Late last night I heard a spokesperson for the NEA on a talk show, Lars Larson (I beleive that's his name). The one thing that REALLY made me laugh was when she stated in response to the accusation that the NEA was a liberal organization, that teachers represented the local communities in which they work. Yeah....right lady.
The NEA is power hungry. They do not represent any community.
Report on the NEA's 2005 Annual Meeting, held this week in Los Angeles (from Education Week's onsite reporter, Linda Jacobson):
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/NEA/
In case you can't access it, here are a few excerpts:
"The rally and march against California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s education spending plans had begun."
"...the NEA also plans to dispatch some staff to California—and spend some money—to help fight the governor’s initiative to suspend Proposition 98,..."
"I watched them head north on Figueroa Street, shouting “Hey, Hey, Ho, Ho—Schwarzenegger has got to go!"
"...the pin she was wearing clipped to her denim MTA [Massachusetts Teacher Association] shirt that shows a picture of President Bush and reads '1000 Points of Light; 1 Dim Bulb.'"
(In one section, the reporter notes the similarities between the NEA convention and the Democratic Convention of last summer.)
"Speeches about the “broken promises” of Republicans sound rather familiar as well."
"A thunderous “boo” exploded from the crowd when California Teachers Association President Barbara Kerr mentioned 'the governor of California,'..."
"As a resident of Los Angeles, I also got my first chance to see and hear our new mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa. He used to organize members for the United Teachers of Los Angeles,..."
"I saw a couple “Recall Arnold” T-shirts, which wasn’t too surprising, given the tone of some of the opening remarks."