Minnesotan to lead state teachers union

Tom Dooher, a longtime Minnesota teacher and leader, is the newly appointed executive director of the Arkansas Education Association, organization President Brenda Robinson has announced.

Dooher was selected by a unanimous vote of the association’s board of directors to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Rich Nagel earlier this year. The organization is the state’s largest teachers union.

A middle school physical education teacher in Minnesota, Dooher was president of the Robbinsdale Federation of Teachers for 10 years and then president of Education Minnesota, which represents more than 70,000 public school employees.

“Mr. Dooher is uniquely suited to lead AEA into a new era of growth and expansion,” Robinson said. “He has been a change agent throughout his career, setting each association he has led on a path to influence and prominence.”

During his tenure as president of the Robbinsdale Federation of Teachers, Dooher focused on engaging, organizing and mobilizing newer, younger members and reaching out to the community with the message that strong schools build strong communities, according to the association’s announcement of his hiring.

Under Dooher’s leadership, the organization proposed an alternative salary plan that was based on employee skills.

As president of Education Minnesota, Dooher and his team pushed for full-day kindergarten for Minnesota children, for increases in the state’s funding for the education of for 4-year-olds and for additional state aid for kindergarten-through-12th-grade education and higher education.

Dooher said in a prepared statement that he was honored to be selected for the job.

“Together with elected leadership, we will build on AEA’s standing as Arkansas’ largest, oldest and most respected educational association,” he said.

Arkansas, Pages 10 on 12/24/2013

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