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Fiery advocate for teachers to step down
By ROBERT KING © St. Petersburg Times, published April 22, 2001 Jo Ann Hartge is planning a summer getaway. Three weeks in the Far East, to be exact. She wants to go to Katmandu, Nepal, in July to learn from teachers who are gathering for the Second World Congress of Educators. She also hopes to venture into the nearby land of Tibet, a place of myth and mystery. On this planet, it is as far away as you can get from Hernando County. And after four years as the firebrand leader of the local teachers union, that is precisely the point: a little peace and quiet, far from controversy. It's not that Hartge is considered a hothead or a troublemaker. To the contrary, her four years as union president have been characterized by others as the smoothest labor relations in recent memory. But, like any good union leader, Hartge has shown that she can give a fiery speech, stick it to management when the situation calls for it and pull off a well-timed publicity stunt. Last fall, at a political rally the union held on the steps of the Hernando County courthouse, Hartge took the microphone and launched into a 10-minute diatribe, ripping Gov. Jeb Bush and Republican lawmakers up one side and down the other. She harangued them for allowing schools that are crumbling, teachers that are living in poverty and kids that are going without school books. She stopped just short of blaming them for tooth decay. The politicians whose names were on the ballot drew polite applause for their remarks. When Hartge stopped speaking, the crowd was lathered into a frenzy that would have made Jimmy Hoffa proud. Then in February, when TV news crews from Tampa and a crowd of parents came to a School Board debate on book banning, Hartge seized the moment as a forum for the cause of her teachers. She chastised the board for raising the pay of two district administrators while teachers, laboring under budget cuts, performed extra duties for nothing. As she closed, she announced the union, in hopes of helping the board solve its money woes, was about to begin an audit of the district's books -- for the last nine years. Board member John Druzbick called it an attack on "our board and our integrity." But she got her point across. And her passions don't simply bubble from the bully pulpit. Hartge (pronounced hart-jee) sends out sharply worded letters to the editor like Christmas cards. And to build momentum for a program that helps lackluster teachers improve, Hartge persuaded Bob Chase, the president of the National Education Association, to visit Hernando County. When teachers were miffed in 1997 at a pay proposal they considered insultingly low, Hartge and her union pals staged free car washes. Along with the wash job, patrons got an earful of union propaganda. And at one point, they threatened to rent billboards on Interstate 75 to proclaim: "Welcome to Hernando County, Home of the 58th Highest Paid Teachers in Florida." Sometimes, Hartge's outspokenness hasn't solely been for the union's benefit. In 1998, the School Board was feeling the heat from a crowd opposed to special protections for students who are harassed because of their sexual orientation. Hartge stood and spoke out for gay and lesbian students, a group with few other champions. For her trouble, she fielded a barrage of angry phone calls and letters. She has no regrets. "When there's something in my heart," Hartge explains, "I just have to say it." Hartge, 50, will step down as president of the Hernando Classroom Teachers Association at the end of the school year. Union rules prevent her from seeking another two-year term. It's just as well, she says. Hartge jokes that the job, which is unpaid, has left her with gray hair and a nervous twitch. "Thank God, I'm going," she said. No one opposed her for the post two years ago. She said no one else wanted the job. Though she's leaving the union presidency, Hartge expects to return next year to Suncoast Elementary, where she teaches technology education -- a unique course where kids use computers, motors, robots and other gadgets to study any number of subjects. "She is a better teacher than a union president, and I think she's a dynamite president," said Tizzy Schoelles, the principal at Suncoast. Hartge's work is unique and inspired enough that two years ago Suncoast's technology program was named the best in Florida by the International Technology Education Association. This year, that same group named Hartge Florida's top elementary tech ed teacher. Beyond that, Hartge reached the pinnacle of the teaching profession in 1999 when she earned national board certification. It's a rigorous yearlong process culminating in a test that's the teaching equivalent of a lawyer's bar exam. Until Hartge and seven other teachers accomplished the feat, Hernando County had never had a national board-certified teacher. Thanks in part to Hartge's efforts to encourage other teachers to follow her lead, there are now 20 board-certified teachers in the county. Reaching such professional heights has been something of a mission for Hartge. She is sensitive to the comments of critics who say teachers unions care only about money, picket lines and making sure bad teachers have job security. "One of my goals was to increase the professional image of the organization," she said. In trying to lead by example, she says she made herself a candidate for national board certification, a recognition few teachers get on their first attempt. "If I didn't get it, all our opponents would have had a field day," she said. And the union certainly has opponents. One of its chief critics is Mary Ann Hogan, who served on the School Board in the 1970s. She said she doesn't know Hartge personally. But she is quite leery of Hartge's union, which first organized during Hogan's tenure on the board. "Their main concern are their members and their employment," Hogan said. "If they have a concern for the education of the children, it's not at the top of their list." Hogan says the union's resistance to merit pay, private school vouchers and school accountability are roadblocks to improving public schools. She said schools would benefit from competition, which she calls the "bedrocks of our democracy." "I don't think they can help the education system, which is in big trouble," Hogan said. "And I hold the unions responsible for a lot of that." Such sentiments are why Hartge strongly pushed the district to create a peer assistance program for teachers. Until it was axed in December due to budget cuts, the program used veteran teachers to coach teachers who were struggling on the job. Hartge said the program put better teachers in front of the kids and kept struggling teachers, who can improve with help, from quitting. Hartge says retaining teachers is crucial at a time when there is a shortage of people willing to go into the classroom. As Hartge prepares to step down as president, others who have sometimes been at odds with the union credit her for being a fair-minded advocate for the county's 1,065 teachers. Superintendent John Sanders said Hartge has tried to solve problems rather than create them. She comes to him with concerns before they blow up into controversies. And, though they don't always agree, Sanders said he thinks they have a good working relationship. "I think it's natural for a person who represents a labor union to disagree with management at times," he said. From the School Board's perspective, John Druzbick says Hartge has had a positive influence on union-management relations, even though he hasn't always appreciated Hartge's antics. Most recently, Druzbick was nonplused by a letter to the editor Hartge wrote concerning the prospects of low pay raises this year. Hartge based her comments on the Legislature's proposals for a lean education budget. But Druzbick said Hartge's letter seemed to be directed at the School Board as much as the Legislature. Coming on the heels of last year's six percent pay raise, Druzbick considered her criticism misdirected, if not ungrateful. "It seems like they are trying to throw down the gauntlet for negotiations this year," Druzbick said. For Schoelles, who has gotten to know Hartge quite well at Suncoast, such moves are just part of Hartge's risk-taking mentality. Schoelles doesn't think such tactics are adversarial so much as they are meant to call attention to issues. "I've never seen her be dishonest. I've never seen her lack integrity. And I've never seen her duck an issue," Schoelles said. "I think she has raised some awareness." With 14 years under her belt as a teacher, Hartge isn't quite sure what the future holds. She hopes her excursion to the Far East will bring enlightenment. She has had inquiries from people who want to take her technology education philosophies on the road as a consultant. She also isn't ruling out a run next year for the Hernando County School Board. She lives in the district of board member Sandra Nicholson, who is up for re-election. Whatever she does, expect Hartge to be outspoken for public education and the county's teachers. "My colleagues are the most dedicated group of professionals I've ever worked with or ever seen. The more they are pushed, the more they are giving. But we need to be careful because you can only push people so far. Eventually, they're going to give up," she said. "I think we do a good job in this county. I think kids are well educated. We're doing a heck of a job with what we have."
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