Name: Jeremiah Dugan
Where You Teach/Work/Educate: South Brook
Subject(s) / Grade You Teach or Once Taught: 8th Grade Social Studies
# of Years In Education: 24
Years At Current Position/School: 17 years at South Brook
Have You Taught Previously Elsewhere? (y/n): Frick ISA, Langley High School
If so….where, what did you teach/do…and for how long?: 8th grade Social Studies and 9th grade Civics
PFT: What compelled you to become a teacher and/or to work in education?
Jeremiah: I absolutely did not want to be a teacher. I wanted to work in politics or be a lawyer.
I volunteered to help coach a high school basketball team while I was in college and really enjoyed it. Teaching seemed a natural fit with coaching so I started to pursue it and realized I enjoyed the creative challenge and how everyday was different.
PFT: What do you like best about your career choice and job?
Jeremiah: I enjoy the creativity of the job. That I can write and design my lessons and projects and try different things out.
I am the director, producer, writer, and lead actor in my own one man show with performances daily. Some days obviously go better than others but I enjoy the creative challenge of making it work for students and challenging them to think and look at the world critically.
PFT: What degrees and certifications do you hold? Do you have any professional awards or recognition you’d like to share?
Jeremiah: University of Pittsburgh for undergraduate and Professional Year in Social Studies.
Carlow University for Masters in Educational Leadership
PFT: In your opinion, what are the greatest challenges faced by educators today? Students? School districts? Any challenges specific to your subject matter expertise?
Jeremiah: Not being consulted on decisions.
Too many times people do not realize that the purpose of our schools is to educate students and they have a job because of the work done in the classrooms. Everyone in the school district should be asking themselves first how they are supporting the work in the classrooms too often policy decisions are made with the classroom as the last consideration.
Policy decisions are made without talking to the people that have to implement those policy choices then those same people wonder why those policy choices are often dead on arrival. We need leadership that consults building level staff and honestly evaluates programs and decisions rather than reinventing the wheel every few years without actually removing old programs.
We need a systemwide audit to figure out what staff is doing and think they should be doing. We have a system that is like my grandmother’s kitchen walls. We layer program over program for years without removing or evaluating what is working or what it looks like. Unless we evaluate and examine the current systems, we cannot hope to successfully add new systems or programs.
PFT: When did you join the union? Do you participate in any committees or hold any leadership positions? Ever taken any coursework or continuing education?
Jeremiah: I have been a union guy since day one.
My dad was a firefighter and a proud member of local #1 here in Pittsburgh. He taught me the importance of knowing your contract and supporting the union. In college I interned with the AFL-CIO and UFCW working to unionize nursing home workers in Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee. I joined Student PSEA while at Pitt and was appointed to represent student members on the PSEA Political Action Committee in Harrisburg. Then I was elected to two terms to represent the then 10,000+ student members on PSEA’s Board of Directors as the State President.
I proudly signed my PFT union card on the same day I signed my contract with Pittsburgh Public in August of 1999. Since then I have held my different roles with the PFT. Executive Board member, building representative, PAC Chairperson, ESSERS Committee, Gates Grant Oversight Committee, Grassroots Committee, delegate to national and state conventions.
PFT: In your own words, why is having union representation important? What’s the best thing about being in a union, whether you are an active or more passive participant?
Jeremiah: Not all jobs do the people doing the work have a voice at the table.
Having many friends and family in corporate and non-union jobs and realizing that they have little or no collective say in how those organizations are run or when they are being targeted to having fair and consistent workplace protections. When we are younger we believe that people in authority in leadership and power are there because they have everyone’s best interest in mind, but as we get older we see that truth needs spoken to power and pushed to do the right thing.
Now having a voice at the table does not mean that our words are listened to, but I would much rather be at the table shouting than outside shouting in.
PFT: Do you have a mentor that introduced you to the PFT/Union? Please share who—and what that person meant to you and to your member development.
Jeremiah: I’ve learned from so many wonderful and influential people.
I was appointed to the executive board by Al Fondy. Got to spend a day with the man at a blackjack table in Vegas after an AFT Convention and learned more about policy and union history than I could in an entire masters program.
Each successive union president has taught me much about the union and leadership, both John Tarka and Nina Esposito-Visgitis have been amazing mentors as well.
PFT: When it comes to me personally, people are surprised to learn that I….
Jeremiah: …. have competed in 29 marathons and 2 ultramarathons, and once had a running streak where I ran at least a mile a day for over 7 years. In addition I am the only high school girls soccer coach in Pittsburgh Public Schools to lead a team to the WPIAL playoffs, and my girls did it twice!
FINAL NOTES and Lightning Round:
Be Sure to tune into PFT TALK–the PFT Podcast created and hosted by Jeremiah Dugan several times a month!
Click here to visit our PFT Talk episode and resource page–and click here to listen to all the PFT Talk Podcasts on Spotify.
Jeremiah’s favorite …
Movie: Semi-Pro
Book: Born to Run by Christopher McDougall
Author: Malcom Gladwell
Singer: Pearl Jam
Song: Don’t Back Down by Tom Petty
Color: Green
Food: 2 cuts of Fiori’s and a cartoon of Iced Tea
Time of year: Spring
Quote to live by:
“Get 1% Better Every Day.”
