Solidarity: 'Passing the torch'

When Jeff Ney was starting out with PSEA as a member of the Wilkes-Barre EA, one of the local’s leaders who had participated in the March 4, 1968, rally described it to him.

“I could see the passion, and how the passion was still there from something that happened long ago,’’ said Ney, now PSEA treasurer. “What the rally stood for is still alive today.’’

A rally of that magnitude required organization, yes. But it took solidarity, and Ney said that torch was passed on to future generations of PSEA members.

“Younger members can’t be expected to know too much about the rally, but the ideals are ingrained in them,’’ he said. “We have young leaders coming up through the ranks who are really passionate and want to be involved in protecting members’ rights and making sure students’ needs are met.’’

Ney noted younger leaders are continuing the rally’s ideals in ways of their own.

One prominent avenue has been the use of social media to both inform members and to hold what Ney called “mini rallies’’ around the state, and in their locals and communities.

“I used to love having student teachers because they would teach me things,’’ said Ney, a science teacher in the Wilkes-Barre Area School District, Luzerne County. “And I think younger members are doing that with our veteran members.’’

Despite age and technological differences, he said solidarity is a critical common denominator.

“Think about your own family – if someone attacks a family member, the whole family rallies,’’ said Ney. “This PSEA family is no different.’’

And with the current attacks on public education and educators, he said it is just as important as ever to do what those 20,000 teachers did 50 years ago: “Stay together, have solidarity.’’

“It’s passing the torch,’’ Ney said. “I’m here today because somebody put the fire in me by somebody who put the fire in them. And we need to pass on that fire.’’