For years, NEA members have advocated together in favor of canceling college debt to help fix the educator shortage. Now, student loans taken out by millions of borrowers are being substantially reduced, forgiven, or even canceled outright due to recent changes in loan forgiveness programs.

However, the fight is not over, and NEA remains committed to helping you take advantage of these opportunities. Join us to learn more about how recent changes may impact your student debt, and resources available through your NEA Member Benefits to help you navigate the system.

Register today to reserve your place. Click the image below to see our flier

Date and Time: Wednesday, March 29 from 4:30-6:00 p.m.
Cost: Members $0, free as a benefit of membership. This is a members-only event.

Today your PAT Bargaining Team met with PPS management for our 5th bargaining session. PAT has already presented our full package of proposals to PPS management along with several counter-proposals. PPS came to the table today with proposals on Compensation, Retirement, and Extended Responsibility. Although we are still far apart on certain issues, we did make progress today when we tentatively agreed (TA’d) on Article 4: Dues and Payroll Deductions and Article 25: Complaint Procedure. 

PPS Management began the session with a presentation about the fiscal situation at PPS and student to staff ratios to demonstrate PPS’ commitment to using funds to increase staff. The PAT team asked questions about the data and pointed out the concerns we had about the lack of context: Which staff are included in this count? Does this include the district special programs and charter schools? Luckily following our caucuses, they were able to bring more information to clarify the difference between class size and a student to staff ratio, sharing a graph explaining the class size distribution across the district. We believe that transparency is only possible by providing the facts ALONG with context for the facts: Staff to student ratio is NOT equivalent to class size.

We are glad PPS Management finally completed their initial proposal by giving us financials. Unfortunately, the financial proposal is woefully inadequate. PPS Management has proposed a 2.5% Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) when inflation is over 6%. In the slideshow they shared, they conflated the increased income that comes with experience with a COLA, reporting that educators not yet at the top of our scale will have their salary increase close to 5.9% each year. The steps on our salary schedule are not, and have never been, part of our COLA.

In contrast to the fiscal overview provided by PPS, the testimony from our PAT educators clearly demonstrated that our schools are in a state of emergency. We want to thank Nina Senaga-Freauff, Moira Finnegan, and Kernan Willis for sharing powerful testimony with PPS management about the lived experiences and conditions in our Special Education programs. The testimony they shared was powerful and brought several of us in the room to tears.  We sincerely hope to see counter proposals from management that demonstrate they are prepared to meaningfully respond to the extreme needs of students and educators that were highlighted in today’s testimonials. 

We know the last two years have been financially challenging for everyone. The District’s unwillingness to recognize that reality with the proposals they made is an insult to our hardworking educators who’ve been so deeply impacted by the increasing cost of living in Portland.

We will be back at the table on April 4th, 2023. You can always watch us live on our YouTube page and catch up with the sessions from today 1, 2, 3.

In Solidarity,

Steve Lancaster, Chair

Francisca Alvarez

Samara Bockelman

Julia Fogg

Thea Keith

Charity Powell

Hello Educators,

Today your PAT Bargaining Team met with PPS management for our 4th bargaining session. PAT has already presented our full package of proposals to PPS management along with several counter-proposals.

Our team was disappointed to learn that, despite promising to bring their financial proposals to our session today, PPS management showed up empty-handed. As such, we are still waiting to hear how PPS management is planning to address some of our member’s biggest issues, including compensation (Article 12) and retirement (Article 15).

We have offered PPS management 19 additional dates for bargaining. They have only agreed to 4 additional dates, 5 if we accept their offer to meet outside of our work year on June 22nd.

These actions demonstrate that PPS management is either unable or unwilling to take these negotiations seriously. Although we were ready to discuss a number of different topics, we ultimately had to walk away from the table owing to PPS management’s lack of preparation.

We understand the dire situation our educators, students and school communities are facing. We support educators demanding safe, sustainable and equitable schools for every student. We cannot achieve this goal if the District is unwilling to meet more than once every 2-3 weeks.

PPS management repeatedly claims we have “shared values.” However, it is hard to believe what they say when we see what they do. 

We have been told there will be about 250 un-assignments this year. That is 250 educators without a defined position for next year. 250 educators waiting to see if this contract will lead to better working and learning conditions. 

Our next full day of bargaining is on Tuesday, March 7th.  We sincerely hope that PPS management will bring their full financial proposal to the table.

In Solidarity,
Your PAT Bargaining Team
Steve Lancaster, Chair
Francisca Alvarez
Samara Bockelman
Julia Fogg
Thea Keith
Charity Powell

Portland Association of Teachers
http://www.pdxteachers.org/

• RA Agenda- February 15th
• RA Meeting Minutes- from January 18th RA
• RA Material Distribution Instructions
• February 15th Brag Sheet
• Friday, March 10th--Community Listening Sessions at Franklin--Share with parents!
• 10 Minute Meeting Slides for Staff Meeting
• Presentation Slides from February RA
• PAT/OEA Membership Link

Hello Educator,

Today your PAT bargaining team met with District administrators. We spent most of the session discussing academic freedom and the impact of testing on instructional time.

As professionals, we know that it’s our job to teach in a way that reaches every student. This is why we’ve fought so hard for our academic freedom, so we can determine the best materials, instructional practices and assessments for our students. 

Unfortunately, as we explained to the District’s team, their rigid implementation of new curricula is making it harder for educators to serve our students, to ensure they can see themselves in the books we read, or to adapt the way students demonstrate understanding. It was disturbing to hear PPS management suggest that adopted texts with racist depictions of different groups can be used as a “learning experience”.

From PPS' Wit and Wisdom Adoption Page

We also stressed how many hours we are losing to unnecessary standardized tests and were surprised to hear District administrators claim that we only spend between 4 to 12 hours a year, on average, administering standardized tests across PPS.

Today’s session made it clear how far apart both sides are at this stage. We highly encourage everyone to tune into our next session, Wednesday February 22, when the District team will be presenting their financial proposals.

You can watch today’s session online and read more about our proposals on the PAT website.

In Solidarity,
Your PAT Bargaining Team
Steve Lancaster, Chair
Francisca Alvarez
Samara Bockelman
Julia Fogg
Thea Keith
Charity Powell

Portland Association of Teachers
http://www.pdxteachers.org/

Dear Educator,

We hope you have had a chance to check out our 2023 Bargaining Platform, and all the critical improvements we’ll be fighting for this year. You can find out more on our website http://www.pdxteachers.org/bargainingvision including:

• Our 2023 Bargaining Platform (2 pages)
• PAT President Angela Bonilla’s video summary (language starts at 5:23)
• Slides highlighting key improvements
• Full text of all PAT contract proposals

Today we met with PPS administrators to hear their proposed changes for our collective bargaining agreement. You can watch the session on our PAT YouTube channel.

One big elephant in the room was the District budget. Although their team was not ready to present any specific economic proposals, there was plenty of handwringing over inadequate state education funding and how that will impact bargaining. 

Many of you got a picture of this in today’s staffing discussion, where among other things we’ve heard they’re closing one school and phasing out 50 TOSA positions.

But there’s plenty to be worried about in what they did present. 

PPS administrators want to:

• Eliminate the internal round of hiring.
• Extend the length of the school year on a school-by-school basis (adding up to 3 Professional Development days and 3 Instructional days).
• Eliminate the PAT Sick Leave Bank and force educators to rely on Oregon’s paid family leave law.
• Gut just cause protections, removing an educator’s ability to go to arbitration for dismissals and terminations.

It’s clear that if we want to make big changes in PPS, we’ve got our work cut out for us, so please make sure and sign the petition supporting our PAT Bargaining platform and start talking to your colleagues about what’s at stake in these negotiations. We really hope you’ll take time to share your story or even make a 30 second video illustrating how these issues are affecting you and how our proposals will benefit your students.

We know that if we stand together it’s possible to address the critical issues facing students, educators and our school communities.  

Tune in February 14 for our next bargaining session, where we’re fighting for smaller class sizes and hard caps, increased planning time, expanded mental health supports, additional special education services, racial equity and restorative justice.

In Solidarity,

PAT Bargaining Team
Steve Lancaster, Chair
Francisca Alvarez
Samara Bockleman
Julia Fogg
Thea Keith
Charity Powell
Portland Association of Teachers
http://www.pdxteachers.org/

Hello Educator,

Today your PAT bargaining team met with PPS administrators and shared PAT's vision for great public schools.

Our comprehensive package of proposals reflect the priorities you’ve shared over the past few months, through bargaining surveys, listening sessions, and school site meetings, including:

• Smaller Class Sizes and Caseloads, With Hard Caps
• Safe and Healthy Schools
• Racial Equity and Restorative Justice
• Competitive Salaries and Benefits
• Expanded Early Learning and Preschool
• More Teaching, Less Testing
• Additional Special Education Services
• Expanded Mental Health Services
• Housing Assistance for At-Risk Families
• Real Community Connections

We encourage you to review our bargaining platform, watch our video about the proposals (language starts at 5:23), the slideshow with the proposals and sign the petition supporting these demands. For those who want to dive deeper, you can review our comprehensive package of proposals online.

We know the stakes couldn’t be higher. 

Our students and communities are grappling with more urgent, unmet needs than ever. We can’t simply go back to the way schools were before the pandemic because, as educators know firsthand, the status quo over the past two decades has severely short changed our students and we cannot allow current conditions to stand.

Our bargaining proposals address these skyrocketing needs of our students in a number of areas, including mental health, special education, housing, and racial equity. We know what it will take for public schools to become an anchor for safe, stable, and equitable communities, and our proposals lay that foundation.

These proposals also address what it will take to recruit and retain great educators. Our profession is already undercompensated. Without cost of living adjustments that are at least equal to inflation, professional educators will fall even further behind.

Our proposals will ensure educators have enough time to do their job, with more time to plan, grade, communicate and collaborate with meaningful increases in educator directed time to support students.

Finally, our proposals call for hard caps to class size/case load to ensure that educators are able to give students the individual attention they need and deserve.

As we come out of the turbulence of the last three years, there is an understandable desire to return to normal, but the old normal wasn’t working. The new normal we are living now absolutely cannot be allowed to stand. 

We have to change the conversation, and our bargaining proposals reflect this goal. Our proposal is without question ambitious, but our students deserve nothing less.

In Solidarity,
PAT Bargaining Team
Steve Lancaster, Chair
Francisca Alvarez
Samara Bockleman
Julia Fogg
Thea Keith
Charity Powell
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Hello Educators,

What a return to the school year! I’ve been thinking a lot about the transformative nature of our Bargaining Proposal and the way systems are changing here at PAT. This, in conjunction with the new budgets being set at the district and state level, has me feeling like I’m Charlie Day using red yarn to connect different paths forward.

Bargaining and Budgets:

We are at a pivotal moment in our movement towards fully funded public schools. Right now, 3 major discussions are taking place:

• PPS’ process for the 2023-24 Budget begins: PPS held a meeting with labor leaders to share that (surprise!) it is unsustainable to use our reserves to make up for our budget shortfall. We need a State School Fund budget of at least $10.6 Billion in order to maintain Current Service Levels. Last biennium, the budget was $9.3 Billion. We lost dozens of classroom educator positions in the last budget cycle. Now more than ever, we need to ensure we have safe staffing levels in our schools. PAT also believes that a review and restructuring of non-building based administrative positions could support finding ways to improve student and educator experience while reducing the budget.
• The Oregon State School Fund Budget for Biennium 2023-25 being Debated: During this session, the Oregon Legislature will be deciding on school funding for the next biennium (SY2023-24 and SY2024-25). According to the Quality Education Model, in order to have K-12 class size averages of 20 students, full time school nurses and school counselors at the nationally recommended 1:250 ratio, it will cost the state $11.9 Billion over the two years. The estimated proposal listed in the ODE report is $9.372 Billion. 
• Student Success Act Application cycle ramps up: ODE has provided new guidance on the fund applications, as it is now integrating 6 different programs into one: High School Success (HSS), Student Investment Account (SIA), Continuous Improvement Planning (CIP), Career and Technical Education - Perkins V (CTE), Every Day Matters (EDM), Early Indicator and Intervention Systems (EIIS). The guidance came down February 2022, and plans are reaching the public comment stage now, during Winter 2023. Keep an eye out for communications from PPS about these “engagement sessions''. See the Legislative Report from 2022 HERE.

This means we have a very clear path forward to fully funding our schools at the state level. PAT’s Legislative Committee is and will continue to work closely with the Oregon Education Association (OEA) Government Relations Team to identify lobbying and organizing opportunities for advocacy. The Bargaining Team and Committee will continue to keep these numbers in mind as we push forward our most ambitious proposal yet.

Solidarity Forever

Budgets are moral documents. They show us what we collectively prioritize and are willing to fund. Our school system and our students can no longer maintain after decades of underinvestment and mismanagement. The current timeline is perfect for all educators, students, families, management and community to stand up and advocate for what we know our students deserve.

I believe in us. I believe we can change this world for the better. We do that one button wearing campaign, one conversation, one rally, one step at a time. We do that together.

And in case no one told you today, you are awesome and we love you!

Take Care,
Angela Bonilla
PAT President

Probationary educators must be evaluated each year during their 3-year probationary period. The process is described in the contract and the Educator Handbook for Professional Growth and Evaluation.  Performance ratings must align with the PPS Performance Evaluation Rubric and ratings must be based on direct evidence included in the written evaluation.

Bargaining!

• Bargaining-- Monday, January 30th & Tuesday, Jan. 31st! Set your reminders! Wear your buttons & Blues! 

PAT Committees and Meetings at PAT Office: RSVP Today

• Tuesday, Jan. 31st- 4:30-6:30 PM Substitute Committee 
• Wednesday Feb. 1st-4:30-6:30 PM *Advocacy, Legislative, PAT/PAC Committee 
• Thursday, Feb. 2nd-4:30-6:30 PM Internal Organizing 
• Wednesday, Feb. 8th-4:30-6:30 PM *Bargaining, +Racial Equity, Instructional & Professional Development Committees 

*Marks closed committees

+Marks affinity space for BIPOC educators 

For all upcoming events, please see the PAT calendar and OEA calendar.

Hold your spot today!

Legislative, History, and Unionism

• Monday, January 30th- Understanding the Attacks on Public Education in Oregon and How We Fight Back (4:30PM-6:30PM at PAT) 

Advocacy Trainings

• Monday, February 6th- Best Practices of Handling Plans of Assistance (4:30PM-6:30PM via Zoom)
• Monday, February 13th- Beginning Building Rep Training (4:30-6:30 PM at PAT office)

Secrets of a Successful Organizer

• Saturday, February 25th - Secrets of a Successful Organizer Training (10AM-4PM)

RSVP Here!

See our flyer for more training opportunities through the year!

Black Lives Matter Week of Action (BLM WOA) is fast approaching (February 6th-10th) and PAT’s Racial Equity and Social Justice Community Outreach Committees encourage all educators to take part. The PPS school board unanimously voted to adopt a resolution encouraging educators to take part in this powerful event. Building reps already have a sign up sheet with a link to the BLM WOA participation pledge and for collecting size information for your beautiful BLM PAT Tee Shirt  (optional $10 donation). You can PLEDGE in advance now and then connect with your building rep next week to provide tee shirt information.

By the time you read this, you may have concluded your teaching about MLK or you may already have your lesson plans in place. We know as educators that every day is an opportunity to build on previous lessons and, as needed, to expand, correct, or provide new perspectives. 

The SJCO and RE committees are well aware that most of us experienced a sanitized version of Martin Luther King Jr. in our own educational experience, one in which he was elevated as a lone hero with a singular dream of peace. This simplification gets used against those who disrupt racism in a supposed “non-peaceful” manner. The focus on “I have a dream…” allows many to lean into the idea that simply loving each other will solve the harms of racist systems. With a narrow memory of desegregation as his primary aim, many rest in some relief that his dream has become reality, disregarding the simultaneous beliefs Dr. King had about worker’s rights, advocating for the houseless, and anti-war sentiments, not to mention that while segregation may not exist in law, in reality it continues to this day in many ways.

We remember that Dr. King believed in non-violence, but push to the side the violent resistance he was met with. We remember him as the leader, and minimize the vast network of accomplices and allies he was in community with. We remember the strength of his voice and his speeches in soundbites, but have not taken in the fullness of his message and calls to action, particularly white people.

If any of this describes your experience, you are in an opportune position to disrupt the legacy of sanitizing Dr. King’s work. This link from the Zinn Education Project, The Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. You Won’t Read About in Textbooks, has some wonderful resources to get you started. There are lesson plans, adult reading, and a one hour recording of a webinar from earlier this month hosted by Jeanne Theoharris (author of “A More Beautiful and Terrible History, the Uses and Misuses of Civil Rights” and “The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks) and Jesse Hagopian (co-editor of “Black Lives Matter at School: An Uprising for Educational Justice”).

If you are someone who has a deeper knowledge and understanding of the Civil Rights Movement (past and present) and Dr. King’s role amongst many collaborators and how his philosophies developed and changed over time, we hope you will share your wisdom with your colleagues and with us! What does racial and social justice education look like in your classroom, in your team or department? How does it disrupt the whitewashing of Dr. King? How do you connect it to today's BLM demands? There is strength in numbers and in transparency… the more we share with one another our efforts, the more inspired and brave others may become to elevate this important work!

Here are a few events that we have been up to as we seek to develop and strengthen bonds with our Portland community:

Monthly coalition meetings with our PPS partner unions: In these meetings, we learn about the successes and needs of all union employees and discuss how we can support one another.

Community Listening Sessions: By now you have probably heard about these! The first was at Harriet Tubman Middle School and the next two were at Scott & Rigler Elementary Schools today. The purpose of these sessions is to build connection and engagement with community members to vision-dream what our schools could be.

PAT Members participated in the Don’t Shoot PDX 9th Annual Reclaim MLK Jr. Day March & an awesome screen printing event at PNCA! Look out for more opportunities to connect with Don’t Shoot Portland and community during Black History Month & Black Lives Matter Week of Action, Feb. 6th-10th, 2023.

The Advocate, January 27th, 2023

• President’s Message: Budgets are Moral Documents
• Know Your Contract: Probationary Educators Performance Evaluations - Heads Up!
• Upcoming Events
  
  • Bargaining and Committee Meetings
  • PAT Trainings
  • BLM Week of Action
• The Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: More Than a Dream
• Committee Updates:
  • Racial Equity & Social Justice + Community
    • Don’t Shoot PDX 9th Annual Reclaim MLK Jr. Day March
  • Membership Committee-First PAT Social a Success!

Our Membership Committee hosted their first PAT Social of the year at Shine. What a blast! Thank you to all who joined us! We look forward to seeing you at a PAT training or event soon!

http://www.pdxteachers.org/

• RA Agenda- January 18th
• RA Meeting Minutes- from December 14th RA
• RA Material Distribution Instructions
• PPS Labor Relations Contacts
• January and February PAT Union Trainings
• BLM WOA Sign Up Sheet for Worksites
• 2023 PAT Training Program Flyer
• Friday, January 27th--Community Listening Sessions at Rigler and Scott--Share with parents!
• 10 Minute Meeting Slides for January 24th Staff Meeting
• Wednesday, January 25th--Financial Planning Seminar with Ed Foster
• Presentation Slides from January RA
• PAT/OEA Membership Link

Join PAT and community members to discuss a shared vision for the future of our public schools!

See our fliers here and below.

Thursday, January 26th, 4:30 PM: Racial Equity Training, Part One

RSVP here to save your spot.

We're excited to continue our training program with our first Racial Equity training session on Thursday, January 26th at 4:30PM at the PAT office. Please see our flier for all of the exciting trainings we're offering our members this year!

This Wednesday, January 25 at 4:30pm, PAT will be hosting a

Retirement/ Financial Planning Seminar, focused on educators who are new(ish) to PERS. (Although you don't have to be new in order to attend!) This seminar is dedicated to financial wellbeing and planning for the future, led by veteran financial advisor Ed Foster. Topics for this seminar include:

• How does your state-sponsored retirement plan work?
• Where does the I.A.P. account fit in?
• How much money do you need to retire anyway?
• What happens if you change careers?
• What can you do to maximize your retirement savings?
• PERS? OPSRP? 403b? TSA? IRA? What do these all mean?!

RSVP HERE. The seminar will be in person on Wednesday, January 25, 4:30-6:00 PM, at the PAT office at 345 NE 8th Ave. A light meal will be provided. See the flyer here.

(*These retirement seminars are a benefit of PAT membership, and only available for PAT members. Not a member yet? Join here!)

Hello Educators,

Yesterday, your bargaining team met with the District for our final session focused solely on student support, discipline and safety (contained in Article 9 of the PAT-PPS contract). You can watch the bargaining session on the PAT YouTube channel. Later this month we will start bargaining over changes to our entire contract. 

In yesterday’s session, PAT bargaining members finished presenting our key questions for the District, including:

Causing Harm or Threat of Harm to an Educator: While the District continues to criticize our current contract language that requires a 5 day suspension when a student harms or threatens to harm an educator, they have yet to provide an alternative. How will the district ensure that we have the time and staffing to support students who have threatened or caused harm to educators? Right now, the District’s answer: “It will be at the Administrator’s discretion”. 

Appropriate Duty Schedule: How can we make sure our Mental Health support teams are not the sole or primary staff on duty? More duty ensures they will write a disproportionate level of disciplinary referrals, which can negatively impact their relationships with the students they counsel. How can we ensure we have enough staff on duty to keep students and staff safe? How can we keep the relationship between students and our Mental Health support team members supportive and therapeutic?

Environmental Safety: PPS rejected our language around basic building cleanliness, along with specific temperature and safety standards. PPS’ lawyer made it clear: The District is only interested in addressing environmental issues in our buildings if they are an “immediate danger created by an unsafe working condition when such danger threatens substantial bodily injury or would be a significant health hazard” (current contract language). Otherwise, educators could consider a “dusty room” or a room at “59 degrees” a hazard under our proposal and will “routinely” close classrooms.

It’s interesting that the District’s own recently concluded Facilities Report found that we are operating with less than half of the maintenance staff required to manage the number of buildings in PPS (see pp 15-18) so it’s no wonder we consistently have school temperature and so many other issues across the District! How many leaks in our classrooms until it is seen as a hazard? How many mornings of cleaning rat feces from student desks? How many days of freezing classrooms? How many sick days taken due to mold will be enough? How many more threats? How many more excuses?

Basic Classroom Safety: We need working phones at all times in every location an educator may be asked to work. When the electricity and internet is out, we need alternative communication options. We need doors that lock from the inside. We need basic safety standards across our sites, but the District has not yet agreed to add most of these common sense measures to their language.

Accountability and Support for Special Education: Educators shared how often we’ve been told by administrators that students cannot be held accountable for their behaviors if they have an IEP. When pushed to explain where in the law that is stated, Mr. Buno, the former Head of Special Education and current Head of Multi-Tiered Systems of Support at PPS, was unable to provide any clarification. Our students with IEPs should not be held to a higher standard or be excused from disciplinary processes. Just like all of our students, they deserve accountability and support.

At the end of the day, we know that our students and our communities deserve better. They deserve spaces that are clean and safe. They deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. They deserve to be believed when they share that their spaces are not a safe place to teach and learn.

This is why we will be broadening our bargaining later this month to address not just the unresolved issues around student support, discipline and safety, but ALL the critical issues facing our schools.

In Solidarity,

PAT Bargaining Team
Steve Lancaster, Chair
Francisca Alvarez
Samara Bockleman
Julia Fogg
Thea Keith
Charity Powell

Portland Association of Teachers
http://www.pdxteachers.org/

The Advocate, January 4th, 2023

• President’s Message: Happy New Year! ¡Feliz Año Nuevo!
• Know Your Contract: Probationary Teacher Mid-Year Evaluation Timelines
• PAT Elections: Submit Questions for Eboard Candidates
• Committee Updates
  • Racial Equity Committee
  • SJCO/External Organizing
  • Legislative Committee-Educator for a Day
• Upcoming Events
  • Educator Happy Hour
  • PAT Trainings
  • Next Committee Meetings at PAT Office

Hello Educators,

Happy New Year! ¡Feliz Año Nuevo! Welcome back to the second half of the 2022-2023 School Year. 

A Look Back

Oh what a year it has been! Jacque and I officially began our work leading the Portland Association of Teachers on July 1st, 2022 and PAT has accomplished so much already! Between July 1st and December 16th, our union has:

• Continued advocacy for Middle Schools through “A Call for a Safe and Stable School from PPS Middle School Communities,” adding building-based RJ coordinators to PPS MS
• Hired 2 new OEA Staff members, Ryan Olds and Jessica Nuti
• Added new Executive Board Members, Committee Co-Chairs, and Organizers
• Hosted a PAT table at the Tiger Tiger Community event, reading books and painting faces
• Amended and passed the business item at the Oregon Education Association (OEA) RA to create a Social Worker and Counselor Committee to address concerns specific to their needs (technically this was before July 1st, but was awesome nonetheless)
• Supported Glencoe in pushing back against the District when they tried to go back on their promise to add another classroom teacher (this wasn’t a “rumor” as some PPS leaders stated, we have the receipts)
• Organized around temperatures in schools and filed OSHA complaints, pushing PPS to develop a heat mitigation strategy and plan
• Held our first Community Outreach Drive-Thru Event
• Increased our Social Media Presence
• Had our first of many Community Listening Sessions to discuss Community Schools
• Collaborated with other PPS Unions to fight for Covid Leave protections
• Supported Special Educators with a SpEd Week of Action
• Got Out the Vote: Increased our PAT Voter turnout to 84% of PAT members & 66% of potential PAT Members 
• Joined the NEA Strategic Campaign Institute
• Surveyed our Members around Bargaining and began bargaining Article 9
• Met with Head Start Educators, Pre-K educators, TOSAs, Special Educators, and those who support, to better understand their concerns and needs
• Multiple grievances filed by educators and staff, as well as building-based actions to push for safe and supportive schools
• Developed a training calendar for the rest of the year
• Held multiple site-based socials where educators could connect and build community
  

WOW! What a first half of the year! Jacque and I know we would not be able to “lead” all this work without our members’ collective actions and dedication. Thank you to our committee chairs and organizing leads, thank you to every single educator who came to an event or meeting, who listened to a colleague with a need, who opened an email from PAT, who took care of themselves and prioritized their health and safety so they could teach another day. Thank you.

Looking Forward

What does 2023 have in store for us? We know we will be heading full on into successor bargaining this year, and we have had many educators give us input on bargaining proposals. We continue to strive for language that provides the maximum benefit to the maximum number of people AND looking at what the highest needs are regardless of the number impacted. The 150-day bargaining clock starts January 10th, and your colleagues have been working hard to prepare for the campaign ahead. Keep wearing your blue on Tuesdays, keep speaking up and sharing out, and keep an eye open for upcoming events and actions. ¡Juntos podemos!

Solidarity Forever

I was reflecting on returning back this January. I have had several former colleagues share that they are exhausted, they are having panic attacks, they are still dealing with the effect of catching COVID this break (COVID isn’t over, y’all! Please mask up!), and several who are just sick and tired of being sick and tired. I heard from educators worried about returning and being able to serve the students in front of them. This system has stretched everyone to the limit, and winter break is often a time to reflect and take stock of what matters. 

During this time of reflection and the resetting of expectations, I implore y’all to cultivate some self-compassion: “Instead of mercilessly judging and criticizing yourself for various inadequacies or shortcomings, self-compassion means you are kind and understanding when confronted with personal failings – after all, who ever said you were supposed to be perfect?” -Dr. Kristen Neff, Author of Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself

Self-Compassion is about treating ourselves the way we would that friend; "Instead of just ignoring your pain with a 'stiff upper lip' mentality, you stop to tell yourself 'this is really difficult right now,' how can I comfort and care for myself in this moment?" Self-compassion consists of three components:

• Self-kindness (vs self-judgment): Self-kindness is the act of acknowledging our failures and suffering. Instead of ignoring or punishing ourselves for those failures, we are gentle with ourselves anyway.
• Common humanity (vs. isolation): Common humanity is the act of recognizing you are not alone in what you are feeling and experiencing; "suffering and personal inadequacy is part of the shared human experience".
• Mindfulness (vs. over-identification): It can be tempting to forcefully silence and avoid or over amplify and spiral with those negative thoughts and feelings. "Mindfulness is a non-judgmental, receptive mind state in which one observes thoughts and feelings as they are, without trying to suppress or deny them."

You deserve self-compassion for the simple reason that you exist. You deserve to feel comforted, connected, and balanced. How will you practice self-compassion this year? Remember: Do not run yourself ragged to fit into raggedy systems. Together, we will lift each other up and fight for a radically compassionate system that serves EVERYONE. But first, we need to find that compassion for ourselves as well.

Take Care,
Angela Bonilla
PAT President