- [Narrator] Funding for this edition of One-On-One with Steve Adubato has been provided by Holy Name Medical Center.

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- This is One-On-One.

- I'm an equal American just like you are.

- The jobs of tomorrow are not the jobs of yesterday.

- Look at this.

You get this?

- Life without dance is boring.

- I don't care how good you are or how good you think you are, there is always something to learn.

- Do you enjoy talking politics?

- No.

- People call me 'cause they feel nobody's paying attention.

- Our culture, I don't think has ever been tested in the way it's being tested right now.

- That's a good question, high five.

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

You know, the New Jersey Education Association 2020 Convention in Atlantic City, was not actually in Atlantic City.

It was remote.

But even though it was remote, a whole range of educators got together to talk about critical issues in education today, particularly in this most challenging school year that COVID has affected in so many ways.

But at the same time, even though it was a virtual convention, we focused heavily on the theme of the convention, which is this, social justice equals, education justice equals, student success.

I mean, what could be more important than that, whether it's 2020, 2021 or any other year?

So let's check it out.

- We're pleased to be joined by Marie Blistan who is president of New Jersey Education Association.

How are you doing Marie?

- I'm doing very well Steve, how about you?

- Well all right.

Listen, let's put things in perspective.

Our daughter who is 10, I saw her watching something and I said, "Wait a minute, aren't you at school?"

And she said, "It's the convention."

And so, it just happened half an hour ago.

So Marie put things in perspective.

It's November the fifth.

You have just kicked off the 2020 NJEA Virtual Convention.

It's been going on over a hundred years.

- Correct.

- Virtual, describe it.

- Yeah.

So again, they had to turn that overnight.

We had been hoping in the summer that we would still be able to provide our world premier, our world-class sessions down in Atlantic City but then it was obvious to us that with the pandemic that was not going to be a good idea.

And we had to switch to a virtual platform.

And our organization, our staff members have really done a fabulous job.

There are over I think, 155 different workshop sessions just like we would normally provide.

We have our keynote speaker that we're very much looking forward to.

And we have members from around the State that are accessing the opportunity that this convention gives.

- The themes of the convention.

Social justice, education justice and student success.

Put that in perspective for us.

- So and I'm going to expand social justice into racial justice, social justice, economic justice, environmental justice.

It is a theme, a perspective that my fellow two officers Sean Spiller, Steve Beatty and our executive director Steve Swetsky and Deputy Director Kevin Kelleher share as a vision for when we make decisions.

When we look at as a vision to project into what we want NJEA to be, what we want our public schools to be, what we want society to be because we have in our care a million, over a million students every single day that we help shape.

And we believe that those justice forums must be in every single thing that we think about and that we do.

You're a teacher at the core and I've known you long enough to know that that's your heart.

To what degree are you confident that our students are learning?

And our teachers are teaching?

Again, it is what it is and we all look forward to the day where they can be back in the classroom.

But right now, how successful do you believe we are being in teaching and learning right now?

- I believe that everyone is doing the best that they can Steve given the conditions.

We know that we still have some students without electronic devices.

We know that we still have some parts of this State that are without internet service.

We know that some of our schools still don't have the proper equipment that they need to bring students back into their buildings.

But we do know that everyone is working on that.

And that we also know that when we do get back and this will end one day, when we get back, we're going to diagnose, close any gaps that we see.

We're gonna provide the resources that our students need.

What we can't get back is the health of individuals who are walking into those buildings.

And so that has to be still the number one decision and the driver for what we do and how we do it until we do get back.

- And to put things in perspective.

I'll remind people, we are taping on the 5th of November to the end of 2020.

This will be seen later, we're doing a whole range of interviews connected to this remote convention that the New Jersey Education Association is having.

Let me ask you this.

It's one thing to talk about challenges our students have and I see it with our daughter.

I see it in our son who is at the local high school here in town, public high school.

But for teachers, what are the primary challenges you believe they face A and B what is the NJEA doing to help them?

- Well, I think number one, they are still trying to adjust to the environment and you know it's more than our teachers.

It's our aids, our bus drivers, cafeteria, custodian, maintenance and so on security.

So they are trying to adjust to a remote setting.

Trying to make connections with our students.

You know that I was a classroom teacher and I'm really a classroom teacher at my very core.

- That'’s right.

- Coming in September, the difference between March and coming in September is that in March I've already established that community feeling in my classroom.

I have established relationships among the students and with myself.

Coming in September, we all usually have new classes, new students and that break has still not been put back together.

Many of our schools had to delay opening.

Some are still not back for in-person.

Some are doing a hybrid manner but then find that they have to close anyway for a certain amount of time because there are outbreaks and they're coming back in.

So number one, I think the number one challenge is to establish that sense of community with the new students in that school year this year.

Number two, it's trying to deal with the difference in schedule.

We're doing synchronous and asynchronous instruction right.

With our students.

And when we do that and students are viewing a pre-taped message or a pre-taped lesson then I meet with my students to follow up.

Sometimes they can't meet at that particular time or they still have questions.

And so they're going to email me six or seven or eight o'clock at night and that does occur.

And it's up to me whether I can get to that kid.

I mean, I have also my own kids.

I'm just talking about my members generally, our own families also.

But I do find that our members are trying to juggle that whole new work schedule just like kids are doing and their parents are doing in their homes.

- Not easy.

Hey Marie, -Not easy, no.

well while this convention is going on virtually we'll show these interviews later.

But Marie, I cannot thank you enough.

And all the public school educators who do what they do for our children every day.

Best of luck with this convention and moving forward, let's have our fingers crossed.

We see each other in person next year.

Thanks Marie.

- Yeah thank you, Steve.

- Well done.

Be right back.

- We're now joined by Michael Dunlea, who is 2020-2021, I'll get that out, Burlington County Teacher of the Year.

You're a third grade teacher at, is it Tabernacle?

- Yeah, Tabernacle Elementary School.

- So let me get this straight, third grade teacher of global citizenship.

And you gotta put that in perspective for us, help us understand that.

- Well, every student is going to be or already is a member of a global society and making them aware of the impact that they have and the leadership that they can already start to demonstrate has brought down a global perspective to my classroom.

And it's been incredibly impactful where I'm able to take my students and let them realize the role that they play in helping make the world a better place.

- So, lay this out for us a little bit, we're gonna roll some video that tries to give a sense of how you teach and what you teach, but how important is that that you take students virtually to different places.

I know you took them to The Pine Barrens, the Jersey Shore, right?

- Yeah.

- Why is it important that they see it?

- Well, I asked my students one time at the beginning of a unit, where I asked how many languages do you think there are in the world?

And they said two, Spanish and English.

And I was like, okay.

So for fun I said, well, what do you think they speak in Spain?

And they couldn't even connect Spanish to Spain.

So I had the realization that we're really doing them a disservice by not sharing the world.

We can't expect the students of today to change the world if they don't even know it.

So by introducing them to the world and the world to them I've created a portal where the kids can become involved and engaged with countries all around the world.

They hear accents, languages, religions, cultures and they realize that what we do here impacts what happens in South Africa.

What happens in the Amazon Rain Forest will have an impact here.

So it's incredible to be able to change their perspective and realize that we're all part of a global society.

- You know what I'm curious about, Michael, and we've asked every educator who is part of the series we're doing in cooperation with the New Jersey Education Association, really featuring some of the best educators around the state about this particular year, right.

We're taping in late November, 2020, it'll be seen after that, how challenging is it for you not to be able to consistently be with your students, teaching them in person?

- I think the thing that links us all together is the word community and what happens every year in a classroom is that you become a group of students and teachers that become a team.

You become a community of learners and you build that and it's been more challenging in a virtual setting or during a pandemic when we have to be more careful about how much we can connect, but it's not impossible.

It just makes it more challenging.

Talk about sustainability.

Global change, sustainability, huge themes, complex things.

How do you teach sustainability?

- Well, The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals that were initiated in 2015 are something that I'm able to weave through a lot of my teaching throughout the entire year, not just one lesson.

So it touches on ending hunger and poverty and gender equality and climate change.

These are just some of those types of of goals that are included in the SDGs.

It's making the connection to a child's personal life and the plastic that's in their lives, in their homes or the way that their family shops and buys and just acts in regard to consumerism, there's lots of ways you can make it become more part of their personal responsibility.

- You know, I did mention climate change.

Do the students get it?

Do they understand age appropriate, if you will?

- They absolutely do.

- What climate change really means.

Go ahead, I'm sorry.

- They absolutely realize that the choices that we make even down to the household, it's amazing what you can try to set out to do.

I mean, teachers want to change the world.

We could set the goals really high, but really the dinner table is probably the best place where we're going to have the biggest impact.

Where a child goes home and share something that they learned about in school about the impact that plastic's having on the environment, or the fact that, you know, I might bring in an Arctic Explorer or a scientist from Skype, a scientist who shares with the students that in the Arctic circle, now they're finding more and more plastic.

And when the kids go home and bring up a topic like that at the dinner table, and they start you using reusable bottles, or they take their own reusable shopping bags to the store, they're making a change that is perceivable and incremental.

And over communities, you can really see a huge shift and a change that will make the world a better place for all of us.

And they know it's their world.

- Real quick.

The NJTV, our partners in public television Learning Live initiative, you were involved in it.

What was it like?

- It was pretty nerve wracking to be on camera and be broadcasted to everyone's TVs.

But here I am again, right?

- Now you're a pro.

- Right.

I'll be anchoring the news before we're done.

But I think it was an important initiative because it really brings that word equity which is such an important thing.

Again, making children aware of what they have and to be appreciative of what they have and to acknowledge what others don't have and what role do they play in that.

And sometimes it's just awareness.

- Yeah.

- Michael, we really appreciate you joining us along with all the other educators who have been part of our ongoing series featuring our public school educators.

Michael Dunlea is 2020-2021 Burlington County Teacher of the Year.

A third grade teacher at Tabernacle in the Tabernacle school district.

Michael, we thank you.

And we wish you all the best.

- Thank you very much for having me and for always helping teachers and students around the state.

Have a nice holiday.

- Thanks, Michael.

- Thank you.

- Hi, folks, Steve Adubato here.

More importantly, Steve Beatty, who is Secretary-Treasurer, New Jersey Education Association.

How you doing, Steve?

- I'm good, Steve.

How are you?

- Doing great.

We're taping on the fifth of November.

There's a remote NJEA convention going on right now.

Real quick, before we get into some specific policy questions and issues, what's it like to hold a remote convention after 100 years of a terrific convention that a lotta people look forward to every year?

- Yeah, it's a bit surreal, but like anything else in the education space, we are used to adapting.

Yeah, they say any good educator makes 2,000 decisions a day on things that come up, so here we are on the fly, making it work for our educators around the state.

So you know, listen, we'd always rather be together, but in lieu of that, here we are.

- You know, Steve, last year, when we were in Atlantic City, with our production team.

We were doing interviews.

You talked to us about the question of NJEA job justice legislation.

Okay, I wanna put this in perspective.

By the way, NJEA, one of the underwriters of what we do as well as NJ Spotlight News.

(clears throat) They're big supporters of public broadcasting, but I wanna be clear, those job justice bills they passed in 2020, one is Chapter 78 relief, lowering the cost of health insurance for school employees while lowering costs for districts.

Break that down in simple terms.

As we always find, when you get the right people in the room, committed to doing good things for the people of the state as well as the educators, you come up with good decisions, so it really was a way in which we examined how healthcare is delivered, ways we could save, really significant amounts of money both on the supply and the demand side, I guess, for obviously districts, saving on the premium costs, and then of course, the big effects on educators, so we're able to do that by collaborating, by really taking a deep dive.

I mean, I'll admit, well beyond what I know about healthcare and having other smart people in the room to understand the nuances of how we really could make meaningful adjustments and still deliver, you know, platinum-level benefits but for a greatly reduced rate not only for our educators, but for our taxpayers and our districts.

- Okay, so there's another piece of this, Steve, and that's the ESP support, which is Education Support Professionals.

This policy question is about bringing due process rights and providing protection to those support staff.

Who are we talking about, number one, and why does it matter so much?

- Well, of course, listen, I'm an educator.

You know, as much as my certification is as a secondary social studies teacher and all the things, my tattoo says Member, right, so we have tens of thousands of members that are non-certificated that do the jobs of assistants in the classrooms, secretaries, bus drivers, custodians, maintenance.

My district, we even have substitutes as members, and we wanna make sure that it doesn't make a difference what your specific role is, you're a member.

You're a public educator, and you deserve the same rights as everybody else to due process, the same idea as tenure.

Tenure's not a job for life.

It's a guarantee of due process in a situation that, you know, there needs to be something and a process that you can go through where there's an adjudication beyond the school district just getting rid of someone, so there's a job protection.

- How is it improving the overall educational experience, particularly in these challenging times in the age of COVID-19?

- That's a great question, and really, you know, our members, our ESPs, you know, lived under, you know, not only the question here, I know the other bill too with subcontracting, but not only in this case, always lived under, I guess, you could use the word threat of just being told one day, "Thank you very much.

Your services are no longer required," without cause, whether that was someone was in the district for a year, 10, 30, or 40 years, and so what this does is it gives those educators the understanding, the knowledge that they do count, that they are important, that they cannot just be wantonly let go, and there's politics, as you know, in all the levels and districts as well, and we hate to say it, but it's true, and it provides the ability for those educators to know that they are valued and that should something happen, that they have those rights, and they can do their job without that fear.

The themes of this convention: social justice equals education justice, equals student success.

Make it real for us.

- Well, the short answer is our working conditions are students' learning conditions, and we know we have a long way to go, you know, in terms of the issue of equity.

It should not make a difference what your ZIP code is in terms of what type of education you get, and this, as you mentioned earlier, this crisis that we're facing really has laid further to bare the inequities we know already exist all too real for so many of our students in our communities.

- The digital divide is worse than anyone thought.

- It really is, and I know there's been attempts to fix that with some bills, but we really know that the internet, I know there's some bills now about making it more of a utility, providing that because it is an essential tool, and the digital divide that exists with having students have access to the computers they need or the internet is a vital thing, so we are committed in every sense of the word to making sure that every student has the opportunity that they were born with to live up to their full potential.

That is what we do as educators.

That's our mission every day.

That's what drives us.

That's what makes us go above and beyond.

That's what makes New Jersey number one as far as quality public schools.

- Steve Beatty, who is Secretary-Treasurer of the NJEA, I wanna thank you so much for joining us.

All the best with this convention and moving forward.

Thanks, Steve.

- Always appreciated.

Thank you, Steve.

- We'll be right back.

- We're now joined by Shan Byrd, who is a special educator for New Brunswick Public Schools.

Good to see you.

- Good to see you too.

- You specialize in trauma, trauma in our schools.

First of all, what is it?

And second of all, what is the role of educators in helping those struggling with trauma?

- So, a lot of times when we say trauma, we think of people coming back from war and suffering from PTSD but trauma has a much broader definition.

What it looks like in our schools is when we have those students that let's just say, are having behavioral problems.

If we really look behind things and look a little closer we'll find that they may have different traumas that they're experiencing in the home.

And as educators, we can just be very mindful of the traumas that they may be experiencing and begin to ask the question of, what happened, not what's wrong with this child.

- How do teachers get trained to pick this up, Shan and, and then act on it.

It sounds like a tremendous responsibility that we're putting on educators.

- So, it's not so much the training, it's more so an awareness and the exposure.

And in all of them, we also have to consider that as teachers are actually working with children they too themselves may be experiencing secondary trauma but it's a matter of awareness and then seeking out support.

- Is trauma exacerbated in the age of a global pandemic and if so, how?

- Absolutely, so many different layers.

If I start with students.

Now, they're locked in the home for several hours a day, unable to socialize with their peers.

Parents are besides themselves, right?

Because they are unable to effectively teach as an educator would and then teachers, many of my colleagues while they're trying to teach they have to care for their own children.

- That's right.

- It is absolutely exacerbated.

- Now, you presented at the NJEA convention, the virtual convention and our colleagues and friends at the NJEA told us about you.

So, I wanna follow this up with this question.

We're doing a series called Confronting Racism - [Shan] Yes.

- And all of its forms.

Race is a major factor when it comes to trauma.

Is it not?

- Absolutely, there have been studies recently that show that racialized trauma can have an effect on a person's DNA and then it can be carried out from generation to generation.

Absolutely.

- And it's so interesting that we, we we've had people I'm not gonna name names who actually argued with a serious face that systematic, structural racism does not, institutional racism does not exist.

You see it firsthand and work with your colleagues to confront that racism and deal with it.

- Yes.

- But what would you say to those who say, come on, we all have trauma.

We all have challenges.

It's no different for someone of color.

You say?

- I say, you haven't walked in those shoes.

race and trauma is everyone's responsibility.

Is it not?

- Yes, it is.

Absolutely, we all have a part to play.

- And for those of us who are white, who say, well, we don't see it.

It isn't for us to see because we experienced it directly as for us to empathize and try to imagine what it might be like to be in someone else's shoes.

Is it not?

- I would say as human beings, it's up to you to empathize, to take action and to use your privilege to assist those who do not have it.

- So well said.

I often say to people, you can have a lot of skills and tools as a leader, as a teacher, as an educator, whatever, but you can't teach people to care, either you do, or you don't.

And Shan Byrd, I wanna thank you for joining us and providing such a powerful perspective special educator for New Brunswick Public Schools.

And thank our colleagues at the NJEA for introducing us to you, all the best Shan.

- Thank you so very much.

- I'm Steve Adubato.

Thank you so much for joining us, we'll see you next time.

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

Funding has been provided by Holy Name Medical Center.

Rowan University.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

NJM Insurance Group.

PSE&G.

The Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey.

Delta Dental of New Jersey.

Investors Bank.

And by NJ Best.

Promotional support provided by Northjersey.com and Local IQ.

And by BestofNJ.com.

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