More than 30 ACTS charter school teachers from across the nation spent much of Sunday, June 22, at McDonogh 42 Charter School in New Orleans, picking up paint brushes and rollers and putting a forest green finish on a rusted fence at the back of the schoolyard.  

[Photo: Dawn Eichhorn (left) of Pembroke Pines Charter Elementary, Pembroke Pines, Florida, and Tara Shaleesh, a 7th-grade teacher at the United Federation of Teachers Secondary Charter School in Brooklyn, NY, pitch in to show their solidarity with New Orleans teachers. Photos by Nijme Rinaldi-Nun]

The teachers are in New Orleans as part of a delegation being hosted by the United Teachers of New Orleans (UTNO) and its parent union, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). They all work at charter schools where the teachers have won union representation rights through the AFT. Starting today, the delegation will attend the Eighth Annual National Charter School Conference, which runs until June 25 at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center.

Yesterday’s community service event was about “teachers helping teachers,” explained Kayla Meadows, an AFT member and kindergarten teacher at a charter school in Ukiah, Calif. All charter schools and teachers have challenges, so “it’s important that we find ways to work together like this,” she observed as she helped prep the fence for painting.

[Photo: Kayla Meadows of Ukiah, Calif., gets the fence ready for a makeover.]

Jed Shields, a high school science teacher at St. Louis’ Construction Careers Center Charter School, was also on hand to help with the project, which was punctuated throughout the afternoon with laughing, joking and good music drifting from a volunteer’s nearby car. “It’s a great opportunity to meet other charter school teachers and to help out the New Orleans community,” Shields said as he worked a roller across a section of fence.

In addition to California and St. Louis, the visiting teachers hailed from Buffalo, N.Y.; Broward County, Fla.; and New York City.

McDonogh 42 serves a Ward 7 community that is still trying to recover from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. The painting project was a hit with the host city, attracting news crews from three TV stations to cover the event and interview teachers.

“When the students walk through these gates and see a freshly painted fence, we hope we can inspire them that there's something new about what's going on,” said UTNO President Larry Carter. “It’s an important action to show them that we care.”