Collecting Signatures

Thursday, July 21, 2011 launched the recall effort for Rep. Paul Scott from District 51.  I don't live in his district, but many of my colleagues do, and I think this man has done more to damage public education than any other current legislator.  I am helping in the recall effort!  This is the first time I have participated in something so political, but I feel compelled to do so.

I volunteered to work collecting signatures yesterday at Grand Blanc High School (ironically, Paul Scott graduated from Grand Blanc High).  One of my colleagues and her sister have been very active in the Recall Snyder campaign. We had petitions to recall Rep. Paul Scott, Gov. Rick Snyder, and a petition to repeal the Emergency Financial Manager law (Public Act 4).  The weather was muggy and rainy.  Other volunteers said that business at this location had been very steady throughout the day.  There seemed to be a lull because of the rain.  I grabbed an umbrella and a sign and stood on the side of Saginaw trying to bring people in to sign petitions.  Many vehicles honked their horns at us; others would wave or give a thumbs up as they drove past.  I felt very encouraged by all of this!  One woman slowed her car down and proceeded to shake her head at me.  I could only imagine what she was saying to me.  This didn't matter because I realize that not everyone is unhappy about how the state is currently being run.

I held the sign for about an hour.  A slow stream of vehicles turned into the high school parking lot to sign.  The rain had stopped and the sun was peeking out from the clouds.  I was asked to take over collecting signatures because one of the volunteers had to leave.  Business was picking up because many people were on their way home from work.

What I found interesting was listening to what people had to say as they approached the table.  There were so many who were very angry at Rep. Scott for the arrogance that he has displayed.  Some people shared stories of coming in contact with Rep. Scott when he was campaigning , or one of the times he visited schools.  One mother told of a story when Rep. Scott visited her daughter's school to speak and brought candy, but he didn't bring enough candy for everyone.  Her daughter was really upset!  I gave her a recall Paul Scott sticker.  Another citizen who was an older gentleman came up to the table and said, "I want to know why he didn't marry the woman he got pregnant!"  I know these stories have nothing to do with Paul Scott's politics, but they do reveal the level of animosity the public is feeling toward his character.  They are signing the petition.

Some people don't agree with what we are doing and want to voice their opinion.  One older man pulled his car into the parking lot but didn't get out.  When we went up to talk to him, he just wanted to complain about what we were doing.  Another younger voter stopped by and actually approached the table.  He wanted to argue about the cost of public pensions.  We told him to have a good evening and he left.  For every head shake or complaint, there were at least twenty-five others who wanted to sign.  I left yesterday evening feeling like I had really made a difference.

We collected hundreds of signatures yesterday.  It was only the second day, and we were only one location.  We have until August 5, 2011.  I'm not sure if we can get the required 8,000 signatures, but at least I will know that I tried.  I will volunteer more during the next two weeks.  If you live in Rep. Scott's district and you want to sign, join the recall Paul Scott Facebook page to find out locations of petitions.  If you want to get involved, you can also volunteer.  We need all the help we can get!

How I Became a Political Activist

What is it that turns complacency into passion, apathy into action?  This is the question I have been pondering about myself lately because a fire within me has been stoked, and I have been participating more in political life.

 Let me begin by saying that I was born and raised in a very conservative, Mormon family.  I always knew that I was not like my four siblings.  I joked around that maybe I was adopted or that I had a  twin that lived with another family.  In a word, I was a rebel.  I did not want to go to church on Sunday, or Wednesday, or Saturday, or whatever day had some church function.  I wanted to play, or do whatever I felt I was missing out on by going to church.  My rebellious nature has been difficult to suppress, even though my parents tried.   It has popped up time and time again in my life, always to be pushed back into submission.

My parents and family are staunch Republicans.  I’m sure they always vote Republican without question.  I, too, have voted Republican without giving it much thought.  I turned eighteen in 1984 and missed the presidential election by  one month.  I would have voted for Reagan because my parents voted for Reagan.  Instead, I had to wait until 1988 to vote in my first presidential election.   I voted for H.W. Bush, just like my parents.  Honestly, I was too egocentric to give politics a second thought in the 1980s. I did my duty and went home.   It wasn’t until the 1990s that my life made a turn left.

I got divorced.  The youngest of five, I was the last to get married and the first to get divorced.  Needless to say, my family did not support divorce as an option, but they loved me and tried to understand how I could leave my husband of only three years to seek a better life.  My parents even gave me some financial support during this transition.  Ironically, three of my siblings got divorced from their spouses after I got divorced.  It was as if I blazed a trail for them.  Only one of my sisters is still married to her first husband.

Getting divorced forced me into independence. Actually,  I was  already there, I just didn’t realize it at the time.  I needed a career that could support me because it was obvious that the idea that a husband would support me was not a reality.  Luckily, I didn’t have any children with my first husband, and I could make decisions that only affected me.

I went back to school to become a teacher, and this is where the liberal side of me was brought to the surface.  It was always there, but nothing of note triggered it to come forth.  Even when I joined the MEA in my first year of teaching (in a large urban district), I did not participate in any union activities.  When officer election time came, I just filled out the ballot.  I didn’t even know the people who were running. 

It wasn’t until I got a job in a small, rural district that things began to change.  In my new job, the union members were much more involved than in the big city district.  We were expected to attend union meetings, something I had never done before.  We were expected to serve on committees, also something new to me.

My new job also offered new opportunities to make new friends and teach new courses.  I have to say that this combination is what has brought about the most change for me.  A few years ago I was asked by my principal to teach AP U.S. History.  I had always taught English (with one exception, I taught economics for one year), and I was flattered and nervous about such an undertaking.  I would have to become an "expert" on U.S. history in a very short time in order to teach a college-level course.  I accepted the challenge.

At the same time as this, I came to know the department chair of the social studies department much better.  We began to eat lunch together and most of our conversations focused around teaching methods we used in our classes.  My first year teaching AP was very stressful, and my friend (who also teaches AP) was there to offer words of encouragement to get me through this formidable first year.  This friend and department chair is also my local union president.

During the last year, issues within the political world and the educational world have quickly changed course.  Changes are happening both at the national level and the state level and both have been the topic of conversation at lunch with my dear friend.  Last year our state adopted the Common Core Curriculum Standards which means yet another curriculum shift, a shift toward a national curriculum, taking away much of the local control of curriculum.  Michigan elected a Republican governor to office, and both the House and the Senate have the Republican majority.  This has easily allowed the passage of legislation that will change the status quo in education in Michigan.

Most of these changes will not benefit students.  The details of this have been the subject of other blog posts, but it is this current political atmosphere that has caused me to do things that I have never before done.  My first activist function was attending a grade-in at a mall in Lansing.  We wore red shirts and parked ourselves in the food court for three hours to grade papers on a Sunday afternoon.  There weren't very many participants that first time, but I was interviewed by the local news station about what we were doing at the mall.  I told the reporter that this is the way many teachers spend their Sunday.  We wanted the public to know that we didn't just work from 8-3 Monday through Friday.

For my second activity, I attended a union rally at the Capitol building in Lansing in April.  It wasn't just teachers in attendance, but many unions.  We held signs and chanted, "That's not right!"  as we listened to speakers.  It didn't really accomplish anything, but it made me feel good that I was showing my discontent with what was going on.

On the local front, our union has been involved in negotiations for a new contract for over a year.  We decided as a group to do a few activities to make our feelings known to the administration.  We got t-shirts that were red and had "Linden United" on the front.  We did informational picketing, passing out cards to parents as they dropped off their children in the morning.  We had union meetings advising our members to write to their legislators about the anti-teacher legislation that was pending.

I e-mailed both my senator and my representative (both Republicans).  I attended another rally, this time an MEA rally that was the biggest rally at the Capitol since Snyder took office.   It was barely mentioned in the news media.  Finally, I decided I should go to the Capitol and try to speak to my senator in person.  This is something I never would have dreamed of doing even a year ago.  Of course, I didn't get to speak to him and the vote passed the legislation, so my efforts had no effect.  What's next?  I will continue to write about issues that are important to teachers and students.  I want to get involved in the recall effort against the governor and some of the legislators.  Basically, it is just the beginning for me because I have discovered that I cannot allow myself to sit by and be complacent or apathetic about what is happening in this state and in this country.  Hopefully, my voice will make a difference...