The PSEA officer team of President Aaron Chapin, Vice President Jeff Ney, and Treasurer Rachael West sits down with President of the National Education Association and proud PSEA member Becky Pringle to discuss her experience as the head of the largest public sector union in America, the importance of diversity in the educator workforce, and why Pennsylvania educators are some of the most powerful in the country.
The PSEA officer team of President Aaron Chapin, Vice President Jeff Ney, and Treasurer Rachael West sits down with President of the National Education Association and proud PSEA member Becky Pringle to discuss her experience as the head of the largest public sector union in America, the importance of diversity in the educator workforce, and why Pennsylvania educators are some of the most powerful in the country.
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Learn more and watch for upcoming episodes at psea.org/podcast.
Voiceover (00:02):
Welcome to Duty-Free Lunch, the official podcast of the Pennsylvania State Education Association. Join us as we unpack the issues that matter most to you. From cutting-edge classroom strategies to thought-provoking policy discussions, if it impacts PSEA members, it's on the menu.
Aaron Chapin (00:24):
Hello and welcome to Duty-Free Lunch. I am PSEA president, Aaron Chapin, and today, I am joined by Vice-President Jeff Nye.
Jeff Nye (00:34):
Hi, Aaron.
Aaron Chapin (00:35):
And PSEA treasurer, Rachael West.
Rachael West (00:38):
Hi Aaron and Jeff.
Aaron Chapin (00:40):
How are you guys doing today?
Jeff Nye (00:41):
Oh, we're doing pretty good. How about you, Rach'?
Rachael West (00:43):
I'm spectacular.
Aaron Chapin (00:44):
Well, this is the first time the three of us are together for a podcast.
Jeff Nye (00:48):
Very exciting.
Aaron Chapin (00:49):
Are you excited, Rachael?
Rachael West (00:50):
I'm very excited, mostly about the guest.
Aaron Chapin (00:52):
Oh, she's pretty remarkable, but we're excited to have Rachael joining, so it'll be nice to have all three of us here. How do you think 2023 went with our new officer team? How do you think?
Rachael West (01:05):
I think it's been great. I really enjoyed the opportunity to go across the state and meet many of our members and talk with them, but it was also really great being part of a great team.
Jeff Nye (01:16):
Yeah, I would have to agree with Rachael. It's been absolutely wonderful. It's been a little bit of hair on fire every once in a while moments, but those are always great because it gets out the officers to all of the members and getting to know our people.
Aaron Chapin (01:30):
Well, I actually think we're finally figuring things out, so it's only halfway through the year so good for you guys.
Jeff Nye (01:35):
Nice.
Aaron Chapin (01:36):
Yes. Well, enough of this chit-chat because today, as Rachael alluded to, we have a very special guest.
Jeff Nye (01:43):
Very.
Aaron Chapin (01:43):
It's spectacular. It is President of the National Education Association and PSEA member extraordinaire, Becky Pringle.
(01:56):
That's right, exactly. Becky, welcome to the podcast.
Becky Pringle (01:58):
It's so good to be with you guys.
Aaron Chapin (02:01):
Well, thanks for joining us today. Are you doing all right?
Becky Pringle (02:02):
I'm doing great.
Aaron Chapin (02:03):
Great. I know your train was delayed a little bit, so-
Becky Pringle (02:06):
A little.
Aaron Chapin (02:07):
That's okay. We're glad you're here. We're going to jump right into this because it's only 20 minutes long, so we've got to get right into this. So first question for you. As many of our listeners know, you taught middle school. You taught science in Pennsylvania for 30 years, and of course, you were a proud PSCA member I might add before you were president of NEA, so what do you miss most about being in the classroom?
Becky Pringle (02:33):
Oh, my goodness. I could just say the kids because I do, but let me tell you, I am a middle school teacher so all those middle school teachers out there know exactly what I mean. Our kids, I believe that my children kept me hip and ready. I knew the latest songs, I knew the latest dances, but most especially, I had the space to know them, and that allowed me to be able to tap into their natural curiosity for the wonders of the world, for all of the excitement around science. They'd always ask me, "Mrs. Pringle, are we going to blow something up?" "No, we're not going to blow something up, but we're going to make some pretty colors. We're going to do that. That's exactly right. We're going to find out about the forces of nature that make everything possible. We're going to do that." And I had the chance every day, especially at the middle school level, to make sure that I knew exactly what they were thinking and how they were feeling, and how I could tap into their love of learning, their love of life.
Aaron Chapin (03:48):
They're a lot of fun.
Jeff Nye (03:49):
They are, and being a science teacher myself, it was always that great day to have those experiments, because sometimes, getting the right answer of what we wanted them to do is not how it goes and that's the great lesson that all of those kids learn, that it's okay, the things that don't go completely right.
Becky Pringle (04:05):
Jeff, did you have Physics Day?
Jeff Nye (04:06):
I did. We had our Pie Day. We always celebrated our Pie Day and we always made sure we brought in the tasty cakes for those days, so that was always fantastic.
Becky Pringle (04:14):
Oh, so much fun.
Jeff Nye (04:15):
Yeah. Speaking of problems.
Aaron Chapin (04:19):
Oh yeah.
Jeff Nye (04:19):
So there have been a lot of negative talk about the state of education recently. It's just a very easy thing for a lot of outsiders to talk about. So while we have you here, how about giving us some of those positive things that you see happening in our schools all over the place and the stuff that's coming down the pipeline for our educators that we would like to see get more attention in the media, since it's too easy to concentrate on the bad stuff?
Becky Pringle (04:45):
Yeah. Like I said, I do miss teaching the kids every day, but I have this incredible opportunity to travel all over this country and around the world, and I get to see teachers and support staff and nurses and counselors working with students with such passion and creativity and innovation. And whether it was during a pandemic or as we came out of the pandemic and we realized the impact it had had on our kids and our family and our world, our society, I had the incredible pleasure to see educators, as we always do. We always step up to whatever it is, whatever challenge it presents itself to us, but to see them not just step up to challenges, but to take on the opportunities to be creative and to innovate and to do things differently, to work with parents in a different way. To have the students step up and be leaders, to connect with their community members and think about how they harnessed the power of the community.
(06:00):
It is a joy of my life and I can't tell you how much pride, excitement and fun that I get traveling all over this country listening to and seeing what our members do every day.
Aaron Chapin (06:14):
That's great.
Rachael West (06:15):
I am hearing you talk about how members step up and how things changed so much during the pandemic, and the way we had to just adapt and change. And we remind our members all the time about the importance of their involvement in the association and ways that their advocacy can make a difference, and can you talk to us about what the impact our members have on the national level and some ways they can get involved more on the national level? Many of our PSEA members are involved in the state and in their local, but what can they do to maybe step that up a notch to national?
Becky Pringle (06:54):
Can you save the democracy again? Because that's what you did. You literally saved our democracy. And guess what? The democracy, our American democracy is running right through Pennsylvania again. And so when I stepped into my classroom 30 none of your business years ago, honestly, I didn't have a clue that every single decision that was made about my kids, about me as a professional, about my classroom was one that was made by someone who was elected or appointed. And so I realized very quickly that it was my professional responsibility, and honestly, my moral obligation to be involved in selecting those people in those positions.
(07:39):
So when I think about the power of PSEA, it goes beyond the borders of this great Commonwealth. You are literally saving the world, so if you want to find out how to become more active in any one of our pillars of unionism, if you are interested in racial and social justice, if you are interested in educator excellence, if you are more focused on student success, if you are talking about the bread and butter of our union, fighting for the rights of our educators and our students and our families and communities, go to NEA.org and you will be able to click on whatever drives your passion and you will know how you can lift your voice up and you can become part of a nationwide movement.
Aaron Chapin (08:33):
I'll tell you, when I first started teaching, and it was a long time ago, but I honestly didn't know that I was allowed to be part of advocating and changing the world. I was busy, but I was in my classroom. I didn't know that that was something that a teacher could do. And it wasn't until my local president at the time urged me to come out in where I live and advocate to stop the drastic cuts that were happening in education at the time, and that's what set it off. It was great. It was a whole new world opened up in being an educator.
Jeff Nye (09:08):
All it is somebody asking. You find that person who has that drive and just feed them the information that we have, and they will find a path to get where they're comfortable in becoming that activist.
Becky Pringle (09:22):
Right. And they can get involved at any level. For me, it was fighting for my five-year-old son, who at the time, my superintendent wanted to put thirty-three kids in his kindergarten class. Now, that was not okay. And as I lifted up my voice, just like you, Aaron, my local president came to me and said, "Becky, you've got a big mouth. You need to be involved in the union." And my five-year-old's now forty-three years old, and I went from local president to NEA president. So it just takes an ask and there's a place for everyone in our union.
Aaron Chapin (09:59):
Exactly. I got an easy question for you.
Becky Pringle (10:02):
Yes.
Aaron Chapin (10:02):
So a lot of our members, a lot of our listeners don't know you as well as, say, Jeff, Rachael and myself. What's with the color purple? Why is that your color?
Becky Pringle (10:15):
Well, as a science teacher, I think about the calmness of blue combined with the red hot fire of red.
Aaron Chapin (10:28):
Wow.
Becky Pringle (10:28):
Yeah, right? To combine to make purple. So I think you all would agree. That is a perfect description of me, so there's that. But when I think of purple, I think of passion and I think of purpose, and most especially, I think of power. And I don't know how many people got a chance to see the movie The Color Purple. I had forgotten about it. I'd read the book and I saw it before, but a banned author, Alice Walker. Can I just say I never speak without quoting a banned author? So I'm going to quote Alice Walker right now. That you off God if you walk past a field of purple and don't notice it. Now, I think you can't walk past purple anything and not notice it, not know, just know everything is about that power and passion and purpose.
Aaron Chapin (11:27):
Wow. I didn't know all that. I just knew you liked it, and you look good in purple.
Becky Pringle (11:33):
Yes, thank you.
Aaron Chapin (11:35):
I've got another one for you. So back in December, our team had our first house of delegates in Pittsburgh, and it was pretty awesome. It was amazing to stand there.
Becky Pringle (11:46):
I heard you were amazing.
Aaron Chapin (11:47):
I was all right, but thank you very much. But it was an honor just to stand there and run that delegation for that weekend. So what do you love most about being the chair of NEA's Representative Assembly?
Becky Pringle (12:00):
Well, for those who don't know, it is a gathering of 7,000 teachers and bus drivers and nurses and counselors and school secretaries and paraprofessionals, and aspiring educators, retired members, higher ed members, everyone coming together. They actually are the highest-covering body of the NEA. They set the policy of the NEA, so when people say to me, "That NEA," you are the NEA. It is a representative body that's elected by members throughout this country. I have to tell you, the first time, the most fun I had was when I said into the mic, "Shhh." And a hall of 7,000 educators, because you know we like to talk, just got quiet. But it always fills me with so much pride that the people who are elected by our members come there not only to pass action items to direct us in terms of our budget or in terms of the action we're going to take on our resolutions, but they come there to connect with each other and to learn and grow together, and to have fun.
Rachael West (13:16):
The RA was one of the first events I attended as an active member, and to go to a house of Delegates and then the next event be the RA, it is quite an experience.
Becky Pringle (13:30):
It's mind-blowing, isn't it?
Rachael West (13:31):
It is. And to see all of our members and to hear some of the priorities of NEA and how our members set those, I know that one of PSEA's and also one of NEA's top priorities is getting more people of color to enter the education profession. And in your opinion, as an educator, why is representation in our schools and classrooms so important for our students of color and even our students who are not of color?
Becky Pringle (13:59):
You know, Rachael, as educators, we understand the power of diversity. We understand the importance of having both that mirror so our kids can see themselves, but also a window so they can see others. And so not only do we as educators, we know that to be right, but we actually now have evidence that supports that when you have a diverse workforce, it not only has an impact on those students of color because we talk about that a lot. But it also has an impact on White students as well, because we can see their progress throughout the years when they've had a Black teacher or a Latina teacher, or they have had a teacher who comes from a different geographic background than them. They've had a man in the elementary school years. They've had a teacher who identifies as LGBTQ+. When you have that diversity, it is absolutely critical that our students see it so they are actually prepared to be the leaders of a just society. It impacts all of them and we have that evidence now to talk about the success they have later in their schooling and in life.
Aaron Chapin (15:24):
Absolutely.
Jeff Nye (15:24):
It is great to hear all of those things you say because we had that conversation. As a matter of fact, last night, shameless plug, we had our Thoughtful Thursdays for all of our local leaders last night. Please check your inbox for an email from us to join us, but we talked about that exact issue, that it's diversity by every level. We were talking about males in the elementary level, because a lot of times, students just don't see that kind of representation.
Becky Pringle (15:51):
They don't, and when I saw my first female chemistry teacher, it made all the difference, so yeah.
Aaron Chapin (15:57):
Absolutely. And it's something we struggle here in Pennsylvania. Diversity in our classrooms is just horrendous. It doesn't exist. And here at PSEA, there's only so much we can do. We're trying to get students into education to begin with. We have educators rising, which is something that we're really trying to cultivate a brand new generation of educators, because the diversity is just not existent. I mean, 7% of our educators are teachers of color, and that's just unacceptable in Pennsylvania.
Becky Pringle (16:34):
What you're doing with fighting to make sure that our aspiring educators are getting paid when they're going through student teaching, any kind of economic impact affects students of color and aspiring educators of color at a greater degree. So if we're talking about student loan debt or we're talking about the fact that so many of our students of color come into school and cannot either finish or they certainly can't go into teaching.
Aaron Chapin (17:06):
Absolutely.
Becky Pringle (17:06):
Because we're fighting for higher salaries for them because they don't have that generational wealth. So the kinds of strategies that PSEA is thinking about and doing and advocating for actually reflect what we've heard our aspiring educators say to us would make a difference for particularly aspiring educators of color to go into and to stay in.
Aaron Chapin (17:34):
And I know our aspiring educators in Pennsylvania, they heard that loud and clear from aspiring educators from across the nation through NEA. And so that's where NEA is making a difference here in Pennsylvania, and we're grateful in an episode in the very near future, we're going to have our aspiring educators in here. They're going to be telling the stories and how this recent legislation, this success is really going to change lives beyond belief, so it's great.
Jeff Nye (18:00):
And the legislation was not only just for our student teachers, but also for our cooperating teachers. We actually got our cooperating teachers a stipend as well to take care of them, because they are the ones that are tutoring that next generation. I mean, that is so key in everything.
Becky Pringle (18:14):
And they're spending time to do it, yes.
Aaron Chapin (18:16):
Absolutely.
Jeff Nye (18:17):
So President Pringle, I have our bonus pop quiz question for you. Now, there's no wrong answer so don't worry about it too much. It is a two-part question though so listen to both parts.
Becky Pringle (18:30):
Okay.
Jeff Nye (18:30):
Okay, are you ready? Okay. So which state affiliate is your favorite? And the second part is, and why is it PSEA?
Becky Pringle (18:43):
Are we live? Shhh, don't tell the others.
Aaron Chapin (18:48):
I'm sure Delaware's listening. Don't worry.
Becky Pringle (18:53):
And they know it. They know it. I say it into the microphone in front of 7,000 people with PSEA standing and cheering, cheering my grandbaby on this year to dance at the RA. That was hilarious, wasn't it hilarious?
Aaron Chapin (19:07):
That was fantastic.
Rachael West (19:07):
She was spectacular.
Becky Pringle (19:09):
But yeah, PSEA of course is near and dear to my heart, not just because as an organization, they supported me throughout my leadership journey. I will never forget my first week at Gettysburg. Wow, what an eye-opening experience that was, right?
Aaron Chapin (19:33):
Absolutely.
Becky Pringle (19:34):
It absolutely was, but they supported me throughout. And then the thing about PSEA is that they create a culture of caring and connection. That is absolutely critical in these jobs. Whether we have a position that has a title to it or not, if you step up and step out and you're advocating for your students and for your colleagues and for communities, you need that kind of support, and that's what PSEA does. It's a strong, powerful union for sure, but it is a caring and compassionate one as well.
Aaron Chapin (20:15):
Go ahead.
Jeff Nye (20:15):
Well, thank you so much for saying that, but you know what? We learned from everything that we experience as well, and from the local leaders all the way up to the state leaders, we're looking at people like you that run the NEA and all of the conferences and all of the opportunities and all of the wisdom that you guys have to share with us, and it just makes it real easy for us to pass that along to somebody else. So thank you so much for everything that you do.
Becky Pringle (20:40):
Oh, well, I appreciate it. I have lifelong friends that could tell stories, but they won't.
Aaron Chapin (20:47):
That's another episode. The Secrets of Becky Pringle.
Becky Pringle (20:50):
The Secrets of... Ooh.
Rachael West (20:52):
A whole nother day.
Becky Pringle (20:53):
Stay tuned.
Aaron Chapin (20:54):
Well...
Becky Pringle (20:55):
But thank you. Thank you, thank you.
Aaron Chapin (20:57):
You got it.
Becky Pringle (20:58):
I love PSEA and I love my PSEA officers.
Aaron Chapin (21:02):
Well, stop blushing. Well, unfortunately, look, we could do this longer, but your time is precious and we're going to have to wrap this up. So our guest, everybody, has been NEA president, Becky Pringle. It's always a pleasure, Becky. We can't wait till you come back and do this again.
Becky Pringle (21:21):
Yay.
Aaron Chapin (21:21):
I know you've got a busy year ahead of you, but we can't wait till you come back. And thanks to all of our listeners for tuning in. If you have feedback, and again, if you have questions or maybe you want advice from Jeff.
Jeff Nye (21:31):
Ooh.
Aaron Chapin (21:31):
I know.
Jeff Nye (21:32):
I have lots of it.
Aaron Chapin (21:33):
Please, you've got to share it by emailing us at podcast@psea.org. I'm Aaron Chapin.
Jeff Nye (21:40):
And I'm Jeff Nye.
Rachael West (21:41):
And I'm Rachael West.
Aaron Chapin (21:42):
And you've been listening to Duty Free Lunch. Bye for now.
Voiceover (21:48):
You've been listening to Duty Free Lunch with the Pennsylvania State Education Association. Visit psea.org/podcast to learn more, and don't forget to subscribe and share. Paid for by the Pennsylvania State Education Association.