Presentation by John Cromshow at the NEA Representative Assembly, 2008:

Let me tell you a story.
There once was a teacher whose son sent packages to her school via U.S. mail. She was looking forward to receiving the gift items he had selected for her classroom. But she never received it because her principal opened the packages and left them in the work room so that passersby could take what they wanted.
Through the help and intervention of her state association, district employee relations people were called in. The principal wrote a letter of apology. But it didn’t stop there.  The principal stepped up the harassment of the teacher until she voluntarily transferred to another school.
The principal at the teacher’s new school told her that he knew she was a good teacher who had been maltreated by her former principal. He said he would protect her because he knew what it was like to be abused. It had happened to him when his superintendent targeted him.
This is but one of many stories I have heard in just the last few days at the R.A.  Ask yourself, has something similar to this happened to you or somebody you know?
We need to be informed. We need to know what is going on throughout the country in order to combat attacks on public education. And develop strategies to defeat them.
Machiavelli said, “A tactic perceived is no tactic.” To put his idea in modern terms, “If you know what they’re up to, it doesn’t work.”

I urge you to support NBI 65. “NBI 65 will help keep public education alive…and well!”

The vote was close but the NBI did not pass. There had been a cost of $80,000 estimated for the original motion. The motion was revised and could be accomplished at no cost but enough delegates did not get that message.

Revision

While maintaining confidentiality, as appropriate, through normal means of communication, NEA will ask state affiliates to report major instances of teacher maltreatment by school districts in which the state affiliate became involved, and will convey the results to NEA members before the 2009 Representative Assembly.

NEA SCRAM Caucus members can start gathering this information now. Let's be ready to present the NBI next year.

Please send your input to johncromshow@iscram.net

Each SCRAM member will soon have an iSCRAM.net email address.