Three days. Five-hundred-and-fifty-three members. Four officer positions. Starting at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, April 22, teachers across the district will have the opportunity to vote for a new Altoona Area Educators Association (AAEA) leadership team.
“I grew up in a very strong pro-labor family,” current AAEA President and physics teacher Jason Geis said. “My family was all construction workers, and as a young man, I was taught about how important being part of the union was. Whenever I became a teacher, I joined the union.”
After three terms as president, Geis is stepping down. The AAEA is led by four officers: a president, vice president, treasurer and secretary. Roles are filled by educators throughout the district through elections held every two years.
“AASD [Altoona Area School District] schools are packed with teachers who are extremely knowledgeable in their subjects; they teach and they take a great deal of pride in offering opportunities to our students,” AAEA presidential candidate and world geography teacher Keith McFarland wrote. “AAEA is an organization that helps those talented staff members have a voice in the development of our school district and acts as a way for us to support one another through the trials and tribulations of that development.”
Voting will conclude at 12 a.m. on Friday, April 24.
“I truly believe our union is strongest when it operates as a team, with every member feeling heard, valued and connected across buildings,” AAEA presidential candidate and French teacher Veronica Skomra wrote. “This is not about one person; it’s about all of us working together to create a more positive and unified environment.”
Candidates have advocated for increased communication and connectivity among union members. With increased access to technology, members of the AAEA executive committee have begun leveraging these tools to design a digital platform to keep records, allow members to voice concerns and access information about the union.
“I think one of the priorities I would have would be for greater involvement of members of our union outside of contract years, because it seems like during contract years, we have a huge uptick in participation and outside of that, sometimes crickets,” AAEA secretary candidate and Spanish teacher Dane Leone said. “I want to make sure that our members know that they might be dealing with something on a small scale, three years away from us negotiating a contract, but that doesn’t mean that nothing can be done about whatever issue they might be dealing with. I’d be striving to have more cohesive participation within our general membership.”
“I enjoy working with both our local and state union representatives and like to help others learn what our union does behind the scenes,” treasurer candidate and elementary Title I instructional support educator Melissa Dively wrote.
As a chapter of both the Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA) and the National Education Association (NEA), AAEA gathers monthly through scheduled representative council and executive committee meetings. The leadership team meets with administrators, engages in contract negotiations and advertises for new members through general membership meetings.
“Our test scores have been trending in the wrong direction for some time,” vice presidential candidate and astronomy teacher James Krug said. “Teachers have less and less time to actually innovate and improve what they’re doing in the classroom. We’ve also seen a really challenging concern over the past number of years where Altoona is no longer the career destination for teachers that it was when I started. A lot of younger teachers now come here for a few short years of experience and then usually go elsewhere. We want to try to return this to an end goal, a destination district like it has been for many years, because we think that will only strengthen the community.”
“I am not running for this position to benefit myself; I’m running because I want to make our district a better, happier, safer place for our union members to work,” AAEA vice presidential candidate and English teacher Maggie Lewis wrote. “If our union members are happy with their working conditions, this will have a positive trickle-down effect for students.”
