Day 3 of the National Education Association 2021 Virtual Representative Assembly

 We got started early again today because we had two important guests, and we had a lot of NBIs to complete. 

First, Becky presented the 2021 Teacher of the Year, Juliana Urtuby, who gave an inspiring speech. Then we heard the NEA Vice President, Princess Moss, address the assembly.

We went straight to Legislative Amendments, which were pretty straightforward.

One particularly motivating presentation was from the 2021 NEA Friend of Education, Judy Heumann, who was the first educator to push for New York City to allow educators in wheelchairs. 

Judy Heumann and Becky Pringle

Ms. Heumann has dedicated her life to fighting for the rights of differently-abled educators, and she made a difference in the first thirty seconds of her interview with Becky Pringle because she started by describing how she looked on the screen so that those who were vision-impaired would know what everyone else was looking at. Becky said, "You have already taught me something, and I thank you," and she then also described herself on screen. As I listened to Ms. Heumann, I thought about Rich Clevidence, a Special Education teacher at Medina High School who was paraplegic. Rich was a very successful and influential teacher; his students loved him and would do anything for him. I think that Ms. Heumann's work made it possible for us to appreciate him as a teacher in a big, suburban school building.

After some work on NBIs, we had a short break to prepare for our guests. . .President Joe Biden and FLOTUS Dr. Jill Biden (who is a member of NEA)! 

Dr. Jill Biden

Dr. Biden congratulated educators on our work during the pandemic. It is interesting to note that she shared the same stories of frustration with tech, trying to bond with students, and isolation that many of us experienced because she didn't stop working during the pandemic or when her husband became POTUS.

President of the United States, Joseph R. Biden

Joe Biden talked about the importance of the American Relief Act, saying that his focus was to build up our society "from the middle out." He thanked us for teaching, and he said that Americans should now realize how important teachers are. He finished by saying that "[i]t's not enough to get back to normal. We need to build back better than ever," and that is why during his administration, the government will invest in counselors, social workers, nurses, and wraparound services in public schools.

It was a bit difficult to focus on NBIs after that, but we did until 8:20.  Another loooonnnnggg day with the anticipation of a longer stretch the next day.

Up Next: The Last Day, NBIs, Bundling, Memes

Day 2 National Association Virtual Representative Assembly

 Today we got down to business a bit earlier than the previous day because we were excited about a guest speaker. . .

We voted on 5 Policy Amendments and 6 New Business Items. When I look at these numbers, I feel like we didn't cover as many NBIs as we should have covered; however, there was some robust debate in the platform, and I think debate and questions are important. 

We congratulated the NEA Higher Educator of the Year, Julius B. Thomas, who is a guidance counselor at a community college. He spoke about the necessity of advocating for students who need community colleges.

Then we got to see our highly anticipated guest speaker: Stacy Abrams!

NEA President Becky Pringle with Stacy Abrams

I must admit that I fan-girled HARD during this interview. Stacy Abrams spoke with great intelligence and passion about our ability to stand together to fight for voting rights. She is a person who gets it done, and I admire her dedication and ability. 

We then heard a rousing speech from NEA Executive Director Kim A. Anderson, the first woman and person of color to serve in this capacity. She reminded us of our focus to fight racism and discrimination in our schools.

NEA Executive Director Kim A. Anderson

The RA went until after 8:30, and I have to say that I was really exhausted.  I think that waiting- for questions, for debate, for amendments, for voting, for speakers--is the hardest part of any RA. It seems easier to wait when you are in a huge convention hall with 9,999 of your best peeps. In my living room, while juggling laundry and prepping dinner, it definitely isn't as fun.  I look forward to attending our next RA in person.

NEXT: DAY 3 with 2 VERY IMPORTANT GUESTS

Day 1 National Education Association 2021 Virtual Representative Assembly

 

Wednesday, June 30, 2021, was the date of the first day of the NEA Representative Assembly. At 2:00 pm President Becky Pringle banged the gavel to begin the 159th meeting of the largest democratic, deliberative body in the world.

We opened with a performance from our Amanda Gorman, National Youth Poet Laureate. Her poetry was beautiful and dynamic, and I didn't take any notes or pictures because I was enthralled with her words and the way they floated from her mouth. It was a real fan moment for all of us. While we couldn't see her in person at a convention center, I really think I was better able to appreciate her performance by seeing her close up on the screen. She is amazing, 'nuff said.

Amanda Gorman at the Inauguration of President Joseph Biden

The Land Acknowledgement was performed by James Jones, known as Notorious Cree. He performed an incredible hoop dance to honor America's First People.

Notorious Cree

We had the National Anthem and the invocation, and then we were ready to roll.  Well, sort of ready to roll. This virtual platform was new to many of our delegates, who are often, ummm. . .technically challenged (see my previous post). The various choices on the page took some getting used to, and it took some practice for us to adopt the Standing Rules. Actually, it took a lot of practice and some tough love from Becky Pringle. My favorite line from her may be, "Delegates, I need you to HEAR me." This usually followed with some stern instructions about NOT touching buttons and screwing up the online queue. 

Next we heard the President's address to the Assembly. Becky Pringle is a charismatic speaker, both in a large group setting and one on  one. I met her a few years ago at the Representative Assembly in Houston, and she just EMANATES power. 

OEA President Scott DiMauro, Stephani, and NEA President Becky Pringle

Her speech emphasized the courage and creativity of educators during the pandemic, and it fired us up. Some snippets that resonated with me:

"We lead with love and teach from a place of conviction."

"We will make sure our kids have what they need and what they deserve."

After the speech, we were revved up to debate and vote on New Business Items. Once the delegates got used to the new platform, we worked pretty efficiently through 5 New Business Items. 

One takeaway from this virtual assembly: I really like the online voting. Normally at an assembly, we vote by voice, all ten thousand of us, and sometimes there is a call for division. Then we have to stand up and be counted. While it is very exciting, it is probably not the most efficient way to get things done. The online voting platform allows us to see the percentages for and against, and that eliminates calls of division. I hope that we find a way to continue this type of voting even while meeting face to face.

Gavel down came a bit late: 8:20 PM.  By then I was ready for dinner and bed. 

After all, we still had two more days of the Representative Assembly to go!

Ohio Education Association Caucus Days 2 and 3

On Tuesday, June 29, and Wednesday, June 30, the Ohio Education Association met for their second and third caucus days before the 2021 National Education Association Virtual Assembly. What happened to the first day, you ask? We did have it earlier in June, but it was more focused on procedures for using online apps to debate and vote, so I will focus on the more important meetings before the Representative Assembly.

Usually the Ohio Caucus starts at 7:30 AM each day before the Assembly. This is where we look at New Business Items and vote on whether the Caucus supports or opposes each item.  I was curious how we were going to be able to debate NBIs among over 200 delegates. Ironically, most teachers will acknowledge that we don't listen to instructions very well, and many of us still struggle with tech, even after the hellatious online year we have had. 

Actual image of a teacher struggling with tech

We conducted our caucus through Zoom, and it went surprisingly well. Sure, there were people who kept unmuting themselves and gazing blankly at the screen. Sure, there were people who had trouble unmuting themselves.  All in all, though, it really worked out as well as it could have without meeting face to face.

We managed to debate and vote on the Ohio Caucus positions for at least 40 NBIs dealing with NEA's positions on school funding, students' rights and safety, educators' rights and safety, and even the use of technology in instruction.  It wasn't fun, but it was functional.

Thank you to the OEA Leadership: President Scott DiMauro, Vice President Jeff Wensing, and Secretary-Treasurer Mark Hill. Their guidance, as well as the work of their staff, created a smooth and productive meeting.  

OEA President Scott DiMauro

OEA Vice President Jeff Wensing

OEA Secretary-Treasurer Mark Hill

Up Next: 2021 National Education Association Virtual Representative Assembly Day 1

Ohio Education Association Representative Assembly

On Saturday, December 7, Medina Delegates David Hamman, Katie Shaffer, Bradley Dalzell, Ed Dargay, Rob Thompson, Austin Argabright, Tricia Schuck, Laina Makepeace, and Stephani Itibrout represented MCTA at the Ohio Education Association Representative Assembly at the Columbus Fairgrounds.  It was a long day with a long drive, but it was definitely worthwhile.

MCTA Delegates hard at work

The Rittman High School Steel Drum Band greeted us as we entered.




At 9:00, President Scott DiMauro opened the Assembly with the Pledge of Allegiance, the National Anthem, and an invocation. Then we quickly got down to business.

This was an exciting RA because the guest speaker was the President of the National Education Association, Lily Eskelsen Garcia.  I admire Lily so much because she is smart and strong and powerful. She is also a dynamic speaker, and her message to rally to bring about change through the upcoming elections was meaningful.

NEA President Lily Eskelsen Garcia

Lily spent much of her time showing us NEA's webpage devoted to candidates for the election, Education Votes.  The site is very useful in its presentation of information. One of the best tools on the site (in my opinion) is the Candidate Comparison, which allows you to pick any of the current Presidential candidates (Democrat and Republican) and match their platforms on current issues.  Lily has also posted interviews with some of the candidates, and she plans to continue to interview candidates with questions that we can post on that site. So cool.

In addition, NEA has a form you can complete if you are interested in becoming a delegate to either the Democratic or Republican convention. If you are interested, NEA will pass that information on to the Ohio Education Association, who will actively work with you to help you become a delegate.  Lily's goal is to make education a top issue in the upcoming election, and I think she is making the right moves to make that happen.

After Lily's inspirational speech, OEA held a legislative panel consisting of two Republicans and two Democrats who spoke about current legislation to reduce excessive state testing, eliminate value added measurements, and repeal state takeovers of schools.

I think that many union members don't think about what their state and national unions do for them. Today's Representative Assembly showed me that OEA and NEA are working hard for the well being of teachers and students. Another example of this was OEA's stand against state report cards, which you can read here.

Regardless of your political affiliation, you can find great information on both OEA's and NEA's web pages. It's important for all of us to educate ourselves on current events so that we can more effectively advocate for our students.  It all can start with just a few clicks. . .

National Education Representative Assembly 2019 Recap: Post 3

From July 3-7, 2019, Medina Delegates Bradley Dalzell, Katie Shaffer, and Stephani Itibrout attended the 2019 National Education Association Representative Assembly in Houston, Texas.  The NEA is the largest labor organization in the United States, and we had about 9,000 people there to prove it. You can read the first and second post by clicking here and here. 


Today's post is about one of the most exciting days of the RA: the Presidential Candidates Forum.  Our NEA President, Lily Eskelsen Garcia, had extended invitations to any candidate to talk to our Assembly. Ten Democrats responded to her invitation, and we were able to hear from all of them.  

There were strict rules to follow, and just about every speaker tried to break them, but Lily doesn't put up with that, so it was great to see that we stayed on schedule. First, the candidate had one minute to say whatever she/he wanted. Then, the candidate had to respond to three questions from our members, and she/he had three minutes per question. Ten minutes per candidate= one hour, forty minutes away from New Business Items (which we had to complete by the end of the RA), so it was very important to keep to the time limits. 




Here is a video of the candidates' speeches and responses to members' questions.

We heard from Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden, Beto O'Rourke, Julian Castro, Amy Klobuchar, Tim Ryan (from Ohio!), Jay Inslee, Bill DeBlasio, and Kamala Harris.  Click here for a recap from the NEAToday Page.

Here are some of my takes from the forum (These are my opinions, and they do not reflect the opinions of my union or my employer):

1. All candidates spoke pretty well considering the time constraint. It isn't easy to stick to one minute for your platform.

2. Bernie Sanders was the first to speak, and he tried to go over the time limit, even after Lily explained the rules. He said, "Can I say just one more thing?" and she responded, "No, sorry," and escorted him offstage. He wasn't the only one who tried, and Lily's strategy was that when a candidate reached the time limit, we would all clap very loudly to let him/her know that time was up. They all got the hint right away.

3. The floor of the RA looked great! We were all dressed in red to how the #RedforEd movement, and we all had clappers. We were a pretty enthusiastic bunch, with lots of cheering and ovations.

4.  There were a few boos. Beto O'Rourke thought it was appropriate to mention that he supports charter schools.  

5.  Kamala Harris was the last to speak, and she almost didn't make it. She was flying in at the very last minute, and her car got stuck in traffic, so she jumped out of it and ran through the huge convention hall to the stage.  She was completely out of breath, and I'm pretty sure it threw her off since she didn't really have time to recover.  She was still good, though.

I was happy to hear from all the candidates at one time because it definitely gave me a firm idea of where they stand and what I would like to research further. It was incredibly exciting to be in that forum, and I'm so grateful for the opportunity.

If you followed our journey at the RA in Boston, you will know that I stalked Lily Eskelsen Garcia until I could get her picture because I admire her so much.

Boston 2017

Another person I greatly admire is our NEA Vice President, Becky Pringle. I made it my mission to get a picture with her this year. To that end, I bugged our Ohio VP (now our President!) to introduce me, and he came through!

Scott DiMauro, Me, Becky Pringle

Here is something else I enjoyed about the Assembly: I wrote in an earlier post that I was on the Communications Committee. What that meant was that I carried cards around our part of the RA floor that reminded members how we voted on New Business Items in our morning caucus. It was a fun job because I got to walk around rather than sit on my butt during voting. It was also tricky because I had to pay attention to our leaders, who were following new language when Items were amended. Often they had to decide quickly on whether the amended language reflected the feeling of our vote in caucus, and then they gave me a signal on which card to carry around. 

These are the cards used to notify the members.

Here I am informing the Ohio members that our leadership recommends voting down an amendment.  

There were a LOT of New Business Items, more than 140 of them. We lost quite a bit of time with our Candidates Forum (which was of course totally worth it), so we were all a bit nervous about how we were going to finish the voting before the end of the Assembly. On the last day we had a ton of NBIs still left.

The face you make when you think you will be there forever because there are a bunch of NBIs left.

We did manage to get bogged down for a while in Points of Information and some stubborn insistence of bringing back NBIs we had already rejected.  Then Lily woke us up a bit, and we were able to be more efficient. We finished all NBIs this year with a gavel down well before the deadline!

The face you make when you realize that you are going to finish in time.

All in all, it was an exhausting but fun--and definitely productive--time at the National Education Association 2019 Representative Assembly. I am so grateful to my local, Medina City Teachers Association, for sending me as one of our delegates.

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National Education Association Representative Assembly 2019: Post 2

From July 3-7, 2019, Medina Delegates Bradley Dalzell, Katie Shaffer, and Stephani Itibrout attended the 2019 National Education Association Representative Assembly in Houston, Texas.  The NEA is the largest labor organization in the United States, and we had about 9,000 people there to prove it.

Today I would like to write about fundraising. 

Union dues do not go towards any sort of political activity, but union activity is often very political. I have served on committees that have recommended policies to legislators.  The NEA has a separate, voluntary donation program that goes toward legislative policy; it is called the Fund for Children and Public Education (FCPE). To give you an idea of its importance, the FCPE in Ohio was instrumental in reducing arduous and repetitive requirements for New Educators.  Also, FCPE helps the OEA to inform legislators of the dangers of unnecessary testing. Charter school regulation? FCPE is working on that. 

Anyway, fund-raising for FCPE at the Representative Assemblies is very important, and at the NEA RA, it can get very creative.  One of the fun fund-raising activities for FCPE involves forcing our union leaders to do silly things in public. This year it started with hats. The FCPE auctioneer took bids on forcing members to wear Texas-inspired hats during important moments of the RA. The members targeted are then allowed to outbid in order to give the hat to someone else. There was some heavy bidding this year, but many members combined funds in order to keep the humiliation within the leaders. 

From left: Treasurer Mark Hill, VP Scott DiMauro, and Pres. Becky Higgins are wearing weird hats. Daniel Boone?  I don't know. Members donated to FCPE to make them wear these hats on the floor of the RA.

Our Vice-President-Elect, Jeff Wensing, gets picked on every year. I swear I have nothing to do with it:

The best part was when members pooled their funds to make Darryl wear an astronaut suit on the floor of the Assembly.  He was an incredibly good sport about it, and he even got memed on Twitter because he was sitting right by a camera:

We also raised money for the Houston food bank. Darryl played an important role in this because he allowed anyone at the RA to take a picture with him if they donated to the Houston food bank. 

We also collected money by playing Bingo during the RA. If you have ever attended a staff or faculty meeting, you know how this works. The bingo card has a list of "buzz words" or even people, and when you can make a bingo with the events of the RA, you win money or prizes. We bought bingo cards each day for two dollars, and that money also went to the Houston food bank. The cards were VERY popular. I got a bingo, but it was too late for money; I won candy.

I can't write a blog post without a picture of the Medina Delegates. Here we are, excited about our place on the Representative Assembly floor:

Ohio has a large delegation. It is really exciting to be a part of that. Here is a picture of all of us:

To give you an idea of the importance of presence at the RA, I will tell you an anecdote:

There was a hugely-debated New Business Item on the floor of the RA (there are many, so I don't remember which one this was--sorry). We had many votes on many amendments to this NBI, but we just couldn't settle it. Then it came time for Ohio to leave the RA floor to vote for NEA Directors, so all of us stood up at once. Immediately, delegates from other states started screaming, "Ohio! DON'T LEAVE! STAY FOR OUR VOTE!" 

I often tell people that I am a geek for Parliamentary Procedure. It must be true because I get chills whenever I think of that moment.

I think this is enough for Post #2 of the NEA RA. Don't worry; I still have lots more information to share. Specifically, stay with me to read about the presentations of ten Democratic candidates!

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