Long day today but longer tomorrow! We started at 7AM w/California Caucus meeting. I had to report to the State Contact Table to pick up the tracking sheet for CA positions to deliver to the Virginia Delegation. We first heard candidates for the resolutions committee and then, while David gave his Sacramento update, we voted on the candidates. The news from Sacramento is awful and we are being asked to call our legislators again. The Governor has called an emergency meeting of the legislature to suspend Prop 98--the guarantee of minimum funding for education. It is too late to get a parade permit but something will occur on the floor at the RA. We then went through 10 Standing Rule Amendments, 5 Bylaw Amendments and 15 New Business Items! I recorded all of our positions, support or oppose, for Virginia. We adjourned at 9AM and I reported to the CTA Office to pick up the day's gifts for my state contact and her president as well as the postcards that their delegates will fill out in support of our budget positions--these will be delivered to the governor by hand. At this point we went to the Exhibits at the Convention Center---too many booths to visit and so little time :)
At 10:30 we went to the floor of the RA and located our seats. I'm on an aisle so that I can easily get to the Virginia delegation if necessary and Randi is next to me. CA is seated down front and we sit with our Santa Clara County Service Center. The whole experience is exciting but the opening moments with loud music, people dancing and clapping, beach balls in the air in some delegations, funny hats and then confetti when we actually convened. The opening which included the Color Guard from Coronado Navel Base, the Pledge of Allegiance, the National Anthem, and an Invocation were all impressive. David Sanchez greeted the delegates and introduced the Host Committee. The recognized past NEA Presidents and related the highlight of their time in office which was very interesting. We then voted on the Standing Rules Amendments. The process w/regard to the order and recognition of speakers was interesting. If you wanted to speak you had to submit a form and each mike had a phone where the info was called in and the tech folks had the person's name and pro or con or the amendment on the screens and on the VP's screen at their Mike. They instantly tracked how many pro or con, what order they were received in, etc. Each delegation had a way of letting their delegation know what their caucus' position had been--our were signs that had a green up arrow that said "Caucus Recommends Yes", one for no and then if something was amended the sign would say "Leadership recommends...". You vote however you want these are just recommendations. Some caucuses had flags that were red, green, and yellow, etc.
I'm sure you can find President Dennis Van Roeckel's speech elsewhere but the emphasis was on the need or all of us to get involved and to work to make change and transformation to happen. There was no lunch break--I think that logistically they couldn't release over 10,000 people at one time so people would leave and come back with lunch. (We had a ten minute break at 3 :) ) We then moved on to discussion of New Business Items--more interesting discussions and I have their text if you are interested.
Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico was there to receive the Education Governor Award. What he has accomplished there is truly amazing. His teachers' salaries went from 46th to 36th in the country. He got rid of the State Board Of Education and created a Cabinet post and an advisory committee. He really got out and listened to teachers and involved them in the planning and changes. Really interesting--you might want to look up the text of that speech.
Randi and I then drove to Cardiff by the Sea to meet her son and his girlfriend for dinner. A long day that varied from moving to interesting to impressive and back!
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