It was a long night for all, and didn't quite go as planned...

After finding themselves stuck in a three-hour traffic jam on the way to Fairfield, three of our Union staff members ended up turning around and heading back to Hartford...along with our picket signs, noise-makers and bull horns for the rally! We considered delaying the demonstration we announced would start at 7:00PM sharp, but after the crowd of members and parents started chanting, lead by our own State Representative Kim Fawcett, we went full speed ahead!

Following the rally, just like we did last month, paras, parents, and others piled into the BOE conference room to speak-out during the public comment portion of the meeting -- only this time, it was item #6 on the agenda, which meant we would wait until after 10:00 PM to have our say!

We weathered the storm, and eleven of the speakers that stayed until nearly 11:00 PM spoke on our paras' behalf. This time, more parents and teachers did the talking...and four of our district's principals stayed until all were finished!

Three of our members spoke out, and our fabulous Vice-President Darlene Trupp delivered our Union Chapter's "official" statement, most of which was actually a letter to the editor of the Fairfield Citizen-News in support of our paras that Communications Director Matt O'Connor linked here to the blog last month...

Members Joanne Murphy and Tara Montaine-Varga both spoke to the Board, as well -- Tara's testimony brought tears to the eyes of nearly everyone in the audience as she told a very personal story about how our paras have made a real difference for her special needs son in our district's schools.

Among the advocates who spoke on our behalf were Fairfield Education Association President Marilyn Feranec and Vice-President Martha Becker, Mill Hill Elementary School Teacher Laura Erenkrantz, Special Education PTA Membership Chair Kathy Finlaw, and local pre-school director Katie Corrigan. Parents Ann-Marie Maffei, Aarti McMahon and Nancy Ross  also testified to the value of the services we provide their children. Two local community members, Jim Gallagher and Steve Harris, each made strong arguments for the Board to make raising our standards a priority.

So despite the unexpected challenges, the evening was a huge success -- and once again, we received great press coverage. In addition to Wednesday's Post article, News 12 Connecticut interviewed me and aired the segment in its 10:00 PM broadcast that night while we waited to speak. Plus, Matt was interviewed on WICC-AM 600 for a news segment aired on the radio that evening and the next morning.

Then, yesterday's Fairfield Citizen-News featured a fantastic article that quotes seven of the speakers who testified to the Board, including Tara and Joanne. In fact, the same edition printed Tara's reply (it's the second one on the edition's Letters page, "Need Respect, Not Criticism") to the one negative letter we have seen published in any of the area's papers since we first took our case to the public last month...

(It's also linked here to our website so everyone can access it for free once the Citizen-News archives it.)

But wait -- there's more! The same Letters page includes another response (the first, "Committed to Kids") to the same letter Tara's reply was directed at by a retired Bridgeport cop who runs a local private investigation firm, and another (the third, right below Tara's, "Pay Should Reflect Their Hard Work") by a mother with three children in the district that says what needs to be said clearly and passionately...

Thanks again to the parents, PTA and SEPTA members, to our colleagues, Fairfield's amazing teachers, and Representative Fawcett for turning-out -- and speaking-out -- on our behalf. The 230 members of our Chapter appreciate the incredible support we have received over the past six weeks, and we're looking forward to having all you with us as we take our next steps -- which we'll be posting here at the blog, so stay tuned!