Members Stepping Up & Making a Difference
10/17/2022
Like leaves changing colors in the heartland is a given signaling fall, ISTA members don’t need to see yard signs popping up in their neighborhoods to know we are in the center of an election season.
The stakes for the profession of teaching and public school employees are always high in election years. Never more so than this year.
ISTA’s political action arm, the Indiana Political Action Committee for Educators (I-PACE) and its Local Political Action Committees (LPACs) are in full swing.
Members have made recommendations in four congressional races (in which two ISTA members are running), eight state senate races, 38 state house races, 60 school board races (by all accounts, a record number), and five school district referenda.
Activity is occurring across the state. Here are just a couple of examples.
Members from John Glenn School Corporation in Walkerton, Ind. (top photo) write cards on behalf of recommended school board candidates as members from Bartholomew County Community Schools in Columbus, Ind. (bottom photo) get trained on the process and script for making phone calls.
As we near election day, the need for additional help to get our recommended candidates to the finish line grows. This help comes in many forms from writing postcards, making phone calls, door-knocking neighborhoods with candidate materials, putting up yard signs, working the polls and simply sharing candidate information with your friends and family. At the end of the day, this work involves what you do best: TEACHING.
Each campaign is unique, and we can assure that you can still make a difference—maybe even the difference.
Please reach out to GR professional staffer Roni Embry (rembry@ista-in.org) to find out what activities are occurring near you and how you can best help.
If you are a part of an advocacy or policy-making activity associated with ISTA, remember to snap a few photos and send them to Gail Zeheralis (gzezheralis@ista-in.org). We want to share what you are doing in your local school district with the rest of the state!