Inside CEA

Questions from the Campaign Trail: Week One

Mon, 12 Jan 2026 23:54:49 GMT

Chris and I sit down and answer questions we've received through our website and through a Facebook group at the end of one whole week of campaigning. Articles referenced in the audio:

https://tea.core4ed.org/p/core-submits-emergency-new-business

https://tea.core4ed.org/p/how-institutions-kill-organizing

Meet the Moment: Fight for Elementary

Mon, 05 Jan 2026 21:32:28 GMT

Listen to 5 candidates from the Meet the Moment slate explain the urgency to fight for elementary members and students, and how these wins would bring real change.

Meet the Moment: Fight for Special Education

Mon, 05 Jan 2026 21:32:27 GMT

Listen to 5 candidates from the Meet the Moment slate explain our third platform pillar.

Meet the Moment: Democracy and Transparency

Mon, 05 Jan 2026 21:25:05 GMT

Listen to 5 candidates from the Meet the Moment slate explain what democracy and transparency could look like in our union.

Meet the Moment: Organize CEA

Mon, 05 Jan 2026 21:19:07 GMT

Hear 5 candidates from the Meet the Moment slate explain our first pillar of the platform: Organize CEA.

Action is Not Ad Hoc (Part 2)

Thu, 04 Dec 2025 21:00:13 GMT

Member Action Team organizers take listeners through organizing in the spring of 2025 and through the summer, with the heart of the story at the end.

Action is Not Ad Hoc (Part 1)

Thu, 04 Dec 2025 21:00:14 GMT

This one is specifically for our union reps and members. The Member Action Team organizers share the campaigns we've done and why we deserve to be a standing committee in our union. This episode is split into 2 parts.

Episode 8: Book Banning and The Right to Read

Wed, 06 Aug 2025 11:55:14 GMT

This episode covers the two year fight that two CEA members led and won. It's a testament to the strength of a union, the strength of friendship, and the importance of literature.

Axois article: https://www.axios.com/local/columbus/2021/10/25/get-to-know-the-4-candidates-for-columbus-city-council

Tomatoes for Neela: https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https://i0.wp.com/juanamartinezneal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/TomatoesForNeela_2627.jpg?ssl%3D1&tbnid=Aw8oYANpUKx5qM&vet=1&imgrefurl=https://juanamartinezneal.com/books/tomatoes/&docid=Yt9v1oACPoyyhM&w=2560&h=1617&source=sh/x/im/m1/1&kgs=5690958074e22fd0

Episode 7: Community Campus School, Part 3, The End of the Year

Sat, 19 Jul 2025 15:42:02 GMT

In the final part of the Community Campus School series, Chris Monteiro recalls the end of the school year and the escalation of the fight for the coordinator position. Interspersed are voice recordings from other CEA members on the Northland implementation team that help shape the story and the vision of what could be possible for the future of public education.

Episode 6: Community Schools Part 2, The Fight Begins

Fri, 27 Jun 2025 15:59:13 GMT

I continue the conversation with Chris about how the bosses started to strategically keep the win from the workers. This episode explains how the fight for the coordinator started and why. We speak about working conditions and worker exploitation in our workplace along the way.

Episode 5: Community Campus School, Part 1: ...What is it?

Fri, 27 Jun 2025 14:55:40 GMT

In the first episode of this three-part series, I talk to Chris Monteiro from Northland High School about what a community campus school is, wtf is wrong with our schools, how community schools can be a solution, and how the bosses laid the groundwork for keeping us down. ...or at least, trying to. ;)

Episode Four: Retaliation

Mon, 02 Jun 2025 00:10:03 GMT

call or text 216-302-7823 to share your story of retaliation in the workplace - nothing will ever be shared without explicit permission

This episode is about retaliation in response to the the union organizing at Independence High School in the fall of 2024, when the building enrolled hundreds more students, and supplied no additional staff.

CCS Board meeting referenced: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoMlTLJinVs

Dispatch article #1 referenced: https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/education/2024/11/07/influx-of-haitian-students-straining-resources-at-independence-high/76096332007/

Dispatch article #2 referenced (paywalled): https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/education/2025/01/09/columbus-city-schools-teacher-union-complaint-board-president-teacher/77552934007/

Episode Three: String Specialist and Music Education

Thu, 08 May 2025 10:07:30 GMT

On this episode I interview CCS String Specialist Andrea, who gives me a crash course in music education and how it's changed in the district over the course of 20+ years. Andrea works at 4 schools in 3 buildings every single day, and sheds light on the lengths that music teachers have to go to in order for students to have instruments.

Episode Two: Middle School Libraries

Fri, 28 Mar 2025 10:06:43 GMT

Allison and I chat about the job of a middle school librarian, what's a stake with not staffing school libraries, what middle school students are reading these days, and how educators get put in the role of "supervisor" when that's not what we signed up for (...or what our license covers).

Episode One: Elementary teaching and RIMPs

Sun, 02 Mar 2025 21:37:43 GMT

1:30: School set-up
5:27: Start of school day
7:00: Scripted curriculum
14:40: Classroom splits
23:57: I-ready curriculum
33:25: End of day
37:21: Planning?
40:00: RIMPs
54:39: What would make your job easier?