Note to NEA RA: Support for endorsement waning?
The Twitter buzz is that floor fights over an early no strings Obama endorsement and the Policy Statement on accountability and teacher evaluation will be front and center at the NEA RA starting tomorrow in Chicago.
But don’t bet on it.
The National Council of Urban Education Associations (NCUEA), which met earlier this week in anticipation of the RA, failed to support the early endorsement or the policy statement.
This might be seen as sending a message to NEA President Dennis Van Roekel that the votes aren’t there for either one, or that the fight over both or either would be so bruising as to be not worth it.
“Dennis doesn’t like to lose,” one NEA leader told me. DVR may pull both off the floor.
Meanwhile the surprise fight may be over a resolution to change the NEA’s traditional opposition to merit pay. The NEA leadership may try and bring that to the floor.
The NCUEA voted against any changes to resolutions, which should be interpreted as opposition to the merit pay change.
The fun starts tomorrow.
A meretricious relationship, to paraphrase Diane Ravitch.
Please, please, please don’t vote in favor of endorsing Obama or merit pay! If either of those go through, then Arne Duncan will be able to say with apparent credibility that America’s teachers support his policies, and that persons like Diane Ravitch don’t represent us. Adopting either of those policy statements will be very damaging.