It all started in January 2024. Inspired by the strength of Durham’s district-wide Organizing Committee (OC), ACAE members decide they have to develop a similar structure. A few weeks later, during an early OC meeting, phones started to buzz all over the classroom of ACAE Vice President Tracey Barrett as Asheville City Schools sent an email to employees sharing her decision to close an elementary school for construction.
School closures are particularly sensitive because ACS had already closed two other buildings in the past three years.
“There was a pattern of multiple superintendents and central office figures making reactionary final decisions without staff input,” said Carson Bridges, Organizing Committee Team Lead
Everyone started freaking out, but Tracey rallied the team around the idea of going back to their buildings and talking to their folks about this very agitational issue. Out of those conversations, the team grew significantly, shifting its perspective. Frustrated with the district's top-down decision-making, the team concluded that staff need a formal voice.
Right away, ACAE leaders initiated a petition, calling for a formal voice for the staff and opposing the closure of the elementary school. Within four days, a majority of employees have signed the petition. The OC drafted a letter that all Family Teacher Organization (FTO) presidents would eventually sign.
Things moved fast, and this all happened in the middle of budget season and ACAE’s campaign to reach majority membership. They held a press conference, spoke at the school board, and within a week the superintendent retracted her decision to close the school.
A few weeks later, members returned to the school board to present their first draft of a meet and confer policy, which they call Meet, Confer, and Collaborate (MCC). Tracey said the team represents a full cross-section of members.
“Four out of six of us were ACS alumni who are also staff. We were raised here. We are of this place. This is what we’re asking for,” described Carson.
The first presentation to the school board was the hardest part of the whole campaign. According to Carson, not only did they have to make the argument that this is in the best interest of staff and students, but they had to get their school board to “be brave and be the first to do it.”
The response from the board wasn’t great. At the end of the 2023-24 school year, the superintendent counters ACAE’s proposal with an offer of little more than a quarterly meeting between ACAE and the super.
“People in power don’t want to share their power,” said Carson.
But ACAE members didn’t back down. They spent the summer meeting with various board members to push the idea of an actual MCC policy. They held a rally where students, parents, and educators spoke in support of the policy. In a surprising shift, the local newspaper published an article titled, “Asheville school board chair backs historic change: pay, staffing, power for teachers.”
Tim Lloyd, President of ACAE, remembered that moment as a turning point in the campaign. “We expected a lot of pushback but to hear that the school board was so much in favor of it, we knew we had momentum.”
That’s when things started to feel real. The OC headed into the 2024-25 school year with an ambitious goal and a new petition calling on the school board to enact a Meet and Confer policy by November. ACAE made a hard push to collect a majority of staff signatures and photos. On the day they were set to deliver it, Hurricane Helene hit Western North Carolina, devastating the region and shutting down schools for a total of 19 school days in Asheville City alone.
Organizing efforts immediately turned to the basic needs of students, families, and coworkers. ACAE members banded together to support clean up efforts and resource distribution. They held recess days in an effort to offer kids some sense of normalcy and a chance to see their friends from school. Meanwhile, every staff person was dealing with their personal losses and devastations. Potable water wasn’t restored for 58 days, and students and staff couldn’t drink from the fountains in any Asheville City schools until early March.
The deadline for an MCC policy in November came and went. Just before winter break, they finally get an update from the school board, but it wasn’t good. The board had met with their lawyers and were scared away from anything resembling an MCC policy.
In January, they begin the strenuous work of rebuilding the Organizing Committee. The first order of business was sending back a counter offer with the real MCC policy. They met regularly with the superintendent, who, in turn, met often with the board. Finally, there was real progress.
The OC made a list of their non-negotiables and by late February they reached an understanding with the Superintendent, who presented final language to the school board at the beginning of March. The school board chair called it a “win for the district.”
On Monday, March 17 the Superintendent joined ACAE members for a joint press conference. It was a well-earned victory, but that’s only the beginning. It’s up to ACAE members to take full advantage of their new power and formal voice.
“There’s still work to do to organize and prepare people to come to a negotiation space,” said Carson. “We as North Carolinians don't have those skills because we haven’t been allowed to have them. It's going to be messy, but it’s so much better than having nothing.”
Editor’s note: Meet and confer creates a process for public school staff to have a formal representative voice to improve working conditions and student learning conditions. The meet and confer team of elected union members and administrators creates policy and other recommendations for adoption by administration and/or the school board. Southern states like NC adopted laws banning Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA) when adopting Jim Crow laws.
