(upbeat music) - Hi everyone, I'm Steve Adubato.

For the next half hour you're about to see- Listen, we usually go down to the New Jersey Education Association Convention in Atlantic city.

We love being there, but even though they're partly in person, partly virtual, we're doing this all virtual.

What you're about to see in the next half hour will be educators, keynote speakers, people who are connected to the NJEA.

Also people who visited this convention and spoke and engaged and talked about the new normal in education.

What will be the future of teacher student relationships?

The issues of racial, social, equity and justice.

How the pandemic has exacerbated many of those issues, the issue of teaching about race and racism in our classrooms, and frankly providing a perspective that is so important.

So, whether in person, a little bit remote, you're gonna see a whole range of interviews that will help to bring this important annual convention that's been going on, I think since 1857, that's a lot of years, it's an important convention.

Check it out.

- We're honored to be joined by Sean Spiller, who's president of the NJEA.

Also happens to be, to disclose the mayor of my hometown.

I mean, I'm born and raised in Newark, but Montclair has been my hometown for a long time.

Mr. Mayor, thank you for joining us, Sean.

- Thank you.

And it suits you well, glad to have you here in town.

- The theme of racial equity, social justice, the inequities that exist, exacerbated if you will, by the pandemic, no less important this year than any other year, right Sean?

- Yeah, that work continuous.

You know, I think especially when we talk about justice and certainly educational justice, environmental justice, racial justice, social justice, economic justice.

It's not like you start it, you know, you work on it for a few months or a year or two, and then you're done, you know, this is ongoing work.

I think, as you note, the pandemic has laid bare a lot of the challenges that we face, certainly in the educational space and as a society.

And we've got to keep working on this.

This is a matter of all hands on deck.

We've got to keep as educators, the process moving that journey going forward.

And we're committed to that as an organization.

And we're gonna keep going.

the so-called new normal in public education.

It will never go back to what it was.

I'm not passing judgment on this.

What do you believe it will be, particularly as it relates to the teacher-student relationship moving forward into 2022 and beyond.

So I think the key piece is, we don't want to go back and adopt everything from the old normal.

There are certainly key pieces we want to make sure we bring back into our new normal.

There's a lot that we've learned in that new normal that we said, man, this is a way to reach a student that we didn't have before.

This is another tool or technique.

I'd love to see us taking the best practices of what we learned, not rushing and quickly going back to just, hey, we're back to where we were, all things are good.

Let's look at some of those pieces that allowed us to have a better connection with our students.

Educators know what those have been.

We've been able to try those out, quite frankly, over the last number of months.

And then as that goes forward, let's infuse some of the new with some of the old, and let's get back to a new normal, that's a better normal.

And I think that's what everyone in the educational space is talking about, how we could all work with one another.

That means administrators.

That means in classroom educators, support staff, everybody talking about how we can make that new normal, even better for our kids.

- The Push to Walk initiative.

It was a big theme at the NJEA convention.

Talk about it.

- Listen, it's a situation where a former, actually student that I work with and is a hockey player, unfortunately had a tragic incident where he became paralyzed and kudos to his parents for helping to start Push to Walk and really over the last 15 years or so, it has turned into something that's such an important piece for so many individuals that have had spinal cord injuries.

It's an opportunity for a rehabilitation both mentally and physically, and they do just such great work.

It was really an honor to honor them as one of our event and convention groups that we focused on and highlighted.

And really just so appreciative of the work that they do.

I certainly will say for anybody who's looking to support or learn more, just go to www.pushtowalknj.org.

www.pushtowalknj.org.

They're a great organization.

They do wonderful work.

We all know insurance runs out at some point and you need extra help and extra care for a loved one.

They're a great place that you can turn to.

- So the world of public broadcasting, PBS.

We're all honored, any one of us connected to public broadcasting to introduce Sonia Manzano, an actor, author, speaker, a lifetime Emmy Award recipient, and you may recognize her as Maria, Sesame Street.

Can't be right.

44 years?

- Yes.

Remarkable.

I was on that show with Big Bird, and Oscar the Grouch, and tormenting me for 44 years, and I live to tell the tale.

(Steve laughing) (Sonia laughing) - How great the experience of being a part of this iconic, extraordinary show, Sesame Street?

- Well, as you could imagine, it was just remarkable.

It had personal meaning for me.

I was raised in the Bronx in the fifties, watching a lot of television at a time when Latin people, and people of color were not in the media.

We were not represented in any way, and I certainly did, on some unconscious level, wonder what I was gonna contribute to a society that was blind to me.

So when I got on Sesame street, it was boom.

They saw the need, and I was there to become my own role model in essence, which is what I became, but for all the children who finally had the opportunity of seeing someone who looked like them, that was thrilling.

- We'’re doing this special on the New Jersey Education Association Convention in Atlantic City.

You were a keynote speaker there.

What was that experience like for you?

- Well, it was great.

I always take these speaking opportunities to re-examine what I'm doing, and their theme was justice was in their theme, and so I- - Racial, social equity?

- Racial, social equity, and justice, and I remembered how, my own political awakening, and I remembered seeing the Young Lords, and embracing my own culture, because it was the first time I had seen a political activism that had to do with being Puerto Rican, which is what I am, and so I, you know, I took them, and they really gave me a gift, because I took the opportunity to re-examine my own political awakening, or being proud of who I was as an American.

- We are honored to be joined by Theresa Maughan, who is a high school Social Studies teacher at East Orange STEM Academy and in fact, the 2022 New Jersey State Teacher of the Year.

Theresa, Congratulations.

- Thank you so much.

Thank you.

- Tell everyone what that means.

- Well for me, having been a teacher for 40 years, it is a little bit surprising, but extremely, extremely rewarding.

It makes me feel like my years of service and dedication to my district and to my students and to my peers, that it's something that has gained recognition and it's given me an opportunity to have a platform to speak about the things that are very important to me.

- 40 Years.

- 40 Years, yes.

- Let me ask you, the most rewarding aspect of your teaching is?

- The time I spend in the classroom with my students, the realization that I can help in some way to have them fulfill whatever their goals are that they may have.

I find my contact with them to be, I describe it as my life's blood.

It's something that I realized I was missing extremely over the past year and a half.

- The pandemic was tough for them, for you.

- Yes, it definitely was.

We were, it's not the same when you're not in the classroom and it has become exceedingly clear once we came back in September.

There's just something that happens with interaction, personal interaction and so that was definitely missing and it had an impact, took a toll on the social and emotional wellbeing of my students and myself and my coworkers.

- Yeah.

You know, speaking of in-person and remote, the New Jersey Education Association Convention, Atlantic City, you were there, you were recognized, your to be an ambassador in 2022 with this title.

What is the most memorable part of that convention for you?

- Part of it was having my family there to share in the celebration but another part of it was the theme.

It was social and justice and equity and justice and learning and the keynote speakers were unbelievable.

Being a history teacher, I am a groupie of Dr. Henry Louis Gates and having the opportunity to meet him and have a picture with him that was extremely memorable.

- We are now joined by Steve Beatty, who is Vice President of the NJEA.

Steve, great to have you with us.

I wanna talk about the convention theme, learning, equity, and justice.

The pandemic has clearly exasperated, made worse, if you will, inequities and racial barriers, a big theme at the convention, talk about it.

- Well, first of all, Steve, it's great to see you, and thank you for having me, always a pleasure.

Yeah, I mean, that's our purpose in action, as you mentioned our theme was to make sure that we are entering space that needs to be addressed, right, and in providing opportunities for our members through various affinity groups.

And, I think, if you look at, you know, you've seen how our convention operates, we had booths on the floor that represented that.

We had Members of Color, an affinity group, which has grown in leaps and bounds these last year or so, our REAL, racial, equity, affirmation, and learning, which had great spaces set up and the course offerings.

So, we really wanted to make sure that our core values and goals were reflected in the footprint of what we were trying to offer space to our members.

But, the issue of being remote in and of itself, from a teaching perspective, from a learning perspective, really the digital divide, I know people use that expression, but it's real.

It's real for people, talk about that.

- Yeah, it is real.

I mean, again, as you said, the pandemic has only, right, uncovered things or made them seem worse that we already knew existed, right, and the digital divide is one piece of that.

Where the first case was making sure, when we went virtual, you know, a year and a half or more ago, that everyone had computers, that there was enough internet.

There were some districts that literally, had vans driving around to offer broadband service to students in communities that weren't served.

And I know there's been lots of fixes, legislatively, to take a look at closing the digital divide, but it is something that needs to be addressed as a real structural inequity.

And, as you said before, we're talking about equity and justice in learning.

That's a piece it has to be, because we can't prepare our students for the 21st century and beyond, if we can't get them the access that they need - We're now joined by Jacynth Johnson.

Who is an Educator, Part-Time Consultant of the NJEA and Co-Founder of the REAL Movement.

So good to see you.

- Thank you for having me.

It's good to see you as well.

- Tell everyone what the REAL Movement is.

- So the REAL Movement is a movement through the NJEA, which stands for Racial Equity Affirmation and Literacy.

And so the whole movement is equipping educators to address racial, equity, justice, and learning.

Because we understand that if there's fairness in treatment for all that includes students of color, it impacts the classroom, it impacts instruction, it impacts students having access to advanced courses and resources.

And so, we're just equipping educators to better serve our students, especially our students of color.

You led a workshop at the convention.

What was it like and who attended it?

- Yes.

So this facilitation was through steps for classroom management success, which we really do talk about the work of the REAL Movement.

When we talk about vulnerability, when we talk about equity, when we talk about making room for our students, that means making room for the various perspective and the nuances that show up in our classroom of students of color.

And so the workshop that I facilitated was around my understanding and my experience as a classroom teacher and what it takes to really build a thriving learning community and a richer classroom experience.

And so it definitely was amazing.

And the tools that I've learned along the REAL Movement journey, just really equipped me to facilitate.

It was about over 90 educators in the room.

And we had discussions around what we used to think of as classroom management.

We're learning, we don't manage people.

And the pandemic has taught us that we cultivate relationships because we need people to thrive and move as closer to this work of equity and justice.

- We are honored now to be joined by Daryl Stewart who is a performer, producer, educator and artist as well.

At the New Jersey Performing Arts Center NJPAC and also winner of the NJEA Award for excellence.

Daryl, great to have you with us.

- Thank you so much Steve it's a pleasure.

- Yeah, first of all before we talk about the Award, talk about the arts in your life.

When did you know that the arts would be such a big part of your life, particularly, the performing arts.

- Well, I knew pretty early Steve.

I went to the Paper Mill Playhouse at a very early age.

A student rushed a ticket to a performance of A Chorus Line around 12 years old and that, after I saw that show I knew that I was going to dedicate my life to the arts.

And I've been I've been at that work ever since.

- Talk about this award.

- This award is super special to me because I'm a teaching artist, Steve, and so, I spend a lot of time and energy and effort working with schools and working with teachers In districts public, private, and parochial to make sure that the arts is a part of the school community's culture.

So to win this award, for me, to be presented with this award by by NJEA is super special because it's a community of people who I have a great deal of admiration and respect for.

So I was I was shocked.

And so excited and honored to accept it and to be able to go to the convention in person also meant a lot to me.

So I'm super super grateful.

- You know, I'm sure you're grateful for a lot of things but the thing that we're grateful for is a you read about and hear about your story and try to understand your journey, is your resilience.

So let me ask you something, the most challenging part as an artist, performer, producer educator of this pandemic as we tape this program at the end of 2021 it'll be seen in the New Year as well.

The most challenging part for you has been?

- The most challenging part for me has been holding on to hope.

Holding on to hope in a way that feels accessible and tangible because for artists we are still very much trying to find our way, as we all are, through the pandemic.

But particularly for theater, which I call a contact sport, is very difficult because sometimes we're not sure what the future will look like.

And so, that can begin to wear on you and it certainly has on me.

And you begin to sort of second-guess or question "Is this the right field?"

"Is this the right lane?"

"Should I should I switch out?"

"Should I go and pursue something else?"

But ultimately, I know that my love and my passion and my fierce vision for what the arts means and what it can mean for our communities and for our future, outweighs any any doubt or any trepidation that I may have.

So the whole the hardest part for me has been just holding on to hope and knowing that this time will pass and we will be able to move forward with great new ideas and new vision.

- We're joined by Chrissy Kosar who's president of the Gloucester County Education Association.

Chrissy, good to have you with us.

- Good day, how are you?

- I'm doing great.

Chrissy, you're a former school bus driver, right?

- Correct.

- And that is part of a group of people within the organization that are education support professionals, right?

ESPs.

- Yeah.

- Other than bus drivers, who are we talking about?

- Oh gosh, it's a whole plethora of everyone in education that supports our teachers.

So, we have bus drivers, food service, our paraprofessionals who usually work in the classroom with our teachers, library assistants, nursing assistants, who are hugely important these days, security, maintenance, grounds, custodial, IT.

There's a whole list of people who support our teachers in education.

- The biggest impact of the pandemic on this entire group of professionals who are so important to the education of our children, Chrissy.

- The impact has, I think, brought to light a lot of our support staff and what they do in our districts and for our students.

We were basically frontline workers during this pandemic.

Many of us worked, we delivered food, either to drop off points or if we have students who are house bound, we would deliver it to the house.

Our maintenance and grounds and custodial staff were constantly cleaning, making sure that all the HVAC units were up to standard or try making sure that all the areas were safe for everyone else to be able to work in the school.

Food service put meals together, our secretaries put packets together.

It was a whole community of people.

- We're joined by Michael Cohan, Director of Professional Development and Instructional Issues Division at the New Jersey Education Association.

Michael, good to have you with us.

- Same here, Steve.

Good to see you again.

- So let me ask you something, last year the convention was virtual, this year, it's more of a hybrid, if you will, in-person and virtual.

How would you describe the connection educators and others feel when they are in a room with a speaker in person, versus virtual?

- I just think it's a much more authentic experience.

There's nothing like being able to look in somebody's eyes, you can do it on a Zoom platform, but it's just not the same.

And that was the real buzz throughout the Convention Center this year.

People were really excited to be back in person, to be back with one another, to experience the event in person.

15 years, you've been doing this.

You're stepping down.

You're retiring after this, you're gonna miss what, most?

- I'm gonna miss the opportunity to collaborate with my staff and with the leaders of the association.

I'm gonna step down from my role as Director, but I've made a pledge that I'm gonna be present at every convention in the future.

I've attended conventions for 44 years during my active career.

I'm not gonna stop now.

- We're now joined by Petal Robertson, who is secretary-treasurer in the NJEA.

Good to have you with us Petal.

- Nice to be here.

- We're talking about it before we get on the air.

You're a teacher in my hometown in Montclair.

You teach at the high school right?

- Yes, I'm a high school English teacher.

- When did you know that teaching was going to be the profession you were gonna go into?

- At five years old, Steve, when I made my brothers play school with me alongside all of my dolls and their G.I.Joes that I lined up and I had a- - You didn't do that?

- I did.

- Petal you didn't do that?

(laughs) - You did that?

- I did and I had a little tiny square chalkboard with the little, those little sponge erasers.

Oh yes, I did.

(Steve clapping) And we met daily.

(laughs) - They met and they could not be late and I had to be prepared.

- Absolutely not, I had lesson plans Steve.

That's how far I took it.

(both laugh) - Where to tell everyone where you grew up.

- So, I grew up in Brooklyn, New York, and then we moved to Plainfield, New Jersey.

And I actually went to high school in Toronto, Canada and came back here for school.

My parents actually, I am the only American born child in my family.

My family is actually from Guyana in South America, so.

- Let may ask you, Petal I'm sorry for interrupting.

What has that meant to you being a first-generation American educator leader here in this organization?

What has it meant to you and your family?

- Everything, it's funny just last week, I was saying someone that it's like watching a dream fulfilled and a promise fulfilled.

So, my family, I come from a very very big family.

My mom was one of eight.

My father is one of 16.

I have a zillion cousins Steve and they're everywhere and (indistinct) - You sound like Italians, but that's okay.

(both laugh) - Yes, yes, just this close.

- I here ya.

- And so then you understand, there's definitely this aspect of like collective power and togetherness that forever existed in our family.

And as a child of immigrants, I recognize that that was the way my parents succeeded.

Our survival, our success was dependent upon each other.

We also had to depend upon each other to get through.

And so, that was my constant push.

And to now see for my parents to have come to this country with really big dreams for their children, especially in terms of education and to come to this point is just so rewarding for me.

Most significant impactful memory from the education, New Jersey Education Association Convention, Atlantic City was, is?

- My biggest memory was simply the unionism.

You literally got to see unionism in action.

You got to see the power of collective voice everywhere you walked on the floor.

You saw every single aspect of our union represented.

We had our SOGI committee.

We had our members of color committee.

We had teachers from early career to retirees and we all were able to gather safely together and remember why we joined the union in the first place.

And so, that feeling when I hit the floor, was probably the best memory I could have of the entire convention.

- [Narrator] One-On-One with Steve Adubato has been a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Funding has been provided by Atlantic Health System.

New Jersey Institute of Technology.

NJM Insurance Group.

New Jersey Sharing Network.

The Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Delta Dental of New Jersey.

PNC, Grow Up Great.

And by NJ Best, New Jersey'’s five-two-nine college savings plan.

Promotional support provided by ROI-NJ, And by Meadowlands Chamber.

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