The presidency of Dan Monahan, who led the Cambridge Education Association for nine years as it restructured to meet social justice initiatives, ended this week. His successor as of Tuesday, high school history teacher Chris Montero, aims to build upon Monahan’s work toward inclusivity and to expand the union’s political presence.
Monahan, who plans to retire in a few months, said his work with the CEA was guided by what he defined as the three pillars of unionism: labor rights, or traditional union issues; professional practice, or placing workers at the center of decision-making; and social justice. The union’s scope had expanded into professional practice before Monahan became president, and Monahan helped push the group into the social justice realm, the outgoing president said.
Monahan started the Educators of Color Coalition, an advocacy group that could address cultural issues and long-standing racial achievement and opportunity gaps in the Cambridge Public Schools. After a union member’s recommendation to apply for a grant, the district and CEA implemented Building Equity Bridges, a project examining barriers to equity that aims to “pressure the district to make some changes,” Monahan said. “There were some pretty significant changes that came out of that.”
Monahan’s social justice-focused work included restructuring the union to be more democratic and less patriarchal. He worked to engage union membership by building systems of communication that center small-group and one-on-one conversations and encouraging rank-and-file members to participate in discussions and leadership.
In contract negotiations during Monahan’s presidency, union wins included what Monahan called “some pretty significant gains” in paraprofessionals’ wages, as well as “very fair compensation” for time added to the school day.
Monahan was involved in contract negotiations and served as an executive board rep, secretary and vice president of the union before becoming its president. Having gotten involved with the association at a colleague’s encouragement, Monahan was drawn to stay because of his “fundamental belief that our schools will be best when educators are their center of decision making.”
Monahan had encouraged Montero and other educators to run for leadership positions as he looked toward retirement. The outgoing president said he is excited to see Montero build on existing structures and momentum and create coalitions while negotiating all educators’ contracts next year.
“My time is done; I’m ready to pass it on to the next generation,” Monahan said.
A Cambridge Rindge and Latin history teacher since 2017, Montero initially got involved in the union by serving as a building representative for the high school. After co-creating an affinity group for his fellow Latinx educators, Montero got increasingly involved with the association, working with the Educators of Color Coalition and in contract negotiation campaigns.
Montero ran for association president on a slate of six candidates aiming to bring shared priorities to various union leadership positions. Four members of this slate won their races this past December; two of the four had faced a contested election. Their platform included winning paid family leave and “being really bold in the action that we take and the things that we fight for,” Montero said.
Larger role envisioned
The incoming president aims to continue Monahan’s work of democratizing the union by empowering members to get involved in decision-making, leadership and other union activities. He said he wants the CEA to be run from the ground up, emphasizing his belief that holding the role of president does not mean he should make all the decisions.
“The union is strongest when everybody is playing a role,” Montero said. “If other people step up and are willing and able to do the work, then I will consider my time as president to have been successful.”
Montero also envisions an association with a larger role in Cambridge politics and community organizations. This past year, the union worked with the Solidarity Squad, a group of educators, caregivers and leaders of community organizations. Having compiled goals for the school budget, the squad pressured the School Committee and worked with the superintendent to meet some of those goals.
“We didn’t get everything that we wanted, but we learned that there’s a lot of power when we work together to get those things that our kids need,” Montero said. “There’s a lot of positive change – democratic change – that we could do in Cambridge that would be not only good for us, but really a beacon and a model for a lot of other places. At a time when it feels like democratic values and democratic norms are under threat, we could be setting the stage of what true democracy looks like.”
Other leadership transitions
Montero hopes to continue this collaborative political work during this fall’s School Committee elections.
Several other union leadership positions will undergo a transition before the 2025-2026 school year: CRLS history teacher Duncan MacLaury takes over as vice president of labor; Cambridge Street Upper School English language arts teacher Betsy Preval becomes vice president of social justice; and Graham & Parks and Cambridgeport School instructional technology specialist Sarah Rosenberg serves as vice president of community relations.
The union will enter contract negotiations for its 1,500 members in its early months under this new leadership. Montero said the association hopes to have successor agreements in place before the start of the 2026-2027 school year.
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Mr. Montero,
Do you have any comment on the fact that for many years, half the grade school students, (perhaps more than half), can not read or do math at grade level. Why is that?