Organizing – It’s Contagious!
By Amy Jordan and Nathan Allen
Great things happen when educators, administrators and parents work together to make their community stronger.Just ask Kristi Smith, a physical science teacher at Hellstern Middle School in Springdale, Arkansas.
Smith was a participant of NEA’s Center for Organizing first Education Summer in New Orleans. She joined 40 other educators from seven states to learn organizing skills through classroom-based instruction and in-the-field practicums. Partnering with the St. Bernard Association of Educators, the Education Summer participants conducted home visits with educators and their neighbors to raise awareness of the Association in a community that is still rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina.
Inspired by those home visits, Smith returned to Springdale and met with her principal, Todd Loftin, to share her experience of getting out in the community and talking about their public schools. Smith suggested the educators at Hellstern do the same thing before the first day of school.
Forty teachers and education support professionals signed up to take part in the community outreach event, visiting incoming 6th graders and their families at home to welcome them to Hellstern.
“Had I not attended the Education Summer program in New Orleans, I wouldn’t have even thought of doing something like this back home,” said Smith.
Video: Hellstern Neighborhood Outreach
With Loftin’s help and support from the Springdale Education Association, the team rounded up five school buses and collected addresses of all the incoming 6th graders. Volunteers in the 7th and 8th grades met