AFT President Randi Weingarten Experiences the New Normal in the U.S.V.I.

What do you do when you are the Keynote Speaker at the 39th Annual AFT Teach Conference (St. Thomas-St. John Federation of Teachers, Local 1825) and the power goes out a few minutes after you start speaking? If you are Randi Weingarten, the National President of the American Federation of Teachers, you come down from the podium, plant your feet firmly in front of your members, use your teacher's voice, and deliver an animated, heartfelt speech.

Unintimidated by the power outage and buoyed by an enthusiastic crowd, AFT President Weingarten articulated four objectives that her members should focus on. First and foremost, she pointed out how important it is that educators primary concern is the well-being of their students. She encouraged the members of Local 1825 to meet their students where they are, not where they would like them to be. Students bring a lot of extra baggage to the classroom, especially students who have gone through two category five hurricanes. The students who survived Hurricanes Irma and Maria are just that - survivors - students who have basic needs that, at any given time, may or may not be met.

She then turned her attention to testing. To the delight of her members, she indicated that she supports project based instruction where the focal point is engagement, not testing. Calling for more latitude for teachers, she argued that project based instruction cannot be successful unless teachers are given the freedom necessary to plan and implement it.

Unimpeded by the Commissioner of Education's announcement that wage negotiations with Local 1825 would commence the following day, she highlighted the current demands for decent salaries and full funding for education - movements led by teachers whose salaries have been stagnant for years and whose states have cut education budgets to what can best be described as "bare bones".

Noting that the current education uprising has spread from West Virginia, Kentucky, and Oklahoma to Colorado and Arizona, she addressed the need for a "culture of collaboration" and to provide educators with a "ladder of opportunities". Her closing remarks included her next stop - Puerto Rico - where 300 schools are currently on the chopping block.