Professional Educators of Tennessee

The traditional school year is winding down and the days are warmer and longer.  As I stood on my porch early in the morning mist looking over the valley in which we live, I thought Tennessee is certainly a beautiful state.  I have also learned by meeting more PET members  than anyone else meets,  they are beautiful people.  They say that beauty is only skin deep, but I have found that beauty is the dedication to and love of children that so many of our members exude.

It is easy at times to be wound up in our needs as educators.  However, when I speak with our members individually they usually express the thought that the welfare of the children is of great value to them.  In the medical field, there is an important philosophy, "to do no harm."  It seems that some of our fellow educators worry very little what harm they do to the children.  Professional educators must share the medical philosophy and "above all-do no harm" to the children in our care.

The legislative games in Washington and hard choices in the Tennessee legislature have made this an interesting time to watch.  Charter schools [on which PET has no position] will be taken up again in the 2002 session.  At some point, I believe, we will have charter schools in Tennessee.  At this time, we have members who are ready to file a charter to start a school as soon as a bill is passed.

A bill that you have helped us to defer to 2002 is HB-1913/SB-0467.  This bill would add "the terms and conditions of service" to the Professional Negotiations Act TCA 49-5-601.  The professional educators who I know do not want this to be subject to negotiations.  How far would this go?  Since the bill also says, "the term 'working conditions' shall be liberally construed," there is no way to know what would be eliminated from negotiations.  You will probably be contacted during the next legislative session and asked to again help on this one.  There are also new ideas that will be presented at the annual meeting for us to have introduced as legislation in the next session.  The more you are willing to help as individuals, the better the legislation we can have from Nashville and Washington.  It is important that we have your email address if you are willing to help us in support of the legislative process.  At times, things move too fast and it is too costly to design print and stuff a mass mailing.  Local presidents who do not have email should supply us with the email address of someone else who can keep you informed.

We have been busy at the association office this year.  It seems to me, we never have been caught up for a single day.  That sounds like teaching, doesn't it?  The point is that many of you have sent us information put out by the NEA/TEA local in your area.  I meant to respond to each of these.  The time was just never there.  I do have a hierarchy of what must be done.  Members in distress are at the top of that list and I must work down from that point.  Be assured that a 40-hour week is not a maximum here, but I do run out of time.  My apologies to all that did not receive a response to the information you sent us.  Thank you for keeping us informed.