July 6th , the Final Day and My Utterly Incoherent Ramblings

Today is the last day of NEA-RA. At 9:00 there is a march on the San Diego capital to let Gov. Schwartzenagger know that he needs to straighten up his act and get education back in focus. I thought I would put a picture of the Montgomery delegates in today. They were quite impressive out in front of the convention center. They are a large faction to be dealt with. At 10:00 the RA is called to session - after the first 90 minutes of business there was a break for special guests and Bob Channins retirement presentation. Dr. Joe Reed was one of the guest speakers and he definitely made the Alabama delegation proud. After the presentations the meeting portion began again and God knows when it will end. In LA the first time I went we did not finish until midnight. I hope this is not one of those years. They are giving away a 25,000 cash prize today or a Saturn Vue. I would love to win this. No one from Alabama has ever won the big prize. This is the last thing that will be done today and you have to be present to win. How cool is that?
I have been a member of the NEA/AEA/SAEA for the past 25 years and one thing that gets me is that people have such a negative misconception of the NEA. Once, many years ago, there was a new business item about abortion....and since that day it has been thought that the NEA supports abortion. That is not true. The NEA supports a woman's right to choose. I am a Christian and personally do not believe in abortion...but I do believe that it is a woman's right to choose what course of action she takes. I would rather adoption be considered over abortion but that is not always the case. I am sad when I have young students, tenth graders...who don't even have driver's licenses yet but have a baby to take care of. This choice changes their whole lives forever. When I was in high school....fifteen to be exact, my dear friend Kathy had a child. Most of the parents forbid their daughters from seeing her again...like she had some contagious disease. My parents were very supportive of Kathy and I remained her friend forever. She raised her daughter Margie and was a great mom...but her life changed. Back in my day...if you had a child...or were pregnant....you were taken out of the general population of school and put into night school. This happened to Kathy. She was no longer part of the fifteen year old scene. She was part of another scene....one I did not understand. I felt sad for her. Today, that is not the case....they stay in the school and having a child is some sort of badge of honor. I am sad for these kids too. Every decision we make has a consequence and that consequence changes the course of our lives.
The NEA delegation raised 20,000+ dollars for the Illinois delegate who lost his wife in the freak peddy cab accident. I was proud considering it was just something some states did. It is things like this that make me proud to be a part of this great organization. No! We are not a union....we are just a large body of members who gather and plot the course of the american school system.
My goodness...it is 6:30 and Bob Channin just called the last meeting of the 2009 NEA RA adjourned. How exciting. Since we ended so early we are going to ride the shuttle back to the hotel...pick up the car....and go eat on Harbor Island at Tom Ham's Lighthouse Restaurant. It is an active lighthouse. The food was fabulous, the view tremendous, and the company was out of this world. Back to the hotel for bed and then off for home tomorrow. I almost wish I could stay another day and go up the coast to LaJolla...but to be honest...I am brain dead right now. Night All!