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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 4, 1998

NEW ORLEANS – Denise Rockwell (Woods), Ed.D., a computer teacher at Palms Middle School in Los Angeles, was elected to a second term on the nine-member National Education Association (NEA) Executive Committee today by delegates to the Association's Representative Assembly here. She was one of two Executive Committee members re-elected to lead the nation's largest teachers organization.

Rockwell is an advocate of the "new unionism" promoted by NEA President Bob Chase, where teachers and administrators work in a more collaborative, less confrontational manner to ensure quality teaching. In her bid to retain her Executive Committee seat, Rockwell said she would work to guarantee education employees a voice in policy and curriculum decisions. "If you can't make school a great place for staff," she said, "it won't be a great place for kids."

First elected to the Executive Committee in 1994, Rockwell was named chair of the NEA's Emergency Commission on Urban Children in 1996. The Commission works to find effective ways to meet the social, human, and health needs of children, and to ensure that children come to school ready and able to learn. Under Rockwell's leadership, the Commission has begun literacy campaigns and reading celebrations in dozens of cities across the country -- and in the coming months will work on a number of community projects aimed at boosting the reading level of third graders. Rockwell was an integral part of the NEA's national "Read Across America" campaign, which brought together ten million children, adults and books on March 2 – the birthday of Dr. Seuss.

Denise Rockwell has served in numerous positions with the United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA) – ranging from chapter chair to a member of the board of directors. In 1989, while serving on the NEA Board of Directors, she was elected vice-president of UTLA.

Before becoming a teacher, Rockwell traveled extensively, visiting more than 45 countries as a student, resident assistant, and associate dean of students in the "World Campus Afloat" program. She began her career as a classroom teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District in 1973 and received her Ed.D. from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1996.

Combining her love of teaching with a strong sense of civic responsibility, Rockwell works with the United Negro College Fund, Alpha Kappa Alpha, Phi Delta Kappa, Project Teach, and the Black Women's Forum. She has also served as a member of the California Attorney General's Task Force on Child Abuse and the Governor's Task Force on School-To-Career Options. Rockwell lives in Venice, California, with her husband, George Woods, who is also a teacher.

The National Education Association is the nation's largest professional employee organization, representing more than 2.4 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support personnel, school administrators, retired educators, and students preparing to become teachers. The NEA Executive Committee consists of nine members – three executive officers and six members elected at large by the Representative Assembly.

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.