Innovative Teachers of Texas offers insurance options and community support for professional educators

It's called Innovative Teachers of Texas, but you can think of it as educators who want to return to traditional classroom principles.

It is an organization of professional educators that will provide its members classroom insurance up to $3 million, as well as identity theft protection while serving as an advocate and providing educators with a private Facebook page with daily programs and other assets. Founded in March 2019, it had been in the works since 2013.

ITTexas board member Melissa Martin said she believes in what ITT stands for and that is why she got involved.

Innovative Teachers of Texas | ittexas.org

“We were formally organized last year after many years of recognizing a need,” Martin said. “I’m one of the board members, and I got involved because I’m passionate about my profession. I’m in my 20th year of education in the public school system, and I’ve been a witness to both the positive and negative parts of the system.

“While many are pushing a progressive agenda in the classroom, I want to protect traditional Texas values which I believe are fundamental to a successful culture that nourish family and community,” she said. “The goals of ITT are to give a voice to teachers rather than protect the top-down system that we currently have. Additionally, our organization also provides professional liability insurance.”

Jennifer Winter, an Austin resident who taught Spanish for 13 years, is a co-founder and ITT’s executive director. Jennifer Drabbant, an upper-level mathematics teacher at Del Valle High School in southeast Austin, and Caryl Ayala, an Austin elementary school teacher with 20 years of classroom experience, are also on the Board of Directors.

Winter said the association offers a much-needed option for educators.

“Teachers now have another choice for a professional liability insurance: A choice that does not fund a liberal agenda,” Winter said.

“I’m passionate about this organization because I think it will provide the most meaningful opportunity for 21st century students and teachers. Innovative Teachers of Texas strives to support and empower teachers instead of using them as a tool to promote an agenda with which they may not agree,” she said. “As a former teacher myself, I’ve seen the political agenda of large urban, public school districts. Too many districts resist educational innovation, disempower teachers, overpay administration, underpay teachers, and primarily make decisions supporting political agendas instead of the best interest of teachers, students and parents."

Martin is a true believer in the power of education and the duty of a teacher. Her emails end with a quote from educator Horace Mann: “A teacher who is attempting to teach without inspiring the pupil with a desire to learn is hammering on cold iron.”

She said ITT strives to make a difference in public education.

“Our membership is still growing, and I believe we will have a strong voice as more Texas teachers learn about our goal to support teachers and traditional Texas values,” she said. “We won’t be funding groups that conflict with those values.”

Winter, 50, said she came to see the need for an organization that represented people like her, with a conservative, traditional viewpoint on education and other issues.

“I got involved because through a series of circumstances in my own life, my eyes were opened to a phenomenon occurring right under our noses in the Texas School System,” Winter said. “It seemed to me that there was a one-sided perspective that was being encouraged and even enforced among the administrators, teachers, and then trickling down to the young students.”

In her view, and that of ITT members, that one-sided perspective is very liberal in nature and is having a significant effect on maintaining traditional Texas values in schools.

“As a result, I heard some teachers say that the focus in school was no longer about reading, writing, and arithmetic,” Winter said. “Teachers struggle with this because they are professional educators and have expertise and passion to help their students learn and achieve. They feel stifled sometimes with the spoken and sometime unspoken social perspective that is being encouraged and enforced in the schools.”

Winter is an enthusiastic booster of ITT and not shy about letting people know that.

“I’m passionate about this wonderful country, the state of Texas, and our educational system with which the values of this country and state are instilled,” she said. “Teachers work very hard to become experts in not only their special area of study, but also in the creation and implementation of curriculum. They compile and organize this information into logical and understandable pieces which they then impart to their students in a way that kindles enthusiasm leading to high levels of understanding, success and achievement.”

That’s why teachers need to be respected and valued, Winter said.

“That why our mission is to support teachers as individual practitioners by providing protection, dialogue, and resources with which they’ll have freedom to innovate and excel, rendering excellence in American education,” she said.

All new members have access to a fast-growing fellowship of like-minded educators around Texas through a private Facebook Group.

“Eventually, we’d like to have quarterly fireside chats between members and legislators and other community leaders so that we can create meaningful conversations between teachers, other community leaders, and policymakers,” Winter said. “Currently, our schedule on Facebook is Mental Health Monday, Texas Tuesday, Wellness Wednesday, Teach ITT Thursday, Funny Friday, Say it Saturday and then Sabbath Sunday. The topics on Texas Tuesday deal with policies affecting education in Texas.”

Winter and Martin did not state the number of members.

“We are still small but growing quickly. I predicted the majority of our members would be friends of friends of our members or board members,” Winter said. “However, I’m amazed how many of our charter members have found us simply by doing a search on the internet or read an article about us and said to themselves: I need ITT in my life. When I follow up with a phone call and hear their story and needs, I know that Innovative Teachers of Texas adds value to the educational landscape in Texas."

Each teacher, upon becoming a member, takes an oath, very similar to how a physician takes the Hippocratic Oath: “I hereby commit to fulfill according to my best ability and judgment this oath and this covenant: I will provide exemplary academic instruction and guidance for every student according to their needs and I will do so only for the good of that student. I will always strive to keep them from harm and injustice. I will always act in the best interest of each student and their success, based upon my very best judgment.”

Qualified members can join on-line at www.ITTexas.org.