beat privatization -...

A Step by Step CrisisOrganizing Manual

PrivatizationBeat

NatioNal EducatioN associatioN

The National Education Association is the nation’s largest professional employee organization, representing 3.2 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support professionals, school administrators, retired educators, and students preparing to become teachers.

NEa Executive officers

Dennis Van Roekel, PresidentLily Eskelsen, Vice PresidentBecky Pringle, Secretary-Treasurer

A Step by Step CrisisOrganizing Manual

PrivatizationBeat

ii Beat Privatization • A S t e p b y S t e p C r i s i s O r g a n i z i n g M a n u a l

iiiBeat Privatization • A S t e p b y S t e p C r i s i s O r g a n i z i n g M a n u a l

ContentsIntroduction1 The best defense is a good offense

Steps4 Step 1 Call on Your Association for Help

5 Step 2 Meet with Affected Employees

7 Step 3 Form a Crisis Organizing Committee

8 Step 4 Gather Information

10 Step 5 Your Message and Your Plan

15 Step 6 Carrying Out Your Plan

Tool Kit17 Tool 1 ‘Who We Are’ Survey Form

20 Tool 2 Community Connections

22 Tool 3 Decision-Maker Profile

24 Tool 4 Board Watch Reporting Form

25 Tool 5 Contractor Profile

26 Tool 5a Contractor Track Record

28 Tool 6 Potential Allies

29 Tool 7 Sample Community Contact Tracking Form

30 Tool 8 Media Contacts

31 Tool 9 Arguments Against Privatization

33 Tool 10: Possible Anti-Privatization Activities

34 Tool 11: Questions to Ask the Board

35 Tool 12: Campaign Calendar

iv Beat Privatization • A S t e p b y S t e p C r i s i s O r g a n i z i n g M a n u a l

1Beat Privatization • A S t e p b y S t e p C r i s i s O r g a n i z i n g M a n u a l

A Step by Step Crisis Organizing Manual

Introduction Privatization, contracting out, outsourcing—these words describe a threat to public education. Privatization means transferring the work of public school employees to the private sector. For students, parents, and the community, the quality of education and the safety of our children are at risk.

And for education support professionals, privatization can be another word for FIRED! When ESP positions are privatized, ESP members lose their jobs. Even if they are hired by the private firms that are now doing the work, they rarely receive the same pay and benefits. Employees also lose the benefits of union representation, such as a grievance procedure, health and safety protec-tion, and protection from arbitrary treatment.

While food service, custodian, and bus driver positions are privatized most often, no ESP jobs are safe. Those whose positions are not privatized are also harmed, and their Associations are weakened by the creation of a divided workforce. A threat to any of us is a threat to all of us.

2 Beat Privatization • A S t e p b y S t e p C r i s i s O r g a n i z i n g M a n u a l

We must be out in front,

inoculating our schools

against the threat of

privatization by making

sure that parents and

community members

see us as essential parts

of a unified education

workforce that is

meeting the needs of

the whole child.

The best defense is a good offense

The best way to fight privatization is to build community support and understanding of the vital contributions ESPs make to our students’ education before the issue of contracting out ever comes up. If we do this well, it will be much harder for privatization to take hold. In this case, an ounce of prevention is worth many pounds of cure, and the community support we build will be invaluable in many ways that go beyond fighting privatization.

But not all local Associations can prevent the issue of privatization from coming up. In real life, we begin our anti-privatization work at different steps in the process:

■■ organizing well before privatization is brought up; ■■ working to head off privatization once the issue is raised; or ■■ fighting a specific bid request or contractor.

No matter where we start in the process, our success will depend on how well we organize and mobilize our members and the community.


Once a school district starts considering contract-ing out services, it’s too late for “peacetime” orga-nizing—it’s time for crisis organizing. Every cam-paign is different, but the essentials are the same. This manual outlines the steps your Association should take in confronting a privatization threat:

■■ prepare your Association■■ gather information■■ develop a plan■■ mobilize members and your allies in the

community.

This manual also provides a tool kit of forms and resources to help you carry out an anti-privatization plan:

1. Employee information (for the threatened employees)

2. Community connections (for all Association members)

3. Decision-maker profile (for superintendents and school boards)

4. Board watch reporting form

5. Contractor profile

6. Potential allies

7. Community contact tracking form

8. Media contacts

9. Messages against privatization

10. Possible anti-privatization activities

11. Questions to ask the board

12. Campaign calendar

Every successful anti-

privatization campaign

starts and ends with

organizing our members

and our community.


Step 1 The threat of privatization is a crisis for the Association—NEA and your state education Association are ready to help you and your col-leagues. They can share resources from other places that have faced similar threats and give you other information you need. They can also help with training, strategies, bargaining, and legal issues. Let your Association staff know as soon as you see any signs of privatiza-tion activity. Do not ignore talk about privatization, hope that it will go away, or keep silent for fear of stirring up trouble. The sooner you act, and the earlier you intervene in the privatization process, the more likely you will be able to stop it.

Let your Association

staff know as soon as

you see any signs of

privatization activity.

Step 1 Call on Your Association for Help


As soon as rumors about privatization surface, call a meeting of the employees whose jobs may be at risk. Understandably, they may be fearful, angry, or confused. It’s important for them to be able to vent with Association colleagues so you can stave off the natural inclina-tion to go public with their anger. Your goal is to control the rumors about what is happening, to the extent that you can.

Use this initial meeting to lay the groundwork for the campaign. Explain the need for a coordinated message and identify some of the activists and leaders who will be spearheading the anti-privatization effort. This initial meeting is where you start gathering information that will help shape the campaign.

First, get as much information as possible about the threatened employees—not just their job tasks/titles but who they are in the community. Find out how long these members have worked for the district and identify their job duties, including all the things they do that are not in their current job descriptions. Find out what extra things they do to keep students safe, healthy, and help them become ready to learn. Ask about their connections in the community that might be useful to your campaign. Tool 1 can help you gather this information.

Step 2 Use the first meeting

with the affected

employees to:

• Control rumors

• Get information about

the employees

• Learn what the

employees know

about the proposed

privatization

• Enlist them in the fight

to stop privatization

and keep their jobs

Step 2Meet with Affected Employees

6 Beat Privatization • A S t e p b y S t e p C r i s i s O r g a n i z i n g M a n u a l6

Gathering information

about your own

members is essential,

whether you are

engaging in peacetime

organizing or fighting a

privatization crisis.

This information will help the Association make the case that fight-ing contracting out is not just an effort to save our jobs. Rather, it’s a campaign to maintain the level of committed service to the commu-nity provided by public employees who are also community residents, parents, and taxpayers.

Eventually, the campaign also will need information about other members of the Association who will be asked for support. It’s very important that teachers as well as ESP members support your cam-paign. Having a united front makes you appear much more powerful to your school board and administration. Find more details on gath-ering employee information in Step 4 of the campaign (page 8).

Beat Privatization • A S t e p b y S t e p C r i s i s O r g a n i z i n g M a n u a l 7

Step 3 The initial meeting will probably attract members who want to play an active role in the campaign, and some of them should be part of the core Crisis Organizing Committee (COC). The COC gathers information, develops the anti-privatization mes-sage, plans the campaign calendar, and communicates with the membership. All Association members will be asked to sup-port the campaign, but the COC is the group that will lead the effort. These committee members must be willing to commit for the long haul and be prepared to devote substantial time and energy to the campaign.

The ideal size for a COC is five to seven Association members. Its work is essential to the long-term health—perhaps even the survival—of the local Association, so COC members must be strong advocates. If the local president does not chair the com-mittee, then she or he should make certain that the chair is both skilled and committed to the task. If possible, the COC membership should include employees from the affected job group(s), Association officers and representatives, and members who are community activists.

The COC’s first job is to gather information in these areas:

■■ Membership research■■ School board watch—and monitoring others who could

influence the outcome■■ Companies and individuals who may bid for the work■■ Community contacts who could become potential allies■■ Internal and external communications

The COC can recruit other Association members to help with these tasks, and it may decide to create subcommittees that are each chaired by a COC member. The more members are engaged in the campaign, the stronger it will be. Once you gather information and develop the anti-privatization plan, you’ll need members to help carry out the specific pieces of the plan. The next step, Step 4, goes into more detail about the kinds of information the COC will need.

Step 3 Form a Crisis Organizing Committee

Put together a strong,

committed core team.

Recruit other interested

members to help.

Beat Privatization • A S t e p b y S t e p C r i s i s O r g a n i z i n g M a n u a l8

The table on the next page lists the kinds of information you’ll need. At the back of this manual are forms that you can copy and use to gather and record this information.

Those involved in member research have a big and essential task. The anti-privatization campaign needs to be able to provide details about the affected ESP members and their contributions to students, schools, and the community. You began gathering this informa-tion at the first meeting with affected employees, and now you need to expand your efforts. You need information from all threatened employees who have not yet filled out an employee information sheet (Tool 1), and ideally, you will have all Association members fill out a community connection form (Tool 2). Try to get as much information as you can. Contacting people individually is the most effective way to ask for the information—plus it gives you a chance to explain the situation, show that the Association is organized and is taking action, and enlist them in the fight.

Even before the Crisis Organizing Committee has developed a plan, it’s very important to start getting the word out to the entire Association membership, not just to the threatened employees. Members need to know:

■■ There is a serious threat of privatization of members’ jobs.■■ The Association will fight to convince the community and the

school district decision-makers that privatization would be a bad decision, one that will harm students and the community.

■■ The Association has formed a Crisis Organizing Committee to organize the anti-privatization campaign.

■■ The Association has a designated contact person for questions and offers of help.

The COC might decide that a communications subcommittee will be responsible for keeping members and the public informed throughout the campaign.

Step 4 Step 4 Gather Information

Let the entire

membership know

what’s going

on. You’ll need

everyone’s support

when things start

heating up.


Kind of Information Tasks Questions to ask Uses for information

Member Research

See Tool 1

Gather information about the affected members

Contact Information:

Name, address, phone, email

Work data:Years on the job, in the district, special training, skills, commendations, awards

• Demonstrate skills and commitment of public employees

• Communicate with members

Community Connections

See Tool 2

Gather information from as many Association members (affected employees and oth-ers) as possible about their contacts in the community

Years of residence in the dis-trict, children in public school, membership or leadership posi-tions in community organiza-tions, community service activi-ties, relationships with school board members

• Call on members to use their community connec-tions to build support for the campaign

Decision-Maker Profile

See Tool 3

Gather information about the superintendent and each mem-ber of the school board

Contact information

Views on privatization

Views on Association

Connections to Association members

Connections to privatizer

• Identify ways to influence or convince decision-makers to decide against privatization

Board Watch Reporting

See Tool 4

Attend school board meetings What is the timeline for privati-zation action/votes?

Record statements and actions regarding the privatization question

• Track the progress of the privatization threat

Contractor Profile

See Tool 5 and Tool 5A

Investigate the potential privateer(s)

Data on contractor available from state affiliate or NEA

Track record in state/region

• Gather information to show why using the con-tractor is a bad idea

Potential Allies

See Tool 6

Identify community organiza-tions, other unions, faith-based organizations, advocacy groups

What local organizations can support the anti-privatization campaign?

• Identify sources of sup-port

Community Allies Tracking Form

See Tool 7

Information on allies from the list in Tool 6

Information for a contact per-son in each organization

Who are leaders?

Cross-check with Association membership list

• Communicate with and enlist allies

Media

See Tool 8

List all local and regional media outlets—newspapers, radio, local TV. Find out who is blogging about education issues in your area.

Contact person at each media source

Deadlines/publications schedule

Cross check: any affected employees or other Association members have connections to reporters/editors/bloggers?

• Be prepared to get media coverage of campaign issues or events

Organize your information and use it to help create and carry out the campaign plan. Here are some examples of how you’ll use the information:

■■ Communicate with your members by phone, email, social media such as Facebook and Twitter, and mail.

■■ Contact school board members and have ready access to information about their interests and positions.

■■ Offer specific examples how the ESPs whose jobs are threatened are contributing to the education, health, and safety of students and the community.

■■ Use your members and allies to communicate with and influence key community members.

■■ Have a media and blogger list that can be used to get information to the media, and get the media to cover campaign events.


Step 5 Step 5 Your Message and Your Plan

With research and information in hand, now is the time to develop an action plan. Call your planning group together and have them answer a few key questions:

1. Who are the key decision-makers and who needs to be contacted, influenced, or counter-acted? The school board and superintendent are usually the key players, with the formal decision made by the board. Does the desire to privatize really come from within this group? If so, who is leading the charge—the superintendent, a particular board member or two, or some com-bination? Or is someone else pushing the idea—perhaps the school district’s business manager or transportation director?

Every local Association should have a permanent Board Watch Committee, whether or not there is an immediate threat of privatization. It’s a good way for the Association to be visible to the board while keeping track of board activities and indi-vidual board members’ positions. If your members have not been attending board meetings in the past, now is the time to form your watch group. During a privatization crisis, the Board Watch Committee can serve as a subcommittee of the Crisis Organizing Committee. Make certain that your Board Watch Committee includes at least one COC member, one Association officer, and one or more members of affected job classifications.

Use the Decision-Maker Profile form (Tool 3) to record key information about the superintendent and board members. Learning the positions and concerns of each board member will help you make your case against privatization. And when Association members attend board meetings, the message is clear that they care about the issues, especially privatization. Members should take prominent seats together and wear hats, t-shirts or buttons that identify them as Association members. Ask them to use the Board Watch Reporting Form (Tool 4) to record what they observe.

Keep an eye on the school board: The Board Watch Committee

2. How can the decision-makers be influenced? Are board members up for re-election? Do they have higher political ambitions? Do they have particular concerns or interests that you can address to help them see the negative consequences of privatization?

3. What are the key dates? When is the board scheduled to vote on putting the ESP work out to bid? When will they receive the bids and decide on awarding a contract? Are there other important dates in the process?

The COC needs to think about these key groups in putting your plan together:

■■ Your own ESP members—both in the affected job categories and others

■■ Teachers in your school district■■ Community allies—parents, community

organizations, other unions, key community power figures

■■ General public/voters ■■ School board members■■ Other elected officials


Work with Association staff to

develop your plan. Involve as

many members as possible.

Planning can take longer with a

larger group, but you will gain by

having a base of members who

are already knowledgeable about

and commmitted to your anti-

privatization campaign.

To create the plan, think about each of these groups, and answer the following questions:

1. Who are they? (The research you did in Step 4 should give the answers to this.)

2. How can they influence the key decision-makers?

3. What are our key messages to convince them that privatization is a bad idea?

Make your message about service and quality education

Privatization is usually portrayed as a way to save money. Our basic message is different: We know that privatization leads to less—lower quality services and fewer connections to students and their education.

Tailor this message to make it more effective for each audience. Think about the basic arguments against privatization, the particulars of this situ-ation, and what arguments might appeal to each particular target audience.

For example, suppose the board wants to award a contract for custodial services to a large national or multinational company. You can use an economic argument with small business owners— pointing out that replacing school custodians with employees of a huge company will not only affect the children’s education, but it will also hurt the local economy in terms of lower wages and equipment/cleaning supplies coming from company warehouses in another state instead of being purchased locally.

Tool 9 provides a list of arguments against privati-zation you can use to help develop effective mes-sages in your situation. Use the information gath-ered on the employee information forms to make your messages more personal and powerful.


How will you deliver the message?

Now brainstorm actions and activities that will convey your mes-sage to each of the key groups listed above. Ideally, the activities will involve your members, will communicate the anti-privatization mes-sage clearly, and will lead to pressure on decision-makers.

Here are some ideas on communicating with Association members: Hold informational meetings with all groups of members, wear t-shirts with an anti-privatization message, hold a rally, etc. Some of these activities will also be visible to the public, so be sure that your messages are appropriate for a broad audience. For parents and com-munity members, speak at PTA meetings, go door to door in the community, ask residents to put up your yard signs, conduct a petition campaign, etc. (To get your creative juices flowing, look at Tool 10, a list of possible activities.) You want to come up with ideas that are fresh and effective, so use brainstorming to open up the possibilities.

Create a calendar

Now that you have both messages and ideas to get the messages out to key groups, it’s time to assemble a plan. Tool 12 is a blank calen-dar you can use for planning. Start by marking the key dates: board meetings, specific dates when privatization will be discussed, date of the vote, etc. Schedule regular meetings of the Crisis Organizing Committee and add them to the calendar. Now review your list of brainstormed activities, and put your best ideas on the calendar.

In planning the campaign, begin with your own members. Start with the affected group of ESPs, then the rest of the ESP membership. They are the foundation for the anti-privatization campaign and their energy and leadership are the keys to victory. You’ll need to com-municate regularly with them—through meetings, emails, flyers, and personal contacts—to share information, control rumors, and organize actions. Be sure to include ongoing communications on your calendar.

Once you are connecting with your own ESP members, then reach out to the teachers in your district and to teacher and ESP Associations in surrounding districts that have members who live in your district. Now you’ve got the beginnings of an anti-privatization coalition.

When ESP jobs are

privatized, students,

families, and the whole

community are affected.

We need to enlist as

broad a cross-section

of the community as

possible to defeat

privatization.


You might include

legal and bargaining

strategies in your plan

to fight privatization.

But remember, your

greatest strength

comes from organizing

community pressure

against privatization,

and that means any

legal and bargaining

efforts need to be built

on the foundation of that

organizing effort.

Broaden the campaign

The next step is to broaden the campaign and increase your visibility with activities that involve community allies such as parents and com-munity groups. Use the community contact information you collected in Step 4 to plan activities to enlist a broad range of community members as supporters. Ramp up activities and pressure on the school board well before the decision date; you may even get them to aban-don their ideas about privatizing.

This step by step approach is very important. Resist the temptation to immediately storm the next school board meeting with angry pro-tests at the first hint of a privatization effort. Instead, take the time to organize and educate your own members and closest allies first. There may be a place for big demonstrations later on in your plan. But just like building a house, creating a successful campaign requires laying a good, strong foundation.

Use your connections

A word about personal contact with school board members: It may make sense to have ESP members or allies who reside in the school district talk with board members one on one, especially those who are not firmly in favor of privatization. Often board members who are still thinking through the issue feel they are being “responsible” by


supporting an idea they’ve been told will save the school district money. Your ESP members live in your school dis-trict, and some of them may know board members well—through school, church, business, or family connections. If ESP members don’t have these connections themselves, they will probably know someone who does. (Here’s anoth-er place to use the community contact information you col-lected in Step 4.)

These social networks can be very powerful. Don’t be afraid to use these connections to have conversations with board members so they understand that privatization is a bad idea that will harm students and the broader commu-nity. Put informal contacts with board members on your planning calendar. Tool 11 outlines a few questions you can ask board members when you meet them in person. (You can also ask these questions publicly at school board meetings.)

By now your calendar should be full of activities, building up to the key date(s) when the board will make a decision. If you’ve been thinking creatively, your calendar is prob-ably too full! So take a hard, realistic look at the action plan and thin it out so that you end up with a plan that you have the capacity to carry out.


Now that the plan is developed, get started on the right foot by bringing the plan to the Executive Board of the ESP Association for approval. You want the entire Association to back the plan—plus, here’s a chance to get more buy-in and more bodies to carry out the plan.

It’s up to the COC and its subcommittees to carry out the plan. Keep in mind that few campaigns go exactly the way they were originally planned, so make sure the COC uses its regular meetings to:

■■ assess what is working and what isn’t■■ evaluate new information■■ deal with new or unexpected developments■■ adjust the campaign plan as needed

If you stick to your focus on communicating the value your members bring to the school and the community, organizing your members, and mobi-lizing your allies, you can beat privatization!

Step 6 Step 6 Carrying Out Your Plan

For up-to-date information and resources on ESP privatization:

The privatization page on the NEA website. Go to the Education Support Professionals home page at www.nea.org/esp, and follow the “Organizing and Advocacy” link in the left-hand column.

The NEA ESP Quality Department’s Virtual Library. The Virtual Library is an online, pass-word-protected resource collection. Its privatization area contains publications, training materials, and studies related to privatization. The Virtual Library is open to Association staff and to member leaders. (www.nea-espresources.net)

Contact the ESP Quality Department at 202-822-7131, or [email protected].

Toolkit


Toolkit

17

Tool 1Tool 1‘Who We Are’ Survey Form(for each affected employee)

Please help us by providing the following information. The data we collect will help demonstrate to the Board of Education that it should not attempt to replace us with outside private contractors.

1. Have you or do you now live in ? o Yes o No 1a. If YES, How many years have you lived here? years

1b. If you live/have lived in , do/did you own your home? o Yes o No

1c. If YES, how much are/were your property taxes? $ per year

2. Did you attend public schools? o Yes o No

3. Do/did you have family members who currently attend or formerly attended public schools? o Yes o No

3a. If YES, how many? Currently Formerly

4. How long have you worked for the school district? years

5. What is your current worksite?

6. How long have you worked at your current worksite? years

7. How many accumulated sick days do you currently have? days

8. Do you want/plan to stay in the public schools until retirement? o Yes o No


9. What special training or qualifications do you have? (include training provided by the district as well as training you have received in other careers or outside of work. Examples: CPR training, certification to handle dangerous chemicals, sensitivity training, nutrition training, technology training, military training, etc. If you are not sure whether something counts, write it down anyway. Be as specific as possible.)

10. Have you ever received any special commendation, recognition or reward for your work in the public schools? (Examples: List thank-you notes, letters, awards, etc. Be specific.)

11. What community groups or activities are you involved in? (include clubs, volunteer work, religious activities, coaching, mentoring, tutoring. Be as specific as possible.)

Tool 1 (continued)


Tool 1 (continued)

12. Have you ever received a “thank you,” commendation, recognition or reward for your work in your community? (volunteer fire, EMT volunteer, recreation coach, etc. Be specific.)

13. Have you taken any courses for college credit? If so, how many hours?

14. Have you earned any college degrees, such as Associate, Bachelor of Arts, etc.? If so, what is your degree?


Please help us by providing the following information. The data we collect will help demonstrate to the Board of Education that it should not attempt to replace us with outside private contractors. We will be asking for your support if it does!

Number of years living in the district

Number of years working in the district

Number of children/grandchildren/relatives in schools in the district Now Past

Organizations of which you are a member (examples: PTA, churches, civic groups, advocacy groups)

Name:

Address:

Home phone: Mobile phone:

Email:

Tool 2Tool 2Community Connections(for all Association members in the affected district)


Family members employed by the school district

Name(s) Position Location

List relatives or friends who are community leaders (political/business/media, etc.)

Name(s) Affiliation/Position Contact Information

Community service activities (examples: tutoring/mentoring, Boys and Girls Club, volunteer fire dept., sports coach)

Tool 2 (continued)


Tool 3Tool 3Decision-Maker Profile(superintendent and Board of Education members)

Superintendent

Name:

Address:

Number of years in position:

When contract expires:

Community Activities:

Views on privatization (votes or remarks):

Views on Association (votes or remarks):

Connections to Association members (example: family, church, business or social connections):

Political, family or business connections to privatizer:


Tool 3 (continued)

Board Member(one form for each board member)

Name:

Address:

Profession/Employer:

Number of years on the Board:

When term expires:

Community Activities:

Views on privatization (votes or remarks):

Views on Association (votes or remarks):

Connections to Association members (example: family, church, business or social connections):

Political, family or business connections to privatizer:


Date of meeting:

Type of meeting:o Regular monthly o Committee meeting Other Obtain copy of the agenda, if available

Board members present:

Association members present:

Actions discussed or votes taken (anything regarding privatization), identifying maker of motion, if any:

Rumors, tidbits, gossip picked up before, during, or after the meeting (identify the source):

Recommendations for follow-up by Crisis Organizing Committee:

Tool 4Tool 4Board Watch Reporting Form(to be filled out by one Association member at each Board of Education meeting and reported back to Crisis Organizing Committee)


Tool 5Tool 5Contractor Profile

Name of company:

Type of business (food, transportation, custodial/maintenance, security, etc.):

Corporate headquarters address:

Local or district office address:

Corporate contact dealing with school board:

Name:

Email:

Phone:

Data available from NEA or state affiliate? o Yes o No(attach available information)


Tool 5aTool 5aContractor Track Record

Make a copy of this sheet for each district where the privatizer has a contract. (Ask your State Education Association for locations and for a contact person in each location.)

District Association contact:

Name:

Position:

Email:

Phone:

Once you determine the best source of information in each district where the privatizer has a contract, ask them:

Bidding process:

1. What were the contractor’s selling points to the Board? What promises were made?

2. Were bidding regulations and guidelines strictly followed? o Yes o No If NO, how were they followed?

3. Did the work specifications accurately represent the current level of service/job descriptions of work being privatized? o Yes o No

If NO, how were they inaccurate?


Tool 5a (continued)

Contractor’s performance:

1. How satisfied are you with this contractor’s performance? (circle number) (Scale of 1–5: 1 Very dissatisfied; 2 Dissatisfied; 3 Neutral; 4 Satisfied; 5 Very satisfied)

If dissatisfied, elaborate:

2. How satisfied are the contractor’s employees? (circle number) (Scale of 1–5: 1 Very dissatisfied; 2 Dissatisfied; 3 Neutral; 4 Satisfied; 5 Very satisfied)

If dissatisfied, what are their complaints?

3. Does the company provide any employee training? If yes, what kind?

4. Are proper equipment and supplies provided (including safety equipment)? o Yes o No

5. Are all positions requiring licenses properly filled? o Yes o No

6. To your knowledge, are the terms of the contract being met? o Yes o No

7. (If possible, attach a copy of the contract between the company and the Board of Education.)


Tool 6Tool 6Potential Allies

Depending on the size of your community and the part of the country you’re in, here are some types of organizations you will want to contact. Use the Community Contact Tracking Form to record details on how to get in touch with a representative in each organization.

UnionsCentral labor councilsIndividual unions

Religious organizationsIndividual clergyState/local Council of ChurchesChurches/synagogues/mosquesInterfaith conferences

Women’s groupsNational Organization for WomenBusiness and Professional WomenAssociation of University Women

Civil rights organizationsNAACPUrban LeagueSouthern Christian Leadership Conference

Senior citizens’ groupsAARPNEA retirees

Advocacy groupsConsumer groupsCitizen Action

Neighborhood organizationsEnvironmental groupsFarm organizationsTenants’ unions

PoliticiansCity Council membersCounty commissionersMayor

Groups affected economicallyLocal business peopleChamber of Commerce

Civic groupsLeague of Women VotersLions ClubVeterans’ groupsEthnic organizationsFraternal groupsShriners, Elks, Masons

Public figuresMedia personalitiesSports starsMusicians

Parent groupsPTAPTO


OrganizationContact Person Phone Email

Date of Contact

Response

Tool 7Tool 7Sample Community Contact Tracking Form


OrganizationContact Person Phone Email

Publication Schedule Deadlines

Tool 8Tool 8Media Contacts


We are a committed and caring group of professionals: ■ We interact with students every day. We know our students and they know us. More

than 77 percent of us live within our school districts.

■ Our jobs are specialized. Driving students safely to and from school requires a special set of skills, for example, and the job of a school custodian is different from taking care of an office building.

■ We are experienced, skilled, and committed.

■ On average, we have been employed more than 12 years; 82 percent of us plan to stay in our profession; and 67 percent plan to stay with our current jobs until we retire.

■ Some 61 percent of us give money out of our own pockets to help students with things such as classroom materials, field trips, and class projects.

■ Poorly paid contractor employees, with less time on the job and less connection to the community, cannot match our commitment or the quality of our work.

We are part of an education team: ■ It takes all school employees working together to help students succeed. We help

educate students, keep them safe, and keep them healthy and well-nourished. ESPs who work in our local schools work with teachers to provide an environment where students can grow socially, emotionally, and academically.

■ As a school team, we are better able coordinate to meet students’ needs.

■ Our allegiance is to the school district and to our students, not to a contractor. We are motivated by serving our school and community, not by helping a contractor make a profit.

We ensure student safety: ■ Most of us live within our school districts. On average, we have been employed more

than 12 years. We know our students, and we are well-known to their families and to our administrators. Parents are entrusting their children to people who know and care about them.

■ We are dedicated professionals, not high-turnover, low-wage employees.

■ ESPs are required to have background checks. High-turnover, private sector workers may not be on the job long enough for their background checks to be completed.

Privatization leads to loss of control: ■ When school workers work for a private company rather than the school district, there

can be confusion over accountability. There are multiple chains of command and lots of ways to pass the buck, which means that when parents, teachers, or administrators have concerns, it is hard to communicate them and get action taken.

Tool 9Tool 9Arguments Against Privatization


■ School district employees are more flexible than contractors, because their allegiance is to the school district and students, not to an outside company.

■ Contracts are frequently based on incomplete or inaccurate job descriptions. Any work that is not specifically spelled out in the contract is not likely to get done, even though certain tasks had been done in the past by district employees.

■ When a district gets rid of equipment that a contractor says it will provide—things such as buses and kitchen equipment—the district loses bargaining power. Once a district sells its bus fleet, for example, it becomes exceedingly difficult later on to buy a new bus fleet (if the contract does not work out). A short-term financial gain could become a long-term disaster.

Privatization often does not save money: ■ Apparent short-term savings can lead to big long-term costs.

■ Contractors often underestimate or “low-ball” initial bids to get a contract, then raise fees in later years.

■ There are hidden costs that are often overlooked when calculating so-called savings, including:

� Legal fees and other costs associated with transferring authority

� Costs to train new contractor employees, and costs of poor contractor performance

� Costs of work that was not included in the original contract

■ The contractor is in business to make a profit, and taxpayer money that used to be used to provide services now goes to contractor’s profit margin.

■ Privatization carries with it the risk of corruption. Civil service systems were created in this country more than a hundred years ago as a response to rampant contracting cor-ruption. There is a long history of bribery, kickbacks, and payoffs in some contracting businesses.

Privatization hurts the local economy: ■ ESPs live in their communities, and the dollars they earn help the local economy

directly. When contractors pay lower wages or hire people who may not live locally, they remove this local economic stimulus.

■ School districts are more likely to deal with local businesses when purchasing goods and supplies; large, multinational contractors typically use their own supply chains, which do not help the local economy.

■ Few companies that are in the contracting business are small, locally-owned business-es. That means profits that are earned by the contractor represent additional funds that are taken out of the local economy.

Tool 9 (continued)


Internal (for ESP and teacher Association members)

■ Conduct informational meetings

■ Send out regular flyers

■ Produce a regular e-newsletter

Internal/external (can involve members, parents, community allies, and the general public)

■ Develop a short, 15-minute presentation about why privatization is a bad idea for your district, and deliver it to parent and community groups

■ Make the issue and your supporters visible through t-shirts, buttons, banners, lawn signs, billboards

■ Write newspaper op-eds and letters to the editor

■ Write press releases

■ Set up editorial board meetings with newspapers to get them to write anti-privatization editorials

■ Give radio and TV interviews

■ Write and distribute leaflets

■ Run a petition campaign directed to the school board

■ Organize letter- and email-writing campaigns to school board members

■ Organize a march or rally

■ Speak to board members individually and in meetings

■ Participate in community events (for instance, have a float in a local parade)

■ Conduct a “walk the route” event—for example, go door to door along school bus routes and talk with students’ parents

■ Research and publicize school board members’ voting records

■ Interview and endorse school board candidates

■ Recruit and run candidates for school board

■ Hold house meetings with potential community supporters

Tool 10Tool 10Possible Anti-Privatization Activities


1. What expertise does the private sector offer not now found in our schools?

2. What precisely is the private sector offering to do?

3. What specific problem(s) will be solved by the private sector?

4. Has the board tried to solve these specific problems?

5. What results came from these attempts at problem solving?

6. If service improvement is the goal, what has the district done to date to implement programs that manage, train, and equip current school employees more effectively and efficiently?

7. What guarantees are in the contract that the service will be provided as outlined?

8. How would the district monitor private sector services?

9. Does the private sector contract have built-in accountability—or penalties for failure to perform?

10. What is the private contractor’s employee turnover rate in similar districts?

11. Have the decision-makers visited other public schools where the private contractors are doing business?

Tool 11Tool 11Questions to Ask the Board


Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

Tool 12Tool 12Campaign Calendar

13912 | 8/2011 | st

NEA ESP1201 16th Street, N.W. | Washington, D.C. 20036-3290

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