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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 29, 2001

Media Advisory

Helping Schools, Students of Greatest Need Tops Agenda at NEA Annual Meeting in Los Angeles

How do we ensure every child has access to a quality public education? How do we raise student achievement at schools labeled "low-performing" and focus resources on helping these schools improve? Thousands of teachers and school employees will learn strategies for getting all children on the path to higher achievement at the annual Representative Assembly of the National Education Association (NEA).

NEA will host its Annual Meeting and related conferences, June 28-July 7, in Los Angeles. The theme for this year's meeting is "NEA 2001: Making Every Public School Great." Materials and background information on NEA's Priority Schools Initiative and tools to turn around the country's lowest-performing schools have been prepared for each RA delegate.

NEA President Bob Chase will call to order the NEA Representative Assembly (RA) on Wednesday, July 4. The RA is the elected policy-making body of the 2.6 million-member Association. More than 9,000 delegates are expected, representing teachers, college faculty, student members, retired members, education support employees, and other Association members.

Floor debate and votes by these delegates will set the Association's overall policy for the coming year. NEA members will deliberate on a host of issues and share best practices for making public schools free of harassment and bullying, recruiting and retaining quality teachers, and holding all children to high standards.

Highlights of the 2001 NEA Annual Meeting and Pre-Convention activities include:

June 28

"Outreach To Teach" Project. Hundreds of NEA members from across the country - teachers, education support staff, students and retired members - will descend on a high school in the Watts section of Los Angeles to paint, build shelves, provide new materials and equipment, and make other improvements.

June 29-30

The 2001 NEA Joint Conference on the Concerns of Minorities and Women will feature workshops, speakers and hands-on sessions hosted by practitioners and experts in the fields of school safety, teacher quality, and student achievement.

June 30-July 1

The 2001 Conference on Bargaining and Instructional Issues will provide new opportunities for NEA members to improve teaching and learning conditions through negotiations - and negotiate professional issues in non-bargaining states. Secretary of Education Rod Paige is the keynote speaker at the opening session on June 30.

July 2

Read Across America "Read-In." Delegates will read with Los Angeles schoolchildren as part of the Association's ongoing effort to shine a spotlight on the joys as well as the necessity of literacy and reading. Thousands of books will also be collected for local schools and libraries.

July 2-3

Exhibits of educational products and services from some 200 organizations and vendors.

July 3

NEA hosts its annual Human and Civil Rights Awards Dinner. NEA will honor 11 individuals for their work to eliminate racism, sexism, and discrimination in education and to advance human rights. Among the recipients this year is the former governor of Mississippi, William Winter, who established the state's first public kindergarten for all children.

July 4

• Chase will deliver his keynote address during the first session and spotlight heroes working in our nation's public schools - teachers, bus drivers and other school staff - who have gone beyond the call of duty on behalf of students.
• Lieu Tran, a Utah teenager, will address the delegates on Independence Day and share her inspiring journey as a Vietnamese refugee to a distinguished humanitarian and academic career.

July 6

• The Representative Assembly will hear from speakers on the issue of school safety - individuals who have taken action to create safe schools and neighborhoods. Speakers include a student who fought bullying and harassment, a police officer who created a nationally recognized curriculum, and the parent of a Columbine student.
• Michelle Foreman, Teacher of the Year, will address the delegates. Foreman is a social studies teacher at Middlebury Union High School in Middlebury, Vermont.
• Delegates will debate resolutions relating to parental involvement, safe schools and other issues.

July 7

• NEA's highest honor, the "Friend of Education" Award will be awarded to Morris Dees, co-founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center, for his trailblazing work promoting interracial and intercultural tolerance.
• Educational Support Person of Year, Irma Valdespino of Las Cruces, NM, will address the delegates. Ms. Valdespino, an educational assistant, is the tenth recipient of the NEA's "ESP of the Year" award and the first Hispanic female so honored.

For more information on this year's Annual Meeting and details about the Representative Assembly 2001, visit the NEA website at www.nea.org/ra/ra01/rainfo01/.

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