The chair of NEA's committee on the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, Christy Levings (at right) gave an overview of the committee's 2009 report today. It lists the union's activities in the 2008 campaigns, its public policy initiatives and conferences, its media outreach, and recent analytical reports on the law.You can find it here (scroll down to "ESEA Committee 2009 RA Report.") After Ms. Levings finished, the normally mild-mannered NEA President, Dennis Van Roekel, got more agitated than I've ever seen, as he called on delegates to get involved in efforts to lobby federal officials to change the law. "This...

NEA delegates may not always be fully informed about what they're voting on.

Debates over charter amendments reveal fissures between state affiliations, as well as potential conflicts with the Obama administration.

On a day when NEA leaders read from the speeches of civil rights' leaders in celebration of Independence Day, delegates debated bylaws that turned on free-speech issues.

The general counsel's knowledge of the union's bylaws, standing rules, resolutions, and national labor law is legend.

The New Mexico governor has given up on the idea that NCLB will be killed, but wants to see the law become more accommodating toward English-language learners.

He may not have Randi Weingarten's yoga arms, but NEA President Dennis Van Roekel apparently does have a pitching arm. He threw out the first pitch in a Padres game last night. (I'm working on getting you the video now.) UPDATE: Click here for the video....

Despite the California delegation's efforts, the union steered cleared of language that would have gone against Obama and Duncan's attempts to convert low-performing schools into charters.

In his first keynote before the Representative Assembly as president of the National Education Association, Dennis Van Roekel plays up his role as the head of a "union," not just a professional organization.

How do you make sure you don't get lost in a crowd of 9,000 delegates? Wear your state-delegation T-shirt. It's become something of a tradition for each state delegation to wear specially designed shirts over the course of the Representative Assembly, especially on the first day. Some affiliates opt for a political design: This year, the California Teachers Association's shirt says "NCLB: Erase, rewrite, reauthorize" on the front and "Learning is more than a test score ... and so is teaching" on the back. The fun-loving Ohio Education Association picked bright Hawaiian-style shirts. (Given the design, at first I thought "OEA"...