Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, August 24, 1995 TAG: 9508250019
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: S-12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BETSY BIESENBACH STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
But more importantly, the conventions are an opportunity to meet and share ideas with teachers from all over the country and to help make policy decisions that affect all of the nation's schoolchildren.
This year, 18 teachers from Roanoke, Roanoke County, Salem, Botetourt County and Franklin County joined 10,000 educators from all over the United States at the NEA convention in Minneapolis from June 26 to July6.
Although the Craig County Education Association is a member of District 5 of the Virginia Education Association along with Roanoke, Salem and Botetourt and Franklin counties, it doesn't have enough members to send a representative of its own, explained Gary Waldo, executive director of District 5. And, because both the Roanoke and Roanoke County systems are so large, they are in separate districts, with Roanoke County in District 4.
Nearly 70 percent of all Roanoke Valley teachers belong to their local education association, Waldo said.
In early August, three of the teachers met with Waldo to discuss what they accomplished at the convention.
So many topics were covered that it would be impossible to list them all, said Dorothy Cooper, who teaches at Monterey Elementary and is the District 5 president. There were nearly 150 items of new business brought up, she said, many of which will have ``a major effect on all students, all teachers and all schools'' in the country.
One of the main topics was the inclusion of children with special needs in the regular classroom, a concept that Cooper said has been ``pretty well accepted'' in the Roanoke Valley, but may be new to some school systems around the nation.
The NEA has decided to endorse inclusion, Cooper said, but only if the school systems agree to provide training and classroom aides for the teachers involved.
There are so many different types of disabilities, explained Margaret Riggs, who teaches at Salem High School and is president of the Salem Education Association, that most teachers are not equipped to handle them all, and yet they are expected to.
School systems ``need to go all the way with [inclusion],'' agreed Vaun Gott of Burnt Chimney Elementary.
Violence in the schools also was a hot topic at the convention, Gott said. It made her realize that unlike Franklin County, ``There are [school systems] out there with major problems.''
Because the teachers had the opportunity to share ideas at previous conventions, Waldo said, local school systems have been able to implement their own anti-violence policies.
Once the NEA adopts a position, the work doesn't stop there, the teachers explained. Each year, members of the Virginia Education Association actively and personally lobby the General Assembly and their local representatives to persuade them to enact legislation that meets the goals of the NEA.
``It's nice to have the legislators recognize us,'' Cooper said. ``The students are impressed.''
Working with the education associations also gives teachers a chance to experience the workings of government first-hand, and to pass that knowledge along to their students. They learn that individuals really can make a difference, she said.
If all of this activity sounds like a lot of extra work for the teachers, it is, but ``we're concerned about our children,'' Cooper said.
Working on problems rather than ignoring them ``is worthwhile in the long run,'' Riggs said.
Vice President Al Gore was supposed to have addressed the convention, Cooper said, but had to cancel because his mother became seriously ill.
Jesse Jackson was the other featured speaker, and he was so compelling, ``he had us all saying `amen,''' Gott said, laughing.
The best aspect of the conventions is the opportunity to meet her colleagues, Riggs said. ``We're all teachers - we all have the same concerns. We're there to help each other.''
Other teachers who attended the convention were Pat Jasper, Buchanan Elementary, Botetourt County; Mercedes James, Fairview Elementary, Roanoke; Gary Stoltz, president of the Roanoke Education Association, Fallon Park Elementary, Roanoke; Esther Cirasunda, Garden City Elementary, Roanoke; Richard Poindexter, outgoing president of the Roanoke Education Association, Woodrow Wilson Middle School, Roanoke; Ginny Seale, Ben Franklin Middle School, Franklin County; Linda Wyatt, a member of Roanoke City Council and an outgoing member of the board of directors of the NEA, Westside Elementary, Roanoke; Patsy Millington, president-elect of the Roanoke County Education Association, W.E. Cundiff Elementary, Roanoke County; Judy Deyerle, president of the Roanoke County Education Association, Roanoke County Career Center, Roanoke County; Bud McWhorter, Arnold R. Burton Tech Center, Roanoke County; Butch Kelly, William Byrd High School, Roanoke County; Cheryl Harris, Burlington Elementary, Roanoke County; Kathie Catron, Herman L. Horn Elementary, Roanoke County; Kitty Boitnott, District 4 president, Penn Forest Elementary, Roanoke County; and Cynthia Wagner, Green Valley Elementary.
by CNB