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On her very first day of student teaching at Linden Avenue Middle School in Red Hook, N.Y., Martha Strever pushed, pulled and pounded on the school’s door, which was locked. No one came. Where was everybody? It was, after all, the first day of school.

It turned out everybody was exactly where they were supposed to be: inside, having entered through the school’s front entrance. Strever had been knocking on a side door. Flustered but undeterred, she not only found her way inside, she also found her life’s calling.

Strever’s sentences are punctuated with laughs when she recounts the story to

Paraprofessionals and school-related personnel are often overlooked because of their support roles. They are the last ones hired and often the first ones fired when budgets get tight. This certainly seems true right now as the Trump administration withholds nearly $7 billion in education funds, effective July 1, which has hamstrung summer school programs, hindered English language support, halted professional development this summer, and left before- and after-school programs in limbo for the coming school year.

Paraprofessionals are key employees in all these programs. For example, in Alabama

AFT Local 420 appreciates all of its members, SLPS, partnerships, and the Executive Board. Thanks for all you do! 

"Ketanji Brown Jackson embodies the spirit of justice that must inform and guide the Supreme Court," writes AFT Secretary-Treasurer Fedrick Ingram

https://aftvoices.org/what-justice-ketanji-brown-jackson-means-to-me-a5…

Fom AFT President Weingarten

This is a fraught time. COVID-19 has been deeply disruptive to families. Even though kids are back in their classrooms, it has been a very tough school year. I’ve seen students’ joy as they learn alongside their friends and teachers, and I’ve seen their social and emotional struggles as we all endure the uncertainty and anxiety of the ongoing pandemic.

Just as we all need to be pulling together, there are divisive forces pouncing on families’ fears to stoke division—fears many people have about the effects of the pandemic and school closures and fears some people

In AFT President Randi Weingarten’s latest New York Times  column, she describes what it is exactly that unions do. Though unions are the most popular they have been in decades, anti-union sentiment still thrives in red states and across the nation. “Several years ago, The Atlantic ran a story whose headline made even me, a labor leader, scratch my head: ‘Union Membership: Very Sexy,’” Weingarten writes in the column. “The gist was that higher wages, health benefits and job security—all associated with union membership—boost one’s chances of getting married. Belonging to a union doesn’t actually guarantee happily ever after, but it does help working people have a better life in the here and now.” Click through to read the full column.

Please be safe! Remember we are still in the life of Covid-19. Thank you to all of you that have served and are still serving!