Public Education Matters

Various student voices 0:08
Public education matters. Public education matters. Public education matters.

Jeff Wensing 0:15
This is Public Education Matters brought to you by the Ohio Education Association.

Katie Olmsted 0:26
Welcome back to Public Education Matters. I'm your host, Katie Olmsted, and I'm part of the communications team for the Ohio Education Association and the public school educators OEA represents in communities all across the state. I love my job because I get to connect with members across the state to help them tell their stories. For OEA's new vice president, one of the best parts of his job is getting to meet with members across the state to hear their stories and learn from members to help OEA support educators and the learners they serve every day we sat down with Dan Greenberg a few months into his work in his new role as vice president, take a listen to what he shared.

Katie Olmsted 1:15
Dan Greenberg, thank you for sitting down with us to share your story.

Dan Greenberg 1:19
Thanks for having me.

Katie Olmsted 1:20
Tell me your story. You come to us from Sylvania.

Dan Greenberg 1:25
I do. Spent the last 26 years teaching high school and junior high English in Sylvania. Before that, I spent a couple of years teaching in California at the middle school level and Kent State graduate. I kind of am always going to be a northeast Ohioan at heart growing up in Canton, Ohio.

Katie Olmsted 1:41
What has it been like so far? I'm talking to you in mid September, so you've had a couple months under your belt in your new role. What's it been like?

Dan Greenberg 1:50
It's been every day has been a new day where I learned new things, all of them meaningful things, things like the the coffee pitcher with the orange lid is decaf, and which I found out one day when I was very sluggish after a couple cups from that pot to just different things about how our different departments work and the things that we do at this level, and how it's very much different than being a local leader. I was a president of the Sylvania Education Association for the past 10 years, and I knew it. I know what I know in that space, but there's a lot to learn in this space, and I really come in every day excited about what new things I'm going to learn, understanding that in any position that you're in, you there's there's a learning curve, and giving myself the grace to make mistakes and to have room for improvement every day. And that's what I look forward to every day is coming in, learning new things and doing everything I can for my position to make an impact, for our association.

Katie Olmsted 2:50
I should tell you, on the sixth floor, we use the pots interchangeably, and I've learned that the hard way, because I was like, oh, orange cap, it's decaf, no, it's not shaking like a leaf going though to your your work as a local president. How is this? How are you bringing that skill set to now serving at the state level here, and this is, this is obviously not your first foray into larger leadership. As an NEA director, you've had lots of opportunities to be the bigger picture, right?

Dan Greenberg 3:20
I think that one of the things that I I'm finding useful, that I picked up at the local level of skill set wise, is the organizing piece, the organizing and relationship building that seems to be, no matter what, no matter what space I'm in, whether it's as a local leader, as an NEA director here in this position as vice president, the the critical piece is relationships and relationship building at the local level, I learned about cultivating relationships with members, and that's what I want to do at the state level, I learned about how to create coalitions with other organizations in the Sylvania community, and that's what I want to do here in the statewide and at this level. So a lot of those skills are coming into play in this, in this new role, and I'm excited about using them.

Katie Olmsted 4:06
Talk to me a little bit about Sylvania. What is that community like? What's that local like?

Dan Greenberg 4:12
Sylvania? Again, I'm not a native Sylvania-ite.

Katie Olmsted 4:16
See, I would never, I would call you sylvanians. So there you go.

Dan Greenberg 4:18
Or sylvanians, whichever, but I'll go Sylvania-ite. No, but my no, my I come to that community by way of my wife, my wife, Nikki, who is a kindergarten teacher in Sylvania. When we first graduated from college together, we moved out to California, and we were basking in the sun, and we are like we would. Why are we? Why would we ever come back to Ohio and certainly to Sylvania, and then she now teaches kindergarten in the classroom where she went to kindergarten, so we couldn't be anymore, like full circle right back where it started. What I've learned over the years, it was it's been an amazing place to raise my three daughters. I've seen them come through the school where my wife teaches at. The school where I taught at Southview High School, and just the education is the heart of that the community. We don't have some big business that people know us for. We have our schools, and our schools are the pride of our community. And I think about in Northwest Ohio, people know Sylvania schools, it's a good place to go. And I think about where my kids are now, and the skills that they gain, and the amazing educators that they had, and how grateful I am to have had the opportunity to raise my kids there and have had the opportunity to teach there for 26 years.

Katie Olmsted 5:32
And it's very clear to me that this is personal, that your work as the OEA vice president, and all the advocacy that you're doing, and you'll continue to do for the learning conditions in our school, is very personal, because your kids went through the school, that your wife is a teacher in these schools, that this is your life.

Dan Greenberg 5:51
Absolutely, absolutely, that's, that's, that's really, you know how you know, how I look at it, and I just, I I love know now that I'm here in Columbus, I live down here, and my wife is still living back in Sylvania with our youngest daughter, and she's still teaching kindergarten. And I really cherish the moments that I can come back to that community and go to Kroger or another store and see students of mine, former students, and still go to the Friday night football games. And I still feel, even though I'm a couple hours away when I go, when I go back, it's still home, and it's still home, not just because my wife and my daughter are there, but because my former students are there, and I get to see them every time I come back.

Katie Olmsted 6:36
So you mentioned you were a high school English teacher in Sylvania. What did you like about teaching high school English?

Dan Greenberg 6:42
I liked what I love, literature, and I always taught with the space of one, relationships with kids are the most important thing, and with the idea too, that what I mean the things I'm sharing with kids, they may not pick up the lesson today or the relevance today or tomorrow or next week, but it might be something that is a life lesson, that they can come back a few years later, when they're in college and say, I remember when you talked about this or that, and it was something that impacted me, and those are the things that really I always, always worked towards, and with that mindset, the classroom was a place to to have joy, to just have fun with kids and and that's something that it was a it was a great balance, as I was a local leader, to be doing the weighty work of advocating for our members and advocating for public schools, but to also be in the classroom and to be able to have those fun and silly moments with kids that kept a really great balance for me in both spaces.

Katie Olmsted 7:47
How did you get involved in local leadership? I everyone I talked to says there is an ask somebody makes that one ask, Is that what happened with you?

Dan Greenberg 7:55
It is it is I don't have I know some people have these stories of some conflict that kind of thrust them into understanding what the the union did or does. For me, it was someone saying, you know, what my like, my third year teaching, sent one of my friends who was a social studies teacher in my building at the junior high saying, you know, there's a vacancy for the like, the communications person on our in our union as a vice president would maybe you'd like to consider you throwing your name in. And so I did, and it started with putting out the newsletter, and I just kind of stuck around in that space and stuck around in that space. And 22-23 years later, here I am. But it really started I didn't have much of a capacity for understanding the union and the relevance of the union at that time, but over time, when I, as I started to learn what the union was doing and how they were advocating for teachers and the situations that would were going on in the district where the union was the voice for our members and that how much people depended on them, that really helped me understand what the union is all about, and furthered my commitment to it, and commitment to being more involved and to doing what I could for members as a union leader.

Katie Olmsted 9:16
So take that from the Sylvania level, and now at the state level. Do you do you think people see the relevance of the union in their lives in the same way?

Dan Greenberg 9:28
Some. I think what I've learned is that people first and foremost see the relevance in their local union.

Katie Olmsted 9:35
You're right.

Dan Greenberg 9:36
Their local association is the people that they have the relationships with being able to call a building representative or the president of their local those are things, and it's usually not because of some major issue. It's a, I have a contract question kind of thing, and I know that you're going to, you're you're going to answer my, you know, my questions. That's where they see their their union, and my goal is to increase that relative. Evidence and expand it to the state level and help people understand and a lot of that starts with being present and knowing the opportunities that are there at the state level, and knowing that people are willing to listen to you at a state level. And so I think that for me, when I was coming in after winning the election and coming knowing I was coming into this space, the thing that I was most excited about was the opportunities to travel around the state and to meet members and to hear about what's going on in their local communities and and just to make those connections. And that's what I was looking forward to coming in, and that's what I'm looking forward to now. I mean, on the days where I know there's going to be an afternoon of traveling to somewhere across the state, those are my most the days I look forward to the most is getting out and and hearing from members themselves.

Katie Olmsted 10:44
I have to ask, because you do spend a lot of time traveling. Audio books? Do you like listening to certain music in the car? It's a lot of time in the car.

Dan Greenberg 10:53
Well, it's been an interesting shift now, because in years past, when I was doing the travel as a local president, there was were an endless number of phone calls to members and to administrators that I needed to make, and this the time just melted away because I was on the phone. I could be on the phone easily for two, two and a half hours talking to any given subset of people. Now that is not part of what I do, but books. So some podcasts, podcasts.

Katie Olmsted 11:25
Like public education matters.

Dan Greenberg 11:26
Absolutely Public Education Matters. I like the Hidden Brain. That's my most go to podcast. And I sometimes, you know, audio books as well.

Katie Olmsted 11:38
Obviously, it's not about the journey, it's about the destination in those cases, and you have been traveling quite a bit to talk to members. What have you been hearing from them? Again, talking to you in mid September. So we're we're doing all those back to school meetings, all of all of those beginning of the school year things. What have you been hearing from them as we start this new school year?

Dan Greenberg 11:58
One, I when I reflect on what I've heard so far, a lot of it has been my the first word that came to mind is hope. Starting the school year means starting over again and starting over again with a whole new group of students. And you certainly we all know the challenges facing public education, but I think it's the amazing testament to the resilience of our educators that maybe some things happened last year, and maybe there are some things that are coming from the legislature that are not fun at all and not things that we agree with, but it's that idea about meeting this whole new group of students, and it's a fresh start, and the possibilities that come with that fresh start. And I think that despite all the challenges we face, the fact that our educators are coming into this space with hope and excitement, is really invigorating.

Dan Greenberg 11:58
I love that you bring that into the conversation. I'm now going to bring into the conversation a big bucket full of cold water and a wet blanket.

Dan Greenberg 13:00
Let's do it.

Katie Olmsted 13:00
Because I want to talk about those challenges. What are the challenges facing public education right now, and how do we meet those challenges?

Dan Greenberg 13:08
I think that the one challenge, the biggest challenge that I heard about, was the one regarding the compliance with the so called Parents' Bill of Rights. Yes, House Bill 8. And the people being scared, being wondering what they're, you know, having this deep commitment to their students and to doing what's best for their students, and maybe being worried that in the law itself would infringe on their ability to support their students, that they might have to report something that they would never have done before, because it would have caused harm to a student, but now could could do something terrible to their career if they don't. And so I think that that was that's been a real concern, and one of the, one of the ways to combat that has been with information, with helping people understand, first of all, understanding the parameters and working with other colleagues and with administration. And I will say, on the positive side, the administration that I've worked with as well has been supportive of teachers and said, what questions do you have? Let me get you answers, and because they're not altogether clear, it's not as if local administrator, or local school districts created these policies themselves. They're just trying to be in compliance like like other educators. So I think education, educating people, helping them understand and then what we're looking to as an OEA, what we can do is to to try influence policy and have changes that that support teachers, being able to support students and all educators truly supporting supporting students in every way they do.

Katie Olmsted 14:49
So what would you say to critics who say OEA should stay out of politics? It's not a political thing.

Dan Greenberg 14:54
Unfortunately, it is a political thing. It is a political thing. There's so much um, that if we aren't a voice for members, if we don't get involved with politics, the things that we as educators hold sacred, the things that we value most, will be will be threatened, because somebody has to be a voice. We've we've been in the classrooms. We've been in those spaces we know best. We are educators who understand the issues that legislate, that our elected officials don't understand, and they don't realize that even even for those that are trying to do something with good intentions, that it can that what they don't realize the actual impact it has. I think about it may have been last year, or maybe it was the year before there was something regarding student data privacy and using and what it meant with technology. And I think it was a bipartisan supported piece, but it was us, up to us, for example, to explain, like the way this is worded, and the threats that are out there about teachers losing licenses and these kind of things. And it was, it was not a lot of unintended consequences, but it was the OEA that was bringing those things to legislators attention, saying, We know you did not have ill intentions with this, but this is what it does. We need to revise this, this, this law, to make it something where it's not penalizing teachers. I mean, there were schools that were saying, we can't use our chromebooks anymore. We can't use our technology. We are so fearful that we will be out of compliance and that there will be some kind of negative impact on educators or on administrators or on the district itself. That's obviously not the intent, but that's where it went. And being able to be being involved in politics means speaking up about those things and seeking change for the betterment of our schools and our students.

Katie Olmsted 16:41
It means going to the state house, not just OEA, but members, writing to their lawmakers, calling their lawmakers, speaking up and sharing their stories.

Dan Greenberg 16:51
Absolutely yes, they're the ones who can illustrate at the basic at the local level that this is what it means in classroom A or B, that this is what it means and how it impacts my students.

Katie Olmsted 17:04
And it sounds like that's what you're doing here at the state level, is always keeping your mind on what this meant would mean for your students in Sylvania.

Dan Greenberg 17:13
Absolutely, absolutely. I think about the things that keep me grounded. It's thinking about my my my students. It's thinking about and talking with my wife about what is happening in her classroom and how her classroom is impacted, and hearing her frustrations and still being in contact with all of my colleagues back in Sylvania, and hearing the things that may be frustrating to them, those are the things that keep me grounded in the work. Is under an understanding that even if I am not in the classroom, at this time, remembering what what it is to be in the classroom and remembering what impact it does have. And again, thinking, I think just in general, my feelings about public education and why I do this work are about thinking about my own my daughters and the society I want them to grow up in having those skills that come from their their experiences in public education and how public education matters to their community, and how it matters to their democracy, and all of those things i Those are always on my mind in the work that I do.

Katie Olmsted 18:16
And we, thank you for sharing a little bit of your mind here. And we thank you for the work that you do.

Dan Greenberg 18:23
Thank you very much for taking the time.

Katie Olmsted 18:24
We want to hear your story on this podcast too. Please tell me about what you're doing, or what your local is doing, or even about issues you think we should be digging into here on this podcast. You can email me at educationmatters@oea.org, you can also connect with OEA on social media anytime we're at OhioEA, on Facebook, X, and Instagram. We'll see you back here next week as we continue our conversations with the people who are shaping the public education landscape in our state every day. Because in Ohio, public education matters.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai