NEA BAT Caucus RA 2017 - Summary
BAT NEW BUSINESS ITEMS (26 - 2 referred, 22 adopted, 2 not adopted)
New Business Item 7
ADOPTED
The NEA shall, using existing research and available sources, publish an article in the NEA Today providing the best available information on connections between the school-to-prison pipeline and the government’s practice of privatization of prisons, juvenile detention centers, and immigration detention centers. This article will also share examples of efforts that have successfully reduced, reversed, or ended these privatization schemes.
New Business Item 9
ADOPTED AS MODIFIED
I move that NEA create a training module on trauma-informed instruction that can be accessed by state and local affiliates. This module will be based on best practices and utilize the trauma-informed educational efforts current NEA affiliates are practicing.
New Business Item 19
Becca Ritchie
ADOPTED
NEA will reissue the call to action urging members and the public to join the effort to demand that U.S. Secretary of Education DeVos answer NEA President Lily Eskelsen Garcia’s questions posed in her letter of February 14, 2017.
Jeff Treistman
ADOPTED AS AMENDED
The NEA shall mount a media campaign in the coming school year advocating the preservation and extension of library media programs in public schools and community college libraries across the country that are staffed by professionally trained librarians. The campaign shall consist of both print and digital media in both print and video formats. Publication will be made in media outlets curated by the NEA and other organizations supportive of school library programs such as the American Library Association, School Library Journal, and everylibrary.org as well as the related social media pages maintained by the same organizations and through their outlets.
New Business Item 25
Jen Hall
ADOPTED AS AMENDED
NEA Exit Interview Project – Drawing from the work of state associations and locals that have implemented educational employee exit surveys, the NEA will develop an exit interview tool for locals to use as a guide to exit interview data collection including: leaver demographics, job statuses, years of employment, reason for leaving. This toolkit will advise locals how to use this information to benefit their local and school district.
New Business Item 32
Kimberly Gilles
ADOPTED AS MODIFIED
Through existing resources, NEA will share sample contract language for fully paid parental leave and highlight states that have passed parental leave legislation as well.
New Business Item 41
Sergio Flores
ADOPTED AS AMENDED
The NEA will publicize our support of the right to universal healthcare, and our opposition to assaults on Medicare, Medicaid, educator health insurance plans, and the healthcare of our students and their families. The NEA will publicize our support of efforts in Congress to defend the right to healthcare; we will publicize these positions in our media and through our actions.
New Business Item 45
Sergio Flores
ADOPTED
NEA will educate as many members as possible on, and promote the attitudes, values, and goals of, unionism (solidarity, justice, fairness, and the search for the common good). NEA can accomplish this by expanding its existing resources and trainings.
New Business Item 47
PJ Zive
ADOPTED
NEA will develop and promote resolutions that local associations can introduce at school board meetings calling for county-wide and state-wide moratoria on new charter school authorizations in every state that has legislation authorizing the creation of charter schools.
New Business Item 53
Melissa Tomlinson
ADOPTED AS MODIFIED
The NEA Office of Strategic Alliance (OSA) will review NEA Vetting Guidelines to determine if they operate in the highest socially responsible manner to include parameters that will protect not only the best interests of public education and labor, but also the best interest of our students, educators, and community members. If found to be lacking, additional guidelines will be added to the vetting process and the new vetting guidelines will be communicated to membership.
New Business Item 57
Melissa Tomlinson
ADOPTED AS AMENDED
Through existing digital channels, NEA will publish an article about research compiled and methods employed to positively address chronic absenteeism.
New Business Item 61
Melissa Tomlinson
REFERRED TO THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
NEA will publish a statement through existing channels about how the prohibitive costs of teacher certification programs are creating barriers for underrepresented pre-service educators.
New Business Item 71
Phil Sorenson
ADOPTED
NEA will provide model language for locals seeking to protect members who have a concern about data being collected on students and who wish to voice their concern to parents without retribution from their employer. This language should be created for collective bargaining or other processes for affiliates as needed.
This information will be posted on mynea360.org (in the appropriate online community).
New Business Item 73
Julianna Dauble
ADOPTED
NEA will investigate and report findings in NEA Today or mynea360.org regarding:
1. What is determined to be the weakest aspects of federal student data privacy laws (e.g. FERPA – Federal Education Records Privacy Act; COPPA – Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule; PPRA – Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment; HIPAA – Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) that may allow entities outside the classroom-student-parent-district relationships to collect and use student data (regardless if the data is considered ‘personally identifiable’ or not or if the data is used for ‘educational purposes’).
2. Specific cases in which student data collected by computerized programs were used in ways parents were unaware of and subsequently opposed.
3. If appropriate, a description of what recourse parents have in various jurisdictions when they learn that their child’s data is misused.
4. Recommendations for how states and school districts can strengthen policies for: student data privacy, parental consent, transparency in data collection, and opt-out provisions for computer-based learning or testing.
5. Which states or local jurisdictions have done an exemplary job disclosing to parents in a coherent and comprehensive format what non-school based entities receive their students’ data.
6. School districts that provide clear opt-out policies for parents that do not want their child’s data shared outside of the school district community.
7. Ways educators and school systems can provide alternatives to computerized learning when parents request less screen time for their child at school.
New Business Item 74
Carrie Odgers Lax
ADOPTED AS MODIFIED
NEA will release, through existing channels, a statement to encourage the inclusion of training on implicit bias as a component of professional development for all education employees and preparation programs and/or certification requirements.
New Business Item 78
Tracey Drum
ADOPTED AS MODIFIED
Using existing research and available resources, the NEA shall do the following:
1. Publish an article in NEA Today on the racist origins of standardized testing.
2. Make policy recommendations on assessment.
3. Communicate findings, policy recommendations, and examples of language in ESSA plans that locals, districts, and states have agreed upon that exemplify educationally just practices for assessment through existing communications channels.
New Business Item 79
Amy Mizialko
ADOPTED AS AMENDED
The NEA shall provide direct organizing support to locals and state affiliates who form or expand Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools (AROS), community tables, and coalitions to defeat any voucher plan and organize for the world class public schools all of our students deserve. NEA will provide organizing support up to $125,000.
New Business Item 85
Libby Black-Walker
ADOPTED AS MODIFIED
NEA shall publicize, through existing communication channels and/or an article in NEA Today, a comparison chart and analysis comparing average salaries of education professionals versus comparable (by education, certification, and professional development responsibilities) professions and their gender demographics.
New Business Item 86
Deb McCarthy
ADOPTED AS MODIFIED AND REFERRED TO THE ANNUAL MEETING REVIEW COMMITTEE
For the 2018 RA, NEA will thoroughly review and evaluate RA exhibitors’ materials for information that is offensive, obscene, or in bad taste. Based on the findings of the review the NEA will enforce its standing rules 12.B (b) and 12.B (d) as they relate to exhibitors found in violation of the aforementioned rules. Because of concerns brought by 2017 RA delegates, special scrutiny will be made to the following exhibitors:
- NEA Ex-Gay Educators
- Creation Truth Outreach
- Creation Science Educators
New Business Item 98
Lisa Morrison
ADOPTED AS AMENDED
The NEA will advocate for the removal or revision of developmentally inappropriate standards from state standards, including Common Core State Standards and alternative standards.
New Business Item 100
Peter Henry
OTHER
Consolidated with NBI 22
Direct the PAC Council to determine a workable method for canvassing membership regarding their preference for President and publicizing the results prior to the recommendation by the PAC council for President of the U.S. in 2020.
New Business Item 110
Ashley Olson
REFERRED TO THE APPROPRIATE COMMITTEE
Using existing digital properties and media resources, NEA shall publish six articles online to educate members about different contract bargaining strategies. Articles will include, but not be limited to, various negotiation strategies in current use by NEA affiliates, their successes and failures with those strategies, as well as the labor and management environments where successful strategies flourish.
New Business Item 135
Gina Garro
ADOPTED AS MODIFIED
NEA will investigate and produce a research analysis of computer-based programs, often wrongly promoted as “personalized” or “competency-based” learning programs, that use learning analytics to simply customize standardized learning and replace human educators with digital training and tracking systems.
New Business Item 153
Erika Strauss Chavarria/ Caren Burns
ADOPTED AS MODIFIED
The NEA will address the racial and environmental injustices surrounding the Flint, Michigan water crisis and the impacts it is having on student, educators and the community as a whole by taking the following immediate actions to counter this issue:
- Make electronic tools and resources available for identifying the signs and symptoms of possible lead poisoning to all NEA members. These materials should be dispersible to classrooms and the communities of those impacted by lead poisoning.
- Make materials, resources, and trainings available in order to implement restorative justice practices with the Flint school system suffering from the physical and social-emotional impacts of lead-poisoning-based trauma.
- Make electronic materials and resources available including lessons and activities to discuss and acknowledge the impact of this crisis.
- Reach out to existing community organizations to provide support to ensure all student needs are addressed and all schools in the city of Flint, Michigan have clean and safe drinking water.
- Create an article in EdVotes.org, highlighting the continuing lead crisis in Flint, MI. The article would include existing videos including “ask me” and “appointment” written by 2017 NEA Social Justice Activist of the Year finalist Jessyca Mathews, to further educate and publicize this issue.
BAT RESOLUTIONS AMENDMENTS (6 - 4 adopted, 2 referred)
Amendment 12
Amy Perruso
ADOPTED
A-4. Shared Responsibility for Support of Public Education
Amend by addition on page 5, line 7 of the yellow book:
The Association further believes that public education should be publicly and democratically controlled, without undue influence in decision-making on the part of any private interests, including, but not limited to, business concerns and philanthropic organizations.
Amendment 13
Pamela Greenhalgh
REFERRED TO THE RESOLUTIONS COMMITTEE
A-6. Parental Involvement
Amend by addition on page 5, line 19 of the yellow book:
The Association believes that laws which circumvent authentic parental and community involvement are detrimental to the partnership between parents and educators, such as, but not limited to, current so-called “trigger” laws being unethically usurped by entities outside of school districts, to which the Association is strongly opposed.
Amendment 15
Sue Doherty
ADOPTED
B-2. Independent Reading Skills
Amend by addition on page 6, line 35 of the yellow book:
Students at all levels should have access to independent reading choices through school libraries in their buildings that are staffed by certified school library teachers. Teachers at all levels should be encouraged to use certified school library media center teachers’ expertise to address the diverse needs of students.
Amendment 20
Soozie Hetterscheidt
ADOPTED
B-72. School Library Media Programs
Amend by addition on page 38, lines 75-76 of the white book:
This program should include a full-time certified/licensed school library media specialist and qualified education support professionals in every school;
Amendment 26
Dolly Rowan
ADOPTED
D-21. Education Employee Evaluation
Amend by deletion and addition on page 13, line 41 of the yellow book:
Components of effective evaluation must include indicators of teacher practices, teacher contribution and growth, and contribution to student learning and growth and/or development.
Dolly Rowan
REFERRED TO THE RESOLUTIONS COMMITTEE
D-21. Education Employee Evaluation
Amend by deletion and addition on page 13, line 43 of the yellow book:
High quality, developmentally appropriate standardized tests teacher selected assessments that provide valid, reliable, timely, and relevant information regarding student learning and growth and/or development may be used as an indicator for quality, formative evaluation.
BAT LEGISLATIVE AMENDMENTS (2 - 2 adopted)
Legislative Amendment 1
Becca Ritchie
ADOPTED AS MODIFIED
Section: Human and Civil Rights
Page 29 line 44
Add new item
NEA opposes
- federal funding and support for privatization of prisons, juvenile detention centers, immigration detention facilities, and other similar facilities at the local, state, and federal level.
- federal funding and support of all aspects of the prison industrial complex and criminal justice system, from arrest through re-entry, by for-profit entities.
Legislative Amendment 8
Erika Strauss Chavarria
ADOPTED
Section: Environment
Page 24 line 30
Add new item
NEA supports
- legislation that ensures regular testing of water sources for all schools and communities and timely reporting of results to parents and communities.
BAT Policy Amendments (3 - 3 adopted)
Policy Amendment A-1
Conrad Floeter
ADOPTED
States should entertain appeals from approvals or denials of charters only on the narrow grounds that the local process for approving a charter was not properly followed or that the approval or denial of a charter was arbitrary or illegal.
Policy Amendment A-4
Jim Mordecai
ADOPTED
Language deletion
Policy Amendment A-7
Melissa Tomlinson
ADOPTED
C. Unless both the basic safeguards and process detailed above are met, no charter school should be authorized and NEA will support state and local moratoriums on further charter authorizations in the school district.
Thank you to the amazing 2017 NEA BAT Caucus
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.