Owning its office enhances TEA’s role as a member and community resource
Under the leadership of Trenton Education Association President Talithea Duncan, TEA reached an important milestone when it held a mortgage burning ceremony on May 19 at its office on 1415 Chambers Street. The association had first moved there in 2007. The late Thomas J. Moore was TEA’s president when the building was purchased. Fifteen years later, in January 2022, TEA made its final mortgage payment. Janice Williams, a longtime TEA member, took the lead in organizing the event to mark the occasion.
Duncan, assisted by former TEA President Naomi Johnson-Lafleur, did the honors of turning the mortgage to ashes.
TEA President Talithea Duncan prepares to turn the mortgage to ashes.
The event was attended by active and retired members of TEA, the Trenton Paraprofessionals Association, the Trenton Educational Secretaries Association, and the Trenton Business and Technical Association. Also attending were Mercer County Education Association members, retired and active NJEA staff, and Trenton School District leadership. Sen. Shirley Turner, Assemblywoman Verlina Reynolds-Jackson, and Assemblyman Anthony Verrelli presented TEA with a proclamation. Trenton Mayor Reed Gusciora spoke at the event, congratulating TEA.
“Because of them, we did!”
The event carried the theme “Because of them, we did!” The “them,” Williams explained, includes TEA presidents. In fact, a wall inside the building is decorated with the plaques of all of TEA’s past presidents.
“Because of them, we are,” Williams said. “Past members, past officers, past presidents—because of their hard work and their commitment to unionism and to the association—because of them we’re still standing, we’re still surviving, we’re still doing the work that we should be doing as a union. We’re still organizing. We’re still working in the community. All of those things we’re committed to doing as educators and as union brothers and sisters.”
]Current and former leaders (and a family member) of the local associations representing Trenton staff joined NJEA Secretary-Treasurer Petal Robertson by the cornerstone that marks TEA’s affiliation with NJEA in 1962. From left: Naomi Johnson-Lafleur, Betty McNair, Talithea Duncan, Connie Moore (widow of Thomas J. Moore), Cynthia Price, Twanda Taylor, Betty Glenn, Petal Robertson, and Janice Williams.
A time capsule
To further mark the occasion, TEA members gathered items to be placed in a time capsule. The capsule has been placed in a glass display case where it will remain unopened until no sooner than May 19, 2072. Williams would not list the items that were placed in the capsule as commemorations of TEA history, with one exception.
“The only item I’m going to tell you is in there—because we just had to put it in—is a face mask,” Williams said.
TEA has been affiliated with NJEA since Jan. 24, 1962—a date marked on the cornerstone of TEA’s office. Prior to its Chamber Street office, TEA called 983 South Broad Street its home. Williams recalled that prior to that location, in the 1980s, TEA held its meetings in NJEA headquarters at 182 West State Street.
When Moore and other TEA leaders determined it was time to move out of their South Broad Street office, they met with then-NJEA Executive Director Vince Giordano and the UniServ Field Rep Jim Loper. With Loper’s guidance and Giordano’s support, NJEA assisted TEA with funds to help the local association close on the mortgage. Now retired, Loper spoke at the mortgage burning, congratulating TEA and telling a few humorous anecdotes.
Keeping up with the mortgage was not without its challenges.
When an adverse appellate court decision in Jersey City led to school districts across New Jersey challenging the full-time release president provisions found in some collective bargaining agreements, TEA found itself responsible for a whole new set of expenses it hadn’t bargained for: the president’s teaching salary, her health insurance and her pension contributions. The decision was ultimately reversed by the New Jersey State Supreme Court, but in the meantime the new costs were a financial hardship for TEA and other affected locals.
“We still had all the expenses of serving our members, maintaining our building and paying the mortgage,” Williams recalled. “But we were committed to remaining in that location. We cut corners and did what we had to do because it was important to us to have a full-time president and still have the building maintained. We worked hard, and we continue to work hard.”
TEA President Talithea Duncan speaks about TEA’s achievements.
Serving members and the community
With the building paid off, TEA can invest in upgrades to bring the building on Chambers Street up to 21st-century standards. It can also do what it does best: open its doors even wider to its members and the community.
In addition to being an office space, 1415 Chambers Street is a meeting place for TEA members—including a meeting room that holds up to nearly 70 members for monthly rep council meetings. Both Pride and FAST (Families and Schools Together) events are held in TEA’s building. Others community partners meet there as well.
“We have a lot of local organizations that can come in and hold their meetings here, and that ties us directly to the community,” Williams said. “That’s a relationship you want to have—a direct relationship with parents and the community.”