Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/250321
Advocacy FIGHTING FOR SAFETY, EQUITY AND THE "WHOLE CHILD" United Educators of San Francisco and a member of the CTA Budget Committee, Elaine Merriweather knows a thing or two about finances. So she didn't believe it when administrators told board members it was necessary to lay off 40 employees in the West Contra Costa Unified School District to keep the district afloat. She cast a "no" vote, but layoffs happened anyway. Before working at UESF, she was a pre-kindergarten teacher for 20 years. With two grown children who went through the school system and one in high school, she has a "vested interest" in Richmond schools and was elected to the board three years ago. Her first priority is increasing safety in a district challenged by gangs and crime, which made headlines nationwide a few years ago when a girl was brutally attacked outside a school dance. She belongs to the district's safety committee, which she says is looking for "real solutions" such as increasing campus security officers, providing supervised after school activities and reducing suspension and expulsion rate by improving overall school culture. Other priorities are closing the achievement gap, making early childhood education more available and improving communication between schools and parents via town hall meetings on topics such as the transitioning to the Common Core State Standards. AS TR E AS U R E R OF I am most proud of being instrumental in helping bring transitional kindergarten to the district. I advocated for it and the board listened. I pleaded that we need to invest in our younger children and we piloted a transitional kindergarten back when few districts were doing it. We were ahead of the curve. We now have 13 transitional kindergartens, and I was instrumental in making that happen. I am still concerned about poverty. Our children come to school with so many needs. If they are hungry or they have a toothache, they cannot focus. We expect teachers to teach them, but sometimes they need outside resources to help them physically and mentally. That is why the full-service community school model is important. As a teacher serving on a school board I have more insight. I think more about the whole child. I feel that because teachers have students as their whole focus, we know what's best for them when it comes to being successful in school. Teachers on school boards may not make everyone happy, but in the end we do what's right for children. PHOTOGRAPHY BY SCOTT BUSCHMAN Educator 02 Feb 2014 v2.1 int.indd 33 FEBRUARY 2014 www.cta.org 33 1/27/14 3:52 PM