Ahhh...Once again it’s time for the school bells to ring. Our children and young men and women will enter our public schools to return to the process of education. This summer at our NEA-Retired Annual Meeting, I challenged attendees to mind their Ps and Qs—to establish a purpose/plan based on priorities and to make it a priority to prepare and persevere and to feel the power this gives you. I also reminded members that their goal should be personal to them. So, how are we doing as a new school year rolls around?
We are all in this together. These students are ours; yes, ours because we are all part of the team that believes public education is the last best hope for democracy in our nation. We still see the faces of our former students, and believe in our professionals and the importance of their work. Anything we can do to help our colleagues in their active role of educator, anything we can do to support our schools and the students who are enrolled there, and anything we can do for public education is our job.
I probably don’t need to remind you that all the above takes money in the political realm to change faces when we can’t change minds. NEA-Retired is committed to reaching all our members to ask for donations for the NEA Fund. Unless we want to see more of the same—cutbacks in education funding, more recommendations for less, but to do more from the Secretary of Education, parents and children separated, family health and care diminished—then we must give and be a part of the big picture for change.
Please give to the NEA Fund. Some have said they are never asked. Well, I’m asking you now! Send contributions to The NEA Fund; 1201 16th St. N.W.; Washington, DC 20036. Regardless of which side of the aisle you favor, we can agree that our students, our schools, and our profession need our support.
