Challenges for Students and Teachers in 2018

Steve Adubato goes on-location to the 2017 NJEA Convention to talk to Steve Beatty, Secretary-Treasurer of NJEA, about his career as an educator and the challenges students and teachers across New Jersey face.

1/25/18 #2106

Excerpt:

"Hi, I'm Steve Adubato. I am here in beautiful Atlantic City at the Atlantic City Convention Center. It's the 164th Annual New Jersey Education Association Convention. We'll be talking all sorts of important, interesting, and relevant people in the world of education. I'm pleased to welcome Steve Beatty, Secretary-Treasurer, excuse me, of the NJEA. Good to see you Steve. Thanks Steve. Thanks for having me. For those who do not know what the secretary-treasurer's job of the New Jersey Education Association... you're at a cocktail party, I don't know if you drink or not, but you would say? I'm the secretary-treasurer, and no one knows who that is. True enough. But basically there's two respons... really three responsibilities. As the treasurer, I'm in charge of taking care of the, you know, the budgetary issues, and the fiscal responsibilities in that, as secretary, taking roll, taking notes of the meetings, but I'm also part of the leadership team. There's five of us. The president, the vice president, myself, and then two of our directors, that basically form the leadership team and make a lot of the decisions. And they're working with the management staff to decide the course of events for the association. You've been teaching for 24 years. Why did you get into it? I was born to be a teacher. I mean that's, you know, perhaps kind of trite to say, or corny, but I remember... Not at all. Never trite. ...being, you know, in 3rd grade, and sitting there with my teacher, Mrs. Zane, and thinking, "Boy, that'd be so awesome to be the teacher! All the free chocolate you could ever want!" [laughter] You know, and in charge of who goes to the bathroom, and I just took the path I went. And I went to Rutgers. I went to the Education School, and I never looked back. The thing you love most about teaching, what is it? Being with the kids. I mean the profession, over my 24 years, has definitely changed a lot in terms of the other things besides being in the classroom, but I always said that no matter what's going on in a certain day, you close that door, and it's like mental sorbet. You know, the kids... and I've been lucky. I mean where I am in Bridgewater, Raritan, I've had great kids, I've had a great staff, great colleagues, to have that kind of opportunity. But being with the kids everyday, it just... it's fun, you know. It's why I got up early to do that. But Steve let me ask you something. I'm always curious. We have our kids, particularly our younger kids, in public schools. What do you think most students...? And the grades..."