Sarasota teachers and school employees have elected a new union president.
Riverview High economics teacher Jason Means will lead the Sarasota Classified Teachers Association at a tough financial time. Some 136 teachers are not being renewed for next year as enrollment declines and pandemic money dries up.
Means taught for 32 years and takes the reins of the SC/TA in July. He spoke with WUSF's Kerry Sheridan about layoffs, and what lies ahead.
Why did you decide to run?
That's a great question. Several things. Just feeling like, teaching that many years, it starts to get to you a little bit. And I don't know if I was quite as inspired as I had been in many of my previous years as an educator, but I didn't feel like I wanted to retire. And I've also always valued my co-workers and what they do, and how hard the jobs are for many of the folks that I've worked with over the years — I think of some of the custodians who I've worked with, and the bus drivers that my own kids had — and just feeling like we needed to try to do better by them. And I felt like, maybe I've got enough energy left in me that I can help out some great, hard working people and make Sarasota County schools better place for all the kids and parents and a better place for all the employees.
What do you see as the biggest challenge that you'll face in the year ahead?
Well, obviously it's financial, right? The state has reduced budgets and people are moving away from public schools a little bit, so obviously that affects funding, and so we've got to try to be creative and keep people in this profession. That's the other thing that I've noticed, is the number of folks that I've seen leave the profession — not by retirement, but going to another (job), going in another direction. And I think teacher retention and employee retention is a critical piece to keeping continuity and and making it better for the kids of Sarasota County Schools.
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What do you think about the layoffs that are happening, and what can you do as the teachers' union to fight that?
We've only seen it a few times in my career, and it's incredibly unfortunate. Trust me, I actually went through (it), we call it being surplussed, where your position is cut from a school. And I spent two years teaching at a middle school, Venice Middle School, years ago. I was brand new in my career. And it's a really, really challenging time for a person professionally.
We want to be as supportive as possible. But there is a process in the contract to address those layoffs and to make sure that, you know, folks are attended to.
I've been in communication with the (SC/TA) executive director, Barry Dubin, quite a bit, and he feels pretty good about the path that the union is taking and assisting the district to place those folks in as close to the position that they've been working in before.
"One of my biggest concerns, to be honest with you, is campus security, and that's an area that took a pretty dramatic hit at every school. And that's concerning to me, because those folks are incredibly important, because you can't always have eyes in the hallways with everybody teaching their classes."Jason Means
Gosh, I'm knocking on wood right now, literally, and I really hope that we can help those folks out and keep them working in a similar position. That's the goal.
Have you seen any particular topic or area that's more affected by the layoffs than others, or is it across the board, mainly first- and second-year teachers that are affected?
Yeah, I think it's pretty damaging, all over, right? We lost people in our social studies department here, and I know there are math teachers displaced. I mean, I don't know if there's any subject area that didn't escape it here at Riverview.
One of my biggest concerns, to be honest with you, is campus security, and that's an area that took a pretty dramatic hit at every school. And that's concerning to me, because those folks are incredibly important, because you can't always have eyes in the hallways with everybody teaching their classes.
It's really important to have those folks, particularly, when you get up to the upper grades, to the high school level. You've got to have them. I mean, kids will be kids. They'll do some crazy things sometimes. And it's nice to have those folks. And they've were cut pretty hard. And so that being fewer bodies in the hallways, and keeping kids safe, and that's worrisome.
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So are you going to teach next year too?
No, this position is a full-time position, so I will not be teaching. I will just be working out of the union office, and assisting the great staff that SC/TA has, and learning from them.
What would you like people to know about what your priorities are?
It's a first-class school district. A lot of people around the state and around the country talk about Sarasota County and our school system. We've got amazing programs, and we've got all kinds of amazing things happening, magnet programs all over the district. It takes amazing people to create an amazing school district. And I want to make the job easier, and as much as I can the life of those workers better.
