Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/1190776
Vital Stats Born and raised: Long Beach Family: Wife Nancy, an elementary school teacher; five children (two still in college) Education: B.A. Political Science, UC Berkeley; teaching credential: San Francisco State University Current reading: Eyes to the Wind, by Ady Barkan, which chronicles how Barkan's terminal illness sparked his rise as a social justice warrior; fiction choices lean toward mystery-thrillers set in Southern California Passion: Baseball (at one point coached by his father, Long Beach Hall of Famer Artie Boyd), and the LA Angels. "I went to game after game [in the nosebleed sections as a youth]. I became a diehard Angels fan, because you have to support the underdog." Watch a short video interview with Joe Boyd at tinyurl.com/CTAJoeBoyd. organizing lessons then: You can't really do things for people, you have to work with people. ey have to have ownership of the projects. When I was a new teacher and baseball coach at Kennedy High School in Richmond, I was a site rep, but not an activist. Then our superintendent drove the district into bankruptcy. My seniors didn't know if they would be able to graduate; we didn't have money for team uniforms or buses. I thought, "is situation is affecting my ability to do my job, so I'm going to get really involved." I was elected chapter vice president in my second year and became very active. e financial trauma resulted in some 600 teachers getting pink slips. I was one of them. What happened was bad for the community, bad for students. What do you want members to know about CTA? e union is just us — people. It's not a building, it's not support for this or that, it's us figuring out what we want to do to make our work lives and our families better, and also make our larger community better. My parents were in the union. ey weren't activists, they were sup- porters. My family in West Virginia has coal mining roots, so unionism was a big conversation — everybody who was living a good life econom- ically was in the union. I understood all that. But until things got rough in Richmond, I didn't realize so many things are connected to activism, like retirement and health care. My mom took off more time than permitted when she was pregnant, so she lost her job and seniority and had to start all over again. She got RIF notices every year. We lived a little on credit; we'd worry until she got notice that her job was going to be there. We're standing on the shoulders of those who came before us, before collective bargaining existed. What makes us a union is our ability to organize school site by school site. What goes on at that school site "The union is just us — people. It's not a building, it's not support for this or that, it's us figuring out what we want to do to make our work lives and our families better, and also make our larger community better." CTA President E. Toby Boyd introduces new Executive Director Joe Boyd at CTA State Council in October. on a daily basis is the union, it's where the union starts. e reason to be involved in CTA is because that's who educators are. is is our community. e work we do has the ability to make our classrooms better and our lives better even if our political, religious, generational views are not the same. at involvement is what keeps us going and makes the world a better place. 52 cta.org CTA & You