Mika for DAE Vice President

We are tired of last minute location changes, agenda changes, and meetings set up to deadlock…

After months of union busting, our talks with the district about union recognition have broken down. Despite the fact that we now represent a majority of DPS workers, the board continues to delay the process, divide workers, and discredit our organizing. Today, 90 union members walked out of the dysfunctional meet and confer ad-hoc committee meeting because it was clear that this process was designed to obstruct our union rights.

Exciting news! The DAE election results are in…and I am VP-elect! I am grateful to have the support of our members and honored to serve DAE in this new capacity. A huge thank you to my hardworking campaign team and supporters near and far. I hope everyone enjoys the remaining days of break! 🌷☀️

Happy Tuesday! Today is the last day to vote in NCAE & DAE elections. Check your bulk/spam folders if you didn't receive an email - they were sent on 3/17.

AND happy SPRING BREAK! I hope everyone gets whatever they need to rest and recharge...like finding baby sea turtles!

Good morning and happy last day before break!! Waking up grateful to work and live in a place where we stand up for what our schools deserve. Our staff and students need a budget that will stabilize our district during this financial crisis. Board of Ed- ask for the money! You have our support.

Important!! Region 5/6 ballots had an error and new ballots are being sent to all eligible voters. Not all ballots have been re-sent. Be on the lookout!!

Happy Red4Ed! I am excited to see a lot more red at the rally tomorrow!! Thousands of DPS staff have been in limbo about their pay and we are already seeing our colleagues leave our schools. Our schools need a fully funded budget and our educators need a seat at the table. Let's show up for our coworkers, our students, and our community! 3/21 5:30 pm Fuller Building

Voting starts today! Eligible DAE members- be on the lookout for an email from NCAE!

I enjoy learning and thinking about the things behind the scenes of our organization. This was one of my motivations to go back to graduate school (part time) in 2019 - to learn more about public administration. Governance, by-laws, procedures, and bureaucratic structures…the inner workings that are not always in the spotlight. But these are the aspects of an organization, especially a growing organization, that are critical to focus on. For example, as DAE grows there is a need to evaluate the current leadership structures to ensure we are representing our members. Several years ago, pre-pandemic, I was part of the group of DAE members that started thinking about structures to implement to increase our reach and impact across DPS. Out of those early meetings came the original District Organizer team. Each of us DOs, as we were called, supported building-level leaders to understand and organize their buildings. We helped them lead building level campaigns, such as making sure educators received compensation for covering classes when substitutes were unavailable. Today we see the evolution and continuation of this early work as DAE grows, building on the success of the original District Organizer structure and including more members and voices in our work.

Here's a pic of me at my Masters of Public Administration graduation last Spring. GO PACK!

A new-ish union term that we have heard a lot lately is “meet and confer.”
The policy process comes from states like Arizona where collective bargaining agreements in the public sector are illegal, but the belief that educators and staff must have a voice in school related matters is a collectively shared value. DPS staff overwhelmingly want collective bargaining! This was demonstrated by the 3,000+ signatures on the DAE petition in the Fall. At the Feb. 15th Board of Education meeting, DAE was able to publicly explain and advocate for a formal meet and confer policy. If you missed watching the meeting you can check it out here.

This is some of the union work that I enjoy the most - thinking about policy and processes and how they can improve our working conditions. It was an honor to work with NCAE staff and DAE members to think through the policy development process. It was even more of an honor to represent DAE at the Feb. 15th meeting.

Was it a long meeting? Definitely. Did it feel like we were not completely understood by the Board of Education? At times. Was it a historic meeting? Yes!

Now we continue moving forward with our meet and confer policy and formalizing our seat at the table! Just yesterday four DAE members met with the ad-hoc committee to start the next steps of making meet and confer a reality. As VP, I will champion the policy and support DAE in developing democratic processes that ensure inclusive representation across DPS.

We have all heard the phrase, “education isn’t political.” Well…my 17 years in the classroom have proven otherwise. Many of the decisions that impact our classrooms are determined by elected officials - when we start school in August, which students receive free meals, graduation requirements… just to name a few. Wouldn’t it be great if educators, the actual experts, got to make such decisions? Anyways…our work is very political. Political education and engaging elected officials is some of the union work that I enjoy the most.

Most of the examples I listed above focus on State-level politics, but local politics and elections are CRITICAL for our public schools. The majority of our funding comes from Durham County.
This is how it works (the basic version!):
Durham Public Schools develops and proposes a budget (ideally with the input of the union!)
The School Board eventually approves the budget.
Then it’s sent to the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC).
The BOCC ultimately decides the amount of money our schools receive.

That’s why tomorrow is SO important! It’s not just a primary...it’s election day for Durham County! And to make it even more confusing, it’s March! Not exactly the time of year people associate with elections and voting.

There are several local races on the ballot - DPS SChool Board and all 5 County Commissioners seats. You can vote for up to 5 County Commissioner candidates and the top 5 will serve on the BOCC.

So if you didn’t vote during early voting, get out there tomorrow, and vote like our schools depend on it! DAE endorsed candidates in the local races. Check the pic in this post for our endorsements. And if you need to check your polling place, click on this link: Link to polling place: https://vt.ncsbe.gov/RegLkup/

Hello and happy sunny Saturday!
I am excited to share that I am running for DAE Vice President!!

For the past two years I have served as DAE's High School Director. As my term comes to an end I have decided not to run for re-election. DAE is growing. We have more members, more voices, and more opportunities for engagement than ever before. And I feel it is time to pass on the role of High School Director to a new leader.

I can't wait to share more about my platform and my experiences as a DPS and DAE member for the past 16+ years!

More to come...