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By Terry Lawler
Kewaunee Education Association President Beth Kuehl was delighted when she saw a front-page article in the local newspaper about Kewaunee teachers’ I See Red Day activities in October.
Under the headline “Kewaunee Teachers Seeing Red,” the Kewaunee Enterprise article stated: “Educators are uniting to create and maintain great schools which are jeopardized by imposed revenue controls” and “a flawed statewide bargaining law.”
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Beth Kuehl |
Kuehl helped get the message out when she was quoted as reminding citizens that, “If you live in this community, then you have a stake in these discussions because great schools benefit you.”
One week later, the paper followed up by running a front-page photograph of many Kewaunee teachers in their red shirts.
The coverage was a success story for the Great Schools Statewide Action Plan and illustrated KEA members’ support of it and of each other. The Statewide Action Plan outlines uniform strategies for locals to employ toward the goal of achieving a revised system of school funding that ensures that every child has access to an adequately funded public education, and a fair collective bargaining law for teachers and education support professionals.
Strategies included participation in I See Red Day on October 15 and involve ongoing efforts to get local school boards to pass a resolution supporting repeal of the Qualified Economic Offer law and revenue caps.
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Marcia Konkol |
Part of Kewaunee’s success in building support for the Action Plan locally is that “more young teachers are getting involved in the union’s activities,” said Marcia Konkol, an early child special education and pre-kindergarten teacher of 10 years who serves as KEA treasurer and is part of the union’s negotiations team.
“You have people who are always involved; it’s nice to get more on board,” added Kuehl, a family and consumer education instructor for 30 years. “We feel that we’re doing our part for teachers statewide.”
The KEA is committed to Level I of the Statewide Action Plan.
In addition to participating in I See Red Day, KEA members also wore their red shirts on Election Day.
“About 80% of the teachers wore shirts that day, despite a local TV station calling it a ‘protest,’” said Kuehl. “It made some teachers leery,” but Kuehl assured the members that the action was a positive demonstration of support for great schools and not a protest of any kind.
The KEA has plans to ask its members to communicate with school board members. Members also will e-mail their state representatives and senators, asking them to declare their positions on the repeal of the QEO law and school district revenue caps.
The KEA is considering holding an accountability session with state senators and representatives in January, despite some concerns.
“We’re such a small district – 83 teachers – that we don’t know if we can get representatives and senators to come here,” Kuehl said.
That’s one reason the KEA continues to work with the other eight local associations in its area consortium. “We collaborate a great deal with the other eight districts” in negotiations and other areas, Konkol said.
Konkol sees one more very significant benefit for the KEA members from participation in the Great Schools Statewide Action Plan.
“We as a union have never really gone before the board in recent memory, so that, in itself, is a start,” she said.
Member Only Great Schools Statewide Action Plan Resource Page
Posted November 19, 2004