September 2005

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Fed Up with the Feds

Pay up or back off.

That’s what NEA, several affiliates, and a determined band of school districts are saying in a lawsuit aimed at loosening the grip of the so-called No Child Left Behind law (NCLB).

The districts, which educate tens of thousands of children in Laredo, Texas; Pontiac, Michigan; and a rural area of Vermont, contend that federal officials are ignoring the intent of Congress and forcing costly changes that hurt kids.

“It is taking away from my child’s classroom subjects like music, art, foreign languages, social studies, and sports,” said Texas parent Jose Zuniga. “Those activities are being replaced with high-stakes, high-stress tests that don’t help my child learn.”

In June, the Education Department asked a judge to dismiss the lawsuit, claiming NEA doesn’t have the legal “standing” to bring this lawsuit. Also, they argue the law doesn’t prevent unfunded mandates—it just prohibits federal employees from adding extra requirements to those in NCLB itself without providing extra money. That same week, the House of Representatives voted to cut funding for NCLB below the level set three years ago.

A court hearing is set for October 19. Read more about the suit and sign a petition in support at NEA's Legislative Action Center.

Photo composite: James P. Blair and Groff Creative

Hip-Hip-Hooray

Good News for Workers!

On this Labor Day, let’s give three cheers for workers and a rousing hip, hip, hooray for unions. They do make a difference—where it counts—in the classroom.

As if you needed proof...
In states where most teachers are represented by unions, high-school students score about 50 points higher on the SAT, according to the Harvard Educational Review, and fourth-graders perform better on reading tests, the Institute for Wisconsin’s Future found.

Maybe it’s because unions boost salaries and fight for class-size limits and planning time. Or maybe it’s because they provide dignity and security to professionals. Whatever the reason, unions represent a “research-based” approach to increasing student achievement—so let’s see that in the No Child Left Behind law!

Photo: Digital Vision

Did you know?

Go Team!

Looking to beat the test this year?

Keep this in mind: Winners wear RED.

In a study of the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, British anthropologists found that winning competitors were more likely to wear red uniforms or body armor. Scientists don’t know exactly why scarlet means success, but it’s something to consider when you want students to go, go, go!

Photo: Photolink

The Qualifying Heat

In the race to meet the “highly qualified” provision of the so-called No Child Left Behind law, nearly 600 Milwaukee paraprofessionals just got a new pit crew. A revved-up team of teachers, organized  by the local union and paid by the district, is offering free workshops.

After 40 hours packed with behavior management and curriculum info, the assistants will earn an education support professional certificate and meet the law’s requirements well before the end of this school year, the new federal finish line. The collaboration is working so well that the Milwaukee Teachers Education Association (MTEA) hopes other states will use it as a model.

For the school system, it’s a bonus—they get educated employees. For the local union, it’s a boon too—they’re holding onto valuable members. But for the assistants, it’s a godsend—they’re keeping their jobs.

“Everybody wins here,” said MTEA Assistant Director Cheryl Barczak.

Holiday Gifts

Tell us More

You could serve coffee to a church congregation with the mugs you’ve collected over 20 Christmases in the classroom. And we know you have no idea what to do with the stuffed animals that students press on you when temps drop. (Use them to reward good behavior!) So tell us, what was the best holiday gift that you’ve ever received from a student, parent, or colleague? And, gulp, the worst? Please send your replies to neatoday-reply@list.nea.org.

Reading, Writing, and Rockin’

Get ready to twist and shout—the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus is rock-and-rolling around the country. Climb aboard and watch your students hone their music-making skills as they write and record songs and even produce their own music videos.

The blue behemoth, sponsored in part by NEA’s Read Across America, is truly a spectacle—the bus’s interior boasts the latest recording and video gadgetry and oodles of top-notch instruments. During a pit stop at NEA’s headquarters, members jammed aboard, looking at equipment that has seen Kid Rock, Carlos Santana, and, of course, Yoko Ono.

Joe Lyttle, a music teacher at Clifton T. Barkalow Middle School in New Jersey, organized a day in the mobile studio for five of his eighth-graders last spring. “The students were blown away by the experience—especially when they saw the video. It looked like something you’d see on MTV,” he said. For more information, visit the John Lennon Songwriting Contest website .

—Daniel Moise

Photo: Joe Little

September 2005

NEA Today Home | September '05 Contents | Archives

Resources

Last Chance for The NEA Foundation’s September Grants

There’s still a little time left before The NEA Foundation’s September 15 grant review date. All proposals for Innovation Grants and Learning & Leadership Grants received by September 15 will be reviewed, with notification by February 15, 2006.

Applications for these grants are accepted on an ongoing, year-round basis, so it’s never too late to apply. Proposals received after September 15 will be considered in the next review cycle. Grants fund activities for 12 months from the award date.

Innovation Grants and Learning & Leadership Grants are funded in part by Staples Recycle for Education. Since July 2003, Recycle for Education has helped raise more than $2.5 million for public education!

NEA members just like you have applied for and received over 1,500 grants nationwide over the years in all subjects, including the arts, literacy, science, and technology.  Read about their funded projects on the foundation’s Web site, and then submit your own idea.

All members who are practicing K–12 teachers, education support professionals, and higher education faculty and staff at public colleges and universities are encouraged to apply. Grant amounts are either $2,000 or $5,000. 

Applying for a grant is easy, so why wait? Visit the NEA Foundation website today for more information, including guidelines and a downloadable application. Or call 202-822-7840.

Grants for NEA Student Chapters

Building a strong presence on campus is one of the biggest challenges that NEA Student Program chapters face. NEA provides financial assistance in the form of SOAR (Student Organizing and Assistance Resources) grants to encourage efforts to recruit new members or organize a student chapter.

Chapters may apply for funding to recruit in the following areas:

• urban institutions
• minority populations and historically minority campuses
• community colleges
• high school future teacher programs.

Priority is given to student locals working with UniServ units. Click here more information and an online application.

Read Across America Library Books Awards

The NEA Foundation announces a new award to help public schools serving economically disadvantaged students purchase books for school libraries. The foundation makes these $5,000 awards to practicing preK–12 teachers and education support professionals who are NEA members on behalf of NEA, with support from Warner Brothers, Inc. There are two deadlines to submit an application: September 15, 2005, and February 1, 2006. Click here for more information and an application. Applications will be accepted only as e-mail attachments.

NEA Urban Grants

NEA’s Urban Grants Program supports local affiliates in the development of education reform leadership programs for PreK–12/Graduate School faculty and education support professionals. Each year NEA awards 25 Urban Grants in the amount of $5,000 each to NEA local affiliates to support them with these programs.

The NEA Constituent Relations unit administers the program and looks for proposals that contribute to restoring public confidence in public education by reflecting some aspect of NEA’s Strategic Priorities.

NEA local affiliates of 500 members or more who are listed with the NEA membership office or the largest local NEA affiliate of any state regardless of membership number are eligible to apply. Applicants must submit a proposal postmarked by September 30 to NEA Constituent Relations, 1201 16th Street N.W., Washington, DC 20036. Click here for information on applying, selection criteria, and the review process.

Decisions by the Evaluation Committee are final. Questions should be directed to NEA Constituent Relations/NCUEA at 202-822-7155.

Classroom Project Grants

Kids In Need Teacher Grants provide K–12 educators with funding to help provide innovative learning opportunities for students. Provided by the SHOPA Kids In Need Foundation, the grant awards range from $100 to $500 each and are used to finance creative classroom projects. Typically, 170–200 grants are awarded each year.

The Teacher Grant applications are judged according to a rubric that emphasizes innovativeness and merit, clarity of objectives, replication feasibility, suitability of evaluation methods, and cost effectiveness. Members of the Foundation’s Teacher Grants Committee complete the final round of evaluation of the grant applications in late October. All certified K–12 teachers in the United States are eligible to apply.

To obtain an application, educators can either stop by participating retail sponsors and designated education credit unions or go online.

The application deadline is September 30, 2005. For more information, contact SHOPA Kids In Need Foundation, 3131 Elbee Rd., Dayton, OH 45439; 800-854-7467.

Funding for Seeds

The Lorrie Otto Seeds for Education Grant Program gives small monetary grants to schools, nature centers, or other non-profit educational organizations to establish outdoor learning centers. Projects must emphasize involvement of students and volunteers and increase the educational value of the site. Creativity in design is encouraged, but the project must show complete and thoughtful planning.

Using and teaching about native plants and the native plant community is mandatory, and plants must be appropriate to the local ecoregion and site conditions. Funds are only for the purchase of native plants and seed. Grant applications are due November 15, 2005.

Click here for more.

Siemens Westinghouse Competition

The Siemens Westinghouse Competition in Math, Science & Technology allows students to achieve national recognition for science research projects that they complete in high school.

Students may submit research reports either individually or in teams of two or three members. Students whose projects are selected for further competition are invited to give an oral and poster presentation at one of six regional events. At each regional competition an individual and a team are selected as Regional Winners and receive scholarships. Regional winners then advance to the National Competition in New York City.

The top individual and team winners at the national level receive additional scholarships of $100,000. Runners-up receive scholarships ranging from $10,000 to $50,000. This year’s deadline is October 3, 2005. Click here for more information.

Turning Green into Gold

If you know an educator who has a particularly outstanding approach to environmental education, consider nominating him or her for the International Paper Environmental Award. 

Given each year by the Conservation Fund and International Paper, and paid for by a grant from the International Paper Company Foundation, this $10,000 grant applauds elementary or secondary school educators or university faculty or staff who have completed a project that teaches students about environmental issues and the link between environmental protection and economic growth. Projects must also exemplify a candidate’s leadership abilities and inspire others to achieve.

The 2005 recipient of the International Paper Environmental Award was NEA member Mike Town, a high school teacher in Redmond, Washington. Redmond has orchestrated a slew of projects in the field of environmental science to encourage his students to become as passionate about the subject as he is. He started an AP environmental science class, created an organic vegetable garden, and received a grant last spring to have solar panels installed at his school. Solar panels make electricity from the Sun without pollution.

Town has no plans to slow down any time soon. He’s working with another teacher at his school to build a local environmental education center.

“It’s a proposed waste water treatment center. If it goes through it will educate students on environmental issues ranging from salmon to waste water to alternative energy and forestry,” said Town, who received his award at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., in June.

Entries for the 2006 award are due next spring. Candidates must be nominated, and those nominating must complete four essay questions about their candidate’s work and may send any other supporting materials. For more, go to The Conservation Fund website this winter.

Take Note

Funding for IAQ Training

Through a 2005 NEA Representative Assembly new business item (#9) and a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the NEA Health Information Network (NEA HIN) will provide funding to send up to 18 teams of NEA members and UniServ staff to the sixth annual EPA Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) Tools for Schools National Symposium and third annual NEA HIN Pre-Symposium training. This year the IAQ Tools for Schools Symposium and Pre-Symposium training will be held January 11–14 in Washington, D.C.

Each year teachers, education support professionals, UniServ staff, school board officials, administrators, and others attend the conference to discuss improving IAQ in our nation’s schools. The conference centers around EPA’s IAQ Tools for Schools program—a nationwide initiative that helps school employees assess, resolve, and prevent IAQ problems and reduce exposure to asthma triggers in schools. Innovative workshops will be offered on conducting school walkthroughs, pest control, radon, material selection, and more. Building on last year’s success, NEA HIN, a co-sponsor of the Symposium, will once again conduct a Pre-Symposium IAQ training to address IAQ issues from the union perspective.

Interested? Applications are due by Monday, September 26. For more information and to find out how to apply, visit www.neahin.org.

Free Educator’s Guide

Check out the free offerings from Walden Media, the film studio that brought you Holes and Because of Winn-Dixie. Educators can download a free educator’s guide to Because of Winn-Dixie, available now on DVD. You can also enter for a chance to win two free tickets to the world premiere of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe this December in London, England. Register at Walden Media to learn more about upcoming film adaptations of young adult books.

Teaching Media Literacy

Students are bombarded by thousands of images and messages every day. Find out how you can help them learn to “read and write” this new media and prepare for the global media culture of the 21st century. Visit the Center for Media Literacy Web site to find background information and teaching materials on media literacy, including the following resources:

• Project SMARTArt—A case study and a “how-to” program for teaching media literacy skills to K–5 students, with replicable structure, tools, and lesson plans.
• Five Key Questions That Can Change the World—An online classroom activity guide with 25 lesson plans for K–12 media literacy.
• Media&Values—More than 350 articles online from this magazine.
• Center for Media Literacy’s MediaLitKit—Materials for free and for sale, in English and in Spanish.

Build a Home of Your Own

Building Homes of Our Own, a teaching tool on CD-ROM for middle and high school classrooms, presents the home building process from site selection to final sale. Students collect information, solve problems, and make choices as they build a 3-D home against a budget, review credit applications, and sell to the buyer of their choice. The program is part of the National Association of Home Builders’ educational outreach initiative, in partnership with the National Housing Endowment, Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters, and Freddie Mac.

The CD-ROM is free to educators serving schools with enrollments of 100 students or more. The new version lets students save more games and access their work from any computer operating on a server network. Click here to request a copy.

Promoting Science Literacy

Developed by Congressman Rubén Hinojosa and University of Texas-Pan American, Hispanic Engineering, Science and Technology Week (HESTEC) is a year-round leadership program that emphasizes the importance of science literacy to preK–16 students and educators. This year’s event will take place September 26–October 1 at the University of Texas in Edinburg and will feature professional development workshops, presentations by world class speakers, competitions, and hands-on activities. During HESTEC, participants will interact with engineers and scientists during events such as Educator Day, Latinas in Science, and Community Day. For more, go to www.hestec.org.

Celebrate National Multicultural Diversity Day

For more than a decade, educators around the country have been celebrating National Multicultural Diversity Day (NMDD) in their schools and communities on the third Monday in October. Originally created by Cleorah Scruggs, a fourth-grade teacher in Flint, Michigan, the day was adopted as a national event by the 1993 NEA Representative Assembly to “increase awareness of the tremendous need to celebrate our diversity collectively.”

This year, you can get involved too. Just be creative. Start by sharing cultural information with your class about yourself, then introduce students to multicultural issues and possible solutions by inviting a local expert to talk on diversity. You can also have students sing songs that celebrate diversity and ask them to bring in items or food representative of their ethnic heritage to share with classmates.

To help educators share ways to celebrate diversity both on National Multicultural Diversity Day (October 17) and throughout the year, NEA sponsors an electronic bulletin board (members only).

Diversity Calendar

September

September 5—Labor Day

Signed into legislation more than 100 years ago, Labor Day honors American unions and workers whose achievements are vital to our strength and prosperity. Click here for more information.

September 8—International Literacy Day

Sponsored by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization and the International Reading Association, this day focuses attention on worldwide literacy issues and needs. Click here for more information.

September 15– October 15— National Hispanic Heritage Month

This celebration honors the histories, cultures, and contributions of American citizens who trace their ancestry to Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America. Click here to search for Hispanic Heritage Month for quizzes, games, and more.

September 17–23—Constitution Week

By presidential proclamation, this annual event—which kicks off with Citizenship Day on the 17th—celebrates our Constitution and reaffirms our rights and obligations as citizens. Click here to explore the Constitution, access multi-media archives, and more. Click here for free professional development programming available from Annenberg/CPB.

October

October 4—First Day of Ramadan

This day marks the beginning of the ninth month of the Islamic calendar and is a holy time when Muslims fast and honor the revelation of the Koran to the prophet Muhammad.

October 4–5—Rosh Hashanah

Rosh Hashanah serves as the Jewish New Year and ushers in the High Holy Days, a time of fasting, reflection, and prayer. They conclude with Yom Kippur on October 10.

October 10–14— National School Lunch Week

A good school lunch is vital to student learning. It’s no wonder, then, that this year’s theme is School Lunch: It’s Instrumental. Visit their website for recipes, activities, and more.

October 16—World Food Day

Established by the United Nations in 1979, World Food Day focuses awareness on the problems of hunger, malnutrition, and poverty. Visit their website for materials and lessons to help your students become involved in creating a world where everyone has enough to eat.

In Print

	A Day in the Life Author Karen English assumes the voices of six fictional third graders at a public school in Speak To Me (And I Will Listen Between the Lines). A range of personality types, including the daydreamer and the misfit, are represented in the raw and expressive free verse poems. While the language is simple and the subject matter may seem inconsequential (a pink-inked pen causes a big drama), English’s well-worded pieces verify that children experience the same spectrum of emotions as adults. 32 pp.
	Conquering College Whether it’s the SATs, ACTs, or just the Common Application, Joyce Slayton Mitchell gives good suggestions to applicants and their parents on how to make it into the college of their dreams in Winning the Heart of the College Admissions Dean. Mitchell’s advice on how to research schools and what not to say during interviews is confirmed with excerpts from college admissions directors at schools such as Harvard and Stanford. 170 pp.
	Stopping Bullies Education and family psychologist Kenneth Shore takes a new approach in bullying prevention with his book The ABC’s of Bullying Prevention: A Comprehensive Schoolwide Approach. Instead of focusing on the sometimes devastating effects of bullying, such as depression and school shootings, Shore establishes a clear definition of the word bullying and steps to prevent it. He calls on school administrators, teachers, and parents to focus efforts into controlling and eliminating this growing problem. 79 pp.
	Having Our Say In Red Hot Salsa: Bilingual Poems on Being Young and Latino in the United States, renowned Latino poets and literary figures in the United States share their hopes, dreams, and identities. Edited by Lori Marie Carlson, this compilation of moving, vibrant poems expresses the complexity, ethnic variation, linguistic diversity, and the yearning spirit of the Latino community. Written in both Spanish and English, the poems touch on universal themes such as language, neighborhoods, love, family, and victory. 140 pp.
	The Power of Portfolios  Student-Led Conferencing Using Showcase Portfolios, by Barbara Benson and Susan Barnett, reveals how to motivate students to excel and achieve higher standards of learning while increasing parent involvement in the process. With easy-to-use timelines, sample schedules, and guidelines on collecting work samples, this comprehensive text helps transform oft-dreaded parent conferences into productive discussions for all. 192 pp.

Heads Up from NEA Member Benefits

Reap the Benefits of Membership by taking full advantage of all the money-saving programs and services available through NEA Member Benefits. Choose from high-quality insurance, credit, loan, deposit, investment, and discount products designed exclusively for NEA members and their families. 

Plus, a treasure chest of consumer and personal finance information is just a click away at www.neamb.com. Read timely financial articles, download or order useful consumer guides, and use more than 70 financial calculators to help support your financial decision-making. In addition, each month you can enter the Web Site giveaway to win prizes such as a Bose Wave Radio, Staples and Target gift cards, free car rentals, and vacation getaways, to name a few.

Call the toll-free number, 1-800-637-4636, or visit our website today!

Re-Tool Your Retirement Planning with the latest in investment and retirement planning services from Morningstar! Offered by the NEA Valuebuilder® Program, NEA members and their families can now take advantage of:

Learning Station—online education, including general investing and financial articles and interactive tools, for novice and sophisticated investors alike

Guidance Online—investment guidance, providing members with a retirement goal savings target and asset class suggestions for their portfolio to help them meet their goals

Target Portfolios—which allow members to choose among a range of pre-determined portfolios based on an assessment of investor type and time horizon

Managed Accounts—which offer professionally designed portfolios that are personalized based on the member’s individual financial situation, risk tolerance, and investment options

Find out more by calling toll free, 1-800-NEA-VALU.

On TV

Jack’s Big Music Show

NOGN, Daily starting September 12, 12:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. ET, check local listings.
This live-action preschool series is hosted by Jack, a music-loving puppet and his melodious cast of friends who play every day at Jack’s clubhouse. The half-hour shows feature videos and live, in-studio performances by popular children’s musicians. Can be taped and used in the classroom for one year.

Foundations of American Government

Discovery Channel, September 13, 5 a.m. ET/P.
This documentary investigates new findings from the night that helped bring America into the Revolutionary War. Watch Thomas Jefferson articulate the ideals of a new and free nation. Witness the struggles faced by the Constitution’s framers. And peruse the first 10 amendments that were made to it. Can be taped and used in the classroom for one year.

American Masters—Ernest Hemingway: Rivers to the Sea

PBS, September 14, 9 p.m. ET, check local listings.
Hemingway wanted to create a picture of the world he knew, but a world that would be described by “boiling it down always” to its essential core, rather than spreading it out thin, as he put it. What he left out, readers must fill in, thus creating a kind of fiction new to the American scene. Like his books, Hemingway’s life was filled with action, adventure, and danger, from driving an ambulance during World War I to reporting from the front during World War II. This hourlong documentary gives viewers a satisfying taste of his prose, with selections from some of his most famous novels and short stories. Within all the writing is an attempt to face fear, and even defeat, as a condition of existence in the 20th century. American Masters has a Web page dedicated to this show with film clips, timeline, resources, and more.

20th Century with Mike Wallace: Hispanics in America

History Channel, September 19, 6 a.m. ET/P.
An hourlong look at Hispanic contributions to American society and the rapid growth of this segment of the U.S. population. Can be taped and used in the classroom for two years.

Biography—Fidel Castro: El Comandante

A&E, September 20, 7 a.m. ET/P, check local listings.
Take in this Spanish-language profile of Cuba’s controversial leader for the past four decades, one of the last great communist dictators. The hourlong program can be taped and used in the classroom for two years with teaching materials available.

At the Western Frontier

Discovery Channel, September 21, 5 a.m. ET.
This documentary of the transcontinental railroad looks at how this new mode of transportation changed the make-up of America’s western lands, explores what happened to boomtowns after the gold and silver were mined, and considers the realities of frontier life and the myths about the Wild West. Can be taped and used in the classroom for one year.

TLC Elementary School: Scientific Inquiry III

The Learning Channel, September 23, 6 a.m. ET/P.
Explore how plants convert a few key elements into all the food they need, how forces deep within Earth continue to change our planet, how the Sun’s inevitable death will affect Earth and the other planets in our solar system, and how the effects of energy transfer and our planet’s constant motion. This 30-minute episode is designed for grades K–6 and consists of segments edited from original documentaries. The show can be taped and used in the classroom for two years.

On TV listings are provided by KIDSNET, a national resource for children’s media in Washington, D.C., and by Cable in the Classroom’s Access Learning magazine.

Read Across America

Get Ready To Read!

The 2006 Read Across America Resource Kit, filled with posters, event ideas, and an NEA members-only CD-ROM, begins shipping this month. To request your copy and sign up for the Read Across America e-newsletter.

On the Web

Protecting Kids Online

Studies show that 1 in 5 youth using the Internet receive an online sexual solicitation in a one-year period, and 29 percent of children will give out their home address if asked. The Internet Keep Safe Coalition group teaches rules of Internet safety to children and parents, reaching them online and in school. The iKeepSafe.org Web site uses an animated mascot named Faux Paw the Techno Cat to teach children the importance of protecting personal information and avoiding inappropriate places on the Internet. Children safely navigate the Web through a virtual playground, Faux Paw’s adventures in storybooks, and educational games. Educational materials, including worksheets, are available for parents and educators.

Accessing Data on Public Education

SchoolMatters.com provides searchable information about public schools, school districts, and state education systems throughout the nation, including student achievement data, financial information, demographic breakdowns, tax base details, and more. The site is a free public service sponsored by the National Education Data Partnership, a collaboration among the Council of Chief State School Officers, Standard & Poor’s School Evaluation Services, Achieve, Inc., and the CELT Corporation. The service includes powerful analytical tools and objective analyses that provide education leaders with the information they need to make better-informed decisions about schools and school systems.

Freevibe.com Drug Facts

Designed for teens, this interactive, anti-drug site has downloadable drug information resources including articles, books, brochures, banners, postcards, and posters. It also provides information on drugs and addiction and tracks news stories about drugs of interest to teens.

Back to School Drug Prevention Program

NIDA Goes Back to School is a source of free information from the National Institute on Drug Abuse about the latest science-based drug abuse publications and teaching materials. Specific curricula and other teaching aids are available. Hard copies of the materials are free, but curriculum materials are reserved for teachers.

Books by NEA Members

	The Mystery of the Missing Dog By Gwendolyn Hooks When Alex loses his dog, Jet, he frantically checks every nook and cranny to uncover the mystery. Former math teacher Hooks was inspired to write this tale after a three-week search for her own pet, Kitty Kat Hooks. This Level 1 book from the “Just for You! Books” series includes helpful hints and suggestions on how parents can use the story to develop their children’s reading and comprehension skills. Ages 5–6. 32 pp.
	Laughing Matters: Using Humor in Classroom Activities By Rick Shade and Patti Garret Written by longtime educators, this book explores the art of humor and teaches others how to incorporate this art in their curriculum. The book is divided into several chapters that allow readers to diagnose what kind of humor they have and then decide how to best apply it to make learning fun. Complete with a glossary and a list of additional resources, this book helps keep students laughing.
	My Mountain Song By Shutta Crum Author, poet, and children’s librarian Shutta Crum pens this tale of Brenda Gail, who spends her summer in the Kentucky mountains exploring the beauty of nature while picking out memories to put in her special song. Gathering eggs, Big Ma’s breakfasts, and a hen named Morning Glory are just a few ingredients for the mountain song in this book beautifully illustrated by Ted Rand. 32 pp.

September 2005

NEA Today Home | September '05 Contents | Archives

Calling on America

by Reg Weaver, NEA President

During the three years that I have been honored to serve as your President, not one day has passed without leaving me with a reason to be proud of NEA members’ skill and determination.

As the nation’s largest deliberative body, our Representative Assembly  (RA) is truly a sight to behold! My pride swells every Fourth of July when I witness the commitment and dedication of delegates to the RA.

This year, united by the theme “Team NEA—Fighting for You, Your Schools, Your Students!” more than 8,000 delegates gathered in Los Angeles. They represented the 2.7 million NEA members across the country who are keepers of the dream that represents the public in public education. Together, they worked to strengthen NEA, public schools, and the opportunities for public school students.

A highlight of this year’s RA was the address from Jason Kamras, the 2005 National Teacher of the Year . He said, “I see the fight to close the achievement gap not as an abstract policy struggle, but rather as a concrete, personal one.” 

Kamras is right. The struggle to provide a quality public education for all children is personal for all of us. If it weren’t, we wouldn’t grade papers on the weekend, dip into our own pockets for supplies, or advocate so hard for the reforms we believe will make every public school great.

Credibility is also very personal. This year, I stressed to delegates that we must preserve professional credibility by insisting upon the professionalism of all our education colleagues. This is critical to educating America’s children and students and maintaining the support of our communities—particularly minority communities. In many ways, the future of our profession and our Association demands that we require our colleagues to demonstrate continued growth and commitment to our profession. One unprofessional, unprepared, or unwilling public school educator causes harm to all, leaving our students, profession, and Association at risk.

It is time for America to make education personal too. That’s why I called on the nation to join with educators in an education covenant that will help us meet the expectations set for America’s public schools. We can’t do it alone. A quality public education for all children and students is a shared responsibility: 

• If the nation calls on us to transform students into citizens who are equipped to make a contribution, we call on the nation for more parental involvement .
   
• If the nation calls for our support of the so-called No Child Left Behind law , we educators call on voters to elect politicians and policy makers who will stand with us in the fight to fix the law and provide it with adequate funding.
   
• If the nation calls for high-quality education support professionals, we call for an end to the privatization  of public school services that raise costs and lower quality.
   
• If the nation wants us to provide lessons that enrich and inspire, we must have adequate funding; smaller class sizes ; and books, labs, and technology that are up-to-date. 
   
• If the nation calls on all educators to give our best to every child, which we will continue to do, we call on the nation to treat us like the professionals we are by providing salaries that are a realistic  reflection of the great requirements, high skill, and invaluable worth of our jobs.
   
• If the nation calls for a qualified teacher in every classroom, we call for better working environments; professional development; and health care, retirement, and Social Security benefits  that are secure. 

Team NEA, as we begin the 2005–06 school year, let’s give the students across this great nation our very best. Together, let us also call on the nation to do its best so that every child will have what they truly deserve—a great public school. Have a great year and know that NEA appreciates you, and so do I.

Related Articles

More from President Reg Weaver

September 2005

NEA Today Home | September '05 Contents | Archives

The Right Stuff

When Kathleen Lange left a promising job in the medical profession to become a school health care assistant, she knew most people wouldn't call it a "move in the right direction."

Lange, however, rarely moves in the direction people expect —an approach toward life that’s led her to a job she loves and an award as the 2005 Education Support Professional (ESP) of the Year.

“The job turned out to be a perfect fit,” says Lange, “one of my very best blessings. I leave work feeling very good about what I do each day.”

As a health care aide at Salt Creek Elementary School in Illinois, Lange provides first aid, administers medications, conducts vision and hearing tests, reviews immunization records, and dispenses daily doses of TLC to the students in her charge. Always looking for ways to improve, the tech-savvy ESP pioneered an electronic system of analyzing student health data that’s decreased visits to the health office, increased instruction time, and provided valuable new insight into the connection between student health and classroom performance. The system is so successful, Lange now conducts trainings for other health staff, develops training manuals, and works with the technology department to provide technical assistance and field support.

It’s helped to work in a school environment that looks at people first, not their positions, says Lange, the first ESP to become president of her wall-to-wall local and the first to serve as a regional chair. “We all have a role to play and lessons to teach,” she says, “whether it’s getting kids to school safely on the bus, providing hot meals at lunchtime, or making sure they learn their lessons. There’s incredible power to make things happen when teams work together.”

—Sabrina Holcomb

Helping Hands

From science course to racecourse, Gail Hand’s two jobs make her a pretty popular teacher at Streetsboro Middle School.

As an instructor in the family and consumer science department, Hand teaches eager kids how to cook. “They like to cook because they like to eat,” says Hand of her enthusiastic students. As co-owner of an Ohio motocross (dirt bike) racing track, Hand is not only well-versed in one of the country’s fastest growing amateur sports, she’s also in a position to offer those same students jobs.

Hand and her husband Dave, a former professional motorcycle racer, are part owners of the 86-acre Ohio International Raceway in Ravenna. Since Dave’s brother is the other owner, the entire family is involved. Both sets of parents help out, the Hands’ sons—Michael, 6, and David, 4—compete in Pee Wee Division races, and Dave Hand still competes in amateur national events.

When they need workers to mow the grass, put up flags and banners, help with sign-up, count laps, serve as flaggers, score the races, and give out trophies, guess where the Hands turn? “My students are always asking if we need help,” Hand says. “Some enjoy being at the racetrack and some just enjoy having a job and making money. Hiring them gives me the satisfaction of keeping them involved in something positive.”

The Hands’ track is open from April to October. Races, usually held on Sunday, draw an average of 400 riders and 1,000 spectators. Competitors range from age 4 to 50-plus. “Our oldest rider is 76,” Hand says proudly.

Although she’s up-to-speed on the procedures, rules, and technicalities of motocross, Hand says there’s one bridge she’ll never cross—racing. “Every time I get on a bike, I crash,” she says. “I just don’t have a good sense of balance.”

—Carolyn White

Starstruck

For sixth-grade science teacher Lucinda Mitchell, the journey from neophyte to space savant has been a celestial experience.

When Mitchell first discovered she was to teach a unit on space, it dawned on her she knew little more about the subject than her students at Michigan’s Ruth Fox Elementary School. That was then. Now, six years later, Mitchell is the proud recipient of the 2004 Space Educator Award from Estes Rocketry, The Space Foundation, and the National Science Teachers Association. 

Mitchell’s first giant leap toward excellence was applying to NASA’s Network of Educator Astronaut Teachers (NEAT) workshop. Once accepted, she and 24 educators from around the country attended an intensive two-week seminar at the Glenn Space Center in Cleveland. During this time Mitchell met distinguished scientists and engineers and participated in experiments making miniature rockets and hot air balloons. Upon completing the program she was officially lunar certified, which grants her access to moon rocks for presentations. “It really is quite a responsibility,” says Mitchell. “The rocks must be in my sight at all times. Even if I go to the store, I have to carry them with me.”

Constantly searching for programs to further her knowledge and hone her skills, Mitchell is excited about the upcoming year. This summer she’ll reunite with her fellow NEAT members and tour the Kennedy Space Center in central Florida. Having completed her master’s in space studies from Regis University, Mitchell is exploring the possibility of publishing her senior thesis, a collection of

40 space-related lesson plans. She’s also busily preparing fund-raisers to help send a group of ambitious students to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center’s Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama.

“I never imagined all this would happen to me,” says Mitchell. “I think sometimes teachers are leery about trying something different, but there is so much out there. You really have to go after it.”            

—Daniel Moise

Keeping the Ball on the Court

To find out why Boy and Betty Toy are hooked on tennis, you have to go back to 1978 and a wooden racquet that couldn’t keep up with the fancy new aluminum ones.

Boy's love of tennis bloomed when his son—wielding a brand new aluminum racquet—served and volleyed Boy and his wooden racquet right off the court. Chagrined with defeat, Boy and Betty bought aluminum racquets the very next day—and never looked back.

The Education Minnesota-Retired members became regulars at the tennis club, competing in the 1999 and 2003 Senior Olympics, Although they didn’t pick up any medals in tennis, Boy won a silver medal in doubles table tennis for their age group.

For the Toys, however, winning isn’t everything. “We have met so many wonderful, kind, considerate people through tennis,” says Boy. It’s not always competition.”

Still, Boy wagers he’s now good enough to beat his son even using that old wooden racquet. He won’t have the chance to prove it, though—he donated the old racquets to charity years ago so disadvantaged kids could have a chance to try the sport too.        

—Sarah Rabovsky

Photos: Calvin Knight (K. Lange); Sott Shaw (Gail Hand); Janet Hostetter (Boy & Betty Toy)

September 2005

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Put an End to ‘Broken Promises’

Delegates to the NEA Representative Assembly send a strong message to lawmakers—do your part by funding great public schools.

by NEA Today staff writer

They sent thousands of e-mails to members of Congress, raised more than $1.3 million to support pro-public education political candidates, and marched two miles to the office of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to protest his budget cuts.

Mostly, the more than 8,000 activist delegates to the 2005 NEA Representative Assembly (RA) in Los Angeles sent a message with their words and their deeds: legislators need to step up and properly fund public schools, just as teachers and education support professionals are pushing to meet higher standards.

NEA President Reg Weaver, who was elected without opposition to another three-year term, hammered home the theme, beginning with a keynote address in which he outlined a six-point “education covenant” between educators and the public (for more, see page 7).

Two days later, delegates raised the cry again during a 90-minute rally on the floor of the RA when delegates from all 50 states joined Weaver in denouncing inadequate school funding.

“Teachers are tired of elected officials ‘acting’ like they care about students when it’s election time and then turning their backs on campaign promises later,” Weaver said. “Broken promises hurt our kids.”

Delegates responded, leaping to the aid of their counterparts in California, who are waging a pitched battle against the governor over precipitous budget cuts that threaten to slash school funding by a whopping $25,000 per classroom.

Schwarzenegger supports several ballot initiatives to be placed before voters in November that would further curtail school funding and undercut employee rights. But potential voters are being urged to reject the measures as part of an all-out blitz by the California Teachers Association (CTA). Delegates in Los Angeles, many of whom face budget cuts at home, made sure to leave their mark on Golden State politics. Among them, they wrote some 40,000 postcards to friends and colleagues in California, urging them to vote against the ballot initiatives.

Then they took to the streets. After the rally on the RA floor, about 600 delegates marched out of the Convention Center and down Wilshire Boulevard to Schwarzenegger’s Los Angeles office to deliver resolutions opposing the governor’s actions. Walking through the city streets as Angelenos idled in their cars, the demonstrators drew applause and supportive honks from onlookers—and this comment from a Los Angeles police officer: “Our kids appreciate it!”

When the RA ended, delegates set to work bringing Weaver’s six-point covenant to life in their communities. Weaver urged delegates to take these actions: transform students into citizens who will make a contribution; elect policy makers who will help fix and fund No Child Left Behind; stand with the nation’s ESPs in their battles against privatization; and ensure that the lessons taught in the nation’s classrooms are interesting and enriching. He also called on the nation to treat educators as the professionals they are and provide fair pay that reflects their professionalism, and to make sure there is a qualified teacher in every classroom.

“Insist upon the credibility of your colleagues,” Weaver added. “Assist and support them, but urge their continued growth and commitment to our profession.”

NEA members will be making even more noise in the year ahead. Weaver said that NEA gained more than 92,000 new members in the past three years, including 45,000 in the last year alone. “We are strong and getting stronger,” he said.

Find complete coverage of the Representative Assembly .

RA ‘05: Part inspiration, mostly perspiration

More than 8,000 delegates packed the Los Angeles Convention Center for NEA’s four-day Representative Assembly (RA). They were treated to inspiring speeches, but for the most part, delegates poured their energy into sharing successful strategies and shaping NEA’s agenda for the next year. During NEA’s 84th Representative Assembly, delegates:

Committed to action. Delegates honed the Association’s resolutions and legislative agenda and adopted more than 50 new business items (NBIs), setting the course for the year ahead. Recognizing the threats to retirement security posed by privatization schemes for Social Security and pension plans, delegates passed a half-dozen NBIs committing NEA to ratcheting up its work on the issue. One of them called upon NEA to “oppose all legislative efforts to abolish defined-benefit plans and replace them with 401(k)-styled individual accounts.” Retired Massachusetts member Bob Brousseau, who has 19 years of experience as a retirement board trustee, warned fellow delegates: “We are in a war.”

Other adopted NBIs included measures aimed at improving opportunities for English-Language Learners, protecting students’ free speech rights, and making health care “an organizational priority” by creating a task force to advise state and local affiliates.

Elected new leaders. Weaver, who was wrapping up a three-year term as President, ran unopposed for a second term and was declared elected. Others who ran unopposed and were declared elected: Dennis Van Roekel (NEA Vice President), Marsha Smith and Mike Billirakis (Executive Committee), and Sally Pestana (at-large candidate for NEA Board of Directors for higher education). Elected as ESP at-large members to the NEA Board of Directors were Art Goff, Ray Heideman, Veronica Henderson, Rebecca Marks, and Sharon Scott.

Sent a message (or five). More than 17,000 messages were fired off to federal and state lawmakers at a Legislative Action Center set up in the Convention Center. NEA’s Great Public Schools (GPS) Booth also received heavy traffic. Delegates visiting the booth honed their knowledge of NEA’s GPS initiative, and many signed up to become GPS activists back home. The components of NEA’s GPS initiative are closing the student achievement gaps, raising the pay of all teachers and ESPs, building membership, reaching out to minority communities, promoting grassroots action, and fixing and funding the so-called No Child Left Behind law.

Passed a bylaw change. Following a spirited floor debate, delegates—by a margin of 4,943 to 2,664—passed a bylaw amendment that allows the NEA Executive Committee “to affiliate an organization that does not elect its own officers by secret ballot if certain conditions are met.” The vote allows NEA’s New York affiliate, NEA/NY, to consider a possible merger with the AFT-affiliated New York State United Teachers.

Recharged their batteries. Delegates got a dose of inspiration from speeches by NEA 2005 ESP of the Year Kathleen Lange, 2005 Teacher of the Year Jason Kamras, and Cheryl Brown Henderson (below), recipient of the NEA Friend of Education Award. The daughter of Oliver Brown, plaintiff in the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case, Henderson urged delegates to “internalize the premise” of equality embodied in the case, saying “No piece of legislation, no Supreme Court decision, can do the work that has to be done on the ground.”

Photo top: calvin knight/NEA; bottom: rick runion/NEA

Photos: Scott iskowitz/nea

September 2005

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Let’s Talk About Skin

Raising issues of race with young children

by Rita Tenorio

Early one fall, I sat down with seven children in my first-grade class. We talked about how we were alike and how we were different. “Our skin is different,” one child said. I asked them to put their hands on the table, so we could see all the colors.

But LaRhonda, who is African American, scowled and slid her hands under the table.

It was a reaction I had seen before. I teach at La Escuela Fratney in a racially mixed, working-class Milwaukee neighborhood. My students include Black kids, Whites, and Latinos. And, unfortunately, many of these six- and seven-year-olds believe it is better to be light-skinned than dark. Already, the legacy of racism in our country has made an impact.

I have seen fair-skinned children move if Black children sit down next to them. English speakers won’t play with Latino children. On the playground, a group of White girls won’t let their darker-skinned peers join in their games, explaining: “Brown kids can’t be in our club.”

Some people would say my students can’t deal with issues of race because they are too young. But my experience says they can. During the past several years, those of us teaching first grade at Fratney have developed activities to help us discuss race and social justice in an age-appropriate way.

We ask our students to collect and share information about their families and ancestry: How they got their names, how their families came to Milwaukee, which holidays they celebrate and how. At every step, we help them explore the nature of racial and cultural differences, and to overcome simplistic notions of who’s “better” or who is “like us” and who isn’t. 

We discuss our skin colors. Usually at first, some children—especially those with very dark skin like LaRhonda—are reluctant to describe their color.

We ask students if they have ever heard anyone say something bad or mean about another person’s color. Hands shoot up.

“My mom says you can’t trust Black people.”

“My sister won’t talk to the Puerto Rican kids on the bus.”

“Mara said I couldn’t play, that I was too Black to be her friend.”

We talk about ways we’ve heard others use people’s skin color to make fun of them and what to do in those situations. And we ask: Do people choose their color? Where do you get your skin color? Is it better to be one color than another?

In the story The Colors of Us by Karen Katz, Lena learns that “brown” is a whole range of colors. Like the characters in the story, we take red, yellow, black, and white paint and mix them until we’ve each found the color of our own skin.

In another exercise inspired by Sheila Hamanaka’s All the Colors of the Earth, students look for something at home that matches their skin color. We display the pieces of wood and fabric, the cinnamon and coffee, the dolls and ceramic pieces that match us.

Gradually, students begin to see past society’s labels. It is always amazing to children that friends who call themselves “black,” for example, can actually have very light skin. Or that Puerto Rican children can be darker than some African Americans.

The children learn to challenge stereotypes and speak back to unfair comments. Annie wrote, “I like my skin color. It is like peachy cream.” James wrote, “My color is the same as my dad’s. I think the new baby will have this color too.” And Keila wrote, “When I was born, my color was brown skin and white skin mixed together.”

When LaRhonda wrote about mixing the colors to match her skin, she said: “We put black, white, red, and yellow [together]. I like the color of my skin.”

How far she had come since the day she would not show us her hands.

Students’ names have been changed. Rita Tenorio (rmmt@aol.com) is an editor of Rethinking Schools. A longer version of this article is at  Rethinking Schools Online.

PHOTO: STANLEY LEARY

September 2005

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Showing You the Money

NEA launches a national initiative to boost teacher and ESP pay. Now comes your part.

By Dave Winans

Ah, the new school year. New young faces, new solutions to the challenges of your job, and (gulp) new bills to pay back home. It’s definitely time to reassess your economic worth. But where to begin? You might start by joining NEA’s groundbreaking national campaign to boost educator pay.

The goal: win a $40,000 minimum salary for every teacher and an “appropriate living wage” as starting pay for every education support professional (ESP). “To provide a quality education to kids, our members need to stand up for themselves,” stresses NEA President Reg Weaver. “That means advocating for pay to recruit and retain the very best educators available.”

Want to get on board? Here are some simple ways.

Build on the success of your colleagues.

Some already have negotiated starting teacher pay of $40,000 and beyond, and others are well on the way. By mid-summer, New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) locals had bargained multi-year contracts with teacher minimums of $40,000 or more in more than 58 percent of the state’s school districts.

Yet more inspiration: through a community-focused “living wage” campaign, the 1,090-member Birmingham (Alabama) ESP bargained a higher pay scale last year that, among other things, boosted the starting wage for school nutrition employees from $6.59 to $9.50 an hour. And in Montana, the Helena Education Association (HEA) negotiated its state’s highest teacher minimum, $30,000—a one-year jump of $7,000.  

Remind people you’re worth it.

The folks in Helena, Montana, did. “We convinced our district that its number one asset is educators. You pay for these people first,” explains HEA President Larry Nielsen. “The research proves that they are the number one factor affecting student achievement.”

By educating their district about the complexity of their jobs and how their low salaries compared with those paid elsewhere, school nurses in NEA-St. Louis (Missouri) recently bargained a better pay scale, boosting minimums from $23,431 to $32,306 and enabling the district to fill 10 of 13 nursing vacancies. “If you believe you’re invaluable to the district, you’ve got to maintain your professionalism and make your presence known in the school building,” stresses nurse negotiator Susan Davis. “Make other people believe in your value!”

Any teacher or ESP can start this conversation. Before graduating this year from the University of South Dakota, Robin Musch—a new elementary special education teacher in St. Francis, Minnesota—had this to say to fellow college students who scoffed at her career plans: “As a teacher, I touch more lives than any other profession I can think of. I help young people be problem-solvers and I instill hope in them. It’s a hard task, but somebody has to do it.”

Do your research.

Still have doubts? You have the numbers on your side—so dig into the abundant data that can help you win higher pay.

Figure out the cost of living in your region with the help of a credit union, a local university, or an online family budget calculator. Then compare salaries with neighboring districts or other, similar professions.

Last year, researchers at the non-partisan Economic Policy Institute (www.epinet.org) found that between 1996 and 2003 inflation-adjusted teacher weekly wages rose just 0.8 percent—far less than the 11.8 percent growth of weekly wages of other college graduates. And in a spring employer survey, the National Association of Colleges and Employers (www.naceweb.org) uncovered an alarming gap between average starting pay for teaching ($29,733) and that for professions such as accounting ($44,564) and software design/development ($53,729).

Take your case to the community.

The arguments for better pay are all around you—be it the departure of new teachers to higher-paying professions, the fatigue of veteran colleagues working outside jobs to survive, or the ever-growing duties and professional demands generated by state and federal standards.

The Washington Education Association (WEA) has made “professional compensation” for educators a top priority, reports WEA President Charles Hasse, “and we know the general public is squarely on our side; they don’t want their sons and daughters entrusted to people making substandard salaries.” The very best folks to connect with community supporters, Hasse stresses, are locally respected NEA members, “competent professionals speaking on the need for improved salaries.”

Stick your neck out.

Steve Alberghini, a special education paraeducator at North Kingstown (Rhode Island) High School, is proud of his NEA local affiliate’s ability to improve ESP pay through “creative” means, such as bargaining paid lunch for paras. But he’s still tired of “quarter raises” and low expectations.

“I don’t care if the statewide para ‘average’ is $14 an hour,” Alberghini says. “Somebody has to go past the starting gate and say, ‘We need more—the median is not enough! Somebody needs to break the ice, take the lead, and demand [a living wage].’”

“We need to take care of ourselves; nobody else can do this for us,” agrees Lumberton Township (New Jersey) Education Association President Debbie Bruhn, who has bargained a $40,942 teacher minimum for this new school year. “We deserve a salary equal to any other profession. For the most part, more teachers have more advanced degrees than people in other, higher-paid professions—and we must constantly improve our skills.”

Illustration: Debra Dixon

September 2005

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Editor's Note

Keeping the Peace

Marilyn Milloy, Editor-in-Chief

I can’t remember the first time I held out my hand to let a teacher whack it with a ruler, but I am certain it was not the last. Down South, back in the day, it was the rare student who escaped this ritual of “research-based” discipline. The rules were simple: pick a fight, say a nasty word, talk unkindly about somebody’s clothes (or heaven forbid, their mom)—and, as the old folk liked to say, your goose was cooked. 

Despite the fear that loomed, it was never clear to me that the ruler really worked for my classmates and me; we were repeat offenders, all. Yet somehow—and this owed as much to the civility of the times as anything—school life did tool along in relative peace. 

The world, of course, is a different place now. As our September 2005 cover story notes, educators grapple with a whole lot more than flying spitballs and schoolyard spats. Discipline problems often confound to the point of sapping the spirit. How do you show you’re in charge (and care, too, thank you) without being mocked or ignored? What do you do with all that attitude, all those bare midriffs, all that ugly hallway banter? 

The good cheer here is that there are answers—really, many—and they don’t entail lining up the class with a ruler in hand. They’re common sense, innovative tricks of the trade that come by way of your colleagues who’ve lived and learned. We serve them up to you in this issue with hopes that as the school year kicks off, you’ll step into the classroom feeling empowered and hopeful—and that you stay that way until the last bell rings.  

Call it our welcome back gift. Ponder, use, discard what you don’t need—and then write, call or e-mail , and tell us what’s working and what’s not. We love hearing from you because it’s what makes this vast community of educators, well, a community. So be in touch. But above all, have a great year. We can’t wait to share it with you

Photo: gettyimages

Would You Support Corporal Punishment in Your School?

Each month, NEA Today features a debate wherein two NEA members take sides on an issue.  This month David Mason of St. Joseph, Missouri, debates Noel Rosenbaum of El Paso, Texas.

Yes

Defiance, chaos, threats, cursing, assault. All these behaviors have risen from rare to frequent in many schools since the elimination of corporal punishment. I began teaching 29 years ago very opposed to corporal punishment. But I have come to see that caring parents and teachers set limits and should be able to back them with corporal punishment if necessary. 

Once, parents held schools in such high esteem that children knew if they were in trouble at school they would be in even more trouble at home. Today, it is more common for a student to use his cell phone on his way to the office to call a parent to “bail him out.” 

A growing number of parents are so protective that they yell at teachers who dare to discipline their children, complain to administrators and school boards, and even threaten lawsuits. Few teachers and administrators can withstand such bullying. Paddling is legal in Missouri, but no administrator in my district will allow it.

Misbehaving children have come to believe no one can stop them. Each year, when I tell students that state law allows spanking, they are incredulous. Their common taunt has become, “You can’t touch me.” Detention and suspension have no effect. Students carry these “punishments” as badges of honor in their negative peer group. 

In a perfect world, parents would teach their children how to behave at home. Unfortunately, that often doesn’t happen. If the nation wants orderly schools and higher test scores, it must allow educators a big toolbox of discipline methods in which corporal punishment continues to be an option. The occasional spanking of a boy or girl for bad behavior provides an immediate, painful consequence that can convince them and their friends to pay attention.

Even the threat of corporal punishment could be the one thing that keeps a boy or girl out of prison.

DAVID MASON teaches eighth-grade U.S. history at Spring Garden Middle School in St. Joseph, Missouri.

[ Cast your vote ]

No

Corporal punishment is violence against children and has no place in a public school.

Middle school students often feel that a hit here, pull of hair there, stone thrown now and then are perfectly OK. As educators, we should be good role models and not add to the violence.

Corporal punishment is legal in Texas but in my district, we don’t use it. So how do we keep unruly students from disrupting classes? Our school has an “In-School Suspension Room.” If a student is out of control, an aide takes the student there for a “Time Out.” Often, the student reflects and writes about why he or she acted inappropriately.

If that’s not enough, we use a discipline plan with step-by-step, increasing consequences for misbehavior. For the most serious cases, we have an Alternative School where the student-teacher ratio is small and the primary focus is anger management and citizenship. There is a tradeoff: Academics take a back seat—although they are still present.

On our campus, one boy started out the sixth grade with a noisy argument in the hall. He quickly progressed to disruptive classroom behavior and, ultimately, membership in a gang. We had to assign him to our Alternative School.

Several months later, he returned. He realized he had missed quite a bit of work. He said he had made very bad choices and was now determined to be a successful student. At his first award night he told me, “I never knew that if I gave of myself and really worked hard, I would receive far more back than I could ever expect!” What a beautiful smile he had, clutching his certificates for most improved student!

Not all students respond so well. But our Alternative School gave him a stronger and longer-lasting boost in the right direction than a paddle could have done. 

NOEL ROSENBAUM is a technology teacher at the William D. Slider Middle School in El Paso, Texas.

[ Cast your vote ]

September 2005

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September 2005 State Report

by NEA Today staff

If at First You Don’t Succeed...

Kansas
Students are the winners after the Kansas Supreme Court ordered the state Legislature back for a special session to boost school spending. Legislators balked, but after being deluged with e-mails from hundreds of Kansas NEA  (KNEA) members, they finally approved $290 million in new money for schools. “We have a long way to go, but we are moving forward to keep the promise to our next generation of Kansans,” said KNEA President Christy Levings. The state Supreme Court had ruled in January that public school funding was inadequate.

CTA Battles ‘Terminator’

California
Raising the ante in their fight against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s attack on public schools and teachers, the California Teachers Association  (CTA) State Council of Education voted  to raise dues by $60 a year for up to three years. The “Terminator” has called a special election for November in which he and his big business allies are pushing three initiatives. One would cut school spending by $4 billion, a second would increase the probationary period for new teachers from two to five years, and a third would restrict the use of union dues for political advocacy. During NEA’s Representative Assembly in July, CTA members, joined by hundreds of NEA colleagues from around the country, marched to the governor’s office in protest (for more, see page 16).

A+ Membership Work

Vermont
The South Burlington Educators’ Association (SBEA) get an A+ for diligent member organizing—signing up a near-perfect 97 percent of the district’s teachers (213 of 220). The secret? Reaching out and talking to every new teacher in the district, says Rich Wise, SBEA president. At the teacher’s orientation, Wise talks up how the Association provides services and helps build professional relationships. In their first few years, teachers are particularly likely to need Association advice regarding their license, probationary requirements, and other legal matters. “We want them to know we value them,” he says.  

Pay Parity for Unemployed

Indiana
When an Indiana state agency tried to penalize teachers who were still receiving 12-month paychecks after losing their jobs, the Indiana State Teachers Association  (ISTA) stepped in—and got results. Days after meeting with ISTA officials, Governor Mitch Daniels reversed the decision and restored payment of unemployment compensation benefits to school staff who had merely opted to receive their salary over a 12-month period, rather than nine months. Otherwise, laid-off teachers still receiving the remainder of their paychecks (for work already done, mind you) would have had that amount subtracted from their unemployment benefits or been forced to wait three extra months to apply for benefits.

Voucher Bill Quashed

South Carolina
Three years of television, radio, newspaper, and billboard advertising by the South Carolina Education Association  (SCEA) paid off in defeating a House-sponsored voucher-and-tuition-tax-credit plan. While funds poured in from out-of-state pro-voucher sources, local education and business groups helped build their own grassroots movement to oppose the effort. Members and friends of the SCEA gathered more than 3,000 signatures on anti-voucher petitions, and delivered thousands of e-mails and telephone calls to House members. A broad bipartisan vote kept the plan from moving forward to the Senate. The plan was tabled in the House and cannot be considered again.

They Did It!

New Mexico
Round One goes to New Mexico education support professionals. After filing a group grievance—and enduring a long, tense public hearing—33 school secretaries and other support staff in the Espanola School District helped tip the balance in a dispute over wages and promotion policies. The result? One-time bonuses for all district employees ranging from 2 to 4.5 percent—a total of $370,000 of well-deserved compensation. “People now know the power of speaking up collectively,” said UniServ consultant Charles Goodmacher. At press time, though, the district superintendent was challenging the school board’s decision. (Yes, you read that right.)

This Governor Gets It

Virginia
The Virginia Education Association  (VEA) helped win a 3 percent salary increase for teachers that might have been lost in the legislature, while also helping to reinstitute language in the state code that stipulates salary appropriations not be used for other purposes. Gov. Mark Warner had proposed $54.8 million to assist localities in giving raises to teachers next year, but the House and Senate cut that by a combined $17 million. VEA activists helped restore the budget proposed by the governor, and raises will go into effect December 1.

September 2005

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‘Highly Qualified’ Victory

Title I paraprofessionals’ deadline is pushed back to the end of the school year.

by Alain Jehlen

Paraprofessionals in Title I schools will have several extra months to meet the “highly qualified” rules of the so-called No Child Left Behind  law (NCLB), thanks to an NEA campaign that included grassroots pressure and an intense national lobbying effort.

“I’m ecstatic,” says Paula Monroe, an education support professional member of the NEA Board of Directors  who helped pushed for the change.

Under NCLB, instructional paras in the federally funded Title I program must have an associate’s degree or two years of college, or pass a rigorous test or local assessment.

The new ruling doesn’t change that standard, but it pushes the deadline back from January 8, 2006, to the end of the 2005–06 school year, which is the deadline for teachers to meet their own highly qualified requirements.

“It’s a huge change for the paras who have not yet had a chance to meet the new standard, for our teachers who work with them, and for their students,” says Monroe.

The extra time, she says, will help many paras reach the new federal academic standards. Those standards—two years of college or the equivalent—are much higher than the standards under which many paras were hired. And paras had to qualify very fast.

“If you started [taking courses] when you first found out about the law in 2002, your chance of finishing in time would be slim to none,” Monroe points out. “You would practically have to go to school full-time while you also work full-time.”

Some districts, including Prince George’s County in Maryland, had already told paras they would have to move to jobs in non-Title I schools if they were not “highly qualified” by July 1, to avoid shifting people in the middle of the school year.

“Some people could have had to drive many miles to new jobs,” says Wanda Newman, a chapter rep for 1,100 Prince George’s County paras, including 600 Title I paras. “They were very upset. Some don’t have cars because paras are underpaid.” Newman read about the deadline extension on the NEA ESP listserv. She spread the news, and union staffer Adolfo Botello got the school administration to rescind the transfers.

NEA lobbyist Steve Nousen says the federal Department of Education  has been extremely reluctant to change NCLB rules, but this time it bowed to bipartisan pressure from Congress.

The leaders of that effort included two Republicans from Idaho, Rep. Michael Simpson and Sen. Mike Crapo , both of whom were endorsed by NEA when they ran for office. The change was announced in a letter from a federal education official to Rep. Simpson, saying, “your suggestion is reasonable and practical” and promising that the deadline would be pushed back.

“Rep. Simpson and Sen. Crapo are public school graduates and good advocates for public education,” says former Idaho Education Association  President Kathy Phelan. “We disagree with them on many things, but they are open and accessible, and when we find points of agreement, they are willing to spend their political capital to get things done. ”

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September 2005

NEA Today Home | September '05 Contents | Archives

The D Word

Discipline problems weigh on educators today more than ever. But don't despair—there's plenty you can do to knock your challenges down to size.

By Mary Ellen Flannery

On her first day in Misti French's Kentucky classroom, little Sandra with the thick glasses an