Newsroom>2009 NEA RA

Nearly 10,000 Educators Gather for Annual Dialogue  

NEA hosts its Annual Meeting and Representative Assembly in San Diego June 27–July 6. for daily coverage, please go to http://www.nea.org/grants/1357.htm. 

Nearly 10,0000 educators will join colleagues from across the country for their annual dialogue on issues facing their schools, their students and their profession during the National Education Association’s 147th Annual Meeting, 88th Representative Assembly (RA) and related preconvention activities, June 27–July 6 in San Diego, Calif.   

The RA is the highest decision-making body within the over 3.2 million-member NEA and with nearly 10,000 delegates, it is also the world's largest democratic deliberative body.   

In addition to discussing, debating and voting on critical issues facing public education, the teachers and education support professionals will also set Association policy for the coming year. This year’s gathering will be the first presided over by Association leadership elected during the 2008 RA: NEA President Dennis Van Roekel, Vice President Lily Eskelsen and Secretary-Treasurer Becky Pringle. 

HIGHLIGHTS:

Saturday, June 27

More than 300 student and retired educators will volunteer in the daylong revitalization of a needy, local school. Outreach to Teach will be held at Balboa Elementary School, 1844 S. 40th Street in San Diego from 7:45 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The NEA Student Program started Outreach to Teach in 1996 to give back to a local school in the city hosting the Annual Meeting.  

Sunday and Monday, June 28–29

Recognizing the need to continue to work for social justice for NEA members and their students, educators will address issues of diversity, social justice and equality during the Joint Conference on Concerns of Minorities and Women. The two-day event at the Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego, One Market Place, attracts 1,000 participants and features noted experts and scholars providing in-depth commentary on key issues.  

Tuesday, June 30

The San Diego Padres will trade in their baseball caps for signature Seuss reading hats to kick off weeklong NEA’s Read Across America events and activities at the 36 San Diego Public Libraries to promote summer reading. Padres players, NEA leaders and the Cat in the Hat will read Seuss classics to hundreds of local schoolchildren during the kickoff event at Petco Park from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. NEA’s Read Across America is the nation’s largest reading event and is designed to show kids summer reading can be just as fun as a day at the ballpark.  

Thursday, July 2

·         NEA President Dennis Van Roekel and Executive Director John Wilson will welcome Secretary of Education Arne Duncan as the secretary brings his “Listening and Learning” tour across America to the NEA Annual Meeting. The secretary will field questions and hear directly from hundreds of educators about their experiences, challenges and resources they need to educate the next generation of students. The town hall type exchange will begin at 10 a.m. in Room 6A of the San Diego Convention Center.

·         During the Minority Community Outreach Forum, “Crossroads of Change: Minority Communities on the Brink,” educators, scholars, authors, policy experts and elected officials from the ethnic minority community will discuss the issues of race, education and culture in America. The forum will be held at the San Diego Convention Center in Room 8 from 2 p.m.–4 p.m.

·         Recipients of NEA’s human and civil rights awards are honored for their commitment to advancing the cause of equal opportunity, improving relationships between diverse groups and expanding educational opportunities for minority students and educators. Awardees are paid tribute to during the 2009 NEA Human and Civil Rights Awards Dinner, 7:30 p.m., in the ballroom of the San Diego Convention Center.  

Friday, July 3

·         NEA President Dennis Van Roekel will mark the first day of the RA with the delivery of his inaugural keynote address.

·         NEA will bestow its America’s Greatest Education Governor award. 

Saturday, July 4

·         Kathie Axtell, an afterschool program creator and special education trainer from the Olympia School District in the state of Washington, will address delegates as the 2009 Education Support Professional of the Year.

·         The Association will honor the 2009 NEA Friend of Education Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond, education adviser to Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, and currently the Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education at Stanford University.  

Monday, July 6

The National Teacher of the Year will address delegates. NEA member and former police officer Anthony Mullen is a special education teacher at the ARCH School, an alternative education branch of Greenwich High School in Greenwich, Conn.  

Requests for media credentials should be directed to Heather Griffin at hgriffin@nea.org or by calling (202) 822-7823. For more information and a full listing of scheduled events: http://www.nea.org/grants/1357.htm.