I’m drinking coffee from a paper cup in the ballroom of the Omni Hotel in Atlanta.
It is the last day of the annual meeting of the NEA. Tomorrow morning I fly home.
Sweet home.
I’m ready.
As a retired delegate I had the privilege of doing all this for longer since they hold the annual Retired Conference for three days prior to the start of the Representative Assembly.
But being with the my retired colleagues has been a pleasure. An absolute pleasure. My time here has been filled by stories of the old days, the days when there were two national teacher organizations – one white and one black, the days before Illinois teachers had the right to collectively bargain a contract and the days when school administrators ran the NEA.
Between the stories there are the debates.
Common Core.
High stakes testing.
How aggressively should the organization pursue the defense of our collective bargaining rights.
What should be the role of the union in advancing social justice issues. Voting rights. Women’s rights. Gay and lesbian rights.
And then there are the discussions at the hotel bar with teachers from across Illinois.
It is there that you hear the tough stories.
What the loss of tenure and seniority rights have meant in big suburban high schools and small rural elementary schools in southern Illinois.
How new evaluation rules have been used to get rid of senior teachers who are higher on the salary schedule.
How the strengthening of principal power has happened at the expense of teacher voice and professionalism. I heard over and over again from local union activists how Senate Bill 7 has created fear among educators. Fear to speak up. Fear to challenge administrative decisions. Fear that they may be causing trouble. Fear of getting into trouble. Fear that nobody will have their back. Not even their union.
It is the dark underbelly of reform.
These are issues that state and national leaders will only speak of in passing.
The slogan of the RA has been “Raise Your Hand.”
But to the leaders of our union a more appropriate slogan might be, “Open Your Eyes.”
Fred Klonsky 
When we look back, at those in our profession, we see those who worked hard at making this a better world and a meaningful profession. I don’t have a feel for what those ahead of us see when they look back at us—–it seems uncomfortable.
In Chicago the NOW (National Organization for Women) Annual Conference is in progress. One guest speaker is Diane Nekritz. Why would the person who sponsored bills to cut pensions and/or force retired teachers (by far mostly women) to choose between COLA or access to healthcare be chosen as a guest speaker? When my wife, who is treasurer of my county’s NOW and not present at the conference, pointed out through friends who are there the reply was simple. Nekritz is in the most powerful state political office in Illinois. Therefore, the NOW leadership chose not a simple answer, rather they chose a simple minded answer.
When my wife basically said that NOW would not have had Phyllis Shlafly, Sara Palin or Michelle Bachmann as speakers – silence. NOW leadership, as NEA leadership, is either ignorant or intentionally ignorant and currying favor from the powerful who hurt them.
WTF
In Chicago the NOW (National Organization for Women) Annual Conference is in progress. One guest speaker is Diane Nekritz. Why would the person who sponsored bills to cut pensions and/or force retired teachers (by far mostly women) to choose between COLA or access to healthcare be chosen as a guest speaker? When my wife, who is treasurer of my county’s NOW and not present at the conference, pointed out through friends who are there the reply was simple. Nekritz is in the most powerful state political office in Illinois. Therefore, the NOW leadership chose not a simple answer, rather they chose a simple minded answer. When my wife basically said that NOW would not have had Phyllis Shlafly, Sara Palin or Michelle Bachmann as speakers – silence. NOW leadership, as NEA leadership, is either ignorant or intentionally ignorant and currying favor from the powerful who hurt them. WTF Ken
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>________________________________ > From: Fred Klonsky >To: previti4u@yahoo.com >Sent: Saturday, July 6, 2013 7:36 AM >Subject: [New post] Saturday coffee. > > > > WordPress.com >Fred Klonsky posted: “I’m drinking coffee from a paper cup in the ballroom of the Omni Hotel in Atlanta. It is the last day of the annual meeting of the NEA. Tomorrow morning I fly home. Sweet home. I’m ready. As a retired delegate I had the privilege of doing all this for” >
Ken,
I think you meant Elaine Nekritz.
Here is the list of those speaking at the NOW conference. http://www.now.org/organization/conference/2013/speakers.html
Yes, Elaine. I was upset when I sent this andeven mysentences are toolong and flustered by the indignant outrage I feel toward NEA and NOW officials who refuse to speak truth to power.