The Caucus of Working Educators is a diverse group of PFT members and their supporters who hail from every corner of Philadelphia. Below is the story of one supporter--a school district parent--who chose to join. 

What experiences led you to join the Caucus of Working Educators?

When it comes to public education in Philadelphia, you can feel powerless or you can seek out like-minded people to empower yourself. I have surrounded myself with a network of amazing education activists who hold me up. Together we keep the faith, do the work, find the high ground, and shine a light into the dark corners of education reform.  We are teachers, librarians, counselors, nurses, support staff, parents, and community leaders advocating for the classrooms and schools our children deserve. I consider the creation of the Caucus of WE an extension of the valuable networking that has taken place over the past few years. I hope it will be a means to expand connections among education activists.

Public education is the foundation of American democracy, but right now the voices of stakeholders are being shut out. Teachers, parents, and students have been systematically excluded from the conversation about the future of our schools.  Meanwhile private interest groups continue to buy access to education policy makers at all levels of government. This must change.

People are recognizing the power they have to change the system and are making time to do the work. There are over 39,000 Badass Teachers involved in this fight nationally. Here in Philadelphia people are speaking up regularly in SRC meetings.  They are learning how to use social media to organize and create alternative media sources. They are investigating and exposing the dark money being used to privatize our schools.  The privatization movement is national in scope and the same strategies are recycled over and over. We have the power to learn from Chicago, Newark, New Orleans, New York etc. We have a powerful network of support.  We can help each one another.  We ARE helping one another. I believe in the power of relationships and in the power of individual actions to inspire change. That gives me hope.

Shoneice Reynolds, a Chicago parent, said it best. “I wasn’t an activist until it fell into my backyard.” Even if you don’t perceive yourself to be an activist, the potential is there. We all have talents to bring to this fight. For an issue as important as the future of public education, we must find the time. Teachers, parents, and community stakeholders working together can make change happen.

We hope Alison's story inspires you to join us in our work! You can also e-mail us to get more information about membership at [email protected].

We're happy to share this post by Robeson High School Teacher and Caucus Member Andrew Saltz:

When I talk to my staff, the words we use in discussing the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers are removed from ownership.  “The Union” or “The PFT” or “Them” or “Jerry”. That’s calamity.  Love, hate, whatever – if teachers cannot say “my union” or “us” when they talk about fighting for strong schools, we lose.  This is the first and most important battle.  If you are reading this² and you are PFT, I’m betting you’ve seen the same thing.

I truly believe words matter.  And this, above all else, is why I am excited to be a part of the Caucus of Working Educators.

I’m not laying blame.  There are wonderful people working in the PFT and I want to work with them.  By forging an open and democratic union, we build trust and ownership.  From ownership comes empowerment.  And empowered teachers are a scary thing.

Check out the full post on his blog. If you agree, please consider joining us today and coming to our Launch Party March 28th!

One item of the Caucus of Working Educators' platform is Transparency, Accountability, and Shared-Decision Making. To those ends, we are posting a collection of the commentary sent out on Twitter during today's General Membership Meeting.

This kind of commentary has been happening on Twitter for years, and by collecting it, we hope to inspire more members to get involved with our meetings. Less than 10% of the total membership was present, and there was a substantive vote on a member motion! All PFT Members should be informed of union business and present at meetings whenever possible.

Welcome to the new blog of the Caucus of Working Educators! This space will feature content that informs, energizes, and transforms our membership, the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, and public education in Philadelphia.

We're happy to share a recent post by longtime Philadelphia teacher (and recent transplant to New York) Brian Cohen:

Yesterday marked the first day I have seen or heard of a different caucus within the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers (PFT). For decades since their founding there has been a group of individuals in control of the PFT and the collective bargaining rights of all its members. While that group has done a wonderful job of supporting and aiding teachers, nurses, non-teaching assistants (NTAs) across the city, there has been growing discontent in their lack of transparency and need for input from the membership. As a former member and activist within the PFT, I can attest to that. There is now a new group within the PFT attempting to affect change: The Caucus of Working Educators. I am glad to see their platform calls for more transparency from the union leadership and support for public education.

You can read the full post on his blog, where he goes on to describe how caucuses are commonplace and integral to the work in New York.