President Of Detroit Teachers Union To Step Down
DETROIT (WWJ/AP) - The president of the Detroit Federation of Teachers says he plans to step down from his post leading the 4,000-member union.
Keith Johnson told Detroit Free Press columnist Rochelle Riley that "it's time to step aside and let the next phase of leadership come in."
"It's been 21 years in union leadership, and the question I had to ask myself is: I know how to go only one way and that's full throttle – could I go full throttle for another two years?" Johnson said. "If you have to ask yourself that question, you already know the answer."
Detroit's schools are run by a state-appointed emergency manager. Johnson has served for six years as president of the union.
"I believe I'm leaving the federation in a position to get through this whole emergency financial situation and transition into the right to work phase," he said. "And certainly right to work changes the narrative because I'm from the era … when your union membership was never a question. Now that narrative will change. You're going to have to go out and convince people to be part of a union. That will be hard for any union, but especially a teacher's union with the assault that has been laid on them."
Johnson, who turns 60 this year, says he is writing two books -- a novel and a nonfiction book called "How to Destroy the Public Education System for People of Color." He also plans to return to school and said he would like to become an arbitrator.
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