Denise Rodriguez: ‘Our contract is the most powerful tool we have’

June 9, 2017 by

SPFT President Denise Rodriguez will retire June 12.

When she and her friends played school as kids, Denise Rodriguez was always the teacher. As a teenager she dreamed of teaching Spanish at Harding High School, just like her favorite teacher.

Now Rodriguez, president of the St. Paul Federation of Teachers for the last three years, is set to retire June 12 after 39 years living out her dreams – some old, some new – in the St. Paul Public Schools. (Nick Faber, currently serving as vice president of the local, has been elected to succeed Rodriguez as president.)

“Denise has been a great leader and an influential ally to organizations like ours,” St. Paul Regional Labor Federation President Bobby Kasper said. “She is a true friend.”

UA: What sparked your interest in teaching?

DR: “In high school they said maybe I should think of being something else because there were too many teachers at that time. But I knew what I wanted to be. I wanted to return to Harding High School and be a Spanish teacher. And I did.”

UA: Was it a dream come true?

DR: “Yes, it was. It’s where I always wanted to be. I liked to be able to have the students feel excited about what I was excited about – about Spanish. I love seeing how their faces change when they really get something, when it really makes sense to them.”

UA: How did you become active in SPFT?

DR: “About 19 years ago, our building steward asked me to be a steward. It just goes to show that when we do our union work, we can’t underestimate the importance of talking to people face to face…

I would come to the union offices in the evening after teaching all day and would be so exhausted, but my work here energized me. I found my second passion in life.”

UA: SPFT members have expanded the scope of issues their union negotiates. How effective has it been?

DR: “It’s called bargaining for the common good. It’s a way of organizing along with the community and using contract negotiations to bargain for a set of demands that make a more equitable learning environment for our students. Our contract is the most powerful tool we have to improve our students’ learning conditions.

“Four years ago we got some things we’ve never gotten before – contract language around smaller class sizes, getting the district to commit to having more (support staff), a 25 percent reduction in testing… We’ve also elevated and incorporated racial equity into the work of our union. We’ve organized parents to increase our collective power. This is the work that has really energized me.”

UA: Is it fair to say St. Paul teachers are on the cutting edge in this approach to bargaining?

DR: “They are, and I’m very proud of them. After we settled the contract in 2013, we started to get invited to visit (unions) across the country to talk about the work we’re doing. Now we’ve started the St. Paul Institute, where we train members from around the country in how to use their contract negotiations to bargain for the benefit of the community.”

UA: What trends have you seen emerge in education that you’re concerned about – and is union activism an effective way to address them?

DR: “Public education is facing unprecedented threats. Unions are being attacked. Teachers in some states have lost the right to collectively bargain, so it’s more important than ever to stand together with the community, to show our districts and our school boards what we want for our schools, what we want for our students.”

UA: What’s the next step for you?

DR: “Hopefully I’ll be able to come back and continue some of this work with the St. Paul Institute. I have a grandson who’s going to play football in college on a full-ride scholarship, so hopefully I will be able to watch him too.”

UA: And what’s next for SPFT?

DR: “Right now there are all these budget cuts and budget deficits. People say there’s no money. Well, scarcity is a myth. We have enough money in this state to fully fund our public schools. In St. Paul we want to look at corporations who are not paying their fair share in taxes – and look at all of the different non-profit property owners that really are making profits.”

UA: We learned a lot about non-profits during the Allina nurses’ strike, didn’t we?

DR: “That’s exactly it. They have billions in offshore accounts. The money is there. Now it’s time to start to call on them to pay their fair share.”

Filed Under: Labor Voices Tagged With: , ,

St. Paul teachers answer Trump’s divisive rhetoric with wall of support for immigrant students

January 20, 2017 by
Leah Adair, a teacher at Crossroads Montessori in St. Paul, holds a sign reading "You are welcome here and safe here" in Karen.

Leah Adair (L), a teacher at Crossroads Montessori in St. Paul, holds a sign reading “You are welcome here and safe here” in Karen.

 

Teachers, parents and community members lined the walkway outside LEAP High School in St. Paul yesterday, forming a protective wall around students at the school for new immigrants as they walked to their buses after dismissal.

Organized by the St. Paul Federation of Teachers on the day before Donald Trump’s inauguration, the public action was a pointed rejection of the new president’s anti-immigrant rhetoric – and a call for district leaders to make school the one place students don’t have to worry about their skin color or immigration status.

“We want to unite against the threat of deportation, we want to unite against racism, sexism, all the ‘isms’ that are going to be coming out of DC for the next four years,” SPFT President Denise Rodriguez said. “And we want billionaires to pay their fair share of taxes so we can fully fund our schools.”

 

St. Paul school board members will vote Tuesday night on a “sanctuary school” resolution. Supporters want the district to protect students from deportation raids at school and adopt a policy against sharing student information with immigration agents.

All children deserve a chance to succeed at school, but middle-school English teacher Leah VanDassor worries that fear and uncertainty will create barriers to success for her undocumented and immigrant students.

Leah VanDassor

Leah VanDassor rallied in support of her undocumented students.

“I want to let them know that they’re safe with us, they’re safe in school and they’re supported,” VanDassor said. “These opportunities at our public schools are here for everybody.”

Since his election, Trump has vowed to deport 2 to 3 million undocumented immigrants. That pledge, along with his baseless claim that immigrants crossing the border with Mexico tend to be violent criminals, has trickled down into St. Paul classrooms, students and teachers said.

Amy Hewett-Olatunde, an English teacher at LEAP and winner of the state’s Teacher of the Year award, called the day after Trump’s election “the worst day of my teaching career.”

“We answered questions that we’ve never had to answer,” she explained. “Our students had a really difficult day, and they’ve had more difficult days since then.”

“Some of my students are feeling like their family might be deported, or someone in their family might be deported,” VanDassor said. “That puts them under a lot of stress, and it makes it hard for them to learn.”

LEAP student Nathanael Valera, whose family relocated from Mexico to St. Paul, said he knows classmates and relatives worried about “being chased by the authorities.” So it warmed Valera’s heart to see the security blanket of support outside his school yesterday.

“I have seen the worry in my classmates and relatives, but we can do something about it,” Valera said. “We can stand together as a community, raise our voices and protect and defend the rights of those who cannot protect themselves.”

The rally was one of several teacher-led events at St. Paul schools – and schools across the country – on Jan. 19, part of educators’ nationwide “#ReclaimOurSchools” campaign. Former SPFT President Mary Cathryn Ricker, currently serving as a vice president of the American Federation of Teachers, said it’s more vital than ever that teachers, parents and students continue working together to support public education.

“Let’s make sure that the energy of this rally is carried forward every day, so that every day students feel welcome … and every day students feel the power of the partnerships we as adults are creating to meet their needs,” Ricker said. “Let’s do this together. Let’s reclaim our schools.”

Filed Under: Community, Politics Tagged With: , , , , ,