CFT CONVENTION 2011: Speakers inspire. JUDY CHU was laid off in1986 by the Los Angeles community college board looking to cut costs after she had taught for five years. “Nothing burns more than looking at a pink slip,” she recalled. The union restored her job along with many others and helped elect new board members in the next election. She learned back then just how powerful a union can be and said that power is needed now. Chu holds the eastern Los Angeles congressional seat. When Education Secretary Arne Duncan appeared before the House Education Committee, Chu questioned him aggressively. She brought up the firing of all teachers at Central Falls High School in Rhode Island, asking if “not a single one of those teachers was good enough to stay.” Chu proposes a framework for school improvement that would include collaboration, wrap-around services, and effective teacher development, but said passing a good bill now is difficult. “Despite all these obstacles,” she concluded, “I see a bright light. The American people are paying attention and the polls are on our side. We are going to tell America that we are the ones fighting for students and their educations.” TOM TORLAKSON, new Superintendent of Public Instruction, spotlighted state budget woes, citing his San Mateo alma mater where summer school and arts programs have been cancelled and teachers employed for even six years laid off. He lamented the thousands of educators who have been given pink slips. Torlakson declared a financial emergency for schools, promising a program including preschool and healthcare for all children, vocational ed, and a reduced emphasis on testing.
CONVENTION 2011 MARCH 18 – 20 MANHATTAN BEACH
6
C A L I F O R N I A T E A C H E R A P R I L / M AY 2 0 1 1
NEW OFFICERS
INSPIRING WORDS
Delegates elect Josh Pechthalt CFT president and Jeff Freitas secretary treasurer
Josh Pechthalt
J
osh Pechthalt, a classroom teacher who rose to be president of United Teachers Los Angeles, the largest AFT local in the state, was elected president of CFT at the annual convention in Manhattan Beach. The second contested vote in 20 years, the campaign had begun nearly a year ago when President Marty Hittelman announced he would not seek reelection. Pechthalt won the seat by nearly a three-to-one margin against Mary Alice Callahan, former president of the Morgan Hill Federation of Teachers and CFT senior vice president.
Jeff Freitas
Mary Alice Callahan
attack workers. Pechthalt and Jeff Freitas, who ran as a slate, offered a strategy “to counter the money and power that will be thrown at us.” It includes expanding training for new leaders and increas-
Delegates electioneer at CFT Convention 2011.
Reggie Gomes and Cecilia Chaves from the Turlock-AFT cast the votes of their delegation.
Callahan spoke first, telling delegates that only unions could stop the assault on schools and democracy. “Raising class sizes for our youngest is, in effect, a tax on our youngest. I say ‘No More!’” She credited unions with social advances that help union and non-union families alike. “The captains of industry did not lead these advances; they resisted them. It’s time to teach some history lessons.” Pechthalt told delegates, “Education is not a business. It’s a social right. In Wisconsin, teachers have been demonized. We are fighting for the future of labor.” He said the enemies of labor had taken advantage of the worst recession since the 1930s to
ing outreach to other unions, parents, and community coalitions. In the second big election, Freitas unseated incumbent Secretary Treasurer Dennis Smith by a 16 percent vote margin. Smith had himself unseated an incumbent four years earlier. Freitas began his speech for secretary treasurer by explaining his back-
Dennis Smith
ground, which includes math and accounting, president of the Carpinteria local, and staff lobbyist. Freitas, the first openly gay candidate for a top CFT office, said of his campaign. “There hasn’t been a single one of these meetings where I haven’t left remembering why I love CFT.” Smith told delegates that CFT was $5 million in debt when he took the position in 2007.” He had stabilized the situation, he said, “but we’re not out of the woods yet.” At the end of each speech, supporters throughout the crowded hall rose to cheer and wave placards. Dennis Kelly, president of United Educators of San Francisco, spoke for the 24-member vice presidential Unity Slate representing the diversity of CFT. Three other candidates were nominated from the floor and one of them, David Mielke, 27-year president of the Culver City Federation of Teachers, was elected, supplanting one member of the Unity Slate. — By Malcolm Terence, CFT Reporter
Delegates pass resolutions and amendments Elections upstaged floor debate, but delegates still passed constitutional amendments and resolutions, including: b support for more study of health consequences related to methyl iodide and for asking CalSTRS to divest in related agricultural chemical companies b a call to restore dedicated funding for adult education b support for the CFT proposal on the reauthorization of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act (named No Child Left Behind by the Bush administration)
b opposition to a CSU proposal to establish a new mandatory summer program called Early Start for first-year college students who do not test proficient in math or English b support for starting a charter school task force in the CFT b a constitutional increase in per capitas b support for sending President Obama a pair of union-made walking shoes with the request that he walk with workers in states seeking to erode collective bargaining. > To read resolutions passed, go to cft.org.