Focus on TUSD - June 2007

TEA President
Steve Courter's world will be different for the next two years.

He's exchanged an elementary school classroom for the presidency of the Tucson Education Association (TEA), the union representing hundreds of employees in TUSD, the second largest school district in the state.

A year as the TEA vice-president prepared him somewhat for his new job, but he knows he has a steep learning curve ahead. One thing he doesn't need to learn, though, is his fierce dedication to helping the educators he represents.

He intends to promote what he calls "the new unionism," expanding traditional workplace issues of salaries and benefits to include increasing TEA membership and improving educator's satisfaction in the workplace.

"If we don't do it, who is out there advocating for us?" he asked. "We need to get our members to be active."

He fears that activists who want to dismantle public education will get the upper hand unless the union and TUSD officials find common interests in their fight against this movement. "The stakes are too high for us to get bogged down in pettiness," he said. "We need to protect public education. It's served us well as a country and it's a model for the world."

Teachers unions have won benefits for members, but those gains need to be protected, Courter said. "What I find discouraging is that you fight like dogs to get a scrap of meat and then you fight to keep it," he said. "There is the perception that what we get is at the expense of the students."

As he begins his two-year stint, Courter said he will focus on these issues:

• Classified salaries should be higher, particularly since education requirements have been added, such as the Title I federal program stipulation that teaching assistants must have a two-year degree. TUSD also requires these employees to have that degree even if they are not at a Title I school. "It's difficult for classified staff to pay the tuition for the degree when they earn little more than the minimum wage," Courter said.
• Adequate time must be given to certified teachers to meet their requirements, too, he said. Teachers must renew their certifications every six years by having 180 hours of professional development, for example. "All these requirements are fine, but we're putting all these requirements on them but not on the rest of society," Coulter said.
• TEA will be involved with teachers acquiring the "highly qualified" designation because some teachers won't meet those standards, Courter said. "There are those who will leave the field rather than mess with it," he predicted. "During my time as president, this will come fully to the forefront. It will affect experienced teachers more than the new teachers who are meeting requirements as they come into the field."
• The performance disparity among TUSD schools should be addressed as the union and TUSD officials pinpoint reasons for the situations and then seek solutions, he said. "We can't have students who are condemned to lower performance from the time they're born because they live in a certain part of the city," Courter said.
• The small pool of applicants for science and math teaching positions should be addressed, too, particularly because students need to learn these subjects as preparation for working in a global economy. "It's not to say that the other subjects aren't important, but science and math subjects are hard to fill, and if we can't prepare our students in these areas, we'll be at a loss," he said. He strongly advocates helping students master basic literacy, a skill that helps them perform in other subjects.
• Inadequate public school funding continues to be a problem for school districts, especially those in Arizona, where funding is consistently lower than other states.
  Courter noted that Arizona voters mostly elect representatives through the primaries where Republican candidates are generally more conservative than the public as a whole, he said. "In polls, people say public education is under funded, so elected officials aren't representing public opinion," he commented.
• The new superintendent who takes office next summer will have an enormous effect on the District, Courter said. Because of the working relationship the superintendent and TEA have, Courter hopes the union will have a major role in choosing and working with the new superintendent. He recommends a new approach to running the District under new management. "If we don't get away from this top down model of governing, we'll never get over our problems of poor morale, high turnover and poor public image," he said. "We must involve people who have so much at stake. They need to be consulted."
• The newly formatted School Councils are a move in the right direction, he said, and work should continue to support them.
• Students' school choices and professional staff placements will be affected if TUSD attains unitary status, Courter said, adding that he's prepared to deal with this situation, should it occur.

Because Courter's teaching career has been only on the elementary school level, he intends to assemble a volunteer advisory committee of middle and high school educators to help him learn about issues related to those levels. He also intends to learn more about Proposition 301 salary compensation for teachers.

Courter is working with Michael Konecky, a Palo Verde Magnet High School biology teacher, who is the new TEA vice-president.

Bio of Steve Courter

-- By Sharon Dunham
Communications & Media Relations

TUSD - Proud Supporter of Small Classes

All photos in the June issue by Jes Ruvalcaba of Communications & Media Relations.

The deadline to submit material for the August Focus is Friday, August 3. The Focus will be published Monday, August 13. Email submissions to Chyrl Hill Lander or Sharon Dunham in the Communications & Media Relations Department or use the Focus Online Submission Form.