perhaps she can post a Give the NEA...A Chance...Video..om youtube!!!
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Lily Eskelsen García, an elementary teacher from Utah, is Vice President of the National Education Association. She is one of the highest-ranking labor leaders in the country and one of its most influential Hispanic educators.
Lily was president of the Utah State Retirement System, only the second woman to ever be elected to the position; president of the Children at Risk Foundation; and was a member of the White House Strategy Session on Improving Hispanic Education.
She often works with coalitions to engage the public in the political process, and she herself was the first Hispanic to run for Congress in her state, raising almost $1 million and taking 45 percent of the vote against the incumbent.
She has been featured on MSNBC and CNN en Español.
She believes that no matter how students arrive, and no matter what their learning conditions, their home conditions or their health conditions, that educators have the sacred duty to be professionals and to care for the whole child.
http://lilysblackboard.org/about/
Support the DREAMERS
#BringBackOurInfluence
I have been so busy lately I haven’t been able to keep up with the most recent supreme court ruling concerning unions. Could the ruling in anyway impact teacher’s unions? I sure hope so. The democrats will have to find another way to extort campaign funds.
In 1998 she attempted to put her 20 years of experience working with small children to practical use by becoming her party’s nominee for the U.S. Congress.
Her advice has been published in Parenting magazine and she has been featured on MSNBC, CNN en Español and as the noble opposition on Fox & Friends.
In 2000, she served as a member of President Bill Clinton’s White House Strategy Session on Improving Hispanic Education, and in 2011, President Obama named her a member of the President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics.
Eskelsen García is a national leader among Hispanic educators; she addressed the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI) Public Policy Conference in September 2008.
Her union leadership has included writing protest songs, including one about the No Child Left Behind Act. As vice president, she has been part of NEA’s recent emphasis on working with the American labor movement; she appeared in Washington, D.C. on December 10, 2009, with labor leaders from the Teamsters and the AFL-CIO to speak out against taxing health-care benefits, where she said, “We should tax the millionaires, not teachers and bus drivers.
Abolish it
One of my best friends, a teacher of 15 years, submitted her resignation because of Common Core. She doesn’t even know what she’ll do next, she just knew she couldn’t do THAT.
She is not alone. This country is being wrecked.
Eskelsen García brought the message into her meeting with students, drawing the connection between union membership and education and explaining how a national union of 3 million members finds its power in grass-roots organizing. “The union creates a circle of influence to achieve the education goals our members want,” she said.
“There are those motivated by greed and fear,” said Eskelsen García, describing interests that advocate putting colleges and universities in private hands and shrinking public funding for higher education. “At the NEA, we believe the business of education is to open students’ minds.”
http://www.massteacher.org/news/archive/2013/eskelsen_umass.aspx
Eskelsen García: We Are Fearless and We Will Not Be Silent
NEA president-elect Lily Eskelsen García, after praising those who have supported and worked in concert with her, concluded NEA’s 152nd Annual Meeting with a strong message to those “who don’t know what they’re talking about”: We will not be silent
“We,” of course, refers to the three million educators who know what’s best for students, learning, and the teaching profession.
“We know what is at stake and it is why we are who we are. It is why we are fearless and why we will not be silent when people who for their own profit and political posture subvert words like ‘reform’ or ‘accountability.’”
The thousands of delegates who filled the Denver convention center also got a taste of Eskelsen García’s grit when she reflected on the 1992 presidential campaign of the then-candidate Gov. Bill Clinton whose slogan made headlines: It’s the Economy, Stupid.
“For us, one thing is clear, before anything is going to get better: It’s the Testing, Stupid. Better yet, it’s the stupid testing,” she said, referring to the “phony” accountability system that has hurt students and demeaned the teaching profession.
Becky Pringle, a middle school physical science teacher from Harrisburg, Pa., was elected as NEA vice president, making her now one of the highest-ranking African-American female leaders in the labor movement.
Pringle served since 2008 as NEA secretary-treasurer, where she oversaw the fiscal integrity of the organization while advocating on professional issues important to educators and students, as well as issues of equity in education, diversity in the classroom, and human and civil rights.
“As vice president of the nation’s largest union of educators, I will work to ensure that NEA lives up to its rich history and legacy of human and civil rights, which is the foundation for realizing a great public school for every student.”
Rounding out the top three NEA leadership positions and making NEA the first major union to be led by three women of color, Princess Moss was elected secretary-treasurer. Her responsibilities will include overseeing the multimillion dollar budget and fiscal integrity of the organization.
NEA’s delegates have elected some extraordinary leaders who will continue to push for equity in education and carry on the organization’s commitment to student-centered union leadership and our commitment to social justice,” said outgoing NEA President Dennis Van Roekel, who leaves the term-limited post after six years.
http://neatoday.org/2014/07/06/eskelsen-garcia-we-are-fearless-and-we-will-not-be-silent/
Teachers Union VP: Gun Rights Supporters “Are Going to Hell”
Kyle Olson | Jun 26, 2013
NEA Vice President Lily Eskelsen Garcia even believes she looked into their souls and determined that NRA leaders and supporters “are going to hell.”
“I’m not an ordained minister, I’m not a theologian, but these guys are going to hell,” she said at the annual Netroots Nation conference last week, according to Mercury News.
“We have to make those senators as frightened of us as they are of the gun lobby,” she reportedly said. “Shame on us if we give one inch to the gun lobby. They got where they are because they never give up. ... Now the movement is us; we are the ones we were waiting for.”
Eskelsen García ran for Congress in 1998 as a Democrat in a district that included Salt Lake City. Her campaign was criticized for its negativity, and she lost badly.
She also says she will continue to use her Teacher of the Year recognition (1989), as she did in Utah, to disarm critics. “I did it shamelessly because people really do respect teachers, and it didn’t fit their mental model of a union activist,” she says.
“We feel embattled,” Eskelsen García says. “People have decided to take us out in a metaphorical war.”
Eskelsen García says it’s not just unions that are at risk, but the entire public education system. As a leader, she knows the motivating value of identifying and vilifying an enemy to build unity among her members. Among those she counts as enemies of public education are proponents of charter schools and vouchers. She said their goal is to “show that public schools have failed and can’t be trusted and they are going to swoop in with their answer,” which is privatization of public education.
Eskelsen García and other union leaders also see themselves as under attack by “self-described” education reformers and centrist Democrats who favor charter schools, performance evaluations that factor in student achievement, and changes to long-standing practices that mean teachers hired last lose their jobs first in the event of budget cuts or declines in enrollment.
Eskelsen García can be blunt, as when last summer she told a group of liberal bloggers that supporters of gun rights “are going to hell.” Urging the audience to take action, she said, “We have to make the senators as frightened of us as they are of the gun lobby…. Shame on us if we give one inch.”
Eskelsen García is equally adamant that current policies that stress testing, accountability, and school choice are wrong for kids as well as for teachers. “You know, when something’s stupid you have to call it stupid,” she said in an interview.
Yet Eskelsen García is a big fan of another prominent “reform,” the common core academic standards now being instituted in schools across the country (see “The Common Core Takes Hold” and “Navigating the Common Core,” features, Summer 2014). Although critics have said teachers were not involved, she says expert teachers marked up drafts with red pens, and the authors of the standards agreed to most of their changes. “Every time I turned the page I thought, my God, this is how I teach, it really was,” she says. “Critical thinking skills, collaborate on problem solving, create, design, give me evidence of, give me your opinion and tell me why I should believe you, and organize a project.”
Eskelsen García portrays teachers as hardworking heroes who are under attack by wealthy, implacable, money-hungry foes. “The folks in this room are putting battle gear on,” she said later. “They are fearless warriors.”
To help bolster the professional image, Van Roekel persuaded the union’s representative assembly to dun members $3 apiece annually over 10 years to amass a $60 million Great Public Schools Fund the union could invest in the ideas of NEA members.
The goal of the defense is to block state initiatives that would weaken the union as well as to preserve the victories the NEA has made in the past.
The defensive effort also includes campaigns to fight legislation, such as the successful 2007 campaign in Utah to overturn a state law promoting vouchers for online schools, and the campaign in Ohio to reverse a law that took away most collective-bargaining rights from public-sector unions.
http://educationnext.org/teacher-year-union-president/
The teacher scholarship fund endowed by Ruel and Lily, “Maestros Para Los Niños”, made payable to the University of Utah.
This fund is available to students seeking to become elementary or secondary school teachers at the University of Utah College of Education who have demonstrated a commitment to working with the Latino community.
*******
Her son...
Gay Marriage: Jeremy Eskelsen and Michael Hargreaves
July 24, 2008 Features0203
When did you get married?
We actually had our wedding Sept. 10, 2005 — here in Utah at the First Unitarian Church, but then again legally June 17, 2008 in Los Angeles at the Albertson Wedding Chapel.
http://gaysaltlake.com/news/2008/07/24/gay-marriage-jeremy-eskelsen-and-michael-hargreaves/
Please keep NEA Vice President Lily Eskelsen in your thoughts this week. Her husband passed away on Friday. Below is his obituary and a note that she has written to her NEA friends.
Ruel Eskelsen: In Loving Memory
Mar 22nd, 2011 by LilysBlackboard.
Ruel Eskelsen, husband of NEA Vice President Lily Eskelsen, died in Washington, D.C. on March 18. He was a devoted husband to his wife of 38 years, and a generous and kind father to their two sons.
Ruel J. Eskelsen was born June 18, 1954, in Durango, Colorado, to Quinn and Ruth Eskelsen of Brigham City.
He lived a life full of love. Ruel loved books and jazz and hiking everywhere, but especially in our national parks.He earned a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Utah and received his master’s degree in Library Science from Emporia State University in Kansas. He was proud to be a veteran of the U.S. Army and was an active member of the Unitarian Church.
He is survived by his wife, Lily, their sons, Jeremy (Mike Hargreaves) Eskelsen and Jared Eskelsen, his father, Quinn M. Eskelsen, his brothers, David (Carla) Eskelsen, Doug Eskelsen, his sister, Amy (Don Standing) Eskelsen, and his grandchildren Quentin Smith and Nikita Eskelsen.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the teacher scholarship fund endowed by Ruel and Lily, “Maestros Para Los Niños”, made payable to the University of Utah.
This fund is available to students seeking to become elementary or secondary school teachers at the University of Utah College of Education who have demonstrated a commitment to working with the Latino community.
Scholarship donations should be sent to University of Utah c/o Maestros Para Los Ninos Endowed Scholarship Fund, 540 Arapeen Dr., Suite 250, Salt Lake City, UT 84108.
Sympathy cards may also be sent to Lily and Ruel’s children:
Jeremy Eskelsen and Jared Eskelsen,
c/o National Education Association
1201 16th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036-3290
You can also share your condolences on Ruel’s Obituary page
Sympathy cards may also be sent to Lily and Ruel’s chidren:
Jeremy Eskelsen
Mark Hargreaves
2906 Ash Point Dr
Eagle Mountain, UT 84005
Jared Eskelsen
Inmate #42555
Utah State Prison
PO Box 250
Draper, UT 84020
Lily’s Note
My Dear, Dear Friends,
The outpouring of love and kindness overwhelms me and my family. You did not know that my gentle Ruel suffered depression to the point that finally he could not think through the pain. I found him when it was too late when I came home from work on Friday. It has taken me these days with my son, Jeremy, and my sisters and brothers and our Mom to work through what happened. There are, of course, no answers when there is the darkness of mental illness. Ruel did not decide to end his life. The mental illness took my sweet husband away.
I have had so many of you ask what you can do. I woke up at 3am this morning thinking of a way that only you can help. I need you to write a letter.
Our second son, Jared, is in prison for theft. We adopted Jared when he was only 4 and he was already being treated for conduct disorders. Jared is not violent, but throughout his life his has acted out of anger for the abandonment, neglect and abuse he suffered in this early years. He steals. But I have always known him to be kind and generous and he was very, very close to his father. He called us twice a week just to hear a friendly voice, and he loved talking to Ruel about the latest book he was reading. He was hysterical when I had to tell him that his father was gone.
Jared is not allowed to go to the memorial service on Saturday in Salt Lake City. He has not reached a level where he is allowed such a privilege. I am not angry. I want you to know that the Utah Education Association made personal appeals to the Governor and that the NEA made personal appeals to Senator Hatch and Congressman Matheson. I want you to know that the Governor, the Senator and the Congressman all put aside partisanship and generously tried whatever they could do to help. I am grateful to them all for the attempt. But the law could not be put aside, and I accept that.
But you know that my friend, Dennis, is always asking us: When someone says, “no”, what can we do without anyone’s permission? In this case, we can show Jared that he is not alone. Not really. I am asking anyone with a pen and a piece of paper to write my little boy a short note telling him that they know he loved his Dad and that his Dad loved him. He loved going to his basketball games and he loved taking him camping and finding constellations of stars, all of us lying on the trampoline looking up at the night sky from the backyard, and he loved cooking dinner for him, even the time it upset Jared that he was making a ham stir fry and Jared cried because he thought he was cooking a “hamster” fry.
I write to Jared three times a week. Imagine if he got thousands of letters, all reminding him that he is loved. Jared may not receive any cards with glitter, glue or objects taped on. A simple card or better yet, a note, would make him feel the love that he will not be able to feel personally on Saturday. We are having the service video-taped, and I promised him that when he is out, our family will all sit together and watch it with him so that we can laugh and cry and hug. This is a great comfort to him.
When his birth mother died he was 3, his foster family did not take him to the funeral. He talked about that when he was older. For a long time, he thought it meant she wasn’t really dead and that we were hiding it from him. It will be so hard for him to miss this service, and he understands that there are consequences for the action that put him in jail. He takes responsibility for that and does not blame anyone but himself. But this pain is bad enough. I don’t think I could bear it without all the arms that have held me in these last days. He has no one to hold him while his brother and I prepare things here. I wanted him to feel arms holding him, and now I want to do the next best thing. I want each of you to hold him in your love for me and for Ruel, and he will feel it as each letter comes in.
Will you do this for me?
You can reach him at:
Jared Eskelsen
Inmate #42555. Offender #141478
Utah State Prison
P. O. Box 250
Draper, Utah 84020
Be sure that if you send a card, it has no glitter or glue. Please do this kind thing to bring some peace to a child who has had precious little peace in his life. And please pass this on to any other person who might help.
I love you all,
Lily Eskelsen
Win back the public, sure.
How about no more “rubber rooms” for bad teachers, rewarding good performance, and not having crap curriculum like Rainbow, goals 2000, and common core!
80% illiteracy rate... from those that have graduated
helping people read and write would go a long way towards restoring the public’s opinion towards ‘teachers’
The very fact that the NEA has to “rebrand” itself to “win back the parents” tells you how evil it is.
Ah - so THAT's the issue... They haven't stood up to "the conservatives" enough! LOL
But unions have been explaining that to the public for more than a year — and emphasized that point over and over in the Vergara trial — and it hasn’t notably shifted public opinion. And while Eskelsen García hopes to banish the word “tenure,” which she says has negative connotations, no amount of union pressure can stop opponents from using the phrase.
Again - It isn't the issue that "tenure", the concept, has placed near impossible requirements in the way of handling teacher malfeasance or incompetence, it is the fact that people don't like the WORD "tenure".
She might or might not play a mean guitar, but there is nothing new in her agenda - she will keep the NEA marching staunchly leftward, while corrupting the minds of America's youth.
According to Ms. Garcia, all of you radical folks who support Constitutional rights are going to hell:
http://www.guns.com/2013/06/29/second-amendment-supporters-are-going-to-hell-says-nea-vice-president/