Becky's Journal of Joy, Justice, and Excellence June 2023

Dear NEA members,

I am honored to serve as your president.

United, we will reclaim public education as a common good and transform it into a racially and socially just system that actually prepares every student—not one, not some, but every single student—to succeed in a diverse and interdependent world. Onward!

Face to Face With NEA Members

In one small Florida county, 92 books were removed from classroom and library shelves this spring. These include books by the glorious Toni Morrison and the prescient Margaret Atwood, many featuring characters who are Black, LGBTQ+, or Jewish. This spring, I traveled to Florida to speak with students and educators at the NAACP-hosted Education Public Town Hall for Truth, Literacy, and Justice. The NEA and NAACP members I met there are fabulous, powerful, and ready to fight for their students’ access to a full and honest education.

We are disgusted, and we are outraged, I told them. But we can’t just be angry. We have to organize. We have to unite. We have to channel our anger into collaborative and comprehensive action to beat back these laws that are having this chilling effect on what we can teach and what our students can learn. Join me in taking NEA’s honesty in education pledge.

(Far Top) I spent time with Florida Education Association (FEA) Vice President Carole Gauronskas, far left, and Student-FEA President Alana Rigby, who attends Florida State University. (Below) I’m with Florida students who love books—and hate book bans.

What I’m Watching

My very favorite thing on the internet—aside from Philadelphia Eagles highlight reels, of course—are Instagram videos by NEA members. Watching them is like flipping your pillow to the cool side. (Refreshing!) I especially appreciate the videos of members talking about the banned books they love. Like first-grade teacher @kelseyvidal16, one of my go-to books is Hair Love by Matthew A. Cherry, which I read to my granddaughter. For one high school librarian, @adventuresofalibrarian, oft-banned book—Twilight by Stephanie Meyer—sparked a lifelong love of reading. I will say it again: Every child has the right to see people who look like them in the books that they read. Check out these NEA members at instagram.com/neatoday/reels.