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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 3, 2000

News Release

NEA President Calls on Members To Rescue Standards Movement

Bob Chase calls for renewed attention to standards, children, and safety

Chicago, IL - Improving the conditions of children's lives and the quality of public education was the focus of the keynote address delivered by Bob Chase, president of the 2.5 million member National Education Association on Monday, July 3.

Speaking on the first day of NEA's 79th Representative Assembly, President Chase called on NEA members to take a lead role in keeping the education standards movement on the right track.

"We have long advocated high expectations for all children," Chase said. "But policies that are hastily conceived and ineptly executed will never accomplish this goal." Chase called for a "massive infusion of common sense" by involving classroom teachers in developing and implementing academic standards.

Chase deplored "testing mania," with its consuming emphasis on standardized testing that prevents a balanced approach to teaching and learning.

NEA and its affiliates are working with policymakers at all levels to develop curricula to meet new state standards and to advocate for resources at the state and federal levels to reduce class size, strengthen teacher licensure, and provide resources for high quality programs.

"NEA and its state affiliates can and must intervene - not to bury the standards movement - but to save it and to save our schools," he said. His remarks noted the strong link between expectations of students and the condition of children in America.

President Chase noted the numerous efforts teachers and other education employees make to "transform despair into hope." Association members who work with children in America's public schools are closely involved in addressing the needs of children in ways that go far beyond their work in the classroom.

"Better schools will not be enough to rescue millions of children in America who are growing up in fragmented families, violent neighborhoods, and impoverished communities," Chase said. He called on Association members to work for expanding and improving services in education, family services, and health care - through lobbying and community outreach.

In addressing the growing concerns about safety in schools and neighborhoods, President Chase called for quick action on common-sense gun laws - trigger locks, mandatory background checks, and bans on high-capacity ammunition magazines and semiautomatic assault rifles.

"All of us have attended too many memorial services for murdered teachers and children," Chase said. "We've dried too many tears, and consoled too many loved ones."

NEA members had a moment of silence in honor of Barry Grunow, a Lake Worth, Florida, teacher shot by a student on the last day of school. Members of the American Federation of Teachers, meeting in Philadelphia, PA, joined in a simultaneous observance. Grunow was a member of the Florida Education Association, the newly merged state affiliate of both NEA and AFT.

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The National Education Association is the nation’s largest professional employee organization, representing more than 2.7 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support personnel, school administrators, retired educators, and students preparing to become teachers.