Seattle Schools Community Forum: Segregation: Everywhere and Growing, so What to Do?

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Segregation: Everywhere and Growing, so What to Do?:

Segregation: Everywhere and Growing, so What to Do?

This post will be the first of a two-part series on the issue of segregation in schools.   This is not just a Seattle Schools issue; it's a national issue.    (The second part of the series will be about the HCC program and the presentation the Board hear at their last retreat from an expert on gifted programs who gave the Board many ideas on how to expand the make-up of the program.)

Today's Landscape

Segregation in schools is on the rise.  From Business Insider:

The number of students attending "High-Poverty and mostly Black or Hispanic" (H/PBH) public schools — including charter and magnet schools — more than doubled between 2001 and 2014.

From Frontline, possible causes/outcomes:

- Gains achieved by black students in the south are gone 
- Court oversight increasingly faded during the 2000s
- Segregation tends to rise without court oversight 
- Integration is struggling to keep up with enrollment trends.  
Consider that from 1968 to 2011, enrollment among white students fell 28 percent, but grew by 19 percent among black students and a whopping 495 percent among Latinos.  The typical Latino student now attends a school that’s nearly 57 percent Latino, more segregated than blacks and Asians. 
- Whites have the least exposure to students of other races
 Put another way, in a classroom of 30 students, the average white student has 21 white classmates, two black classmates, four Latinos, one Asian and one “other.” Conversely, the typical black or Latino student would have eight white classmates and at least 20 minority classmates.
- Segregation is as much about poverty as it is about race 
- Integration boosts the odds of high school graduation. 
In one study, he found that for every year a black student attended an integrated school, their likelihood of graduating went up 2 percentage points. The longer that student stayed in school, the greater his odds.  Johnson found that the difference is tied to the fact that schools under court supervision benefit from higher per-pupil spending and smaller student-teacher ratios.

There was an editorial in the New York Times today on this topic, School Seattle Schools Community Forum: Segregation: Everywhere and Growing, so What to Do?:

Are You Going to Educate the Children of This Nation or Not? by Cheryl Binkley - Badass Teachers Association

Badass Teachers Association: Are You Going to Educate the Children of This Nation or Not? by Cheryl Binkley:

Are You Going to Educate the Children of This Nation or Not? 

by Cheryl Binkley

Originally posted at: http://3rdmillenniumteacher.blogspot.com/2017/06/are-you-going-to-educate-children-of.html

After teaching for 18 years, and being a volunteer defender of schools for the last 5 or so, it amazes me sometimes that I am still surprised by the remarkable conversations and lack of perspective that we as localities and districts have about teaching our kids what they need to know to survive and thrive in the world.

These are a few of the realizations that shock and amaze me:

1.       We allow the question of “What should the government do, and what should private enterprise do?”—a totally ideological concept – to get in the way of providing collectively for our children.

The question of whether everything should be managed by private enterprise has been the driving decision maker for policy at least since the Reagan years, and though it’s tempting to lay that concept at Republicans’ door, that would Badass Teachers Association: Are You Going to Educate the Children of This Nation or Not? by Cheryl Binkley:

CURMUDGUCATION: Supremes Breaking Down Church State Wall

CURMUDGUCATION: Supremes Breaking Down Church State Wall:

Supremes Breaking Down Church State Wall

The basic question was minor. The implications are huge. The bottom line is that supporters of using public tax dollars to support private religious schools got some major support from the Supreme Court today.

A church in Missouri wanted a shot at some public monies to resurface a playground.The state said no. The trip up through the levels of US courts began. Five years later, here we are.

What matters in a case like this is the reasoning. Here's the oft-quoted excerptfrom the majority:

“The exclusion of Trinity Lutheran from a public benefit for which it is otherwise qualified, solely because it is a church, is odious to our Constitution … and cannot stand,” wrote Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.

As Bloomberg notes, this is a big deal:

It’s the first time the court has used the free exercise clause of the Constitution to require a direct transfer of taxpayers’ money to a church. In other words, the free exercise clause has trumped the establishment clause, which was created precisely to stop government money going to religious purposes. Somewhere, James Madison is shaking his head in disbelief.

A portion of the majority made an attempt to mitigate the effects of the decision with a small CURMUDGUCATION: Supremes Breaking Down Church State Wall:

Are We Witnessing the End of Public Education as We Know It? — Part One

Are We Witnessing the End of Public Education as We Know It? — Part One:

Are We Witnessing the End of Public Education as We Know It? — Part One

By Jim Miller / Kelly Mayhew

These are dire times for public education. With Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education leading the charge for big budget cuts, charter schools, and a radical privatization agenda, the possibility that free quality public education for all in America could soon be a thing of the past is real.

One would think that such clear and present danger to a cornerstone of our democracy coming from the right would unite Democrats behind the mantle of defending public education.

Sadly, however, that is not the case as even now, in the face of this assault, we see Democrats lining up with the billionaire-funded charter school lobby to wage holy war on teachers’ unions in name of making it easier to get rid of “bad teachers” to save the children.

Such was the rhetoric in the most expensive education board race in the history of the United States in Los Angeles where the billionaire boys club bought the LA school board and is set to greatly expand charters, many of them unregulated hence undermining the funding of traditional public schools.

… it seems that we have one party that has declared war on the very idea of public education and another that has become a very fickle defender of the educational commons.

But in the face of this, too many Democrats, including many prominent local electeds, have recently been busy working to extend the time it takes for a teacher to receive tenure rather than vigorously defending public education as it faces an existential threat. The reality is that we are suffering from a teacher shortage that is growing to crisis levels statewide, yet these lawmakers seem hell-bent to “take on the teachers’ unions” in the name of solving the wrong problem.

This says much more about the victory of neoliberal ideology inside the Democratic party when it comes to education issues than it does about actual problems our teachers face every day in the classroom.

So, at present, it seems that we have one party that has declared war on the very idea of public Are We Witnessing the End of Public Education as We Know It? — Part One:

Supreme Court Ruling Sidesteps Questions Regarding State Constitutional Protections for Public Education

Supreme Court Ruling Sidesteps Questions Regarding State Constitutional Protections for Public Education:

Supreme Court Ruling Sidesteps Questions Regarding State Constitutional Protections for Public Education

Read the Opinion: Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Inc. v. Comer

In a narrowly written decision, the Supreme Court held in Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Inc. v. Comer that Missouri could not refuse a playground grant to a church solely due to the fact that the church is a religious institution. In so holding, the court noted that the case involved express discrimination based on religious identity with respect to such a grant, and that the court was not “address[ing] religious uses of funding or other forms of discrimination.”

The court’s refusal to rule broadly will surely be a disappointment to school voucher proponents who had sought to use the dispute over playground resurfacing grants to undermine state constitutional protections for public education.

The 7–2 decision both leaves intact the Missouri constitutional provision at issue in the case insofar as it prohibits state funding of religious actions and leaves undisturbed the similar provisions of 38 other states. These “no aid” provisions were enacted to protect the common schools and have been applied for decades to ensure that resources for those schools were not diverted to private religious institutions.

The National Education Association (NEA) filed an amicus brief in the case arguing that these state constitutional provisions should not be swept aside and that a state’s independent interpretation of their constitutional provisions regarding church-state separation should be respected.

NEA applauded the Supreme Court’s decision. The Court’s refusal to accept the invitation of voucher proponents to issue a broad ruling, said NEA President Lily Eskelsen García, preserves the ability of states to protect their public education system by refusing to divert public school funding to private religious schools.

“State constitutional provisions and decades of precedent protect our public education system from voucher programs. The court’s ruling is a big setback for those who want to push voucher programs that take taxpayer dollars out of public schools to divert them to private religious schools,” Eskelsen García explained.

“Rather than continue the flawed policy of vouchers, let’s focus on what works to provide students with the great public schools they deserve.”Supreme Court Ruling Sidesteps Questions Regarding State Constitutional Protections for Public Education:

Why Betsy DeVos is cheering the Supreme Court’s church playground decision - The Washington Post

Why Betsy DeVos is cheering the Supreme Court’s church playground decision - The Washington Post:

Why Betsy DeVos is cheering the Supreme Court’s church playground decision

Advocates for private-school vouchers cheered the Supreme Court’s 7-2 decision Monday that the state of Missouri could not deny a playground resurfacing grant to a church, calling the decision a first step toward an end to state bans on using public money to pay tuition at parochial schools.

“School choice is on a great footing, a better footing today than it was yesterday,” said Michael Bindas, a senior attorney with the Institute for Justice, which advocates for private-school voucher programs. “The court’s reasoning sends a strong signal that just as the court would not tolerate the exclusion of a church from a playground resurfacing program, it will not tolerate the exclusion of a child from a school-choice program solely because they want to use a scholarship at a religious school.”

Voucher opponents said they were disappointed by the court’s decision to allow public money to go to a religious facility, saying it chipped away at the separation of church and state. But they emphasized that the court’s majority opinion was narrowly written and does not broach questions about whether taxpayer dollars may be used for religious purposes such as religious education.

“We worry about any incursion on the protections that the Establishment Clause gives for religious freedom, and this is a serious one,” said Richard B. Katskee, legal director for Americans United for Separation of Church and State. “How big it is is yet to be seen.”

[Supreme Court sides with religious institutions in a major church-state decision]

The Missouri church, Trinity Lutheran of Columbia, had sought a state grant to replace the gravel beneath its preschool playground with a rubber surface made of repurposed tires. State officials denied the grant application because Trinity Lutheran is a church, and the state constitution bans direct financial assistance to religious institutions.

The Supreme Court held Monday that the state may not exclude churches from governmentWhy Betsy DeVos is cheering the Supreme Court’s church playground decision - The Washington Post: 

 

Detroit Council Dunks on Taxpayers, Will Use School Funds for Basketball Arena - Hit & Run : Reason.com

Detroit Council Dunks on Taxpayers, Will Use School Funds for Basketball Arena - Hit & Run : Reason.com:

Detroit Council Dunks on Taxpayers, Will Use School Funds for Basketball Arena - Hit & Run

Taxpayer-funded bonds sold to raise revenue for parks and schools in cash-strapped Detroit will instead be used to lure its professional basketball team back into the city.

The Detroit Pistons have played out in the suburbs (first in Pontiac, now in Auburn Hills) since 1977, but will relocate to a new downtown arena thanks to $34 million in incentives approved by the Detroit City Council.

Taxpayers are already on the hook for more than $300 million of the $900 million construction cost for new Little Caesars Arena, built to host the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League. The additional spending will make the arena suitable for basketball and help pay for new practice facility and front office for the Pistons.

Michigan Radio reported this week that "some Detroiters are unhappy with the deal because the bonds are taxpayer funded with money originally intended for schools and parks."

As well they should be. In a city still recovering from bankruptcy, local officials might have found better ways to use $34 million. It's a fair question whether government should be spending money on parks and schools, but it's certainly a more core function than throwing cash at billionaire team owners. Tom Gores, who owns the Pistons, is worth an estimated $3.3 billion.

But it gets worse. As the Detroit Council Dunks on Taxpayers, Will Use School Funds for Basketball Arena - Hit & Run : Reason.com:

Ed Notes Online: Chronicling 40 Years of Democratic Party Decline

Ed Notes Online: Chronicling 40 Years of Democratic Party Decline:

Chronicling 40 Years of Democratic Party Decline

Raising money from Wall Street, from the drug companies, from health insurance companies, the energy companies, kept [Democrats] from their main contrasting advantage over the Republicans, which is, in FDR’s parlance, “The Democratic Party is the party of working families, Republicans are the party of the rich.” That flipped it completely and left the Democrats extremely vulnerable.... Ralph Nader 

There's a lot of Democratic Party soul searching articles since last week's election loss in Georgia. I'm going to post a few of the interesting ones.

Love him or hate him, Ralph Nader makes a lot of sense in this historical analysis of the 40 year history of Democratic Party decline.

The progressive Intercept has an interview with Nader by 

Jon Schwarz

where he chronicles the stages in Democratic Party decline beginning almost 40 years ago:

Here are some of his Milestones of Democratic Party decline:

• 1979: The party decides to compete for corporate funds with Republicans. They began to judge their challenge to Republicans by how much money they raised. 
•  
• don’t run a 50-state [presidential] campaign. If you don’t run a 50-state campaign, number one you’re strengthening the opposing party in those states you’ve abandoned, so they can take those states for granted and concentrate on the states that are in the grey area.
•  
• they decided to campaign by TV, with Ed Notes Online: Chronicling 40 Years of Democratic Party Decline:

Diane Ravitch News Archives 1975-86 | deutsch29

Diane Ravitch News Archives 1975-86 | deutsch29:

Diane Ravitch News Archives 1975-86

This past week has been eventful for me. One major challenge involves renovating in my house the one room that took water during the August 2016 Louisiana flooding. (I removed furniture, carpet, and the wet sheet rock in August 2016 and waited until summer 2017 when I would be off of school to confront the tedious necessity of renovation.)

The room in question was once a porch and is on a slab that sits 3 1/2 inches lower than the rest of the house. The real problem was that the space between the two slabs had never been properly sealed.

It is now, I am happy to report, and I am in the process of painting the repaired walls and new baseboards.

The second major event occurred even as I was in the throes of the aforementioned renovation: My computer decided that it would no longer take a charge. So, I excused myself to my contractor and headed to Best Buy to purchase a new computer.

The old computer is on borrowed time; once the battery dies, the computer is dead unless someone replaces the malfunctioning port (which would cost almost as much to fix as my new computer cost me). I also purchased a flash drive so that I could remove files from my terminal laptop while I still had time.

That brings us to the point of this post.

One of the folders from my old computer includes 39 archived news articles/op-eds written by education historian Diane Ravitch from 1975 to 1986. In April 2017, I had temporary free access (one week) to the news archival service, newspaperarchive.com; before my free access expired, I spent a few evenings downloading the Ravitch writings for posterity’s sake.

  Diane Ravitch

Below are all 39 files in alphabetical order according to the name of the newspaper in which each appears. This is not an exhaustive inventory of Ravitch news articles from Diane Ravitch News Archives 1975-86 | deutsch29:

New Orleans school graduation rate slides nearly 6 points in five years; officials eye solutions as progress plateaus | Education | theadvocate.com

New Orleans school graduation rate slides nearly 6 points in five years; officials eye solutions as progress plateaus | Education | theadvocate.com:

New Orleans school graduation rate slides nearly 6 points in five years; officials eye solutions as progress plateaus

In recent years, the officials in charge of public education in New Orleans have been able to claim steady progress, if not outright victory. Their position has been that the public school system, if not fixed, at least is improving.

But that makes the latest news on high school graduation rates all the more worrying. The citywide graduation rate actually declined a few points this year, and it’s been hovering below a previous high-water mark for half a decade.

At 72 percent, the proportion of New Orleans high school students who manage to graduate on time is well below the national average, lags the state average and is considered unacceptable by top education leaders. 

It also raises big questions about the city’s experiment with independent charter schools, which have largely taken over public education in Orleans Parish since Hurricane Katrina.

The graduation rate is still 18 percentage points higher than in the year before the 2005 storm, but schools now face the possibility that they’ve hit a plateau and need to rethink how to keep making progress.

“You do the easier things, the low-hanging fruit, and then it becomes harder to get grad rates up,” said Doug Harris, director of the Education Research Alliance for New Orleans, a nonprofit that examines how education reforms have affected the city.

After big gain last year, Louisiana public high school graduation rate slides

One year after a big gain, Louisiana's public high school graduation rate slipped for the Cl…

In a recent interview, the city’s two schools superintendents avoided talk of a decline, saying that year-to-year results are mercurial. Recovery School District Superintendent Kunjan Narechania did, however, acknowledge a lull, and Orleans Parish School Board Superintendent Henderson Lewis Jr. rattled off a list of potential solutions.

Graduation rates, one of several measures of the health of a school system, are released annually by the state. They measure the proportion of students in a class who graduate within four years, and they comprise 25 percent of a high school’s all-important performance score.

The narrative told repeatedly in recent years by education reformers contrasts the 54 percent of New New Orleans school graduation rate slides nearly 6 points in five years; officials eye solutions as progress plateaus | Education | theadvocate.com:

The Sweeny-Prieto School Aid Proposal: An Analysis | School Finance 101

The Sweeny-Prieto School Aid Proposal: An Analysis | School Finance 101:

The Sweeny-Prieto School Aid Proposal: An Analysis

Source: The Sweeny-Prieto School Aid Proposal: An Analysis

Mark Weber

Doctoral Candidate

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

POLICY BRIEF: Weber_SweeneyPrieto_June26_2017

SUPPLEMENTAL FILE (Regression Output): SweeneyPrietoLog

Executive Summary

This brief presents an analysis of the school funding plan presented by New Jersey Senate President Steve Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto, referred to here as “Sweeney-Prieto.” The proposal:

• Will drive more aid to districts with higher proportions of Hispanic, free lunch-eligible, and LEP students.
• Will drive less aid toward districts with students classified as having a special education need.
• Will drive more aid on average to districts in the CD District Factor Group; however, there is great variety among these districts, with some losing significant amounts of aid.
• Will give less aid to very small districts.
• Will drive aid towards districts making greater local taxing effort, holding school cost and taxing capacity

While this last characteristic makes Sweeney-Prieto more “fair” overall, there are still individual districts that are receiving significantly less or more aid than would be predicted by measures of cost, capacity, and effort.

In addition, the aid allocated under Sweeney-Prieto is less than 2 percent of the aid proposed by the governor’s budget for FY18; the proposal, therefore, has little overall effect on the bringing New Jersey’s school budgets to adequacy as designated by the state’s own funding law.

Based on these conclusions, I offer the follow recommendations:

• Policymakers should ensure that those districts receiving significantly less aid per pupil under Sweeny-Prieto – particularly those whose changes in aid are far under prediction – do not suffer undue harm from the proposal.
• Lawmakers should carefully consider the unintended consequences of basing the reallocation of aid largely on factors such as the Growth Cap or Adjustment Aid, and adjust the allocation of aid accordingly.
• All stakeholders should realize the scale of Sweeney-Prieto renders it largely ineffective in making up for the chronic underfunding of SFRA over the last eight years.

The Sweeny-Prieto School Aid Proposal: An Analysis | School Finance 101:

Poll: President Trump Voters Oppose His Education Agenda | Education News | US News

Poll: President Trump Voters Oppose His Education Agenda | Education News | US News:

Poll: President Trump Voters Oppose His Education Agenda 

Nearly half of those who voted for President Donald Trump oppose his education agenda, according to a new poll, and many said they would likely not vote to reelect their congressional representatives should they support it.

Nearly three-quarters, or 74 percent, of all respondents interviewed for the poll oppose the education cuts included in the president's budget request, which proposed slashing funding by more than $9 billion, or by 13.4 percent, and 54 percent of respondents "strongly" oppose it.

In addition, nearly half, or 48 percent, of people who self-identified as having voted for the president oppose his education agenda.

The Hart Research Associates, a public opinion research firm, conducted the poll for the American Federation of Teachers, the 1.5-million member teachers union.

The results are based on interviews with a nationally representative sample of voters conducted online from June 3 to June 5. Among those interviewed, 45 percent voted for President Donald Trump in the presidential election and 40 percent identified as a Republican, and 48 percent voted for Hillary Clinton and 41 percent identified as a Democrat.

Notably, 71 percent found the elimination of $2.4 billion for teacher preparation unacceptable, 73 percent found the elimination of $1.2 billion for after-school programs unacceptable and 76 percent found the elimination of $168 million for career and technical education unacceptable.

That Republican respondents, in particular, polled so negatively on the specifics of the budget and the administration's education policy agenda on the whole is not overly surprising.

GOP leaders in Congress called the president's budget "dead on arrival," and during aPoll: President Trump Voters Oppose His Education Agenda | Education News | US News: 

Supreme Court: Religious School In Missouri Can Use Taxpayer Funds For Playground : NPR

Supreme Court: Religious School In Missouri Can Use Taxpayer Funds For Playground : NPR:

Supreme Court Rules Religious School Can Use Taxpayer Funds For Playground

Read the Opinion: Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Inc. v. Comer

The Supreme Court ruled Monday that taxpayer-funded grants for playgrounds available to nonprofits under a state program could not be denied to a school run by a church.

"The consequence is, in all likelihood, a few extra scraped knees. But the exclusion of Trinity Lutheran from a public benefit for which it is otherwise qualified, solely because it is a church, is odious to our Constitution all the same, and cannot stand," Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority.

In her dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote, "If this separation means anything, it means that the government cannot, or at the very least need not, tax its citizens and turn that money over to houses of worship. The Court today blinds itself to the outcome this history requires and leads us instead to a place where separation of church and state is a constitutional slogan, not a constitutional commitment."

Two justices, Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas, refused to sign on to a footnote explicitly stating that the court's approval applied only to playground funding and should not be read as applying to parochial schools in general.

The court's ruling came in the case of the Trinity Lutheran Church in Columbia, Mo., which operates a preschool and day care learning center as part of its church ministry.Supreme Court: Religious School In Missouri Can Use Taxpayer Funds For Playground : NPR:

More than 7,500 Educators to Gather, Vote at NEA Annual Meeting - NEA Today

More than 7,500 Educators to Gather, Vote at NEA Annual Meeting - NEA Today:

More than 7,500 Educators to Gather, Vote at NEA Annual Meeting

At this year’s Annual Meeting and Representative Assembly, NEA delegates will gather in Boston, Mass., to vote on issues facing public education and to set the organization’s policies and priorities for the upcoming year.

The theme for this year’s meeting is “Uniting Our Members and the Nation for Strong Communities.” More than 7,500 educators are expected to participate in NEA’s 154th Annual Meeting and 95th  Representative Assembly (RA) June 25–July 5 at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.

Among the many business items to be voted on, the RA will consider a revised NEA policy statement on charter schools. Developed by a task force of nearly two dozen educators over the past year, the statement makes clear NEA’s support for public charter schools that are held accountable for their students’ success while decrying their privately managed, unaccountable counterparts. Delegates can learn more about the proposed statement during an open hearing on Saturday, July 1.

The Representative Assembly (RA) is the top decision-making body for the nearly 3 million-member National Education Association, where delegates adopt the strategic plan and budget, resolutions, the legislative program and other policies of the organization.

Following are more highlights from this year’s meeting.

Wednesday, June 28 and Thursday, June 29

The NEA Human and Civil Rights Department will host the 2017 Conference on Racial and Social Justice (formerly, the Joint Conference on the Concerns of Minorities and Women).

The annual conference brings together educators, students, parents and families, organizers, community members and leaders to talk about how to advance racial and social justice in public education. Through interactive workshops, sessions, panels and plenaries, participants will debate the issues that limit educational opportunities for communities of color, LGBTQ, and girls and women and create strategies for addressing them.

On Thursday, June 29, NEA will announce the 2017 Social Justice Activist of the Year during the closing luncheon of the Conference on Racial and Social Justice. The award recognizes members who demonstrate the ability to lead, organize, and engage educators, parents, and the community to advocate on social justice issues that affect the lives of students, fellow educators, and their communities. For a list of this year’s finalists, please click here.

NEA-Retired members will also gather for their annual meeting on June 28, when they will voting for NEA-Retired candidates, present the NEA-Retired Distinguished Service Award and the NEA-Retired Jack Kinnaman Scholarship Award. Members will also discuss and vote on new business items pertinent to retired educator members.

Thursday, June 29

The NEA Student Program will present the second annual Leaders Empowering Grassroots Advocacy for Communities and Youth (LEGACY) Project, which brings future educators together to volunteer in a school community. Hundreds of these future educators will arrive in Boston days before the Annual Meeting and RA for these volunteer efforts

Along with NEA-Retired members, community members and visitors, the educators will participate in several activities intended to uplift students and families in the Everett Public School District, a community north of Boston. Activities include a “Ninja Warrior” style obstacle course, signing up students for library cards, and interacting with animals from Stone Zoo. NEA and Everett Public Schools leaders, as well as elected officials, will participate and answer questions about the LEGACY Project throughout the day.

Saturday, July 1

NEA will host the 50th Human and Civil Rights Awards Dinner in the Grand Ballroom of the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. This year, the theme is “Living the Legacy: After 50 Years, Still We Rise.” Twelve human and civil rights heroes will be recognized for their inspiring contributions to build a more just society.

Sunday, July 2

NEA President Lily Eskelsen García will open the National Education Association’s four-day Representative Assembly with her keynote address at approximately 10:30a.m. on July 2. Eskelsen García, who started her education career as a cafeteria worker before becoming the 1989 Utah Teacher of the Year, is serving her third year as president of the nation’s largest labor union. She is the first-ever Latina elected to head the organization, which represents 3 million educators.

Monday, July 3

The 2017 Education Support Professional Saul Ramos, who lives in the Boston area, will address the NEA Representative Assembly. The self-taught braillist and advocate for the visually impaired has a special education career spanning nearly two decades. Ramos works as a paraeducator at Burncoat High Schoolin the Worcester Public School system in Massachusetts. He was honored for his dedication this past year with the Red Sox Most Valuable Educator Award and he also has been inducted into the Educator Hall of Fame.

The 2017 National Teacher of the Year Sydney Chaffee, another Boston local, will also address the RA on July 3. As a humanities teacher at Codman Academy public charter school in Boston, Sydney strives every day to improve learning for all of her students. In the classroom, she creates lessons that demonstrate how education can be a transformative tool for social justice, and she encourages her students to see themselves as having the power to make change in the world based on lessons from the past.

Also on July 3 the NEA will present the 2017 Friend of Education Award — the organization’s highest honor — to actor LeVar Burton for his leadership and decades of work to build a generation of readers. Burton hosts the long-running PBS children’s series “Reading Rainbow” and portrayed Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge in “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and the young Kunta Kinte in the 1977 award-winning, trailblazing miniseries “Roots.” Through the relaunch of Reading Rainbow in an online format, Burton is continuing to have a positive impact on children’s literacy.

Tuesday, July 4

The 2017 Social Justice Activist of the Year, announced on June 29, will be honored on the 4th of July. NEA has a long and proud history of social justice activism, and members in every state advocate for the opportunity all students, regardless of where they live or who they are, deserve to be inspired and challenged in public schools. Education advocacy and social justice advocacy go hand in hand in our increasingly diverse communities, and all students and school professionals must feel welcome in schools across the nation.

A complete agenda for this year’s Annual Meeting and Representative Assembly can be found at: nea.org/ra

 More than 7,500 Educators to Gather, Vote at NEA Annual Meeting - NEA Today: