The Art of Plate Spinning

If only I could rock it like she can.

Had a pretty epic meeting the other day with last year’s UFT chapter leader, a thoughtful man who told me, among other things, that chapter leaders who are on their game essentially have a co-teaching relationship with the principal and all the staff are students. He also gave me a sense of how the role calls on skills and qualities from many a reserve. As union rep, he was the “absolute voice of the staff,” who came fretting about healthcare options, maternity leave, pay schedules, compensation fairness, programming schedules, room/teaching assignments and more, sometimes even while he was teaching. His attentions necessarily shifted from the myriad concerns streaming through his classroom to the veritable ocean powering through the school.

From what I gathered, being a union rep was parts strategy, reticence, negotiation, diplomacy, and good old common sense. Furthermore, his term as teacher-rep was set against a backdrop of shifting sentiment about administration’s commitment to good will as a basic environmental need. Add to that or two all-staff emails, a pinch of closed door conversations and a dash of awkward staff meetings, and the uncertainty rose like the most leavened of pastries.

Then my colleague the union rep--who I appreciate as a professional, creative being, teacher and certainly the union rep—decided he would rep no more. Though the year was a good one overall and he had many positive things to say of the experience, he has plans that will make union repping difficult moving forward. Enter more than one staff member telling I must be next year’s rep because of what the times call for, admin will listen to me, and on and on. Besides that, not a single other human was in the offing (which tempered the force of the aforementioned insistences, but anyway).

I’ve read that plate juggling can yield impressive results when done strategically. All I can hope for is the wisdom to know which will gain their own momentum and which need tabling for another time. I guess I’ll find out soon enough.

#education  #UFT  #chapter leader  #nyteachersunion