What has MACE Done for Me Lately?
Note: Recently
one of MACE’s longtime Members posed this question to me, and I took the time to provide her, I think, a thoughtful
answer. We essentially learn by space repetition and sudden impact. So, I certainly do not mind repeating what
MACE stands for and how MACE provides an invaluable service for each MACE Member. I would certainly not want to see
a longtime MACE Member give up his or her membership, and then suddenly need MACE’s services because of a frightful
and unexpected and undeserved accusation from a petty and abusive administrator, an irate and irresponsible parent, or a lying,
defiant, and disruptive student. Here is what I wrote back to the teacher, with names (including schools) redacted and
changed). MACE certainly hopes that this Member and all of its Members steadfastly remain MACE Members. MACE values
all of its Members.
Ms. Smith,
I am sorry to hear that you apparently feel so disgruntled about MACE. I am sure that no one made you join MACE,
but perhaps you were feeling a bit more vulnerable in your first three years of teaching at Jameson High School. I am
sure that the student discipline is a bit more challenging at Jameson than Willow Junction High School, but each school has
its own personality, quirks, idiosyncrasies, etc. Although the student discipline may be more challenging at one school
(especially with little or no support from the school’s administration) whereas at a school with higher socio-economic
status, the parents can be more demanding, capricious, and unreasonable.
MACE speaks
before the Atlanta School Board on issues that affect teachers.
MACE is a no frills
union. MACE makes no bones about this. None whatsoever. MACE does not put on spelling bee contests each
year for students…like the other unions do. MACE never has. MACE has its occasional Holiday BASH and Spring
Fling to help teachers release the tensions of teaching in terrible situations. MACE has its Teacher Rights Seminars.
But, putting on the conventions, giving out tote bags and coffee cups, doing the spelling bees, etc., is not the MACE shtick.
You can get this at the other unions/associations…but you won’t get the same kind of protection that MACE provides.
The administrators join and are members of GAE and PAGE. So, who is going to be defended when there is a conflict?
There is a built-in conflict of interest. MACE aggressively defends the teachers…from verbal (and physical) and
evaluative assaults from petty, small-minded, insecure, vindictive, abusive, and anal-retentive administrators; from irate
and irresponsible parents; and from defiant and disruptive students. And when an administrator starts giving you skewed
and biased evaluations because you simply will not give a grade (whether on an assignment or a test) to a student or because
the administrator believes that “you give too many bad grades,” you will be wanting MACE to represent you, not
GAE or PAGE. Schools are fraught with this kind of systematic cheating. Systematic cheating is not just the purview
of standardized tests. And it is this type of cheating that puts much undue pressure on teachers. It was
MACE which first exposed the cheating scandal in both the Atlanta City and DeKalb County school systems. The media and
the Governor’s Office came in a slow second and third. MACE had been on the streets for years and writing for
years about the “miracle growth” on standardized test scores. In fact, I think that MACE coined the phrase
“systematic cheating” on picket signs in Atlanta and DeKalb.
The media contacts MACE on a regular basis.
Now if you want protection and empowerment
to do your job, you stay with MACE. If you want to go to a convention in Savannah or Macon and try to be a big shot
in that organization, you got to GAE or PAGE. But, if you have an issue with a student, a parent, or an administrator,
you stick with MACE. When you let the administration know that you are represented by MACE, you will get a different
kind of respect. I have witnessed administrators “get religion” very quickly when they find out that the
teacher on whom they were picking was a MACE Member. A complete turn-about takes place. The MACE Membership is
strictly confidential. But, there might very well come a time when you want your administration to know that you are
a MACE Member and not the one to be messed with.
The MACE Team makes an impromptu visit to the Hart County superintendent
on behalf of a teacher.
Ms. Smith, I know that you grew up in the idyllic setting of ______ but teaching in Georgia (or
any state for that matter) is not always so idyllic. You want to have MACE as your ace in the hole, so to speak.
I am wondering if you have ever asked MACE to assist you in any way. I don’t think that you have. The MACE
response time is remarkable. The goal of MACE is to respond to each teacher the very day that he or she calls the MACE
Office. (Other organizations will take up to thirty – yes, thirty – days to respond, if they respond at
all. I am hearing now that one or two of the other organizations are requiring their members to leave emails.
In other words, no more direct talking to representatives.) Ms. Smith, you have been a loyal Member of MACE for 10 years
now. You pay on time. There are no issues with your MACE Membership. It could be that you are thinking of
becoming an administrator. That’s no problem. We quietly stop your MACE Membership. No fanfare.
No ballyhoo. We simply wish you the best and hope that you become a great administrator and very supportive of classroom
educators. My nephew went back into administration this year. So, again, we stopped his MACE Membership.
(His wife who teaches remains a MACE Member.) And he is one heckuva an administrator! The teachers and the students
like and respect him. There is no conflict with you being a MACE Member while you are still teaching and still having
the goal of becoming an administrator one day. As I previously mentioned, when you become an administrator, MACE simply
quietly stops your membership. There are and have been school administrators all over Georgia who are former MACE Members.
I think that a few have even gone on to become Assistant Superintendents and even Superintendents. But, when you are
a teacher, you need to belong to a teachers union that represents only teachers, not administrators. Heck, the Georgia
School Superintendents Association (GSSA) and the Georgia Association of Educational Leaders (GAEL) do not allow teachers
to join. They have strictly an administrative agenda. Then, why not be a member of a teachers union that strictly
has a teacher’s agenda? Ms. Smith, when you call the MACE Office, you don’t have to worry about whose side
MACE is on. Everyone knows. MACE doesn’t waffle. MACE doesn’t vacillate one scintilla.
MACE doesn’t leave your side.
The MACE guys with a happy teacher after MACE aggressively
represented her before the Atlanta Board of Education.
I remember back in 1997 when a MACE Member was falsely accused
of telling a high school student that she would give him an A for his grade if he would have sex with him. This scandalous
accusation was covered on national news. MACE defended the teacher before the school board in a hearing, then before
the Professional Practices Commission (before the Professional Standards Commission took over this role), and in a three-day
trial in the Clayton County Superior Court. The jury verdict was “Not Guilty.” This teacher thought
everything in her career was just fine. She had been a successful teacher in Clayton County for about 15 years before
this little thug falsely accused her of this reprehensible action. The case was very controversial and tinged with many
racial overtones. But, this teacher stated, “MACE never left my side.” (You can read her full testimony
on the MACE website.) After these grueling three hearings (the last of which could have sent her to prison for many
years, if she had been found guilty), she finally went back into the classroom and taught about 15 more successful years before
retiring. MACE was very, very aggressive in her defense, and Ms. Walker was extremely grateful. She never once
asked about a tote bag or a spelling bee contest. Why do you really join a teachers union…for an alleged discount
on tires or some alleged ineffective lobbying at the Capitol…or for job protection and empowerment? This is the
issue. This is the question. If you are looking for fluff, then, yes, join the other organizations. But,
if you want to have the peace of mind that you will have aggressive representation when you need it, then by all means stay
a Member of MACE. We value your membership. We really do. At MACE, we love teachers, and we do not apologize
for this!
Now about stopping your bank draft: You simply send a short letter to the MACE Office, send an email to MACE,
or send a note to MACE via facsimile, explicitly telling MACE that you no longer want to be a member and want your bank draft
stopped. You understand that it has to be in writing to avoid anyone fraudulently posing as you on the phone.
This communication needs to be in the MACE Office by the 15th of the month previous to the month in which the bank
draft will stop. This two-week notice is needed because MACE has to notify the bank well in advance before the next
scheduled bank draft. It is painless, Ms. Smith. Goodness. We would love for you to remain of Member of
MACE. By remaining a MACE Member, you will have the backing of by far the strongest and most aggressive teachers union
in Georgia. By far. And when you say, “MACE,” the administrators listen. I remember back
right after MACE was founded, a school board member in Clayton County told me that the school board attorney (who was also
the school board attorney in DeKalb County) told the school board that “MACE terrorizes the administrators.”
I remember a teacher who was a good friend with a middle school principal in DeKalb County telling me that his principal friend
was approached about taking the principal job at Southwest DeKalb High School. His friend turned down the job, saying
words to this effect: “Nope, I don’t want to go there. MACE is there, and once MACE gets after you,
they don’t ever let up!” Now, Ms. Smith, if this is not important to you, then you are indeed in the wrong
union. You need to be in the tea and crumpet groups. That’s OK. We are not mad at you. But as
soon as someone comes after you (and someone will, no matter how good a teacher you are; in fact, sometimes it is because
you ARE a good teacher), you’ll realize then that you should have stayed a member of Georgia’s toughest and most
aggressive teachers union. On a regular basis, MACE receives nice letters of thanks like the one below…
“Mr.
Barnes, I wanted to let you know how thankful I am that you worked everything out for me! Not only did you send a letter for me (thanks Mr. Haynes and Dr. Trotter), but you helped me get a
contract, and on top of that, negotiated with central office to get my transfer approved. Words cannot express how thankful I am! Every dime that I have spent
for my membership is well worth it!” – Jackie Warren.
We wish you well in your career, and we hope that you remain a loyal
MACE Member.
Respectfully,
John R. Alston Trotter, EdD, JD
