It Could Happen Here - Inside the Portland Teachers Strike

Episode Date: November 3, 2023

As the Portland Association of Teachers embarks on their first strike in living memory Mia talks with Brittany Dorris, 5th grade teacher and strike captain, about the terrible conditions faced by students and teachers alike and how teachers are fighting for a better future. @pdxteachers on Twitter and Instagram https://www.gofundme.com/f/portland-teachers-solidarity-fund https://www.facebook.com/pdxteachers/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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in the, I guess, the closing minutes of teachers in Portland not being on strike. So yeah, this is a podcast that is often about strikes. And here to talk with me about this is Brittany Doris, who's a fifth grade teacher in Portland Public Schools, who's the union captain for her school and the strike captain also for her school. Brittany, welcome to the show. Hi, glad to be here. I'm really glad to talk to you. So, all right, we are in- Zero hour. Yeah, we're in the zero hour of the strike. By the time this comes out, I guess you'll have been on strike for like two days. Yeah, we're in the zero hour of the strike. By the time this comes out, I guess you'll have been on strike for like two days.

Yeah. Assuming this comes out Friday. Yeah, so, all right. I think the place we should start probably, for people who are not in Portland or people who haven't been following this, I guess we should start with what are the sort of conditions that have led to this? I have heard some absolutely wild things about what's happening in Portland schools right now.

So how did we get here? Yeah, we've been negotiating or bargaining this contract for over a year and pushing for circumstances that are just better suited for our students. Some of our classrooms that we're dealing with situations like rodents and mold and still some buildings dealing with lead in their water. Extreme temperatures like class sizes are huge, but different depending on where you're at in the city. Like we've just been overcompensating with less since the pandemic times. And we're fed up. We're not able to do it anymore.

And yeah, we're strike ready. Yeah. And I mean, this is something. This is this is this is, I i think a pretty interesting set of circumstances because my understanding and okay so don't quote me on this i i'm pretty sure that the last time that portland teachers went on strike was in the like actually ended up striking and not just doing the strike authorization vote was the was in was during the 80s so it has been it has been a really long time it's possible literal lifetime yeah it's like i was not i was like two of my lifetimes effectively like i was not alive for this so

yeah i think we're seeing that shift happen nationwide that education has been continuously public education has been continuously chipped away at and eroded over the last few decades. And more and more responsibility has been put on the backs of teachers. And we are not able to function under this workload, under these conditions, and without increased support for the educators as well. So I think this is the culmination of kind of years and years of disinvestment in public education nationwide. And so you're seeing a lot more strikes, educational strikes coming up throughout the

country and particularly for Portland's history. Like you said, it's if Portland public schools have have striked in the past, it's been literal decades, not in my lifetime, not in your lifetime. And just the continued frustration of decades of struggle. Yeah, and I mean, as from from what I've heard from from people in the city, so the line that I got was that janitors were being told that the standard they were supposed to clean schools to was, quote, moderately dingy. So things seem not good. Yeah, it's rough.

There's rodents everywhere. Our custodial workers are already worked to the limit and understaffed. And so our buildings show. I mean, the school that I work in is over 110 years old and you can tell it's not being upkept and students are suffering. The conditions are, like you said, dingy, a moderate level of approved dinginess, supposedly. And that's gross. Yeah. And I mean, so i've heard that complaint a lot i mean i like when i was in school we only had one we had well i mean there might have been more there

probably were more rats we didn't see we had one drowned rat fall out of a ceiling but that was it it was it was we were limited to one rat for four years and i feel i feel like that's the maximum number of rats that you should encounter is maybe one because it's kind of funny but yeah yeah and these aren't class pets like these aren't no the mice and rats that you're using in a science class or keeping as the class pet in the corner like oh yeah um and i do ever i guess i guess the next thing that i wanted to talk about is class sizes, because I know, I mean, this is a very, people have been like talking about this for ages. And it's something that's really, I feel like it's weird negotiating wise, because, and this is something I see all the time. The school districts will be like, well, like the admin will be, oh, well, yeah, of course you want like smaller class sizes. And then they just won't do it.

So, yeah. Could you talk about. Yeah. Here's something that's really burning my biscuit. Our our district management continues to tell our community and the press that our average class size is 23 students at the elementary level. And the problem with that statistic is that they are doing a ratio based on the adults in the building. So, for example, we have a learning coach. We have a learning coach who works with children in small groups throughout the building, but she herself is not a rostered classroom teacher. But she is put into that equation so that it looks like our classes on average are 23 when the reality is very different the music teacher doesn't count the learning coach doesn't count but in the math that the district is like that math ain't math and my class is 34 kids you're telling the public the average is 23 and

it's just not true because you're including adults in the building who aren't the host classroom teacher yeah which is that which is that's just that's just absurd like i mean you have to know adults in the building who aren't the host classroom teacher. Yeah. Which is, that's just absurd. Like, I mean, you have to know that you're lying in order to create that statistic. Like, that's a, oh. Yeah. And, you know, it is true that there are some classes around the district that are small. I had a miracle of a class last year that was 22 kids. That cohort was just small.

That, you know, they weren't having as many babies 11 years ago, I don't know. But this year, this year I have 34 and the year prior, so not last year, but the 2022 year, I had 32. And 34 kids is unsustainable, especially because I have the 22 to compare it to. I am very aware of how little

capacity I have for meeting their needs, for teaching the wide range of levels that are in the class, even for checking in with kids. I can look out at my room at midday and think, looking at a kid, I don't know if I've talked to you. Like it's possible to go so under the radar when there are that many children to care for. Yeah. And I mean, that's a difference of like, it's like what, like a 40% class size increase. Right. Yeah. Which is nuts. And I can feel, and it's having a significant impact on just my own wellbeing and mental health this year, because I know what it looks like to teach well. And I know that I cannot currently do it with this many. And it's

hard. I, last year I wasn't feeling any symptoms of burnout at all. I was feeling really good, loving my job still. And this year I'm like, Oh, Oh my gosh, I cannot keep up with this many kids. Especially with, you know, we've gotten even so as class sizes have increased, so have the needs of our students, right? We're dealing with a lot more mental health issues. We're dealing with a wide range of neurodiversity that comes with different needs. And so it's, that's the 34 now is exponentially different than 34 when we were young. It's intense and it's unsustainable and I'm living it every day. Yeah. And like,

you know, I think on an abstract level, like the district knows like that this sucks. Right. But they just, they don't fucking do anything about it. It's just real. Yeah. And even to the level that we're able to bargain it,

there are things such as like permissive topics that we can bar or cannot bargain and things that we can bargain and even in the strike that we are about to have they continue to push back on the class cap request saying that it is a permissive topic and that it's class caps may only be applicable to what are called title one schools so schools where the population is more impacted by poverty and so they're trying like even trying to get small class sizes or smaller class sizes knowing that it's a district-wide issue may still only be successful for some parts of our district yeah and that's that ain't right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's absurd. Yeah.

Like I my classroom is incredibly diverse. We are not a title one school. We are known for supposedly being in one of the more affluent areas. But even our neighborhood school that those demographics have continued to change. And we have many students that are experiencing poverty and experiencing some of the cultural pieces that go with that, the systemic impacts of that. Our students are living through trauma. Our students are experiencing adversity. Our students are experiencing racism and sexism and homophobia. And they are jam-packed sardines in an overheated room with no supports.

I'm the only adult in the room to support them. I have students with disabilities who aren't getting support from our SPED team because our SPED team is, SPED stands for special education. Our special educators are working with some younger grade students with even bigger needs. So my fifth graders with disabilities are getting completely left in the lurch and it is my single body with all 34 and it we're we're floundering yeah and i mean that that's another sort of aspect of this that i think is really

like is really grim that all of these issues it's like the the the kids who need the most help from the beginning are the people who are getting the most hurt by it and right you know and and those are the people who the education system is supposed to be taking care of and just cannot because yeah you know chronic understaffing class sizes that are too large. Right. And it's especially painful. I've been teaching now for 10 years and I am looking at this class right now. I have a student in my class who is a little black boy with a disability.

And I'm looking at him knowing that I am not able to give him what he needs. And he is like the statistic that school districts want to put on their website. Like we got, you know, our, our marginalized populations, we've helped them. We've fit. And like, here is a student that is the statistic that you supposedly are fighting for. And he is absolutely left out to dry. And I am trying to do what I can for him. And he comes to my, I picture him as I'll be out there on that picket line. Like I am out there for that kid as well as his 33 other classmates. But just like quintessential picture of who I'm fighting for and who is getting left behind. I think there's something really grim in the way, and this goes back to what you were talking about with the way that they're just straight up lying about the average class size, where it really seems like the actual process of education is being degraded into just this sort of metric chasing game and you know as long as you have metrics that look good you know like the district is like well okay it's fine that like our students aren't

getting the quality of education they need it's fine that they're in these buildings that are literally falling apart it's fine that you know kids aren't getting what they need like as long as the metrics look good and right that's something something that gets me when we talk about those metrics, knowing our superintendent gets a bonus if academically marginalized populations like our black and brown students, if they increase their performance on standardized tests, he gets a bonus. that we take every spring, there are some students that are so impacted by the school system that they may have attendance issues. They may not be there consistently in the spring to take those tests. So something I'm picturing a couple of my students who were impacted by poverty, were kids of color, and were significantly absent due to the circumstances of their life. Those students were not able to take that test in the spring. That means those students, those black and brown students, that data wasn't in those metrics. So even the metrics that are being used to measure whether

or not we are successfully supporting our students of color are inaccurate because our most impacted students aren't able to take that assessment like his data our superintendent's data is going to look better when some of the students who might tank that data because they are unsupported by the school system aren't there to be in the data because they're unsupported by the school system it falls apart and and this is one of these things which like the only way to change this is is is to is to union actions because because the school district is not going to do it. Their metrics look fine, right? And the government is not going to do it because they don't want to spend more money.

So this is the only way to actually – Yeah. And I think we finally, I think, have made a point. We are – I mean our union actions already have been building up a visible presence. We have massive community support from not only our parent communities, but the greater Portland area. Businesses coming out in support,

people joining us at, like we had a massive march this Saturday where we took over the Burnside Bridge. And as our union actions build, we know that we are out there. We are not alone and that we are feeling the support from the community and we are becoming a more visible presence. And especially in Portland, we are a massive union.

Other unions around the state are looking at us and watching how this goes. And we can tell that the district management is scared. They are starting to send out emails to families that are meant to intimidate and panic and cause chaos. And we're seeing these defensive moves that are a reaction. Do you know who else is a hack and a fraud who didn't figure out a way to do an ad pivot here? It's the products and services that support this podcast. Yeah, speaking of businesses that support us. Welcome, I'm Danny Thrill.

Won't you join me at the fire and dare enter Nocturnal Tales from the Shadows presented by iHeart and Sonora. An anthology of modern-day horror stories inspired by the legends of Latin America. From ghastly encounters with shapeshifters to bone-chilling brushes with supernatural creatures. I know you. with supernatural creatures. I know it.

Take a trip and experience the horrors that have haunted Latin America since the beginning of time. Listen to Nocturnal Tales from the Shadows as part of my Cultura podcast network, available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Jack Peace Thomas, the host of a brand new Black Effect original series, Black Lit. The podcast for diving deep into the rich world of Black literature. I'm Jack Peace Thomas, and I'm inviting you to join me and a vibrant community of literary enthusiasts dedicated to protecting and celebrating our stories.

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It's Honey German, and I'm bringing you Gracias, Come Again, the podcast where we dive deep into the world of Latin culture, musica, peliculas, and entertainment with some of the biggest names in the game. If you love hearing real conversations with your favorite Latin celebrities, artists, and culture shifters, this is the podcast for you. We're talking real conversations

with our Latin stars, from actors and artists to musicians and creators sharing their stories, struggles and successes. You know it's going to be filled with chisme laughs and all the vibes that you love. Each week we'll explore everything from music and pop culture to deeper topics like identity, community

and breaking down barriers in all sorts of industries. Don't miss out on the fun, el té caliente, and life stories. Join me for Gracias Come Again, a podcast by Honey German, where we get into todo lo actual y viral. Listen to Gracias Come Again on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. into i guess first i want to talk about what the what the community support has looked like what four of my other unions has looked like and you know how you've been engaging with parents because i mean that's been a big thing so i'm from chicago and so we have like a i mean not that long but

like for the last about decade the chicago teachers union has been on strike a bunch of times and it's yeah like it really and the the support of that and the engagement of that really is one of the few things that's been making Chicago a better place. So I wanted to ask what that's looked like in Portland, because this is basically the first time for y'all. Right. And I know historically in Oregon, we felt the support from our community, such as the Red for Ed movement a few years ago, when we were really pushing for statewide reform and change in education policy. And here in Portland, ever since the seeds of our uprising were being planted, knowing that we are on a collision course towards a strike based on how poorly the district management is bargaining with us. management is bargaining with us. And so we started to build in that communication and enlist the support of our parent communities pretty early on by having info sessions, by talking about,

you know, the community's wants and desires for their students, connecting with our schools, PTAs, connecting with local businesses, especially as in the last month or so that we felt, okay, this is happening. We are about to strike. We need to connect with our communities in our school areas and see who's out there and if they have our back. And it's been really profound in grassroots organizing between the parents and the PTAs in tandem with our unions and from businesses around our school areas. We attended an event called Strike School to prepare. And one of our missions was to check in with businesses and neighbors in the areas of our schools where we plan to be picketing and seeing, you know,

where can we go to use the bathroom? Where can we go to use a parking lot? And just making those connections, some of which already existed, even though Portland hasn't had to strike, we've been very connected to our communities because the educators live in these communities. This is my community. Unlike some of the big wigs in the big pink building of management, like they are coming in and out in a few years. We're from here. We are here to stay. We are here to make those connections. So it was very easy to call upon those connections because we are the community.

You know, we have a lot of union members that are parents. We have a lot of union members that are married to business owners in the area. Yeah, it's been obvious who lives here, who's fighting for these kids, because this is our community. Yeah. And, you know, I mean, Portland's been a place where I think kind of beneath the notice of a lot of the national press, it's been one of the places where the most union organizing is happening and where the most strikes have been happening.

And yeah, I was wondering, I mean, to what extent have y'all been influenced by, I mean, both the sort of the just profusion of like local strikes and then also the kind of the bigger national strikes. Something really beautiful about living in Portland is that there is quite a bit of cross union solidarity. And like in the educational realm, we have a coalition of all of our unions that come together. The certified teachers like my union, PAT, as well as SEIU, the union that represents our custodial staff, as well as PFSP, our paraeducators, our nutritional staff, the bus drivers union, like all of those unions come together and support each other um and in fact in the

educational realm of portland multiple unions are on the verge of striking in that they are having unsuccessful bargaining attempts um but then also with like the ups workers with uh kaiser pharmacies and you know the medical field like there is labor action all around Portland and there's definitely a built in solidarity network from union to union. Our union siblings are with us. We have been with them throughout the years. I think we do a really good job as a major city of wrapping around each other's unions and supporting big actions. And, you know, Portland, when we do get national press, it is for how rambunctious our little city can be. And this is some of that good trouble that John Lewis would want us to get in. Yeah. And I mean, this is something that you can, I mean, so I was in Portland for like three

weeks, pretty like recently. And I mean, you would just run it. Like like i was i was at a hospital for long long story about that but i was at a hospital and like the first person we talked to is like as a receptionist was like the union rep from the receptionist union and like we're talking to the nurses and the nurses are like oh yeah we just won our we just won our thing without having to go on strike because management caved it's a really sort of incredible place to be in terms of like just just the the energy and just like the amount of stuff that's happening there so it's really it's really sort of incredible very active i guess the the other side of this is that this we've also seen a lot of sort of management retaliation and crackdown attempts and yeah I was wondering

if you could talk about what management's been doing because yeah. Yeah. It's really ramped up in the last week or so, as it is clear that this, we are on our way to strike, especially when we 99% of the membership voted yes to a strike authorization that sent a pretty clear message. And I think it made district management panic a little. And we've received numerous emails to the parent community. They have, for example, they are training tomorrow, Thursday, the day of our strike beginning or Wednesday. On Wednesday, the day that the strike begins, they are training our paraprofessionals and EAs in how to deliver virtual phonics instruction. One of their moves was to cause panic in the families by sending emails home that say, your student, based on their test scores, is a struggling reader.

Here's the plan. Should there be a school closure that we're going to provide virtual learning opportunities? So immediately you've got parents in a panic, emailing their teacher, like my student is struggling. Why didn't I know? And in many cases that was inaccurate. A second grade teacher at my school, every parent in her class got that email and sure she has some struggling readers, but it is not every student. Why did every student's family get that email to cause panic to cause fear to cause intimidation and um so they also sent out a big email trying uh that the technology team was coming into the buildings to collect all the chromebooks our students are one-to-one with chromebooks they're

pretty integral to our curriculum delivery and our instruction and they started pulling them out in the middle of the work day in the middle of the teaching day from some of our youngest students which was a visible thing in front of students they're coming to collect them it was unplanned we had no warning um that again seemed to be kind of a panic move we are trying to sow fear and intimidation and we're taking your chromebooks and we're putting kids back in covid times that's just a terrible also just like a terrible thing to do to a bunch of kids like what yeah okay you're just coming into the room just taking their stuff in front of everyone like what right especially those younger grades with no warning and like oh we were supposed to

have our tech time on friday like we had our routine and oh, this this guy's coming in and taking all the Chromebooks. Sorry, kids. Yeah, it's one of these. And not really having a ready answer. Yeah, it's like it's one of these things where it's like you can you can really tell like who actually cares about the kids here because it's like, yeah. And, you know, management is trying to put out the message that teachers don't care about your kids that's why they're willing to stop school and put your kids back at home again it's bad like the

pandemic time those those nasty teachers want your kids out of school and you know our point being that our students haven't been getting the learning that they deserve because of the current conditions yeah that we've been underserving them already we are walking out not because we don't care but because we care so passionately that we aren't willing to stand for these subpar conditions any longer and this is the thing i don't like i've seen a lot of teacher strikes in in my city i've seen a lot of teacher strikes nationally i don't think i've ever seen and you know and this isn't to say that I don't think it would be justified for teachers to go on strike

just because they're underpaid. Everyone has the right and possibly the obligation to go on strike for better conditions, but that's not ever, ever. I have never at any point ever seen a teacher's union go on strike for reasons that weren't mostly about like mostly about improving things for their kids and it's it's wow because you see this every it's

like they do this in chicago too it's like every single time there's a strike it's like ah the teachers like they hate they hate your kids so they're like these like privileged overpaid people who are like and it's like you guys like you should you should like look at the admin salary sometime. Like, yes. Yeah. Yeah, it's it's clear that there's a disconnect. And as soon as there's a change in the weather, teachers go from being the hero to being the villain. And the fact that we are willing to go out on the streets and fight for our kids in the rain and the cold of Oregon winter.

No, we're the villains. We are putting them all back in their COVID boxes. Like, yeah, that ain't it. Yeah, that really sucks. Like, I don't know. Thankfully, the negative kind of vitriol that we see mostly online where the trolls live. It does seem to be like a loud minority, as with any form of trolling or counter. You know, we we do hear from community members that have more legitimate concerns, but they are.

I'm really supportive. I'm a little worried about this one aspect, but I'm with you guys, you know, and that's valid. I told my students as we were getting ready to go home for the long weekend, quote unquote, you know, that it is okay to feel a variety of emotions. Like I'm sad, I'm going to miss you guys. I don't know when I'll get to see you again. And that makes me anxious. And I'm excited to go fight for you guys

to get us what we deserve. Like, so even letting the children know this is totally normal. And that's my same message to the adults. Like, it's totally okay if you've got some mixed emotions. Yeah. And we're going to be out there fighting for the kids. I hope you're not mad at me for very long, but I'm going to do it anyway. Yeah.

And that's another thing that's kind of like weird about this is like the, the, the way the negotiations have gone, it's like, this is happening. Like a lot of strikes happen at the beginning of the school year. Right. And so it pushes back the, but this is, but this is like,

okay. So like you've gotten in, you've met the kids, you're like teaching them to developing your relationship. And then management is just like, no, this is the moment where we're going to force everyone to. Yeah.

And that just sucks. Yeah. And I don't think there's ever a great time to strike, but we definitely hope to be the least impactful. You know, we want to make sure that our families have what they need. We want to make sure that our staff have what they need. We didn't want to go too long. We don't want to be striking in the middle of winter or during a break when students are already out. Um, yeah, it's, there's never a great time. And I feel, I feel really confident that our bargaining unit has really worked to

make this the least detrimental to our students as possible while still maintaining the validity of a strike of a big collective action i mean i think this is this is something that care workers struggle with a lot right it's like one of one of the reasons that it's it's hard for teachers to strike that it's hard for health care workers to strike is because like yeah like you don't do this job unless you care about the people that you're like it's your job to care for like you don't you wouldn't know like no one would put up with these conditions if they didn't care right and you know and and that's i think there's this really grim way in which this becomes a sort of trap of like this is

it becomes this you see this like this is the thing i've been i've been talking to uh like people who like abortion workers and they talk about this too where it's like there's just this kind of trap you get in because it's like you know that you are the only person providing the service that these people really need and your bosses use that to underpay you use it to you know have just unacceptable conditions and yeah it it sucks that it's like you know the the foundational elements of an actual any kind of society that's actually good like the fact that people care and love like love each other and care for each other is being used as a weapon to like coerce people into like really shitty conditions that's weaponizing our passion and our care for our kids and that's also something that tells you that it's serious. If teachers who know

that our students rely on us, we love our students so deeply. If we are at the point where we're finally striking, it's been bad for a while. Yeah. Yeah. And you were kind of mentioning this earlier, but teachers are so many things to our students like I am their teacher I in in some cases am a care provider in some cases I'm a therapist in some cases I'm their nutrition expert like they are coming to us for everything in some cases and so to be willing to say I have to leave now to get us what we deserve you're I'm gonna make sure you're okay it's so hard it's so hard to say goodbye to these kids and it's so necessary yeah and that's that tells you that we that it is also that important that we have gotten to this point where we need to yeah and the students do seem

pretty and i mean i have the benefit of being at fifth grade but the students do seem pretty, I mean, I have the benefit of being at fifth grade, but the students do seem to understand pretty well. Some of them are incredibly activated little unionists, little union fighters as well. We've had some of the fifth graders sent letters to the Oregonian and to the school board and to the superintendent. And they're very eloquent. I mean, they've been living the conditions. They are the voice. And they are trying to shout loudly. They are the voice and it is, they are trying to shout loudly and, you know, we're trying to amplify that.

Like I am striking for them. I will benefit, but this is for them to have a better outcome. You know what other services are provided by a bunch of workers who are not getting paid enough and are probably understaffed. Legally, I don't know if I'm allowed to say that, but they haven't done the crackdown on us yet,

so I can say whatever I want, damn it. It's the products and services that support this podcast. Welcome. I'm Danny Thrill. Won't you join me at the fire and dare enter Nocturnum, Tales from the Shadows Presented by I Heart and Sonorum

An anthology of modern day horror stories Inspired by the legends of Latin America From ghastly encounters with shapeshifters to bone-chilling brushes with supernatural creatures. I know you. Take a trip and experience the horrors

that have haunted Latin America since the beginning of time. Listen to Nocturnal Tales from the Shadows as part of my Cultura podcast network available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, I'm Jack B.

Thomas, the host of a brand new black effect, original series, Black Lit, the podcast for diving deep into the rich world of Black literature. I'm Jack Peace Thomas, and I'm inviting you to join me and a vibrant community of literary enthusiasts dedicated to protecting and celebrating our stories. Black Lit is for the page turners, for those who listen to audio books while commuting or running errands, for those who find themselves seeking solace, wisdom, and refuge between the chapters. From thought-provoking novels to powerful poetry, we'll explore the stories that shape our culture. Together, we'll dissect classics and contemporary works while uncovering the stories of the brilliant writers behind them. Blacklit is here to amplify the voices of Black writers and to bring their words to life.

Listen to Blacklit on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Ed Zitron, host of the Better Offline podcast, and we're kicking off our second season digging into how tech's elite has turned Silicon Valley into a playground for billionaires. From the chaotic world of generative AI to the destruction of Google search, Better Offline is your unvarnished and at times unhinged look at the underbelly of tech from an industry veteran with nothing to lose. This season, I'm going to be joined by everyone from Nobel-winning economists to leading journalists in the field. And I'll be digging into why the products you love keep getting worse and naming and shaming those responsible. Don't get me wrong, though. I love technology.

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So there's a thing I've been noticing. And we are back. So there's a thing I've been noticing. So I've been interviewing a lot of service workers in the last, I guess, like two years now. Geez, I've been doing this for a long time now. But one of the things that I've been noticing is a lot of people, and this comes back to something that you were talking about, which is that a lot of service workers, I mean, people who are just baristas, people who are, you know, people who are just doing

effectively random service jobs are being pushed more and more into having to care for people because the rest of the sort of whatever social safety nets the US used to have have just completely imploded. And I think, I want to get your opinion on this.

It looks to me like ground zero for this was the education system of all of the responsibility of these massive increases in poverty and stagnating wages and police violence and our completely dysfunctional mental health care system. That all of this – the first people this was pushed on was y'all yeah yeah we're that first line of defense for the public good and when you are gutting education you are gutting the first safety net of the public good and you know the the students will tell you that they are our future and we are the net that's supposed to catch them and we've been underfunded and under supported and under resourced and in many ways like privatized where some of what will be the future populace are getting what they need and everyone else is left behind and you can see it in retrospect you can see how public education has been deteriorating or

forcibly deteriorated by some of those interests that are trying to privatize or have privatization yep in their mission and the ultimate outcome of that is a deteriorated united states like the populace is is suffering because of it like i wonder why democracy is starting to fall apart when yeah follow the dominoes backwards public education has been underfunded and undersourced for decades now so our generation of workers are trying to repair the damage we witnessed and experienced and stop it from getting worse as it gets worse around us. alliance between the sort of like obama arnie duncan uh oh my god paul vallis like like technically liberal like neoliberal reformers who were you know trying to destroy teachers unions trying to like try to force everyone in the charter schools trying to sort of like i mean just and it's just just blasting holes in the education system of every single city they end up in but it's just it's

interesting too where like you have these people on the one hand and they're the sort of like vaguely liberal wing of it and then simultaneously you have this sort of like absolutely ferocious like frothing right wing like evangelical shoe shape yeah it's like someone I saw a well they were going the other direction but I saw a funny depiction of that they called it like fishhook theory where like you have the stuff in the middle and then the far right people sort of bend back around into the middle because

they found this one thing they agree on which is that they hate teachers right and you know the public enemy yeah and and i think it's it's interesting too that like schools are specifically the place that when when the right tried wanted to do their pushback against racial justice it was like they went to schools like they did they've been they've been doing this with like lgbtq stuff too is you know this is like the rights whole game i mean since like desegregation

has been trying to push people into private schools and privatizing the education system and i don't know it strikes me as interesting that that you know there's been for a really long time and i think y'all like y'all the like chicago teachers unions has this has really been sort of the forefront of the fight against that of like it seems it seems like we're finally in a period where these people who have run this country into the ground for the past like 50 years are finally starting to sort of like face the consequences and like have to deal with the people that they've been just destroying for so long. Yeah.

We are seeing it from the inside as it happens. Like I am experiencing as an elder millennial growing up in the 90s in the public education system, knowing now as an adult what I was not being taught or what was being left out or censored just due to systemic patterns that now we teach in a different way to make sure that that doesn't continue and then we're seeing legislation in state places like florida and tennessee they're like stop doing that stop fixing the problem and you can't put it back in the box like we we see from the inside as things are are falling apart and people are being left out. And so we're inside public education screaming, knock it off.

You, you did bad by us. We won't let you do bad by the next generation and the next generation. Yeah. And I think like the, the, the other aspect of that like is is the way that like school boards are being used to sort of like to take control of districts and like push all of this sort of just horrific like anti-queer politics stuff and i don't know like that's a personal one for me because like my school like i mean i guess we technically had stuff but like i don't know like the resources available to all the queer kids that like those like me and like everyone i grew up with were like just terrible and you know i got to see the consequences

of that right bare minimum if any yeah and like you know like in in a in a really really like frothing right wing like really just conservative environment and like i don't know it it's it it really seems like it's for a lot of people it's gotten way better and all of these you know like one of the assaults that we're seeing is like people just want to bring this stuff back right to the quote-unquote good old days before all of us queer folks were coming out and yeah like put everybody back in the closet hide all of the the racism that you've unraveled and exposed. Put it all back in the box. Put a bow back on the box.

We want America to look the way it used to. Yeah. And that's that's a lie. And that benefited very specific populations. And we won't continue to play that game. And I think that's another reason, like you said, that you're seeing the gutting of public education is that it's scary. Public education is about truth and teaching critical thinking. And that is not good for people in power when their power has been achieved on the backs of marginalized groups and by historically underserving people and pushing people into the dirt.

Yeah, it's like it turns out that when your entire state is based on doing a rolling genocide across the entire continent, you probably don't want to tell people that. That's like a bad idea. Yeah. Cats out of the bag, America. Yeah. Yeah. I wanted to ask, too, sort of what role has, I guess, just 2020 in general, and, I mean, the pandemic, too, but, like, I don't know. Like, I want to, I guess, like, get a sense of what impact, like, the uprising has had on all of this.

Because it is, like, I do think it is notable that, you know, it's like three years after the uprising, we have the first strike in so long. of living through pandemic times, people really had an opportunity to reflect on what their lives were like, what they were living through that was unjust. I think a lot of inequities were revealed through having to shift our entire worlds and things that had previously gone hidden or unnoticed or unexposed came to light. And people said, no more. We have learned to do things a different way. We will not go back to the broken ways. And so it makes sense to me that we are at this boiling point in repairing and trying to rebuild and reform after a global change. And you see it in the kids too.

I mean, they say about my generation as a millennial that we've lived through numerous large-scale traumas. And the kids of today have now as well. Like the students I'm currently teaching were second graders when the pandemic hit and they are forever changed. They were seeing, you know, the black lives matter movement come alive on their television screens and in

their cities, they grew up in civic action and global turmoil. And they are active. Even if I wasn't teaching current events in the way that I do, the students are bringing it to the room. Like the conversations are happening. Yeah. Which is, it's such an interesting, like that generation, I think it's gonna be really interesting because I don't know. I mean, I'm from this, I'm, I'm, I'm on exactly the borderline with everyone trying to figure out

whether I'm a millennial or a zoomer, but like my, like my first memory is nine 11. Yeah. And so like, you know, it's, I feel like I got a kind of millennial experience, which is I got 9-11, 2008, 26. Well, 2008, then like the 2013 uprisings, I guess was a bit off. But I got like the 2011, 2013 uprisings. And then like I get out of college or I get into college and it's 2016. It's just like hot i don't know mess yeah it's this real like i i i i like i became conscious the moments that history returned to the world like i'm not yeah but i don't know like i think it's an interesting thing with

like with these kids who've grown up who are you know i mean like yeah like their first memories are going to be like the pandemic and like 2020 that i don't know like i i i don't know i'm interested in where these people are going to go but also i think this is you know this this all of this ties back into just the, the importance of what you and all of your coworkers do, which is that you're the people who are, you know, like it, you're, you're, you're the people who are producing like the kids who are going to, who are, I mean, hopefully they won't have to be fighting the same fights that, that we are right now. same fights that we are right now statistically they probably will but yeah like and you're the people who are sort of mediating their understanding of like what is happening in this world around them that's you know increasingly terrifying and complex right trying not to give 10 year olds an existential crisis but yeah coming into like they are at that developmental age where they are starting to have that existential crisis of, wow, our our planet is out of luck. Our educational system is rotten. Our democracy is falling apart.

Like they are witnessing turmoil in every country like that. It is, you know, they say that the youth's humor is very nihilistic and and dark and it's just getting darker like thankfully they give me so much hope and light in you know a world where sometimes i don't even want to be a part of the future because the future looks grim they are a light even in all of that darkness. And, you know, I think they're really resilient. I wish they didn't have to be. I have my own big existential dread. And the kids are angry.

The kids are upset. But the kids are all right. Maybe. If we can continue to support them. And I think this is something that goes for everyone. It's like, insofar as we have obligations to anyone on earth, like the thing, the thing that we owe these kids is to try to make sure they don't have to go

through the same shit that we did. Like that stuff sucked. Yeah. I, one of my teaching philosophies is the be who you needed when you were younger. And I didn't even know some of the things I needed, but looking back like now as a queer adult living in a major city who grew up in a small town in Montana in the 90s, I'm very, yeah, very aware of some of the things that I should have had as a young person and that I am glad to be there for my students

in that way. Even the difference working with some people who've been teaching for longer, you see the difference in educational philosophy from one generation to the next and the be who you needed when you were younger. I'm very open to being neuro affirming, supporting our students that are on the spectrum, our students with ADHD, our students with anxiety disorders in a way that even the teachers of our generation when I was a child aren't necessarily on the same. We're getting better. We're making education less damaging too. I think that's one of the reasons sometimes we lose public opinion is people have negative memories of school. School has been harmful. And we're like, no, support us.

Like, I promise it's different now. Yeah, but I mean, but I think this is one of those things too where like the teachers union in general, if you're looking at what is the single like group of people in the United States who actually wants to make school suck less like the most. It's probably like slightly above that is students.

But the thing is like students are organized enough to like, right. And you know, and like as, as much really, and you know, this isn't to write off like the incredible amount of student activism that, I mean,

it has been happening forever, but they don't have the kind of power that did like teachers unions, teachers unions are the social voice yeah well and also just the ability to like like the ability to withdraw your labor and suddenly actually have a massive effect on the entire sort of like state economy yeah yeah we are united for our students like the my we are called a teacher's union, but we are united for our students because they don't yet have the ability or the access or the social capital to be heard in the way that they deserve. Yeah. I don't know.

I think that's a pretty good note to end on unless you have anything else that you want to say first. I'm satisfied. I mean, I'm not satisfied. I'm striking, but like I'm satisfied. Yeah. Yeah. I'm satisfied. I mean, I'm not satisfied. I'm striking, but like, yeah. So how can people will a how can people in Portland support the strike? And then B, how can people who are not in Portland who want to support the strike help? We have a strike fund set up for purchasing and some of the things that we've needed on our strike lines, like megaphones, like ponchos. All of that strike fund is being used to help strike captains such as myself around the city organize our pickets and our actions. And so donating to that strike fund is one way to make sure that every teacher in Portland is getting some support. And then if you live in Portland,

finding out the schools that are closest to you in your area, reaching out to those schools specifically, probably through social media, since we will not be in our buildings, like using a school email wouldn't work, but reaching out to the strike in your area. If you drive by and you see them,

like giving them a honk and a hooray and finding out where they need supplies to get directed to um people outside of portland same thing that strike fund is very visible sharing on social media things on our behalf really making sure that your own legislatures know how important public education is to you um hopefully things in your state or area are going positively for educators but chances are are they're not. So I bet no matter where you live as a listener, public educators in your area could probably use your support, talking to school boards, talking to legislators and making change in education, making sure that kids are getting what they need. That fight is guaranteed to be happening everywhere yeah and we will we will have links to well definitely a strike fund probably also we'll have links to social media stuff in the description so yeah go go do that also yeah do you yeah i do you want i mean i'm assuming you also if people could show up to picket lines yeah yeah anyone in portland uh

driving in any of our neighborhoods will find a school will find a picket and you are welcome to join us um i know i'm in the the southwest region of portland we'll be picketing in major areas as well as right outside our schools so pretty much anywhere you see a sea of blue give us a honk and hop out and join us for a little while. And we'll see you in some big visible spaces to be determined as we do some larger actions. Yeah. Yeah. Stay tuned.

This is a, this is the thing I will say from, from experience is that like the, okay. So the more people there are, the better picketing is. And when there's a bunch of people on a picket, it rules.

So go, go do a picket. It's a good time. You're, you're, you're, yeah, you're fighting, picket it's a good time you're you're joining us yeah you're fighting you're fighting for a good cause you are fighting for your class and yeah yeah yay well thank you so much for having me and thank you to your listeners for giving us an ear and thank thank you for talking to me um it's been it's been great and yeah go go go listeners

all of you go Go support the strike. Make sure they win. And yeah, go out into your communities and do the same. It Could Happen Here is a production of Cool Zone Media. For more podcasts from Cool Zone Media, visit our website, coolzonemedia.com, or check us out on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. You can find sources for It Could Happen Here updated monthly at coolzonemedia.com slash sources. Thanks for listening. Join me, Danny Trejo, and step into the flames of right. An anthology podcast of modern day horror stories inspired by the most terrifying legends and lore of Latin America. Listen to Nocturnal on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hi, I'm Ed Zitron, host of the Better Offline podcast. or wherever you get your podcasts. At times unhinged, look at the underbelly of tech brought to you by an industry veteran with nothing to lose. Listen to Better Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever else you get your podcasts from. On Thanksgiving Day 1999, five-year-old Cuban boy Elian Gonzalez was found off the coast of Florida. And the question was, should the boy go back to his father in Cuba? Mr. Gonzalez wanted to go home and he wanted to take his son with him. Or stay with his relatives in Miami? Imagine that your mother died trying

to get you to freedom. Listen to Chess Peace, the Elian Gonzalez story on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.