"Y'all
Want A
Fight? Let's Go!"
"Y'all want a fight? Let's go!
You guys [school board and administrators] want to blame everything on teachers and fail to place the blame right where
it belongs...with the students and their parents. We have told you over and over that you cannot have good
learning conditions until you first have good teaching conditions. So, if you want to continue to blame
teachers and abuse teachers, then we're always ready to thrown down. Let's go! I only
wish that there were more hours in the day so we could kick more administrative ass! We're not educational
terrorists; we're just freedom fighters, freeing up teachers from administrative abuse, parental abuse, and the daily abuse
suffered from student-thugs! MACE uses every legal means available to protect and empower our teacher-members
so that they can teach in peace, without the daily abuse affecting their minds, bodies, and souls. So,
yeah, y'all want a fight? Then, as my colleague Norreese Haynes says, 'Bring it.' Unlike
GAE and PAGE, we're not going to tuck our tails and run. MACE was born fighting, and we've been fighting
for Georgia's classroom educators for 15 years, and we offer no apologies for
this fact. This is why the school-based administrators and the central office administrators push for "their"
teachers to join GAE and PAGE. They're not afraid of PAGE and GAE, but I quote one school board attorney in the Metro Atlanta area: 'MACE terrorizes the principals.'
Good. If they are abusing teachers, then they should be terrorized of MACE. Let's
go!" -- Dr. John Trotter, MACE Chairman & CEO.
The MACE Vidette Stands On The Watch For Teachers!
Promoted to Associate Executive
Director!
Jeff Cox Has Been a Mainstay At MACE
For Years!
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| Jeff Cox, Membership Director. |
E. Jeffrey Cox has been assisting teachers for going on eight years at MACE. He
has taken literally thousands upon thousands phone calls from many distressed, sad, forlorn, disenchanted, frustrated, and
mad-as-heck teachers! Teachers suffer so many indignities so many times from abusive and insensitive administrators,
irate parents, and disrupitve and defiant students. Part of MACE's service to its members is to listen to the teacher's
concerns and to assist them in resolving these concerns (via grievances, letters, rebuttals, coaching the teachers about transactional
interactions, or just common sense counseling. But, the main thing that makes Mr. Cox so helpful to the members is his
willingness to call them back promptly about their problems and to lend them a kind and sympathetic ear. Jeff Cox is
superb in this area.
Through the years, Jeff Cox's duties at MACE have multiplied. He,
as the Membership Director, was usually the first point of contact when members called the office or when teachers called
the MACE Office to inquire about becoming a members. He has a way of calming the teachers' nerves. I remember
on one occasion when a teacher from Gwinnett exclaimed: "I feel so good after talking to Mr. Cox that I just take
my clothes off and start dancing!" We often regale in this story, much to Jeff's embarrassment! When the
First Annual William L. Wood Award was given to Jeff at one of the MACE BASHes in the past, the entire audience sprung to
its feet in an uncontrived and enthusiastic standing ovation. (The late Bill Woods was MACE's founding
attorney and was Mr. Cox's good friend as they both grew up in Jonesboro.) The teachers love Jeff Cox!
Because his duties have
expanded through the years and because he has a keen sense of how to take care of MACE's members, Jeff Cox has been promoted
to Associate Executive Director. David Cochran is now the MACE Membership Director. The MACE Team keeps expanding,
hoping always to be able to offer our members the best service around! This is our reputation and we intend to always
maintain it!
MACE's
Teacher Rights Seminar Empowers Teachers!
MACE's Mix & Mingle
A Great Success!
One Thousand Dollars Given Away!
Click Here For More Photos
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| Clayton teacher wins $500.00! |
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| Dr. Jose Helena won $300.00! |
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| The atmosphere was festive! |
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| "The Board" meets after the "Mix & Mingle." |
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J. B. Stanley Joins the MACE Ranks!
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| Marketing Director J. B. Stanley (L) conferring with Executive Director Haynes (R). |
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| Dr. Trotter (R) gives J. B. Stanley (L) a copy of the U. S. Constitution. |
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Strategizing
& Planning MACE'S Next Attack.
MACE Devours Administrators
Who Abuse Teachers.
Click Here For More 2009 Holdiay Bash Photos!
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| The MACE Holiday BASHers had lots of fun! |
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| ...and they won lots of money and awards! |
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| To Administrators, "The Prince of Darkness"? |
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| Dr. Trotter won boxing ring announcer of the year! |
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Cry Baby Mark Elgart, SACS
Dysfunctional BOE Hires Dracula!
BOE Violates Law
(Again),
Hires Superintendent Against
Own Lawyer's Advice!
What is going
on with the dysfunctional Clayton County BOE? As Norreese Haynes repeatedly said, BOE routinely violates law by holding
illegal executive sessions!
AJC Article about Latest BOE Resignations
MACE Currency.
Empowerment's Worth
MACE
is that "radical teachers union" that the Atlanta Journal-Constitution talks about and so describes. But why is
MACE "radical"? Because teachers are currently given no respect in Georgia. In many Georgia schools,
administrators treat teachers like dogs, blaming the teachers for every ill within the public schooling process. That's why
MACE is a "radical teachers union." MACE does not accept the stupid and sophomoric
notion that if students aren't learning, then it is automatically the teachers' fault. This concept is radically wrong. It
is based on erroneous theory. Public schools are not assembly lines with teachers working on inanimate and equitably-divided
raw materials. This bureaucratic, assembly-line (a la Max Weber) approach to the public schooling process is radically wrong-headed,
and this ill-advised approach to public education produces radically wrong results. Administrators become angry and abusive.
Parents become irate and irresponsible. Students become defiant and disruptive. All three groups (administrators, parents,
and students) shift the responsibilities from their proper locations onto the professional laps of the teachers. It is a classic
case of displacing the blame. Teachers can teach the students, but teachers cannot learn the students. (That's not
even proper English.) No wonder our younger generation of college students do not want to be professional educators! They
have witnessed teachers being treated so unprofessionally for so long. This is why MACE is a "radical
teachers union." MACE radically addresses radically wrong premises, radically wrong situations, and radically wrong treatment.
Yes,
as long as the treatment of public school teachers is radically wrong, MACE will continue to address this
issue radically. Any other response would be radically wrong. With MACE, teachers get the respect that they
deserve, and, unlike GAE and PAGE, MACE represents only teachers, not administrators. Hey, that is radical!
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| Roswell North Elementary School has never seen such excitement! |
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| Roswell North students and teachers deserve better than Principal Huff! |
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