CTA members and chapters that have distinguished themselves in the political arena were honored at the June meeting of State Council.

 

Ted Bass Teacher-in-Politics Awards were presented to six CTA members:

 

Jeanne M. Marks, a member of the Eastside Teachers Association, won the Getting Others Involved category. She has raised recruiting to the level of a new art form. After bringing in just about everybody who could be brought in from her local chapter, she expanded her range, going out into the community to get volunteers wherever she could find them. As a result, the chapters in the Antelope Valley exceeded their voter contact goal by more than 150 percent.

 

Michael L. Heyl, a member of the Guadalupe Teachers Association, won the State Priorities category. He helped fellow teachers and community members see the truth behind Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's flawed reforms last year. He also prodded the district superintendent to mobilize administrators and enlisted other local unions to work against these bad ideas.

 

Shaun Lloyd, a member of the Redondo Beach Teachers Association, won the Local Priorities category. She helped chapter members see that their success in the classroom was linked to their ability to shape the political environment. She helped mobilize local chapter members so effectively that they won five out of six local school board races. She let chapter members know their individual and collective efforts were vital.

 

Mary Ann Luckinbill, a member of the Nevada City Faculty Association, won the Partisan/Non-partisan category. She is a fierce Democratic partisan and a member of her party's Central Committee. Working in an area in which Democrats are almost an endangered species, she formed coalitions with the party during the recent special election to maximize the effectiveness of phone banks.

 

Patrick Riggs, a member of the Eureka Teachers Association, won the Coalition Building category. Believing that community coalitions can have remarkable results, he helped build and strengthen relationships between his local chapter and allies, including the Democratic Party. He also drew on his experience as a chapter officer and an official of the local party to meld the two into a powerful force against the governor's anti-education, anti-labor agenda.

 

Peggy Colwell, a member of the Shasta County Office of Education, won the Overall Award. She forged coalitions with the Central Labor Council representing five counties. Early on, she and a few dozen others gave the governor a greeting at a fundraising dinner on his birthday that he will not soon forget. Virtually every television and radio station in the vicinity was there to roll tape. She also organized a Day of the Teacher rally that exposed to the community at large the real agenda behind the governor's proposals. On the day after the election, the numbers told the story. A record 52.5 percent of voters in her area turned out, many of them at her personal urging.

 

Joyce Fadem Chapter-in-Politics Awards went to four CTA chapters:

 

The Redondo Beach Teachers Association won the Small Chapter category by creating a powerful coalition that has helped elect at least one teacher to each of the surrounding school boards, including three pro-teacher members to the chapter's own school board. More than 90 percent of its 360 members are involved in the chapter political action committee (PAC).

 

The Merced City Teachers Association won the Medium-Sized Chapter category. The chapter took more than 200 teachers to the state Capitol hundreds of miles away to press for more funding for public education, and formed more than 11 local coalitions to fight the governor's anti-education initiatives. Its members operated phone banks for more than 200 hours, organized precinct marches and sent personalized postcards to community members.

 

The Moreno Valley Educators Association won the Large Chapter category by taking the challenge to "organize, not agonize" to heart, quickly mobilizing its 1,700 members into an effective unified force. It headed a wide-ranging local education coalition formed around the goal of securing more school funding from the state, and participated in other local coalitions aimed at defeating the governor's initiatives. The chapter elected five pro-teacher members to its local school board; worked in campaigns for pro-teacher local, state and federal candidates; won the passage of local and statewide school bonds; and signed up more than 95 percent of the members for the political action committee.

 

The Hollister Elementary Teachers Association won the Rookie Chapter category with its series of "firsts" in this hot political year. For the first time, it began a wide-ranging political mobilization of its 303 members. It printed its first political newsletter, created a website with a focus on political action, and set up phone banks to elect a pro-teacher school board. Also for the first time, the chapter formed coalitions to improve local schools, elect pro-education candidates, and win more school funding from the state. It interviewed candidates, worked in the campaigns of pro-education lawmakers, lobbied elected officials and signed up more than 50 percent of its members for its political action committee.