SPFE sets strike vote, parent info session

February 11, 2020 by

SPFE members and community supporters rallied last month in support of the union’s contract campaign.

Members of the St. Paul Federation of Educators representing over 3,600 teachers, educational assistants, licensed professionals and other staff in the St. Paul Public Schools will hold a strike-authorization vote Feb. 20, leaders announced today.

In an e-mail to community supporters, members of the St. Paul Federation of Educators’ negotiating team said the union’s executive board called the strike vote in a unanimous vote last night.

“This decision was not made lightly, but we are certain that a strike vote is necessary if we hope to reach a settlement with the district that respects our students’ needs and honors our educators’ voices,” the e-mail says. “After nearly a year of negotiating, the District still isn’t taking our student-centered proposals seriously and has refused to have any real discussion around educator pay and benefits.”

Before the vote takes place, SPFE will hold an information session for parents to discuss what its bargaining proposals are – and why educators are willing to strike for them. The session will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 15, at the union’s headquarters, located at 23 Empire Dr., St. Paul.

Additionally, SPFE is encouraging members, parents and community supporters to attend the district’s Feb. 18 school board meeting, hoping a last-ditch appeal to board members – many of whom were elected with labor endorsement – will lead to movement at the bargaining table.

Talks between SPPS and SPFE began last May. Union members offered 31 proposals based on the needs identified by educators, parents and other stakeholders. But the district refused to respond to most of them, and the two sides entered mediation in December.

Union proposals look to expand on gains made in recent contract campaigns, which focused on “building the schools St. Paul students deserve.” Educators’ top priorities would increase mental-health supports for their students, reduce special-ed caseloads and expand families’ access to multilingual services.

Rank-and-file union members signaled “overwhelming support” for those priorities – and for calling a strike vote – in petitions circulated throughout the district’s 65-plus buildings, according to union leaders.

 

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Community backs St. Paul teachers’ call for progress in contract talks

February 17, 2016 by

Members of the St. Paul Federation of Teachers rally with supporters before walking into the Teachers at American Indian Magnet School in St. Paul.

Members of the St. Paul Federation of Teachers rally with supporters before walking into the Teachers at American Indian Magnet School in St. Paul.

 

Parents, students and community members rallied with members of the St. Paul Federation of Teachers outside school buildings across the city this morning, demanding progress in contract talks between SPFT and the St. Paul Public Schools, scheduled to resume tomorrow.

Wearing hats and scarves in SPFT’s signature red, participants chanted and carried signs expressing support for the teachers’ bargaining priorities, including measures to improve school climate, reduce class sizes and beef up staffing among school nurses, librarians, social workers and other support positions.

“I wouldn’t be out here if it was just about financial issues,” Laurel Kuhner Berker said outside American Indian Magnet School, where she teaches. “I’m out here because these issues affect the kids.”

SPFT President Denise Rodriguez outlined teachers’ bargaining priorities in a speech to supporters outside American Indian Magnet:

 

 

Other teachers outside American Indian Magnet expressed concern that the district already is disregarding some provisions of SPFT’s existing contract.

Kuhner Berker’s fifth-grade class has 30 students – up from 23 last year – and is one of four classrooms in the building with enrollments that exceed the contractual limits. The school also does not have the required number of kindergarten aides, she said.

“This is about fairness,” said middle-school teacher Bob Otto, also a parent of three children in the district. “We want a quality education for all children.”

Walk-in events took place at more than 50 school sites across the district, according to SPFT. Find photos from rallies outside American Indian Magnet and St. Paul Johnson High School below:

SPFT President Denise Rodriguez will retire June 12.

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Four for Change: Meet the Labor-endorsed St. Paul school board candidates

November 2, 2015 by

 

Maddy Lee, a senior at Harding High School in St. Paul, asks candidates for school board a question about the district’s discipline policies during a forum at the East Side Freedom Library. St.  Paul Federation of Teachers Local 28 sponsored the event, attended by all four labor-endorsed candidates for the board: (L to R) Jon Schumacher, Mary Vanderwert, Steve Marchese and Zuki Ellis.

Maddy Lee, a senior at Harding High School in St. Paul, asks candidates for school board a question about the district’s discipline policies during a forum at the East Side Freedom Library. St.  Paul Federation of Teachers Local 28 sponsored the event, attended by all four labor-endorsed candidates for the board: (L to R) Jon Schumacher, Mary Vanderwert, Steve Marchese and Zuki Ellis.

 

Four candidates for four open seats on the St. Paul school board have been endorsed by the St. Paul Federation of Teachers and the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation, AFL-CIO. Here are brief profiles of the candidates that appeared in The Union Advocate’s Election Guide in advance of the Nov. 3 election.

11209340_865531016818197_9128463057204661149_nZuki Ellis

• Union background: Former member, Bakery Workers Local 22. Her husband is a Minnesota Association of Professional Employees (MAPE) trustee.

• Best teacher she’s ever had: Ms. Betty Richardson, high-school English. “She wouldn’t let me get away with doing anything halfway, she challenged me and she introduced me to authors that I had never heard of,” Ellis said. “We had great conversations about books, and she made me feel like I was the smartest person in the room. I adored her and appreciated that nudge that she gave me to work hard.”

• On what it means to be labor endorsed: “It says to me that the vision of success, growth and empowerment that I have for all students of the St. Paul schools is supported by the men and women of this city who would like to see their children reach those same goals. Labor continues to be the backbone of our country, and it is wonderful knowing that the message I conveyed during this campaign is resonating with those who are connected and not connected with unions.”

marchese_headshotSteve Marchese

• Union background: Former AFSCME member while living in New York.

• Best teacher he’s ever had: Judy Alcaly, sixth grade. “She was originally from England and brought a whole different approach to how she taught,” Marchese said. “She gave me the opportunity to learn more about the world and a chance to do creative projects, like plan a lesson or do a radio broadcast of world events. She was creative, thoughtful and sophisticated in her approach.”

• On what it means to be labor endorsed: “As the son of a long-time Teamsters truck driver, I am very proud to have labor support. I know what unions have done for my family, enabling my father to make a living wage to provide for us.

“People coming together to work for a common goal is what has motivated my campaign for school board. This is the work unions do every day. We need to think about the community and how we support the workers who both work in our schools and send their children to our schools.”

16830_789029934466708_1610625907302473931_nJon Schumacher

• Union background: Member, SAG/AFTRA – Twin Cities Local, 30 years

• Best teacher he’s ever had: Ms. DeSart, junior-high French. “She brought joy, energy and clarity while challenging us to think and travel outside of our own cultures,” Schumacher said.

• On what it means to be labor endorsed: “Community is the core of everything we do. Building community around our public schools is critical to their success. Unions represent the best of community. They guarantee living-wage jobs and working conditions that give their members and families stability. That allows them to contribute to our communities with their time, talent and financial support.

“Receiving labor endorsements means that I can continue to build relationships with these strong and engaged community members to find ways to make our schools pathways to success for all our kids.”

10873436_1596440330590150_2869741665802944207_oMary Vanderwert

• Union background: Former member, AFSCME and MAPE.

• Best teacher she’s ever had: Bill Albrecht, third and fourth grades. “Because it was a very small school in a very small rural community, we could do frequent field trips to explore in nature,” Vanderwert said. “We seined for fish, hunted for arrow heads, had sledding outings and played soccer before school in the back yard. He showed me that learning was exciting, that nature was so very interesting and that we need to combine fun and music with whatever we do to keep our energy up. We learned the academic basics we needed but so much more about life and the world.”

• On what it means to be labor endorsed: “Unions have made our country productive, innovative, just and safe. In this time of anti-union rhetoric, we need to remember that our workers are the backbone of our economy and most of them parents of the children in our schools. They must be treated with respect and their work valued with fair wages. I have been impressed with the willingness of our unions to work not only in our schools but with our schools to provide opportunities for students to explore careers in the Trades. I hope we can work together to help our students with interest to be able to gain the skills they need to move into the higher education or other training they need to be active workers and members of the unions that will move our community forward.”

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St. Paul Schools, teachers reach tentative agreement

February 21, 2014 by

St. Paul Federation of Teachers President Mary Cathryn Ricker (left) and Superintendent Valeria Silva reviewed the contents of the tentative agreement with media members Feb. 24.

St. Paul Federation of Teachers President Mary Cathryn Ricker (left) and Superintendent Valeria Silva reviewed the contents of the tentative agreement with media members Feb. 24.

Three days before members of the St. Paul Federation of Teachers were scheduled to take a strike-authorization vote, negotiators for the school district and the teachers’ union reached a tentative agreement on a two-year contract that will run through the 2014-15 school year.

Teachers planned a ratification vote for March 4, and the union’s executive board has recommended members vote to approve.

The tentative agreement was the result of a 24-hour mediation session between the two sides that began Feb. 20. Joined by a state mediator and some members of the Board of Education, negotiators worked through the night.

After months of frustrating talks, SPFT President Mary Cathryn Ricker said, “the momentum was there the entire night, the engagement was there.”

As a result, instead of voting on whether to authorize a strike Feb. 24, teachers held a membership meeting to review details of the agreement, which Ricker said was an important step in efforts to “reclaim the school experiences that have been lost due to tightened budgets or encroaching standardized tests.”

Both the union and school administrators touted “key provisions” of the contract – and related agreements reached in bargaining – that, they say, will make progress on the teachers’ core bargaining principles. Known as “The Schools St. Paul Children Deserve,” the teachers’ guiding principles were developed after intensive outreach to parents and community stakeholders.

Chief among those priorities was lowering class sizes in the district. The tentative agreement will deliver more consistency and predictability in class sizes, while making the formula for calculating class-size restrictions more transparent, Ricker said.

The agreement also sets lower limits for class sizes in the 30 schools with the highest levels of poverty in the district, to “make sure resources get where students need them to go,” Ricker said.

The SPFT also made professional support staffing – media specialists, nurses, school counselors and social workers – a priority in negotiations, and the district committed to hiring 42 professionals in those fields.

Language in the agreement will reduce in-class time spent on standardized testing and test preparation activities over the next two years – another union priority – and calls for a “review of existing assessments for cultural relevance,” Ricker said.

Additionally, the district agreed to spend at least $6 million per school year to maintain and expand its pre-kindergarten programs for 4-year-olds.

Teachers made pre-K access a rallying cry at mobilization events in the weeks leading up to the strike vote, but SPPS Superintendent Valeria Silva said the district was always on board with increasing early-education investments. “We both needed to see it, and we got it into a wonderful agreement between the district and the union,” Silva said.

Ricker agreed the tentative agreement was a win-win for teachers and administrators. “You can’t see where the union’s proposal ends and the district’s proposal begins anymore because it’s such a blend,” she said.

The tentative agreement calls for salary and benefit increases amounting to 8.6 percent over the course of two years. Silva said the district remained “committed to providing a really competitive wage” to attract and retain teachers.

By scheduling a strike vote, the teachers’ union may have hastened the pace of negotiations. “I think maybe we were able to listen to each other a little better than before,” Silva acknowledged.

Still, at a press conference to review details of the agreement, the superintendent, union president and school board chair gave no indication the threat of strike had poisoned the labor-management relationship.

“We are nationally known for working well with our unions,” Board Chair Mary Doran said, “and we want to get back to that.”

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Community rallies behind teachers’ campaign for ‘schools our kids deserve’

February 19, 2014 by

Supporters line the sidewalk outside St. Paul Public Schools headquarters during a rally in support of the teachers' contract campaign.

Wearing red scarves, hats and shirts to show their solidarity with union teachers, families packed the parking lot outside St. Paul Public Schools headquarters yesterday during a rally in support of smaller class sizes, expanded pre-kindergarten and other community-driven priorities teachers have brought to the table in contract negotiations with the district.

“Parents are standing with you because you actually want to know what we want for our kids,” parent Leon Sanders told teachers at the rally. “And when we told you, you stood up for us.”

Supporters wear red to show their support for the teachers' union.

Supporters wear red to show their support for the teachers’ union.

The St. Paul Federation of Teachers organized the rally, which drew about 200 people, in advance of two critical events in negotiations: a return to the bargaining table tomorrow and a strike-authorization vote Feb. 24.

“We need to make sure our Board of Education hears they need to get serious about making progress with us on the schools St. Paul children deserve,” SPFT President Mary Cathryn Ricker said. “We want progress.”

Board of Education members received that message during a public hearing that opened their meeting later in the evening. A string of parents, teachers and students lined up to show their support for the teachers’ contract campaign.

Mariah Duncan, a senior at Central High School, told board members she’s had to sit on the floor of some classrooms stuffed beyond capacity. Jennifer Ewald, whose son has a severe peanut allergy and asthma, told board members she supports teachers’ efforts to staff more of the district’s schools with nurses.

Smaller class sizes and increased professional staffing are among the principles, culled from months of listening sessions with parents, students and other community stakeholders, that are guiding the teachers’ contract campaign. Others include a decreased reliance on standardized testing and expansion of the district’s pre-kindergarten offerings.

“I cannot stress enough that pre-K helped us put the pieces in place for our child to be successful,” Zuki Ellis told board members during the public hearing.

Leroy Duncan said his children report having as many as 29 students in their classes. “It’s not right," he said. "There’s no reason we can’t do better for our kids so they can get the type of attention they deserve."

Leroy Duncan said his children report having as many as 29 students in their classes. “It’s not right,” he said. “There’s no reason we can’t do better for our kids.”

A parent of three, Ellis also supports teachers’ efforts to reduce class sizes. Her oldest son has “close to 40 students” in some high school classes, she said.

“Is that safe for 40 high school students to be in a science lab?” Ellis asked. “Our babies deserve better – my babies, your babies, our babies.

“Thank you, teachers, for standing up for these issues.”

After the public hearing, board members tabled a resolution on the district’s response to a potential strike. But last week Superintendent Valeria Silva and Board Chair Mary Doran mailed letters to parents warning of school closures, schedule changes and other potential impacts of a teacher strike.

For Phillip Cryan, parent of a third-grader at J.J. Hill Montessori, the intent of that letter was clear.

“I was supposed to feel afraid,” Cryan said. “Other people got that message too? Well, I don’t feel afraid today.”

If it takes a strike to make progress on the schools St. Paul students deserve, Cryan added, then teachers will have his support – and support from parents across the district like him.

“We are with you in this fight because we see the love you show to our kids every day,” he said. “That’s why so many of us choose to live here and pay taxes here. We are going to be with you whatever it takes and for as long as it takes.”

web.SPFT-rally-lineup

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Union coat drive warms up homeless students in St. Paul Schools

February 4, 2014 by

Staff at Project REACH, the St. Paul Public Schools’ homelessness initiative, accept coats and hats donated by union members. The staff members include (L to R) Anne McInerney, Wijit Xiong, Karla Stewart (holding a “Thank You!” sign), Andrea Lindorfer and Cindy McGowan.

Staff at Project REACH, the St. Paul Public Schools’ homelessness initiative, accept coats and hats donated by union members. The staff members include (L to R) Anne McInerney, Wijit Xiong, Karla Stewart (holding a “Thank You!” sign), Andrea Lindorfer and Cindy McGowan.

St. Paul union members gave homeless students in the St. Paul Public Schools the gift of warmth last month, donating 120 winter coats and dozens of stocking caps to Project REACH, the district’s outreach effort to homeless youth.

The gift was made possible by contributions to the St. Paul Labor Studies and Resource Center’s annual Jean Jones Winter Coats and Hats Initiative, which collected $3,500 in November and December.

“The generosity of our affiliate unions and their members continues to amaze us,” said Bobby Kasper, president of the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation, which oversees the non-profit LSRC.

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Parents, students support teachers’ walk-in demonstrations across St. Paul

January 30, 2014 by

St. Paul teachers and their supporters join a "walk-in" demonstration at American Indian Magnet school in the city's Dayton's Bluff neighborhood.

On days when the cold or snow delays the start of school, some students trickle into Ryan Long’s classroom at American Indian Magnet school, while others stay home altogether.

Sadly, it’s on these rare occasions that Long and other St. Paul teachers glimpse what it’s like teaching a manageable class size of students.

Ryan Long, a special education teacher at American Indian Magnet, supports his union's push to limit class sizes in the district.

Ryan Long, a special education teacher at American Indian Magnet, supports his union’s push to limit class sizes in the district.

“All of a sudden, you could manage your classroom,” Long said, joining a demonstration outside the school building before the start of classes this morning. “You can get things done.”

Limiting class sizes is among the key proposals Long’s union, the St. Paul Federation of Teachers, has prioritized in ongoing contract negotiations with the St. Paul Public Schools. SPFT members highlighted those priorities during “walk-in” demonstrations before class today at 55 school sites citywide, including American Indian Magnet in Dayton’s Bluff.

Parents, students and neighbors joined teachers at the walk-ins, showing their support for contract proposals the SPFT developed after months of gathering input from community stakeholders.

“We started our negotiation work with families, students and community members. It is only natural to continue that,” SPFT President Mary Cathryn Ricker said. “It’s time to make progress on a contract that ensures the schools St. Paul children deserve.”

[Click here to sign onto a petition supporting the SPFT’s community-driven vision for St. Paul’s schools.]

Negotiations began eight months ago. Along with limits on class size, teachers are pushing for expanded access to pre-Kindergarten; guaranteed staffing of school nurses, social workers, media specialists and other support staff; and a de-emphasis on standardized testing.

Michele Fairbanks, who teaches at the American Indian Magnet and has a daughter in the school, pointed to research by the union indicating some students spend as much as 30 days per school year taking tests.

“One set of tests is fine,” Fairbanks said. “But three or four standardized tests per year is overkill. The tests cost a lot of money, and that takes a lot away from students, from class sizes.”

In September, the district moved the talks into closed-door mediation and out of the public eye – a decision that rankled many teachers.

“The school district makes a big deal of having ‘Strong Schools, Strong Communities,’” American Indian Magnet teacher Jason Bresette said, citing the title of the district’s strategic plan. “But when they closed negotiations, it didn’t feel like they wanted strong community input.”

“Teachers who aren’t on the bargaining committee, parents, community members – we can’t listen or watch because they walked out so early in the process,” Fairbanks added.

Union officers said teachers planned the citywide walk-in to demonstrate their “frustration with the pace of talks, but it is not part of a formal run-up to a strike … or other job action.”

Long, who splits a case load of 45 students with one other special education teacher, believes district administrators and school board members share many of the teachers’ concerns, particularly when it comes to class sizes. But his caseload isn’t getting any more manageable as negotiations drag on.

“I’m supposed to have about 10 to 12 students in my caseload,” Long said. “We run out of chairs sometimes. It’s hard to move around in the classroom.”

web.SPFT-walkin1

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As talks move out of public eye, teachers keep up community outreach

November 20, 2013 by

St. Paul teachers and their supporters deliver a petition to the school board in support of their core bargaining principles.

St. Paul teachers and their supporters deliver a petition to the school board in support of their core bargaining principles.

To prepare for negotiations on a new contract, the St. Paul Federation of Teachers reached out to parents and the general public, using the feedback they received to craft an innovative, community-driven set of guiding principles for their contract talks.

So you can imagine teachers’ frustration when the St. Paul Public Schools asked the state to move their negotiations into closed-door mediation in September.

“We believe the reason they did that was to prevent the large audiences of parents, community members, students and other educators from being able to listen to our discussions,” SPFT organizer Paul Rohlfing said.

The district and union have had two mediation sessions since management walked out of bargaining, with two more scheduled for Nov. 21 and Dec. 11.

Although negotiations have moved behind closed doors, the teachers’ negotiating team has worked hard at keeping members of the community engaged and invested in the contract proposals they helped develop.

At the St. Paul Board of Education’s Nov. 12 meeting, SPFT members presented school board members with a petition signed by 4,000 people who support the union’s community-driven, core bargaining issues: smaller classes, less testing, more pre-kindergarten offerings, better school staffing, more parent engagement and a culturally relevant education.

Teachers, Rohlfing said, volunteered their time to generate signatures on the petition, which is still accepting signatures.

“They canvassed their neighborhoods after school,” Rohlfing said. “People went to PTA and PTO meetings at their school. We had people staffing tables on parent-teacher conference nights and at sporting events.”

The public outreach will continue, teachers say, throughout negotiations. The union has been releasing videos on its website, breaking down teachers’ contract proposals, where they came from and why they matter. Plans for lawn signs are in the works, Rohlfing said.

“We feel like the most important thing is to get our message directly to parents and community members through those people who they know and trust, the educators who work with their kids,” he added. “These are our public schools; they belong to all of us collectively.”

Tell members of the St. Paul Board of Education it’s time to move forward with negotiations on the teachers’ core bargaining issues. E-mail all board members at once: sb.members@spps.org.

Find videos breaking down the teachers’ core bargaining issues – like the one below about testing – at www.spft.org.

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Roy Magnuson: Brodrick brings the right blend of old school, new vision to school board

October 31, 2013 by

Incumbent school board member John Brodrick (right), with St. Paul Regional Labor Federation President Bobby Kasper, will be among the labor candidates seeking DFL endorsement June 8.

John Brodrick (right), with St. Paul Regional Labor Federation President Bobby Kasper, is a labor-endorsed candidate for St. Paul Board of Education in the Nov. 5 election.

In the Kevin Bacon movie “Six Degrees of Separation,” the premise is that everybody on the planet is connectable to everyone else in six degrees or less. St. Paul Board of Education member John Brodrick’s world is the city of St. Paul, and St. Paul is smaller than the world, so Brodrick is disappointed if he has to go to the second or third degree of separation. And if you spend time with him, you see that he rarely does.

Brodrick is both “old” St. Paul and connected to St. Paul’s present. A proud graduate, teacher and coach at the former Mechanic Arts, he keeps the tradition of the Trainers alive – to those who share and remember the school by the Capitol and to those who have never heard of Mechanic Arts and its history of success. Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun, civil rights leader Roy Wilkins, Elmer Bailey, Floyd Smaller and Brodrick are all “M club” members.

Brodrick’s history is connected not only to working St. Paul, but to St. Paul as a “labor” town. His mother was a union member while working at the Stahl House on Rice Street. Brodrick’s dad and step-dad were active Teamsters and Laborers. Brodrick’s first job was union, at Pioneer Sausage. He is a retired member of the St. Paul Federation of Teachers, a former delegate to the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation and a consistent supporter of labor’s issues during his years on the school board.

Project1_Layout 1Brodrick’s St. Paul starts from the heart of the city and works outward. Growing up almost in the shadow of the capitol, in the old Scheffer neighborhood, he migrated north from Mechanic Arts to Washington Senior High and then west to Como Park Senior High. In all, Brodrick taught social studies for 34 years, and he coached hockey and some baseball for most of those years. As St. Paul’s education community is close-knit, so too is its hockey community. Brodrick’s Trainers, Prexies and Cougars never quite had their own “miracle on ice,” but his players created their own lifetime of memories.

As a school board member, Brodrick has kept in mind that our schools serve to knit our community together. One way is by helping our students, families, teachers and coaches create their own lifetime of memories. He believes that step one to closing the various gaps in our schools is making them welcoming places where students learn – including life lessons – and where teachers can teach and parents are welcome.

One of the few shared experiences left in our increasingly segmented world is our school days. Brodrick grew up and started his teaching career in a time when diversity in St. Paul had a different meaning than it does now, but Mechanic Arts and Washington and Como Park all reflected the diversity of their times. Brodrick’s block in Frogtown is a classic example of today’s St. Paul, and by reflection, our schools. From his 90-year-old neighbor (who he helps with yard and sidewalk chores) to the Murray High grad across the street, to the Hmong-American families down the street, Brodrick’s world is still the world of St. Paul, our schools and our neighbors – all of whom are workers.

Brodrick has won three elections to the school board. He has actively campaigned for four successful school levies. He was nominated for his first DFL endorsement by Mee Moua before she was State Senator Moua. He has been a consistent campaigner for DFL and labor-endorsed candidates in other races. His commitment to St. Paul, to St. Paul’s kids and schools and to the workers of St. Paul is sincere and lifelong.

Brodrick’s connectedness to St. Paul is proof that we do better together, not apart. What some call connectivity, the labor movement calls solidarity. Brodrick’s life has been one of solidarity – with our schools and kids, with our communities, with the labor movement.

The labor community has had one of its own on the SPPS school board during Brodrick’s years of service. Let’s make sure that we remember to turn out and vote Nov. 5, and return John for one last term of service.

– Roy Magnuson is a teacher in the St. Paul Public Schools, a member of the St. Paul Federation of Teachers and a trustee for the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation, AFL-CIO.

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In second term on school board, O’Connell will continue her collaborative approach

October 31, 2013 by

Jean O'Connell

Jean O’Connell

St. Paul school board member Jean O’Connell worked at 3M for 34 years. As an engineer, she learned quickly that it wasn’t enough for an idea merely to work on paper; it also had to work on the factory floor.

It’s an approach O’Connell hopes to expand upon in a second term on the St. Paul Board of Education.

“All of my years as a manager at 3M, I felt the reason I was successful was because I listened to the people who really did the work,” she said. “I spent a lot of time at 3M in manufacturing and quality, listening to people on the floor, trying to make their ideas a reality.

“I’d like to figure out ways in my second term to make that happen in the district.”

That collaborative approach is, no doubt, among the reasons O’Connell, who has served as the board’s chair for the last two years, is one of three labor-endorsed candidates for school board in St. Paul this year.

Project1_Layout 1O’Connell is pointed in her critique of what she views as one of the district’s biggest issues – a “disconnect between the people who do the work and the folks who manage.”

“Our work on the school board is to approve budgets and approve direction, but if it is clear that the employee base doesn’t understand the ‘why’ of that direction, then you’re setting the whole system up for failure,” she said. “It’s important to figure out where people who do the work are at, and try to explain to them, from my perspective, why something is a good idea – and to listen to them.”

In general, O’Connell said, the school district is on solid footing. Voters in the district last fall approved a levy referendum that extended funding levels for eight years, ensuring the students will have access to technology necessary for a 21st century education.

The school’s strategic plan, she said, is sound, but it won’t work if front-line staff and management are not on the same page.

So how do you get everyone in a district with 6,000 employees to buy into a common direction?

“I think its about trying to influence people,” O’Connell said, “trying to influence the administration to really think about how they’re approaching something and whether they are engaging this group or that group.”

Communication can’t only happen between labor and management when something is wrong, she added.

“What can we do to help recognize our employees better?” she said. “We definitely need to create more opportunities for recognition.”

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