with a concept or skill, and we try approaching it a different way, and suddenly things click into place and they get it. The pride and joy they feel when they “discover” that they CAN learn and do hard things makes me feel like my work has a real impact.

Why is being a union member important to you?
SO many reasons! It’s about collective power and a community orientation. We as a union, acting in solidarity, hold far more power than any of us do individually. Whereas an individualistic mentality that centers “me and mine” fosters cruelty, hostility, and mistrust, a community mindset inspires us to collaborate and cooperate to improve conditions for all of us. Being part of a union is a choice to act in the interests of the greater good.

Bargaining Team - Special Education- Focus Room (ISC, CB, SES)

What is your name and what are your pronouns?
Chrysann Lowe (she/her)

Where do you work and what do you do?
Beverly Cleary School, 6th-8th Intensive Skills special education

What is a proud accomplishment of yours as an educator?
I’m proud every day because of what I get to do and who I get to teach—they’re some of the most amazing humans you'll ever meet.

Why is being a union member important to you?
Being part of a union means that I’m not working to make things better on my own. You heard us talking about it a lot three years ago, but our working conditions really are the learning conditions for our students. When I work for a fair contract, for decent working conditions, I’m doing so with my students’ best interest as a guiding principle.

Bargaining Team - Autism Coaches/BCBAs

What is your name and what are your pronouns?
Mike Carlip (he/him)

Where do you work and what do you do?
Rapid Response Team - Board Certified Behavior Analyst

What is a proud accomplishment of yours as an educator?
Just making it through that first year. I switched careers and had no idea what I was getting into. And if I had it to do over again, I'd make the same choice 10 out of 10 times.

Why is being a union member important to you?
Through [PAT], I have the privilege to stand shoulder to shoulder with amazingly talented people who are all striving to do our best for our students. I can think of few things more important.

Bargaining Team - Returning Bargaining Team Member/School Counselor

What is your name and what are your pronouns?
Samara Bockelman (she/they)

Where do you work and what do you do?
School Counselor Educator at Beaumont MS, and Roseway Heights MS (split between two schools)

What is a proud accomplishment of yours as an educator?
I am always proud when I am able to create space and hold space for students to show up as their true authentic selves, where students can laugh, share, make mistakes, lead, be vulnerable, honest, and free.

Why is being a union member important to you?
Being a union member is important to me because collectively we have the power.

Bargaining Team - School Social Workers

What is your name and what are your pronouns?
Yaneira Romero Torres (she/her)

Where do you work and what do you do?
James John ES, school social worker

What is a proud accomplishment of yours as an educator?
Being able to bridge connection between our PTA, grassroots organizations, community partners and PAT to support our immigrant community during such challenging times. As well as centering and elevating the voices of our students and families especially those most marginalized.

Why is being a union member important to you?
Because it’s through collective advocacy and action that we can make change. And as we’ve learned from social justice leaders “La unión hace la fuerza.” Strength in unity!

Bargaining Team - School Psychologists

What is your name and what are your pronouns?
Calley Ekberg (she/her)

Where do you work and what do you do?
I am a school psychologist at McDaniel High School

What is a proud accomplishment of yours as an educator?
A proud moment for me as an educator was when a deregulated student told me I had a calming presence.

Why is being a union member important to you?
Being a union member is important because the contract helps me advocate for the support our students deserve

Bargaining Team - Core Enrichment- Library

What is your name and what are your pronouns?
Catherine Tucker (she/her)

Where do you work and what do you do?
Marysville School Teacher Librarian

What is a proud accomplishment of yours as an educator?
I always love when I can help students really connect with books, especially when they are able to see themselves within the story.

Why is being a union member important to you?
I have seen the power that workers have when they come together. I love being a part of a union and working together to make change.

Bargaining Team - Core Enrichment- Physical Education

What is your name and what are your pronouns?
Kelly Schlottmann (she/her)

Where do you work and what do you do?
I am a Physical Education Teacher at Lent Elementary School.

What is a proud accomplishment of yours as an educator?
One of the best parts of my job is working with students from the time they enter as kindergarteners until they head off to middle school as fifth graders. My proudest accomplishment is watching each class grow and helping to nurture and refine their physical development over those years.

Why is being a union member important to you?
As a Core Enrichment Specialist, I am often the only person in my building doing my specific job. Being a union member reminds me that I’m not alone; I have a massive incredible team of educators standing with me at all time, all across the Portland Area. Together we are strong!

Bargaining Team - Core Enrichment- Visual Arts

What is your name and what are your pronouns?
Andrew Butterfield (he/him)

Where do you work and what do you do?
I have taught ceramics at Ida B Wells for the past eleven years. Prior to that I was at DaVinci Middle School for seventeen years

What is a proud accomplishment of yours as an educator?
What I love about teaching art is helping students to build community of like minded friends. Students in my classes have the space to interact with each other in a way they don’t get in most spaces in their day.

Why is being a union member important to you?
I believe in the power of community. PAT offers a place for us to build community and support each other as educators. Teachers often can feel isolated as we work individually in our classrooms. PAT offers a rare opportunity for teachers to speak their mind and be heard. We are PAT.

Bargaining Team - Dual Language Immersion

What is your name and what are your pronouns?
Alexis Quiñonez (she/ella)

Bargaining Team - Focus Programs (Access, Bridger-Creative Science, DaVinci, MLC, Odyssey, Sunnyside, Winterhaven)

What is your name and what are your pronouns?
Sarah Conley

Bargaining Team - Multilingual Learners/English Language Development

What is your name and what are your pronouns?
Beyoung Yu (he/him)

Where do you work and what do you do?
I work at Atkinson Elementary as an ELD teacher and divide my time in PAT between the bargaining team and executive board.
 
What is a proud accomplishment of yours as an educator?
Affirming and supporting our students to thrive the last 12 years in PPS and  helping to pilot site visits to our schools in North Portland as an executive board member. 
 
Why is being a union member important to you?
What type of union member on the wheel of intersectionality? I think growing with and supporting other EoC in PAT leadership has taught me a lot about solidarity over the years. I’ve learned a lot about sitting with my own discomfort and asking my colleagues to do the same.

Being a union member has shown me there are many ways to organize and that how we organize also matters. 

Bargaining Team - Columbia Regional Inclusive Services (CRIS)

What is your name and what are your pronouns?
Ky Hansen (they/them)