Middle school instructional aide and North East ESP President Michael Spellman has only worked in his district for one year, and he's been president for almost as long. Hear how he turned his local association around and increased membership by more than 350% in that short time. Hosted by PSEA President Aaron Chapin and Vice President Jeff Ney.
Middle school instructional aide and North East ESP President Michael Spellman has only worked in his district for one year, and he's been president for almost as long. Hear how he turned his local association around and increased membership by more than 350% in that short time. Hosted by PSEA President Aaron Chapin and Vice President Jeff Ney.
Do you have some feedback for us? Send an email to podcast@psea.org.
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 (00:23):
Hello and welcome to another episode of Duty Free Lunch. I am PSEA President Aaron Chapin, and today I'm here with PSEA Vice President Jeff Ney. How's it going, Jeff?
Jeff Ney (00:37):
Oh, man. It's going great, Aaron. How are you doing?
Aaron Chapin (00:39):
Oh, man. It's another great day here in Harrisburg, and it's a little weird in here.
Jeff Ney (00:46):
It is a little weird.
Aaron Chapin (00:47):
It's just the two of us. We don't even have a guest.
Jeff Ney (00:50):
It's kind of quiet.
Aaron Chapin (00:51):
Well, rest assured everybody, we do have a guest. We're just doing things a little differently. As our podcast progresses, so does our technology. We're able to have guests calling in from home or wherever they may be. So, today's guest will be calling from afar. We'll talk about that very shortly. Do you want to do a little spring training baseball talk?
Jeff Ney (01:14):
I'd rather talk about the NCAA tournament.
Aaron Chapin (01:18):
Oh, Pirates, Phillies, who's going further?
Jeff Ney (01:21):
Well, it's not going to be the Pirates, because they can't keep anybody.
Aaron Chapin (01:23):
Well, here's the thing. Some of our listeners could be listening to this in August, and it could already be over for the Pirates.
Jeff Ney (01:30):
Yeah.
Aaron Chapin (01:31):
Maybe the Phillies.
Jeff Ney (01:32):
Listen, they could listen to this in May, and it could be over for the Pirates.
Aaron Chapin (01:35):
It could be. It could be. Well, we should probably get started. We can talk about the tournament, but again, this could be August and they'll be wondering what tournament you're referring to, so I understand.
(01:45)
Well, today, as we mentioned, our guest is calling from afar. The funny thing about PSEA is we've got a Northwest region and a Northeastern region.
Jeff Ney (01:55):
We do.
Aaron Chapin (01:56):
And in the Northeastern region, we've got a Northwest local.
Jeff Ney (01:58):
We do.
Aaron Chapin (01:59):
And then in the Northwest region, we've got a Northeast local.
Jeff Ney (02:02):
Very confusing.
Aaron Chapin (02:02):
Actually, we have two. An EA and an ESP. Well, today, we are going to be speaking with a middle school instructional aide from the Northeast ESP local, and it's president of that local, it's Michael Spellman. And Michael is going to be joining us over the phone, as I said, from his home in Northeast, which of course is in the Far Northwest.
Jeff Ney (02:24):
Northwest.
Aaron Chapin (02:24):
It's very confusing, but we just educated our listeners. We're bringing Michael in today because he has done some amazing work to turn around his struggling local association. He's increased his membership by over 350%.
Jeff Ney (02:39):
Holy cow.
Aaron Chapin (02:40):
I know. And that's just in the last year.
Jeff Ney (02:43):
Oh my goodness.
Aaron Chapin (02:43):
I know. So, we're going to get some info on how he did it and also how he did it in his first year of education.
Jeff Ney (02:50):
First year?
Aaron Chapin (02:51):
This is his first.
Jeff Ney (02:51):
My goodness.
Aaron Chapin (02:53):
I know. So, let's welcome to the show, Michael Spellman. Good afternoon, Michael.
Michael Spellman (02:59):
Good afternoon. Thank you for having me.
Aaron Chapin (03:00):
Oh, my gosh, it is great having you on. We've heard about your story and we had to get you on as quickly as possible. Well, as quickly as our technology would allow it. So, it is great to have you. We can't wait to share your story with our members today. So, let's just get into it because we've got a lot of questions for you.
(03:18)
So, fun question that we do like to ask a lot of our guests on this podcast, and especially to our new members. Michael, what motivated you to get into education in the first place?
Michael Spellman (03:32):
Well, I was a stay at home dad. My husband and I adopted a daughter who had some severe medical needs and dealing mostly with fetal alcohol syndrome and global developmental delays. And she has a G-tube, which she doesn't eat orally. And about two or three years into her life, she got diagnosed with autism.
(04:04)
I've been a stay home dad about throughout three years and was just on Facebook. I was telling my husband, "I think we've got a good routine. I'm ready to get back to work." But I didn't want to stray too far from the home because she was home 24 hours with medical nursing. And I was like, "I just don't want to be too far away."
(04:30)
One day I got on Facebook while laying in bed and watching TV and I saw our Northeast School District post that they were looking for someone in the autism support classroom. I have experience with special needs students, and my son was in that building as well. And I was like, "Well, I can help him along with his education." Much to his chagrin, of course, because he's at the time, a 12 or 13-year-old kid.
(05:03)
So, I applied and I was like, "I'm either here or not here." And the next day I got a phone call and they wanted to interview me. I was in an interview the next day and hired on the spot, but it went from there and I loved every minute of it.
Jeff Ney (05:19):
Wow, that's fantastic. So, I just want to make sure that I get our story straight for our listeners. So now, you only started in the district, you answered that ad on Facebook a year ago, right?
Michael Spellman (05:30):
March 3rd was my hire date, so I just had my one-year anniversary a couple of weeks ago.
Jeff Ney (05:36):
And then you decided that you were going to take over this local that probably was struggling for membership and stuff like that, and went over a very, we'll call them suspicious colleagues of everything that the union was doing and convinced most of them to join you with your PSEA local. Is that correct?
Michael Spellman (05:57):
Yeah. Yeah. Actually, it's funny because I had been working for a couple of months. And I knew, obviously, the teachers have a union. I knew growing up in my own high school that the teachers had a union. I did not know that our support staff had a union until end of April, beginning of May when I walked into the room and there was a flyer on my desk inviting me to a meeting for the union.
(06:24)
I said, "Look, was there a probationary period? Why am I just now finding out about this?" So, the other aide in the classroom and I went to the meeting. There wasn't a lot of people there. They were pleading for people to step up and help out. And anything I've ever done, I've always immersed myself.
(06:48)
So, I was looking to join Aqua School Clubs as an advisor, something. So, we go to this meeting and they're pleading. And at the end of the meeting, I walked up and the other aide and I, "Hey, we'd be willing to help." There are two people doing four offices, so they were looking for a secretary or someone to be vice president. So, I said I didn't want to be too ambitious, so I said, "I would do secretary or anything but treasury. I don't budget my own book."
Aaron Chapin (07:32):
Well, and that's not an unusual set of circumstances, Michael. We have a lot of locals. And again, we have over 1,000 locals, EA and ESP across the state where there are vacancies, and they're just pleading with members to step up and be part of making change within your union.
Michael Spellman (07:53):
Right. Well, and between our two associations, our support staff and our teachers, our teacher association has I think a 99% membership. So, it was such a contract. I'm thinking, "Our teachers are working with our aides every day, why are they so involved, and why are we not involved?"
(08:18)
I've always been creative and I've always, like I said, been ambitious, and I knew that we could change this, but I honestly did not expect to become president as quick as I did. I'm glad that I did. It's been working out great, but it just wasn't something that I had thought was going to happen.
Jeff Ney (08:39):
Interesting.
Aaron Chapin (08:40):
I know that story well. It happens to a lot of us. The path chooses you.
Jeff Ney (08:47):
And just sometimes, your own background leads you down that path. Same as for me, if I understand correctly, both your parents were in unions, right?
Michael Spellman (08:57):
Yeah, they were. Both of my parents worked for Welch's and Northeast PA has the largest plant. The largest Welch's plant out of three or four of them. And for most of my upbringing, my parents have just worked there and they were in the union. My dad was diagnosed with cancer when I was in high school, he had prostate cancer.
(09:26)
So, his medical bills and insurance became greater burden to Welch's, I believe. And he ended up actually getting fired. They found a small technicality and they were able to fire him. I mean, he was out of work for almost a year. His union fought and fought the platform [inaudible 00:09:50] the engagement, and they were able to get him his job back.
Aaron Chapin (09:54):
Wow. Excellent.
Michael Spellman (09:56):
So, I not only pretty much grew up in a union family, I have admiration of the utmost respect for unions of any kind. And it's because of stuff like that, stories like that where they've helped families. And as president, I have helped so many myself that I'm thankful that I've been there to be able to do that.
Jeff Ney (10:22):
And that's great that you have that background. You saw how it helped your family. So, again, it probably led to you wanting to take over your local.
Aaron Chapin (10:29):
Yeah. I mean, look, I had similar background. My own grandfather who worked up in Massachusetts on the power lines and part of the union, and there were a few times the union came in and they saved him from something that he shouldn't be brought against. I think that's something that our union here at PSEA does quite often across this Commonwealth. We do it every single week. We are there protecting our members from injustice in the end.
Jeff Ney (10:55):
Absolutely.
Aaron Chapin (10:56):
So, tell me, Michael, how do you go about building trust with your colleagues to get them to join? Because I know for a lot of our local leaders out there, whether they're president or they're in their leaderships positions in their unions, it's a challenge. How do you build that trust with your colleagues?
Michael Spellman (11:14):
Well, so to start, I had to figure out why they didn't trust us. I knew we had about six paying members. And at every meeting, we had people that were showing up to ...
Aaron Chapin (11:24):
Six. You said six? Wow.
Michael Spellman (11:27):
Six paying members. Yeah. But the funny thing was at these meetings, we would have 12 or 13 people showing up. A lot of times, we had more non-paying members coming to meetings than we did paying members. My first thought was, "All right, why don't they trust us?" Obviously, I've only been there at that point less than a year. So, there was a reason that they're not joining, but why are they coming to the meetings? And that intrigued me to no end. I'm like, "Why are these people showing up that they don't want to join?"
(12:06)
And at every meeting, someone would speak up and they were, "Well, this happened to me and this is why I'm not joining." But why are you still coming was my question. And I think that for the most part, they wanted to trust us. They wanted the union, they believe in union, but whatever had happened in the past was enough to keep them on that fence and not getting them to jump off and join.
(12:31)
So, I dug into it. Obviously, I knew people that had worked here. My son went to, before the middle school, he was in the elementary center, and I knew the secretary there pretty well. So, I'd gone to her and I talked to her and she led into me. She really is one of my driving forces of why I do what I do. Because over the last few contracts, the secretaries in our district didn't gain anything, and all they did was lose. They lost vacation, they lost paid.
(13:11)
And we have a secretary in the high school who has been here for 20, 30 years, I think, and people coming into the district who are making, if not a dollar less, the same amount as her. And I think things like that past leadership was one big thing. I dealt with something that was past the grievance period and really past the period of doing kind of anything to this person, but I'm trying to prove myself. I said, "Let me just let you be heard and see what I can do."
(13:53)
And in talking to this person, I found out that she had a very grievable offense and something that could have probably been easily fixed. But past leadership, whether they didn't know what they're doing or they didn't want to step up and say, "Hey, this isn't fair, we need to fix this." Whatever their reasoning was, pretty much told this person, "We are not going to do anything. We're not going to file a grievance. We're not going to go up against the admin." And it's a lot of little stories like that, that culminated into one big mistrust for our union.
Aaron Chapin (14:35):
Yeah, I get it.
Jeff Ney (14:37):
Yeah. So, Michael, tell me, you started with six paying members. How many up to now?
Michael Spellman (14:44):
At last count, we were 26.
Aaron Chapin (14:45):
Wow.
Jeff Ney (14:46):
Fantastic.
Michael Spellman (14:46):
It doesn't sound like a lot, but I've been able to get 20 people who's taking a lot.
Jeff Ney (14:54):
Michael, no, that sounds very impressive because to try to get members who come to meetings and want to be heard, but now start becoming contributing members to the local, that's very, very important for all of our listeners, because it all starts with those conversations. Those one-on-one conversations. And one leads to two, two leads to four, and this is how you build a strong local.
Aaron Chapin (15:13):
It starts one member at a time.
Jeff Ney (15:15):
Absolutely.
Aaron Chapin (15:16):
One member at a time.
Jeff Ney (15:17):
Now, do you cover multiple categories in your ESP local, or is it just one category of member?
Michael Spellman (15:25):
We have four different departments. So, we have secretary, we have aides, we have dining hall and cafeteria, and we have transportation.
Jeff Ney (15:34):
So, then what was your hook? I mean, what did you use to increase that membership to build that group up to where you have it now within your union?
Michael Spellman (15:46):
I started at the very beginning of when I started, no one talked to me about our union. No one let me even know there was a union. So, I'm like, "All right, maybe the problem is we do have a high turnaround in our district." So, I thought, "Maybe they just don't know we exist." So, I started sending emails probably two or three times a week.
Aaron Chapin (16:10):
That's it.
Michael Spellman (16:12):
Saying, "Hey, we are here. We're doing this thing. I apologize for anything that happened in the past." And I've had meetings where I've started with, "It's in the past. I'm sorry it happened. We can't do anything about it, but let's fix it now."
Aaron Chapin (16:30):
That's awesome.
Michael Spellman (16:31):
I've had to apologize for things that I wasn't even around for, and I'm fine with doing that just because a lot of people were mistreated or just not handled correctly.
Aaron Chapin (16:45):
No. Listen, communication is your best tool as a local leader.
Jeff Ney (16:50):
And as an effective leader, you do take a lot of stuff on your shoulder, even though you may not have been involved in it, but that's what leaders do. You take it on your shoulder, you say, "You know what? I'm sorry that, that happened to you in the past. But you know what, that was then, this is now. I'm here now, I'm here to listen to you, and let's make some things change for the future." I think that's an excellent way to lead.
Aaron Chapin (17:10):
Yeah. Yeah. So, tell me, Michael.
Michael Spellman (17:11):
Yeah, absolutely.
Aaron Chapin (17:14):
Well, think over the past year. What's an accomplishment that you're most proud of? It could be a local president or even as the instructional aide position. What are you most proud of over the past 12 months?
Michael Spellman (17:27):
That's tough. It sounds weird. So, I'm in a room where I'm not in a classroom where the bell is ringing, and classes are changing, and new kids are coming in. We're in the sixth grade hallway there. Our kids, they have some behavior, so they're not switching out in classes really.
(17:59)
The fact that I've been able to ... I walk down the hall and kids are, "Hey, Mr. Mike or Mr. Spellman." And these kids are getting to know me, and I'm not focused just solely on my classroom. That is a huge part of my day, but I'm out there making sure if I'm walking down the hall ... This just happened yesterday. I was walking down the hall and a girl was sitting on the floor and she had a group of friends around her, and I know she's crying. I said, "What's going on?" And it was just a matter of stopping and talking to her. "Let's go." I took her to her classroom. I said, "Hey, I'm taking her to the office. She's going to talk to the counselor. Is that okay?"
(18:36)
And just talking to her and getting down there. And by the time we're down there, we're laughing and joking. I think being able to connect with coworkers and kids has been my favorite and most awesome part of this job, and trying to stay out of my son's way so that he can also grow on his own.
Aaron Chapin (18:59):
Well, our schools, whether it's a building or a district, it's the community. It is a true community when you're in your building. It is, it's one of the best parts of being an educator or a support professional, in my opinion, is that community feel.
Jeff Ney (19:17):
Yeah. During this past march, Rachel, Erin, and I got the opportunity to join a lot of our fellow educators in a lot of the schools all across the state. And Michael, what you just described is happening so many different places and it makes such a big impact on our students. You don't even have to have that student in your classroom, but you know what? You took the time and you made a connection with somebody, and they're going to remember that for a very, very long time.
Aaron Chapin (19:43):
I was just thinking the same thing, Jeff. I was just thinking over this past month, we've been so many places and I ... Look, I've loved reading to our students. It's been fun, but it's actually I think just as equally as rewarding for me is seeing our colleagues interact with each other, and how they interact with the kids. Seeing the principals in so many of the buildings I were in where they were such a big part of it, and we had all of us staff in the office. It was like everybody coming together as one. Go ahead.
Michael Spellman (20:14):
I was going to say that's the nice thing about our district is, and I tell my people all the time, "We have such a great group of admin that it doesn't have to be us against them." Our principals in all three buildings are simply amazing. Our superintendent, you will constantly see her walking the halls. She's not just in her office and they're engaged. I mean, they want to know what's going on.
(20:43)
I see them stop and they're talking to kids and they're treating them as equals without losing that authority, which is nice to see because I think that's just what kids want these days is with social media and all these new tech and law school advances that I didn't have as a kid. I think they view themselves as equals, and they should, but knowing that there's that line where, okay, we're going to treat you as a human being, but we're not going to cross this line, I think definitely helped.
Aaron Chapin (21:16):
We have so many schools across the Commonwealth where we do have great administrators that are part of a team. I love to hear what you just said about your own school, your own school district. It's just our kids today need it more than ever in this crazy world, but at this point, we're slowly running out of time. So, Jeff, pop quiz time.
Jeff Ney (21:40):
Oh, I love pop quiz time.
Aaron Chapin (21:41):
Go ahead.
Jeff Ney (21:41):
So, Michael, all of the great leaders that we've had the opportunity to talk to, we tell them to think back on their leadership journey, and usually there is something that if you could go back in time and do it differently, you would. Now, I know you've only been in your leadership role for a year, but even in that year, is there anything that you can think back upon and say, "You know what, I wish I would have done this differently?"
Michael Spellman (22:05):
Yeah. I wish that I would have studied our bylaws and our contract a lot harder, because there was a hiccup with me becoming president where the current president had run a meeting and opened it up to non-paying members to vote. So, we had to do the elections all over again.
(22:28)
And for a month, about month and a half, I was sweating it, man. They were like, "All right, you're the acting president, but this might only be a month and a half." So, I was like, "I've either got two years or a month and a half to make this count." Luckily, when it came time for the reelection, I got all but three votes, but I definitely would have done it right the first time and not sweated for that month and a half.
Aaron Chapin (22:57):
Well, let me tell you, and it's good advice for our listeners out there, read your contracts, read your contract, read your contract, and you got a set a constitution bylaws for your local too. You should read those as well. It's super helpful. So, it's good to hear that.
Jeff Ney (23:12):
Absolutely. It's what makes all of our locals run.
Michael Spellman (23:16):
Absolutely.
Aaron Chapin (23:16):
Unfortunately, we are all out of time. Our guest has been Northeast ESP President, Michael Spellman. It has been wonderful talking with you, Michael. Thank you for sharing your stories and be willing to talk with us on this podcast, and keep up the excellent work.
Jeff Ney (23:34):
Absolutely wonderful.
Michael Spellman (23:35):
Absolutely. Thank you guys for having me so much. I appreciate it.
Aaron Chapin (23:39):
Oh, yeah. And thank you to all of our listeners for tuning in. You got some feedback, got some questions, got some comments about the podcast, maybe you need advice from Jeff.
Jeff Ney (23:46):
I'm still waiting for the advice.
Aaron Chapin (23:48):
He's still waiting for his first email asking for advice.
Jeff Ney (23:51):
Come on.
Aaron Chapin (23:51):
Come on, someone has got to do it. All you got to do is send us an email to podcast@psea.org. Unfortunately, that's it for us. I'm Aaron Chapin.
Jeff Ney (24:02):
And I'm Jeff Ney.
Aaron Chapin (24:03):
And you have been listening to Duty Free Lunch. Bye for now.
Voiceover (24:10):
You've been listening to Duty Free Lunch with the Pennsylvania State Education Association. Visit psa.org/podcast to learn more, and don't forget to subscribe and share. Paid for by the Pennsylvania State Education Association.