Take the Lead ...

What's your story?

The extra hours in the classroom that go uncompensated. The number of years left to go before retirement. The number of voters who needed to cast votes in support of a local school levy to maintain the existing funding. These stories -- and more -- are among those that have been filed with the Take the lead campaign since its official launch earlier this year.

Delegates at this year's WEA Representative Assembly focused on improving school funding and increasing the state's investment in public schools. And they started the conversation in earnest, reaffirming their support for Take the lead, the long-term effort to improve public school funding. They shared their own stories about how public education funding has affected their work professionally and personally with colleagues across the state.

"My number is 24 because there are only 24 hours in a day," says Howard Shapiro, a teacher at West View Elementary School in Burlington. "There is just not enough time to get everything done: school, home, balance between family and everything else that we have to do."

Delegates at the annual meeting logged in their stories. Many vowed to take the effort home to colleagues in their buildings to make sure everyone knows about Take the lead.

  • Conway Education Association members set up an information booth at the Support Our Conway Schools 51st annual "ham dinner" community event in late March and passed out information about school funding to fairgoers. "This is one of the few times we get all our support (turnout)," said Conway EA Co-President Nancy Pates-Riches. "People were interested in hearing the information."
  • Marysville EA honored their colleagues during National Teacher Appreciation Week with a Take the lead factoid attached to a candy bar.
  • In Highline, Rainier UniServ Council President Alan Sutliff encouraged others in the "school circle" to share their number story, even calling on the district's school board members to share their stories.

"I know spring is a hard time to get them to come to anything," said Franklin Pierce EA Vice President Pam Kruse, referring to colleagues' busy schedules this time of year. "(But) we had the media ads and the brochure that came out. Why not capitalize on the momentum?"

Kruse and President Karen Laase visited every school building -- and added an incentive for members to take the lead: a chance to win a $100 gift certificate for every story they shared.

"For every story they tell me they get a free raffle ticket," Kruse said. "Some of them have five, six or seven tickets because after they shared one number (story); they'd come up with another."

In August, members from WEA Olympic UniServ Council will be handing out information about the WEA campaign as well as hang a banner on the tall ship Lady Washington as it docks at Brownsville Marina for two days of educational and recreational activities for the public.

"It should be lots of fun," WEA Olympic Council President Susan Leavell said. "The more people who come, the better."

Whether it's talking to colleagues in the building, sharing your story with a relative or neighbor, or just logging your story, it's starting the conversation about Take the lead.

"We have to keep talking," Franklin Pierce's Kruse said simply. "And we have to do it over and over."

10 things you can do to 'Take the lead'

  • Talk with your colleagues about how student achievement could be better with additional funding.
  • Talk to your spouse, partner, husband, wife, boyfriend, girlfriend, significant other, or friend about the lack of education funding and how it affects your classroom.
  • Attend your school's PTA meeting and help parents understand the education funding crisis.
  • Visit www.TakeTheLeadWashington.org and share your number story with your Association.
  • Volunteer to assist your local with its Take the lead plan.
  • Remind people of the state's paramount duty to public education and the inadequate funding it receives any time you hear someone criticizing public education.
  • Write a letter to the editor about how the lack of funding for public education affects your particular classroom or work site.
  • Volunteer your time to work for legislative candidates who support giving adequate and stable funding to our public schools.
  • Talk about the funding problem in other venues besides your school (i.e. places of worship, civic meetings, social clubs, etc.).
  • Tentatively schedule a meeting on your calendar for September 12 so you can attend the Washington Learns public hearing and give feedback to the committee.

Share your thoughts & ideas!

Reach WEA Editor Linda Woo at lwoo@WashingtonEA.org, via postal mail at WEA, PO Box 9100, Federal Way, WA 98063-9100; phone 253-765-7027 (or toll-free outside Seattle-Tacoma: 800-622-3393 ext. 7027); or fax 253-946-7612. We welcome story ideas, letters to the editor and suggestions for improving WE-Washington Education, or WEA Online.

From Charles

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Take the Lead

7,000 (pdf)

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End Notes