NEA & AFT: Live From the Conventions

Teachers are fun, aren't they? At least that's what I have discovered writing about them for the past few years. And now that the teacher unions' conventions are all in the past, we here at Education Week don't want the party to end.

Starting soon, we will bring you a new blog focused entirely on teacher issues: teachers' unions, teacher policy, teacher education ... you name it, you will find us nattering about it right here, in these very pages.

So sit up straight and keep your eyes peeled. There's more to come.

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The NEA and AFT often get clubbed together as the "national teachers' unions," but the differences between them are stark and many.

Take the conventions, for instance. Compared with the NEA, the AFT's convention looks decidedly less education-focused and more about issues ranging from labor and organizing to international relations and human rights. It is also much smaller—less than one-third the size of the NEA convention—and its delegates are a much milder, less noisy lot.

This year, one of the high-profile events of the AFT convention was a labor rally held in support of the workers of Resurrection Hospital in Chicago whose attempts to organize have been thwarted by the hospital's authorities.

Delegates at the convention also took up resolutions on issues like highly skilled worker migration, renegotiating NAFTA (the North American Free Trade Agreement), protecting collective bargaining rights, and organizing workers at the Smithfield Packing Plant in Tar Heel, N.C.

A good number of the delegates were from professions outside teaching: I ran into dentists, nurses, and government employees. According to the AFT, 68 percent of its members are K-12 teachers; the rest are paraprofessionals and other school-related personnel, higher education faculty, federal, state, and government employees, and nurses and other health-care workers. The union has also organized private school workers, including those from schools with religious affiliations.

Contrast that with the NEA, whose delegates, after protracted debate at this past convention, refused to admit private K-12 workers into their membership ranks, claiming it would cause the union to lose focus of its mission to improve public schools.

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Soon after she was announced as the new president of the 1.4 million-member American Federation of Teachers this morning, Randi Weingarten went after the No Child Left Behind law, all cannons blazing.

She called the federal law a four-letter word, and vowed to work to overhaul it. NCLB, she said, is not about teaching, but about testing. "By misdefining achievement, relying too heavily on paper-and-pencil tests narrowing and dumbing down the curriculum, and stressing sanctions over supports, NCLB has become a blunt instrument for attacking, not assisting, our public schools," she said.

Ouch.

Ms. Weingarten, who was long expected to succeed Ed McElroy as president, got a standing ovation before and after the speech from most delegates, although there were a few who sat with arms firmly crossed and faces grim. I am guessing they did not vote for her.

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Will the two national teachers' unions never get on the same page, even with NCLB, which both dislike?

Just this month, the NEA finally appeared to have come around to the idea that it should work to improve the No Child Left Behind law, rather than oppose it completely. But even as it released a list of suggestions to improve the law, the AFT—which a number of years ago released its recommendations for improving NCLB—has gone and declared that it wants the current version of the law thrown out the window.

Delegates voted this morning, with no arguments against, to support the repeal of NCLB after efforts to "radically reform" it have failed. The resolution says that instead, the AFT should develop a proposal that builds on the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

Here we go again.

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Delegates also voted this morning to support a resolution urging all locals to consider peer-review and -assistance programs. The union's Toledo affiliate pioneered this program 27 years ago, and Fran Lawrence, the local's president, said there exists strong consensus among teachers in favor of it.

"Nine out of 10 of our members for 27 years have supported peer review and assistance: That's solidarity," she said, responding to one delegate's concern that asking senior teachers to evaluate other teachers would create divisions among educators.

The resolution brought out an impressive turnout of speakers. Besides Lawrence, Randi Weingarten, the president of the UFT, who is expected to take over as president tomorrow, made a passionate plea for it.

"For those who haven't tried this yet, it's scary," she acknowledged. "It feels like we are abdicating the due process role," she said, adding, however, that this couldn't be further from the truth.

Saying she is tired of principals throwing out members, she added: "What this resolution says is let's ... give our teachers assistance and let's make sure we take back our profession."

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There were no boos this time. In fact, there even was fairly strong applause.

When Barack Obama spoke this morning via live satellite feed from California to 3,000 AFT delegates who have congregated in his hometown of Chicago, he appeared to have a good sense that this was a crowd more open than that at the NEA to his ideas on performance pay and charter schools.

"I applaud AFT for your leadership in representing charter school teachers and support staff all across this country, and for even operating your own charters in New York," he said. "Because we know well-designed charter schools have a lot to offer."

When he spoke about performance pay, in almost exactly the same words as those he used at the NEA, he also reminded the AFT delegates that with their own such plans in Cincinnati and Chicago, "you've shown that it is possible to find new ways to increase teacher pay that are developed with teachers, not imposed on them."

Just minutes before, the delegates voted overwhelmingly to endorse Obama for president (only one woman yelled "no" within my hearing). But although the applause was strong and enthusiastic, there were no noisemakers here, nor a flood of Obama T-shirts, like there were at the NEA. Not uncharacteristic of the AFT delegation crowd that just seems to be more subdued than the one at the NEA, not to mention smaller.

In fact, one delegate from a merged NEA-AFT local who had attended the larger union's convention in Washington last week showed up wearing an "NEA for Obama" T-shirt.

Meanwhile, speculation continued among the delegates as to why the senator chose not to appear in person. One source speculated that he wanted to be fair and treat the AFT the same way as he did the NEA. But other delegates said it is likely he still feels betrayed: After all, he was not the AFT's first choice for president.

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AFT delegates this morning approved a dues increase, partly to pay for the union's Solidarity Fund that fights local efforts to cut public education funding and teacher benefits. Locals will now pay $15.35 instead of $14.70 per member, and the amount will increase to $16 per member the following year.

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This might not have been the best time for the AFT to go to Chicago. Even as the biennial convention is being held here, in what was the birthplace of the national union, there is a kettle of fish smelling up the local AFT affiliate led by president Marilyn Stewart.

This morning, delegates walking into the convention hall were greeted by the union's vice-president, Ted Dallas, handing out fliers emblazoned with "Union Democracy Dumped in Chicago."

Dallas, who ran on Stewart's slate for the past two elections, has been charged with lavish spending on his union credit card and the union voted to take him to trial. Dallas in turn has sued the union right back, claiming Stewart was a big spender. Read the Chicago Sun Times story.

Meanwhile, what on earth is on with the CTU Web site, which seems to have lost almost all of its content?

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Hillary Clinton gave a "get-out-the-vote-for-Obama" speech to more than 3,000 AFT delegates this morning, focusing more on what might happen if a Democrat didn't win the White House this November rather than on any education issues.

"There is so much at stake in this election...Making this victory happen will require AFT, 1.4 million strong," said Clinton who was the union's first choice for president before she pulled out of the race.

Clinton, dressed in sunny yellow, took the dais to enthusiastic applause (there were no NEA-like noisemakers, though). She pointed out she has served with Barack Obama for four years, and that she has "campaigned for him and against him."

"I know that his story represents the American dream. I have seen his passion, his determination and his grit," she said, adding that in 40 years, the nation has had only three Democratic presidential victories. As a result, she said, the United States has fallen back on healthcare and higher education, among other issues.

"I look back at 40 years...and see how much we have lost," she said.

After Clinton, Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois took the stage and came up with a math equation for the teachers in the audience: ""Eight years divided by two oilmen equals $4 gas," he deadpanned, referring to the Bush-Cheney administration.

Obama is now scheduled to speak to delegates via satellite feed tomorrow morning, although one wonders why he chose not to appear in person given that the convention is happening in his home town of Chicago.

Any guesses, anyone?

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Ed McElroy sought to lay to rest perceptions that he has not been a reform-friendly leader of the nation's more progressive teachers' union in his keynote address this afternoon, saying he has continued in the "forthright tradition" of former leaders of the union, Al Shanker and Sandy Feldman.

"You will not find a more ardent supporter of our union or the larger labor movement than I am. But I have been pretty direct about the need for some of us to change our attitudes when it comes to the challenges we confront," the outgoing president said in a substantive speech that spanned the spectrum from the U.S. presidential elections to NCLB to AFT's role in the broader labor movement.

He voiced concerns over the No Child Left Behind Act, which he said was "flawed from the very start." He did not spell out any changes he would like to see, however, indicating instead that he wanted something completely new. "We will work with the next president and the new Congress to create a new law ... that respects the knowledge of classroom professionals.

The union leader touched on performance pay, and although his concern over it was the same as that of the NEA's—no merit pay based on student test scores—he made the AFT appear open to this controversial topic.

"The AFT has long-standing policy supporting professional compensation plans—including career ladders, mentor teacher programs, and other ways for teachers to earn more money by assuming additional responsibilitiesas long as those programs are agreed to at the bargaining table and not imposed upon members," he said.

McElroy, a consummate labor leader, also talked about the dangers faced by private unions, which are facing declining memberships, and called on the AFT members to be active participants and leaders in the larger labor movement.

"We can—and must—pursue both the common good and our own individual goals," he said.

McElroy, who relinquishes office as soon as the new president is announced Monday, did not give much indication of what he will do next, other than saying that he will "still be a foot soldier with you in the work before us."

Referring to the changing leadership at the union, he said to the 3,000 delegates in the room: "Change can be unsettling, but it is an opportunity for tremendous good."

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The countdown has begun for the AFT convention that opens in Chicago Friday with a keynote speech from outgoing President Ed McElroy. Delegates are also expected to endorse Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, who is scheduled to speak to the 3,000 delegates via live satellite feed Sunday. Hillary Clinton, the union's first choice for president before she pulled out of the race, plans to be there in person Saturday.

This is a historic year for the AFT. It is expected to elect an all-woman executive leadership with Randi Weingarten as president, Antonia Cortese as secretary-treasurer, and Lorretta Johnson as executive vice president. It's a first for a national teachers' union. Am I the only one wondering why it took so long when nearly 75 percent of teachers are women?

The union will also push this year for peer assistance and review, pioneered by its Toledo local way back in the 1980s but not adopted widely among other affiliates with a few exceptions.

Ed Week will be at the convention starting Friday to bring you coverage of the goings-on. Watch this space.

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At the NEA's four-day Representative Assembly this year, delegates went through 83 new business items and a generous number of amendments and resolutions. Subjects ranged from research on dropout prevention and doubling the number of NEA cyber-lobbyists to Domino’s Pizza chain CEO David Brandon's support for merit pay and outsourcing.

Some resolutions—such as one calling for the NEA to support impeaching any president who starts a war with another country—never saw the light of day, with members voting not to consider it. Others, such as an attempt by conservative delegates to get the NEA to spell out that it has "no position on abortion," led to fiery debates over the implications of such a change. In the end, that attempt did not go anywhere, either.

There were the not-so-educational resolutions, like the one about the NEA supporting legislation to make war-profiteering illegal, which was adopted. Another encouraging affiliates to work with agencies that seek to end the child sex-slave trade got referred to a committee for study.

Finally, there were the unpredictable ones. a majority turned down an attempt to get the NEA to publicize its support for the right of undocumented high school graduates to receive financial aid to attend colleges and universities. They did, on the other hand, approve a legislative amendment supporting access to higher education and in-state tuition for in-state residents regardless of immigration status, as well as paths to legalization for undocumented high school graduates.

This is just a small sampling. If you're in the mood, you can find all the resolutions, amendments, and new business items as well as their results at the NEA's Web site here. There even are videos of all the major speeches made by NEA leaders and prominent guests during the RA, although you have to be a member to view the Obama video (the edited version?)

Enjoy!

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Everyone knows Randi Weingarten, who will be the AFT's next president, has forged numerous partnerships with the tough-as-nails New York City school district and has even started union-run charter schools in the city.

Many expect her to follow in the footsteps of Al Shanker, the legendary AFT leader who, like Weingarten, led the UFT and then both the UFT and the AFT, as she will, and who was an outspoken advocate for unions participating in transforming public schools.

But after four years under the labor-savvy but not exactly change-oriented Edward McElroy, the AFT—unlike its bigger counterpart the NEA—wants to leave no doubts in any minds as to where their next president will steer the union: Its latest press release calls her a "reform-minded advocate who represents the next generation of labor leader."

Now was that a sigh of relief we heard from all those union-watchers who cannot stop talking about the pre- and post-Shanker eras of the AFT?

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This just in. Barack Obama will address the AFT convention July 13 via live satellite feed, just like he did for the NEA. But the AFT has also lined up Hillary Clinton, who was the union's first choice for president and who they endorsed in October last year. What's more, she will be at the convention in person when she speaks to the delegates July 12.

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NEA's mystery man Dennis Van Roekel addressed delegates for the first time after being named president-elect, with a forceful speech that called for change in the public education system as it exists today.

"The operative word in 2008 is change," said Van Roekel, adding he was not satisfied with a public education system that leaves behind large numbers of minority students.

"I am not satisfied with the unequal access to schools, not satisfied that some children go to ... modern schools and others go to schools that say society doesn't care for you," he said.

Van Roekel, a former Arizona math teacher who served as vice-president under President Reg Weaver, also attempted to dust away some of the mystery surrounding himself by telling delegates how he had wanted to become a teacher right from the time he was in 7th grade. He remained a teacher for nearly 25 years.

He brought on stage his extended family, from his wife to his children and their families and his mother who he introduced as a lifetime NEA member and a former teacher herself.

He talked of how, throughout his long association with the NEA, he had watched and learned from the union's presidents like Mary Hatwood Futrell, Keith Geiger, Bob Chase and Reg Weaver. "The mission and vision of this organization defines who I am, what I care about, and believe in," he said.

Van Roekel, as expected, did not make any major pronouncements of change in the direction of the NEA, however, and observers here say they don't expect any drastic departure from the path carved by Weaver, at least not immediately.

Still, with the entrance of AFT's reform-minded Randi Weingarten raising expectations for some change in the traditionally inclined NEA, is it just possible we might see a new—and changed —Van Roekel emerge after he takes office Sept. 1 as the leader of the 3.2-million-member union?

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NEA delegates voted to allow private preschool workers to seek union membership, but defeated an amendment that would permit elementary and secondary school workers to do the same.

There was a strong feeling among delegates that allowing K-12 workers into NEA ranks could create conflict when it comes to the union's position on issues such as vouchers, which it now unequivocally opposes. There were also concerns about religion creeping into schools because some private schools are religious.

Read my previous post on the debate here.

The RA this morning also adopted a resolution recommending teaching the appropriate use of student personal electronic devices, including cellphones.

Teachers have in recent years increasingly found themselves appearing in videos taken with student cellphones that are then posted to YouTube and similar online forums. Many have expressed concern over this trend as well as over the fact that students sometimes use cellphones to copy tests.

Some teachers at the RA had their own horror stories to tell. Jenny Long, a teacher from New Jersey, said she had caught girls going into the restroom and taking naked pictures of themselves, which they then sent to other students in the class.

Still, delegates chose not to go with the original version of the resolution that banned all cellphones and electronic devices from classrooms, and instead voted for an amended version that would teach students the appropriate use of such devices.

"There is no way to enforce a cellphone ban," said delegate Lee Spears from Pennsylvania, pointing out the widespread use of them worldwide today. "But we do what any good educator will do," he said. "We teach them."

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There's a perception, not totally unjustified, that NEA members, although lively and opinionated, tend to act like a herd on the bigger questions that the national leadership takes up each year for discussion. Questions like NCLB, the war, or even the choice of a presidential candidate.

But this is, after all, a democratic body. Scratch the surface and it's not difficult to find a few points of view that vary drastically from the majority.

For instance, one delegate I spoke with here, Tai D. Doram, from the Kentucky affiliate of the NEA, said he is not at all happy with a plan for improving the NCLB that the NEA rolled out this week. Agreeing to work on the plan, he said, gives a perception that the union goes along with it. Instead, he said, he would like the union to push for scrapping NCLB.

Another delegate, Natalie Fisher from Education Minnesota, was put off by the union's opposition to the war in Iraq. A veteran of the Gulf War, Fisher said she will volunteer at the Republican Convention, which will take place in her state next month, although, she added, "I can go either way" when it comes to voting for a presidential candidate.

And at a charged debate, where members blasted the Teacher Incentive Fund in support of an amendment that would add the words "incentive pay" to the list of initiatives opposed by the NEA, Teresa Dudley, a delegate from Prince George's County, Md., chose to go against the tide by blasting the national leadership for leaving teachers to find their own way instead of helping them devise plans that are in the best interests of educators. Prince George''s County recently adopted a such a plan with funds from TIF, but the national NEA remains opposed to any form of performance pay.

Less than a minute later, the amendment passed.

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He did it. Again.

Barack Obama spoke to 10,000 adoring fans at the NEA RA, who were all dressed up in blue Obama T-shirts and carrying white "NEA for Obama" noisemakers. He conquered their hearts by promising to "fix the broken promises of NCLB and by opposing the use of public school funds for vouchers. And then he waded smack-dab, for the second straight year, into that most-deplored topic here among these union stalwarts: performance pay.

"Under my plan, districts will be able to design programs that give educators who serve as mentors to new teachers the salary increase they deserve. They'll be able to reward those who teach in underserved areas or take on added responsibilities. And if teachers learn new skills to serve students better, or if they consistently excel in the classroom, that work can be valued and rewarded as well," the likely Democratic presidential nominee said while the otherwise unbearably noisy crowd stood deadly silent, except for a few boos.

Obama added that while he knew that wasn't a popular part of his speech last year, "I said it then, and I am saying it again today because it's what I believe."

Other than those charged moments, it was a love fest.

"I am tired of hearing teachers blamed for our problems," said Mr. Obama, whose speech came live from Butte, Mont., via satellite feed.

He emphasized the importance of recruiting top teachers, and said that undergraduate debt discourages young people from becoming teachers. "If you commit your life to teaching, America will commit to pay for your college education," he promised.

One wonders now how the NEA will reconcile it's opposition to performance pay with the views of its preferred candidate. Will its members and leaders act as though that point of difference simply doesn't exist? Or will we hear more about "enhanced pay" in coming months—something Reg Weaver has mentioned fairly often in recent months,and which he defines as higher pay for teachers in high-risk schools and nationally certified teachers?

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It's official: Becky Pringle will serve as the NEA's secretary-treasurer for the next year, filling out the remainder of Lily Eskelsen's term when Eskelsen becomes vice president.

Pringle, a former member of the NEA executive committee from Pennsylvania, beat out contender Marsha Smith, a member of the NEA executive committee from Maryland, with more than 80 percent of the vote. Among other things, Pringle now gets to do the fun job of preparing the union's financial report each year.

The RA adjourned early for the Fourth of July, and officials postponed announcement on the outcome of a vote on admitting private school workers to the NEA.

Nearly 80 percent of the members also voted today to elect Barack Obama as president. Obama will address the RA tomorrow at 10:15 a.m. in a live satellite feed from Montana. The union has had some integral differences with the presidential candidate in the past. He spoke last year in favor of performance pay, which is anathema to the union, and has voiced some positive thoughts on charter schools. The question is, will he change his tune now that the 3.2 million- member union is throwing its might behind him?

We are not holding our breaths.

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Bob Chanin, the man with all the answers at the NEA, now has his own fan club.

This afternoon, Chanin—who gets rock-star applause when he takes the mike at the RA —received an homage from members of Huntingdon County Education Association in New Jersey who presented him with a T-shirt emblazoned with the words "Bob Chanin Caucus." Replicas of the T-shirt will be sold at the RA to raise funds for the NEA PAC.

On the midnight-blue T-shirt is an almost Gandhian caricature of the union's general counsel, except for two corkscrew curls sticking out of either side of an otherwise bald head. On the back is a request: "Show us your amicus briefs."

He didn't respond to that request (thankfully!), but a visibly moved Chanin came back with a characteristic quip: "When I showed that to my wife, she said nobody in their right mind would pay anything for that."

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There is an aura of mystery surrounding incoming NEA President Dennis Van Roekel.

At the convention, one of the most anticipated moments is when he will make his acceptance speech, likely on the last day of the RA, July 6. It is the moment, many feel, when they will finally find out more about him and the direction in which he might lead the nation's largest union.

Unlike Randi Weingarten, who will take over the AFT and who has constantly been in the headlines as the president of the United Federation of Teachers for years now, little is known about Van Roekel besides the fact that he is a former teacher from Arizona and a two-term vice president of the NEA.

He looks genial and even approachable, but access to him can be so difficult that one of my Education Week colleagues had to spend days and dozens of phone calls trying to get his photograph for an article earlier this year. He, of course, was not available for comment.

But the entrance of Weingarten, who many see as a reform-friendly unionist like the legendary union leader Al Shanker, is likely to create some strong expectations of Van Roekel to tread a different path from the somewhat more traditional one that his predecessor, Reg Weaver, has taken, especially in what teachers see as trying times, what with NCLB and performance pay.

Will he do it? No one knows...

For now.

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It's the Fourth of July at the NEA convention. Delegates in red, white, and blue or wearing Uncle Sam hats were entertained with a special performance by the all-NEA choir. There is a holiday-like atmosphere, although that is not much different from any day at the RA.

On the business front, the morning's been even-paced with lots of humdrum items coming up and passing through, or not. What everyone's really waiting for is the Obama endorsement that President Reg Weaver is expected to make just before the lunch break, as well as results of this morning's vote on admitting private school workers to the NEA, an issue that was hotly debated by delegates yesterday.

To his credit, Weaver, who presides over all the day's business, does a great job of keeping things from getting too sleep-inducing, with his booming voice and characteristic laugh, as well as the humor he injects into the proceedings. So popular is the NEA president that some delegates wear hats emblazoned with "Reg."

At the NEA's 2006 convention in Orlando, one delegate often took the mike to complement Weaver on how handsome he was. And while introducing the outgoing president yesterday, one delegate paid Weaver the ultimate compliment: He opened his mouth and bellowed out a hearty guffaw, Reg Weaver style.

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An interesting point came up in the afternoon when the RA took up a bylaw amendment that would open up membership of the national NEA to employees of private preschool programs and elementary and secondary schools.

The issue was hotly debated. "If we approve this amendment, our vision will be blurred and our passion will fade," warned one delegate.

Yet another warned of a division among members—those belonging to the public schools and those from the private.

There were questions about the possibility that such a move could open the door to religion entering public schools—private schools include both the secular and the religious.

Many others, however, spoke out in support of the amendment, such as a teacher who reminisced about a friend she grew up with. Both she and her friend dreamed of becoming teachers. The friend now teaches at a private school but possesses the same values as all public school teachers, the delegate argued.

The union leadership, meanwhile, is pushing hard for the amendment: After all, it would mean thousands more potential members for the NEA.

"If not the NEA, it will be the SEIU, the AFSCME, or the AFT," warned NEA legal counsel Bob Chanin. "These people need union representation."

(SEIU is the Service Employees International Union, and AFSCME is the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.)

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The first day at the RA, like most days at the RA, is a nonstop parade of formalities and business items. The highlight of the day is usually the keynote address delivered by the president.

Reg Weaver's speech this year—his last as president—focused a good bit on himself and on major challenges facing educators today. He recalled his beginnings in Danville, Ill., his motivations, and the legacy he leaves behind for the nation's largest teachers' union at a time when the No Child Left Behind law is awaiting reauthorization and a new president will enter the White House.

He talked about how membership has risen by 22 percent since he took over as president in 2002.

He talked about how the country is on the wrong track, citing the government's handling of Hurricane Katrina, fears about the food supply and the soaring price of gasoline. "Our priorities must change," he warned.

He also took the opportunity to blast the "elephant in the room," the Iraq war, for which, he said, the youth of America "have paid a dear price in blood" as well as in education dollars.

But the highlight of the speech, which clarified Weaver's motivations in opposing the focus on testing in NCLB, was an anecdote he recounted about how, as a high school student, he took a test at the department of employment security in Illinois in hope of getting a job. He was told by the person who interpreted the results that the only jobs he would ever qualify for were those that would require the use of his hands.

"But I didn't let that stop me," Weaver said. "I knew even then that my life could never be defined by one test."

"Today, I know that no child's future should be defined or limited by one high-stakes test," he added, to thundering applause.

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As he leaves office, Reg Weaver says he hopes his legacy will be one of bringing the union together as a team.

Weaver, who uses the word "union" much more easily than most leaders of the teachers' organizations who prefer terms like "professional association," said in an interview before the beginning of the Representative Assembly, that before he took over as president, "it seemed we were disjointed. ... It felt at times like we were working at cross-purposes."

The locals, he said, would do something, and the national would do something else.

Weaver, who unrolled an initiative yesterday for improving the No Child Left Behind Act, responded to criticism that the NEA had not been as proactive as it could have been when the law first passed, saying that "we cannot go back, we can only go forward." At the time, he said, the 3.2 million-member union was "up against the president of the United States" and had little to no support from other educational organizations on provisions in the NCLB that NEA members saw as harmful.

Going on, he said, he would like to see the organization "function as a well-oiled machine," and that "our mission and core values are achieved." He would not, however, say which direction he hoped his successor, Dennis Van Roekel, would take the union in.

Weaver, who has in recent days been heard talking in support of "enhanced pay" for teachers in hard-to-staff schools and those who are nationally certified, reiterated his continuing opposition to performance pay—something that Sen. Barack Obama, who the NEA is supporting, caused quite a stir by mentioning at last year's Representative Assembly.

As for what he plans to do once he leaves office ... Weaver is not yet talking about that.

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Outgoing NEA President Reg Weaver is making an all-out effort to go down in the history books. This morning, he rolled out six priorities for the federal government that will create "Great Public Schools for Every Student by 2020." (Read my colleague Michele McNeil's description here).

The initiative is typically rich in soundbytes, like the "unprecedented and unbalanced federal role in education," and "quality conditions for teaching and lifelong learning." Among the priorities are (surprise!) support for the teaching profession, sustained federal funding for mandates, and support for innovation and best practices.

"We will not be subjected to a game of roulette where some children win and some children lose," Weaver thundered.

Meanwhile, the outgoing president, who was always very accessible to the media, is in quite the mood to tell his story before he hands over the reins to successor Dennis Van Roekel on Sept. 1. The NEA media office has been offering 10-minute time slots to journalists at which time they can ask him about his tenure and other specified subjects.

The press packet even came with a two-page bio of Weaver, which tells you, among other things, that there's a stone column dedicated to him at England's Lincoln Cathedral.

Posted by Vaishali Honawar at 3:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Sen. Barack Obama is expected to address the NEA Representative Assembly via satellite the morning of July 5, the third day of the gathering. There is no word yet on whether he will speak to members of the AFT who, incidentally, are meeting in his hometown, Chicago.

The AFT general session doesn't start until July 11, so there’s still some time for an announcement, but is it possible the presumptive Democratic candidate remembers the smaller union first endorsed Hillary Clinton way back in October last year?

Time will tell.

Posted by Vaishali Honawar at 11:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)