- The Texas AFT Action Center
- The Legislative Hotline
- Inside Education
- Action Alerts and Letter Campaigns
- What do I do about changing emails?
- What if I want to be removed from the list?
- What if I have problems with the online letter campaigns?
- What if I'm not getting Texas AFT email anymore?
- What e-mail account should I use--home or work?
- What if I don't want my box inundated with Texas AFT e-mail?
We all have to deal with a flood of e-mail each day, some of it worthless spam and some of it valuable but part of a chain of information that we never seem to find time to review. But being part of the Texas AFT community and being connected with e-mail is important enough to take a few minutes to ensure that you're plugged in.
After all, decisions made at the state level can have a marked effect on your salary and work environment and the educational opportunities for our schoolchildren, so it behooves us all to stay informed. Below are a few of the communication vehicles used by Texas AFT, followed by some suggestions for how to manage your e-mail with us.
The Texas AFT Action Center
Texas AFT bases its communications in our Action Center, a central place where you can find online letter campaigns--called Action Alerts--and archives for the Legislative Hotline and Teacher Action newsletters.
By subscribing to the Center, you are assured to get Action Alerts llinking to letter campaigns. You can also subscribe to either or both of the Texas AFT newsletters, the Legislative Hotline and Teacher Action.
The Legislative Hotline
is a daily dose of information from the state and national capitals and beyond. Topics usually focus on legislation affecting preK-16 education employees, but the Hotline also carries helpful resources for teaching, changes in education policy--such as certification news--along with opportunities and benefits available to public school employees.
Inside Education
The weekly Inside Education newsletter offers a snapshot of education and legislative news, along with helpful tips from teacher for teachers.
Action Alerts
Action Alerts are e-mails sent to notify you of important actions to take, usually requesting that you participate in letter campaigns posted on the web that allow you to send letters to state and national lawmakers on important issues with a click of a button. Additionally, the web site allows you to refer friends to the campaigns.
What do I do about changing emails?
Already signed up but you now have a new e-mail? Changing your subscriptions is simple. At the bottom of any Hotline, Teacher Action or Action Alert, you'll find the sentence, "Visit your subscription management page to modify your e-mail communication preferences or update your personal profile," with a link that takes you to a page for changes.
If you still have problems making changes, simply e-mail info@texasaft.org with your request.
What if I want to be removed from the list?
We would hate to see you leave, so see the suggestions for managing e-mail below. But if you must remove yourself, you can find a link at the bottom of any Hotline, Teacher Action or Action Alert noting, "To stop receiving Legislative Hotline, click to unsubscribe. To stop ALL email from Texas Federation of Teachers Legislative Action Center, click to remove yourself from our lists (or reply via email with "remove or unsubscribe" in the subject line)."
If you still have problems removing yourself, simply e-mail info@texasaft.org with your request.
What if I have problems with the online letter campaigns?
Remember that you may only participate in letter campaigns once with each e-mail account you have. If you share an e-mail account with someone, the two of you will only be able to send one letter, unless you set up another e-mail account to use. On rare occasions, users might encounter error messages saying that they are ineligible to participate. If you get such a message, be sure and let us know at info@texasaft.org so we can get to the bottom of the problem.
What if I'm not getting Texas AFT email anymore?
The deluge of spam worldwide has produced strict rules for companies that manage e-mail lists. Therefore, if a Texas AFT e-mail sent to your account bounces (either because your provider's server was down, or your mailbox was full, etc.), you could be automatically removed from the list and prohibited from rejoining. Additionally, some spam filters may accidentally label Texas AFT e-mail as spam and delete them or route them to a folder to be deleted. For instance, Yahoo mail routes some mail to a "Bulk" folder, so check and see if this is the case. You should be able to designate the Texas AFT e-mail as non-spam.
If you need additional assistance, look for the "Help" menu on your e-mail program or contact your internet service provider. If you're not receiving e-mail anymore or you know your account was bouncing, be sure to contact Texas AFT at info@texasaft.org and we can make sure you get back on.
On rare occasions, school districts will block Texas AFT mail, either because they fear it is spam, or because they do not want any content that touches on politics going into their workplace. Let us know if you think this is the case and we can try and work with your district to solve the problem.
However, as more and more districts look at blocking e-mail, we encourage you to use a home account (or both a work and home account) to access Texas AFT e-mail. (See below.)
What e-mail account should I use--home or work?
Using a home e-mail account is preferable, since more and more school district and employers are blocking e-mail from outside organizations, either innocently as a result of trying to fight spam, or purposely to keep out content related to the working conditions of public school employees and public education policy. It is perfectly fine to sign up with both a home and work account to access Texas AFT e-mails in both places.
What if I don't want my box inundated with Texas AFT e-mail?
Since the Hotline is daily, you can expect to receive an issue each weekday (and some special editions on the weekend). If this is too much to handle, remember that most email programs allow you to set up folders to store your mail. If you don't have time to read a Hotline or participate in a letter campaign, consider storing them in a folder until you have time. Most email programs allow you to set up "Rules" to automatically route mail to folders. And if you have to just delete Texss AFT mail...go ahead! You can always find archives for the Hotline and Teacher Action, along with a complete list of online letter campaigns, on the Texas AFT Web site at www.texasaft.org.
