001I feel great speaking English and Spanish and so filled with joy for learning. It does my heart good and it reminds me of my why of why I sign up to do this why I stay up to two o'clock in the morning and call people like Senator Miller and represent Sar and those people you know this is why I do this work and send those emails. So, thank you so much to my dear friends. Um, you know, I've worked in many communities as a practitioner and as as a as well as a consultant, but I've never worked with such an amazing group of elected officials who are so committed to their work. And I mean that sincerely and I say that often because sometimes you have representatives and maybe not here in Pennsylvania, but I
002lived in other places that don't answer the phone. You can't find them. But we are we have a unique situation particularly here in Allentown because we have the chairman for education right here in our district. Woohoo. [applause] Chairman. I call him chairman. We have the chairman here. Uh representative. And also more important to him is that he's a parent. He's a father. He is committed. He goes to the basketball games and to the plays and to the swim meets and such and he's and he answers my calls often. So I want to thank you for being here and I'm just honored to serve with you. I'm honored that we have the majority whip here in Allentown as go Allen Town. [laughter] I want to thank Representative Shawsburg. Not only is he in his elected seat,
003but he's also a husband to a teacher who teaches here in the Allentown School District. So he gets to hear about all the things and receives all our emails and everything happening all the time. Yes. And he also serves on my mental health task force. You know, oftentimes you don't have elected officials who are on the ground with you, but he comes to those meetings. He's involved. He has his staff. He is briefed and he's providing us with insights as to how we can help address the whole child. And I appreciate that. And I appreciate you for that. Also, my friend is not here. I know he's being represented um by represented by Miss Taylor uh to Senator Miller. Uh Senator Miller is a force to be reckoned with. I wish I had as much
004energy when I was Senator Miller's age. So, but he's doing some great amazing things and again I thank you and I have the honor to work with such amazing young group of men who are really committed and they love Allentown and they are very committed to service. I also want to honor our dear friends um our dear friend Representative Jiani Sapeda Fetes. I sound like I know little no Spanish right? [laughter] Sorry. >> Yes. So, but I want to thank you um for being here as well. Um Senator Mu uh Senator I've spoken into another title. Um Dr. is a dear friend of mine and so I want to thank you for representing and and the board members in in reading they are friends we are sister cities so I want to thank you for
005be here and representing also I'm just going to go to a local level for a moment and I want to acknowledge that our school board president is here uh Miss Andre Brownell who's our school board president of applause [applause] I want to thank Miss Anna Tersio who's also one of our school board directors thank too. [applause] And our one of our newly elected board members who's just jumped right in and we appreciate in her bringing her expertise here, Dr. Johnson. Thank you so much for being here. [applause] Now, we're going to go back to the national or state and national level. I want to honor the American Federation of Teachers. Let's give them a round of applause. [applause] I want to thank Miss Wendy Coleman for believing in us. She represents more than 38,000 members
006across the state from the school district level to higher education and other sectors, nurses and others. And she came here today to Allentown to celebrate us. Let's give her a round of applause. [applause] And I really feel honored. I was humbled. I was balling down. We have Miss Evelyn De Jesus who is at the national level, the AFT, and she said, "Dr. Briggs, I got to go to Baltimore and I got to do all these things, but she is here today in Allentown because she believes in the work that is happening here in Allentown." She believes in the work that's happening here in Allentown. So, I honor you and I appreciate you for being there. My friend just walked in, the mayor, Mayor Turk. Let's give Mayor Turk a round of applause for joining us
007tonight. [applause] And I want to also thank and I'm really excited about the work happening here and thank you for believing in supporting our strategic plan lighting the way a blueprint for innovation excellence. One of our major pillars of our one of our big rocks that we're moving as an organization year is on literacy. So thank you for donating 500 books to Sodomayor. [applause] These books will be distributed through our classroom libraries. And so we know because once people meet me, you become my best friend because I follow up, I call you, I come to your events, I smile, I send you an email. We have launched the superintendent's book club. And so and we are going to feature book vending machines throughout our district. So we need replacements. Yes. So instead of getting soda
008and some chips, you get a book. And so it's tied to our our whole child development, our our focus on whole child development and social emotional wellness. And so when students do well, they're able to get books. So thank you so much to jumpstarting that here for Sodom York. So we appreciate you for that. I want to also thank first uh aft and first books um for distributing more than 10 million books 10 million books across the nation for students, families and educators serving in title one schools and programs. Thank you for supporting public employees and health health care professionals throughout the nation. Just want to talk a little bit about Sonia Sotomayor. Just think about this. As a district, the school, we 77% of our students are Latino. And prior to my arrival, we
009didn't offer expansive bilingual services. And we know that students offer to come with so many assets, meaning the languages that they speak, their culture, their heritage. So, this school is is really is a foundation for a movement for us to really honor and respect and elevate the many uh Latinos who represent our school district. So, that also makes me proud. And this school, we're using this school as a model of what good bilingual education should be throughout the district and throughout the nation. And I'm going to speak this into it. We are going to be the beacon, the anchor, the lighthouse, all those great things for others to see of what's happening here in Allentown to inform our practice. So, we're using this as an action research project. We want to learn. So, all these
010partnerships are helping us to build what we are and what we know we should do in terms of offering bilingual services and dual language immersion to all of our students as well as hiring the right staff who believe in this. I know when I was in the classroom it felt so good to see how all the students were so happy to learn and the joy that was happening in our teachers. So I want to thank all of our teachers and the staff and everyone here at Sodayor as well for their hard work and commitment. So please let's give them a round of applause. [applause] You know, there's research that suggests that bringing English and Spanish speaking students into the same classroom or learn when they learn core subjects and develop fluency in both languages supports
011their journey to become multilingual learners. It also helps to instill in them an understanding and appreciation of their own cultures and many cultures which is important. We're in the business of building whole children and making them more well-rounded. The dual language emotion program helps students see the world through many other lenses. It teaches them how to listen, to collaborate, and value differences. That is something we we need right now, especially nationwide to value the difference, the culture, and what people bring in their assets. these skills that our students are acquiring today. And that's why I said we're using this as a action research project because we want to learn so we can replicate this throughout the district so that we arm our students not only for today but with a life beyond high school. So
012we're excited today. I also want to um recognize today we're talking about the dual language immersion academy but also underscore the aft's commitment to our pair of professionals. Let's give them a round of applause. >> [applause] >> you know, very early on in my career, you know, I was in um I was a parallegal prior to becoming an educator, but once I graduated from my undergraduate institution, I was still saying, well, do I really want to go to law school? I'm not sure. And then but and I became a par profofessional and I worked with students who had exceptionalities. What an enriching experience that was. And I was on the path to becoming an attorney. Everybody's like, "We could tell. we don't know why you can do that already. My staff is I ask a
013lot of questions. And so, but with that said, I want to uncover and unpack and unshield school, a school that I attended in kindergarten. So, I was able to go back and be a prayer professional there. And I was like, this is hard work, you know, working with students. I was working with a student one-on-one. And then I went, you know, my family was like, you said you're going to law school, so you better go do something in this field. So I went to become a parallegal. Then and then I came back into the field because I my heart was aching. I was doing all this extensive volunteerism, but I still wanted to work with children. And then I went back to school and did all I became an educator. Now I'm here today, you
014know, your as your superintendent. But I really want to say I honor and respect the paraprofessionals because you do a lot of the heavy lifting and my friend Miss Linda is here and her daughter who serves as our local president of of our par professionals union as well as her daughters the vice legacy building. Yes. So I want to thank you so much [applause] and before I take my seat I also want to acknowledge our families who are here today. So we have some family representatives for our school governance council and some of them also serve on the superintendent's family advisory council. So, I want to thank you. Can you please stand because we are because of you and your children. So, thank you so much. [applause] Thank you. You may be seated. I just
015want to say uh Miss Wendy, Miss Des Suz, today is an amazing day in Allentown. We thank you for allowing to for believing in our mission, our vision, our theory of action, and the work that we want to do that's underway here to elevate our children. You know, Allentown is the third largest city and I think round we're the fourth largest school district. We go back and forth with a few districts, but I don't think our story has been elevated. I think there's a lot I know there's a lot of happening here. We have the best talent. We have the best families. We have the best students. We should be clapping. [applause] We have the best team. I have my team here. I want to thank some of my deputy super superintendents here. And I
016really want to underscore and thank Dr. Coleman for her hard work. We stole her from Philadelphia, from the school district of Philadelphia in that area. I know she was in PG County, but that was for a stint. But let me tell you, she is a gym. I said their loss is our blessing. So, she has come in and taken this place by force. And I want to say thank you, Dr. Coleman, for your support and your commitment to our community. I mean, she's only been here about three months. And you, let me tell you, you think she was here for 25 years. So, I want to thank you and I appreciate you. So again, we are honored. Now again, as I mentioned, once I meet you, you become my intimate friend. Okay? [laughter] And and
017I like to get your phone number. And so and I want to thank your team. You brought a lot of people here with you. So thank you. Let's give the AFT team a round of applause. [applause] So today, I want to thank you for honoring uh dual language, bilingualism, and heightening the importance of having our students be multilingual. I want to thank you for elevating the work of our pair professionals. And again, I thank you for seeing that Allentown is a crown jewel and the the we're going to say in the number one city in Pennsylvania. [laughter] I said that for the mayor's benefit, but but I thank you so much and we're honored to be in partnership with you and we're and we're rooting for you. We're so excited for your new administration. I
018know how it is to be new as a leader and have a lot of people relying on you. So, please know we can talk, you know, if there's anything I can help you do and your team. So, again, I'm honored to serve as a superintendent and chief executive officer of the Allentown School District. And since we've been on a a on a marathon of community meetings and we've kind of coined this phrase and I hope you will join in with me. I invite you to join in with me and we say this is our moment. You say this is our community. So you may live in Philadelphia, you may live already. You others may not live here but we are one community. We're one community in service to the children. So this is our moment.
019>> This is our >> Now the press you can say it too. Okay. This is our moment. >> This is our community. >> Thank you. and I'm honored to serve you. Thank you. [applause] >> Thank you, Dr. Burks. I would like now to introduce State Representative Peter Flyer. [applause] >> So, fun fact, Allan plays Nazareth tomorrow. If anyone wants to join me at the basketball game, we're gonna be we're gonna beat whatever the Nazareth mascot is because I don't represent them live there and I don't have a kid that goes to school there. I I I there was just so much today that was just so remarkable and so wonderful seeing our incredible students here in Allentown. Uh it just the the Dr. Dr. B said it said it well. The joy and the and
020the and just the excitement that we see from our students and so many of our schools and you're doing principal ponte you're doing an amazing job here. Uh just absolutely incredible [applause] and and just last week I was at Roosevelt and I'm going to be at at Jefferson later this week uh seeing so many of our kids and it is the absolute greatest part of our job. my chief of staff, Nancy Wilt, who is a past uh president of Allentown School Board, whose daughter is also a parah here in Allentown, I should say. Uh going back to her middle school to be a parah here in Allentown. And I she knows that whenever I'm really cranky, which happens when I hang out with Schllober too much, um they just put a book in my hand
021and sending me to any of our schools to see our kids. And it's just so wonderful and so great. I I I've gotten a chance uh to become friends with with Wendy and and you're sorry, you're right behind me. I had to turn all the way around there for that. And and and the the investment that her and AFT are making in our AFT members, our employees here to give them opportunities if they choose to is remarkable. We're trying to partner our very best with uh with our folks uh through in in Harrisburg, with our with our friends in uh our labor movement here to make sure that our our employees have not only the dignity of a good paying job and a dignity of a quality retirement, but also those career paths to continue
022to do the things that they want to do. We have smart, engaged community members that don't always want to start their career uh or a second career in uh as a uh as a education major. And so this is another incredible pathway to make sure that we're continuing to have engaged folks from our community to become educators in our in the communities where they live. But I change subjects just a little bit. So I I'm old enough to remember um when this building was the east side branch of the Allentown Public Library. I'm old enough to remember when this building was vacant. There's no activity here outside of a dunk tank outside that Schllober and I have both been in. Um, there was no activity in this facility for a long time. It was used
023as overflow space at one point in time. I'm looking at at at at uh soon to be Dr. Apollo over here. What else am I missing? Like this building was used for so much but very but for a long time it wasn't used for the kind of educational purposes that our community and frankly every community should expect and demand from from our leadership. Funny how life works. If we invest in our school district, if we invest in the professionals who are here, the teachers, the paraprofessionals, the administrators who are here, and if we invest in our students, we could do remarkably innovative things, we could that will have tremendous education outcomes for those students and make sure our entire community is ultimately stronger. And so with an incredible partnership with Dr. Bergson and our entire
024leadership team, I saw uh Will Sang just walk in. He was both my kids principles at Leah Parkway. Um and one's in college now. That makes you feel old. Um uh but but what that what that shows what that demonstrates not to us here in Allentown but to places across Pennsylvania is that if we continue to invest in education, if we continue to invest in our public schools and if we continue to invest in our community, we can do wonderful innovative things that are going to have tremendous results for the students and the communities in which we live. and we're going to do our very best to continue those efforts. Dr. Burks, uh, Miss Coleman, all of your your your educators that you serve and you work with every day have have our commitment to
025continue to do everything we can to make sure that you have the resources that you need. Thank you. [applause] >> Thank you so much, Representative Shrier. I would like now to introduce State Representative Mike Schlober. [applause] >> Thank you very much. And thank you, Pete. I think um I want to do something that it's a little funny because we're often told never to do this as elected officials at the state level. I actually want to take a moment in particular to talk about national politics. And I say that walking around here because as we were getting the tour, seeing the kids who were engaged, seeing the teachers and the par profofessionals who clearly deeply care about their students and the subject matter that they're teaching, I felt two conflicting emotions. The first was just joy
026because and what Pete said I I'm loathed to say this but what Pete said was correct. There's very few things that are better than seeing kids learning and happy and engaged. Like no matter who you are, that warms your heart. And at the same time, when you walk around a school like this that teaches dual language skills in a deeply immersive environment, you can't help but look at what's happening at the national political level as we have conversations about who we are as a society. as we have conversations about immigration and wonder why on earth we've made some of the political choices that we've made. Now, I am not going to go off on a long rant about national politics here. But I do want to talk about how Allentown really is leading the way,
027Dr. Burks, and how this school is leading the way. Because as a society right now, we are at an inflection point. We're at a moment of choice. We can choose to take a group of people, in this case, immigrants. We can blame them for all of our wrongs and all of our faults. We can say it's their fault that we are struggling right now. We can make sure that we deny them access to society's resources and opportunities and keep them in the ground forever. Or we can do what happened to everyone of our older generations, which was is we can give them opportunity. We can give them a facility like this and say, "We're going to honor your culture and your heritage and your language, and we're going to use that to teach you our
028culture and our heritage and our language." and in so doing make you a better person who will then in turn make all of us better people when we actually invest in kids when they we give them the opportunities that they need to succeed they will thrive and that's the choice that we have made in the Allentown school district and it's a choice that we have made collectively because no one individual I love you Dr. Burke. But this wasn't you. And I love you members of Valentine School Board. But this wasn't just you. This was you together. This was the elected officials who are behind me. This was the teachers, the unions, the parents, the teach the parents, the power professionals, and the students. All of us together have decided that we want to make Allentown
029a better place by making it easier to simultaneously embrace who you are and assimilate into a greater whole. And frankly, just concluding by taking this one step up a notch, that's America at its best. I have frequently said that I don't always love what America does, but I love what America can be. And a place like this is perfectly emblematic of what America can be. So, thank you very much. [applause] >> Thank you again, Representative Schllober. Matt twerks to Allentown. the reading no look I I'll be very brief. Um I'm really grateful to be here. This is not my first time at Sonia Sotomy. Uh I've been here to read to the students and I get to read in English and in Spanish in lots of different schools in Allentown, but there's one spot where
030I know I'm going to get the opportunity to to read in Spanish. I'm going to get to have amazing conversations with the young people here. So I'm grateful for the opportunity to be with you here again at Sonia Sonia Sotomy. Uh a couple weeks ago or a week ago maybe we talked about uh second second not second chances but second acts. We were at the Bridge View Academy which was unveiling its grand plans for the future and we were talking about the various different second acts that were underway here in the city of Allentown. And this is another of our second acts. Pete talked about it being a library. This used to be an elementary school for Midway Manor. It was vacant for a long time, but now the second act for this building is
031the future of the city of Allentown. It's young people who are proficient in both English and in Spanish. And this is a city that deeply understands the Second Act and and for a long time, a city that didn't really handle change that well. But man, our new our second act in the city of Allentown is change city USA. We are the city that has changed more than almost any other city in the past few decades. And we're getting really good at embracing the change and welcoming new people to be new voices in the future of the city of Allentown. And this city has figured out how to navigate change and how to make adjustments and how to how to better serve a district that is 77% Latino. And man, I can't wait to see where
032the future goes from here. This this second act for the city of Allentown is being written here at [snorts] Sonia Stood. So, I'm grateful to the board for making the investment in our students here at this school, and I'm grateful to the administration of the school district for your continued investment in our shared future together. Thank you for the opportunity. And we're going to teach you guys a little bit of Spanish so you can read to the the kids in Spanish here, too. Okay. >> See, he's already learning. Thank you everybody. Thanks. [applause] >> Thank you, Mayor Torque. And now uh I would like to introduce our board president, Miss Adrine Brown. Noel [applause] >> I'm so short >> the judgment. [laughter] Don't worry about >> Good morning everyone. First I would like I want
033to take it away but I would like to thank our state representatives for joining us this morning. [laughter] I would like to thank Mayor Turk as well and I would like to thank the AFT for visiting us here at the Allentown School District. This is exciting to see. First, I would like to say thank you to the state representatives for all the support that they've given us over the past few years up well I would say forever since you guys have been in the seat. You guys have been great advocates for Allentown School District and we're seeing the fruits of that now. It's been a long fight but we're seeing the fruits of it now. As I was able to walk through the halls of Sonia Soautayor with the leadership of um Principal Ope, I
034noticed that on the wall they had these photos of students and their future selves. And in those photos, it was showing the profession that they would be in the future. And we're seeing I saw a ballerina. I saw a doctor. I saw someone that's a lawyer. someone that wanted to be a painter. And I said, "Huh, they're in the right place." When I looked at the ballerina, I noticed that, you know, she had on a cute little tutu and I said, "We now have Giuliard at ASD." >> When I looked at our health care professional, I'm thinking, "Oh, our brand new school, Bridge View, we're building that for them." So now we're giving our students access to not only dream but know that they can actually be. And I'm excited that under the leadership of
035Dr. Burks and our school board of directors, we're able to do that. But it takes a collective. It takes the entire team. It takes our administrators. It takes our state legislator. It takes the AFT. It takes our par profofessionals. It takes all of us to be able to build the future for these students. And I'm happy that we're able to do that now in ASD. ASD is thriving. Allentown School District is thriving and it took years for us to be in this position. I'm looking at Nancy Will who was our past school board president and thought about all the work that she put in and paved the way for me to be able to be in the seat to do all the work that we're doing now. Nancy, thank you. Thank you for the years
036that you put in for me to be able to sit in the seat and now reap the fruits of all of the hard work and fight that you did. But we're here now. And I want to thank the AFT for all your support. Thank you for the books that you provided because the superintendent, she has lost she has launched this reading league, right? and it's a part of our strategic plan making sure that all of our students um especially our students from kindergarten till age three they're able to read profic proficiently. So thank you for what you're providing and thank you to everyone that has been supporting ASD. Keep doing that. Keep speaking it. Keep advocating. Keep doing what you do because ASD is thriving. Thank you. [applause] Thank you so much, Miss Andre Noel
037Brown. And now it's my pleasure to introduce Representative Seeda Freightes. Gracias. Buenos. Good morning. Me is Joan Seeda Fretes and I'm state representative for the 129th Legislative District in Burks County, most commonly known for Reading Area. Right. Um, For me, I'm also, by the way, I should uh say this, I'm also the chair for the Pennsylvania Legislative Latino Caucus. So, it is a true honor. I'm like overjoyed with the experience that I'm having here this morning from meeting um AFT members, particularly Evelyn, because my humble beginnings in the education space was in the Lower East Side. And I'm sure years years ago, we probably crossed past a multitude of times. So, so, so thank you. Thank you for like just just making me feel at home as well here. Um, also I I want to
038acknowledge the superintendent, the deputy, uh, superintendent, other aft leaders, um, the staff, the families, uh, principal lae. I mean, it was a true pleasure to just interact with you and see the fruits of your efforts. I love that you have taken the time to recognize talent and to nurture it, right? And to help our paras become the teachers, right? Because they are our community folks, right? And they have and I appreciate that that you're so vested in our children and and the investment that everyone is making to see them thrive. I also take so much pride and joy in in being in a school where children are accepted and welcomed as they are and they are empowered empowered to be proud in their heritage in their roots in their culture and in their language and
039in my role as legislator and [clears throat] I always get you know I'm always right I'm always fighting with the chairman not fighting but in in a good a good fight good fight causing good trouble Um because I do have a bill about K uh regarding K through 12 dual immersion programs. I want to see this replicated across the Commonwealth. I think it's important especially when a lot of our history and who we are as people and where we come from. It's like we we're forced to be erased. And so we want to make sure that we are empowering everyone who's part of our community. So again, thank you for the opportunity. I congratulate you. I commend you. Thank you for putting your heart into what you do. And it's an honor to be here.
040Thank you so much. >> Thank you so much. And now it is my pleasure to introduce Vice President Evelyn de Jesus from AFT. Thank you. [applause] Buenosia, >> good morning. Good morning. I have to tell you, can I take you around the nation with me? Cuz this village is like amazing. I feel like I'm home. I feel like I'm in the lowera. You know, I grew up in a in a in a neighborhood. We call it the hood. Back in the day, I was I started as a par professional, became a teacher, became a union leader in my district, ran Manhattan as a vice president, and now I'm national uh executive vice president of AFT. But let me tell you something. I'm not going to say my notes because everybody said what I was going
041to say. All right. When you we're almost the last to talk, everybody has your ideas, but I want to say something. The world right now is in chaos. I don't care what political party you're in, this one or that one. But when I come here, I feel like I'm home. I feel the joy. I feel the learning. I feel the community. No matter what you look like, what I look like, what he looks like, we're together. And that's a rarity nowadays. So enjoy, be present, be present and what you have here and don't take it for granted because many neighborhoods do not have this. They don't. So nurture it as my sister said, nurture it and appreciate it and make it grow because you guys could be the catalyst for what's coming. What you said
042was amazing. The Alcal I was I was blown away. He spoke Spanish better than me. But uh I just want to say that I'm going to go back to my notes because I want to give honor what honor is due. But it warms my heart here to be at the Sonia Sotomayol Dual Language Emergence Academy. I'm saying, man, we could maybe we can get her here. Maybe we can have her come because she has a literacy uh she's coming out with her new book. Let's see. I'm not saying, but we'll see what we can do. But what I want to say is um because I don't know if you know this but I am the immediate past president of the National Association for Bilingual Education which is the national institution. It's called NAB for all
043multilingual bilingual. So I'm hoping that we just don't see Spanish, we see Erdo, we see Russian, we see Chinese, every language. When people talk about bilingual they always say, "Oh, it's about Spanish speaking people." No, it's about globalization. It's about multilingualism, which we need for the new AI, which we need for the globalization of everywhere. When I travel all over the world, I've been to the embassy. We have young ladies that look like you that speak seven languages. We have young ladies that look like you and young men that speak 10 languages. That is an asset. It's not a deficit. Let me be very clear. And we in America have seen it backwards. So I thank you for continuing to nurture superintendent. You're amazing. You're amazing. And principal Aponte. Oh my god. I wish I
044could take I might have to take her everywhere I go. So you may have to get the with the assistant principal because this is a rarity what I see to see labor to see aft pars teachers legislators mayor parents. I am blown away today and I thank you for allowing me to be here. It's an honor and a privilege. And this is the school that I needed when I started school way back while in the dark ages. I came anybody know the first Westside Story. Okay? I was not Maria. I was re I was not Natalie Wood. I was Rita Moreno. All right? Because I got beat up every day in the 60s. My mother was the first Puerto Rican family. Dominicans were coming in and it was all Italian and Irish and we went
045to school and we got beat every day and we spoke we couldn't speak Spanish. When my mother came she said I don't want her to speak Spanish. I want her to learn English. Big mistake. Big mistake. So what I say to you is growing up in that environment and to see this environment is amazing and we have to continue to do it. So I wish that I had a school like this when I started in when I started elementary and I wish I had paraprofessionals like you two and how you represent your parents here because I would have I started as a par how many paris are in the room was once you started as a parro you said no who was it everyone so you know what they say aft once a parro always
046a parro and always be proud of that because that's how I got my humble beginnings to know what it is to be kid with kids with special needs kids, multicultural kids, it makes you the a better teacher. So, I thank you, my paraprofessionals. And I'm currently serving as the executive vice president, the first Latina in 110 years at the AFT, representing 1.8 million, you hear me? 1.8 million members in education, public service, and healthcare. So, we're on the move. AFT is on the move. And I'm also um I have so many hats, but I think it's important that I I mention some of them because we're going to bring everything together in Allentown. And I'm currently serving as the national president of the NA Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, which is LALLA, which is
047all labor. So I need you guys to know all of labor and Latinos coming together. So we serving. So I know we have a couple of LLA chapters. We don't have one in Allentown. Hint hint hint. But we could start one, right? Are you with me? All right. All right. And so I want to thank you for that. And I'm happy to report today that the AFT has donated 500 books, bilingual books to this school as part of our yearslong literacy campaign, which we call Reading Opens the World, Laura Alo Mundo, to give children access to diverse books titles where they can see their lived experiences reflected on the page. So while others are banning the books, we give them away. We celebrate the importance of literacy and multilingualism, bilingualism, and reject the idea that
048this great and diverse nation should have an official language. My friends, my brothers and sisters, me amigos, public schools are the vehicle that anchors our democracy and creates opportunity for our children. Today's event shows why we need unions, strong unions committed to providing what kids and community needs in this union state. You know that unions are one of the critical foundations of our democracy on on of our democratic society. That's why we are so happy to see our elected officials. You guys, I'm taking you on the road. I just want you to know you hear me. What we want to see is our members and get a firsthand look at what our schools are like and the lifechanging work our members do in the classroom every single day. In the AFT, we know that it
049takes many different kinds of leadership to make our schools safe, welcoming, relevant, joyful, and engaging for all. It takes a union leadership that the like our educational leaders like Superintendent Burks and Deputy Superintendent Coleman. It takes union leadership like my girl, my Elman Mana, my aft president Elmana Wendy go Wendy Coleman. It takes political leaders like representative Schwarzber and Sepa Fretes. It takes our teachers and our par profofessionals, students and their families, huntos. Together we can foster the collaborations and are essential if we are going to address our most pressing education challenges and opportunities. I am so proud of AFT Pennsylvania. I am so proud at Alentine Federation of Power Professionals for taking the lead on this event. And I want to say to you, we're going to continue. We're We are your partners. We're
050part of your familia. We're part of your community. And I thank you, Miss Wendy, for inviting me and making me feel so welcome. And for all of you for making me feel because as Latino, you know, once you come into a neighborhood, like my superintendent said, we're family. Gracias. Thank you. [applause] >> Thank you so much, Evelyn Jesus. I appreciate it. And now I would like to welcome President Coleman of the AFTPA. >> Thank you. [cheering and applause] >> Good morning. One of the benefits of being last is if I talk quickly, people are are ready to go. But but no, I want to thank all of you for joining us today. I'd like to start out by thanking Princ for hosting us this morning and to the teachers for welcoming us into their classrooms.
051Um I often say and I tell my team that getting out and seeing the work is essential to being able to do the work. And so I am uh grateful for this opportunity today. I also want to thank our elected officials who joined us today. of course and representative uh your presence and attention this morning has been appreciated and I hope this visit has been as meaningful for everyone as it has been for me and all of us at AFTPA. This visit has given us a chance to highlight the wonderful work that our AFTPA parrofessional members are doing each day and showcase a school that is offering so much for the community specifically the Latino community of Allentown. And I would be remiss if I did not thank my own team who has worked so
052hard on this event. [applause] Our chief of staff Vicky Aristocalis who I think I call sleepless nights for um and in the back our communications director Cindy Carr and our political director Jeff Coin who have all done an amazing job and I am grateful that they are part of my team our team. Um, with that being said, I'd like to bring up our local president and vice president of the Allentown Federation of Par Professionals, Linda Groves and Angelica Padilla. [applause] >> From what we saw today in the two classrooms and at this school, it is clear that the teachers and par profofessionals are working side by side each day to make sure that our students are receiving a top-notch education. As we know that that is happening in all schools across this district. That's why
053aft Pennsylvania selected Allentown emerging educators program to receive our parap proud scholarship which will support paris who are working towards becoming teachers in one of Pennsylvania's high need educational areas. This scholarship has the benefit of helping parents enrolled in programs like the emerging educators program to reach the next steps in their careers while also ensuring that districts are building their workforce from within among staff who already know the students and the community. Programs like emerging educators are a win-win and we're proud to be able to support this critical work. That's why I'm thrilled to award $5,000 scholarships to four Allentown Federation of Parrofessional members today. [applause and cheering] >> Thank you, President Lindred Rose and Vice President Padilla for all that you do for our members and for the Allentown School District. >> And and
054this team of mine said we need a we need a ceremonial check. So, uh here we go. We're going out. We're going out. >> We're trying to get out. >> Can someone move the mic? So, this is unexpected, but I guess I would be remiss if I didn't take a few minutes just to Thank AFTPA. Thank you, Miss um Vice President De Jesus. And thank you, President Coleman. You know, uh we started out in Philadelphia together and we we worked through issues together on behalf of students, always kept students at the center of our work. And this is just uh I think an example of what union unions and when district leaders come together on behalf of children and keeping them at the center of our work could look like. Right. So even though I
055am now in all town and >> yes and she's doing her her her great and best work representing so many more unions and people. um we're doing good work together on behalf of children. So, so thank you from the bottom of my heart. I'm so honored um to be here serving the Allentown School District alongside Dr. Carol D. Bergs. You know, I am a spiritual person and I know God makes no mistakes. So, I thank him for bringing us together and bringing me here in Allentown and I know he'll keep us all strengthened to do all the work we need to do on on behalf of the children because although it isn't easy, it is necessary. Thank you. [applause] >> Yeah. We want to thank everyone for coming and we appreciate you. >> Yes. >>
056You know, no. And as as a superintendent, I would be remiss if I didn't say that we are building this building and growing and adding grades. >> So, I want to say that. I would be remiss if I didn't say that. We're up to second grade. We're building from third, fourth, fifth, 7th through 8th grade. And we need our friends, everyone in this room to help us expand the school. Thank you.