Advocacy
Educators Energized at NEA Representative Assembly
By: Tim Walker
“When educators, parents, communities, and students stand together, we are a formidable force and together we can fight and win.” The 2018 National Education Association Representative Assembly (RA) convened less than a week after the U.S. Supreme Court struck a blow against working people with its decision in Janus v. AFSCME. (See Side Bar) How to thrive in post-Janus world was just one of the many pressing issues on the minds of the 6,200 delegates as they entered the Minneapolis Convention Center on July 2. The challenges to educators and public schools are mounting, but by the closing gavel four days later, the delegates left Minneapolis ready to harness the energy of the burgeoning Red for Ed movement and meet them head on.
But there is a groundswell of energy and support for public education that is already having an enormous impact. The movement started in West Virginia in February and quickly spread to Kentucky, Oklahoma, Arizona, Colorado and North Carolina. “You spoke the powerful truth that we are fierce fighters who will stand up for ourselves and for our students and we will be heard!” EskelsenGarcia told the cheering delegation. Educators have a powerful ally in students. Whether its demanding lawmakers properly fund our schools or take action to help keep students safe from gun violence, young people have taken up the call.
These are dark days, NEA President Lily Eskselsen-García told the gathered “You see them come together in a collective voice. You educators in her feel the power of their action – they’re not complaining. keynote address, They’re not waiting for permission,” Eskelsen-Garcia said, NEA President Lily Eskelsen-Garcia addresses the 2018 NEA Representative because “billionaires before she yielded the stage to one of those student Assembly. (Photo/Scott Iskowitz) have placed leaders, David Hogg, survivor of the Parkland school themselves over the rest of us; they have no sense of shooting and outspoken advocate for common sense servant leadership; billionaires believe that they are our gun laws. rulers.” 16
Maine Educator • September 2018
