Petition to Thomas M. Brady, Director of the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA)
Thomas M. Brady
Right now, the Overseas Federation of Teachers is once again fighting for the schools our military families’ kids deserve, which requires a fair contract for their educators. Many of the issues on the table are the same issues OFT fought for decades ago.
The employer refuses to negotiate any language around planning time, which would allow them to assign specific work during the period educators currently use to prepare lessons and materials for their kids. And they are trying to extend the workday to 8.5 hours, including a 30-minute unpaid lunch—a large increase from current practice. Teachers still need the extra hours they’re putting in to effectively prepare for their students. And they know best how to use that time.
On Labor Day of all days, after years of bargaining, the employer floated the idea of pegging each educator’s performance appraisal solely to student outcomes. The bargaining team has tried to explain how this practice has been tried and failed in the past. It has zero impact on student performance and also lowers morale and teacher effectiveness. A teacher’s working environment is a student’s learning environment.
That’s why OFT is inviting Thomas M. Brady, the director of the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA), to come to our schools to walk a day in our shoes. By joining educators in our classrooms, Director Brady will see firsthand how the contract OFT envisions will help to improve the teaching mission overseas.
Join us by adding your name to the petition now.
Sponsored by
To:
Thomas M. Brady
From:
[Your Name]
Director Brady, we, the members of the Overseas Federation of Teachers, invite you to come to our schools to walk a day in our shoes. We invite you to shadow us, the educators who are in the classroom, for a week to better understand how we educate our military families’ kids.
We believe that to fully understand what a typical day is like in our schools, a visit to a variety of grade levels, specialties and locations in a Europe South classroom is necessary. These visits will provide you with a firsthand insight into what it takes for us to ensure our students are thriving in safe and welcoming learning environments overseas.
It is no easy task.
Many Europe South educators teach five different subjects in a single day, which means we must prepare lessons and materials for each subject matter daily. Some schools have no substitute teachers, which means if one of us is sick, our teaching load is covered by a librarian or educational technologist, and sometimes by teachers during their own preparation time and lunches.
Now, more than ever, we need this preparation time, as students are readjusting to life after more than two years of a global pandemic. Our students rely on us, and we take great joy in being their educators, but reducing resources as proposed by DoDEA in our current negotiations would create conditions that would harm our military families’ kids. We can’t allow that to happen.
By joining us in our classrooms, you will see firsthand how the contract we envision will help us to improve the teaching mission overseas.