Strong Teachers' Group Succeeds Social Club

lts first meeting was held Dec. 14, 1911, in the old Ann Arbor High School (now the Universtiy of Michigan's Frieze Building). lts original yearly dues were 25 cents. Some of its past presidents were H. M. Slauson (1918-19), L. L. Forsythe (1919-20), Tappan Junior High School Principal Gene Maybee (1939-40), Slauson Junior High School Principal Harold Logan (1946-47) and Director of Personnel Thad Carr (1950-51). The organization in question: The Ann Arbor Teachers' Association (AATA). Originally a social and service group named the Ann Arbor Teachers' Club, the AATA has in recent years become an active, strong organization of 860 members, best known today for its teacher-contract negotiations with the Ann Arbor Board of Education. What are the reasons for this change of character from a social club which only incidentally discussed teachers' problems to a determined association which last year negotiated average raises of $1,900 for each teacher? According to the current AATA president, Donald Newsted, there are three reasons. First, the "general unrest and militancy" among teachers today became evident in Ann Arbor in the mid-60s, the same time the AATA became more active. Second, there are more men in teaching today, and men usually demand higher salaries than women. Third, Michigan Public Acts 379 and 282, amended in 1965, for the first time gave public employés the right to formally negotiate for contracts. Until 1965, boards of education in Michigan were not obliged to conduct formal negotiations with their teachers. The AATA is recognized as the only legal negotiating representative for Ann Arbor school personnel. Last July, the AATA and the Board of Education agreed on the first master contract ever negotiated in Ann Arbor. Negotiations for the 1968-69 contract are presently being conducted each Tuesday evening. The officers of the Ann Arbor Teachers' Association don't spend all their time negotiating cantracts, however. "Only 10 to 20 per cent of the time I devote to the AATA (about 50 hours per week) is spent on negotiations," Newsted explained. Paper work and myriads of meetings several days and nights a week take up the rest of his time when he is not teaching mathematics classes at Ann Arbor High School. What services does the AATA provide for its members? Besides negotiating on their behalf, the AATA plans a number of programs and activities from its new offices on Packard Road with the help of one full-time and another half-time secretary and Executive Secretary Jim Scheu. A bi-monthly newsletter entitled "Chalkboard," for example, is published to keep teachers aware of current educational happenings ir. Ann Arbor, the state and the nation. Moreover, during the past year, orientation sessions for new teachers were conducted, clinirs for blood donations, flu shots and tuberculin tests were set up. an "adoptable children's" program was publicized, numerous formal and informal grievances were processed, and voter registration for elections were encouraged. Next week, an icome-tax workshop is planned for the teachers. The rewriting of the AATA constitution is also in the works, along with invesligations of land purchases for a new AATA office building. A number of yearly social events are also planned. As a payment for these services, local teachers must either join the AATA (and simultaneously, the Michigan Education Association and the National Education Association) and pay combined dues of $72, or pay an agency shop fee of $25. Those teachers who elect to pay the $25 are not members of the united professional organization, but are part of the AATA's bargaining unit. (Eleven Ann Arbor teachers have refused to pay the dues of either group, and can be fired, according to the "agency shop" clause of the current teachers' contract. Hearings will begin soon by the Board of Education on this question.) The AATA organizational structure consists of the president, the president-elect, the 15-member Goveming Council (officers of the association plus committee chairmen), the 50-member executive Board (building representatives from all the schools) and the general membership. There are also nine active committees. Three or four general meetings a year are held for nearly 900 members.