President's Monthly Message
Teacher Feature

Dan and Nicole Lavia
Dan and Nicole are just one of a handful of happy couples in which both spouses are teachers in the district.  Nikki Wojton Lavia is a teacher at Southern Middle School, while Dan is a physical education instructor at Northeast Middle School.  New parents to daughter Gabby, Dan and Nikki are both avid New York sports fans.  They are both also widely recognized for their outgoing personalities and positive attitudes - one of the reasons that they are so universally admired, by students and colleagues alike! 


   "Birds fly, fish swim; man thinks and learns.  We need to bring as much of the world as we can into the classroom (and) give children as much guidance as they need...." - John Holt
February 2012
www.WeAreREA.com
My friends and colleagues,

As of the end of January, our website has been accessed more than 2,000 times.  This means that our message of advocacy for public education and strength in activism is getting out there.  But we must continue to push and promote our message in fighting for the poorest children of the nation and the teachers who shape and save their lives. 
Governor Corbett recently proposed his budget for the upcoming fiscal year; it restores no funding to counter the continued economic attacks against public education, especially at our neediest schools.  This is alarming and especially disturbing in light of the recent events in Chester-Upland School District.  In a nutshell, Chester-Upland (which happens to have a large minority population) was taken over by the state some years ago.  And just last month, school district officials claimed that all the money for the district had dried up.  Teachers and custodians were going to work without pay, and it was only a matter of time before the doors to the schools in the district would shut for good.
Any reasonable person could imagine that the state government, which had stepped in once before for less noble reasons, would step in this time to help prevent thousands of children being denied the Constitutional right to an education.  But, alas, reasonability is not necessarily the forte of our state government.  Rather, Chester-Upland's appeal to Governor Corbett and Secretary of Education Tomalis for help was actually denied.  Eventually, after national political pressure to help these students, the state government agreed to do what was right.  (Read PSEA President Mike Crossey's testimony to the State Senate Education Committee regarding this matter). 
Yet, for some in Harrisburg, it was initially more important to promote a skewed political point-of-view than to do what was morally right for children.  After all, if the local public schools were forced to shut down, this would just further validate the mission of private charter schools taking their place, even though, according to CNN, only 1 out of 5 charter schools performs better than their public counterparts.  In fact, 2 out of 5 charter schools actually perform statistically worse than public schools.  Still, some Harrisburg elitists were willing to use these students as pawns to promote their political agenda.
It's no wonder that we spend over $25,000 a year more on average to incarcerate prisoners than we do to educate children.  The currently established system is setting up our neediest public school students for a lifetime of failure and for the potential to receive that prison funding later on in life.  This is absolutely disgraceful - and morally reprehensible.
But while some in the state government would see our students fail, our allies, like State Senator Judy Schwank, are working to help them find success.  Indeed, there is a small-but-growing contingent of noble legislators working towards improving the lives of our young people by fairly and fully funding the government's commitment to educating children.  They, like we, realize that all students deserve a high-quality public education, regardless of zip code, race, or socioeconomic status.  Many private schools and charters can turn students away for any reason (all while receiving funds siphoned from public schools); however, public schools accept ALL students - we turn students away for NO reason. 
That is why I fight so hard to honorably represent and advocate for you - because you fight so hard for our students.
To that end, I will be speaking at two public forums this month.  First, I will be joining Easton Area Education Association President Jena Brodhead, PSEA President Mike Crossey, and State Representative Jim Roebuck at the Pennsylvania Progressive Summit to speak about Solutions That Work in public education.  We have been honored in Reading to have been recognized for some of our efforts, and we are equally humbled to have the opportunity to speak publicly about them.  Several weeks later, I will be joining Ms. Brodhead and Mr. Rich Askey, Association leader in the Harrisburg School District, at the PSEA Urban Conference in State College to discuss current issues in our urban schools.
I know that I am only one person, and only have one voice.  But my voice, I hope, reflects the collective voice of 1225 of my fellow educators in the city of Reading.  Whether I am speaking to a roomful of like-minded strangers or meeting one-on-one with public officials, my sole goal is to advocate for the advancement of public education.  And I will tell anybody that will listen (and even those who won't) that before we address "education reform", we must address "education funding reform" - especially for students in our most financially distressed school districts.
My office door is always open and my e-mail account is always available for you to share your thoughts, concerns, and ideas.  I will do all I can to make life better for my teachers and students.  But I need your help, your input, and your support. We must recruit as many Partners in Public Education as possible so that we can share with others our vision of redefining success for our public school students.  Thank you for your help, and for all that you do for our students!

- Truly,
Bryan Sanguinito