News:
Heroes & Zeroes

Last summer, Thulas Nxesi, leader of the South African Democratic Teachers Union, told NEA Representative Assembly delegates about SADTU's 20-year battle to build a diverse, national union while battling a state policy of racial separation.

Nxesi said his union now represents almost two-thirds of South African teachers. But he stressed that there's much more work to do, including reorganizing racially divided school districts, improving substandard school buildings, and tackling top-down education "reform" that has "been drawn up by government officers to the exclusion of teachers and the union.

"Curriculum reform," Nxesi stressed, "can only be successful to the degree that teachers are involved." And he said something else any educator can relate to: "We must join hands to make sure public education is the right of all the world's children." (For the full text of this speech, go to www.nea.org/nr/sp000704f.html)

While South Africans are tearing down a segregated school system, Wall Street financier Ted Forstmann has spent $20 million of his own money on an ad campaign promoting the creation of a second, "competitive" education system for America. Forstmann, who has already donated millions for private "scholarships," says his media drive will educate parents about the "failures" of public schools and enlist their support for alternatives.

All the more reason for you to educate the public about the ways educators spend money out of pocket for far more intelligent purchases like classroom materials.

Substitute teachers can be certified career educators, students studying to become teachers, teacher retirees, or even regular teachers on break from year-round schools. But they all face the same problems including poor wages, low respect, and no due process rights or health insurance.

Last summer, members of the Substitute Teacher Caucus at the annual NEA Representative Assembly won passage of a new business item supporting the First National Conference for Substitute Teachers, held in July in Washington, D.C.

The RA action also highlights a national sub teacher Web site at www.netword.com/SubstituteTeacherAdvocacy.

"I'll be darned if I don't turn this into a recognized profession," pledges caucus Vice President Rick Harlan of Seattle. "I love this job. I get to meet more students in a week than any regular teacher does!"