RA Action:

News from the NEA Annual Meeting

July 6, 2008

Remarks by Dennis Van Roekel, NEA President-Elect

It is very special for me to be standing here before you.

I attended my first Representative Assembly in 1980. And as I was thinking about what I wanted to say to you, I realized what a tough act it is to follow the five presidents who I watched since I started coming to the RA.

First Willard McGuire, then followed by Mary Hatwood Futrell, Keith Geiger … and then I served as an officer with both Bob Chase and Reg Weaver. I watched them over a lot of years do so many things.

They inspired me and challenged me, and gave me opportunities to figure out where I fit in this whole organization, and they allowed me to go after what I really deeply cared about.

I've received many questions about what it will be like when I'm president. One reporter wrote an article and called me the “mystery man at NEA.”

They don't know who I am. I want to tell you: The mission and vision of this organization absolutely define who I am, what I care about and what I believe in.

I grew up in a very small town in Iowa, but one thing that was absolutely true is that from my parents, from my teachers and from the entire community, they talked about education, the value of education, the opportunities that exist when you go through those doors.

And although it was a small town a long ways away, I understood that any road going anywhere I wanted to be, public education would take me there.

And that road went through my hometown.

I learned early on that teaching was an honorable profession. I decided in seventh grade I was going to be a teacher. I thought about teaching English and then I asked myself, who wanted to grade all those papers?

And I didn't get poetry very well, so I thought I ought to choose a subject that I actually knew how to do. So I chose mathematics.

And, you know, like most of you in this room, I soon learned that being a teacher was just half the job. The other half was being part of this organization.

You can't do half a job. If you care about the students you teach, if you want to make a difference in their lives, if you want to advocate for what you believe in, you have to go where the decision-makers are.

And so I got involved in this organization, and it has been part of my life ever since.

Education and the Association work go hand in hand, one and the same. The very first part of NEA's mission statement says that we advocate for educational professionals, and that is what hooked me.

The first time I got to serve as a grievance chair, and I sat across the table from the superintendent and all those people, I thought, man, this little math teacher is really tying up a lot of salaries on the other side of the table. And they had to listen to me.

I was always more prepared than they were.

And I loved the feeling of the power of our collective voice, of our collective action.

And bargaining, oh, that was great. I loved doing that. When we got into political action, I understood advocacy. I understood the value of collective action. Nothing good in this country has ever come except through collective action. It is always the goodwill of the people who want to make things happen, and that is what we do.

Our mission statement says we must unite our members and the nation. I can't think of a better time to do that than in the fall of 2008.

It's time to build partnerships. We can't do this by ourselves, but this is a time when we need to come together and decide what the right direction is for America.

Seventy percent of the American people believe our nation is on the wrong track. Let's choose the right direction in 2008.

But I think the part of the mission that speaks to me so personally is when we say that it is our mission, the reason we exist as an organization, is to fulfill the promise of public education. I mean, that's real.

Those aren't just words on a piece of paper. I'm here because of that.

I chose my career in seventh grade, and for 25 years I got to live my dream: I stood in front of high school students teaching math.

What a powerful statement for any organization, to say that the reason we exist is to fulfill the promise of public education—and not just for some, but to prepare every student to succeed.

Never been done in the world. Not even in this country. Never once has that been accomplished.

And yet this organization has the audacity to say that's why we exist. I'm proud of that. And I want to continue that journey.

And when we talk about our vision statement, a great public school for every student, I know some on the outside want to reduce that to a slogan or a bumper sticker.

No, that's not what it's about.

When I envision a great public school for every student, I actually have a picture in my mind. I know what it looks like.

I imagine what it must feel like to be in a building where the entire entity supports and believes in every child that walks through the door, and they have the resources and the opportunity to do what they know they need to do. I dream of the day when that happens.

And it is our responsibility as an organization to make that vision a reality. We have to define a Great Public School by criteria. We need to define the indicators, and then we must go state by state and say, here are the public policies that must be in place or you cannot have this.

And it's time we had it in every state in America.

I think the operative word in 2008 is "change." Ever since the primaries began so long ago, it seems you can't read an article that doesn't talk about change, the importance of change.

I've always been fascinated by change. There are probably more books and articles written on change than almost any subject. Some say that change causes stress, so you need to learn how to manage stress.

But then I read another author and he said, oh, no, change doesn't cause stress. Resisting change is what causes stress.

You can't stop change. And the moment you think you can stop it, that's when it will cause you stress.

I liked his little P.S.: If you don't believe that change continues to happen, look at your high school graduation picture. You just can't stop that change.

Dilbert had a different theory: "Change is good. You go first."

Which kind of amounts to what most people do. They want everybody else to be different. They know how everybody else ought to change.

The truth is, there is only one person you get to change, and that is yourself.

But my theory of change is different from all of those. My theory of change is very simple. I think it only has to do with your satisfaction level. If you're satisfied the way it is for you and those around you, why would you ask for change? In fact, you might even fight to maintain the status quo.

It is only through dissatisfaction with what exists that you're willing to do whatever is necessary to change it.

I can tell you, in 2008, I am not satisfied.

I am not satisfied with a public education system that allows close to 50 percent of young African-American and Hispanic males not to get through school.

I cannot dream up of a scenario of success for America where we can afford to lose that group of young people, without an education, without hope and without promise.

I am not satisfied with the unequal access to schools. I'm not satisfied with the insufficient and inequitable resources that are given to schools.

And I am not satisfied that some children in this nation go to a school that is beautiful and well-equipped and modern in every way, and others go to a building that screams that society does not care about them.

I hope that every single one of you leaves this RA gloriously dissatisfied.

I hope it gnaws deep down inside you so that you say, “I can't stand it another moment.”

The richest, most powerful nation in the world cannot provide for its children. Cannot provide health care, cannot provide education. Something is wrong, it needs to change.

And when you feel that dissatisfaction, you will not only accept change, you will demand it.

At one of our conferences, I loved the theme, a new era arising for public education.

A new era arising. I dream that era is an era of hope, of possibilities, of opportunities. And many years from now, I hope no one looks back at this group of people who attended the 2008 Representative Assembly and calls us timid and shy.

I hope they look back at us and say, that was a group that had the audacity to dream big. They had the courage to act, and they had the power, the ability to act, to influence, to make a difference . . . the power to make it happen.

NEA, 2008 will be our best year ever, with even better yet to come.

Thank you very much!

RA Action:

News from the NEA Annual Meeting

July 5, 2008

Address of Gov. Mike Easley, America's Greatest Education Governor Award Winner

I am overwhelmed, and I have so much gratitude for what you’ve honored me with today. But I want to start by recognizing that real loud delegation back there in the right, that’s North Carolina.

And I would have been here earlier, but I’m working you in the budget this year.

I want to thank Reg Weaver for all you do, Reg. I didn’t realize he was this popular. I know why. He’s sort of lovable. Even found the guy’s red backpack as soon as he lost it.

Reg, thank you for everything you do. Reg Weaver is recognized not just as the president of NEA, but he’s recognized as a leader in education around the world, and you ought to be proud of him.

I want to thank John Wilson for his kind introduction and the presentation of the award.

I’ve got to say this about John. John was in North Carolina, as you know, for a long time and was president of NCAE (North Carolina Association of Educators), which is the North Carolina affiliate of NEA.

The reason you get to be an education governor is you get an education legislature that will do the right things because they’ve been trained by John Wilson for so many years. And he’s still on them. He hasn’t let up yet.

I want to thank all the teachers here today, all the ESPs (education support professionals), the support personnel. ESP is the right name for ya, because you have to know what everybody is thinking all the time to do your job.

We couldn’t do it without you.

You know, the progress we’ve made, we’ve made it with you, and I want to thank our generals, our generals in the education army, Sheri Strickland and Eddie Davis and the Teacher Academy, and Julia Kron for the great work that she’s done and continues to do.

I want to thank you all.

I want to thank you as economic developers. That’s right. You can’t talk about the economy without talking about education anymore in this global economy.

And what you do makes a difference in what kind of economy we’re going to have in this country. We, in 2001 through 2004 in North Carolina lost, 250,000 manufacturing jobs. We were able to replace them with newer and better knowledge-based jobs because our teachers worked hard at educating our workforce so we could bring in new jobs.

Educators did it.

Educators made the difference.

Teaching is your profession, but building the national workforce is what each and every one of you do. You need to know that, and you need to know that the rest of the country knows that as well.

Now, my passion for education is twofold.

As a governor, I want to build the best workforce I possibly can in my state, but as a person, I’m more like you. I want to see every child in every corner of this country reach their full potential and use their God-given talent.

That’s why you’re in this.

That’s why we’re all in this.

I could talk through your whole six-day convention about what I think is important about education and what I think is great about you. I want to touch on a couple of concepts today, though, I think are important—that I think you’ll appreciate and you will see have worked for us in North Carolina. And I think will work across the country.

First and foremost, one of the things that we do, we listen to our teachers.

I have a teacher advisor. John Wilson helped me select a good teacher advisor. I have a teacher advisory cabinet that we meet with on occasion, and we have teacher working condition surveys in North Carolina that are the best in the world.

If you want to know what a teacher needs—we decided we’d do something radical. We decided we’d ask the teacher for a change.

You know what? It works.

We had 104,000 respond this year. Let me tell you what we’re able to learn. You know what the top things teachers want are?

Everybody thinks it’s pay, more time off, bigger breaks. It’s not it.

They want more time for professional development. They want more input in their schools. They want more support from the administration, better principals, better superintendents.

I can look at the teacher working condition surveys and from those surveys, I can get the intangible information that you can’t get otherwise.

You can determine where the passion is in which school, which school has leadership, which school cooperates together, which school has a can-do attitude and spirit.

And you can look at that survey at the end of the day, and you can tell which school is going to do the best on the test and which student will have a brighter future.

Those teacher working condition surveys have become student learning condition surveys.

The teachers know what they need, and it is our job to provide it to you.

It’s a constitutional requirement. We have to do it.

The second thing that I want you to know we’re working on in North Carolina, we have been a high accountability state for a long time. But I want you to know what real accountability is.

We hear a lot of talk about real accountability. Real accountability is setting standards, rewarding those who meet them, not those who don’t.

Now, let’s stop right here.

No Child Left Behind stops right there, which is why No Child Left Behind ought to be stopped right now. Because if you’re going to raise standards, you have to be willing to invest in the resources, the drivers that it takes to give the teachers the tools to raise those standards.

You have to invest if you want real accountability, you have to hold the governor accountable, the legislature accountable, the parents accountable, the communities accountable, as well as the kids and the teacher.

If you want your teachers to give you higher test scores, you have to give them lower class sizes. That’s how it works.

That’s how you raise standards.

Full accountability requires a lot of different things. But we cannot make kids smarter just by giving them more tests any more than we can make the cows heavier just by weighing them more.

We have the fuel.

We have to make changes. We’ve got to have prekindergarten. We have to have early childhood. We have to have lower class size. We have to invest in literacy coaches. We have to give the teachers something to work with in order to raise those standards.

That’s what is missing in No Child Left Behind, and that’s what we have to change.

Real accountability means everybody is held accountable, even those of us who make the demands. If we’re going to demand more, we have to provide more, and that is the message this country has to get.

Teaching is an all-day tough job. I know that. I know that when you go to school in the mornings, if you have personal problems, your child is sick, your parents are not well, your finances aren’t in shape, you got to leave those in the car, and you got to walk in that classroom, and you got to put on a happy face.

And you got to look at those 25 students that are supposed to be 18 and say, “Good morning, class, I’m happy to be here!”

Now, as governor, if I’m having a bad day, I can go out and put on my game face for 30 minutes, do a press conference, and then get behind closed doors and work on something else.

You can’t do that.

You are there for six hours.

When the principal walks in with a new student, you’ve got to say, “Welcome! We’re happy to have you!” It’s a tough job, but I think it’s important that you know I know that. And I think it’s important that you know a lot of other people in this country know that as well.

Now, your governors and your legislators have to be accountable to lower that class size, to give you the time that you need to prepare and plan and make yourself better.

That’s what we do in corporate America. We recruit talent, we invest in those people, we let them grow, we pay them more, and that way they are able to produce more.

We need to do the same thing in education.

We got to remember, next year over a million new kids will show up at the schoolhouse door, and they deserve better than an overcrowded classroom with an overworked, underpaid teacher. It’s our job to make sure they get that.

The other concept we have to look at, and we’ve gotten so much help from NEA, all across our state, and I want to thank you publicly, if you don’t hear anything else, I say today, I want you to hear this. We’ve made some radical changes in North Carolina, especially in high schools, at least that’s what the legislature tells us when I’m trying to sell them.

And I am sick and tired of hearing politicians say we’ll never fix education until we get past the unions. Folks, it is NEA that helped me get our changes made in North Carolina. Couldn’t do it without them. You are the agents of change.

And all this talk about unions is bull. Nobody cares about the kids and the education of this state as much as you do. And I for one appreciate what you do.

Now, we’re experimenting a little bit with high schools in North Carolina. Let me just sort of put it to you this way.

When you got a nationwide dropout rate of about 35 percent, don’t worry about breaking high school. You can’t break high school. They’ll do no harm theory, that doesn’t really apply.

Make changes.

Come up with ideas, things that work. Let me tell you what we’re doing.

We’re changing the product.

If you owned a major retail outlet, a mart, and you have 35 percent of your customers walking out without taking a product, without buying a product, you would change your inventory. You’d recognize after a while that people didn’t want it.

Now, let’s take it a step further

. Suppose your inventory was free and only 65 percent of the people walked out with a product. That’s what high school is.

And that’s what’s going on, and that’s why we’re changing it. My gosh, at some point, you have to accept the facts.

Kids don’t think high school is important to them anymore. And the reason is, they know they need more than just high school in order to succeed in this global economy. And it’s important that we recognize that and tell them the truth, and provide them with a real opportunity to get there.

What we’re doing, is we’re reforming our high schools in such a way that we’re telling our kids, if you come and stay four years, you get a high school diploma. But if you come and stay five years, you’ll graduate not only with a high school diploma, but with an associate’s degree in college.

Now, that’s where America has to move.

That is the future of this country.

We call it learn and earn.

Our teachers in North Carolina helped us sell this.

We now have 42 of these schools on college campuses. We’ll have 70 in a month when school opens back up, and here’s how it works.

We put the high schools on college campuses. Those kids take high school courses and college courses at the same time. They stay one extra year. They have an associate’s degree, and if they want to go on and get their four-year degree, they go right on to one of our state or private colleges or universities, and they only have to put two more years in.

So the light at the end of the tunnel is brighter for them. The carrot is a little bit better than the stick. They understand that they can now get a job and compete in this global economy, and we produce the best workforce in the country.

Now, let me take this a step further.

We started running out of real estate after we got to 70 learning high schools. We decided to make every high school in North Carolina a satellite college. We go online so that every child in North Carolina can now go to college for free.

It gets better than that.

The legislature stepped up last year and we put over a hundred million dollars in what we call EARN scholarships. EARN stands for Education Access Rewards North Carolina.

If you are a family below 200 percent of poverty, that’s a family of four making about $42,000, then you qualify for an EARN grant. Once you get your two years at the learn and earn high school with your Pell Grant and your EARN grant, if you’re willing to work during the summer, you get a four-year college degree for free. We can take this nationwide.

We can do it in every state in the country.

It’s a new world.

Technology has changed things.

The world is changing, why aren’t we? And we’re going to do it with your help.

Now, I’m going to close my remarks, but I want to tell you that the things that we’re trying to do we can do together.

But we have to not just forget about the people who are making it happen.

Remember, it’s those folks out there paying the tax dollars that are making it possible for us to provide an education.

It’s those taxpayers that are making it possible for us to raise teacher pay. It’s those folks that are putting the money up front.

If we can put all that money on the front end, they want us to demand more on the back end. They want us to do the things that you tell me you want to do.

I had more teachers tell me at one time or another, “Governor, it really, really hurts when I see somebody in my third grade class that is so bright that I know will never be able to afford to go to college, and we can fix that.”

And that’s why I appreciate so much what teachers do.

But never forget, never forget the importance of the support personnel that makes it possible for teachers to teach and children to learn.

They are too often forgotten.

And they are critical to this organization and to education in America.

So I ask you to say to your students, remind them the most patriotic thing that they can do today in a time where this country is in a fight for its life for our economic security, to maintain our dominance in the economy and the world, we have to raise the level of knowledge, talent, and skill in order to compete at levels we used to two years ago.

Creativity and innovation are stock and trade in America.

Other nations stand poised to take advantage of any mistake we make or anything that we don’t do that we should.

If we’re truly going to continue to be the leader of the world, it will be because we educate our workforce to have the creativity and innovation to take us forward in this global economy.

It will be because you lead the way. So tell your students, the most patriotic thing you can do for your country today is learn as much as you can for as long as you can from the high chair to the rocking chair, a lifelong learning. All the way through life.

And you need to know—you need to know that you as educators, you are the real patriots in this country. The real fight for American values and not just in the deserts of Iraq or mountains of Afghanistan. In this global economy, that fight is in every classroom, every research facility, every schoolhouse in the country. You are the true patriots.

Thank you for what you do.

I love ya!

I appreciate your service!

Now, let’s get everybody educated! ]]>http://www.nea.org/annualmeeting/raaction/08teacherofyear.htmlhttp://www.nea.org/annualmeeting/raaction/08teacherofyear.htmlSun, 06 Jul 2008 04:00:00 GMT

RA Action:

News from the NEA Annual Meeting

July 6, 2008

Address of Michael Geisen, National Teacher
of the Year

It’s good to be here. Oh, man, it’s just like being in my classroom. A lot of good energy. People heading for the door.

This is good.

A little chaos, it’s good.

My class size, way too big. But we’re going to make it work today. We’ll make it work.

I’m thrilled to be able to represent the millions of great teachers in the United States.

I think there’s one reason I’m here today, shameless self-promotion. No, I’m kidding. Actually, I do feel like this position has kind of fallen into my lap this year, and I’ll take it and run with it. I’m thrilled to represent each of you. I’m here, actually, because I have a creative way of just caring for human beings, and I think it’s my students that have allowed me to be here today. So I’m thrilled to be here.

My life has changed pretty dramatically since I became National Teacher of the Year. I get to meet all these important people in the media and travel.

I hear quotes at home like, “Dad who?” Which makes a guy feel pretty good, but wherever I go, though, I’m still learning, I’m still creating, and I’m still teaching. And I’m thrilled to be able to do that today.

Air travel has become sort of the new lens through which I see the world. And so now everything I think about somehow relates to air travel, because I’m constantly on the road and in the air. It’s sad but true.

So today I want to talk about air travel. And education a little bit, too. We’ll get there.

My son, Aspen, when he was four years old, we got on an airplane in our town of Redmond in central Oregon. Shameless self-promotion. Mental note: say Oregon a lot.

We got on the plane, and my four-year-old son, Aspen, he looked out the window—we have a small airport-on one of the prop planes with the propellers and wings on top of the fuselage, and he looks out the window, and he’s starting to look a little nervous.

And finally he flags down one of the flight attendants. And he says, “Excuse me, Miss, before we take off, I just want to check on something real quick. Does this plane have wings?”

That’s a good question.

I felt like my plane has not had wings this year. It’s been more like a rocket. But I’m trying to see the world through a child’s eyes, and I think that’s where we need to be coming from as educators.

I find myself in airports actually looking for children. And I miss my kids, and so I find myself wanting to just kind of grab kids and pick them up and hug them.

I know that’s probably a really bad idea. So I refrain, but it’s hard.

But trying to see the airlines through a child’s eyes is difficult when you start traveling so much. When we get so familiar with something, we don’t really have the same viewpoint.

I’ve been traveling so much that I’ve been turning down cranberry juice.

I never thought I would—I mean, I could never understand how people could turn down free cranberry juice coming down the aisle and people would say, “Ah, no thanks.”

Just last week, I turned down my first cranberry juice. And I was going to have the healthiest urinary tract in education this year. No, no, two glasses is enough. I have to call it quits.

But I’m excited about the amount of travel I get to do.

I think what is unique about this year for me is that I get to see the world of education from 30,000 feet up.

As I fly around the country and travel and speak and meet with people from all over, I have a unique chance to have an amazing perspective on education while still remaining with my feet on the ground in the classroom where things are really happening.

Just last week, I was in Austin at a national policy convention. Secretary Spellings was there and gave the keynote address at breakfast one morning. And she said the following statement: “We can’t water down our accountability system with fancy-sounding words like authentic assessment or multiple measures.”

This is what the view from 30,000 feet looks like for her.

What does it look like on the ground? Well, it looks a little different. At the ground level, I see that teaching and learning is a highly complex and multifaceted endeavor. But yet we’re being judged on a very narrow set of standards.

At the ground level, I see my student, Abbey, who last spring was abused and is having panic attacks on a regular basis at school, but wants to be there. And so myself and other students would take her outside our classroom and sit with her and allow her to hyperventilate until she would fall asleep on our shoulder.

At the ground level, I see Tony having a hard time staying awake in class because he’s not getting enough sleep at home because home is the backseat of his parents’ car. But yet he comes in at lunch every day to hang out, talk about music, because he sees that I have a safe place, a place where he’s cared about.

At the ground level, I see Jed who struggles with ADHD, and as he’s gone through high school now, he’s had some run-ins with the legal system, but yet he has been inspired to become a teacher and teach science. That’s progress.

At the ground level, I see Lorena who is absent two or three days a week because she’s home caring for her siblings. But when she comes to school, she helps out her Latino classmates who are still struggling with English. That’s success.

At the ground level, I see Andy, whose Dad just this year was arrested for abuse. Andy has been an emotional roller coaster. His test scores are low. He’s failing his classes. But he has an incredible ability to build and to design, and he has an incredible future in that, if we can see it and value it.

At the ground level, I see Aidan, a seventh grader who has got the brain of a graduate student, but yet he’s struggling to find a way to express himself creatively in a public school system that doesn’t value that enough.

These students may look like identical little ants from 30,000 feet up, but these are unique and beautiful human beings.

These fellow human beings of ours have unique passions and desires and skills that are going to help them be successful. I have no doubt that these students will be successful in the world. The question is, will we help them get there or hinder them?

If our assessments are not authentic, if they are not multiple measures, if they are not relevant, then what are we really measuring?

Instead of trying to quantify how intelligent are you, maybe we should be asking the question, how are you intelligent? And valuing that.

What’s tough, though, is that as teachers, most of us don’t get that 30,000-foot view. We’re only really personally responsible for a very small, local level, whether it’s our classroom, school or district, perhaps.

Secretary Spellings and others who are really trying to make education better for our students don’t have that ground-level view. They are also responsible for 50 million students. That’s a class size that’s a little too big for me.

But the question is, what do we do with that, if they don’t have the luxury of small scale like we do.

The key here is that we need to be educators. We need to worry not just about educating our students, but educating the public, educating policymakers.

We are teachers.

We need to build the bridges of communication and not burn them.

We need to be bold, but not brash.

We need to be constructive, not critical.

We need to be teachers.

My little airport in Redmond, Oregon is just like my classroom. We have a really small airport. There’s one gate. It’s nice. I like it. It’s small. It’s personal, it’s efficient.

Despite all the federal regulations that we still have to go through there, it’s a beautiful place.

Let me give you an example: I’m standing in line at the TSA security checkpoint a couple of weeks ago, and this elderly gentleman was there, I don’t think he traveled since maybe the ‘70s.

This poor guy, he was flustered. “I have to take off my belt?” You know. And he’s taking shoes off and he’s not sure where to go.

His bag goes through the security screening device, and the agent pulls out a large pocketknife.

And he says, “Sir, you know, you just can’t take that on a plane these days, you know.”

And, “Oh, okay, um—” And he’s just frazzled, the poor guy. It was awful.

He said, well, I have to confiscate the knife.

And this is a special knife for the guy, I could tell.

The agent decided, you know what, just tell you what, wait here, sir.

He ran over to the checked baggage screening area, found this gentleman’s suitcase, put it in the suitcase for him so it would be there when he got to his destination for him.

Yeah. Isn’t that what we do every day in the classroom?

We’re dealing with federal regulations that sometimes make it tough to do that, but we need to go the extra step, just like that individual did.

Then I get on the plane, and I become a student now in the last several weeks of airline safety presentations. I love ‘em.

I’m the only one who is paying attention, but I love them. I get a kick out of these things. But what’s interesting, though, I look around and

I think, man, this is a lot like education. Nobody is listening!

They are sitting there trying to get their last little text message in before class starts, and it’s just crazy. Nobody is listening.

No differentiation whether you’ve been on a plane a thousand times or this is your first trip. Is there? No.

They are teaching skills that are slightly outdated like, how do you put on a seat belt? Hello!

They are teaching things that you’re probably never going to use in the future. Just in case.

Just in case you might need the quadratic formula some day, we better teach it to everybody. No offense to math folks out there.

But, well, to put it in perspective, how many have used the quadratic formula in the last 25 years?

Really?

Okay, yes, math teachers are raising their hands right now.

But just in case you might need it.

There’s no accountability with airline safety procedures. It’s drill and kill. They just drill it into you as many times as possible. How many times have you actually had a chance to remove the seat cushion?

I was on a flight last week and it was a bigger plane and newer one, and they said, some seat cushions may be used as a flotation device.

I go, gosh, I hope I have one of those seats. Dang, it’s a boat anchor!

Where is the authentic assessment there? I learn a lot.

As a teacher, we need to be constant students, and you learn a lot from various places. Whether I’m in the classroom or not, I’m learning, and then I’m taking that and teaching.

Just last week, actually, a flight attendant on one of our little planes out of Redmond spiced it up a little bit. She was acting out stuff. When it came time to do the no smoking on the plane, she was (demonstrates). It was great. And it was a kick. It instantly created community on the plane.

She was chattin’ with people nearby. Instantly created community, and people started to remember these things.

Now, how do you take that to scale? A little more difficult, but I recall flying, I think it was Southwest several years ago, and, boy, they had a pretty good bit going.

I remember, they had one line that I still remember that went something like this: “In the unlikely event of a loss of cabin pressure, oxygen masks will hopefully drop from the ceiling to assist you. Affix your own mask first, and then assist those of the children nearby, starting with the child that you love the most.”

Hilarious! It’s good stuff.

Why do we remember that? Because it was creative, because it was unique, because it was something different.

Does it still fulfill the law? Yes.

But it’s something new. It’s something unique. And I still remember it.

They also said there were two smoking areas located on the plane, one on each wing. And this was like years ago, you know, and I still remember it.

Why? Because it was good teaching, because it was good teaching.

How do we take it to scale, though, in public education? That’s another story and a difficult story. Quality personal service like that is not something you can legislate from the top down. It has to come from the roots.

It has to be a grassroots effort, but not alone. It’s got to have sunshine and rain and carbon dioxide. (Don’t forget that. Science teacher, sorry.) It’s got to be a partnership of the grassroots with support and a supportive environment coming from above. It needs to grow in a way that shapes policy by actually practicing it.

This is what we do at our middle school where I teach: Teachers, students, administrators, we all work together—novel idea—to make students feel welcome, to make students excited about being at school, and to help them achieve in the 21st century.

As a teaching community, we need to be holding ourselves accountable.

Talk about accountability, we need to have the accountability amongst ourselves. We should be the ones doing rigorous authentic assessment. We should be the ones using multiple measures, and if the federal government is not going to formally value that yet, we need to publicize those results, whatever they might be, to the public, to our parents, to our students, to each other, we need to hold each other accountable, folks.

It’s not about us waiting around for somebody else to hold us accountable. We need to step up and do it ourselves.

It’s time to throw open the doors of our classroom. We need to throw those doors open to our colleagues, to the community, to the stakeholders that have a part in our students’ education, throw the doors open and be transparent about what we’re doing in public schools, what we need, what our challenges are, what our successes are.

We need to innovate together, not stagnate alone. We need to collaborate on solutions and not whine about the problems.

We need to educate the public, not just our students. We need to either lift our heads up from the ground or get our heads out of the clouds, both of those, and meet somewhere in the middle so we can design and truly start to implement an educational experience for our kids that is meaningful and rich and realistic.

What it comes down to is that we need to be teachers.

Thank you.

RA Action:

News from the NEA Annual Meeting

July 7, 2008

Resolutions Amendments, New Resolutions, and Set-Asides:

Delegates adopted the report of the 2007-08 resolutions committee as recommended with the additional actions taken below.

NEA Resolutions 2008-2009 ( 745KB, 102 pp)

New A. District Consolidation/Deconsolidation Supplementary Report

Adopted as Printed

B-41. Fine Arts Education Supplementary Report

Adopted as Printed

New B. Expanding Student Graduation Options Preliminary Report

Adopted as Amended

Amended by addition on page 34 of the Preliminary Report, line 15, “New B. Expanding Student Graduation and PromotionOptions.” Amended by addition on lines 16-17, “public high schools should expand graduation and promotion options for students.” Amended by substitution on line 20, “in determining[promotion and graduation] graduation and promotion requirements.”

C-2. Nutrition Preliminary Report

Adopted as Amended

Amended by addition on page 35 of the Preliminary Report, lines 14-16, “The Association also supports nutrition programs that are regulated by uniform standards, readily accessible, medically correct for students and employees who have special, documented dietary needs, and are supported by public funds.”

C-18. Environmentally Safe Schools Preliminary Report

Adopted as Amended

Amended by addition on page 38 of the Preliminary Report, line 25, “Further, school districts must complete corrective actions to eliminate the problems and report results in a timely manner.”

D-1. The Teaching Profession Supplementary Report

Adopted as Printed
Amendment Referred to Resolutions Committee

Amend by addition on page 11 of the Supplementary Report, line 27, of new letters (a) and (b):

    “a. Cares about each student and is able to establish an appropriate, professional relationship with each student that communicates caring

    b. Is organized, efficient, and fair in the use of resources and time and allows students a voice in classroom management, procedures, and processes.”

F-47. Medication and Medical Services in Schools Supplementary Report

Adopted as Printed

New F. Contingent Faculty and Professional Staff Protection Preliminary Report

Adopted as Printed

I-15. Family Planning Preliminary Report

Adopted as Printed

New I. Right of Redress for Descendants of Slavery Supplementary Report

Adopted as Printed
Amendment Referred to Resolutions Committee

Amend by addition on page 19 of the Supplementary Report, line 33, by substitution, “Right of Redress for [Descendants of Slavery] Deprivation of Human Rights.” Amend by addition on page 19 of the Supplementary Report, lines 35-36, “the nation’s decision to allow and the acceptance of ownership of labor, the practice of violating treaties, slaughter of innocents, displacement of indigenous peoples—including the forced relocation and the re-education of children—were morally flawed. Amend by addition, line 37, “descendants of those who served in bondage, or were deprived of life, land, language, resources, and culture, possess just cause to seek redress.”

RA Action:

News from the NEA Annual Meeting

July 4, 2008

Address of Barbara Morgan, NEA Friend of Education Award Winner

This is a tremendous honor, and I really, really do appreciate it. So I thank you very, very much. And I thank all my colleagues in the Idaho Association for the nomination.

But I have to tell you, this award also makes me laugh because everyone here is a friend of education. In fact, I think we are the best friends of
education.

That is true, so if you don’t mind, Reg, I would like to accept this award for all of us.

And I believe this is a good time to take a moment to think about all of us here, and to think about all of our friends in education who can’t be here, and to think about those friends who have been here before us.

I know I am here today because of our colleague Christa McAuliffe.

Christa led the way. She led the way, and she did it beautifully for all of us.

I am also here today because of the NEA’s tremendous support for NASA and because of the many teachers who kept the faith and who always, always did what teachers do best—keep the doors open for our students.

NEA’s teacher in space was important before Challenger’s launch, of course, but it was after the Challenger accident that the NEA made a real difference.

Right after the accident, NEA’s president then— Mary Hatwood-Futrell, wrote to the Administrator of NASA to urge NASA to stay strong. NEA publicly endorsed continued exploration and discovery, just when some others were calling for an end to NASA.

And ever after that, NEA continued to support the goal of having teachers in space, and the NEA
support helped NASA to make that happen.

Individual teacher support happened in classrooms all across America.

On the morning of the Challenger launch, January 1986, thousands of teachers gathered their students around them to watch one of our own, a schoolteacher, launch on the space shuttle.

These teachers were planning to share Christa’s mission, which was to demonstrate how space exploration and discovery were now a natural part of the students’ lives and their futures.

But instead, the unbelievable happened and these same teachers had to work through this terrible tragedy with their students.

So they shared with their students a lesson of what we should all do after a heartbreaking and horrible failure, and that lesson is this:

If we are trying to do something that is valuable and important, then even if we fail, we should find out what went wrong.

We should find out even more importantly what we did wrong, and then we should try our hardest to fix it, to make things better, and to keep our futures open.

And that is one of our most important jobs as teachers.

NEA and America’s teachers helped NASA to keep its doors open to resume and further human space exploration and more recently to fly a teacher as an astronaut on the space shuttle.

Christa showed our country what good teachers are all about, and Christa believed in the NEA.

She loved being a part of this great team, which is always working for the greater good.

Christa’s commitment to NEA was so strong that the only public post-Challenger appearance that her husband Steve made after the Challenger accident was when he spoke here to NEA’s general assembly, and that’s how important NEA was to Christa.

And the NEA is important to me, and I want to thank you again.

And what I would like to do is share two space stories with you today.

Both stories come from my opportunities to watch our beautiful Earth from orbit.

Traveling at 17,500 miles an hour, you get a sunrise and sunset every 45 minutes. Anytime you can, you steal moments to look out the window, and you are always, always amazed.

Well, once as I was watching, just before sunrise, a thin blue line appeared along the horizon. That thin blue line grew higher and then another blue line appeared below it. And then there was another and another and another until there were 20 or 30 layers, each of them a very different shade of blue.

Well, suddenly, our International Space Station solar array caught the sun’s light, and the array started glowing brighter and brighter.

It became brilliant, like Inca gold. Within a minute, it was full daylight, and now it was the ocean below us that was shining.

Our solar array now looked like it was a golden sail, and we were smoothly sailing above the sea. And to me, it definitely felt like a completely natural thing for human beings to be doing. Watching the ocean underneath us, I thought of the early explorers and of how rough their voyages were on those seas.

At that time, I happened to glance back up, and there just above the horizon, now in broad daylight, hung a big crescent moon. And it really seemed to me as if we could just pull hard on a tiller, make a right turn, and sail straight to the moon.

And I realized again how important it is to keep exploring, to keep discovering and sharing our discoveries because those discoveries are our open doors.

Well, here is my second story.

This time, we were flying over Africa, and it was getting close to night. We could see off in the distance what looked like isolated thunderclouds far out over the Indian Ocean. Minutes later, we crossed the east coast of Africa, and it was already night time. The African coast was outlined by city lights.

Then we were over the Indian Ocean. It was pitch black until one of those thunderheads let loose a bright flash of lightning. And that flash triggered another thundercloud’s lightning and another and another and another, and these were going off clear across the Indian Ocean.

It was definitely like the Fourth of July below us.

And it was so obvious that all of those thunderstorms were connected. And now I laugh and shake my head every time I hear a TV weatherman talk about isolated thunderstorms.

There’s no such thing. Those natural fireworks are all connected.

Well, that’s a good Fourth of July story, isn’t it?

But it’s also a good NEA story because it’s all about connecting.

I am proud to be your colleague.

I am very proud of Christa’s legacy, and part of Christa’s legacy is that we have three more teacher astronauts right now training for spaceflight. These three educator astronauts, Ricky, Joe, and Dotty, will be flying soon. In fact, Ricky and Joe are going to be flying together on the same mission. Two teachers on one flight. We will have more teachers representing us in the future.

NASA knows how qualified teachers are.

But what I want to leave you with today, if you don’t mind, is the idea that NASA still needs public schoolteacher support, both in the classroom as you are educating the future and out in society as you are representing the future.

We have our magnificent multinational cooperation of the International Space Station. We are going back to the moon, and we are going on to Mars. And right now on Mars, NASA’s Phoenix lander is finding water and soil with nutrients for life.

Just think of what our students will find there in the future.

So thank you, all of you, so, so much. I appreciate everything you do.

If you don’t mind, I have a couple of presentations back to NEA. Reg, do you want to stand up here?

This first one—this first presentation is from NASA, my crewmates on STS-118 and me. And this is a montage of pictures from our mission. It also has the American flag and our crew patch that both flew on the shuttle with us. So these both flew 5.3 million miles. For the NEA, I hand inscribed on it, “public education makes it possible. Thank you, NEA. Barbara.”

I did want to point out on our patch, the flame of knowledge. And if you go to the back of our patches or if you go online and look it up, it says to the world that that flame of knowledge—I don’t know if you can see it from here—but from it extends our orbit for all the work that we do, and it all stems from great education.

And it says on the back of our patch in the description that the flame of knowledge is to honor teachers and students everywhere.

And the second item is from me personally. Yesterday, when I was visiting with our friends, the New Hampshire delegates, one said you can take special things up in space, what did you take? I said, well, I’ll let you know tomorrow. And today—tomorrow is now today.

Reg, if you want to stand up again. This meant everything to me. What I took into space that was very, very special to me is one of Christa’s patches from her original teacher in space program. And I flew it especially for the National Education Association.

And on this presentation board we’ll show you in a minute, there’s an official certificate of authenticity that tells you exactly how fast it flew, and the mission duration, 12 days, 17 hours, 55 minutes and 38 seconds.

And there’s a photograph. I took the patch and put it up in the window, so you’ll be able to see that it really flew in space.

And you can see the Earth in the background and the hand-inscription says, “Honoring Christa who led the way and thanking NEA for carrying on her dreams.”

RA Action:

News from the NEA Annual Meeting

July 6, 2008

Outreach to Teach | Read-In | A Star Teacher | Press Releases | Videos

Dennis, Lily, Becky!

New NEA Leaders to Take Office in September

President-elect Dennis Van Roekel and Vice President-elect Lily Eskelsen.

Along with celebrating the nation's history, RA delegates began writing the next chapter of the Association's history, voting in elections that completed the new leadership team that will take office on September 1. President-elect Dennis Van Roekel and Vice President-elect Lily Eskelsen will be joined by Becky Pringle, who won the Secretary-Treasurer position, while Princess Moss of Virginia and Len Paolillo of Massachusetts earned the two Executive Committee seats being vacated by Mike Billirakis and Marsha Smith.

Both Van Roekel and Eskelsen ran unopposed. Pringle won with 80.82 percent of the vote, Moss with 65.78 percent of the vote, and Paolillo with 50.16 percent of the vote.

Van Roekel is looking ahead to a presidency focused on fostering "the dreams and possibilities of public education" for the nation's children and inspiring members to understand the power of collective action—goals enumerated in the Association's Mission, Vision, and Core Values.

"We've laid out so well in our mission and vision that we must advocate for our members, that we must unify our members in the nation," said Van Roekel, a 25-year teaching veteran. "It's beyond excitement. I am inspired by that."

Van Roekel said that during his presidency, he will continue to stress the importance of political activism by members. "We need to be part of the political process because all of education is defined by it," Van Roekel said.

A high school math teacher from Phoenix, Arizona, Van Roekel has served as NEA Vice President and Secretary-Treasurer, as well as President of the Arizona Education Association and Paradise Valley Education Association. He chairs the NEA Advisory Committee on Membership.

Eskelsen, an elementary teacher from Salt Lake City, Utah, served most recently as NEA Secretary-Treasurer. She also chairs the NEA Strategic Planning and Budget Committee. Past roles include presidencies of the Utah Education Association, the Utah State Retirement System, and the Children at Risk Foundation. In addition to teaching, her 28 years of school service include working in a cafeteria and as a kindergarten aide. She served as a member of the Utah La Raza Education Committee, the White House Strategy Session on Improving Hispanic Education, and in 1998 she was the first Hispanic chosen as her party's nominee for U.S. Congress in Utah.

Pringle, a physical science teacher from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, previously served two three-year terms as a member of NEA's Executive Committee, where she advocated on behalf of the nation's educators on issues such as diversity and human and civil rights. She has also chaired the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) Advisory Committee since its inception in 2005.

Moss, an elementary school music teacher in Louisa County, Virginia, where she has taught for 21 years, is currently in her second term as the President of the Virginia Education Association. She also sits on the NEA Board of Directors and previously served as Vice President of VEA and President of the Louisa Education Association.

Paolillo is a sociology professor at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in North Adams, Massachusetts, who has served as chair of NEA's Committee on Legislation for the past three years. He previously served on the NEA Board of Directors and as Vice President of the Massachusetts Teachers Association. He's been President, Vice President, and negotiator for the Massachusetts State College Association.

RA Action:

News from the NEA Annual Meeting

New Business Items

July 7, 2008

This page is updated during the Representative Assembly to reflect daily New Business Items (NBIs) exactly as they are printed in RA Today, our official convention newspaper.

NEW BUSINESS ITEM A

Replaced by NBI 75

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 1

Adopted

NEA shall create a comprehensive plan with the goal of at least doubling the number of NEA and NEA-sponsored cyber lobbyists over the next five years. Using existing NEA communications resources, the plan will provide support to NEA leaders and members at the national, state and local levels in order to promote the importance and effectiveness of cyberlobbying.

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 2

Withdrawn

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 3

Referred to the Executive Committee

That NEA Government Relations (GR) commit sufficient resources to the federal advocacy team program, continuing support for aspects of the program proven successful in the past and expanding the program, as GR deems appropriate.  This is to be accomplished within the existing GR budget.

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 4

Adopted

Using existing communication vehicles (NEA Today and the NEA Web site), NEA will inform its members about exemplary school-based mental health programs that promote prevention and classroom intervention strategies for children and adolescents including, but not limited to, those students with mental illness.

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 5

Defeated

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 6

Withdrawn

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 7

Adopted as Substituted

The NEA, through its various communications channels, will review and disseminate research and best practices for dropout prevention including, but not limited to, student retention, instructional strategies, appropriate individual academic interventions, and culturally relevant community and family involvement strategies.

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 8

Adopted

Move that NEA affirms its long-standing commitment to Resolution B-20, the Education of Refugee and Undocumented Children and Children of Undocumented Immigrants, and will engage in a campaign to highlight and improve the plight of students who have graduated from U.S. high schools but have no paths to citizenship because their parents are undocumented.  NEA will: (1) engage in member education on the plight of these students, including the publication of an article in NEA Today and other appropriate venues of communication, discussing their situation; (2) continue to promote legislative solutions that will, among other things, put high school graduates on paths to legalization, with a focus on coalition work and grass roots mobilization when appropriate; and (3) take steps to educate the public on the importance of ensuring that all high school graduates, regardless of immigration status, should have access to post-secondary educational opportunities, obtain in-state tuition where they reside, and become full citizens of our society.

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 9

Adopted

The NEA include, as part of its regularly budgeted media campaign for 2008-09, a component that advertises the plight of our members and potential members regarding the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) of Social Security.

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 10

Adopted

In an effort to strengthen the movement for repeal of the Social Security Offsets (Windfall Elimination Provision/Government  Pension Offset), NEA will continue and supplement ongoing grassroots strategies by increasing member, policymaker, and public awareness of the issue, and enhancing data to support arguments for repeal.

    Specifically, NEA shall:

• Secure outside expert assistance to analyze data and develop data-driven policy arguments for use in working with lawmakers.

• Implement a media campaign utilizing proven avenues of effective communication to educate the public about the offsets and increase pressure on lawmakers to act.

• Host at least one national lobby day at the appropriate legislative time.

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 11

Adopted

NEA will compare the historical rates of return of selected small public sector defined benefit pension plans to those of selected larger public defined benefit pension plans. NEA will also compare the administrative costs of the smaller and larger plans. Based on the quality of the data available, NEA will draw upon existing data series from multiple sources (particularly those that furnish risk-adjusted results) as well as utilizing direct analysis of specific plans’ investment returns and administrative cost. NEA will then analyze the results to see if conclusions can be drawn about the relationship between the size of the investment pool and rates of return and administrative costs.

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 12

Defeated

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 13

Adopted as Modified

Using existing communication vehicles, the NEA will publish information regarding the student privacy option on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB). This information will be directed to students, parents, high school teachers, administrators, counselors and Career Advisors so that prior to the administration of the exam, they will be informed regarding the privacy option (Option 8).

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 14

Referred to Resolutions Committee as Modified

NEA support high priority allocations of disaster assistance from state and federal sources to preserve governmental structures and services when such disasters occur.

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 15

Adopted

School Trust Lands are an important part of our history and the development and funding of our educational system. As an Association, we believe that any funding derived from these school land trusts should always be used to supplement already existing state revenue sources, never supplanting the funds. NEA will utilize existing media resources to educate our members of the history and value of these land trusts. We as an Association need to support those states with existing school land trusts and help them to maintain their funds.

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 16

Adopted as Modified

NEA and its affiliates will disseminate existing data and analysis demonstrating the relationship of socioeconomic status and per pupil funding to standardized test scores. Further, NEA, using existing publications, will strive to counter the myth that teachers and the educational establishment alone can overcome social, economic, health and other barriers to equal educational opportunity in our society.

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 17

Adopted as Modified

I move that NEA, through its publications, lobbying, and affiliates, inform the public of the facts behind “CHIP” (the Children’s Health Insurance Program). NEA will inform the President and the Congress that no child should ever be denied access.

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 18

Adopted

I move that NEA, through its affiliates, programs, and publications, report on the extent to which children who are eligible for Free and Reduced Lunch fail to take advantage of this program; provide information and support through the public schools to low-income families to underscore the importance of good nutrition and provide information associated with this program to encourage participation.

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 19

Adopted as Modified

I move that the NEA make passage of the Social Security Fairness Act in the 111th Congress a top priority.  Additionally, that the NEA work to convince Senator Obama (a current co-sponsor) and Senator McCain to make this a part of their presidential platforms.

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 20

Defeated

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 21

Referred to the Annual Meeting Review Committee

SmartCards will be given to all NEA members attending the NEA annual meeting regardless of delegate status.

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 22

Adopted

Move that the NEA encourage all state organizations to support or initiate state legislation which would enable military personnel and their dependents to obtain in-state tuition where they reside.

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 23

Referred to the Executive Committee

NEA help NYSUT submit legislation to eliminate residency requirement during military service in order to receive 3 years credit in state retirement systems of New York.

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 24

Declaration of Independence video was played during RA break on July 4th.

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 25

Adopted

NEA will inform its members of the provisions and passage of California Senate Bill 1655 (Scott) and the role played by The New Teacher Project (TNTP) in this effort. Furthermore, NEA will work with state affiliates in combating similar efforts wherever they arise.

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 26

Withdrawn with Consent of Representative Assembly

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 27

Adopted

The NEA will send a letter urging Congress to block attempts by the Bush administration to commit the U.S. to a permanent military presence in Iraq.

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 28

Referred to the ESEA Committee as Modified

NEA will encourage its local affiliates to collaborate with their local governing boards to pass a proclamation denouncing the provision of ESEA so called “No Child Left Behind.” This proclamation would be developed collaborately between the local union and governing board. This proclamation along with a joint letter of support should be sent to the President of NEA to be used in our lobbying efforts for 2008-2009.

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 29

Adopted as Amended

NEA will develop a proactive, cross-unit plan during the NEA’s Fiscal Year 2009 targeted at alleviating budget pressures on local school systems caused by unfunded mandates. In particular, the plan will focus on developing grassroots activities to be conducted in conjunction with the upcoming reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA).

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 30

Defeated

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 31

Referred to the Executive Committee

Utilizing existing communication vehicles, the NEA will encourage schools to create the category of “Middle Eastern” as part of their regular data collection for students.

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 32

Adopted as Modified

Domino’s Pizza chain CEO David Brandon has recently taken public positions that are contrary to the best interests of public school students and employees, as well as organized labor, both in Michigan and around the country. The RA requests the NEA President communicate with Mr. Brandon about the National Education Association’s outrage at his misguided support of merit pay for teachers, outsourcing of public school jobs and advocacy for a Right to Work law in Michigan.  The RA further requests that NEA members be informed via existingNEA communications mediums about the anti-education, anti-union positions of Domino’s CEO and other anti-union organizations, and their potential impact across the country.

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 33

Adopted as Modified

NEA will adopt the concept and advocate that one focus of the Education International sponsored World Teacher’s Day (October 5) will be to address high-stakes testing here in the U.S. and internationally.

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 34

Adopted

NEA will study the feasibility of providing mobile computer technology for use in technology training sessions at regional conferences and other venues where technology training for members is available.

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 35

Defeated

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 36

Object to Consideration

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 37

Adopted

NEA will investigate how and where substitute teachers are organized and report to the 2009 NEA RA the current status of this vital segment of the education profession.

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 38

Adopted as Modified

The NEA through its media outlets will inform its members on the nursing shortage going on in this country and its possible effects for all our schools. It will inform members on school nurse issues and how those issues are currently being addressed utilizing the National Association of School Nurses and the National Federation of Licensed Practical Nurses as the experts in the field. It will also inform members about how the shortage affects higher-ed nursing programs.

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 39

Adopted as Modified

That the following be referred to the appropriate committee: That NEA support making Financial Literacy a recommended course for all K-16 school students. For example, the Working In Support of Education (WISE) program—already in use in 7 states—could be used as an effective instrument for implementing this program in all schools, since it provides schools with orientation for their teachers, workshops, and a way of awarding students once they complete the program.

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 40

Defeated

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 41

Adopted

Using existing communication vehicles including, but not limited to, NEA Today, NEA shall publish an article celebrating the sixtieth (60th) anniversary of the United Nation’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The focus will be on Article 26 (Education).

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 42

Referred to Appropriate Committee

I move that NEA develop a position on “Online Schools” and whether they are appropriate for young children.

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 43

Adopted as Amended

Sustainability of the Planet: The NEA shall utilize existing communication and organizational resources to increase support for Sustainability (meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs) and the infusion of Sustainability principles into all applicable areas of the K-12 curriculum.

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 44

Adopted as Amended

I move that NEA publish and present the findings of Educational Testing Service (ETS), studies which show that low test scores are often a function of socioeconomic conditions beyond school control, and have little or nothing to do with school effectiveness.

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 45

Referred as Modified to Annual Meeting Review Committee

I move that NEA in their meeting guidebook and RA Today publication provide information about the facilities offered to pregnant and nursing women who need to nurse, pump, or rest while still participating in the business of the RA.

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 46

Defeated

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 47

Adopted

That the following be referred to the Health Information Network: That NEA enlighten Congress, its affiliates, and the public to the ever-widening gaps in wealth and health in America, affecting an ever-expanding portion of our population.

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 48

Referred to the Appropriate Committee

Move that the NEA will survey and compile the make-up of all fine arts teachers in the United States by state and district. The survey shall include the number of fine arts teachers by discipline and by grade level – elementary, middle school, high school. Information will be published through all NEA media. The NEA will also prepare a general press release for the Associated Press, U.S.A. Today, etc.

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 49

Adopted as Amended

To urge NEA to research, compile and publish data through existing communication venues on successful U.S.-based teacher and future educator recruitment programs currently being used that place emphasis on the recruitment and retention of minorities, males, and other underrepresented groups in education careers.

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 50

Adopted

The NEA will bring attention to the facts in the 2004 Institute of Medicine scientific study of childhood obesity, in NEA Today and its online sources. The NEA will push for the study’s agenda with the new administration in appropriate forums.

The study recommended a number of crucial steps to be taken by the federal government, as well as states and industry groups.

The government recommendations are:

• Establish an interdepartmental task force to coordinate federal actions.
• Develop nutrition standards for foods and beverages sold in schools.
• Fund state-based nutrition and physical-activity grants with strong evaluation components.
• Develop guidelines on advertising and marketing to children.
• Expand funding for prevention research, surveillance and evaluation.

These recommendations have been ignored by our government.

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 51

Adopted as Modified

The NEA, along with the National Association of School Psychologists, develop a position paper that supports school psychologists’ long-standing right to use the term “psychologist” in their title and encourage the American Psychological Association to maintain the exemption language in its model act that includes minimum specialist or specialist-equivalent and doctoral-level psychologists.

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 52

Withdrawn

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 53

Defeated

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 54

Referred to the Appropriate Conference Planning Committees

The NEA will provide training at regional conferences to locals on how to develop interactive websites.

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 55

Withdrawn

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 56

Referred to the Executive Committee

Prior to the 2009 NEA Representative Assembly, the NEA Fund for Children and Public Education will provide the delegates a clear and understandable explanation of the fund-raising activity that will occur in San Diego and future Assemblies.

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 57

Defeated

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 58

Referred to the Executive Committee as Amended

The NEA shall advocate for the development of a consistent and congruent criteria for teachers who teach English Language Learners.

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 59

Referred to the Appropriate Committee

That the NEA encourage its affiliates to work with agencies that seek to end the child sex slave trade. That the association encourage its affiliates to work with agencies, local school districts, and institution of higher learning to implement comprehensive school wide programs for all stakeholders that address the child sex slave trade and the dangers it presents to the youngest members of our society.

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 60

Referred to the Human Civil Rights Committee as Amended

The NEA RA will create the Reg Weaver Human and Civil Rights Award around closing the poverty gaps for children in America and around the world.

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 61

Adopted as Modified

Using existing communication vehicles (including NEA Today and the NEA website) the NEA will publish information to educate members about their rights and responsibilities under workers compensation, Family Medical Leave Act, Americans with Disabilities Act, as well as any and all relevant federal acts.

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 62

Object to Consideration

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 63

Referred to Annual Meeting Review Committee

NEA will edit the ethnic checklist on the annual Representative Assembly delegate registration card to include African-American along with “Black” to promote consistency within the ethnic choices.

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 64

Adopted as Modified

The NEA will make available through its existing communication vehicles such as the NEA Website, NEA Today, and other media, information which focuses on the latest data and trends in public education impacting women and children and presented by NEA Programs and/or NEA Departments at the annual Joint Conference on Concerns of Women and Minorities.

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 65

Defeated

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 66

Referred to Executive Committee as Modified

N.E.A. will promote through existing communication vehicles, the coordination of a nationwide rally and early voting event with absentee/early ballots at Supervisor of Elections offices and/or in county courthouses on a yet to be determined date right before the November 2008 election. Members and nonmembers of NEA and other coalition partners such as AFT, AFL-CIO, National, State and local PTA’s, School Board and Superintendent Associations and others will be strongly encouraged to participate.

Our nationwide rally will take place between 4:30-5:30 local time in the largest public education demonstration ever. A “Live” press conference will follow on the steps of participating state courthouses nationwide with all coalition representatives present. In advance, a press release will be distributed to the media discussing the wide diversity of thousands of members, nonmembers, parents, and citizens groups, young and old alike, coming together supporting public education. This nationwide rally and early vote will dominate the news cycle through the election.

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 67

Adopted as Amended

The NEA recommends that schools develop regulations for the appropriate student use of cell phones and personal communications devices, as well as other electronic devices, during the school day. Such regulation will promote respect for privacy, intellectual integrity and a positive learning environment.

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 68

Defeated

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 69

Defeated

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 70

Defeated

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 71

Defeated

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 72

Adopted as Modified

The NEA, through its various communications channels, will promote the importance of Fine Arts specialists in a comprehensive Fine Arts program in every school. The NEA will also promote across curricular collaboration with Fine Arts teachers. This would include a listing of the vast number of free resources available both online and in print. By promoting such peer to peer relationships, it will aid in the protection of keeping Fine Arts programs alive in the schools.

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 73

Defeated

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 74

Object to Consideration

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 75

Adopted

NEA’s basic policies on both the importance of health care coverage and the urgent need for health reform are set forth in NEA Resolutions B-7, C-1, D-23, F-52, F-62, H-7, and I-21, and in the NEA Legislative Program. These policies express NEA’s belief that all residents of the United States, its territories, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico should have access to quality, affordable, comprehensive, and secure health care coverage throughout their lifetime. While NEA believes that such goals can best be achieved through a single-payer health care system, it remains strongly supportive of reforms that move us closer to quality, affordable, comprehensive and secure health benefits for all.

Recognizing the importance of universal, quality health care in allowing all children to be ready and able to learn and in recruiting and retaining a quality education workforce, the Representative Assembly reaffirms its commitment to the policies set forth in these resolutions and the NEA Legislative Program, and believes that health care reform should take place consistent with several guiding principles. Health care reform must:

• Guarantee that health benefits are universally available;

• Result in comprehensive health care coverage that includes, but is not limited to, medical, surgical, hospital, behavioral health, prescription drug, dental, vision, hearing, and long-term care services and allows choice of providers;

• Include preventive, wellness, rehabilitative, and disease management programs;

• Incorporate provisions and standards related to medical safety and quality;

• Make use of health information technology;

• Control costs;

• Ensure that benefits are available through a current or former employer, a government-sponsored program such as Medicare, Medicaid, or the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), and/or a new initiative that would meet the goals outlined here.

• Maintain workers’ ability to negotiate enhancements to any basic benefits package;

• This is not meant to diminish or replace existing health benefits that may be better.

The Representative Assembly further believes that NEA must be actively involved in the health care reform debate. As such, it directs NEA to take the following actions to move the organization forward in this effort and closer to fulfilling the goal of universal health care coverage, consistent with the principles above: compare and contrast major health reform proposals and initiatives with an emphasis on the probable impact of the proposals on meeting the health care needs of children and those who educate them, not limited to employment status; actively supports proposals meeting NEA’s principles; develop legislative and political programs to enact supported programs; continue active participation in health care reform coalitions; assist state affiliates in educating members and communities on health care reform by distributing health care reform training materials to state affiliates and identifying opportunities for state affiliates to engage members in health care reform activities; and keep state affiliates and members informed about relevant health care reform developments through its regular communication vehicles, including, but not limited to, NEA Today and This Active Life.

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 76

Referred as Modified to the Appropriate Committee

That the NEA conduct a study to determine the effects of reconstitution as a sanction under the ESEA Law. The results of this study to be reported to the membership. Such research should include not only the effects of this sanction, but also its impact on our members and students.

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 77

Adopted as Modified

NEA will gather and disseminate information from states that have a “high stakes” examination as a criterion for High School graduation. This information should include disaggregated data on the number of students who meet all other of their states requirement except passing their state exam. The information should include any data which suggests or indicates a correlation between states with higher percentages of ethnic minority students and states which have imposed high-stakes graduation exams.

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 78

Adopted as Modified

In May 2008 there was a massive earthquake in China’s Sichuan province. Among the over 60,000 fatalities were thousands of students and educators. Given this tragedy, NEA should offer support through Chinese teacher/educator organizations, in the most direct way evident to the NEA International Relations Office to improve professional and labor ties between our two countries.

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 79

Adopted

The National Education Association will study the potential impact of opening active membership to private school educators. To better understand the complexities on all sides of the issue these findings will be reported to the 2009 Representative Assembly.

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 80

Adopted as Substituted

The NEA will make information about cognitive brain development activities available to educators through appropriate methods of communication.

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 81

Object to Consideration

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 82

Adopted as Modified

Similar to this RA’s adoption of New Business Item 4 (School Based Mental Health Information for Children and Adolescense) NEA will use appropriate existing communication vehicles, such as NEA Today, NEA Advocate and NEA Web site, to inform its members about exemplary higher education based mental health & counseling programs that promote academic success & classroom intervention strategies for our students.

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 83

Defeated

RA Action:

News from the NEA Annual Meeting

July 7, 2008

Speeches delivered at the NEA Annual Meeting

Keynote by President Reg Weaver
My colleagues, it has been almost a half a century, 47 years, since I first walked into a classroom as a teacher. A lot of things have happened since then, things that I never could have imagined when I was growing up as a young boy in Danville, Illinois.

Remarks by President-Elect Dennis Van Roekel
It is very special for me to be standing here before you. I attended my first Representative Assembly in 1980. And as I was thinking about what I wanted to say to you, I realized what a tough act it is to follow the five presidents who I watched since I started coming to the RA.

Teacher of the Year: Michael Geisen
As I fly around the country and travel and speak and meet with people from all over, I have a unique chance to have an amazing perspective on education while still remaining with my feet on the ground in the classroom where things are really happening.

ESP of the Year: Laura L. Vernon
I have been blessed and fortunate enough to wake up everyday for the past 33 years and go to work and engage in one of the most, fulfilling experiences ever. I get to help Educators mold the next leaders of tomorrow.

Gov. Mike Easley, America's Greatest Education Governor AwardWinner
Teaching is your profession, but building the national workforce is what each and every one of you do. You need to know that, and you need to know that the rest of the country knows that as well.

Barbara Morgan, Teacher in Space and Friend of Education Award Winner
I know I am here today because of our colleague Christa McAuliffe. Christa led the way. She led the way, and she did it beautifully for all of us. I am also here today because of the NEA’s tremendous support for NASA and because of the many teachers who kept the faith and who always, always did what teachers do best—keep the doors open for our students.

RA Action:

News from the NEA Annual Meeting

July 3, 2008

President Reg Weaver's Keynote Address

Full text of the speech delivered on July 3, 2008, in Washington, D.C., at the 2008 Representative Assembly.

All right! Rep Assembly! Thank you so much. Thank you very, very much.

There’s a story that’s told about a boy and his father. You see, the boy loved his father. He loved his father because he knew that his father would always love him and would always protect him.

And then one day the father had to go away without the son. But he said, “Son, I’m going to give you a light to hold.” And he said, “regardless of what happens, son, hold the light. No matter who comes after you, my son, do not drop that light.”

And so the father left the boy, traveled down the road, a long, long road, and as the boy saw his father go down that road, he became even more frightened, and he started to cry. But he held the light.

Then the night came, and the little boy became even more frightened, but he held that light.

And it rained. It started to rain so very, very hard, and the little boy didn’t know whether or not he would be able to keep the flame alive, but he held that light.

And then some mean, mean people came by. They passed by the little boy. They said, “Boy, why don’t you get out of that rain and stop holding that light.”

The little boy said, “My Daddy, my Daddy told me to hold this light.”

And then some wild animals approached him. And the little boy was so afraid, he thought about dropping the light, but he said, “My Daddy told me to hold this light.”

Then, as the morning came, the little boy saw this shadow, like the shadow of his father coming down that road. And the little boy was so happy, and he ran to greet his father.

And he came in contact, and he hugged and clutched his father. He said, “Daddy, I’m so glad to see you. Daddy, it rained hard. And I thought that the light was going to go out. But, Daddy, I held that light.” He said, “Daddy, some mean, mean people came and they made fun of me, and they said, ‘boy, why don’t you drop that light?’ But, Daddy, I said ‘My Daddy told me to hold this light.’

“And, Daddy, some wild animals came. And, Daddy, I was so afraid, and I didn’t know whether or not I would be able to hold the light. But, Daddy, you told me to hold this light.

“And I held the light.”

My colleagues, it has been almost a half a century, 47 years, since I first walked into a classroom as a teacher. A lot of things have happened since then, things that I never could have imagined when I was growing up as a young boy in Danville, Illinois.

I remember many of the young people in my neighborhood having big dreams. Some dreamed about playing sports or starting a band and becoming the next Duke Ellington.

Still others dreamed of owning their own business, barber shops, restaurants. There were those who even dreamed of college degrees, becoming doctors and lawyers and educators, because our community, the ethnic minority, poor and underprivileged whites, we understood the value of education and of educators.

And there were a few who even dreamed of becoming the President of the United States.

Imagine that! A black man from Illinois running for President.

Myself, I dreamed of changing the world. And I didn’t know how I wanted to do it, but I knew that I wanted to make a difference and show, somehow, the world could be a better place, and I would have a part in it.

Like many of you, I grew up in a time when our nation was struggling, struggling to change and grappling with issues of basic human and civil rights, minority rights, poverty and gender equity.

And when you consider that I grew up in a time when these issues weighed on the minds and wore heavily on the hearts of the citizens of this nation, and that those same issues still weigh heavily on the minds and hearts of the citizens of this nation today, folks, we must ask ourselves some very deep, deep probing questions.

And we have to be prepared to accept the responsibility for the inevitable answers.

That was a time that tested our will.

And it was a time that tested our faith.

Yet, it was also a time when my eyes were open to the possibilities of what could be, and the thing that opened my eyes was the possibility of everybody having access to a great education.

Education opened up my eyes.

The greatest gift that my Mama gave me was inspiration.

Inspiration—inspiring me to get an education. She taught me that education was the only way to a better life, and the only way to change the world. And it is the one tool that can remove barriers to achievement, eliminate limits on ambition and lift the ceilings of potential and promise for families and communities.

Let me tell you a story.

Some of you all may have heard this, but I think it’s worth repeating because I believe that it speaks to who we are as educators and as keepers of the vision and keepers of the dream of the children and of the students that we teach.

Many years ago as a high school student, I took a test at the Department of Employment Security. I was looking for a job because I couldn’t get one because I was so short, but I needed to have something to do to make me 15 or 20 cents. I went there in hopes of securing a job.

The person that was there gave me this series of tests. And at the end of the test, I left the place thinking that I had done an excellent job.

And then I went back for the post-test results. And the person that gave me the post-test results told me that the results were so bad that the only thing that you could do in your life would be to work with your hands.

Now, this opinion didn’t merely discourage me when I really thought about it, folks. Quite frankly, it devastated me because we know the negative connotation to such a pronouncement.

You know what?

I didn’t let that stop me.

I knew even then that my life could never be defined by one ultra high-stakes test.

And today, I know that no child’s future should be defined or limited by one ultra high-stakes test.

So I worked even harder, folks.

I worked even harder than before and exceeded expectations. Graduated from high school. Went to college, went to graduate school. And I have continued to dedicate my life to the children and the students in America’s classrooms.

I’ve taught children who could excel in math and science, as well as those who struggled to read and to write.

Students who spoke another language, children who were poor, children who were neglected, children who were musically and/or artistically inclined, children with disabilities.

And throughout all of that, I knew that to label and pigeonhole a child is to kill the spirit of that child.

My friends, it is no different for adults. To label, pigeonhole, or otherwise predetermine the potential of a person is to attempt to dash their dreams and kill their spirits.

And, folks, we cannot afford to let that happen.

Over the last six years, I have led the largest professional employee organization in America. The largest free and democratic union with more than 3.2 million members, and none of this would have been possible if I had listened to the recommendation of the so-called interpreter of  that one test.

And as I progressed in my career, I asked my Mama, I said, “Mama, do you know where this woman lives? Because I want to find her and tell her what I’m doing today and say, ‘How you like me now?’”

All right?

Now, there’s nothing wrong with working with one’s hands. This nation was built by people who used their hands, their bodies, their souls, but I knew that I wanted to change the world.

And I couldn’t do it with my hands alone.

I needed to work with other people who shared my belief that we could make a difference. People who not only worked with their hands, but with their hearts and their minds.

So I became a part of the Harvey Education Association, the Illinois Education Association, the National Education Association.

Team NEA became a part of my life, folks. And I joined these organizations because I wanted to work with other educators who believe what I believe, that every child, not just some, but every child has a basic right to a great public school education.

Here at Team NEA, I found some passionate, talented folks, a group of dynamic people to work with, people like Executive Director John Wilson, Vice president Dennis Van Roekel, Secretary-treasurer Lily Eskelsen, past and present members of the Executive Committee, Cynthia Swann, Bob Shannon, all of our staff, and, of course, every one of you, my friends. We are 3.2 million members strong, but we are one team, Team NEA.

We have one message with many voices.

We are committed.

We are courageous.

And we are powerful.

And we are team NEA.

We are passionate. Passionate about public education because we understand that it has the power to transform a child’s life to make a difference.

And despite the criticism, despite the criticism that some of our opponents sometimes throw our way, criticism that often is unjust and unfair and unfounded, you know what? We keep on pressing.

We press forward because when we look into the faces of those children, we realize that they are depending on us for the skills and the knowledge that they need to be successful.

They depend on us in the classroom, those who are driving the buses, sweeping the floors, because we know what it takes to help them much better than the critics and the pundits and some politicians who have never set foot in a classroom in over 15,000 years.

We know what it takes, my friends. We know what it takes.

We became educators. We became educators because of the power to light  up a child’s face with new discoveries, new ideas and new ambitions.

We became educators because we wanted to make a difference, and that’s why we have to teach each student as an individual.

Students learn in different ways. So we must be willing to adapt our teaching methods to what works for them.

Folks, if children could not learn the way we teach, then we have to be able to teach the way that they can learn.

One way is for traffic and not for teaching. Folks, I want you to recognize that the prosthesis cannot repair an amputated spirit. And in far too many instances, our children’s spirit has been amputated.

We have to make sure that those amputations cease.

We have to make sure that we are there for them, that they have everything that they need because Team NEA, it is our responsibility to work with these children, to teach these children and students who can change the world.

We must do that one educator at a time, one public school at a time and one student at a time, folks.

Our job as educators is to unlock the door of opportunity.

Team NEA, we must be the key that unlocks that door just like those Americans who were willing to sacrifice because they knew that our nation could be better. That’s what we have to do. Becoming better is what we have tried to do for the past six years at the National Education Association.

When you chose me to lead our organization, education was on the front burner of the national agenda. But for some reason, folks, our voice wasn’t heard on the issues as it should be.

I became president only a few short months after President Bush signed the so-called No Child Left Behind law. And we knew that there were serious problems with the law, not with its goals, but with its implementation.

And we realized that to remain silent would mean more and more students would be negatively impacted by the obsession with high-stakes testing in our classroom.

So we spoke out.

We spoke out about the shortcomings of No Child Left Behind.

We developed a strategy. We did our research.

We polled the public. We polled the communities that were negatively affected.

And we collected stories from teachers and support staff across the nation who told us time and time again how the obsession with high-stakes testing was harming their students, harming the morale, and harming their schools.

So you know what we did? We lobbied. We lobbied our members of Congress. We wrote editorials and letters to the editor. We spoke up at school board and PTA meetings. And today, how you like us now?

Today, friends, thanks to our commitment to children across the nation, thanks to our unrelenting efforts to do what we know was right for public schools and public school education, the tide has turned.

The American public and most members of Congress now understand that No Child Left Behind has taken the professionalism out of teaching, the joy out of learning.

It has not lifted up many children, but it has beaten down far too many.

Accountability has become an I got you game, designed to blame and punish rather than to build capacity for improvement.

Today, everyone knows that this law must be fixed, and I believe that it will happen thanks to every one of you.

So thank you for your commitment.

Thank you for your courage, and thank you for your power.

Our efforts to fix No Child Left Behind were part of a larger effort to make our voice more relevant and to demand and to remind the American public that our first priority is always the 50 million children whom we see every day in our classrooms, on the bus, in the lunchroom and on the playground.

We have worked hard to ensure that many different communities in our nation understand and believe that we care about their children.

We sent a powerful message when we adopted a new vision, mission statement and core values that communicated, folks, our commitment to children and public education.

Our vision, man, it is simple, but it is powerful. A great public school for every student.

It is a vision that resonates with the American public, and a vision that I know you will continue to pursue even after I’m gone.

Our mission and vision reflect our values. They reflect our commitment. But to realize that commitment, my friends, we knew that we needed to become stronger and more effective as an organization. So we set our sights on doing just that. Doing things a little different.

In 2002, when I became president, many people predicted that we would lose members, instead, we had the courage to reach out and attract new members, and that made us even stronger.

Our membership has increased 22% over the last six years, and we are now 3.2 million members

So Team NEA, I thank you for answering the call when I said, “Bring me some members.”

An organization that believes in itself must put its money where its mouth is. That’s why we had the courage to align our budgeting process with the commitment of our strategic goals. And while that alignment is not yet perfect, we are headed in the right direction.

We are committed to bridging the disparities and opportunity that are still prevalent in so many of our schools, and we recognize that ethnic minority communities depend on public education probably more than any other group.

And because those communities are the most underserved and the most in need of quality public schools, they are the communities that are plagued by gaps in student achievement and excessive dropout rates.

We identified an outreach to the minority communities as a strategic goal, and we created a new department to help us forge valuable alliances with people who care about public education.

It took courage, folks. It took courage to reach out, but it has made us stronger.

When collective bargaining rights are under attack, the entire organized labor community is under attack. That is why we have worked more closely than ever before with our colleagues in organized labor.

It takes courage to change, but it makes us stronger, folks.

As a founding member of Education International, we are uniquely suited to honor our mission statement, to prepare every student to succeed in a diverse and independent world.

Through our role within Education International, not only do we fight for the education rights around the world, but we are a leader in securing the basic right for education for all of those children around the world.

Public education cannot be changed, cannot be improved upon at the national level alone, folks.

Think tanks. High-level policy conversations, while important, they alone will not improve public education.

We know that our commitment to securing quality public education would require us to employ new strategies at your level, the state and local level.

And on Saturday, folks, you should receive our NEA report. “Great public schools for every student by 2020: Achieving a new balance in the federal role to transform America’s public schools.”

And this report was just released yesterday. And it speaks to how we, NEA, the educators view the transformation of public education in America at the national, state, and local levels.

And we also knew that our commitment to public education would require us to employ new strategies in the political arena, so we had the courage to create a Campaign and Elections Department, which helped us to win important battles last year in Utah and Kentucky and Virginia and Washington state as well as others.

Commitment plus courage equals power.

We have offered a positive plan to reduce the dropout rate, and we have launched initiatives to close the achievement gap, and we are creating a curriculum to help teachers of English language learners.

We are leading the way toward policy solutions on issues like taxation, economic development, and education funding.

We are embracing new technology to help our members, including the new NEA Academy, which offers online professional development.

Folks, we have made great strides over the past six years, and we have truly transformed our organization.

We have more ability than ever before to help educators in the classroom and to influence public education.

We have done these things by working together and by using our hearts and our minds and, yes, our hands.

By backing up our commitment with courage and finding a new power to make a difference, folks, that’s what we’ve done.

But you know what? As many of you have told me, our work has not been easy.

At every turn, we have realized that there are some ideologues in our nation who do not share our same commitment to public education. And they have used every opportunity to promote a radical agenda consisting of vouchers, privatization, harmful funding formulas that would destroy public education.

And these folks, man, they speak with smooth, soothing words because they want us to think, and they want the public to think that they have the best interest of those children at heart.

So I say to you, beware of wolves in sheep’s clothing. We must ask ourselves what is their real agenda—to improve public education or to dismantle it?

Their radical ideas are part of an ideology of privatization, deregulation and tax breaks for big business and the wealthy, which took hold in our nation 30 years ago.

And today, most of these ideas have been discredited.

Just this past weekend, the Washington Post reported that the school privatization experiment in Philadelphia, the largest in the nation, was a failure.

The state panel that oversees the 38 privatized schools found that they were not performing any better than the public schools in similar areas.

And six of those private schools are being returned to the public control, and 20 more are being put on notice.

Now, you know what? We told them, we told them that this would happen.

But you know what?

Nobody wanted to listen to us. They didn’t want to listen to us.

We know what it takes to make a great public school.

We could have told them, “If in fact you want to invest money, invest it in our public schools.” We will do everything just as good or better than any other private school you could name.

We have seen, folks, a near meltdown of our financial system because large investment banks were not properly regulated, enabling them to make risky investments.

We have seen Americans scared about our food supply as the FDA has had its hands tied.

We have seen bridges collapse because we failed to invest in our public infrastructure, and we have seen a government that did nothing for days in the wake of Hurricane Katrina while Americans watched in horror as the victims pleaded for help.

Pleaded for help!

We have seen the price of gasoline soar to almost $5 a gallon.

And we have seen a staggering federal deficit as a result of tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans.

Clearly, clearly our nation is on the wrong track, folks.

Our priorities must change. All across the country, people are rejecting the old ideologies. That’s why I believe this year can be a milestone for public education.

The overwhelming majority of the American people, they share our belief that education is a basic right. The overwhelming majority support public education.

The American people are hungry for change. Our children deserve change. Team NEA, we must lead the change.

The report that you will receive on Saturday, it lays out a framework to achieve our vision of a great public school for every child by 2020.

Folks, you got to read.

    It is some good stuff. It really is.

    It’s going to require that you do some stuff as well.

    Again, I hope you read this report because it is bold. It is a bold call for our nation to renew its commitment to public education so that we can give our children the tools and the knowledge that they will need in the 21st century.

    That’s what I want.

    Now, wait a minute. Now, after you read it, this is what I’d like for you to do.

    Please, I’m asking you to share this initiative with your affiliates and members.

    I’m asking you to meet with your members of Congress and state lawmakers to discuss this report.

    I am encouraging you to initiate discussions with school boards and PTA groups, parents and other community groups, anybody who shares our commitment to public education.

    And last but not least, I ask that you do everything in your power to ensure that the 2008 elections include a discussion about renewing our national commitment to education.

    Folks, this is an ambitious goal.

    And it will not happen without a lot of hard work.

    But, folks, I got faith in you.

    Team NEA. I have faith in you because we have the commitment, and we have the courage, and we have the power to get this job done.

    And I am so optimistic about the future of public education in the United States.

    However, there is a great big ol’ elephant in the room.

    An obstacle that is preventing us from moving forward, moving forward on education and many other issues.

    Six months after I took office, the current administration led our nation into a war that has been a disaster in almost every respect.

    The most disastrous result of this war in Iraq is the toll that it has taken on the youth of America.

    They have paid a dear price in blood, more than 4,000 killed and tens of thousands seriously wounded with injuries that will forever alter their lives.

    Unfortunately, the young always bear the brunt of the physical sacrifice in war. But this time, they are not just making a physical sacrifice, they are also making a fiscal sacrifice.

    On April the 16th, 1953, President Dwight D. Eisenhower said, “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and those who are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone, it is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.

    This is not a way of life in any true sense of the word. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron.”

    That’s what Eisenhower said.

    The war in Iraq has consumed resources that our nation could have used to invest in public education, renewing our infrastructure or health care.

    Now, folks, I know that we must have our country protected. The Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard are very important to the security of our country. But I would submit to you that just as important to the security of our country is making sure that every student receives a quality public education.

    That is just as important.

    Just as important.

    It’s bad enough that this war is diverting resources from investments that could benefit future generations, but it’s even worse that they are going to get stuck with the bill.

    This Administration has not levied taxes to pay for this war.

    Instead, it has handed out tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans.

    And as a result, our national debt has almost doubled during this Administration, and it is the youth of America who will bear the burden.

    This is not how it’s supposed to be.

    We are not supposed to force problems on our children and leave the country worse off than we found it, folks.

    We are supposed to face challenges and deal with problems so that our children’s future will be as bright as possible.

    The future—that is what education is about.

    Not long ago, I got a letter from an old friend of mine, and he told me that he had run into a couple of his old classmates who sent their regards.

    And then he proudly informed me that his sister had become an elementary schoolteacher.

    His comment was, “Can you believe that?”

    Full circle, huh?

    I said, “Yeah, full circle.”

    Education is a circle that will never be broken.

    It is the way that we help future generations discover who they are and pass along the values of our society and prepare them to make the most of their future.

    It was a precious gift that my mother and my teachers gave to me.

    It is a gift that we all give every day to millions of children who pass through our classrooms and our schools.

    Now it is a gift that one of my former students is now passing along to the next generation.

    So no matter what happens, folks, educators will always get up in the morning and pick up the children at the bus stop, welcome them in their classrooms, serve them a healthy lunch.