Chandler delegates Dawn Koberstein and Kim Christ show off their patriotic spirit at the NEA RA on July 4, 2011.
It was another long day, but a good one. The 4th of July is always a fun day at the RA, and everyone goes out of their way to show their patriotism by wearing all kinds of crazy red, white and blue. This year was no exception, as you can see from the picture. There is always a very moving 4th of July celebration at the RA, too, and this year’s celebration focused on the 40th anniversary of the 26th Amendment which changed the national voting age from 21 to 18. NEA student members actually played a large role in the adoption of that Amendment, and several of those student members were honored today at the celebration. Along with the music presented, it really was great.
We got to some important business today, with the biggest news of the day being that we voted to endorse President Obama for reelection in 2012. This was pretty controversial, because a lot of people a) think it’s too early to do that, b) are not happy with Obama’s educational policies, or c) both. But the vote passed with a 72%-28% margin, which is pretty clear cut. It will be interesting to see how this is portrayed in the media.
The other notable item of the day was approving a rather large and broad policy statement on teacher evaluation and accountability. The biggest controversy here was that this policy statement allowed for standardized testing to be used when evaluating teachers … but ONLY if it was not the only factor in the evaluation, and ONLY if the test is proven to be a scientifically valid and reliable of measuring student progress (according to NEA, no existing standardized test meets this requirement, so we will work to find or create tests that do). Many people were upset that standardized tests were being “legitimized” but after a heated debate, we did approve the policy statements.
Confetti rains down on delegates at the conclusion of the 4th of July celebration at the 2011 NEA RA.
The fact that we considered the two most controversial items on the same day was kind of interesting, but it didn’t detract from the good spirit the delegates had on the 4th of July. There was even a marriage proposal that occurred at a microphone and on the large screens in the convention hall … in front of 8,000 people! Luckily she said yes. 
The city of Chicago doesn’t have any official fireworks tonight, but there are some happening at Navy Pier. Only one more day to go, and since tomorrow’s meeting goes as long as it has to so we can get through all of our business, we’re all hoping for a short meeting as well as a good night’s sleep.
Happy Fourth of July, everyone!
