School and Community Summer 2024

Jennifer Barnett, Mexico What is your MSTA “elevator pitch” when talking to a prospective member? I explain the importance of belonging to an organization that helps support teachers. With our current society, I believe it is important to have an organization that can help support them with legal questions and/or issues that come up in education. I also tell them that MSTA offers a lot of other support like providing information about professional development that they may not have otherwise heard about. I always talk-up the discounts on things like cell phone bills and insurance that are offered to teachers/district employees who are members of MSTA. What’s been working to get new members to join? Are there certain things that really catch their interest? I think a big part of getting new people to join is getting to know people and reaching out more directly. We set up a table at the beginning of the year all-district PD session and talked with people. We have CTA representatives from each building in our district at the table helping to provide information and answer questions, so people feel more comfortable asking about it. Once recruited, how do you keep everyone involved and excited about being part of the CTA? This is my first year as head of our local CTA, so we’ve tried some new things this year. Everyone who donated to CTA this year received a t-shirt with the new Mexico CTA logo that our awesome treasurer designed as a holiday gift. We also did a few silly things just to boost morale. For example, we had a district wide Halloween costume contest that we asked our school board members to judge, and first place got a $100 Amazon gift card. We also provided lunch to staff members during Teacher Appreciation Week. We have struggled in the past to get people involved in leadership roles. This year, we developed a survey to send out to the district to ask members what they would be willing to help with. It included a section that specifically asks, “Would you like to become a building representative for CTA?” but also asks them if they know of someone in their building that they think would be a good building representative. I think many times people think about getting involved but are apprehensive to reach out on their own. If we can approach someone and say, “Hey! Someone in your building thought you would make a great CTA building

representative, is that something you might be interested in?” I think more people are inclined to take on a leadership position. The survey also lists some of our bigger CTA events and asks them to select any of them they would be willing to help with. Then our CTA officers and representatives can contact them when planning and orchestrating those events throughout the year. It is hard to get much response when sending out blanket emails, so we think it will help to have specific people to reach out to. What challenges have you run into with getting and keeping members, and how have you adapted your tactics in response to these challenges? It is difficult to ask people to pay for “another thing” especially at the beginning of the school year when you have a million other things you are paying for at that time. Our district offers payroll deduction, so that helps, and I suggest people go for that option. We also have tried to explain what MSTA is versus what the CTA is. Sure, CTA is under the umbrella of MSTA, so most CTA members are also members of MSTA, but it is important for people to understand that CTA is an organization for everyone in the district. I think communicating regularly really helps to keep people invested and just making our presence known throughout the year with various activities and events that support our members helps too. The more active we are, the better! Once they know more about CTA and MSTA and see our presence, they are more likely to join MSTA, donate to CTA, renew their membership and donate again in the future. What advice would you give someone who wants to start a CTA in their own district? It can be a lot of work, but it’s worth it! Once you get more people involved, it gets easier too. Using the strengths of your members to help carry out tasks makes it very rewarding. It helps everyone involved feel a part of a bigger goal because CTA is about helping teachers and district employees be happy to come to school every day. Happy people take care of business in the classroom for our kids, which is why we’re in education. Through CTA, we become a place where teachers have a sense of belonging and we end up addressing issues within the district together and get to have fun as we do it!

14 | SUMMER 2024 S&C