By Suzanne Shepard

Editor's note: This column originally appeared in the Deposit TA newsletter, The Hatchet. It offers a glimpse of life under the stigma of unfair accusations. For more on this, see pages 18-19.

I have known Tred Burch for 30 years and have been married to him for 25. He is a good man. He married me knowing that I was hearing-impaired; it has never been an issue between us. Together, we have survived poverty and fire and homelessness.

Throughout the years, I have had the pleasure of meeting many of his former, grateful students, some of whom have become lifelong friends. Several of them have taken classes with me at Broome Community College and told me how much they liked having him for a teacher.

Believe me when I say that I was shocked and surprised when I came home from work on Nov. 17, 2005, and he told me that he had been "placed on administrative leave pending the results of a 3020-a disciplinary hearing" for discrimination against a hearing-impaired student. For the first time in my life, I understood the expression "brought to my knees by grief." I was.

Two days later, when our family gathered for Thanksgiving, his parents arrived early and planted themselves, one on his right and one on his left, shoulders touching his — and stayed there for the entire day.

That picture is ingrained in my mind and my heart forever. They quite literally held him up.

His sister, also a teacher and a leader in her NYSUT local, encouraged him to fight the charges, not just for himself but for all the teachers who might find themselves trapped in the jaws of No Child Left Behind.

Although my heart was shattered, I began to heal a little. Our family is incredibly strong and I realized that with such love behind us, Tred and I might get through this — somehow, someway.

All charges dismissed

On Dec. 3, 2007, when I got home from work and Tred told me the charges had been dismissed, I screamed and hugged him and began to cry. Those of you who know Tred can picture him saying "Now I'm going to have to take a sick day because you just broke my ribs."

Thank God for his sense of humor. And thank God for Cathy Klein, Chris Corlett, Tony Brock and the entire NYSUT team.

They stood with us as we faced the dragons, and with their help we prevailed.

I truly believe that, at the end of the day, God will dry every tear. But I also believe that, in the meantime, God expects us to use our God-given intelligence to take care of ourselves and our families. For teachers, that means joining and being active in your union.

As our experience indicates, teachers are incredibly vulnerable, even when they have access to that much-maligned protection of tenure. At the whim of an irate parent, a misguided administrator or a board member with an ax to grind, an innocent teacher's life and that of his or her family can be changed forever.

Here is the way the system works: Each member of the board and administration plays a role which has as its purpose the operation of the "machine" (the school). It's nothing personal, but you are a cog in that machine.

No matter how nice these individuals may be when they are outside of school, when they are in the role of operator they can — and will — sacrifice you for the "good" of the machine, as they understand it.

Only one entity exists solely for your help and protection: the union. That is why your local leadership keeps saying to come to them for advice rather than the administration; your trust can and will be betrayed by the operators of the machine if it suits their purposes.

Not just about you

So, join the union. If you already have, support your leaders. If you disagree with your union leadership, become a part of the solution. Talk to your representatives. Join a committee. Run for office. Be a part of the team.

When your leadership asks you to do something like wear a button or a T-shirt or pack a meeting, please do so, even if it makes you a little uncomfortable or you don't see the point. I am here to tell you that they would not do so without good reason. Because it's not just about you. But some day — when you least expect it — it might be.

Suzanne Shepard, a member of the Broome Community College Faculty Association, is a professor of English.