At 2020 NEA RA, Educators Vow to Help Lead Nation Through Crisis #NEARA2020 #edJustice #DEMOCRACY

At 2020 NEA RA, Educators Vow to Help Lead Nation Through Crisis

At 2020 NEA RA, Educators Vow to Help Lead Nation Through Crisis

Of all the events and activities that ground to a halt amid the greatest public health crisis in the nation’s history, the 2020 National Education Association Representative Assembly (RA) wasn’t going to be among them. On July 2 and 3, the more than 7,000 delegates gathered remotely (of course) and the agenda was streamlined. But the show – the first all-virtual RA in NEA’s history – went on.

“We have masks, social distancing, and disinfectant,” NEA President Lily Eskelsen García said, referring to the podium at NEA headquarters she would be sharing only with NEA officers. “Because nothing, absolutely nothing, not even a global pandemic, is going to stop the National Education Association from doing its work.”

The RA theme this year was “Our Democracy; Our Responsibility; Our Time.” In 2020, the stakes are just too high for educator voices to go silent. The pandemic has bought the country to its knees, triggering an unprecedented economic crisis that is impacting millions of educators and students. The country may finally be confronting the legacy of institutionalized racism. And the destructive DeVos-Trump school privatization agenda continues to undermine our public education system.

As NEA Vice-President Becky Pringle put it in her opening remarks: “Delegates, it’s crunch time.”

This year, delegates also had to bid farewell to outgoing NEA President Lily Eskelsen García, whose second three-year term ends on August 31. Video tributes to Eskelsen García (and NEA) poured in from everyone from Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, Rep. James Clyburn, AFT President Randi Weingarten, and Trevor Noah, host of “The Daily Show.”

Eskelsen García is a leader who is “undaunted by naysayers,” Pringle said in her introduction of the NEA president. “Unfazed by those who believe something is impossible. You are undeterred by CONTINUE READING: At 2020 NEA RA, Educators Vow to Help Lead Nation Through Crisis

We fight for a democracy worthy of us all! - Lily's Blackboard #NEARA2020 #edJustice #DEMOCRACY

We fight for a democracy worthy of us all! - Lily's Blackboard

We fight for a democracy worthy of us all!

This is my final address to the NEA Representative Assembly, and I was able to get through it without crying.

Thank you, Becky and Princess and Kim, and my incredible Executive Committee and the NEA staff who work night and day for you – they moved mountains to bring us together in this historic virtual Representative Assembly and thank you especially to St. Teresa – the woman who makes my life possible. I could spend all this time on a roll call of people I adore. I love them so much; I’ll miss them so much as I head out the door.

This is my last report to you as your president.

And so, it’s also my last chance to also thank the other people I love who have no idea what it is I’ve been doing for the last 30 years. They just know I’m never home for dinner.

I want to thank my boys, Jeremy and Jared. Their spouses, Mike (you heard him singing the national anthem) and Tanna, and Lily Jo, my baby girl.

My Mom, Chillie Pace, is watching on her laptop. She turns 91 this summer and so let me repeat – she’s watching on HER laptop. She’s a tech goddess. And she loves coming to the RA and she wasn’t going to miss this one. She sends her love to all her dear friends out there.

And there is no way to properly thank Señor Jose Alberto Garcia Lozano – my husband. El amor de mis amores, for forgiving me all the times that we couldn’t be together.

Alberto got his Green Card this year! He’s now studying for his citizenship test – and we are studying about what democracy looks like these days in the United States of America.

I have told him for years that the NEA Representative Assembly is the largest democratic body in the world. And he has seen us in action and shouting “aye” and “no” and moving to close debate and “division” and he thinks we’re all nuts. And he’s right. Poco loco.

But he tells me when we get serious, “There is power in your people.”

And again, he’s right. The question is: What are we going to do with it? That’s why we come together. To answer that question. What are we going to do with our power?

Do you know why we chose this year’s theme: Our Democracy; Our Responsibility; Our time? Do you know how it got up there on the screen?

Because it’s all about me. Because somebody called me unpatriotic – for telling the truth. I said in an interview, “America never was America for too many Americans.” It’s from a Langston Hughes poem.

I’m a teacher in my bones. It’s my job to teach the truth. I taught my 6th graders U.S. History that wasn’t in our CONTINUE READING: We fight for a democracy worthy of us all! - Lily's Blackboard

NEA President: Educators Will Help Determine Our Democracy's Future #NEARA2020 #edJustice #DEMOCRACY

NEA President: Educators Will Help Determine Our Democracy's Future

NEA President: Educators Will Help Determine Our Democracy’s Future

The nation stands at a crossroads, said NEA President Lily Eskelsen García in her final keynote address to the 2020 NEA Representative Assembly on Thursday, and it’s up to educators everywhere to make sure it chooses the correct path.

Even though the 2020 RA is being conducted remotely during the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, nearly 8,000 educator delegates from every state have come together virtually over the next days.

“We are educators and public servants,” Eskelsen García said today. “We are unionists. We are activists. We’re patriots….We are called on to act. So, what will you do? What will you do for your colleagues; your students; the families you love; the communities where you live? What will you do as we face the most dangerous threat to our democracy that we’ve ever faced?”

In introducing Eskelsen García, whose second term as NEA President ends August 31, NEA Vice President Becky Pringle paid tribute to Lily’s courageous and impassioned leadership of the 3.2 million member association over the past six years.

“Lily was relentless in beating the drum about the horrors and expense of the testing craze that had swept and hoodwinked this country,” Pringle said.  “And people did listen, and they joined her crusade. …She set out to lead this organization in taking on its own responsibility to do the work required to move this country toward the systemic, fair treatment of people of all races that ensures equitable opportunities and outcomes for everyone.”

The theme of the 2020 RA is ‘Our Democracy; Our Responsibility; Our Time.’ It will take the collective power of NEA members and their allies to deliver a resounding victory for our students at the polls in November, Eskelsen García said in her speech today. But is also up to educators to leverage electoral success to bring about desperately needed change – namely uprooting the inequality that, to the detriment of millions of students, has become entrenched in every ZIP code across the nation.

Someday when you are asked what you did when democracy was in peril; when your country needed you – you will have a powerful answer: I was part of the collective voice and collective power that refused to be silent.”

“America never was America for too many Americans,” Eskelsen García said, quoting poet Langston Hughes. “But what some folks who know that, haven’t figured out that this wasn’t by accident. Exclusion was intentional….Inequality is by design.”

Throughout U.S. history, people in power have worked the system to make sure their power stayed intact. Opportunity for others has always been deemed a threat to their bottom line. This destructive mindset, Eskelsen García told the delegates today, is personified today by the Koch family and other billionaires who have aggressively sought to exploit the working class, tilt tax codes to their favor, destroy the environment … and support manifestly unfit CONTINUE READING: NEA President: Educators Will Help Determine Our Democracy's Future

NEA to Host Virtual Representative Assembly July 2-3 - NEA Today

NEA to Host Virtual Representative Assembly July 2-3 - NEA Today

NEA to Host Virtual Representative Assembly July 2-3

For the first time in its more than 160-year history, the National Education Association (NEA) will host a virtual Representative Assembly, a necessary and prudent safeguard for its delegates during a global pandemic.

“NEA’s Board of Directors has decided to convert the 2020 NEA RA into a virtual meeting, which is our safest option,” said NEA President Lily Eskelsen García. “We cannot take the risk of educators becoming infected and spreading the virus to students, their families and colleagues, or their communities. We look forward to the 2021 RA, where we can hopefully once again come together to set policy and chart the direction of NEA business.”

Nearly 8,000 educator delegates from every state will come together virtually during NEA’s 99th Representative Assembly (RA) on July 2-3, 2020, with a streamlined agenda, packed with major speakers who will address the many crises public education faces during one of the most trying times in our history.

2020 Human and Civil Rights Awards

Kicking off this year’s RA will be the first-ever virtual 2020 NEA Human and Civil Rights Awards: We Rise Together on Wednesday, July 1, at 8 p.m. ET. Stacey Abrams and the Philando Castile Relief Foundation are among the distinguished honorees. To complement its first-ever virtual ceremony, NEA unveiled a new, permanent website that is home to all of the content related to the HCR Awards: bios of recipients, acceptance videos of honorees, keynotes, and other information at neahcrawards.org.

NEA President Lily Eskelsen García Farewell Keynote July 2

The 2020 RA will also be the last for Lily Eskelsen García as president. In her keynote address on July 2, she will speak about her six years at the helm of the 3-million member NEA and about the organization’s work for equity and racial justice that reached a pinnacle this year in the wake of George Floyd’s murder and national protests. “This is education work. This is union work. This is justice work. This is our work,” she says.

Also speaking on July 2 will be voting rights activist, author, Georgia House Minority Leader, and winner of NEA’s 2020 Presidential Award, Stacey Abrams.

The last agenda item for the day will be delegate debate on the 2020-2022 NEA Strategic Plan and Budget.

Conversation with Vice President Joe Biden July 3

On the second day of the RA, Friday July 3, Presidential candidate Joe Biden will take part in a live, virtual townhall conversation with NEA members. He will address the delegates and answer questions from educators and NEA President Lily Eskelsen García.

In March, NEA recommended Joe Biden in the Democratic Primary. Vice President Biden has been a champion for public education throughout this campaign and his career. Educators know that as President, Biden will boost opportunities for America’s students, build an economy that works for all Americans, work to dismantle systemic racism, and strengthen the voice of working Americans.

Other highlights of the RA on July 3 will include remarks from NEA Executive Director Kim Anderson, an address from Tabatha Rosproy, 2020 Teacher of the Year, Andrea Beeman, 2020 Education Support Professional of the Year, and Elizabeth Davenport, 2020 Higher Educator of the Year.

The 2020 Friend of Education will be presented to climate activist Greta Thunberg on July 3 for her work in engaging American students and young people worldwide in the fight to protect the planet and create a sustainable future.

Mail-In Voting

Because of the virtual setting, all votes related to business before the RA will be conducted by mail to ensure equity in participation and the security and integrity of the democratic process. Voting results will be made available later in the summer when all votes have been counted.

For more information on NEA’s RA, visit nea.org/ra.

NEA to Host Virtual Representative Assembly July 2-3 - NEA Today