More than 100 retired activists eager to learn more about organizing and mobilizing their fellow retirees gathered in Orlando, Fla., on April 17-20 for the first organizing conference hosted by the AFT Retirees Program. The participants were from each AFT constituency and hailed from 19 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. They came from retiree chapters big and small, but all had the same goal: to discover techniques to help them build their retiree power.

Summer is upon us, and parents, children and teachers are winding down from what has been an exhausting and fully operational school year—the first since the devastating pandemic. The long-lasting impact of COVID-19 has affected our students’ and families’ well-being and ignited the politics surrounding public schools. All signs point to the coming school year unfolding with the same sound and fury, and if extremist culture warriors have their way, being even more divisive and stressful.

Adjuncts at Temple University are organizing for a collective bargaining agreement right now with Temple Association of University Professionals (TAUP) and United Academics of Philadelphia (UAP)!

Attacks on public education in America by extremists and culture-war peddling politicians have reached new heights (“lows” may be more apt), but they are not new. The difference today is that the attacks are intended not just to undermine public education but to destroy it.