(This article, reprinted with permission, featuring John E. Grossman, class of 1964, appeared in The Times on April 28, 2004)   05/04/04

Grossman’s last stand
Columbus teachers union boss ends strike-free 26-year tenure

By ROSEMARY KUBERA
Suburban News Reporter

Left: Columbus Education Association President John Grossman will leave the office June 1 after 28 years in the union’s top spot. Click on the image to enlarge.

Ten contracts. Zero strikes. Wage increases that always were greater than inflation.

Those things are part of the legacy John Grossman leaves behind when he retires June 1 as president of the Columbus Education Association. He has spent 26 years fighting for teachers in the Columbus Public Schools.

“I am proudest of the teaching force. Today, by far, they are the best teaching force that the district has ever had,” he said.

“We’ll put our people up against anyone, anywhere, anytime.”

Continuing professional education, negotiated into contracts with the school district, has helped account for teachers’ expertise, he said.

During an interview last week, Grossman pulled out a 16-page itinerary of classes that teachers are attending today during a professional development day. Titles include: Reading is the New Civil Right; A Framework for Understanding Poverty; Data Driven Instruction; and Every Child Can Learn.

Grossman, 57, is a bachelor who lives in Bexley in the home where he grew up. He attended Bexley public schools. His father was a college professor and his mother and brother were school teachers, as is his niece.

Grossman’s first job was in 1969, teaching social studies and government at South High School.

During this period, Columbus schools were in racial turmoil along with the rest of society. Amid this setting in 1971, Grossman won his first election as union representative. He was elected to the governing board in 1974.

In 1975, teachers staged a one-week strike that Grossman helped organize. That role earned him recognition and in 1978, teachers elected the 31-year-old Grossman as their president.

A short time later, a U.S. District Court ordered desegregation of the Columbus schools. By 1979, more than one-third of the teachers were reassigned and nearly 40,000 students were bused to schools outside of their neighborhoods.

Grossman credited his experiences in the school community at South for preparing him to lead during desegregation.

“South was the only naturally desegregated school in the district,” he said.

The 1980s proceeded tumultuously as a couple of district operating levies failed. But 1983 was the year when the union and the administration began what generally has been a peaceful co-existence.

That, said Grossman, was when he and Superintendent James Hyre “decided we were killing each other with constant complaining.” The two looked for positive issues they could agree upon.

“That is correct,” said Hyre. “After we learned each other’s style, we came to an understanding that we weren’t going to be adversaries.”

Continuing to partner with management throughout the years, the union launched several innovative programs.

Among them was Peer Assistance and Review, a program in which teachers evaluate each other’s job performance.

The National Education Association initially opposed the practice. But CEA wanted it because “we felt evaluations were so poor,” said Grossman.

“We wanted to improve teaching.”

In the meantime, the union became more civic-minded. Both Grossman and president-elect Rhonda Johnson were chairmen of organized labor’s fund-drive for the United Way of Central Ohio. Grossman also has served on the COTA board of trustees.

The union “is very active” with the Ohio State University and other area colleges to organize professional development classes for teachers and to support colleges of education, said Grossman.

But while the relationships he’s enjoyed with district administrators have been good, they can’t be called rosy.

“Over the years, the district has been distracted by routine (operating) issues,” said Grossman.

This year, for instance, the personnel department botched teacher placements, he said.

“They had the wrong people in the wrong rooms,” he said.

Too many classes continue to be taught by substitutes, he added.

But Grossman hasn’t made a public fuss about this.

“We want to move the district forward,” he said.

Last week Grossman was fielding calls from laid-off teachers, many of whom he said got pink slips in error.

Still, despite such mechanical errors, Grossman said the district is heading in the right direction. It moved out of state-defined academic emergency last year and is focusing on improving more standardized test scores and graduation rates.

After June 1, Grossman will continue serving on national boards for educational and union reform. He’ll also work part-time at CEA headquarters to aid Johnson’s transition as newly elected president.

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