Oh, everybody could see the fist punching with that intro busted pencils fully let it education
talk educated educators talking education yeah the podcast Wednesday class is in session
Johnny you know great guest but um before the show just had to point out that um you know
people can't see but um wanted to say about the new hat you're sporting their dad gang oh man
not not a sponsor or anything Tim's given free ad space they'll kind of know I wasn't
dad I was just thinking I was like when I looked at it I was like whoa check that out I'm like
what is that like a coffee club there where you're at you know a bunch of dads hanging out
dad gang kind of kind of works wherever you're at look it up if you know you know check it out
it's more it's for more than just dads but it's a great company so they get free ad space here
on busted pencils with us tonight via Tim's shout out but Tim know I just was feeling extra
bald and extra glare coming off my head and grabbed a hat and threw it up there so
well you can see by our guests tonight I invited someone who puts the three of us
yeah oh my goodness well yeah we welcome to the show the podcast um
long time friend colleague um advocate public school man uh Ted Craig we act
representative from we act number seven and you know Ted just give us a little bit of again
the title just to remind people Ted Craig we act Wisconsin educators education association go tell
us what you are yeah so I'm what's called a regional director which is not a particularly glorious
thing and I work for the Wisconsin Education Association Council which is the union of teachers
and school support staff in Wisconsin and so my job is to work with really a whole bunch of
separate sort of independent teacher and support staff associations to work on the things
that educators care about and so a lot of that's at the local level dealing with their school district
and their management and a lot of it is uh bigger about public policy and Wisconsin in the nation
so you're you're a union thug I am the content yes I want to say Ted you know I I work with two
educators myself and I know that they're great but they can be difficult sometimes too so I
commend you for the work you do based on my experiences around with these guys oh yeah well as
as your show talks about plenty it's tough to be a teacher it is for given for whenever they're
tough on us well you know and we'd say that Ted I mean um you know just a little reminiscing we
were doing this before the show um Ted you know what it said 2015 maybe 2016 cactus club milwaki
educators amplified a punk rock bar you were part of organizing that um and that's where you and I
met Joanna you know Joanna teacher Joanna Rosado who's a big part of busted pencils um but the
two of you put together that um that three hour live radio show from the back of a punk rock bar
remember that yeah that was a good time I mean we talk about energy in the room and the
opportunity for a lot of educators and and folks from the community who showed up to speak their
minds about what's going on in the schools it was a fantastic thing yeah that was 10 years ago Ted
wow time flies yeah so so we were obviously horrendously unsuccessful with that movement
yeah I don't I would never say that you know look this is movement organizing um you know things
surfaced and then they go away but that doesn't mean they didn't accomplish their purpose so you know
you have all kinds of things um you know occupy wall street the protests against act 10 those
weren't pointless that's just you know things nothing less forever that show went on I think
influenced a lot of people and really turns a lot of people up to get involved obviously Johnny
I'm being a little bit you know you know you know you know you know I am he uses the sarcasm and I
always miss it and I'm I'm bad at it although he's training me to be much better but this is I
always love busted pencils educators amplified lore I love the bag stories I love the relationships
it's so exciting because we have such amazing guests it's such amazing local teachers and educators
who are doing all this exciting work and what we could call you know school change really and it's
awesome so Ted welcome to the show man and I'm so excited to hear your connection to all the lore
well think about this though Johnny just brought this up too you know another connection to that and
this is to say the success teacher Joanne and now is doctor teacher Joanne you know who's doing
incredible things Angelina Cruz representative Cruz was one of those original educator amplified
people who came to be a teacher to voice what was going on at that moment and she is now representative
Cruz so you know and Ted continuing to push you know all of the things that matter and yeah
you know bring that up though because I occasionally get a little bit of you know when you
want to say elbows from good friends or family that are saying you know so how's the education
advocacy business going Tim you're still at it I see and what they're kind of saying is going
when are you going to just leave it alone because you can't win and I was wondering Ted you
if you ever felt like that and if you've ever had members talk like that and how do you think in
this moment how do you bring back that power and that energy that we had in 2015 in the cactus club
well this is part of organizing right anybody who endeavors like you do right to address a problem
and what's going on in our public schools and the way that being treated is certainly a big problem
at times encounters are feeling like am I making any progress right look at the powers that I'm up
against I never feel that way I do think everything well I just everything we do is part of
creating good right you just do what's in your control so you know in some ways I think things are
worse in some ways they're better I am wondering in public education at what point like you know
things just get to such a low that you know they've got to there's got to be a reform move in
the changes things it's it's gotten so dreadful to be a teacher you know I could just tell you
stories about people saying they they can't take it anymore and they get out of it right and
obviously it's a it's something that anybody who understands the problem is going to feel
compelled to address right and so your show gives outlet to that and the union obviously that's
what a union's about is people you know working to improve teaching conditions in public education
so on so I don't know if that answers your question I mean obviously in any in any in a person say
oh this is hopeless have to people voted for Trump my god you can't give up right you and you
should be angry watching it what happened what looking at what happens Johnny but yeah no I mean
this is I always say it's this of one of the most difficult moments to be a teacher
and I guess you know Tim I'm an optimist too you are Ted hit the nail on the head like this is
exactly what we're dealing with is you know an erosion of democracy and but I also say it's not
just the most diff one of the most difficult moments to be a teacher it's also one of the most
exciting moments to be a teacher or be becoming a teacher because when democracy is threatened like
it is no one wishes for this but it reminds us more than ever the importance of the work we do
are of our solidarity like Ted talked about them the unions the ways that we come together to do
what it is that teachers do yeah it's tough to be a teacher right now but getting you back on
though Ted I want to make sure that we don't wander too far because the big thing that I'm really
hearing about in Jacob and I talked about though too special education and the reality of just
the blatant attack and I would say an attack because of truly defunding special education we've
heard it so many times in Wisconsin Ted give us some reactions to you know what's going on with
special education in Wisconsin you know the the attack on the department the federal department
of education I just want to bring us back to special ed yeah I mean where to start right so
you know just for starters at some point in our nation's history we decided that people with
disabilities have rights and that we need to care for each other and so for a long time it's been
a requirement that our public schools serve kids with disabilities right all kinds of different
disabilities and that they're served by providing extra resources and assistance to make it possible
for them to participate in public education and to get a good education and that is like something
to be very proud of because it didn't it wasn't always that way if you go further back people
were not valued at all right they were just you know they're just we're throw away people it was
terrible and we've made a lot of progress and you know what we're seeing is a retrenchment that
again 10 years ago I don't think we would have thought was imaginable that you would see a president
basically just fire everybody at the federal level who's responsible for assuring those rights
and providing those resources to the extent that we get them from the federal government now I
mean like I said I could go on a great length the problem is we've never met our ideal as for a
serving those children the federal government has not put the resources into making it possible for
public schools to meet their applications to students with disabilities and many state governments
have not done so either so in Wisconsin for many years it's almost comical the state says okay
public schools you have to provide services to kids with disabilities to help them participate in
public schools and we're going to reimburse you at 25 30% of the cost well where does the rest of
the money come from right well you know it comes from the general education and the kids who have
the special needs don't get the services they need really when you get down to it and can I
great link that my in my world I'm talking with educators all the time with just crazy situations
I mean a regular ed teacher with several special needs students in the class who really need one
on one support we're not going to learn otherwise class out of control it disrupts and undermines the
education of all the regular ed kids and you know they're just are not the resources to to provide
the education that's needed and it's undermining the education for everybody this is like at least
once a week I have a conversation with a teacher about this and very often um the students you
know they're they're dysregulated it's a term that Joanna Rosado and you
is regulated and and there's ways to help them get regulated but the schools aren't doing that
job and teachers and support staff and other students get hurt by them I mean that the results so
it's it's really crazy out there what's going on with special education in Wisconsin I think
everywhere and it's really just incredible to behold that we have a presidential administration
that wants to go the opposite direction right to not meet the obligations as to make a bad
situation even worse yeah Johnny you see I put the you know the IDEA individuals with disabilities
education act that's what we're talking about man you're you're you know I'm I'm not currently
teaching future teachers Johnny you know any sense of um what those future teachers are imagining
with with special education uh we're yeah Tim I mean that that that's a related but an interesting
question I don't know they're given the conversation I'm still chewing over kind of the the direction
we went with democracy and eroding democracy and fascism and its threat on our democracy which I
will argue pretty hard handedly exists still although under direct like really dire threats it's
it's you know in and out of the ICU it's constantly under attack um and it's our civic responsibility
to do everything we can um to really understand and practice democracy rather than let it slip away
or erode to what is it Tim you helped me with my pronunciation to tyrants or to tyranny those two
words being there I nailed it that was my life so I'm still I'm still swimming in that because I
think that's part of being a teacher right now is navigating that right in a democracy everybody
has a voice in that voice is valued everyone has a responsibility to participate and all the
decisions that we make together in that participation should be in the interest of the common good
and and when you when you boil that down in a democracy and you accept the responsibility to be
working towards making decisions together under those criteria or those organizing principles
you know teachers that I work with that sort of fundamentally what we do what does it mean to be a
teacher and a democracy what does it mean to practice democratic education not democrat or
republican education right but democracy at its core um some of those teachers are you know future
teachers that will be special education teachers uh some will be you know like early elementary
teachers some will be fifth grade teachers you know some will be middle school they're out there
as a whole diverse group of people that I get to talk to almost every day about becoming a teacher
and they're they're quite excited to him to get to your actual question
they're they're they are quite excited because you know they're young even if they're not
age-wise young they're young to the profession they're coming in with a set of skills of
navigating you know this kind of political disarray in our community and you know they're they
have a set of tools to navigate it but also an energy to say if you really care about children
and if we really are going to work together as a strong public school system then we're gonna
we're gonna support children's rights we're gonna support things like the IDEA we're gonna have
you know adequate you know um not just curriculum for students that's appropriate but adequate
resources um and and one of the exciting things is they're going to do that through their unions
I know that's almost like well we have Ted here he's you know he's not gonna say wait a minute
Johnny about unions he's part of a strong educational union state right and active in that
team you and I both got to experience that but nationally right teachers work in solidarity even
if they're not in union friendly states they practice union principles when they say together this
is not going to be okay for our community and this is not doing right by children and so they're
at the forefront of you know the fight for our democracy and I'll capitalize our not like H-O-U-R
but capital O-U-R our democracy right and so teachers are at that forefront they're pretty excited
about it we keep cutting things left and right it's intentional it's part of what we started at
the beginning of the show what what digress does it is threatening to democracy it is you know to
to be harmful towards the most powerful people in our community children power let's grow up no
they are they they hold the most potential power okay in our community right that's what I'm
emphasizing they're not powerless right they they have a tremendous amount of potential power
within them so to hurt them when they're young is intentional right and to deprive them of
nutrition to deprive them of adequate you know supports for understanding how to value diversity
in their communities whether it's diverse learners diverse abilities all these things to separate
children and punish them right is to take away their future power and to plant the seeds
of the way it is and I put square scare quotes up for the listeners right if you're watching
the video you see the scare quotes the way it is is what they're experiencing and that is not
the way it ought to be so you know I think teachers are pretty excited to be part of that change
to really push and to advocate and to practice something very different whether it's in their
classrooms in their schools or in their community so again we remind ourselves what is going on
is one of the hardest times to be a teacher what ought to be is that it's one of the most exciting
times because 25 years from now we're going to say remember when democracy was in life support
and teachers and nurses and great people in our community said enough is enough we're
wheeling it out of life support and we're doing everything we can to make sure children
have a democracy for their grandchildren and so that's the moment I think we're in
it's a tough one it's exciting one sorry I went off on a tangent but you threw me a curve ball
I know I teed it up like the blue jays did on the mariners the other day you know
and I went up or deck with it Ted no there's a there's a lot to unpack there that was really good
you know democracy means a lot of things and among it is that everybody gets a voice I think
among the things democracy means is that everybody's valuable right it's really about equality
there's no expendable people and I really think that authoritarianism fashions whatever word
you want to use and I understand they're highly charged but whatever word they're predicated on
dividing and conquering and saying that a lot of people aren't valuable and public education
is threatening to that mentality because it's an exclusionary mentality this is a lot of people
are worth educating you know democracies about that everybody has potential and a role to play
right that's why public schools educate kids with disabilities who can be very hard to educate
they can kick the the trends or the LGBTQ or the disabled kid out of school freely right so
you know that's just one element of democracy they think is so important and that that Johnny
really eloquently I mean I love that vision think about what people are gonna gonna gonna look
back at 25 years from now I mean this is that moment in history where really we need to be excited
and we need to fight for for for democracy yeah you are embodying and I love it man you are why
fascists fear teachers and I'm not calling anybody a fascist I'm just saying we all have the
possibility to become that and if you are that are you strive to become that again we're not calling
anybody that just just say there's a thing it's fascism and if you aspire to that well you're
afraid of tech crack and we act because Ted speaking truth to power here today man I appreciate
it so much yeah I love it Tim I love when you bring your friends on the show because they aren't
just friends right they're allies to democracy yeah I yeah particularly yeah you put this in
and again the the the attack on IDEA students with disabilities is just such an illustration of
really looking at going is this really the depth we've sunk to and Ted you really point this out
and you know for those of you know people who want to bring religion back into schools
on this one I'm all for it because I'm gonna go with the you know whatever you do to the least of
these you have done to me and whenever we're talking about special education I'm like okay look
here we have our most you know vulnerable are our most precious I guess you would say and even
saying you know taking away what also democratically installed a law that said these least of and I
hate to use that word but these children are not throwaways in fact we as a democracy stepped up
and said we're putting a federal law in place that mandates requires us to say everything that we
need to do to throw out and help this child this family the teachers working with them again
an individualized education plan is there and boy man there's just so much to go on here but Ted
holy crap we are way beyond typically what we try to do for our classes in session Ted we're
definitely going to have you on the back last words before we get to say thank you for busting
pencils Ted well thank you busted pencils never give up it's great that you're still doing this
this is really great that this podcast exists that you continue to pursue this wow Ted Craig
but you know what it's time for your moment of zen
our problem with justice is not a corrupt judge or a bribe jury but the ordinary day to day
functioning of the police the law of the courts where property rights come before human rights
well thank you human for listening to busted pencils class in session today I always love when
Tim's expert accent comes out and I bet you do too and if you want more Tim's awesome accent you
can always grab great podcasts like this one just search busted pencils or apple podcasts
or head on over to Spotify wherever it is you get your podcasts from you can always find us on
the civic media website or at busted pencils.com and don't forget you can find us all week long
every Monday Wednesday Friday with home rooms classes in session and always loads of fun to wrap
up the work week with Fridays producers Jacob Jacobs choice every Friday man I love those shows
and so does Terry bar plug Terry keep writing those awesome articles but listeners pencil busters
out there you know what we live for is we live for you to tune in on Saturdays at 3 p.m.
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