The Teacher's Advocate! MACE. A Teacher's Union.

WARNING!

Please Read WARNING Before Viewing This Website.

MACE LIVE TV!

What Say Ye?

If You Go Straight To YouTube, Or Use Google, You Need To Type In MACELIVETV Without Any Spaces.

Former Teacher Praises MACE While Now Attending Law School!

Greetings Dr. Trotter, Mr. Haynes, Jeff [Cox], and the rest of the gang at MACE:

Allow me to start this letter with an expression of enduring thanks for what MACE has been able to accomplish on my behalf in the past. MACE allowed me to not only retain my job in [County Name Withheld], but also to keep my reputation intact. Ongoing support from Jeff [Cox] after the fateful hearing before the BOE [in which she won] gave me the strength I needed to hang in there and complete the entire school year. Of course, I resigned my position in[County Name Withheld], but only after being allowed to show my teaching abilities in the classroom and complete the entire school year. In fact, I received a gift from the administrators at the year's end, many words of thanks, and letters of recommendation should I decide to teach again. I dare say that if there were a position open at [School Name Withheld] Elementary School in the future, I would be eligible for rehire. This is all attributed to MACE. As I stated above, I resigned from teaching in January and have decided not to stay in the profession of teaching any longer. My CRCT scores were wonderful, I always kept the support of my co-teachers, and parents were extremely supportive of me. The children were wonderful and often cooperative (amazingly!). One might argue that I am in the right place and should remain in teaching....I applied to law school and have decided to attend school at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, AR. While I received offers in Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Alabama, Kansas, Tennessee, Ohio, and Georgia, I am confident in my decision to relocate to Arkansas (they did quite well in U. S. News this year)...Please keep fighting the good fight!!!...

Click Here To Continue Reading This Testimonial And Other Testimonials!

"We appreciate the kind notes of thanks that we receive on a regular basis from our members. We have a back-log of new testimonials that we will try to get up on the website soon! Thank you for being members of MACE, the union for "teachers teaching in tough situations." We don't apologize for agitating for you. MACE provides the members "aggressive representation when you need it." Believe me: When you need representation, you want it to be aggressive. Who wants some half-hearted, half-butted attorney or representative? Teachers, if you teach without being a member of MACE, you are teaching in the danger zone!" -- Norreese Haynes, MACE Chief Operating Officer.

Click Here To Read What Teachers Say About MACE!

Teachers Will Stop Sharing Too!

Merit Pay In Public Education

Does Not Work!

By John R. Alston Trotter, EdD, JD

Recently, someone asked me on the GetSchooled blog in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution what I thought of merit pay. This was asked in the context of Governor Sonny Perdue’s new proposal to ties teachers’ salaries into the performance of the students. Here’s my quick response… What do I think of merit pay? It does not work in public education because kids are not inanimate objects floating down a conveyor belt. All are different. Plus, rogue administrators will simply give the worst students (yes, there are some students who are "worst," despite the fixation on political correctness) to the teachers who refuse to kiss up and/or to have sex with them. How is this so far for bluntness? By the way, Maureen, if you blog my name along with Arne Duncan's name, you will see that my comment quoted in your August article "lit up the blogosphere," as one observer noted. I just believe in being honest about what is going on in public education. I have written extensively on the woes of merit pay in public education. If you go to www.theteachersadvocate.com and to The Lion's Roar! section, I think that I have an article there on merit pay. I have worked in the only Georgia school system in modern times which was on merit pay, and the pay correlated with bu_t kissing, pure and simple. I saw which teachers were getting merit pay, and it had nothing to do with "merit." It is another control mechanism which will be severely abused by dishonest, amoral, angry, and abusive administrators. More rampant cheating will take place. But, it may help the State balance the budget, and this is really what it is all about.

Mac, I love the Blueberry Story. In fact, I was just showing a colleague of mine a letter that I received from my father which is postmarked in November of 2002, and he included the Blueberry Story in this letter. I have had this letter on one of my stacks of papers in my office, intending to have it put on our website at MACE. You have indeed motivated me to post this story on TheTeachersAdvocate.Com. Thanks. It clearly and simply outlines the problem with trying to tie teachers' salaries to the performance of students. I remember the rich kids from the Green Island Country Club being districted right past my father's junior high (Daniel Jr. High in Columbus, Georgia) so that they could attend public school at Richard's Jr. High on the other side of town with fellow rich kids. When the Assistant Superintendent Fred Kirby would periodically ask my father why his school's test scores were not as high as Richard's test scores, my father, in his wise and intrepid way, would simply say, "Doc, you can't win the Kentucky Derby with Jackasses." He was not calling his students jackasses; he was simply stating that you can't expect his school to have higher scores than Richards Jr. High School if you are shipping all of his rich kids to Richards. It is indisputable that test scores and socio-economic scores are positively correlated. Teachers would have to be financially stupid or financially independent to volunteer to teach in a poor school. What will happen? More and more rookie teachers will be placed in the poor schools. They will not have tenure, and they will be encouraged (ever so subtly and sometimes not-so-subtly) to engage in systematic cheating.

Minimum Foundation, APEG, QBE, ITBS, GTEP, GTOI, GTDRI, CRCT, NCLB, AYP, A+ Foundation, and now Race to the Top. Race to the Flop is more like what is going to happen. All of these programs are not worth SH_T. How do you like that acronym? Same Histrionic Insults at Teachers. SH_T. No one wants to address the Four Horsemen of Public Education: (1) Defiant & Disruptive Students; (2) Irate & Irresponsible Parents; (3) Angry & Abusive Administrators; and (4) Systematic Cheating. We often say this at MACE: You cannot have good learning conditions until you first have good teaching conditions. This is a fact, Jack. © MACE, January 12, 2010.

MACE Pickets In Gwinnett Again!

Rockbriges's Jones, Brown, and Kellum Must Go!

MACE Holiday Bash 2009!

Click Here For More 2009 Holdiay Bash Photos!

And Remembering Our Departing Friends

Holiday Musings From Dr. T.

By Dr. John R. Alston Trotter

We are into our 15^th year at MACE and currently into our Holiday Season. So, a time of reflection seems in order. I remember that MACE started with a veritable bang on September 1, 1995! Within a few months of MACE’s beginning, a central office insider in one of the large school systems told me that the school system’s attorney was stating that “MACE terrorizes the principals.” Good. Don’t the principals and assistant principals often terrorize the teachers? Our MACE Field Force was picketing at Fulton County’s Randolph Elementary School today, and one of the teachers was telling me that she heard that the assistant principal was inside the school crying and the principal had been away at a meeting but when he returned to the school, he rode into the parking lot and then quickly rode out. I don’t know if this is true, but this teacher told me that she saw the principal do this. Why does MACE picket? Do you really think that MACE just pickets for the fun of it? Pickets are the most requested service that MACE gets from its members. We try to accommodate these requests at the schools where we think that the teaching conditions are so egregious that the Superintendents need to have their attention focused on these schools. Heck, we picketed Principal Teressa Watson at Cobb County’s Hayes Intermediate School three times in less than two weeks this Fall. Let me re-emphasize the message for Cobb Superintendent Fred Sanderson: “Teressa Watson Must Go!”

We have come a might long way – from the earliest days where we rented literally one room next door to the current Jonesboro City Hall, then two rooms, and then that August moved to a larger suite of offices (with actually two restrooms!). This was all within the first year. MACE did not have banks or traditional lenders lining up to loan this new organization monies. We scrimped and scraped money together as MACE kept getting bigger and bigger. Our message was resolute about the atrocious teaching conditions in Georgia and about the inextricable link between teaching conditions and learning conditions. We said forthrightly and unequivocally that you could not have the latter until the former was in place first. (Go to our Archives Section, and you can read our bold articles in the first issue of The Teacher’s Advocate! magazine of 1995.) Our resolute message resonated with the teachers. MACE has kept growing through the years, despite the many cynical and devious rumors started in the early days by self-serving admininstrators that MACE was not going to last. No, the question today is: Are the other groups going to last? MACE has that uncluttered, unequivocal, clear-cut, and unapologetic mission…to protect and empower teachers, one member at a time. This is a teacher’s agenda. It is not an amalgamated agenda, one where you are trying to please all people at all times and really just irritating everyone because you will not take a stand. As a result of our focused mission of protecting and empowering teachers, MACE has continued to expand, but our expansion these last 14 or 15 months, even in economic hard times, is nothing short of remarkable and is an expansion for which we not ashamed to thank the good Lord! One of our next goals at MACE is to help feed the hungry of the world, both here in the USA and abroad. We will be coming forth with more information on this very shortly to let you know that we will be sending a percentage of your membership fees each month to a very reputable organization where I believe over 90% of the money goes directly to feeding those poor souls who are literally starving for food. To those whom much is given, much is required, and MACE will be trying to do a little to relieve the misery of so many. Please pray for our efforts!

In May of 2002, MACE moved its Services Center (where most of the MACE Staff is located and where the teachers come for service work) to Fayetteville. This year, MACE opened up a Communications Center where so much is accomplished relating to videos, the internet, the website, letters and articles are written, and calls are made. Most of the calls are still made out of the Services Center so far, but I imagine a day when MACE will have a stand-alone call center because of the huge volume of calls each day – and MACE is always committed to returning each call that day, unless, of course, the weekend is involved (though we do make calls on weekends as well). I am at the Services Center a couple days a week, but most of my work is done out of the Communications Center. We are generally booked three weeks in advance for nightly meeting with teachers at the Services Center.

As Chairman/CEO of MACE, I want to take this time to thank the tireless MACE Staff and Associates, under the leadership of our Chief Operations Officer Norreese Haynes and Associate Executive Director Jeff Cox, for their unswerving dedication to our MACE Members. I want to particularly thank our Office Manager Renee Bishop for encouraging me to delegate more and more to the competent personnel of MACE, but this is hard when, at one time, it seemed that, along with Attorneys William Woods and Keith Walton, I was everything from “chief cook and bottle washer.” I am learning to grow (by delegating more) as MACE grows, but don’t ever think that I can’t still “throw down” in a hearing (as will be evident at a hearing this Friday!), write a cogent and blistering letter, tote a picket sign, and punk out a police officer if he or she tries to abridge our rights under the First Amendment to picket on a Category One Free Speech Forum! I will be 56 on New Year’s Eve of this year, and I figure that I have a good 40 more years on the picket line – even if they have to wheel me out there on a Medicare Scooter!

At this time of year, I think about our many fallen MACE colleagues. I remember when former Atlanta Braves pitcher Larry Bradford died. He was working at Fulton’s Banneker High at the time. Our Vice President, Dennis Yarbrough, presented the family with a beautiful plaque from MACE at the funeral. I remember that Dennis and I visiting the sweet teacher of Atlanta’s Perkerson Elementary School, Bernice Barnett, while she was suffering in Intensive Care in the hospital over in South Fulton, and she died within a few days. I remember two of our young male teachers dying abruptly, without warning, one in North Fulton and one in South DeKalb, the latter of whom I knew at the University of Georgia. I remember how the brave Charley Waggoner of Clayton’s Babb Middle School suffered with cancer for a couple with the utmost grace. I remember how Don Carson’s sudden death shocked all of us so much. I knew Don back when I coached against him nearly 30 years ago. He was teaching at Clayton’s Alternative School when he died about four or five years ago. I spoke at Don’s funeral service and got all choked up because I was reflecting on how loyal to MACE that Don and others were from the very beginning. I attended Martha Wilson Johnson’s funeral this past January. She had just attended President Obama’s Inauguration, returned to Atlanta the next day, taught her children at Atlanta’s Price Middle on Thursday (proudly giving out Inaugural souvenirs to her students), and did not wake up on Friday morning. Martha was a proud MACE Member from the beginning, a great teacher, and didn’t put up with much foolishness! I remember that I was on the phone with Martha at the original MACE Office when I was biting down on my pipe and broke the only capped tooth that I had! It’s funny how we remember things like this! I can still hear her saying on the other end of the phone call: “Now Trotter [she always called me “Trotter”], this shouldn’t be happening…”

In July of 2006, our founding attorney, William (Bill) Woods passed away. There’s hardly a day that goes by that we don’t comment about Bill and our famous “Bill stories.” Mr. Woods had been a teacher before becoming a lawyer and came from a family of educators. He loved representing teachers, and he kicked some major league ass in hearings for teachers! We keep Bill’s memory alive. We have many photos of Bill in the MACE Office and have his law degree hanging on the wall, and we have named our Person of the Year Award after William L. (“Woodman”) Woods, Esq. He will always be part of MACE.

In this past week, we all were saddened by the passing of two our retired members, Pamela Gardner only Thanksgiving Night and Craig Bankston this past Sunday. Pam and Craig were such special people, especially to their MACE Family. The spouses of these MACE Members, A. J. Gardner and Cathy Bankston, have their own special connections with MACE. While Pamela taught for years at Morrow Middle School before she retired this past school year, A. J. was and is a regular on the MACE Picket Line! A. J.’s first picket with MACE, I believe, was at the old headquarters of the Atlanta Public Schools at 210 Pryor Street, in 1997. He and Pam were a very lovely couple who thoroughly enjoyed the MACE BASHes! Pam hardly ever called the MACE Office for service work, but loved knowing that the protection was thereif she needed it, and she was even talking about the up-coming MACE Holiday BASH the day that she passed away.

Craig Bankston also joined MACE in the early days of MACE when he was a teacher and coach at Babb Middle School (Hines Ward’s Middle School, by the way) in Clayton County. I have known Craig before MACE ever began. He first came to MACE because he told us that he had called and called GAE and it took 30 days before one of their reps even called him back. He had an issue at Babb. I told him that Attorney Woods and I would be at his school the next afternoon. He called us at the MACE Office the next day and said that the principal was upset when he told him that we were coming. We said that we were still coming. Before it was over, the assistant principal who appeared to be harassing Craig suddenly left him alone. After this, other Bankstons joined MACE! Craig and his sweet and dedicated wife, Cathy, were regulars at the MACE BASHes, and Cathy did part-time work at the MACE Office from time-to-time. Even after Craig retired from teaching (he had taught in Clayton, DeKalb, Atlanta, and Florida), we still heard from him and Cathy on a fairly regular basis. Oh, one other note, after the aforementioned situation at Babb Middle, I think that the principal retired before the school year was over. We will miss Craig and his humor and his smile. He once told me that a principal in DeKalb with whom he was fairly close told him that the DeKalb Superintendent was trying to get him to accept a transfer into Southwest DeKalb High School as the principal. But, Craig’s friend (the principal) told Craig: “No, I don’t want that principal job because MACE is down there, and once they get hold of you, they don’t ever let you go!”

These are just a few my musings on a December 3^rd, 2009 evening. Take care and have a safe and enjoyable Holiday Season! December 3, 2009.

Parents Appear To Be Unanimous in Support of Picket

MACE Pickets Fulton's Randolph Elementary Again!

Randolph ES Teachers & Students Deserve Better!

Christopher Askew and Deanna Rogers Must Go!

"Smiley" Making His Stand!

Superintendent Cindy Loe: Do Something!

“MACE Is Blowing Up!”

“MACE is blowing up! MACE is a virus to abusive administrators, but MACE is a powerful antibiotic for teachers who are suffering under the abuse from administrators. MACE is spreading like a California wildfire! We constantly get calls and emails from teachers wanting MACE to come to other states. We’ve had inquiries from Florida, Texas, California, New York, Alabama, Missouri and other states. But, for now we are holding the line in Georgia. We are not going to stretch our supply lines, so to speak. At MACE, we believe in keeping the troops intact. MACE provides aggressive representation when a teacher needs it. At MACE, we protect teachers one member at a time.” – Norreese L. Haynes, MACE Chief Operating Officer.

Daniel D. Trotter, Sr., Friend of MACE.

Dennie (“Dink”) Trotter was born on April 21, 1925 in Madison, Georgia to Robert Alston (“Doc”) Trotter, Sr., and Nellie Jane Clemons Trotter (both interred in Columbus). Dink is the youngest child in his family, and he is the grandson of Dr. Robert Walter Trotter and Elizabeth Howard Alston Trotter (both interred in Madison) and the great grandson of Col. Robert Augustus Alston, Esq., and Mary Charlotte MaGill Alston (both interred in Decatur).

Dink joined the U. S. Navy during the height of World War II and saw horrific action as a teenager. He married the love of his life, Jo Ann Frazier, toward the end of World War II when he returned Stateside on a mandatory leave because his ship was blown up by a Japanese Kamikaze plane. After the war, Dink matriculated at Auburn University, graduating in 1948. Patti had been born in 1947. In 1948, the young Trotter family moved to Nashville where Dink entered Peabody College (now a part of Vanderbilt University). Upon earning his Master’s degree at Peabody, Dink and family moved to Dasher, Georgia, a little community outside of Valdosta where he taught and coached at Dasher Bible School (now Georgia Christian School), making many long-life friends at Dasher. In 1950, the young Trotter family returned to Dink’s hometown of Columbus, Georgia where Dr. William Henry Shaw, Superintendent of Muscogee County School District, immediately offered Dink a principal job. Dink wisely turned it down to accept a teaching/coaching job at Columbus Jr. High School/Jordan Vocational High School. Dan was born in 1950 and youngest child Johnny was born on New Year’s Eve, 1953. (Dink named “Johnny” after his best friend, Johnny Rhodes, who was killed in January of 1945 while fighting in the Battle of the Bulge.) Dink later became Assistant Principal at Jordan and Principal at Daniel Jr. High School. He retired from the school system in 1981, after having been blessed with thousands of cherished friendships and associations of colleagues and former students throughout his career as an educator. After retiring from the school system, Dink accepted a job as the Executive Director of the Columbus Area YMCAs. (He had earlier turned down a highly publicized offer from Columbus Mayor Jack Mickle to be the Director of Public Safety for Columbus, Georgia.)

Not only is Dink a great “School Man,” he most essentially is a Christian, a Man of Faith. Many a person, especially in a time of need, has turned to Dink for help, and their needs are met and without fanfare. He is the essence of the benevolent man. He served his church for about 50 years as both a Deacon and an Elder. If Dennie Trotter is your friend, you have a friend indeed! Since the inception of MACE in 1995, Daniel D. Trotter, Sr., (aka “D. D. T.”) has been one of MACE’s most reliable supporters. Through the years, he financially supported the young teacher’s union (now a veritable force to be reckoned with) in a quiet and steady manner, knowing that he too has always been a “teacher advocate.” For over a dozen years, D. D. T. served on the MACE Board of Directors, and the existence of MACE today is attributed greatly to the support and wisdom provided by Mr. Trotter and by the example that he set in empowering teachers through the years to do their jobs. This MACE Conference Room will be known henceforward as the “Daniel D. Trotter Conference Room.”

Meet The People of MACE!

Meet The People of MACE!

Will Edmond Heatley Violate This Law Too?

Haynes Serves A Georgia Opens Records Request On Clayton’s New California Superintendent!

Currently Edmond Heatley, Clayton County’s new superintendent from Chino Valley, California (where school board members are apparently telling people on the Clayton County Board of Education that they sure are glad that Clayton made him the offer – certainly not good news for Clayton), is started off with an illegal bang. He affixed his signature to a letter wherein he denies a teacher the right to a hearing before the Clayton Board of Education (which is a direct violation of the Georgia Law, O.C.G.A. 20-2-989.8[4]) and we hear from people on the school board that he is even denying citizens the right to speak before the school board (a violation of the Clayton County School Board Policy). (Incidentally, Mr. Douglas Hendrix of Clayton Human Resources also wrote a letter denying a teacher from having a State-guaranteed hearing before the school board. We presume that Clayton wants to join the ranks as a full-fledged gansta and ghetto school systems…where respect for law is disdained and power and might is the only thing that counts.) Didn’t MACE warn the Clayton Board of Education from hiring Edmond Heatley…just like MACE warned against hiring John Thompson and Barbara Pulliam? No, school systems don’t need to hire Glenn Brock of Brock Clay (the Marietta law firm) who is presumably advising Heatley (after all, “Glenn Brock the Search Firm” is the entity which presented this “California Reject” to the Clayton County Board of Education) to pick them a superintendent; school systems just need to consult with MACE in these matters. MACE seems to be somewhat prescient in its forecast. Is this the same Brock Clay which gives legal advice to the Cobb County Board of Education which was recently cited for meeting fifty-seven (yes, 57 ) times illegally (behind closed doors when the meeting should have been opened to the public)? Yes, the same Brock Clay firm. Well, Mr. Haynes wants to know how much money has been paid by the Clayton County citizens though the action of the school board to this Marietta law firm since 2007. We are wondering if Superintendent Edmond Heatley will ignore this Georgia law as well. Hmm. We will keep you posted on this matter and other matters as it relates to the apparent legal and/or ethical breaches of the California superintendent and his “counselor,” Glenn Brock. I remember reading in the Code of Ethics for Lawyers that correct legal advice to clients is mandated and is not discretionary. Click the link below to see the digital version of Mr. Haynes’s request.

Click Here To View Mr. Haynes's Open Records Request.

Edmond Heatley Illegally Refuses To Process Grievances

MACE At Clayton County's November Board Meeting.

Superintendent Heatley Must Process Grievances.

Dr. Trotter Had Just Engaged Heatley.

Back At The MACE Office.

Norreese Haynes Taking Care Of Business.

An Open Letter To The Clayton County School Board Members!

Well, you got what you wanted, a California-reject for superintendent and a school board attorney whose firm touts Glenn Brock as not only a lawyer but a “counselor” for superintendents. I noticed in last Friday’s edition of the Marietta Daily Journal that the Cobb County School System, one of the firm’s clients, has apparently jettisoned any newly-found transparency for their more comfortable cloak of darkness. Remember that it was Mr. Glenn Brock’s public trashing of the former Clayton County School Board that apparently gave his “buddy” Mark Elgart more gasoline for the accreditation fire. Several of Clayton’s board members were questionably removed by the State for one (or was that two?) illegal school board meetings. However, lo and behold, the Cobb County School Board has been cited recently for fifty-seven (57) illegal school board meetings. But, hey, who’s counting? Don’t depend on the fake SACS organization or its hypocritical leader, Mark Elgart, to do one single thing in the matter. I suppose Mr. Brock’s legal counseling was a tad off in those 57 meetings, as was his legal acumen when he and State Board member Bradley Bryant and SACS’s Mark Elgart met illegally behind closed doors to apparently advise the previous Clayton school board on how to act properly. But, hey, again, when you are big shots, perhaps you can break the law.

Now, I suppose that this sage “counseling” that the Brock Clay law firm is providing Mr. Heatley is telling him that despite what the Georgia Statutory Law says about teacher grievances (O.C.G.A. 20-2-989.5 et seq.), he doesn’t really have to obey this mundane Georgia law. Mr. Heatley and Mr. Douglas Hendrix have both sent to the MACE Office letters stating to two of our members that they did not have the right to have a Level III hearing before the school board. Hmm. Now this is quite strange since the appropriate statute on this matter states just the opposite: “…the complainant shall be entitled to an opportunity to be heard, to present relevant evidence, and to examine witnesses at each level” (O.C.G.A. 20-2-989.8[4]). I know that Mr. Glenn Brock attended a non-accredited, now-defunct law school, but I trust that he can read a statute. I do not even claim to be a lawyer (I never took the Bar and have no desire to be a lawyer), but I can read. I could read before I ever attended Mercer University Law School. (I suppose that if I were a lawyer, I couldn’t write letters like this, and I do enjoy them.) Oh, and by the way, Mr. Bradley Bryant ruled on the State Board Level (in the Gill case in Muscogee County) that they were indeed three (3) levels in the grievance process, just as the Statute so plainly delineates.

Board members, I am apprising you of Mr. Heatley’s and Mr. Hendrix’s violations of the Georgia Law. What are you going to do about it? Don’t ask Glenn Brock. Grow up and ask yourselves what you are going to do.

John R. Alston Trotter, EdD, JD

Stop Treating Them Like Dog Crap

Attracting Better Candidates In Public Education? That’s The Question?

You don't attract better candidates into the field of education by consistently treating them like dog crap. Is this simple enough? Also, your problem today in public education is not the teachers; it's the defiant, unmotivated, and disruptive students and their irate and irresponsible parents. A loose net will always catch any weak teacher; a tight net will only suffocate the entire profession, driving off those who refuse to be treated like dog crap by the angry, incompetent, and abusive administrators. We try to make it plain. © MACE, November 4, 2009.

Members of Metro Association of Classroom Educators protest outside Hayes Intermediate School.

MACE Continues To Kick Butt In Cobb!

Click Here To See Article in Marietta Daily Journal.

Did Fulton County School Board Retaliate Against Whistle Blower-Auditor?

You Decide!

Click Here To See WSB-TV's Story.

Dr. Trotter Writes To Clayton's Special Assistant to Superintendent.

[The names of the teacher, the principal, and the school have been changed.]

November 17, 2009

Ms. Luvenia Jackson

Special Assistant to the Superintendent

Clayton County Public Schools

1058 Fifth Avenue

Jonesboro, Georgia 30236

Dear Ms. Jackson:

I am writing you on behalf of one of MACE’s valued members, Mrs. Jenni Love who teaches at Tension Elementary School. Mrs. Jenni Love is in her fifth year teaching in Clayton County and has good reviews for four years now. This year, however, has added much stress to her already-stressed life. It appears that little sympathy and hardly any empathy has been shown toward Mrs. Jenni Love in respect to her EIPs and other matters in light of the fact that her husband is suffering daily with lung cancer.

What have schools become? Are they no longer like families and little communities but are like military training grounds for the best snoopervisory marksmen or markswomen who can demonstrate to the General (or, in the instant case, the Sergeant) that a teacher can be taken out? In the old days, when a teacher had a very difficult situation at home, other staff members lent a helping hand, and the administrators did not play this I gotcha game of supervision. Has the current system which seems hell-bent on raising some stupid and inane test scores (even if it means encouraging educators to falsify the scores; e.g., DeKalb and Atlanta) reduced educators to “robotucators”

(note that I just made up this term and hereby copyright it) who leave their hearts at the school house steps?

When did support personnel no longer become supportive? I thought people from the Central Office were there to support the teachers who are in the trenches, on the front line in the important action of reaching and teaching our children. Perhaps I have been out of the active teaching and administrative ranks too long. When I was an administrator, I led by inspiration, not by intimidation. This is not only good practice but also good theory. Any current administrator could do himself or herself (and certainly the teachers and children some good) if they read some social psychology from Abraham Maslow, Kurt Lewin, and Carl Rogers.

Ms. Jackson, Mrs. Jenni Love could be out on Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), but she is committed to the children of Tension Elementary School. Could you look in to her situation and see if more support, not critical supervision, could be shown her during this time of major stress in her life? I know that you remember the days when your fellow teachers and administrators were always supportive of teachers in times like this. Your principal at Morrow Elementary School, I believe, was that kind of principal back in the day.

Respectfully:

John R. Alston Trotter, EdD, JD

c. Mrs. Mrs. Jenni Love

Dr. Trotter Writes To DeKalb's Superintedent

Crawford Lewis.

[The names of the teacher, the principal, and the school have been changed.]

November 6, 2009

Dr. Crawford Lewis, Superintendent

DeKalb County School System

3770 North Decatur Road

Decatur, Georgia 30032

Dear Dr. Lewis:

I am writing to you on behalf of one of our valued members and a thirty-one year veteran educator with the DeKalb County School System, Mrs. Jenni Love. It appears that trumped-up and unwarranted charges have been made against Mrs. Jenni Love while she was serving in the After School Program at Tension Elementary School. We met with Mrs. Jenni Love last week and she told us the story which resulted in her receiving an official reprimand from you and a one-day suspension without pay. It is not the loss of one day’s pay which has Mrs. Jenni Love upset but the shoddy investigation (if I may call it an “investigation”) which resulted in this travesty of justice.

Mrs. Jenni Love has for her entire tenure as an educator in DeKalb been an exemplary educator, always going the extra mile for her students and her school. It appears that a kindergarten student was mad at her for his failing to receive candy for not following instructions in the After School Program. This same student went home and evidently told his mother that Mrs. Jenni Love “tapped” (this word has been interchangeably used with “knocked” and “struck”) him on the head when he kept using the computer after he had been told repeatedly that his time on the computer was up. This unsubstantiated claim of a five or six year old has resulted in Mrs. Jenni Love’s record being sullied at the end of her career.

From talking to Mrs. Jenni Love and from reading through the rather voluminous file has caused me to conclude what the principal, Ms. Judy Smith, concluded: “[N]ot enough evidence that she [Mrs. Jenni Love] committed this act” (in Ms. Smith’s memo to Jose G. Boza on May 4, 2009). Mrs. Jenni Love categorically denies ever even touching the student. Yet, Ms. McIver with the Office of Internal Resolution, apparently without even questioning Mrs. Jenni Love concerning the matter, made a recommendation to Ronald Ramsey that Mrs. Jenni Love be reprimanded by you, suspended for one day without pay, placed on a Professional Improvement Plan, and removed from the After School Program (the latter of which Mrs. Jenni Love would gladly consent). An investigation without even questioning the accused? How incredulous. On May 26, 2009, Mrs. Jenni Love wrote a letter of concern to Mr. Ronald Ramsey, head of the Office of Internal Resolution, asking for an appointment to discuss her case. She relates to me that to this day, she has not heard from Mr. Ramsey.

Ms. McIver apparently based her conclusion on hearsay from the Director of the After School Program who claims that Mrs. Jenni Love stated at the end of 30 minutes of explaining to the mother that she most certainly had not even touched her child that Mrs. Jenni Love stated: “Since he said that I did, then I did.” Mrs. Jenni Love states (and did so in her account written on the same day) unequivocally that she did not touch the kindergartner and never made such a ludicrous statement. In fact, Mrs. Jenni Love states to me that the Director of the After School Program was rather distracted during the entire meeting that Mrs. Jenni Love had with the child and his mother. The Director wrote to Principal Smith that the child “did not waiver in his account.” Anyone who has been around school children long enough realizes that some children can offer up unmitigated lies without waivering. As a former teacher and administrator, I have seen it happen on many occasions. This is certainly not probative evidence in any sense. The principal must have drawn the same conclusion because she determined “not enough evidence” – certainly not enough evidence to sully someone’s unblemished record with an unsubstantiated declaration from a five or six year old. Ms. McIver erroneously concluded that “it appears more likely than not that Mrs. Love made inappropriate physical contact with [initials redacted]” (emphasis added). So, now we are dealing with a civil standard and appearances, eh? An allegation of this magnitude could theoretically lead to criminal charges of simple battery against this exemplary educator, and McIver makes a conclusion, apparently without even questioning the educator on the matter, based on appearances. Balderdash. This is bush league “investigation.”

Mrs. Jenni Love did not offer to resign because of any remorse or guilt on her part; Mrs. Jenni Love wanted to quit working in the After School Program because of what she felt was an abject lack of professionalism. To be slanderously and maliciously accused by a child who was apparently mad because he did not receive candy of tapping, knocking, or striking him in the head and then to be “convicted” of such a dastardly deed by the Office of Internal Resolutions without this department even questioning the accused concerning the matter is unconscionable. Is this what has become of “Premier” DeKalb County Schools?

Dr. Lewis, I know that this past year and this year has probably put a strain on you and your staff (with the cheating scandals, the bullying allegations, the District Attorney’s apparent widespread investigation into the school system’s construction program, the recent forfeitures of the high school football games due to the use of ineligible players, etc.), but each employee of the school system deserves the right to be treated fairly. Back in the Spring, I was representing a teacher at Clarkston High School who was prepared to testify about systematic cheating at Clarkston High School (and had a list of witnesses to testify also), but Mr. Ronald Ramsey just illegally shut down the grievance. I thought that he was sworn, as a State Senator, to pass laws and uphold laws, not to break the law. Just a short time after this grievance was shut down, the school system was suffering a major public relations blight because the allegations of cheating at other schools came to the fore.

I am bringing to your attention another potentially embarrassing situation, a situation where the unsubstantiated allegation of a kindergartener was used to officially reprimand and suspend an educator who has been exemplary in her services to the children of DeKalb County for 31 years. Mrs. Jenni Love just wants her record to be cleared of any wrong-doing because she was falsely charged of this simple battery. We are asking your office to clear up her record so that she can retire in peace and with the solace of knowing that any false blemish on her record has been removed.

Sincerely:

John R. Alston Trotter, EdD, JD

c. Jenni Love

School Board Members

Ronald B. Ramsey

J. Anderson Ramay, Esq.

New Book Reflects MACE's Concerns About Teacher Abuse!

Click Here To View Book

Merit Pay, Race, Culture, & Public Schooling!

Click Here To Read Three - Part Article!

New National Standards Not Needed

Cookie-Cutter Approaches To Curriculum And Pedagogy Do Not Work!

By Dr. John Trotter

New standards. New curricula. New materials for the new curricula. New textbooks. New programs. New experts. New consultants. More money. It's all about the money. Don't kid yourselves. Ostensibly, it is about the children, but it is about the money. Money now drives the public schooling process. Just like the Military Industrial Complex which President Eisenhower warned us about, this Educational Curricula Complex is also very dangerous. Wouldn't it be nice if our students learned the rules of grammar and could write a creative and cogent paragraph? Wouldn't it be nice if our students could elucidate on the three branches of our republic and intelligently discuss our national bi-cameral legislature? Wouldn't it be nice if our children could compute numbers on the basic level (e.g., percentages, perhaps simple long division, etc.)? Wouldn't it be nice if our children could actually quote the Preambles to our Constitution and Declaration of Independence as well as Lincoln's Gettysburg Address and King's "I Have a Dream" speech? Wouldn't it be nice if our children could actually recall in which century that the Civil War took place or the Civil Rights movement took place? What about the essential causes of World Wars I and II?

So many of our children don't even know these basics...stuff that was so elementary for those of us who went to school in the 1950s and 1960s before all of the "feel good" curriculum of the 1970s came down the pike (stuff like "Values Clarification"). All of the tinkering with the curriculum (minus the obvious changes like in technology) have actually watered-down the curriculum to meet some common denominator. The cookie-cutter approaches to both curriculum and pedagogy have contributed to the demise in public schooling. Creating and promulgating new standards will not make a whit of difference. They will not improve anything, but perhaps billions of dollars will be spent on such curricula ballyhoo. Giving the teachers power in the classroom (1) to enforce her or his standards (without any pressure from the administration to change grades and lower the failure rate) and (2) to establish discipline in her or his classroom (without the rug being pulled out from under her or him by the spineless and weasel administrators) will do wonders in improving student achievement. But, these educational bozos (who always clamor for "new" and "higher" standards) have not yet figured this out. They just can't hit a curve ball. They need to be sent back down to the "bush league" where they belong. © MACE, September 23, 2009.

Motivation To Learn Is A Cultural Process

Teachers Need More Freedom

By Dr. John Trotter

[This article first appeared in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution dealing with a discussion about the performance of African American children in urban schools.]

   All children CAN learn. African American children CAN learn. But, not all children WANT to learn. This is the issue. The MOTIVATION to learn is a culture phenomenon. The asian children WANT to learn more intensely than the white children, the African American children, and the hispanic children. (All four perfect scores on this year's SAT came from Asian children.) Obviously, family environment makes a huge difference -- as studies have shown that if a child comes from a two-parent household, he or she has a significantly higher chance of being successful in school. There is the same positive correlation between social economic status (SES) and student achievement. Some children just start their "hundred yard dash" ten yards behind the starting line. That's why we celebrate so much when a child from dire economic and familial circumstances performs so well academically. We celebrate this because it is simply so unusual. I personally love to hear stories about children growing up in terrible conditions who overcome the social and economic obstacles to get accepted at Yale or Princeton. This is inspirational because we know that this child has overcome much more in his or her success than a child born and raised in Alparetta or Milton or Suwanee with two parents at home who have provided him or her with all of the tools and nurture which enable the child to start the formal schooling process with all the requisite readiness skills.

   I too have observed this "acting white" phenomenon. This is a reality among African American children. I published a research article on the peer pressure perceptions of "academically able Black male adolescents" in The Journal of Negro Education (Winter of 1981). Often times, a young African American student will simply have to withdraw from from his or her peer group in order to be successful in school. The anti-academic peer pressure is simply that great. Our daughter admitted to her mom taht she purposely made lowered grades in high school because she did not want to endure the criticism of "acting white." She flawlessly speaks the "Queen's English," is very articulate, and loves to read. Often times, these traits, for a "child of color," are a liability among his or her peers. This is sad, but this is just a fact. I have observed that this is particularly strong among "children of color." African American children have so much to overcome. This is why teachers should be freed up to be creative to be able to reach these children, to be able to find ways to MOTIVATE academically these children.

   Putting teachers in pedagogical straight jackets and requiring them to teach from some inane cookie-cutter pattern only creates more and more tedium and boredom in the clasroom. (Research has demonstrated that one of the greatest, if not the greatest, hindrance for keeping the students from learning is simply their claim that they are immensely "bored" by the schooling process.) Teachers are not allowed to be creative. In fact, creativity scares the administrators. Of course, administrators appear easily scared these days. Three MACE colleagues and I visited one of Atlanta's middle schools yesterday, and from the reaction of the principal, you would have thought that I was Darth Vader. All of the secretaries happily jumped up in apparent excitement that we arrived at the school at the end of the day and were signing in the visitors' log, but the principal did not apppear too excited and began making phone calls. She asked me to talk with one of her apparent superiors downtown whom I have known for years. This central office administrator, in repsonse to my stating that we had done nothing out of the ordinary -- nothing different from the other unions, jokinly said, "Now Dr. Trotter, you know that they see you as John Wayne." We made a trip downtown and apparently have this little snafu worked out, but this just illustrates how nervous the administrators are these days. They apparently want NO CREATIVITY. They apparently want teachers to teach boringly with their heads down. They seem to be very scared people, as a whole. This is sick.

   All children are different. They are not inanimate objects floating down a educational conveyor belt. All children CAN learn. But, these days we need to (1) free up the teachers to be creative and (2) support the teachers when it comes to discipline. The worst thing that we can do for children is to coddle and pamper them. They need strong stuctured environments where they perceive that the teacher cares -- even loves -- them. Then, the chances for children to respond positively to the learning is enhances. The key to learning is MOTIVATION, and MOTIVATON to learn is indeed a culture process.

   For the curious...the school was Turner Middle School in Atlanta. (c) MACE, September 18, 2009.

A Double Standard In Georgia!

Administrators At Fault, Not Teachers

By Dr. John Trotter

I have seen the Professional Standards Commission (PSC) recommend three years of suspension of a teacher's certificate for a much less offense. Let's just face the facts: The PSC was set up by the administrators and their legislator-friends to keep teachers in line, not administrators. There is a clear double standard in the State. When Beverly Hall did not report any serious disciplinary offenses a few years back for about 40 or more Atlanta schools, people just raised their eyebrows is disbelief, but nothing was done. When Alvin Wilbanks in Gwinnett did not report thousands and thousands (wasn't it over 30,000?) serious disciplinary offenses, the PSC just slapped him on the hand.

I received just yesterday an email from a Gwinnett teacher who says that Gwinnett in engaging in systematic cheating and that she has been trying to report it to Gwinnett officials, but that they are turning a deaf ear. This type of anecdotal evidence comes into the MACE Office on a fairly regular basis, and this is why MACE was the lone wolf howling in the desert about the systematic cheating taking place in places like DeKalb and Atlanta. Heck, State Senator Ronald Ramsey simply summarily shut down a grievance hearing wherein teachers were apparently prepared to testify about systematic cheating taking place at Clarkston High School. We presume that Ramsey was just doing the job of his boss, Crawford Lewis.

Trust me: These incidents at the named schools are not the only places of malevolent conduct. I think that it is just the tip of a huge cheating iceberg. MACE will continue to speak out against such conduct, even though MACE will be reviled as some educational pariah to these weasel administrators. It is the adminstrators who are destroying our public schools, not the teachers. (c) MACE, September 10, 2009.

MACE’s Eleven Simple Statements (MESS)

By Dr. John Trotter and Norreese Haynes

We often see such ludicrous actions or lack of actions taken by public school systems that we are dumbfounded at the school systems lack of ability to subscribe to simple precepts. When a school system simply refuses to acknowledge simple realities relative to the public schooling processes, the results are disastrous. From our combined experiences as a teacher, administrator, and/or representative of teachers over the years, we have compiled some simple realities that most superintendents, school boards, policy-makers, and politicians ignore when dealing with the public schooling processes. Below are eleven simple statements which, in our opinion, are irrefutable and intractable. To ignore these simple statements will imperil any school system.

All children can learn but not all children want to learn but rather some children even refuse to learn.
Unmotivated and disengaged students often disrupt the learning environments of those students who want to learn.
You cannot have orderly learning taking place in the classroom without order first being established in the classroom, and the chronically-misbehaving and disorderly students must be removed from the regular classroom.
You cannot have good learning conditions until you first have good teaching conditions.
Creative teaching is effective teaching, and states and school systems need to free up teachers to be more creative and therefore more effective.
A smothered, suffocating, beat-down, and beleaguered teacher is an ineffective teacher.
A top-down, heavy-handed approach to teacher supervision kills a teacher’s spirit and creativity and works counter to effective teaching and student learning.
A teacher can only teach the student, not learn the student, just like a physician can only treat the patient, not heal the patient, and a lawyer can only defend the accused, not acquit the accused.
Ultimately, the student is responsible for appropriately engaging or not engaging in the learning processes, and the onus for learning must be put on the student, not the teacher.
If the student refuses to appropriately engage in the learning processes and therefore refuses to learn, there is nothing that the teacher can do to make the student learn, and the teacher should not be held responsible for the student’s refusal to learn.
The artificial and manipulative inflating of standardized test scores is no true indication that students are learning but that a superintendent is trying to financially bolster his or her professional resume at the students’expense.

School Administrators' Public Enemy No.1? Dr. John Trotter: "Who? Me? You Mean The Administrators Aren't Afraid Of GAE And PAGE? Oh, I Forgot. The Administrators ARE Members Of GAE And PAGE."

MACE Mission.

Since 1995

MACE has a teacher's agenda, a focused mission, and a clear vision. MACE is about the empowerment and protection of classroom educators. MACE is forthright in its goals -- teachers securing control of their profession and teachers being treated as professionals (and not being micro-managed like "day laborers"). MACE is tired of seeing teachers treated like tall children. MACE is tired of teachers being mistreated. MACE is unapologetic in its mission. MACE will not vacillate, will not equivocate, and will not back off a single inch from its mission -- liberating teachers so that teachers can do what teachers were called to do, viz., teach the children.

If you are tired of the I gotcha approach to supervision; if you are tired of being snoopervised by petty and myopic administrators who seem to enjoy any contrived opportunity to "write you up"; if you are tired of having your teaching micro-managed and having your professional knowledge, wisdom, and judgment ignored; if you are tired of being treated like a "day laborer" and dealt with in a heavy-handed fashion; if you are tired of having little or no input into your teaching environment; if you are tired of having to put up with an inept top-down management style that's been proven to be ineffective in business, industry, and education; and, if you are just plain tired of all this mess, then join the Metro Association of Classroom Educators (MACE).

N. Haynes (L) and A. Ramay (R)

MACE Attorney Anderson (Andy) Ramay
Gets Another Decision
Reversed At State Board Level!

MACE's Legal Department Continues To Flourish!

Join MACE...Enjoy Peace Of Mind!

"Teachers, do yourselves a favor and join MACE! MACE provides aggressive representation when you need it. At no other union can you tap into the experience and effectiveness of Dr. John Trotter, Mr. Norresse Haynes, Mr. Jeff Cox, Mr. Darryl Plenty, Mrs. Renee Bishop, Mr. Tom (Thug) Berry, Mr. J.B. Stanley, and other dedicated people committed to empowering classroom educators. Join MACE and enjoy peace of mind!"

Cheating In Atlanta Public Schools?

You Decide!

Click Here To Read 11Alive.com Article And See Video!

Cheating In DeKalb County Schools?

You Decide!

Click Here To See Video...WSBTV.COM

Click Here To See DeKalb Grade Changing Scandal Video...WSBTV.COM

Bullying In DeKalb County Schools?

You Decide!

Click Here To See Video... FOX 5 NEWS!

Crawford Lewis:

DeKalb County's

Superintendent Clown!

This Joke-of-a-Superintendent Must Go!

I have not had time to read this so-called "independent report." (None of this of type of reports is truly "independent" no more than the "hearings" before the school boards are "independent" -- the superintendent is trying to fire a teacher and "the judge and jury" team is the very school board which hired the superintendent.) This "conclusion" does not surprise me ONE BIT. I think that the DeKalb School System under the UNleadership of their clown for a superintendent, Crawford Lewis, will never improve. DeKalb Discipline will continue to be an oxymoron. The administrators will continue to sweep disciplinary problems under the proverbial rug and throw them back into the teachers' faces. Teachers Beware: When you try to teach in DeKalb County, you have to "deal with" certain thugs and bullies in the classroom (who not only "bully" other students but will "bully" you on a regular basis). You will very, very seldom receive any support by the administration for this malaise of discipline. Oh, by the way, you will be expected to not count off of the student's grade if you catch him or her red-handed cheating on an exam, etc. Don't worry. Just give the students' their grades (without any rigor or expectation that the students have to perform a any genuine standard), and you will be liked by the administrators. That's why DeKalb has so many students who "make good grades" in their classes but cannot pass the end of the year standardized exams. And, about 60% of these students who have been coddled and passed along under the "Premier" administration of Crawford (The Superintendent Clown) Lewis will have to take remedial classes when they reach the Georgia public colleges. Hey, I have an idea, why don't The Superintendent Clown and I engage in formal debates with formal propositions with a live audience (and even televised) about whether bullying occurs on a fairly regular basis in "Premier" DeKalb? That would be fun. I issue this invitation to Crawford Lewis. Do you think that he will accept the challenge? "He's scared. He's scared. He's scared to shoot dat ball!" (c)MACE,2009.

"Crawford Lewis must think that he is dealing with GAE or PAGE. Unlike these other organizations, MACE doesn't leave teachers hanging. Our Motto: No Teacher Left Behind!"-- Norreese Haynes, MACE COO.

Dekalb's Superintendent Crawford Lewis Afraid To Process Grievances?

"Candy Ass" Picket Three Days In A Row!

Channel 11 Comes To The Picket

Click Here To Read Article On 11Alive.com!

Ah...Surely Not "Premier" DeKalb!

Superintendent "Candy Ass " Crawford Lewis Must Go!

Characteristics Of An Effective Principal.

by Daniel D. Trotter, Sr.

Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in The Teacher’s Advocate! magazine. The author is the father of Dr. John Trotter, and he serves on the MACE Board of Directors. Mr. Trotter is a retired Georgia school principal.

The following is a list of characteristics that I would suggest to any principal who cares to be respected and admired by both students and teachers:

Always be completely open to teachers. Be willing to discuss any policy that you have and give the background as to why you instilled the policy.
It is important that you always speak pleasantly to your teachers and never put them down in the presence of others. All constructive criticism should be done in private. Never raise your voice when you have a need to correct a teacher. Never strip your teachers of their dignity.
Be generous with praise and cautious with criticism. Be quick to give credit to others when it is due to them. Make it a policy to commend your teachers often. Look for reasons to commend them and you will see that they will work harder for you.
Always tell the truth – even when it hurts. No one respects a person whom they can’t depend on to tell the truth. As the saying goes, “Tell it like it is.”
Be easily approachable. Encourage teachers to ask you for help, if needed.
Be seen! A principal should be in the school halls when students are in the halls. You should be in and out of the cafeteria during lunch. You should go into the classrooms often, if only for a few minutes. You should be visible in order to be a leader.
Make discipline your number one concern. Without discipline, little teaching or learning can take place. You are the key to any school’s discipline. You must have a firm policy and be sure that both teachers and students fully understand it. Be willing to take a stand and then stand.
Never accept an accusation against a teacher until you first speak with that teacher. Be a friend to your teachers and support them as much as possible. When they make mistakes, let them down easily.
Be open to teachers’ suggestions and, if you disagree, be pleasant in your discussion. You have no need to be threatened, if you are open and honest.
The last characteristic is a summary of the other nine. When you deal with teachers, remember two things: Tell the truth and treat others like you would want to be treated.

Trotter. Doesn't Suffer Administrative Fools.

Haynes. MACE's Executive Director.

Making'em an offer they can't refuse...

...and if they refuse the offer...

MACE Successfully Intervenes For Columbus Teacher!

Hey Governor, Balance The Budget By Slashing The Administration!

Georgia Needs More Vocational Education

View MACE'S Latest Newsletter!

Jeff Cox...A Man Of Patience & Integrity.

MACE Is Not For Everyone!

Meeting with a few MACE members at Douglas County High School.

Keith Murwin was MACE's first member in Douglas County in 1996.

MACE Membership.

Only for Teachers

MACE started in the Fall of 1995, and within its first week of soliciting members, it had already enrolled two former presidents of GAE locals (Fulton and Cobb), a former president of the Atlanta Federation of Teachers (AFT), and other leaders of other educational organizations. These teachers joined MACE because they knew that MACE was totally committed to the protection and empowerment of classroom educators. The message of MACE resonates with Georgia’s teachers. The good news of MACE continues to spread throughout Georgia, and MACE now represents teachers in over forty school systems in Georgia.

MACE does not allow administrators to join. Why should MACE? Administrators have their own organizations (like GAEL, GSSA, GAESP, etc.); however, administrators continue to flood the membership ranks of GAE and PAGE. This is one of the main reasons that GAE and PAGE cannot speak forthrightly for classroom educators. Sometimes, to advocate for teachers, you have to be critical of the misconduct of administrators. Sometimes, you even have to call names. But what happens at GAE and PAGE when there is a conflict between a teacher and a principal and both are members of the same organization? You know! It’s a classic case of conflict-of-interest. Furthermore, the assistant superintendent and/or the superintendent may also be a member of that organization. What will GAE or PAGE do? Nothing, probably. And, that’s what often happens – nothing. The teacher’s interests do not get served. Frustration and a sense of impotence set in. Not so at MACE! MACE knows that the administrator is not a member of MACE. MACE knows that there’s no conflict. MACE knows whom we serve and for whom MACE advocates; therefore, keep spreading the good news that there is a union for teachers, a union which does not apologize in advocating for teachers. Keep encouraging other teachers to join the growing union that packs a powerful punch. When you say “MACE,” administrators listen.

MACE Protects Teachers,

One Member At A Time!