TEACHERS FOR CHANGE ------ September 2004
What Has Happened To Our Public Relations?
By A.J. Duffy
At our monthly West Area Chapter Chairs’ meetings, during the six years when I was the West Area Chair, Chapter Chairs asked, “What has happened to our public relations?” As a member of the UTLA Board of Directors, I asked the same question of our city-wide officers, over and over again. Perhaps we’re looking in the wrong direction or maybe our concept of public relations is rooted in the past. Could it be that we’re thinking in the same old ways and getting the same old non-results? What’s necessary is bold new thinking.
We as a union need to be telling our own story rather than having it told by other people, such as the Los Angeles Times, the Daily News and the Superintendent’s public relations people.
Here is what I propose. Scrap the UTLA newspaper as we know it and refocus our attention on creating a magazine-type publication. What could be better public relations than the message of what’s good in our schools and the positive roles that teachers and health and human service workers are playing in the rebirth of public education in Los Angeles? This magazine would be circulated in places like office buildings, hospitals, doctors’ offices, lawyers’ offices and other places where people sit and wait. Some of the articles should be bilingual to reach the growing non-English speaking population of Los Angeles. We need to include human interest stories about our members, as well as pieces of pure literary value not necessarily related to education. In this way, we can highlight the talents of teachers and students as writers. We have an incredible pool of talent among our members and our students.
We should also focus on what needs to be fixed in LAUSD. This can be accomplished through hard-hitting expose and interview pieces that would be of interest to the public and could also deal with issues that anger the public, such as lack of supplies and books, sub-standard bathroom conditions, and bureaucratic bloat and waste. We need to expose the bureaucrats who sit in well-heated and air-conditioned offices while our students and teachers go without. These articles would be more than sound bites.
I recognize that changing the format of the UT means that we have to create a way to get information to Chapter Chairs and members. I have no intention of reinventing the wheel. Members and Chapter Chairs can continue to get vital information through the expanded use of e-mail and updates.
Our current advertisers and others would gladly jump on board considering the opportunity we will give them for increased exposure. The revenue from this expanded group of advertisers would help defray the cost of the publication and the periodic updates to members and Chapter Chairs.
Let’s look at the facts. UTLA’s own internal surveys and studies over the past 10 years clearly show that many members do not read the paper. Those who read the UT read only certain articles and then throw it away. In reality, we’re not getting much bang for our buck when you consider the number of people hours and the amount money spent.
Can this be done overnight? No. Do we need to start experimenting? Absolutely! I say it’s time for bold experimentation and innovation. Creativity can be our vehicle to the future!
My name is A.J. Duffy. I am a candidate for President of UTLA.
