Local 212 Retirees Answer AFT National's Call for Help!

Three Local 212 Retiree Chapter members, Barbara Toles, Preston Baity, and Bob Transon traveled to Fort Lauderdale, Florida last week after we received calls from AFT National and AFT Wisconsin informing us that AFT was looking for volunteers to go to Broward County to help the Broward Teachers Union (BTU) with canvassing the County. The purpose of the canvassing was to try to locate over 5000 missing students. The students were enrolled in Broward County Public Schools last year, but did not enroll for the 2021-2022 school year and had not formally withdrawn. Upon our arrival, that number doubled to 10,000 due to another 5000 who are having serious attendance issues this early in the school year.

For the first few days, our Local 212 volunteers visited elementary and high schools to recruit volunteers for the weekend canvass. A good number of teachers showed up along with some administrators, school board members, and the new superintendent of schools. The canvass was successful. BTU was able to find out what happened with many of the students who had not returned to school. Our retirees were pleased to assist our fellow union members.