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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 5, 2002

News Release

NEA Annual Meeting Sets Course to Influence Public Education

Dallas - At its annual meeting, the National Education Association (NEA) set aside $4 million to expand awareness, help shape implementation, and advocate for improvements in the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), the far-reaching law enacted last January. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act made significant changes in the conduct of federal education programs, including new provisions for standardized testing and identifying schools in need of improvement.

The nearly 9,000 delegates to NEA's annual Representative Assembly approved the creation of an advisory committee to gather input and develop strategies for making sure the Elementary and Secondary Education Act improves opportunities for children and public education. NEA will also advocate for resources at the local, state, and federal levels to enhance the qualifications of teachers and education support professionals, hold all students to high expectations, and provide meaningful help to schools in need of improvement.

Delegates to the Representative Assembly elected a new slate of officers, including President-elect Reg Weaver, a middle school science teacher from Harvey, Ill., who will take office Sept. 1. Weaver has served as NEA vice president for the past six years. In addition, Dennis Van Roekel was elected as NEA vice president. Van Roekel, a high school math teacher from Paradise Valley, Ariz., has served as NEA secretary-treasurer for the past five years. Weaver and Van Roekel were each elected to three-year terms. Lily Eskelsen, an elementary teacher from Salt Lake City, Utah, was elected secretary-treasurer. Eskelsen, a member of the NEA Executive Committee, was elected for one year, the time remaining in Van Roekel's term.

In addition, two members of the NEA Executive Committee were elected. Mike Billirakis, a 30-year teacher from Pickering, Ohio, and Marsha Smith, a third-generation educator from Olney, Md., were each elected to three-year terms.

Among the measures adopted by the delegates are new guidelines for quality distance learning programs. The guidelines were developed as the result of a year-long review of distance learning standards and practices by a task force chaired by Angelo Dorta, president of Vermont-NEA.

The new policy is designed to help assure that technology is used as a tool in effective instruction, not a mechanism for replacing face-to-face interaction with teachers. The task force report emphasized the importance of teacher quality, whether courses involved distance learning, classroom instruction, or - ideally - a combination of both.

Senator Jim Jeffords (I-VT) was honored with the coveted NEA Friend of Education Award. A longtime champion of meaningful federal financial support for public education and vigorous defender of high standards for students, teachers, and schools, Jeffords was unable to attend the meeting, but addressed the assembly in a videotaped message.

Delegates recognized eleven humanitarians Monday, July 1, during the Human and Civil Rights dinner at the Adam's Mark Hotel. And delegates heard from a number of inspirational leaders, including Bob Chase, who is presiding over his last Representative Assembly as NEA president.

"Politicians talk boldly about holding teachers accountable," said Chase. "That's fine. But we have a professional responsibility to hold the politicians accountable. It is morally wrong to say to teachers in high poverty schools that 'You are to blame.' It is morally wrong to threaten children of poverty with high-stakes tests if you are going to deny them high-quality teachers and schools."

Chauncey Veatch, the National Teacher of the Year, uplifted delegates on the Fourth of July with his account of the importance of public education in a democratic society.

"Having served my country wearing the uniform in the armed forces, it is important that I share with you that there is no work that I have done that is more patriotic than to be a teacher," Veatch said. Veatch, a retired Army colonel, is a social studies teacher at Coachella Valley High School in Thermal, Calif.

Sandra McBrayer, executive director of the Children's Initiative in California and a former Teacher of the Year, also keyed her remarks to the celebration of America's independence.

"America is about our belief that each and every child has the right to a quality education and that each and every child has the potential to learn," McBrayer said.

JoAnn Falk, a school secretary from Pueblo, Colorado, and National Education Support Professional of the Year, addressed the importance of collaboration in schools.

"Value the support staff in your school buildings and classrooms," Falk said. "We must work as teams to improve education for all our students."

NEA Executive Director John Wilson said, "Our members didn't get into education to make the big bucks, but neither did they take a vow of poverty. We went into education to make a difference in the lives of children."

In his first opportunity to set the tone for the direction of the NEA in the years to come, President-elect Weaver gave a speech emphasizing the organization's energy and commitment.

"We must work within an environment that recognizes that we are one in the fight for a quality education for all students," Weaver said. "It's an environment where we can disagree, but not disengage, an environment where NEA and its state affiliates do what is best for children and public education.

"NEA is everywhere, and we are the right people, in the right places, at the right time, and we will make the right choices for public education," Weaver said.

The NEA Representative Assembly is the highest policy-making body in the organization, and it has three basic mechanisms for setting standards and guidelines for action by leaders, staff, and affiliates - the Legislative Program, Resolutions, and New Business Items.

The NEA Legislative Program sets the short-term and long-term agenda for NEA's federal lobbying efforts. Among changes in the Legislative Program adopted at this year's Representative Assembly were provisions strengthening support for early childhood education programs, collective bargaining rights for higher education faculty, and nondiscrimination in employment.

NEA Resolutions set forth principles that form the philosophical framework for NEA and its affiliates and guides staff and leaders at the national level. Among changes in the Resolutions this year were amendments related to standardized testing of students. The changes clarified that standardized tests and assessments should be used only to improve the quality of instruction. The testing provisions also incorporated new information about the use and potential misuse of standardized testing.

In other action on Resolutions, the Representative Assembly adopted new language clarifying NEA's views that charter schools should be laboratory schools, not separate and apart from other public schools, and that charter schools should have the same standards of access and accountability as other public schools.

New Business Items are directives to NEA leaders and staff to take specific actions on issues. The most significant New Business Items were those related to NEA's efforts to influence the implementation - and possible revisions - in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

Delegates voted to provide resources, establish strategies and programs, and provide assistance and guidance to state and local affiliates to ensure that the new federal law helps, rather than hinders, the work of teachers and education support professionals to make public schools great for every child.

In addition, the delegates voted to support efforts to expand access and enhance the quality of early childhood education and to take steps to organize early childhood education providers to improve their skills and compensation.

The NEA Representative Assembly is an opportunity for leaders to gather to discuss common goals, concerns and challenges. Delegates broke the record for voluntary contributions to the Fund for Children and Public Education, raising more than $1.1 million, which will support efforts to elect candidates who support education in the 2002 elections.

One of the issues foremost in the minds of delegate was the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court to allow the Cleveland, Ohio, private school tuition voucher program to continue. Delegates rededicated themselves to defeating voucher proposals at the local, state, and federal levels.

Delegates also affirmed their commitment to a policy statement, adopted earlier in the week by the NEA Board of Directors, to support the language of the Pledge of Allegiance as it currently stands - with the wording "one nation under God."

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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 professionals, school administrators, retired educators, and students preparing to become teachers.