By GENEVA WHITMARSH Daily Press Staff Writer
Walking into Harry Keiley’s Santa Monica office is like cracking open a book about his life.
The 41-year-old president of the Santa Monica-Malibu Classroom Teachers Association displays a wooden name plaque behind his desk from his days as a history teacher. A painting created by a student hangs on one wall and on the opposite wall is a framed poster of lower Manhattan.
“A teacher from Malibu High School gave me that,” Keiley explained. “She said, ‘Never forget where you came from.’”
On the rear wall, there are diplomas, awards and a picture of the woman he plans to marry in October.
“This is L.A., so of course we met at the Coffee Bean,” he jokes. “She said I was aloof enough for her to be interested.”
Keiley, who is the first child in his family to graduate college, is starting his third and final term as president of the teachers’ association — a job that requires an intimate knowledge of the hardships facing today’s teachers.
What is your background? “I was born and raised in Forest Hills, N.Y., which is in Queens. I’m one of six children. My mother was a housewife; my father was a worker for the New York telephone company. I was the first from my family to graduate from college. I graduated from St. Joseph’s College in downtown Brooklyn — political science major, secondary education minor.
“Interesting thing is that when I was going to college in Brooklyn, I worked as a janitor during the summer months. I cleaned bathrooms, and I got a real sense of what it’s like to do that type of manual labor.
“I did my student teaching with Paul Kaufman at Brooklyn Tech High School from 1985–86. I’ll never forget Mr.
Kaufman. In a lot of ways, he reminded me of my father. He was the same generation as my dad — Korean War veteran. He had been teaching about 30 years at the time, and he was an excellent teacher. He never raised his voice in the entire year I student taught with him. He told me it’d take about five years to find my own way as a teacher.
“I was a good teacher — am a good teacher. I love kids. I think public education is the cornerstone of democracy in our free world. Quality public education is the great equalizer for all of us.
“I was offered a job right out of college, and I wanted to leave New York and see another part of the country, so I moved to Southern California and fell in love with Santa Monica. I had an ice cream down at Swenson’s on Ocean Avenue, looked at Palisades Park, looked at the Pacific Ocean and said to myself, ‘This is the city I want to live in.’
“I was very fortunate to be hired by the school district in 1991-92 at John Adams Middle School. I took a leave of absence, then came back and taught at Malibu High School and summer school at Samohi.
“And since I’ve been in California, obviously I’ve gone back to school a couple times. I got a master’s degree from Loyola Marymont in special education, and about four years ago, I received a master’s degree in educational policy leadership administration from Cal-State Northridge. So, I have a lot of education behind me.
“I’ve taught for a total of about 12 years, and four years ago, I was elected the president of our local teachers’ union. Now, I’m a full-time release president, which means I am not in the classroom. I’m now entering my final two-year term.”
How do you think your background helps you with the role you’re in now?
“Well, I think the skills I have — my background as a high school government teacher, my appreciation for the political process and my commitment to teachers in public education — make this a natural fit. And it’s a tremendous honor and responsibility to be president of this local union, and I say that because of the quality of the teachers that I get to represent everyday.
“These are remarkable people, dedicated, giving of themselves everyday to try and make a difference in the lives of children. And they do it remarkably well and against great obstacles, such as large class sizes. They deal with not having adequate resources, and they’re teaching in a time of tremendous accountability. There’s a lot of pressure and expectations placed upon our teachers, and those expectations and external pressures are often from people who know very little about what it means to be a classroom teacher. There’s a reason why we’re one of the best school districts in this state, and it’s because teachers and classified employees have provided amazing services to the kids.”
Are you able to regularly connect with teachers?
“It’s a good day when I meet a lot of teachers. It’s a real good day for Harry Keiley when he’s in schools, listening to teachers, meeting with teachers or speaking to parents. Schools that work really well — where kids are served well — I’m convinced are places where teachers feel supported and parents are actively involved and engaged in their child’s education.
“A parent/teacher/student partnership is essential. Fortunately, the larger community as well has been unwavering in their support for our public schools — from the elected officials and business community to the parents and the people who don’t have children — their support, and the city’s contributions to our school is simply remarkable. It’s a model for all communities to look at.”
What is your typical day like? “What’s great about this job is that it’s different everyday. This morning, for example, I had the opportunity to speak at the district’s opening for employees, and that’s always a great, great opportunity to meet with all of the teachers and classified employees. There’s probably only one group of folks more anxious about coming back to school than the kids, and that’s the teachers and employees.
“There’s always the work in the office, but leadership doesn’t happen from behind a desk. Leadership happens when you’re out with people, listening to what they have to say. I believe my job is really leadership and serving others and it’s been instilled in me — part of who I am and how I was raised — that doing for others is a great way to live one’s life.
“So, when I’m out of the office, it’s a good day. I’ll meet with the superintendent, I’ll meet with elected officials, I’ll write letters and negotiate contracts. But let me be clear about my role as president: I have the title of president, but our association is effective and powerful because of all of the teachers that serve in a leadership capacity in our union. We have executive board members, we have negotiation team members, we have reps from each school site, we have a human rights committee, we have a communications committee …”
You were voted into this position four years ago. What changes have you seen during that time?
“Possibly the greatest change from my perspective is that the association has been able to build bridges with the larger community. We’ve been able to find ways to allow for disagreement to exist between management and ourselves and still find ways to work on those issues that we agree on.
“We’ve also built bridges to really garner the support and confidence that we need from the community if they’re going to support our schools into the future. That’s been critical. We’re really trying to transform a culture where there was great distrust, animosity and conflict and, in the last four years, find common ground to promote the needs of our students and employees and to make this school district a better place.
“I think we’ve been able to survive the tremendous cuts in state funding — almost $9-10 million in state and federal funding in the last three to four years, the doubling of health care cost, and the ongoing cost of generally just doing business. The fact that the organization has been able to survive that, and not only survive but thrive — students are achieving at levels never seen before in this district — that speaks volumes about who we are as teachers, and who we are as the union.”
What is the union’s membership? “Our membership is about 800. We represent librarians, counselors, teachers, child development teachers, adult education teachers and substitute teachers. If you’re a certificated employee, you’re a member of SMMCTA, and we’re affiliated with the California Teachers Association, which is the largest association/union in the state. We have over 300,000 state members and are also affiliated with the National Education Association.
“We have a great challenge locally, and that is the changing face of our membership. So many of our members are in their first five to seven years of teaching. We have very interesting demographics. The needs of those teachers are in many ways much the same — the need for a professional wage, health care, professional working conditions, and a say on decisions that impact them — as they are for veteran teachers. But then you have separate needs and issues those teachers have that our veteran teachers don’t have. So keeping membership unified regardless of the work you do in the district is important. Whether they’re a kindergarten or adult education teacher, they’re someone with a very difficult job who doesn’t receive the wage they actually deserve. But they work extremely hard, and when we work together our unity is our greatest strength.
“When the veteran teachers retire and new teachers come in, where is this union going to be in five years and what are the needs of our membership? We always have to keep a pulse on the needs of the membership.”
The district has had some tough times financially in the last few years. How does that affect you?
“It’s not only Santa Monica and Malibu. At the state level, estimates are K-12 funding in the last 30 months has been either cut or deferred at upwards of $9 billion. This year alone, K-12 schools are going to achieve $2 billion less than what we’re entitled to under Proposition 98. Locally, state and federal cuts over the last couple years have been close to $9 million. That’s a big, big number. And, simultaneously, there’s been a tremendous spike in health care cost. Clearly, that’s made our job that more difficult because our teachers deserve better wages, they deserve to be the best-paid teachers in the state of California, and they deserve to have the best health care that we can provide. But if the resources aren’t there, you can’t print the money.
“One of the most difficult parts of this job is when we get a call from a member and there’s very little we can do other than just listen. We want to find solutions, but the fact of the matter is that public education in our state is simply under funded.”
Is it a matter of getting the word out?
“I think so, but at the same time, we’ve done that and done a good job at it. I think that’s why we’ve been able to get some money from taxes and been able to convince city council that funding of public schools should be a top priority. Quality public schools equal good communities.”
How closely do you work with city government?
“It’s not that I work very closely with them, but our organization advocates and promotes the need to work with parent groups, the superintendent and the business community to have the city increase its contribution to public schools. We’re forever grateful for what they have done for us, but we also have to be very realistic. In the last three years in the state of California, we have seen the worst economic downturn in our history. We had to be realistic about the fact that public education was going to feel the pain of that downturn, and we have. But as I said earlier, we’ve either seen cuts or deferments of about $9 billion in funding for our schools, so we have paid the price. And in this upcoming fiscal year and in the years ahead, I think the governor and legislature cannot afford anymore cuts to our schools. If we are to provide all kids with the quality education they deserve, we need them to support the schools in a way we deserve.”
What is the best aspect of this job? The worst?
The aspects of the job I enjoy the most is when we’re able to help a teacher. When they have a problem or challenge and we can find a solution, that’s great. On bit larger scale, it’s when we’re able to advance the needs of our membership through negotiations and improve their wages and protect their benefits and make their work environment an even better place for them to be. Being with and listening to teachers is the highlight of the job.
The most difficult part of the job is when we’re not able to solve a teacher’s problem. Say a teacher contacts us looking for a solution and the best thing we can do is simply listen to them — that’s tough. Seeing some of the obstacles placed in a teacher’s path on a daily basis is very difficult. High school teachers, for example, are working with 175-180 kids a day. Ask any adult what they’d least like to do, and ask if they want to spend a day with 180 teenagers … That’s a tough job. And middle school teachers — ask any parent about the challenges of raising a middle school child.
What’s in your future? “There’s a part of me that’d like to continue in public service. I may pursue some elected office, but I also believe some of that will be made known to me. I’m a person of spiritual belief, and service and working for others is something I’m interested in pursuing. Where that will be, what that will be, I have no idea.
“In a lot of ways I’ve worked really hard — first person in my family to graduate from college, I’ve earned two master’s degrees — but I’ve also had a few breaks along the way. I’m very fortunate and blessed to be where I am.”
What will you be doing for Labor Day?
“Labor Day … two million American jobs lost in the last four years, five million Americans have lost their health care. The reports that have come out nationally should be a wake-up call to all Americans. An excess of 40 million people without health care, an excess of 30 million people living in poverty — and that’s not to speak of the working poor.
“I will pause on Labor Day. I’ll think about the workers, and I’ll think about the direction we’re taking as a country and a state. One of the reasons I love Santa Monica so much is because it’s a very progressive, pro-labor, pro-employee community. That’s one of the reasons I choose to live here — the politics, community involvement and activism that is here.
“Labor Day 2004 is a very critical time, I think. I spoke about this this morning with the teachers. I’m not sure we should be celebrating Labor Day this year when you look at all the statistics. Maybe it should be a day of mourning for the American workers when you think about the struggle that is taking place. We’re the wealthiest country on the face of the earth, and we have 30 million Americans living in poverty. That’s not even to mention the number of American working poor. There used to be a time in America that if you worked hard and played by the rules you could get ahead and pursue the American dream. That’s not the case today. There are far too many Americans that are working hard, playing by the rules and being left behind. Far too many Americans that went to school, dedicated their lives to a corporation and have been abandoned because their jobs were shifted overseas. It’s time for us to realize the heart and soul — that which makes America great — is the American worker.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 6, 2004. Read the original PDF.