October 2022 NEA Today Retired

For the latest news, go to October 2022 nea.org/NEAToday or sign up for our e-newsletter at nea.org/signup. NEA TODAY for NEA-RETIRED MEMBERS An edition of NEA Today Does your retirement plan need a tune-up? CREATE A ROAD MAP TO YOUR FINANCIAL FUTURE SEE PAGE 24 Retired educator and former financial advisor Eric Dreier shares financial planning tips for educators. Election 2022: Let’s speak up Member Spotlight Retirees taking action for students! SEE PAGE 28 SEE PAGE 22 SEE PAGE 32

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Choose the NEA Retiree Health Program To Help Protect Yourself and Your Savings The NEA® Retiree Health Open Enrollment is Program is designed to Currently Underway, supplement Medicare and costs less, on average, than plans from now through the best-known providers. November 30, 2022 Open Enrollment is taking place now through November 30, 2022. That means Medicare eligible Guaranteed Acceptance! NEA members in good standing, their spouses, domestic partners, and surviving spouses are For more information, please call guaranteed acceptance with no waiting periods, a member service representative regardless of preexisting health conditions. at 1-844-213-1556 Mon – Fri, In addition, if you join the NEA Retiree Health 8:30am to 5:00pm (Central time), Program during this Open Enrollment Period as a or visit neamb.com/rhp for your first-time enrollee, you will pay just $1* for the first enrollment kit. month of coverage. Questions: • Guaranteed acceptance during Open [email protected] Enrollment Period • Freedom to choose your own doctors who accept Medicare • Nationwide coverage with multiple plan options • Your spouse, domestic partner, and surviving spouse may also be eligible to participate *The $1 introductory offer is not available in all states. Please call 1-844-213-1556 for more information. NEA Members Insurance Trust is a registered trademark of the NEA Members Insurance Trust. Underwritten by United American Insurance Company. UAI1200901 0822

CONTENTS For NEA-Retired Members Volume 41, number 2 COVER FEATURES How to Map Your Election 2022: Speak Up 38 Money for Students at the Polls Clear and Present Danger 24 Retirement is a journey. A financial 28 NEA’s 3 million members 38 What if the next school shooting road map can help you prepare for can be a defining force in the unexpected detours and roadblocks on 2022 elections. Scan the QR happens on the bus? the way to meeting your goals. Learn code on Page 30 to see NEA’s from financial experts and find out if recommended candidates. your plan is ready for a tune-up. Express Yourself! 42 Arts integration boosts engage- 34 ment and equity in the classroom. United We Stand Pronouns for Students and Why They Matter 34 Working together, parents for LGBTQ+ and educators are proving to be Students a formidable force in fighting for mental health supports, an honest 46 Have questions and accurate education, and full funding for public schools. about gender 46 pronouns? NEA has some answers. SPECIAL SECTIONS DEPARTMENTS EDUCATION SUPPORT In the Know 7 FROM THE NEA-RETIRED PROFESSIONALS 12 Explore education news and trends. PRESIDENT Electric School Buses Issues and Action 8 BECKY’S JOURNAL Are Gaining Ground 16 Learn how the U.S. government can 10 NEA IN ACTION 22 MEMBER SPOTLIGHT 18 Vermont school bus driver help fix teacher pay. 5O EDUCATOR UNIONS James Johnson earned a seat behind the wheel of one of the Our Voices SUPPORT LGBTQ+ first electric buses in his district. 20 Hear from educators across the nation. STUDENTS He’s part of a national trend 52 RESOURCES toward “greener” buses. Bulletin Board 54 NEA ELECTION RESULTS 32 Get the latest news on members 56 FIVE WAYS TO MAKE YOUR CLASSROOM MORE around the country; and check out INCLUSIVE the NEA-Retired election results. JOIN THE Get the NEA Today App Sign up for NEA Today news! CONVERSATION Available in the App Store and on For timely news about issues impacting educators, visit nea.org/NEAToday or 2 October 2022 Google Play. sign up for NEA Today’s biweekly e-newsletter at nea.org/signup. COVER PHOTO: MICHAEL POEHLMAN; IMAGES FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: JAMES PATERSON; JEFF CHIU/AP; JEN POTTHEISER; COURTESY OF KODIAK ARTS COUNCIL; JUSTINE GREEN

THE NEA® CUSTOMIZED CASH REWARDS VISA SIGNATURE® CREDIT CARD MAXIMIZE YOUR REWARDS 3% CUSTOMIZED CASH BACK in the category of your choice Gas • Online Shopping • Dining • Travel Drug Stores • Home Improvement & Furnishings TO APPLY TODAY: call 888.758.7946 or visit newcardonline.com Mention Priority Code UW01WJ PLUS, A This offer is unique to this solicitation. Our credit card offers may vary and this offer may not be available elsewhere. You can take advantage of 200$ Amazon.com this offer when you apply now. Gift Card For more information about the rates, fees, other costs and bene ts Bonus associated with the use of the credit card, call the toll-free number above or visit newcardonline.com and refer to the disclosures accompanying the after you make at application. Residents of the US and its territories only. See full disclosure for least $500 in details. Federal law prohibits students from receiving a premium. purchases within Restrictions apply, see amazon.com/gc-legal. the first 90 days of This credit card program is issued and administered by Bank of America, N.A. account opening Visa and Visa Signature are registered trademarks of Visa International Service (students not eligible) Association, and are used by the issuer pursuant to license from Visa U.S.A. Inc. Bank of America and the Bank of America logo are registered trademarks of Bank of America Corporation. The Contactless Symbol and Contactless Indicator are trademarks owned by and used with permission of EMVCo, LLC. ©2022 Bank of America Corporation 4902825 CC961022 MB1022-AD-NEAT-R

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MISSION, VISION, AND NEA-RETIRED PRESIDENT OUR VISION IS A GREAT PUBLIC DEMOCRACY. NEA TODAY (ISSN 0734-7219) is Sarah Borgman SCHOOL FOR EVERY STUDENT. We believe public education is the published five times a year by the cornerstone of our republic. Public National Education Association, VICE PRESIDENT OUR MISSION education provides individuals 1201 16th St., N.W., Washington, DC Jean Dobashi To advocate for education with the skills to be involved, 20036-3290. Periodicals postage professionals and to unite our informed, and engaged in our paid at Washington, D.C., and SECRETARY members and the nation to fulfill the representative democracy. additional mailing offices. Marilyn Warner promise of public education to prepare PROFESSIONALISM. Postmaster: Send address changes to every student to succeed in a diverse We believe that the expertise and NEA Today, Attn: NEA Membership EXECUTIVE COUNCIL and interdependent world. judgment of education professionals Management Services Address Ross Dill Janice Poirier OUR CORE VALUES are critical to student success. We Change, Suite 510, 1201 16th St., Meg Gruber JoAnn Smith-Mashburn These principles guide our work maintain the highest professional N.W., Washington, DC 20036-3290. Roberta Margo Tom Wellman and define our mission: standards, and we expect the Copyright 2022 by the National EQUAL OPPORTUNITY. status, compensation, and respect Education Association of the United BOARD OF DIRECTORS We believe public education is due to all professionals. States. All rights reserved. Ed Foglia Linda McCrary the gateway to opportunity. All PARTNERSHIP. Telephone: 202-833-4000 Anita Gibson Judy Rohde students have the human and civil We believe partnerships with parents, NEA Today for NEA-Retired Members, Julie Horwin Barbara Schram right to a quality public education families, communities, and other is mailed to all NEA-Retired members Janet Kilgus, Alternate that develops their potential, stakeholders are essential to quality as a benefit of membership. Diane L. Larson, Alternate independence, and character. public education and student success. Advertising within NEA Today for Diccie L. Smith, Alternate A JUST SOCIETY. COLLECTIVE ACTION. NEA-Retired Members is screened, but Stephen Gorrie, Elections Chair We believe public education is vital We believe individuals are strengthened the publishing of any advertisement to building respect for the worth, when they work together for the common does not imply NEA endorsement of NEA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR dignity, and equality of every good. As education professionals, we the product or views expressed. Kim A. Anderson individual in our diverse society. improve both our professional status and To change your address and/or stop the quality of public education when receiving print materials from NEA, THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION we unite and advocate collectively. visit nea.org/about-nea/contact-us, We, the members of the National or call 202-833-4000. Education Association of the United States, are the voice of education professionals. Our work is fundamental to the nation, and we accept the profound trust placed in us. Wellness Bring your best self to work each day SOLUTIONS for Educators ™ Live your best life e(RdecDu)dcoaiestvconoervtaernaradylgoliuaverenwytodhhuyarVabtse’iasssnt iaofnfordable, comprehensive and easy to use life. With these resources, yoGuR’llEgAaTiCnOmVeEaRnAiGnEgf-u Clo, vered services include preventive HASSLE-FREE BENEFITS - PPO participating dental offices resscueacraehrlciakhsec-roaroufwtinnresmeaxenaddmimsstparlnaadntetcslg.eaiensingtos, plus dental procedures will complete and file claims for you, so you don’t have to deal stFrReEnEgDtOhMeOnFyCoHuOrICwE -o Vriskit-any licensed dentist you with paperwork or wait for reimbursement. lifcehobosael. Manemcbeeras nmday isnavcerteheamseost money by visiting a GENEROUS ANNUAL MAXIMUM - Options for a maximum that increases over a three year span. stduednteistnfrtomacouhrineavtioenmwideenPtP.O network, which includes VISION COVERAGE - Plan options to add vision to your dental coverage for an affordably bundled price. more than 375,000 dental access points.*   Visit NEAMB.com/DentalVision ORDER TODAYOr Call 855-865-2285 To Enroll Today! SolutionTree.com/YourBestSelf* Renaissance internal data. Underwritten by Renaissance Life & Health Insurance Company of America, Indianapolis, IN, and in New York by Renaissance Life & Health Insurance Company of New York, Binghamton, NY. Both companies can be reached at PO Box 1596, Indianapolis, IN 46206. Products not available in all states and jurisdictions. A0011 V12 NOEActAoDbHeAr L2F0|2R2EN 058/22

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PRESIDENT’S NECA IBEW NEA-Retired President Sarah Borgman Demand for employees in the [email protected] 574-849-5580 electrical industry continues to grow. The Pursuit of Excellence Your Students Deserve a JOY, JUSTICE, EXCELLENCE! Those words Debt-Free are our guidelines for the year. How do we Career Option go about achieving these? If we seek joy, we must do those activities which move us forward in our work for protecting public education. It’s Powering America’s October, and the 2022 midterm elections are almost upon us. Be sure to vote apprenticeships offer hands-on for pro-public education candidates, join your local or state group’s get-out- and classroom instruction, college the-vote efforts, and don’t miss our Election 2022 coverage (Page 28). To see credits, and wages and benefits NEA-recommended candidates in your state, scan the QR code on Page 53 during training. Certified electrical (see instructions on how to scan next to the code). apprenticeships are the first step in the path leading to careers in Racial and social justice is another goal we all seek, and it begins with this industry. Powering America’s each of us---speaking up and speaking out for our basic beliefs. This year we apprenticeships offer a superior are encouraging training in every local and every state so that we begin con- education—at little or no cost to versations and activities that lead us to a more equitable community, starting the students—and full-time work within the association. If you don’t have a committee already established as electricians, line workers, and within your local or state, be the catalyst to get it started yourself. telecommunications technicians. Excellence is our goal, not perfection, but excellence. No one person, no one local or state can do it alone, but all of us together can move forward and achieve more. Doing nothing is easy; it requires no planning and no goals, and it gets no results. Setting goals and moving forward step-by-step is how we achieve excellence. Everybody can do something. Talk is cheap. “Putting feet to our prayers” is the real step forward. Every NEA-Retired member needs to recommit to the work before us. We say, “Our commitment continues.” Does yours? Have you truly joined in the work that needs to be done? Membership? Elections? Involvement? Service? Where are you on the Joy, Justice, and Excellence journey? We are NEA-Retired. Our commitment continues. NEATODAY PUBLISHER AND SR. WRITER/EDITORS NEA.ORG/NEATODAY ADVERTISING SALES SENIOR DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR Brenda Álvarez Tim Walker Carson Helsper COMMUNICATIONS Mary Ellen Flannery [email protected] Amanda Litvinov SR. CONTENT 301-527-2195 Ramona Oliver Cindy Long STRATEGIST, NEA.ORG CONTRIBUTORS ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER COPY EDITOR Michelle Chovan AND DIRECTOR Lilly Behbehani Judy Rowe DESIGN AND Edward Graham Anitrá Speight ART DIRECTION Diane Kusler Larson PROGRAM AND Janet Rivera Mednik EDITOR PRODUCTION Groff Creative LLC Amanda Menas SPECIALIST James Paterson Robin Terry Brown Tammy Funderburk WE WANT YOUR FEEDBACK: Learn more at MAIL: NEA Today, 1201 16th St., N.W., Washington, DC 20036 PoweringAmerica.org/careers EMAIL: [email protected] PHONE: 202-822-7207 FAX: 202-822-7206 FACEBOOK: facebook.com/neatoday October 2022 7

BECKY’S JOURNAL OF Dear NEA members, Face to Face with NEA Members I am honored to serve as your president. A few months ago, in Wake County, North Carolina, I met with school bus drivers who are shouldering a Sisyphean burden, as untenable United, we will reclaim public staffing shortages keep them on the road day and night. These heroic education as a common good and educators—who are so essential to student safety and well-being— transform it into a racially and socially must be paid and appreciated! During the same trip, which was part just system that actually prepares ev- of my Joy, Justice, and Excellence Tour, I sat down with teachers and ery student—not one, not some, but students in the North Carolina Teacher Cadet Program at East Forsyth every single student—to succeed in High School, in Forsyth County. I am so proud of the work these a diverse and interdependent world. educators are doing to support and grow students interested in our Onward! great profession. (More than 100 former cadets have already returned to teach in Forsyth schools!) This is the gold key to unlocking a bright Becky Pringle future in public education. Rejuvenation! NEA President “Our generation is being called (Top) I’m thrilled to stand with Demetria Wallace—a Wake County, North to teach and lead and heal this Carolina, bus driver and advocate for her students and peers. (Bottom) nation. We are being called to Stephanie Wallace (next to me) has been a member of East Forsyth’s defend freedom during its hour of Teacher Cadet Cadre for over 20 years. She has shaped countless lives. maximum danger. And we, the NEA, welcome that calling.” PHOTOS: LINDA POWELL —Becky, at NEA’s 101st Representative Assembly, Chicago, July 3 8 October 2022

JOIN ME In the News Two Things to Do “We have an archaic assessment system based on standardized for Your Union and tests that we know are biased, that don’t begin to measure Students the full scope of what a student knows and is able to do. And we spend billions—with a ‘b’—on tests, instead of spending Make a plan to vote! billions—with a ‘b’—on investing in the resources that our I can’t stress this enough. Elections matter. students need. The tests are flawed … they are non-comprehen- The reason we have had a historic infusion sive, they are not authentic, and we are working to redesign and of federal money into public schools this reimagine what assessments look like in this country.” year is because we—the 3 million members —Becky, on WTTW-TV, Chicago, June 30 of NEA—showed up at the polls in 2020 to elect pro-public education candidates. What I’m Listening to Today, schools have more counselors, more social workers. Public Service Loan “Don’t do the dishes.” Wise words Forgiveness is working. And, finally, we have gun safety legislation. Is it enough? No. Are from Native poet, novelist, and bookstore these victories at risk? You bet. Workers’ owner Louise Erdrich. In Living Nations, Living Words—an audio rights, women’s rights, and the rights of collection of 47 Native poems curated by U.S. Poet Laureate Joy LGBTQ+ people are all at risk. Our right to Harjo— Erdrich reads aloud her poem, “Advice to Myself.” In three teach the truth and our right to support minutes and some seconds, she tells us, “Leave the black crumbs in every student fully are also at stake. Make the bottom of the toaster … . Don’t worry if anything matches.” She a plan to vote this October. For help, visit continues, “Decide first what is authentic, and then go after it NEA.org/vote. with all your heart.” Practice gratitude. I love this so much! And I love that Erdrich explains what she As Thanksgiving approaches—oh yes, I was thinking when she penned those lines. The recording, an NEA love the combination of food, family, and Read Across America recommendation, is available on the Library Philadelphia Eagles football—I will be of Congress website, loc.gov. Check out other Read Across America taking a moment to sit and be grateful. For recommendations at nea.org/readacross. you. For this union. Being grateful doesn’t mean that you’re happy with less. Being @BeckyPringle grateful means you are present. You see the people around you with open eyes and a full heart. I see you. And I am thankful. Find out how NEA is working every day for educators, students, and public schools in \"NEA in Action\" (Page 10). October 2022 9

NEA IN Boosting Union Power Triple victories and Salaries in South Carolina! NEA continues to sound the alarm on low The South Carolina Education Association educator pay and its direct link to educator secured major victories during their 2022 shortages nationwide. legislative session. Here’s what they won at the Statehouse: The good news: Collective bargaining, long championed by NEA, helps educators get higher wages across the board. Duty-free break 1.6% The increase in starting teacher salaries Thirty minutes without assigned nationwide in 2020 – 2021. duties for K–5 teachers. $6,000 The additional amount education support Pay raises professionals earned, on average, in collective bargaining states versus in A minimum starting teacher states without collective bargaining rights. salary of $40,000. NEA helps win raises for members in non-bargaining states, Funding for too. With NEA’s support, the Mississippi Association of school supplies Educators scored a historic pay raise for teachers this year. An increase in the teacher 10% The amount of the salary increase school supply fund to $300 Mississippi teachers will receive starting per teacher per year. with the 2022 – 2023 school year. A better future for Taking Action on Gun Violence ALL students Millions of dollars will now go to school safety programs NEA adopted a new policy during its 2022 and mental health services for children and families—in Representative Assembly, in July, furthering its large part thanks to NEA members’ relentless advocacy. The commitment to safe, just, and equitable schools funds are part of the most significant federal gun safety law in where all students and educators can thrive. The decades, which Congress passed in June. policy focuses the following principles and actions: Getting More Funding to Schools • Adopt a restorative justice philosophy to create a school climate that rejects the criminalization NEA members are making sure federal funds from the and policing of students. American Rescue Plan go where they will have the most impact for their students, such as: • Provide training and support for culturally • Hiring more intervention competent instruction. specialists and school • Develop and implement plans to counselors end disparities in disciplinary and • Training and retaining behavioral practices. bus drivers • Reducing class sizes • Create community-centered schools that foster safe, positive environments and engage all Learn how to apply school members of the public school. rescue funds in your district at nea.org/funding-the-recovery. 10 October 2022 ILLUSTRATIONS: ISTOCKPHOTO

CtahneACWKhioadrnlgde Grab Your Cape and Help Us End Hunger Today! Help your students find Coming their inner superhero! Soon! Kids can defeat hunger and poverty. Help them unleash this power with our free educational and fundraising resources. OUR PROGRAMS: Encourage reading Promote awareness Can be customized and problem-solving about important for ages pre-K issues in the world skills through high school GRAB YOUR CAPE AND VISIT Heifer's beloved Read to Feed® program HEIFER.ORG NEAToday is going digital! Visit our website to learn more 855.9HUNGER (855.948.6437) and watch for news about our launch.

IN THE RACIAL Because of my race or ethnicity, … DISCRIMINATION AT SCHOOL I am held to a different I have experienced I have experienced set of standards and online or in-person verbal or Sources of stress can be fairly uni- expectations than my form for educators, except for one peers harassment non-verbal key factor: Teachers of color are microaggressions more likely to experience racial discrim- 52 39 ination at school. 42 33 29 48 47 A RAND survey, released in June, 27 29 28 found that 36 percent of teachers of color 13 16 (44 percent of Black teachers; 30 percent 16 12 15 of Hispanic/Latino teachers; and 46 per- cent of Asian and Pacific Islander teach- SOURCE OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION (BY PERCENTAGE): Administrators ers) experienced at least one incident of racial discrimination in the 2021 – 2022 Staff members Students Families of students Community members school year. Forty-three percent of teach- ers exposed to discrimination reported symptoms of depression, compared with 25 percent of their peers who had not experienced any incidents. SOURCE: RAND SURVEY, JUNE 2022 “With the power of education, we taught people what period poverty was, how it was a problem locally, and how it isn’t just a problem out there in the world, but an everyday one for students in classrooms.” —Hawaii teacher Sarah “Mili” Milianta-Laffin, in June, when her state became the seventh in the nation to make period products free in public schools. Milianta- Laffin and her students worked closely with lawmakers to pass the legislation. Nearly a quarter of students in the U.S. struggle to afford period products. 12 October 2022 PHOTO: COURTESY OF SARAH “MILI” MILIANTA-LAFFIN

IN THE KNOW THIRD EDITION • FULLY REVISED THE BENEFITS OF READING The New PAPER BOOKS Teacher Book Astudy of teens in approximately 30 countries found that those who Finding purpose, balance, and said they most often read paper books scored 49 points higher on the hope during your first years in 2018 Program for International Student Assessment reading test than the classroom teens who said they rarely or never read books. The study, which tested 15-year-old students around the globe, found that those who read books Edited by Linda Christensen, more often on digital devices scored only 15 points higher than students Stan Karp, Bob Peterson, and who rarely read. In the United States, 31 percent of students said they never Moé Yonamine or rarely read books, compared with 35 percent worldwide. And 35 percent of U.S. students said they primarily read paper books. —ORGANIZATION FOR ECONOMIC COOPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT STAT 79% of public school FREE parents strongly DISCUSSION support mental health screenings GUIDE for students. The New Teacher Book offers practical SOURCE: PDK INTERNATIONAL SURVEY ON SCHOOL guidance on how to flourish in schools and SECURITY MEASURES, AUGUST 2022 classrooms and connect with students and families from all cultures and backgrounds. PHOTO: ADOBE STOCK IMAGES/ORATHAI For bulk rates for your union or school, contact: [email protected] Learn more at: rethinkingschools.org/NTB Paperback • 352 pages 978-0-942961-03-4 Only $24.95 October 2022 13

IN THE WHAT IS ‘GOOD TEACHING’? Who has an opinion about establishing routines and procedures what makes “good teaching”? that promoted efficiency and order in Practically everybody. But too the classroom. often the debate disregards the complexity of classroom teaching. Researchers at the Researcher David Blazar notes University of Maryland recently decided to that NCTE collected the data in 2012 identify practices and core factors that can produce positive student outcomes— and tracked students into high school. along with challenges that crop up along the way. Blazar’s preliminary findings suggest that engaging students has long- The researchers used a unique data set from the National Center of Teacher term benefits. Students who had Effectiveness (NCTE) that allowed them to gauge the work of 53 elementary school more engaging elementary school teachers in 4 school districts. They analyzed student math scores, videotapes of teachers had higher math and reading instruction, and survey responses from students who were asked to rate their classes. achievement scores and fewer absences in high school. The researchers found that there appeared to be a trade-off between teaching that results in higher test scores and teaching that engages students. For example, teachers who succeeded at raising test scores—usually focusing on “cognitively demanding” instruction—tended to be evaluated poorly by their students, and vice versa. Of the 53 teachers studied, researchers found six who could do both types of teaching successfully, noting their emphasis on hands-on participation and Schools Are Still Segregated As the U.S. student population grows more diverse every year, the nation’s schools remain sharply divided along racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic lines, according to a report by the U.S. General Accounting Office. In the 2020 – 2021 school year, more than a third of students (about 18.5 million) attended a school where 75 percent or more of the student population is of a single race or ethnicity. And 14 percent of students attended schools where 90 percent or more of the students were of a single race or ethnicity. Percent of public 31% 23% 4% 19% K–12 students attending school 45% Hispanic Black Asian American Indian/ where 75 percent Alaska Native or more of the White students are of their own race or ethnicity 14 October 2022 PHOTO: ADOBE STOCK IMAGES/BALANCEFORMCREATIVE; CHART SOURCE: GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE

IN THE KNOW Students Prefer Percent of U.S. teens who say, after the coronavirus In-Person outbreak is over, they would prefer for school to be … Learning Completely in person Completely Mix of both In April and May 2022, the Pew Research White 70 online online and Center surveyed U.S. teenagers, ages 13 in person to 17, about their views on virtual learn- ing and the overall impact the pandemic By race: has had on their learning. Although the overwhelming majority of students pre- 9 15 ferred in-person learning, views differed by race, ethnicity, and household income. Black 51 15 26 Hispanic 64 6 23 By household income: 15 23 Less than $30,000 51 10 23 $30,000 – $74,999 60 8 15 $75,000 or more 71 Note: White and Black teens include those who report being only one race and are not Hispanic. Hispanics are of any race. Those who did not give an answer are not shown. SOURCE: PEW RESEARCH CENTER, MAY 2022 Transforming Education Challenge your assumptions about Indigenous history and cultures with Native Knowledge 360°. Check out new resources about Native New York, and much more. • Free professional development opportunities for educators • Engage with classroom-ready resources AmericanIndian.si.edu/NK360 Principal funding for the Native Knowledge 360° education initiative provided by the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria. Lead funding provided by Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies, the Coca-Cola Foundation, Ralph Lauren Corporate Foundation, and Bonnie and Jere Broh-Kahn. Photo by Matailong Du October 2022 15

ISSUES AND HOW THE NEA is working to change an NEA is leading the charge for a solution. DEPARTMENT outdated federal regulation To help stop the exodus of educators OF LABOR that leaves 1.5 million teachers from our schools and campuses and CAN HELP FIX and adjuncts underpaid. ensure that teachers and adjuncts TEACHER PAY receive the pay that they deserve, NEA is The blue glow from sixth-grade calling on the U.S. Department of Labor By Edward Graham English teacher Brooke Davis’ to rescind this outdated policy that laptop has become her 2-year- excludes them from receiving the same 16 October 2022 old son’s night-light. Every evening, as wage and hour protections as other she coaxes Cooper to sleep with one professionals. hand, she’s also inputting her students’ grades and finishing up other admin- The ‘teacher exclusion’ istrative tasks she just couldn’t get to regulation earlier in the day. First adopted in 1938, the Fair Labor “I had hoped to accomplish some Standards Act (FLSA) is the federal law grading during my planning period,” that establishes national minimum wage she says. “Instead, I’ve spent that time and hour standards, including overtime covering other classes due to lack of pay or compensatory time for employees substitutes, meeting with parents of who work more than 40 hours a week. kids with disabilities, drafting special Under the law, employees are only “ex- education plans, returning parent phone empt” from these protections if, among calls, meeting with colleagues, and other things, they are paid a salary and doing all the other duties that come earn above a certain salary threshold. with the job. While the law provides critical “Because there is no overtime for protections for many employees across teachers, all this work goes unpaid,” the U.S., teachers and adjuncts have she says. “It’s another 12 hours of work never received those salary safeguards. for just eight hours of pay.” They were placed in the same category as doctors and lawyers, who work in Davis is not alone. More than professions that pay double or even 1.5 million teachers are affected by the triple the amount that educators make. “teacher exclusion” regulation, which drags down teacher pay. By preventing teachers and adjuncts from qualifying for FLSA’s protections, The archaic federal regulation regardless of their salary levels or excludes some public school educators— whether they receive hourly wages, the including pre-K–12 and college teacher exclusion regulation drives down adjuncts—from critical wage and hour starting salaries for educators. This in protections. And the lack of competitive turn drives down the recruitment and pay is forcing more educators out of the retention of teachers, exacerbating the profession, compounding the national nation’s educator shortage crisis. educator shortage. MLEOARREN Read NEA’s full report, “Ending the FLSA Teacher Exclusion,” at nea.org/FLSA.

6 Ways the Fair Labor Standards Act Exclusion Hurts Educators and Students The ‘teacher exclusion’ drives down salaries. 1. About 1.5 million 2. The FLSA exclusion teachers and higher drives down teachers’ education adjuncts are starting salaries. When directly affected by the adjusted for inflation, regulation. They are hourly teacher salaries have or salaried employees who declined 4 percent over earn less than the FLSA’s the past decade. current salary threshold of $684 per week. The FLSA regulation groups teachers with much higher paying professions. 4. FLSA regulations treat educators the same as those making 3. The average median salary for double or even triple their K–12 teachers during the 2019 – 2020 salaries. school year was $63,645; the median salary for doctors was $208,000 in 2020, and $126,930 for lawyers. Teacher pay affects students, too. 5. Increasing teacher salaries 6. Low pay is one factor has a positive impact on students’ driving educators away academic success. One study from the profession, found that increasing teacher compounding the pay by 10 percent lowers educator shortage. student dropout rates When we have fewer by 3 to 4 percent. educators, students pay the price. ILLUSTRATIONS: FRANKRAMSPOTT October 2022 17

EDUCATION SUPPORT ELECTRIC James Johnson has been driving HEALTHIER AND GREENER SCHOOL BUSES Vermont school buses for 30 years, ARE GAINING and he’s noticed how rarely kids Kids with asthma or other respiratory GROUND look up from their screens these days. issues can breathe easier while riding But that changes when he pulls up in the bus, and Johnson says he can now By Cindy Long his electric bus. go home each evening not smelling of diesel fuel. 18 October 2022 “They think it’s supercool and they always have a lot of questions,” Johnson The electric bus has a lot of power says. The most common: “Mr. Jimmy! and is so quiet it can almost sneak up to How far can it go?” a bus stop. His bus goes about 125 miles on a “A regular bus rumbles down the full charge. In the morning, he travels street, but not this one,” Johnson says. 70 miles on his routes, then plugs in for “Kids say I should play a jingle like an a couple of hours to recharge for his ice-cream truck so everyone knows afternoon runs. I’m coming.” The bus is part of a pilot program “For the record,” he jokes. “I don’t sell resulting from the Volkswagen ice cream.” Environmental Mitigation Trust (VW Trust)—created as part of a legal But riding the electric bus is certainly settlement that awarded money to a treat for the students, especially with every U.S. state. Vermont used its funds Johnson at the wheel. He always has a to introduce electric school buses. So far smile and a kind word for each student eight of the eco-friendly vehicles are on climbing aboard, or a simple fist bump the road in four school districts. for the quieter ones. Johnson earned his seat at the wheel He has safely driven generations because of his long tenure with the of children to school, so local families Champlain Valley School District as well trust him. as his experience driving Burlington city buses. Johnson also knows that students need consistency. He sees how a “I love it!” he says. “All you have to friendly, caring greeting first thing do is look around to see how important in the morning and at the end of the climate change is. And … we all know day can boost kids’ well-being. If that how critical clean air is for our health.” friendly face is driving an electric bus that doesn’t belch out pollution, all the better. PHOTOS: RICK LEVINSON

Yellow school buses CLEANER FUEL IS ‘HALF Biden are going green! James THE EQUATION’ Administration Johnson, who drives an Makes Historic electric bus in Vermont, “We are thrilled about the new Investment says clean buses are safer for the planet and technology and cleaner fuel with these This spring, the Biden Admin- our health. istration announced $500 state-of-the-art buses,” says NEA senior million in immediate funding ELECTRIC SCHOOL BUSES DRIVE for zero-emission and low-emission INTO VIRGINIA policy analyst Tim Barchak. “But in terms buses for schools across the coun- try, as part of the 2022 Clean School Vermont isn’t the only state where of transporting your kids, that’s half Bus Rebates. school buses are going green. In Virginia, Falls Church City Public Schools also the equation. We want them to have Vice President Kamala Harris received funds from the VW Trust to kicked off the program in May, purchase two electric school buses, as well the best drivers—they are integral to standing side by side with NEA as federal funds for a third one—all of President Becky Pringle and EPA which were expected to arrive for the 2022 the education team—and the more we Administrator Michael Regan, at a – 2023 school year. high school in Falls Church, Va. professionalize and stabilize the bus Falls Church is one of 19 school districts “Every school district in our in Virginia to receive funding, and the driver position, the better it is for kids.” nation can apply for funding to district hopes to shift to an entirely electric With private companies, kids get purchase clean buses and to build school bus fleet over the next decade. the charging infrastructure that we inferior drivers who are looking for a need to build across our country,” temporary job that fits their schedule, Harris stated. not a career working with children. Driv- ers switch out every few weeks, which The EPA initiative is a part of a makes it impossible for kids to get to larger $5-billion Clean School Bus program, which will roll out over know them, Barchak explains. the next five years. He adds that when bus “[This will be] transformative drivers are part of the team, for the school districts that will be when they know the kids’ able to use the money that they names, know their siblings, would have had to spend filling up even their birthdays, it makes a the buses with gas to instead hire big difference in the students’ more teachers, to raise salaries, or lives. A driver may let a teach- to renovate classrooms … at many er on parking lot duty know schools around the country that that a rider is having a tough are in desperate need of repair,” morning so the child can get the Harris said. attention needed. That kind of support doesn’t come with a private company. Johnson’s career is a tes- tament to the value of career school bus drivers who put their students first. “In three decades of driving a school bus, there’s not much I haven’t seen, not much weath- er I haven’t driven in, and not much behavior I haven’t dealt with,” Johnson says. “We’re all in this to help shape our kids’ lives—teachers and ESPs together. You can’t talk about education, about being a family, if you don’t include half the family.” And up in Vermont, Johnson knows firsthand MLEOARREN The “Magic School Bus” goes green in this book by EPA and Scholastic! Take a journey with Ms. Frizzle and her students as they learn how to reduce school bus emissions. Go to: epa.gov/ dera/magic-school-bus. October 2022 19

OUR VOICES “Career tech FOOD NETWORK CHAMP MULTIPLE PATHWAYS … is tangible, TEACHES HIS TRADE IN TO SUCCESS authentic VERMONT SCHOOL learning. We Monette says he teaches have real Culinary arts teacher Adam Monette won top prize ($25,000!) students science disciplines, outcomes and on the Food Network’s Holiday Baking Championship, in Decem- such as chemistry, physics, and allow kids ber. His winning dessert? A holiday party-themed cake. The anatomy, as well as the “precision to find their St. Albans, Vt. educator credits some of that win to working with of a neurosurgeon and the critical vocation.” students at Northwest Career and Technical Center. thinking skills of an engineer.” —Culinary For more than 10 years, Monette has trained students in banqueting His students graduate with arts teacher and events, cooking à la minute (made to order), plating and presentation, an industry-recognized credential Adam Monette, and more. His students learn the theory, philosophy, and history of called ServSafe Manager; earn Vermont cooking. They learn how to break down whole animals as well as different three college credits; and have a methods for cooking meat. leg up in food service and hospi- tality industry. “I tell the kids: ‘If you want to be an expert at something, you teach somebody how to do it,’ and I’m reteaching these [cooking] skills every They could pursue a career in single year,” says Monette. horticulture, beverages, health services, or food photography. The other ingredient that helped Monette secure the win: Time. They could work on a cruise Each culinary arts class is two hours long, and the lesson or meal ship, at a resort, or in a Michelin- of the day must be started and completed within that period. “I’m starred restaurant. used to working in time frames, and so during the show there were moments when I was done 30 to 45 minutes before the other “There are jobs everywhere competitors,” recalls Monette. within this field,” Monette says. But the even bigger win is the opportunities Monette opens up for his students in career and technical education (CTE)—also known as The demand for CTE vocational or trade school. educators is high: An average of more than 17,000 positions are projected each year over the next decade, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The good news is that the Biden administration is pumping billions of dollars into strengthening and expanding the U.S. workforce, which includes investing in CTE programs. “The benefit to career tech for students is that it’s tangible, authentic learning,” Monette says. “We have real outcomes and allow kids to find their vocation in life.” —BRENDA ÁLVAREZ 20 October 2022 PHOTO: DINO PATSOURIS 2017

quick takes OUR VOICES WHAT ARE YOU GRATEFUL FOR? “All the teacher mentors I’ve “I’m grateful for had in my 30-year career. They beautiful notes from made me the teacher I am former students!” today.” —Sandra Chong Fuller, Illinois —Kristen Michalski, Wisconsin “I am grateful for a ea“gFoerr tsotuledaernnt…s . “PARENTS, governor who keeps And aren’t they COMMUNITY advocating for our atlleullsnttihl esommtehoenye MEMBERS, public schools, POLITICIANS despite a legislature are not?” AND ADMIN that opposes him at THAT SUPPORT every turn. Thumbs —Sharon W., New York TEACHERS IN up to Tony Evers!” WORD AND ACTION.” —Dianne F., Wisconsin “NOW THAT I AM RETIRED, I AM GRATEFUL —Danielle P., Tennessee THAT STUDENTS AND PARENTS STILL WANT TO KEEP IN TOUCH, AS WELL “Our great pension AS OCCASIONALLY LOOK TO ME FOR system!” GUIDANCE AND ADVICE. ONCE A TEACHER, ALWAYS A TEACHER!” —John C., New York —Sharon C., Washington TSHHIASRE We want to know what’s on your mind. We asked this question on NEA Today’s Facebook page and received so many great answers! Keep an eye on facebook.com/neatoday for our next question, and share this link with your fellow NEA members. PHOTOS: COURTESY OF MEMBERS October 2022 21

NEA- RETIRED IN SICKNESS AND There were moments of humor among the challenges, too. After my hair fell out, a hair clinic in Minneapolis IN HEALTH glued a scalp of human hair to my head. I was thrilled with the results … until I decided to mow our three-acre yard on a 95-degree day. Suddenly, the glue started drip- ping down my neck. The hair felt like a wet diaper stuck By Diane Kusler Larson to my head. It had to come off! But that was easier said Ihad breast cancer with a lumpectomy than done. surgery 22 years ago. I attribute my I had to squirt a bottle of baby oil survival to an early diagnosis, hope, under that hairpiece for two hours until I could finally yank it off my head. My faith, love, a positive attitude, a focus scalp was so sore that I had to wear a on keeping a normal routine, plus great wig for weeks after that incident. Oh, the health care professionals. My diagnosis price of beauty to look natural! came in 1998, a month before I retired Throughout my caregiving, I did as principal of Washington Elementary not have time to focus on myself, which School, in Owatonna, Minn. Despite this actually helped me stay sane. I kept scary diagnosis, I decided to continue on a normal life pattern and tried to as a part-time reading specialist. stay positive. Being a tough farm girl, I managed I took care of Don for 12 years until to miss work on surgery day, but I fig- his death, in 2009. He lived at home, ured out how to get out of the hospital but was in and out of the hospital. In the next morning to go to an important total days, Don spent over a year at St. reading meeting. Mary’s Hospital, in Rochester, Minn. That fighting spirit would keep me Fortunately, the hospital allowed me to going through the years to come. Not be there and help with his care. only was my health in jeopardy, but I also I will be forever grateful for the needed time to be a caregiver for my ailing Diane Kusler Larson tapped many health professionals who provided into her training as an care and services that allowed Don to husband, Don. He had lost a lung to cancer educator to meet her stay at home. I am also grateful for our in 1996, a month after retiring as princi- greatest challenge in life. health insurance plans, which made pal in Minnesota’s Faribault Senior High School. My challenge was how to find home this possible. help for Don, so I could get radiation and chemotherapy Life brings many challenges, and retirement plans treatments and still work part-time. disappear. But I realized that the skills I developed in my By 2004, I was a full-time caregiver. Don was professional life—how to plan, negotiate, organize, and bedridden and on a ventilator, and he needed two delegate—helped me get through a situation that I never additional nurse assistants in order to stay at home. knew I had the strength to manage. Overall, I kept my I had remodeled our two-car garage into an independent promise for better or worse. I have been richly blessed. care center and learned how to manage his care with help from an agency. Fortunately, we were able to Diane Kusler Larson is a retired teacher and school principal and arrange for student nurses from the local college to an Education Minnesota Retired board member. She was recently help with his care. elected as a Retired alternate to the NEA Board of Directors. MLEOARREN October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. For more resources, go to bit.ly/BreastCancerAwarenessMth. 22 October 2022 PHOTO: COURTESY OF DIANE KUSLER LARSON

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NEA- How to RETIRED Map Your Money When Eric Dreier Retirement is a journey. Learn how to navigate the realized at 70 that detours and road blocks of financial planning so you he could no longer can reach your goals. climb tall ladders, it was one more lesson about way things By James Paterson change in later years. missed turns, and stops along into their retirement years, “I’ve talked to people who “I’d always painted my the way. Think of your map as and be thoughtful about their believe they will be paid house, but when I had to have your GPS to help you get back risk tolerance, he advises. out $50,000 a year when someone do it for me the first on track when things go awry. actually it will be about time after I retired, I realized Financial expert James $30,000 net. A light goes there would be other things I The starting point DiLellio agrees. When our off, and they recognize they couldn’t do myself,” says the Financial planning begins careers are in full swing, we have to have a new plan.” retired teacher from Traverse only have to consider how City, Mich. “It’s one of many with an understanding that much money to save and —Eric Dreier, retired educator things … we don’t always circumstances change in where to invest it. But after and former financial planner think about. We need to plan retirement. retirement, it gets much more with NEA Member Benefits. for those changes.” complicated, adds DeLellio, “You’ve had a good savings who writes about financial Dreier had a financial road and investment plan. Now you decisions in retirement and is map designed to take such have to look at your plan for an associate professor of de- things into consideration. And spending more closely,” Dreier cision sciences at Pepperdine he has helped hundreds of adds, noting that educators Graziadio Business School, in educators build their plans, are sometimes unrealistic Malibu, Calif. too. After Dreier retired from about their savings because teaching math and science in they typically have a pension. Once you retire, there are 2006, he had a second career many more decisions to make, as a financial planner with “I’ve talked to people who he says, such as how much NEA Member Benefits, which believe they will be paid out to withdraw, asset allocation, offers retirement planning $50,000 a year when actually when to draw down a pension, services to members of NEA it will be about $30,000 net,” and when to begin Social Se- and NEA-Retired. he says. “A light goes off, and curity benefits, among other they recognize they have to considerations. Even with the best laid have a new plan.” plans, he says, the financial DiLellio suggests that map often needs a tune-up— Educators must get accu- educators consider working or a complete overhaul—after rate information and be real- with a financial planner. He people retire. istic and honest about their recommends interviewing assets and income as they get Like many financial ex- perts, Dreier advises thinking about retirement planning as a road trip with a starting point, a destination, detours, 24 October 2022 PHOTO: MICHAEL POEHLMAN

several and making sure you October 2022 25 fully understanding the fees and whether the person fits your needs. For example, the planner should have an under- standing of teacher pensions and 403B plans specifically. Dreier also recommends using online retirement cal- culators that assess financial security in retirement. They can help you determine where you stand financially, and consider your assets, income, and risk tolerance. Retirees may want to take their plan for a test drive. “When someone had an idea about what they would have in income during retirement, I’d tell them, ‘Let’s practice,’” Dreier says. “I’d suggest they live on that income for a few years and see how it works.” Detours and rerouting Bumps in the road are expected in any retirement map. Dreier says his new- found reluctance to paint his house or undertake other home maintenance is exactly the type of shift that people should anticipate. Retirees may need to help parents or a spouse, or they may have their own health issues that can have a major effect on their finances. They ILLUSTRATION: JAMES PATERSON

HOW TO MAP YOUR MONEY also must consider whether spending and not understand- decisions and plans about fi- “When you are generous they want to leave money for ing your circumstances,” nances and health, so they can and care about your family, family members. Range says. help if your abilities decline. you assist them, but you have to be very careful When Vickey Range Another unpleasant “We were careful about about making those types retired from Louisiana’s Caddo consideration that can throw planning,” Range says. “But of commitments.” Parish Public Schools, she you off course is cognitive we are realistic about how knew she wanted to support decline, says Chris Heye, who things can change with our —Vickey Range, president, her family, but she also need- founded Wealthcare Planning health or other circumstances. Louisiana Association of ed to be careful about risking and writes about the impact We know it may have to be Educators-Retired her own financial security. of mental acuity on financial adjusted.” management. “There are so many needs As Dreier likes to say: a family might have, and it’s According to the National “Just make sure there is easy for us to want to help,” Institutes of Health, about a spare tire.” says Range, who is now presi- 14 percent of people age 71 dent of the Louisiana Associ- and older have some form of Traffic jams ation of Educators-Retired. dementia. Robert C. Carlson, author “When you are generous and care about your family, you “Even normally func- of The New Rules of Retirement assist them, but you have to tioning adults can have and the e-newsletter Bob Carl- be very careful about making trouble because of loneliness, son’s Retirement Watch, among those types of commitments.” depression, anxiety, and just other publications, says a normal loss of executive outside changes can impact She and her husband, function,” Heye says. “It just your retirement as well. For who retired from the military, gets harder and harder to stay example, revisions in the law, wanted to get a new house organized and stay on top of tax hikes, and fluctuations in and travel, so they have been these things. Cognitive decline benefits or investment mar- conservative with investments is often the elephant in the kets can impact your plan. and careful with spending. room with financial planning.” “A retiree must be alert “I think the biggest mis- Heye suggests involving to changes and be ready to take is being frivolous with trusted family or friends in adjust the plans,” he says. Create Your Financial Road Map 1) Start to pack: Consider your assets and savings 4)Anticipate detours. Allow for unexpected as well as any tax liability or risks they present. volatility in the stock market and real estate market, along with inflation or other economic changes. Plan 2) Get a map. Develop a plan that spells out how for personal changes as well, including mental or physi- cal health issues for you or a family member, and other you will spend your money (regularly, or on extras, emergencies. such as trips or RVs). Also look at how you will invest and potentially grow your resources through additional 5) Be willing to reroute. Regularly check to income and earnings. see if the directions you established still make sense. 3) Plan for the long haul. Consider how 6)Lock in your destination. Consider your things will change in retirement when you may be primarily spending, rather than earning and saving. goals in retirement, the care you might need later in Consider taxes, long-term care, and potential changes life, and whether or not you intend to leave something in Social Security and pensions. for family members. 26 October 2022 PHOTO: COURTESY OF VICKI RANGE

Retirees have less time to “I see this a lot with The amount you have is When it comes recover from a sudden down- teachers,” Linde says. “In also obviously a factor, Linde to planning your turn or a bear market and are pre-retirement they are OK says. One rule is that you financial road map, reliant on Social Security and with growth, but then after should only invest the money Eric Dreier says, pensions. retirement, they want to pre- you can afford to lose in high- “Just make sure serve everything they have. er risk investments there’s a spare tire.” “Decisions we make are And that can be the wrong less forgiving,” Carlson says. mindset.” “It is a balancing act,” “Retirees also need to be Linde says. “The important aware of what I call stealth If you don’t need the thing is that when someone taxes—provisions that impose money for some time, you retires, they look at all these additional taxes or reduce tax may be able to withstand mar- factors and make a good benefits when incomes exceed ket fluctuations. So carefully decision that fits their very certain levels.” look at your goals and under- specific needs. stand your risk tolerance, he Some common road blocks advises. MLEOARREN to look out for? Social Security benefits are added to gross If you are a healthy NEA Member Benefits income and can increase person, you retired young, is here to help your tax rate; the income- or you are planning to work related monthly adjustment part-time in retirement, you As a member of NEA-Retired, you have access to amount can lead to a surtax might be able take more risk financial planning resources especially for retired on Medicare premiums; and gain more in investments educators, plus health insurance, and long-term investment income over a cer- over time. care. To find out more, go to neamb.com/living- tain amount can be taxed at in-retirement. 3.8 percent; and the minimum But if you need to draw distribution requirements from your accounts right away October 2022 27 from retirement savings for daily expenses, or if you accounts and pension plans have some immediate health can increase. concerns for you or family, you may need to lower your risk. “Retirees often find that one seemingly unrelated move, such as selling an asset or taking an additional distri- bution from an IRA, increases taxes,” Carslon adds. “They need to monitor it and decide if they’d be better off changing investments, moving money to different types of accounts, or taking other actions.” Different paths to your destination Freeman Linde, a financial planner and author of the book 3D Retirement Income: Creating a Retirement Income that Outpaces Inflation, Outlives You, and Outper- forms Others, says educators shouldn’t be too conservative with investments or overly confident about their pension and Social Security. Those programs may not be as well funded as some hope, and retirees have to take enough risk to grow their money. PHOTO: MICHAEL POEHLMAN

EIssattptl’uesetcdhattieekimonpunteopst2llof0so2r2: WELL-FUNDED SCHOOLS, SUPPORT he diligently followed the rules to request an absentee ballot. He FOR EDUCATOR UNIONS, AND punched the holes in his paper ballot, and, after sealing the envelope, RESOURCES FOR OUR STUDENTS— his roommate signed as a witness. He mailed it well in advance of IT’S ALL POSSIBLE IF WE ELECT Election Day. He encouraged his friends to vote absentee, too. PRO-PUBLIC EDUCATION CANDIDATES To this day he does not know for sure whether his ballot was By Amanda Litvinov received, opened, and counted correctly. Civics teacher Brian Link tells his students at East Chapel “What I do know is all the uncast ballots of my friends who chose Hill High School, in North Carolina, that the best way to not to vote had a profound impact on me and the country,” says Link, measure the health of a representative democracy is by reflecting on Gore’s narrow defeat, which hinged on losing Florida. asking this essential question: Does every citizen have the right to weigh in on the actions of the government “I didn’t know yet that I was on a path to become a teacher, but through the ballot, and do these citizens choose to exercise that right my parents were both public school educators, and through them I each and every time they have the opportunity to do so? felt acutely the impact of what happens when you end up 537 votes short,” he explains. “Rod Paige became the secretary of education, “Of course, my audience is teenagers, so my Frank Capra-Mr. declared educator unions to be ‘terrorist organizations,’ and helped Smith Goes to Washington view of how America should work is often usher in the era of high-stakes testing and merit pay through the No met with various levels of skepticism, eye rolls, and shouted queries Child Left Behind Act.” of ‘Who is Jimmy Stewart?’” Link laughs. It would take decades to undo the damage. The students sometimes challenge him: Why should we bother voting when we have the electoral college, gerrymandering, the Students pay the price for uncast votes two-party system, and historical and current voter suppression— In this November’s midterm elections, many races for U.S. Con- especially in communities of color? gress as well as state and local office are expected to be extremely That’s when Link offers snapshots of the alternative. tight. In other words, your vote and your efforts to turn out the vote The first presidential election he could vote in was the 2000 race, can have a huge impact. when George W. Bush ran against then-Vice President Al Gore. Link was excited. As a college student away from his home state of Florida, Link experienced that impact firsthand. When he moved to North Carolina, he immediately registered to vote for the 2010 midterms. “I wanted to help continue the Old North State’s commitment to public education as the home of the first public university in the nation—my alma mater, the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill,” he says. “But I discovered that many of my fellow building colleagues 28 October 2022

Civics teacher Brian Link, who serves as president of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Association of Educators, shares his lived knowledge of the power of every vote. By the 3 Nearly 3 million NEA members and new, from out-of-state, Early Educator Numbers: teachers and are primarily Program teachers didn’t feel the same ur- NEA’s voting rural and gency to vote for primarily state-level races. power! MILLION education suburban We had already elected President Obama, support voters. That makes them they’d say, wasn’t that enough?” NEA is a significant force professionals are members key swing populations in in elections. If we raise of NEA. That’s 1 out of statewide elections. It wasn’t. An influx of out-of-state money our voices together, we every 100 Americans. led to an extremist, conservative Republican can elect pro-public majority in the state’s General Assembly for education candidates 90% 90% of NEA is the the first time since Reconstruction. up an down the ballot, registered NEA largest, most from school boards to members voted powerful labor Four years later, in the 2014 midterms— governors’ mansions in the 2020 union in the when the state’s union educators voted at across the country to the election. majority of states. their lowest rate in decades—a Republican U.S. Congress. supermajority resulted in the General Our members NEA members Assembly. And once again, the ballots not TSHHIASRE live in every are educated, cast had devastating consequences. congressional involved, and Encourage friends district and dependable North Carolina eliminated career and colleagues to ZIP code. voters who consistently status, longevity pay, teacher assistants in make a plan to vote exercise their right classrooms, and steps for veteran teacher by sharing this link: 77% of NEA to vote. In fact, NEA pay. Voucher schemes were initiated and nea.org/vote. members members typically vote expanded, and the state’s colleges and are women. at twice the rate of the universities experienced deep funding cuts Research general public. that they are still recovering from. shows that candidates must win with female But, with a significant effort led by the voters to succeed in most North Carolina Association of Educators, the competitive elections. state’s education voters made a comeback in the 2016 election and helped pro-public There’s one thing that can make NEA members even more powerful at election school candidates win critical seats on the time: Talking to our friends and family about pro-public education candidates, state Supreme Court and in the state attor- and encouraging them to vote. ney general’s office. They also helped elect Gov. Roy Cooper. PHOTO: ALEX BOERNER This momentum continued into the 2018 midterm elections, when educators helped break the conservative super- majority in the General Assembly. Those actions had immense positive consequences. The governor kept citizens safer during the pandemic. And elected school boards have protected LGBTQ+ students and ensured that educators can teach honestly about history. Other positive outcomes resulted: The state Supreme Court struck down harmful voter ID laws and ruled—after more than 25 years of litigation—that the state constitution requires the General Assembly to fully fund public education. For educators and students, the stakes are high in every election. But the reality is that if educators don’t cast ballots for pro-public education candidates, progress October 2022 29

ERICA NUNGARAY TEACHERS ASSISTANT, DUANE D. KELLER MIDDLE SCHOOL, LAS VEGAS, NEVADA Nevada State Education Association; ESP at Large for the Education Support Employees Association “Every two and four years, we hear about how this is the ‘most important election of our lives,’ but every election is very important if you’re passionate about an issue. Whether we want to elect fresh new voices to be champions of public education, make changes to policies, or work to replace elected officials we are unhappy with, every elec- tion should be viewed as an important opportunity for change. We can never get complacent with the policies and elected officials who do not strive to better our lives, our profession, or our students.” ONA WILCOX FOURTH-GRADE TEACHER, PINE HILL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, COTTAGE GROVE, MINNESOTA Political action committee board member, Education Minnesota Special education paraeducator Erica Nungaray is bilingual and “There is nothing more important than speaks to parents in English or Spanish about how elections electing candidates who respect and listen to educators regarding impact their public schools. what we need to help our students succeed. That’s why your state association does the work of vetting candidates. I help interview could be lost in states like North Carolina. And other places that des- candidates who want our support. Our governor, former educator perately need more support for public schools may never get it. Tim Walz, was very clear on how he could help support teachers and education support professionals. He understands the critical role that NEA members are dependable voters, but don’t stop with casting teachers and education support professionals play in our students’ your ballot. Use your trusted voices to help others in your community lives. If only all of our candidates at every level of government had see the importance of voting in the 2022 elections. such priorities!” Read on for more inspiration from educators across the country: DANIELLE CARRASCO ATACKTIEON Make a plan to vote SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHER, GENESEE INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL Find everything you need to know about casting DISTRICT, FLINT, MICHIGAN your vote at nea.org/vote: • Check your registration. United Teachers of Flint; Michigan Education • Request or track a mail-in ballot. Association • Preview your ballot. • Find your polling place. “We need to elect people who understand that it • Sign up for reminders. does not cost the same to educate every student. • Share your voting plan with others. Children working to overcome behavioral issues and learning dif- ferences require a more individualized, hands-on approach. It takes Scan this QR code to see NEA’s time and effort just to get many of my students into a headspace recommended candidates in your where they are ready to learn. And once they are, paper and pencil state. (For instructions on how to scan, doesn’t hold their attention in the same way it can with neurotypical see Page 53.) students. Special education teachers like me have to explore creative solutions to the challenges our students face. All of this requires additional time, which means additional resources.” 30 October 2022 PHOTOS FROM TOP: JEFF GREEN; COURTESY OF MEMBERS

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NEA- The latest news on RETIRED NEA-Retired members around the country WISDOM WARRIORS TAKE ACTION On a day of a protest in organize for social justice, bread- Massachusetts, you may find retired and-butter issues, and union educator Rick Last standing in power,” Last says. solidarity with a sea of educators in red shirts. Last is a member of Massachusetts The idea for the Warriors came Teachers Association (MTA)-Retired and about at an annual meeting, the Wisdom Warriors (right)—retired educators across recalls the group’s founder, Elaine Koury: “Looking the state who help demonstrate union strength and across those hundreds of faces in the retired section advocate for MTA-sponsored legislation. The group’s of seats, I thought: All these well-educated, caring latest effort? Protesting education budget cuts educators … . Surely, we can help!” And active alongside active colleagues. members are thrilled to have their support. “Being a Wisdom Warrior means retirees taking —Lilly Behbehani action to support our active members as they Email [email protected]. Retirees Make Terri McKee teams up with other retired Birthday Wishes educators to deliver birthday bags to food Come True banks and thank-you gifts to active educators. Terri McKee lives near the birthday, especially kids,” McKee says. pre-retirement seminars, encouraging neighborhood of Birchwood—a Today, the group creates 15 birthday educators to become more engaged known “food desert” in the city bags a month for the food bank. with the association. of Bellingham, Wash. After Birchwood’s last grocery store closed, McKee sought The retirees also delivered about —Lilly Behbehani out a list of needed supplies at a local 500 wrapped packages of trail mix to food bank. Two items caught her eye: educators in local schools, along with To donate or get involved, email Terri Cake mix and frosting. notes of gratitude for their good work. McKee at [email protected]. McKee—who serves on the board The packages included information of directors for the Washington about WEA-Retired scholarships and Education Association (WEA)- Retired Fourth Corner—got together PHOTOS: COURTESY OF MEMBERS with fellow retired educators to create birthday bags with cake mix, frosting, candles, party horns, and extras like balloons and decorations. “We think that everyone who wants to should be able to celebrate a 32 October 2022

NEA-RETIRED NEWS MEET THE NEWEST NEA-RETIRED LEADERS The results of the NEA-Retired elections VICE PRESIDENT are in! The candidates spoke to delegates at the NEA-Retired Annual Jean Dobashi Meeting, in June, and the ballots were cast Hawaii State Teachers Association–Retired by mail. The official results were announced on July 21. The newly elected officers took EXECUTIVE COUNCIL (TWO OUT OF NINE SEATS WERE UP FOR ELECTION) office in September. Congratulations to the winners! Ross Dill, Illinois Education Association-Retired Bobbie Margo, Education Minnesota Retired NEA-RETIRED BOARD OF DIRECTORS (TWO OUT OF SIX NEA-RETIRED SEATS WERE UP FOR ELECTION.) Ed Foglia, California Teachers Association/NEA-Retired Linda McCrary, Tennessee Retired Teachers’ Association Jean Dobashi Ross Dill Bobbie Margo Announcing the 2023 NEA-Retired Membership Awards NEA-Retired Communications Awards! The winners of this year’s NEA-Retired Membership Awards were announced at the NEA-Retired Annual Every year, the NEA-Retired Executive Council Meeting, in June. The Retired state groups with Communications Committee recognizes the largest membership gains were Pennsylvania State NEA-Retired affiliates for outstanding Education Association-Retired (1,128 new members) communications work in the following categories: and Education Minnesota Retired (4 percent increase). This year’s runner-up for both categories was the • Established State Retired Newsletter (Published more than three years) California Teachers Association/NEA-Retired with 864 new members, a 3 percent increase. • State Retired Newsletter NEA-Retired also introduced a new category, the (Published fewer than three years) “Spirit of Membership Award,” which honors a state affiliate that developed an innovative program while • Established Local Retired Newsletter  • E-Newsletter building membership. This year’s winner, the Georgia • State Retired Website Association of Educators-Retired, banded together • NEA-Retired Spotlight Award to fight voter suppression in their state and region, said NEA-Retired Executive Committee member Tom Wellman (State active newsletter/magazine covering when he presented the award. “They tackled a tough job NEA-Retired issues) and were able to get their members energized.” • Newsletter Hall of Fame To apply, visit nea.org/RAM and scroll down to October 2022 33 Communications Awards. Applications must be postmarked by April 15, 2023. PHOTOS: COURTESY OF MEMBERS

UWneiStetdand forPARENTSAND EDUCATORS WANT Students THESAMETHING— THE SUCCESS OF THEIR STUDENTS! TOGETHER, THEY ARE GETTING IT DONE. By Mary Ellen Flannery Fear isn’t the right word. As veteran high Working together, the group has bought books school teachers in Rochester, Mich., Gayle for classrooms, held pop-up library events, and even Martin and Emily Sommer weren’t scared of organized a read-in at a school board meeting. parents. But they were wary. “As an educator, all you ever hear are the It turns out that about three-quarters of Free to attacks,” says Martin, who retired from teaching four Read Rochester members are not current or retired years ago. “The people who support you don’t usually educators like Martin and Sommers. They’re the other stand up at school board meetings.” kind of people who care deeply about students. So when Sommer, who retired last year, and Mar- Parents. tin first heard about books like The Handmaid’s Tale being removed from Rochester school libraries, they More than cookies attempted to solve the problem on their own. They created an Amazon wish list of banned books, Every educator cherishes sweet treats and hand- posted it on their Facebook pages, and told friends that they would deliver books scrawled notes of appreciation from parents and directly to teachers and students in their community. students. (File those notes away for the long days of The idea spread. The women late fall!) But as attacks on public education were flooded with books. And sudden- ly, they realized: “We actually have have grown—taking aim at lesson plans, a lot of allies in the community,” Sommer says. curricula, and educators’ ability to reach Parents, neighbors, and former students every single student—today’s parent were all among those who wanted to help. Eventually, the group became Free to Read Rochester, partnerships have evolved too. a registered non-profit dedicated to fighting book censorship and making Today, many parents aren’t only sure all kids can see themselves in the pages they read. delivering sweet words or empty calories. At school board meetings, they’re standing up against book bans. In statehouse chambers, they’re calling for Emily Sommer increased funding and educator au- tonomy. And, across the country, in places where local unions have been working for years to build long-term, collaborative relationships, parents and educators are speaking up together for additional learning supports, improved facilities, and more. 34 October 2022 PHOTO: BRENDA ORTEGA

Parents and educators in Rochester, Mich., are working together to ensure that books in local libraries reflect the identities of all students. “We don’t want In Minneapolis, in March, parents joined educa- ‘There is no somebody’ our relationship tors on the picket line to demand class-size caps and Sekel never used to be a parent who showed up at with parents to mental health professionals in schools. A month later, be transactional. in Oakland, Calif., parents and Oakland Education the statehouse. “I read the news, so I had a vague idea We want it to be a Association (OEA) members marched side by side that things were bad in North Carolina—but I hadn’t partnership.” to protest the school board’s decision to close seven thought it had anything to do with me,” she says. “It elementary schools over the next two years—a move was always like, somebody is going to fix that.” —Sara Shepich, teacher disproportionately affecting students of color. in Oakland, California That changed five years ago at a school advisory Today, Oakland educators are surveying parents to council meeting, when she heard about a new state make sure their priorities are represented when the law aimed at lowering class size. It sounded great, union’s bargaining team negotiates its next contract except lawmakers hadn’t provided any funds to make this fall. “We don’t want our relationship with parents it work. To meet the new class-size mandates, school to be transactional. We want it to be a partnership,” districts needed to make massive cuts in spending. says Oakland teacher Sara Shepich. “We were looking at a situation where every art, And parents are taking the lead in plac- music, and PE teacher in the state of North es like Florida and Texas—where edu- Carolina could be fired!” Sekel recalls. cators fear they’ll lose their jobs if they Sekel first went to her PTA, where acknowledge the existence of racism or parents told her: You should tell people speak up for LGBTQ+ students. Earlier about this! She then helped start this year, when school officials in a a Facebook group called Save Our Texas suburb removed Ibram X. Kendi’s Schools NC, which grew to involve book Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and thousands of parents and North You, the Round Rock Black Parents Associa- Carolina Association of Educators tion made sure it was returned to shelves. (NCAE) members. They held postcard parties. Sent “Teachers want students to be welcome in their classrooms. When you stop to think about it, Renee Sekel emails. Made calls and held rallies. In parents want all children to be welcome, too. We 2018, after relentlessly pressing legislators, “We got want the same things,” says Renee Sekel, a parent them to fix it!” Sekel says. “It taught me that there is in Cary, N.C. no ‘somebody.’ We can’t wait for ‘somebody’ to come along and do the right thing. We all have to be pulling PHOTOS FROM TOP: JIM WEST; COURTESY OF RENEE SEKEL October 2022 35

Philadelphia parent Ronna Dewey first spoke up when LGBTQ+-themed books were pulled from her school library’s shelves. “I guess it was the mama bear coming out!” she says. She adds: “The other thing I learned, of course, is that public schools are under attack in North Carolina.” together,” says Sekel, who is now involved with Red Moms for what? Wine and Blue, a nationwide network of women who Similar attacks are happening in states across are organized in local, mostly suburban, groups. (Mar- tin and Sommer also used Red Wine and Blue’s online the U.S. Anti-public school groups are threatening “troublemaking” training to help them educators, disrupting school board meetings, and get started.) lobbying state legislators for measures that would strip public schools of money and make them less “I know for a fact that the local NCAE people safe. They’re also running their own candidates for were talking about the class-size law—but they can’t local and state offices. do it alone, and we [parents] can’t do it alone either,” Sekel says. “There’s power in people raising their One of the largest is Moms for Liberty, a nation- voices together!” wide group with ties to the Florida Republican Party, which seeks to ban books with positive references to LGBTQ+ people, critical references to Christian people, and what they call “racially divisive” themes. Mem- bers of Miami’s Moms for Liberty shared the stage when Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the Stop Woke Act early this year—a law prohibiting teachers, faculty, and businesses from any teachings or trainings about race or religion that might make people feel guilty. Ronna Dewey, a mother of three in the suburbs of Philadelphia, first learned about Moms for Liberty at a school board meeting, where a member of the group read aloud from All Boys Aren’t Blue. In the young adult memoir, author George M. Johnson—who self-identifies as Black and queer—shares autobiographical episodes, like when bullies kicked out his teeth. What Do Parents Care Most About? NEA asked voters A lack of Students not Students Teacher about the most mental health getting an honest, falling behind recruitment and serious issues facing accurate education academically public schools. supports retention The top concerns, shared by at least 85 percent of voters surveyed, include: 36 October 2022 PHOTO: COURTESY OF RONNA DEWEY

Not long after, another Mom showed up at Dewey’s During a one-day neighboring school board to read from Gender Queer, strike in April, a memoir that explains what it’s like to be nonbinary. Oakland educators “Next thing I knew, a local Republican committee and parents stood called out my school district on Facebook for having together to protest books on the shelves that are sexually explicit,” the school board’s Dewey says. “Next thing after that, … they’d removed plan to close and three books.” consolidate schools. School officials hadn’t followed their own policies. ATACKTIEON Ask Congress to fund community schools! “There hadn’t even been a formal complaint about the books—just a Facebook post!” Dewey recalls. “That’s Community schools are places where parents and educators when I said, OK, I need to do something.” work together to get students what they need. Voice your support at nea.org/community-schools-action. Dewey, now a Red Wine and Blue state coordinator, connected parents on Facebook and got them to attend board meetings. “Before this, the only time I’d been to a school board meeting was when one of my sons was honored,” she says. They got the books put back, but Dewey is more concerned than ever. Students have serous issues: Suicide rates in their community are horrifying. Instead of banning books, Dewey wishes every parent would fight for student supports. “If we’re not addressing social-emotional concerns, how is it ever going to get better?” she asks. “There’s a lot at stake in our community.” Common ground NEA research shows that many parents across the U.S. also want mental health supports for students. In a recent national poll of parents and community mem- bers, they also said they care deeply about helping students catch up academically and making sure they get a complete, honest accounting of American history. In Oakland, union members are diving deeper. What exactly do their parents want? And how can they work together, over the long term, to get it? During the height of the pandemic, OEA members began regular “wellness checks” with families, asking what they needed and connecting them with resources to help with rent, food, medical care, and more. This spring, Oakland educators stood with parents to protest the school board’s vote to shutter seven schools that are integral to the Oakland community. Now, as the union gets ready for contract bar- gaining, educators are asking parents to peer into the future and envision the schools their children deserve. “We’ve never had a school librarian,” Shepich says. And while her school does have an art teacher, the teacher doesn’t have a classroom. “The more that we create this relationship with parents, the more likely they are to tell me: ‘We want this. We want this. And we want this.’” “Parents aren’t always aware of the power that they have,” she says. “Hopefully, we’re empowering them to stand up and be loud.” PHOTOS FROM TOP: NOAH BERGER; JEFF CHIU/AP; CARLOS AVILA GONZALEZ/ October 2022 37 SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE/POLARIS; NOAH BERGER

By Cindy Long What should you do when there’s a gun on The student was sobbing when she the school bus? If you showed up in Adena Barnette-Miller’s don’t know, you are morning homeroom at Ripley High not alone. School, in West Virginia. The girl’s entire body trembled, the blood completely Clear and drained from her face. As Barnette-Miller Present D gripped her in a tight hug she struggled to find out what was wrong. Barnette-Miller says Jackson County, grandfather kicked him off his land. He where Ripley is located, is “real” West said, ‘We only allow hunting weapons Finally, the senior was able to speak Virginia. Many people don’t have running here, and that’s not for hunting.’” through the tears. A boy had pulled out water or cell service, and hunting and a gun on her bus. Before he could start guns are pervasive. “There is a big difference between shooting, another student was able to a gun that shoots a deer and one that grab the gun from him. About 20 children “I’m not anti-gun. I was raised around murders people,” she adds. on the bus, including elementary, middle, guns. I’m from a family of hunters and and high school students, were mere military veterans,” Barnette-Miller says. As of August, mass shootings—where moments away from being shot. “But when a family friend showed four or more people, not including the up with an AR-15 to go hunting, my shooter, are injured or killed—averaged The girl was in shock, the horror of more than one per day in 2022. And not the incident slowly sinking in. Her two younger sisters were riding the bus with PHOTO: JEN POTTHEISER her. As she struggled to protect them, she texted her mom who worked at the middle school to alert the principal and police. She was running on pure adrenaline. “It took a while to find out what in the world was happening … but the fact is we were about 15 seconds away from a mass shooting on a school bus,” says Barnette-Miller in disbelief. “All those kids, I know. I went to school with the parents of all those kids on the bus. … I think of the fact that if it hadn’t been for the one who grabbed the gun, three of four children in that one family would be gone. Three beautiful kids. Gone.” The small, rural community would have been devastated, she says, and they’d have been the ones the country would send thoughts and prayers to instead of policy and change. “There’s no way to bring those babies back once they’re shot,” she says, tears springing to her eyes. A fight almost turns deadly There had been an argument, and the boy with the gun was angry. Police later found out that he and his brother had stolen the firearm from a neighbor. It’s a situation that could easily happen anywhere, at any time, in any school system—especially now that gun culture is so prevalent. 38 October 2022

d Danger “Many of us have talked about a single week had passed without at least of us have talked about how a student how a student could easily bring four mass shootings, according to the Gun could easily bring a gun onto the bus, a gun onto the bus, and we Violence Archive. and we just don’t know what we’d do just don’t know what we’d do if if someone was waving a pistol at us or someone was waving a pistol at Though mass shootings get a lot shooting at random. us or shooting at random.” of attention and cause widespread fear, they account for a fraction of gun “We used to worry about hijacking of —Maria Reed, president of the deaths in America. Most are suicides or school buses, but now it’s gun violence. Bridgewater-Raritan Transportation individual homicides. And kids with guns are getting younger Association, New Jersey and younger,” she adds. According to the gun violence School bus drivers Ivis Castillo (above) prevention group Sandy Hook Promise, As a starting place, Reed would like and Maria Reed (previous page) children living in poverty—both urban school bus drivers to receive active- advocate for active-shooter trainings— and rural—are more likely to die due to shooter training and to have a faster but also for preventing guns from gun violence than their more affluent way to call for help. getting on the bus in the first place. peers. Black youth are four times more likely to be killed by a gun than their “Back in the 1990s, buses had panic PHOTO: FRED WATKINS White peers, and about one in five buttons that functioned like a 911 call to LGBTQ+ youth have been threat- police. Newer buses don’t have them,” ened or injured with a weapon on she says. school property. Another option would be for drivers There is little research on gun violence to have a special “gun-on-the-bus” code on school buses, but educators agree that to call out on the radio, which would alert it is frighteningly easy for a student to authorities. smuggle a gun onto a bus. “Some districts around the country School bus drivers are worried have offered training on what to do if a bus was hijacked,” she says. Her district Maria Reed, president of the also trains drivers in how to evacuate the Bridgewater-Raritan Transportation bus in case of fire or flooding. The drivers Association, in New Jersey, says, “We then train the students on how to jump have about 25 district drivers, and many out the back door and gather on one side away from the bus. October 2022 39

“We were about 15 seconds away from a mass shooting on a school bus,” says West Virginia educator Adena Barnette-Miller. comes to guns, the two districts have similar concerns. An increase in fights and violence in Arlington schools has educators worried, including local school bus driver Ivis Castillo. “We worry daily that kids could bring a gun on the bus,” she says. “Especially high schoolers and middle schoolers. Fights break out, and we don’t know how far it can go. Often everything is all planned out, and the students have more friends waiting at the bus stop to attack. It is a very real threat.” Castillo says she is in favor of standing up for our freedoms, but she believes we must do more to prevent gun violence. Training for active shooters on the bus would be helpful, but it’s not a long-term solution. The ultimate goal, she says, should be Active-shooter training should be The program teaches middle and high to stop guns from getting onto the bus or just as routine, Reed says. She is also advocating for bus drivers and students school students to recognize the warning into schools in the first place. to receive training on how to identify students who are struggling emotionally signs that someone could be at risk of “Metal detectors at schools just make and how to notify the school. hurting themselves or others and trains it feel like prison,” Castillo says. “Why do “The older kids might see something on social media, or hear something that was students in how to say something to a students have guns in the first place, why said in the cafeteria or hallway, like, ‘I’m going to bring a gun and shoot it all up,’” trusted adult. mass weapons? We need to get to the Reed says. “If someone says something to an adult, an incident could be avoided.” The program aligns seamlessly with root of the problem, the prevalence of Research supports that approach. schools’ existing social and emotional guns, the access. Why is this happening?” Studies have found that in four out of five school shootings, the attacker told learning curriculum, instruction, and She adds, “There are mental health someone about their plans. programming. problems in every part of the world, Training is only part of the solution Barnette-Miller is grateful that her in every income level, in every kind of Sandy Hook Promise aims to give district offers the training, but she says government. But the U.S. is the only one students a pathway to reporting problems before they turn into tragedies. that’s only one part of the answer. dealing with so many shootings. We need The group offers the Say Something training to schools at no cost. “This is a society problem,” she to ask why.” 40 October 2022 says. “It should be harder to get a gun than it is to buy a pack of MLEOARREN NEA is working tirelessly cigarettes. We’ve got to do more.” to ensure safe school communities. Guns threaten rural and urban districts alike Find out how you can help at nea.org/gunviolence. Arlington County, Virginia, is a Washington, D.C. suburb with a population 10 times the size of Jackson County. But when it PHOTO: ANN NESTER

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Express Yourself! Arts integration I n an elementary school in Kodiak, Alaska, which means “living picture.” Students communicate allows a group of students demonstrates their un- concepts through dramatic arts techniques, such students and derstanding of a butterfly’s metamorphosis. as poses, gestures, and facial expressions, rather educators One balls up on the floor (the egg), another than words. It is especially effective for kinesthetic to tap stretches out (the caterpillar), another learners—who learn by interacting with their environ- into their kneels with arms wrapped tightly around herself ment—and allows all students to be creative while also creativity— (the pupa), and finally a student stands with arms reinforcing comprehension. making spread wide (the butterfly about to take flight). They learning are acting out the stages in a “tableau”—a still picture After lessons in reading, math, science, or social more created with the positioning of bodies. studies, students can work together in one- to five- meaningful minute challenges to form tableaus that tell the story “Tableau is an arts integration strategy that not of what they’ve learned. By Cindy Long only reinforces a concept students are learning, but it’s great for teaching collaboration and cooperation,” says “One of our teachers even asked students to JoAnne Knight JoAnne Knight, an art teacher and the arts and culture demonstrate baking bread in a tableau, and I thought, 42 October 2022 coordinator for Kodiak public schools. no way, but they did it!” Knight says. “They totally un- derstood the process, showing the shapes of the bowl, The name comes from the term tableau vivant, the measuring cups, the yeast rising, and the baked PHOTOS: COURTESY OF KODIAK ARTS COUNCIL

Under the guidance loaf of bread.” In tableau, she explains, kids are taught of teaching artist the art form itself and then use it to demonstrate Erica Ross, students knowledge. It can be an instant assessment tool. at Chiniak School, in Alaska, create What is Arts Integration? silk paintings that According to the Arts Integration Institute (AII), connect to the read- ing curriculum. this framework involves using the arts to teach and assess content standards equitably. Teachers incorporate a range of art forms into standard lessons, providing students with different learning styles, languages, or cultures with more ways to communicate what they know, beyond paper and pencil or keyboard and screen. “The standards are there to follow and are verti- cally aligned to move students through the grades,” Knight says. “But throw art into the mix, and the classroom lights up with sparks of imagination.” AII research shows that achievement increases by 10 percent across the board in schools that use the technique. It also makes teaching and learning more fun for educators and students alike, allowing educa- tors to take standard curriculum and infuse it with creativity, inspiration, and innovation. Knight and her colleagues found that arts integra- tion is also an excellent retention tool. With the help of a 10-year grant (they’re now in year seven), the district sought to support early career teachers with arts integration training and mentoring, as a way to build their confidence and competence. “Now a lot of our teachers regularly integrate art into lessons, it’s just part of their method of teaching,” Knight says. In math lessons, for example, students have created circle paintings, using circles of different sizes to represent different areas. In geometry lessons, they create abstract art with angles and other shapes. In addition to writing out formulas on paper, they’re creating pieces of artwork,” Knight says. Five Reasons to Use Arts Integration Strategies 1. Creates Student 2. Builds Critical 3. Empowers Educators 4. Affords Equity 5. Provides Connective Buy-In Thinking Skills and Students Yields an equitable learn- Learning When the arts are inten- Students construct personal Instructors become facilitators ing environment for all Furnishes a research- tionally integrated into meaning through arts- of creative learning and are students by providing based pathway to teaching classes, students become active integration. They develop empowered in their profes- multiple access points. 21st century learning skills participants in their learning. problem-solving skills and sional growth. Educators feel and natural avenues for Students can own their learning the ability to innovate. This fulfilled and able to provide a differentiation. and have a vested interest in builds grit and perseverance. hands-on learning environment their success. for students. PHOTO: COURTESY OF JOANNE KNIGHT, KODIAK SCHOOL DISTRICT SOURCE: ARTS INTEGRATION INSTITUTE October 2022 43

“Arts integration (kennedy-center.org/education), including a science is an approach to lesson where students dance the water cycle. teaching, it’s not simply sketching “They kick their shoes off, get out there, and use a picture,” says their bodies to show condensation, evaporation, and Maryland English other stages,” says Knight, adding that some students teacher Ann-Marie even choreograph their own dances. “This lesson is Maloney, here with common in the early elementary years, like second a few of her middle and third grade. It might not work for middle school school students. kids who are more self-conscious.” “The reason I have such a passion for this work, and with Inspire students of adolescents, is that they like to create, come up with all ages their own concepts, and form their own thoughts, rather than having somebody telling them what to think. Arts On the opposite side of the integration enables them to do that while [learning] the country, in Prince George’s required curriculum.” County, Maryland, reading and English language arts teacher — Ann-Marie Maloney, reading and English language arts teacher, Ann-Marie Maloney doesn’t Prince George’s County, Maryland pretend it’s easy to work with middle schoolers, but she and The key to arts integration is to teach music, dra- her students definitely have ma, and visual arts along with subject-area concepts fun in the classroom. As the across the disciplines. lead arts integration teacher at Samuel Ogle Middle School, she As part of an art lesson, students learn geometry introduces the concept from day by creating abstract art pieces, while also learning one in her classes. about abstract artists throughout history and how math relates to their work. They’ll learn about the Maloney is all too familiar painting process, color theory, mixing colors—even with the tweens’ and teens’ how to care for paintbrushes. monotone style of reading literature and poetry. Some of the Kodiak district’s practices come from the Kennedy Center’s art education resources “They are a shy bunch, and they don’t like to speak up,” she 44 October 2022 acknowledges. “To get them out of their shells, I start at the beginning of the school year and, by the winter, they’re performing slam poetry.” The first exercises are dramatic arts, so the students can learn how to act when they’re reading a story, play, or poem. Her favorite warm-up exercises? “Your mom or dad just told you they won a million dollars. How do you react? What does your face look like? What are you doing with your body?” Or, “Your best friend is moving, and you’ll never see each other again. What does your face look like?” “I tell them to dramatize it with their body, to give me an emotion,” Maloney says. “They build on that, and it also has an SEL component, as they express different emotions.” In Maloney’s English class, students read the play The Diary of Anne Frank. She knows it’s a text that some eighth graders are not going to read on their own or even enjoy when they have to read it in school. But using dramatic arts, students perform the play just as actors would. Maloney forms eight groups of students, with each group getting a line. They have to collaborate to dramatize each line sequentially and come up with gestures. PHOTO: FRED WATKINS

Let the students lead (Below and right) Marine Maloney, who has taught for 22 years, used to debris art is popular in coastal towns. (Bottom) dress up as characters from the books she taught. Teaching artist Bonnie “I’d dress up, bring in props—anything to pique Dillard facilitates the collecting, processing, their interest and get them reading.” washing, and building But she was doing all the work to try to engage process with students, teachers, and community them. With arts integration, students are in charge members in Kodiak, Alaska. of creating the art. MLEOARREN You Are an Artist! “The reason I have such a passion for this work, and with adolescents, is that they like to create, You don’t need to be artsy to use arts integra- come up with their own concepts, and form their tion in your classes. It’s easier than you may own thoughts, rather than having somebody telling think, and the payoffs are huge. Find out how them what to think,” she says. “Arts integration at nea.org/artsintegration. enables them to do that while [learning] the required curriculum.” October 2022 45 To teach about different perspectives in poetry and literature, for example, Maloney shows an image of the painting “Watson and the Shark,” by John Singleton Copley. She asks the students: What do you think is happening? Are they trying to save him? Did they throw him overboard? What do you see? What do you think? What do you wonder?” These are artful-thinking strategies from Harvard University’s Project Zero that encourage students to consider their perspective in anything that they are presented with, Maloney explains. “We want them to question everything.” For Shakespeare, whose language turns off most middle schoolers, she throws the class into the middle of the conflict. She has them act out scenes and come up with motivations and feelings they may experience as well: Is a character suffering from mental illness, experiencing low self-esteem or insecurity, or feeling jealous or afraid? Then how do you act that out? When her class reads The Outsiders, they each design a cover as part of a lesson on theme. They study artwork such as Janet Taylor Pickett’s “Matisse Blue Dress” collage. Pickett uses the dress in Matisse’s famous “Lady in Blue” painting to tell the story of her journey as a contemporary African American woman. Students then design collage templates that tell their personal stories. The key ingredient to successful arts integration is engagement, Maloney says. “Where would we be—students and adults— without our soundtracks, those links to our life experiences? Where would we be without dance, sports, movement, expression?” she asks. Humans have a need for self-expression and interaction, so it’s unrealistic to expect students to just sit passively and absorb information, she says. “Students have innate gifts and desire to do—as well as a desire to do well,” Maloney adds. “Give them a leadership position, and they will run with it. That’s our goal as educators, is it not?” PHOTOS: COURTESY OF KODIAK ARTS COUNCIL

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FloriCCdaaappttteiiooanncher Miller Lashbrook posts “safe space” stickers on the classroom wall to create a welcoming environment. Honorifics 101 Honorifics are the titles prefixing a person’s surname. The most recognized titles include Mr., Miss., Ms., and Mrs. Gender-diverse people, however, may prefer not to be addressed with gendered honorifics. One alternative is Mx., as in, “Mx. Smith.” Why are pronouns important? Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales. 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Educators and their unions oppose anti-LGBTQ+ laws Florida’s Gov. Ron DeSantis is not alone in passing member, is pushing for LGBTQ+ inclusion. Long serves on a anti-LGBTQ+ laws. Over the last 10 years, other governor-appointed task force that will recommend ways to politicians have increasingly turned to anti-transgender make the state’s social studies standards more inclusive. rhetoric, “Don’t Say Gay” legislation, and racist tropes to stir fear and consolidate power. In 2022, these politicians “If these references are removed, it will be a loss for have introduced more than 250 anti-LGBTQ+ bills into state students, even at lower elementary grade levels,” Long says. legislatures. But in many places across the country, educator “When someone doesn’t learn about LGBTQ topics in school, unions are starting to chip away at these damaging proposals: they’re not going to think of this community as a common, expected, part of society—and this goes on to form their ideas of Outed: LGBTQ+ kids what’s socially acceptable.” In Arizona, a house bill would have required educators Mimicked: ‘Don’t Say Gay’ laws and school staff to out LGBTQ+ students to their parents. In New Hampshire, a bill modeled after Florida’s “Don’t Say After public outcry—including from the Arizona Education Association, which mobilized its members to contact their Gay” law came to a screeching halt when Gov. Chris Sununu legislators—the language was removed from the bill. threatened a veto. NEA-New Hampshire was one of the stron- gest and most adamant voices against the bill. Minnesota’s GOP-led Senate tried to move a similar bill that would ban schools from withholding any information Skyrocketed: Transgender sports bans about a child’s health, well-being, and education from par- Since 2020, 18 states have passed laws to ban transgender ents—leading to the forced outing of LGBTQ+ students to their families. With strong opposition from the state’s NEA-affiliate, athletes from playing sports. But in Pennsylvania, Education Minnesota, the bill never passed. Wisconsin, Michigan, and Kansas, educators and their unions succeeded in stopping this kind of legislation. Erased: LGBTQ+ references At the time of reporting, the Colorado Department of While the nation continues to confront the attacks on the LGBTQ+ community, one thing remains clear: LGBTQ+ advo- Education was considering the removal of LGBTQ+ refer- cates, including educators and their NEA-affiliated unions, will ences in K–3 social studies standards. Samuel Long, a Denver continue to work together to ensure all students have a safe, high school teacher and Colorado Education Association welcoming, and equitable education. “When someone doesn’t learn about LGBTQ topics in school, they’re not going to think of this community as a common, expected part of society— and this goes on to form their ideas of what’s socially acceptable.” —Sam Long, high school science teacher, Colorado (left) MLEOARREN NEA supports the LGBTQ+ community • To find out more, turn to Page 50. • Track the latest legislation across the country at maps.glsen.org and lgbtmap.org. 48 October 2022 PHOTO: MOSES MITCHELL