The National 91制片厂视频 Association is poised for a change in leadership this year as its president of six years, , bumps up against term limits. Now, speculation is widespread that , his counterpart at the American Federation of Teachers, might not seek re-election in July.
The possible exit of Mr. McElroy鈥攁nd the certain one of Mr. Weaver鈥攃omes at a crucial time for the two national teachers鈥� unions, which together represent more than 4.5 million members: This is a presidential-election year, and Congress is working to renew the No Child Left Behind Act.
Some observers are hoping that new leaders would be inclined to forge a closer relationship between the unions, which have drifted apart over the past several years after a close call with a merger in 1998. A merger would create, they believe, a stronger voice in opposition to proposals in the federal law that both unions have separately condemned.
Others say this period is critical because the unions have shed nearly any vestige of a reputation for pushing to improve schools in ways that would require some lapse in teacher prerogatives. If the unions want a role in school improvement, these observers say, the new leaders should act soon.
There are few doubts over who would take the reins at the two unions when the time comes. For years now, Randi Weingarten, the president of the United Federation of Teachers, the New York City affiliate, has been considered heir-apparent to Mr. McElroy. And besides, the only two other presidents of the UFT, Albert Shanker and Sandra Feldman, have both gone on to lead the AFT. The only other union leader who had been widely cited as a possible competitor for the job, Tom Mooney, the president of the Ohio Federation of Teachers, died last year.
After years of denials,Ms.Weingarten herself has recently indicated that she will consider a run for the president鈥檚 job if and when Mr. McElroy leaves.
鈥淚 won鈥檛 rule anything out,鈥� she said in an interview last month. 鈥淏ut my hope is Ed runs again. He is a terrific guy and a great AFT president.鈥�
Meanwhile, Mr.Weaver鈥檚 successor is expected to be Dennis Van Roekel, the vice president of the 3.2-million NEA since 2002 and before that its secretary-treasurer. For two decades the top leaders of the NEA have always previously held either the vice president鈥檚 or the secretary-treasurer鈥檚 post or both.
Challengers to Mr. Van Roekel have until mid-April to file. The AFT president takes office in July; the NEA president in September.
Through an NEA spokeswoman, Mr. Van Roekel declined to be interviewed for this story.Mr. McElroy was also unavailable for an interview, but AFT spokesman Chuck Porcari said there has been no word from the president of the 1.4-million-member federation on any plans to leave this year.
Point Man for Merger
While Mr. Van Roekel has been on the national stage for years, the executive positions he has held and the breadth of the NEA鈥檚 constituency almost guarantee that any new ideas he might promote as president will remain obscure for now. The first obligation of an NEA vice president or secretarytreasurer is loyalty to the president, and some of Mr.Van Roekel鈥檚 activities and pronouncements over the years have reflected that.
Mr. Van Roekel was then-President Bob Chase鈥檚 point man in pushing a merger with the AFT a decade ago, and during that era, he also spoke in favor of greater union involvement in ensuring teacher quality. In more recent years, under President Weaver, he has warned that public education is under attack and emphasized that schools are the key to American success in a global economy. In both cases, he was sounding themes also heard from the president.
Mr. Van Roekel has spent considerable time since he became secretary-treasurer in 1996 rallying the NEA鈥檚 huge and diverse membership, and in that role, he has earned high marks. Union leaders praise him especially for his ability to listen and to encourage.
Both the National 91制片厂视频 Association and the American Federation of Teachers elect presidents in July. The NEA will have a new leader. Speculation is widespread that the AFT鈥檚 Mr. McElroy does not intend to run again.
SOURCE: 91制片厂视频 Week, Van Roekel photo by Jocelyn Augustino
鈥淗e鈥檚 a listener 鈥� and he鈥檒l collaborate,鈥� said John T. Riley, a member of the NEA鈥檚 172-member board of directors from Maryland.
Julia Washington, a vice president of the United Teachers of Los Angeles, a local affiliated with both national unions, said Mr. Van Roekel has been open to the concerns local NEA officials from urban districts have put before their national leaders.
The NEA has often seemed biased toward the views of teachers in suburban and rural districts, where most of its membership is, in contrast to the big-city orientation of the AFT.
Hopes for Reform
But popularity doesn鈥檛 give many hints about policy.
Mr. Van Roekel is 鈥渟omething of a Rorschach [test],鈥� said Andrew J. Rotherham, a former White House education aide under President Clinton and a co-director of the think tank 91制片厂视频 Sector, in Washington.
鈥淚nside and outside the union, the more reform-minded say that鈥檚 what he鈥檚 about,鈥� Mr. Rotherham said. 鈥淏ut others inside and out say he鈥檒l pursue fights against NCLB and other related reforms even more effectively than Weaver has.鈥�
Even the top leader at the NEA faces an enormous challenge in shifting the union from its existing course, should that leader be inclined to try, he and others say. 鈥淣o matter how well-intentioned and free-thinking Dennis Van Roekel is,鈥� said Mr. Rotherham, 鈥渉e is about to be dealt a very difficult hand.鈥�
If the next NEA president wants to reposition the union on the side of those who believe not enough has been said鈥攍et alone done鈥攁bout systemic problems in American schools, completion of the revision of the NCLB law could help, offered Julia Koppich, an education consultant who has been a close observer of the unions and once worked for the AFT.
鈥淥ne could speculate that if a Democrat is elected [U.S.] president, if NCLB 鈥� is substantially modified, that would take some of the pressure off the NEA鈥� to keep in its defensive posture, she said.
Mark Simon, who heads the Tom Mooney Institute for Teacher and Union 91制片厂视频, located in Washington, said he has high hopes for both Ms.Weingarten of the AFT and for Mr. Van Roekel. If they are going to foster union participation in important conversations about how schools and the teaching profession can be made better, he said, they at least need to offer help and encouragement to local leaders going that route.
鈥淟ocal [union] leaders have been left a little bit defenseless at a time when they need to step up to the plate and be problemsolvers,鈥� he said.
The NEA, for example, has a policy denouncing any use of student test scores in a teacher-pay plan, although a national committee of the union is examining it.
Mr. Van Roekel is, Mr. Simon said, 鈥渦p to the task to be deeply engaged in very thorny issues.鈥�
A look at the NEA vice president鈥檚 earlier career as a union leader does not make the tea-leaf reading much easier.
By several accounts, a teacher well regarded by students and colleagues in his 10 years or so teaching math at Paradise Valley High School in Phoenix, Mr. Van Roekel had just taken office as the president of the Paradise Valley 91制片厂视频 Association when a superintendent tried to enforce changes unpopular with teachers. Mr. Van Roekel led the charge to turn over the school board, and the superintendent was ousted, said Santhe Niedner, a colleague and fellow union activist from the Paradise Valley district.
鈥淭hat was the beginning of the association being able to elect a board that was proactive and positive- thinking,鈥� she said.
As the president of the Arizona 91制片厂视频 Association, Mr. Van Roekel played a major role in negotiating a state law promoting career ladders for teachers, said John H. Wright, the current president of the affiliate. He said he expected Mr.Van Roekel to acknowledge what needs be improved in schools, while 鈥渕oving the conversation away from the costs and the problems.鈥�
Both Mr. Wright and Ms. Niedner are members of the Committee to Elect Dennis Van Roekel.
鈥楩ace of the Union鈥�
91制片厂视频 Week鈥榮 David J. Hoff keeps you abreast of the latest news on the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act. Read his blog, .
The change in union leadership is looming as Congress works on the renewal of the NCLB law, which imposed test-based accountability and other provisions that are unpopular with many teachers. Both unions, which did not make a great impact on the bipartisan law as it was enacted six years ago, are hoping that a retooling of NCLB will include proposals they are backing, such as changes to the formula by which schools鈥� progress is measured and to the requirements on 鈥渉ighly qualified鈥� teachers.
Mr. McElroy, along with AFT Executive Vice President Antonia Cortese, has provided testimony at reauthorization hearings and has been meeting behind the scenes with members of Congress on changes to the law. Mr.Weaver, too, has been a vocal participant in testifying on reauthorization.
Still, some observers say they expect that Ms. Weingarten, if she moved into the AFT鈥檚 top job, would make a stronger impact in Washington than other national union leaders have in recent years.
鈥淚f she becomes the president of the AFT. 鈥� you鈥檒l see her more as the face of the teachers鈥� unions,鈥� said Mike Antonucci, a teachers鈥� union watchdog who runs an online newsletter from Elk Grove, Calif.
Observers point to Ms. Weingarten鈥檚 successful record as a union leader in the nation鈥檚 largest school district, where she has worked effectively with the city administration on several measures to improve schools. For instance, she has both spearheaded the opening of union-led charter schools and forged a pay-for-performance contract with the district.
For that record, some compare her with the late Mr. Shanker.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 emblematic of the approach that Shanker took,鈥� said Richard D. Kahlenberg, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Century Foundation and the author of a 2007 biography of the legendary AFT president.
Ms.Weingarten, he said, shows an openness to negotiate on changes, rather than turn them down outright. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 important for a union leader to be successful and very much in the Shanker tradition,鈥滿r. Kahlenberg said.
Even union detractors have held her up as an exemplary leader. Former U.S. Secretary of 91制片厂视频 Rod Paige, in his anti-union treatise War Against Hope, praised Ms. Weingarten for working on charter schools: 鈥淪he understands the need for, and is committed to, school improvement for kids,鈥� he wrote.
鈥淪he is progressive; she is solid on issues,鈥� said Adam Urbanski, who heads the Rochester Teachers Association as well as the Teacher Union Reform Network of NEA and AFT Locals, a group of progressive union leaders.
Working Together?
Some wonder, however, if Ms. Weingarten could be as effective a progressive leader as the president of the national organization as she has been in New York鈥攁t least with the larger locals.
AFT affiliates have for a long time blazed their own trails. 鈥淪he can advocate what she wants, can get into the newspapers, but in terms of getting the presidents of Chicago, [Miami-Dade County], or New York teachers鈥� unions to do what she wants, she has no power at all,鈥� Mr. Antonucci said of a prospective Weingarten presidency.
One of the possibilities that observers raise under potential new leadership is a closer relationship between the two unions. After almost merging under Mr. Shanker and Mr. Chase, the unions have rarely been seen working together in recent years, even when they are often fighting the same cause.
Mr. Urbanski said he expects both Ms.Weingarten and Mr. Van Roekel to forge closer ties if they do head their respective unions. The New York affiliates of the NEA and the AFT unified last year.
He added that the choice is not limited to the extremes of either a merger or a complete lack of communication.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 need evidence that we have enough in common to work together,鈥� he said. 鈥淗ow you work out the details is the issue. What鈥檚 even more important 鈥� is a pooling of resources of knowledge and skills around specific challenges.
鈥淔or instance, we should not be fighting NCLB separately, but together,鈥� he said.
