Midwest Caucus for Peace and Justice Minutes– Saturday January 22, 2010

The NEA Midwest Regional was held in Minneapolis the weekend of January 22-24, and the Peace & Justice Caucus made itself known. We had a table with displays all three days, enrolled a record thirteen new members, and sold many materials, bringing in a total of around $445 for the P&J Caucus. (I don’t know the exact figure, but that’s approximately what I was told by Nancy Porter, our national chair and money holder at the table.) We also held a caucus Saturday morning, and you will find Roberta Rosheim’s minutes for it printed below.

Thank you,
Tom Wolfe
P&J Midwest Director

Midwest Caucus for Peace and Justice – Saturday January 22, 2010

Tom Wolfe called to order the meeting at the Hilton Hotel in Minneapolis at 7:20 AM. He explained the caucus and the goals that we have, reminding us that membership is the lifeblood of the caucus and that state contacts make this happen. When the state contacts are known before the RA and will work at the RA to get new members, it is most helpful.

Introductions: Nancy Porter is the national chair, Carol Kula is the floor manager at the RA, Roberta Rosheim is recording secretary for this meeting, Josh Wager is the national website author, Josh Brown and Andrew Rasmussen are the Midwest Blog authors, a state contact that was present was Carol Kula from IA. Nineteen people were in attendance: Michelle Cooper, Bryan Milz, Roberta Rosheim, Nancy Porter, Andrew Rasmussen, Joshua Brown, Michele Cooper, Erin Hinds, Bev Stolfus, Carol Kula, Gail Maison, Jodi Tupper, Joshua Wager, Stacey Kimberlin, Kristen Henningfeld, Curt Christenson, Rich Baldwin, Tom Mc Laughlin and Tom Wolfe.

Tom announced who the state contacts are: Germaine Light from IL, Rhondalyn Cornett from IN, Carol Kula from IA, Mary Anne Schwartz fro MI, Kimberly Corbert from MN, co-contacts Rebecca Bauer and Clara Hutchinson from MN, Lori Zanitsch from MO, and Stephanie Kortyna from WI.

HAITI – There is a fund called El Solidarity Fund for Haiti, which is a good opportunity to contribute directly to help teachers in Haiti. There are no administrative costs. Send donations to

Haiti Earthquake Recovery
National Education Association
1201 16th Street NW, Suite 614
Washington DC 20036

Constitution: Tom said there might be recommendations for changes in the Constitution because Retired dues are currently $5 and just one newsletter costs $3 to send out. State caucuses now need 50 members and there are only 3: California, Iowa, and Washington. States creating their own P&J caucuses must elect their own state chairs. In return, they will receive rebates from the national P&J Caucus to support states.

Websites: Josh Wager is the author of the national website. There is a blog and the newsletters are on it, and the Paul Mann Award for Youth Activism is explained and announced. He is working on the format now.

Andrew Rasmussen and Joshua Brown talked about the Midwest website. Andrew thanked Tom McLaughlin for helping to improve it. Andrew puts articles on the website, and he wants people to post comments so there can be discussions. It is a way to share and organize events and activities. Joshua Brown said it would be great to get people involved from throughout the Midwest.

Gail asked what the purpose of this meeting is. Tom said it is to persuade the NEA to promote our issues, for example to oppose torture, to ensure civil rights for everyone. We bring forth new business items to the Representative Assembly of the NEA. We try to change the climate of the NEA through the Rep Assembly and through state assemblies. Carol Kula said we also influence NEA to support international unions. We must emphasize that war funding affects students and explain how. Tom McLaughlin also mentioned that we are active in Chiapas. We raise money for schools in Chiapas, including one school that is named after an advocate for Chiapas, Paul Mann.

We were encouraged to seek those young people who best exemplify P&J ideals and nominate them for the Paul Mann Youth Activism Award and then recognize them at our various state assemblies here in the Midwest as well as throughout the nation.

Information was shared about the problem of Object to Consideration, which has been used at the RA and in our state assemblies to avoid discussion of our issues. Nancy said that Paul Mann helped to pass a rule in Iowa that the maker of the motion may speak at least once before the vote is taken to Object, a rule that has been in place at the national level for some time. Nevertheless, OCs block debate of our controversial issues, and that is frustrating.

Tom reminded us that our current wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are hugely expensive and that it costs 1 million dollars per soldier per year to keep an American soldier in those two countries, money that could go a long way to funding our schools.

Nancy reminded us that we need to get new members and to volunteer to be at the booth. The minutes will be posted on our websites.

When the Executive Committee of the National Peace and Justice Caucus met last fall, it developed its own tentative list of major issues to focus on during this year and to develop a list of new business items around them, but any final list would await input from the regionals. Tom asked for our suggestions to make a list of items we believe are most important in order for the Executive Board to consider them before making its final list.

The items suggested were:

1. Support relief for Haiti;
2. Rebuild Haiti and keep an eye on the international effort to rebuild Haiti;
3. To relate each of our issues to public education;
4. Work for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq and Afghanistan/
5. Focus on what wars do to people;
6. Promote schools in Afghanistan and use the Pennies for Peace program as a guide;
7. Teach social justice in the classroom and include within the curriculum the teaching of labor history and other examples of social activism; and
8. Promote soap drives for homeless shelters – to donate toiletries from the hotel to local shelters

Tom reminded us that we want to effect change in the NEA and then to effect the US Government through lobbying by the NEA. Andrew reminded us to continue this discussion on the blog.

The meeting adjourned at 8:05 a.m.
Respectfully submitted by Roberta Rosheim

Student's take action!

Let's help support other organizations in their efforts---spread the word

The Student Peace Alliance engages our communities and policy makers in building sustainable peace. The Student Peace Alliance is active on over 80 campuses in over 30 states and is growing every day. Millions of young Americans are aware of the dangers created by relying solely on brute force to end violence both at home and abroad. We know that peace is more than the absence of war; it is a positive condition in and of itself. The goal of the Student Peace Alliance is to harness the power of this realization, mobilizing its adherents into a serious political constituency.

Our generation must begin to build the culture that supports not only a peaceful tomorrow, but a peaceful today. Student Peace Alliance members partner with local community organizations that are effecting change in the areas of violence prevention and conflict resolution. SPA members work to create an environment on campuses and in local communities that promotes education and discussion about peace building on both the domestic and international levels. SPA also works in close partnership with The Peace Alliance to advocate for breakthrough pieces of legislation, such as the Youth PROMISE Act, and to work towards our goal of establishing an infrastructure in the federal government that makes peace a priority.

Our network aims to create change not only at one level of society, but at all levels by combining a community service approach to building peace locally with a political advocacy approach to sustaining and funding peace through the government.

We, the youth and students of the United States declare that NOW is the time for peace, and NOW is the time for action. The people of the United States are rising up for change, and we the youth stand in solidarity with them. Please join us. While this is not the space to explain our entire philosophy, we encourage you to learn more about the movement by visiting www.studentpeacealliance.org or by joining us on our monthly conference calls. We are always willing to answer any questions or comments you may have!

Let's Get To Work

We will post a quick summary or minutes from our caucus meeting at the Midwest Regional Leadership Conference later but we do not want to wait until we get those to get to action.

One of the things that is going on at the national level in our caucus is trying to find a focus and set some of our priorities as we work to influence NEA and the world.

Please post any suggestions you have and we will make sure to share those ideas with our national caucus chair and the rest of the NEA Peace and Justice executive board.

Once we have some topics from you, we can begin to discuss those ideas out as well on this blog to create action items to be implemented at the local, state, and national levels.

We are only as strong as those who join us and get involved so please share your ideas.

Problems with Race to the Top

Everyone needs to read Yong Zhao's recent book, Catching Up or Leading the Way: American Education in the Age of Globalization.

It is tremendous!

Here is a link to Yong Zhoa's blog where you find this recent satirical post on how to win at the RTTT game.

Letter from our Director

These may not be Dickens’ worst of times, but they certainly are not the best either. Not only is our president pursuing an education policy that is sometimes hard to distinguish from his predecessor’s, but it appears he may escalate our troop involvement in Afghanistan, perhaps the worst country in the world for anyone to wage a war and one that our Nobel Peace Prize winner seems determined to wage anyway. If we could accept the notion of a just war, could enough be gained to offset the undoubted fact that more people will die; intolerance will increase; and our economy, already reeling from recession, will have to absorb the additional cost of war at the expense of other more socially pressing needs? During the Bush years, 1,517 young Americans died in that war, and in about ten months of the Obama Administration, at least 509 young people with hopes and dreams for the future have had their promising lives ended. Is this what a peace prize winner should do? I urge everyone to prepare new business items for your state assemblies and for next summer’s RA that would force the NEA to lobby harder for peace in Afghanistan. We must get the attention of our Nobel winner!

The following link, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygXW1QnV2pE, leads to a letter to President Obama read by an eleven year old Californian named Ethan Matsuda about education and Afghanistan. It is worth hearing. The boy won the Golden state’s youth activism award four years ago, is the author of two books, and makes a stirring appeal for peace. Please take the time to click on this link. Then prepare that NBI.

Tom Wolfe
P&J Midwest Director

Afghanistan by Tom Wolfe, P&J Midwest Regional Director

“Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.” I was a twenty year old collegian when I heard those words from President Kennedy in 1961, and I was proud and thrilled to be an American when I heard it. I was also, I think, mistaken and sadly naïve.

Kennedy used those stirring words to justify the growing American military involvement in Vietnam where the survival and liberty of Americans at home were not threatened, and President Johnson continued to use that same argument as we sank into the quicksand of that far off land until we finally abandoned the effort entirely in 1975. Our fundamental problem there was the belief that imperialism was an acceptable basis for foreign policy and that it was perfectly legitimate for our nation to establish hegemony over other people in any manner possible, even militarily.

What did we learn from that experience? Apparently nothing because as I write this it is the eighth anniversary of the American invasion of Afghanistan, where nearly 900 young Americans have died so far, along with the many more lost in Iraq in the last six years and thousands physically and mentally shattered in both wars. Beyond that are the massive numbers of Afghans, Pakistanis, and Iraqis killed in our quest for hegemony.

Now President Obama is trying to decide whether he should send 40,000 more troops to Afghanistan, Secretary of State Clinton apparently favors sending even more than that, and Vice President Biden would have fewer troops but escalate the use of drones and rockets in Pakistan, bringing even more hatred to our nation while killing from on high. They would do this despite having no money to pay for it, no clearly explained reason for it, no agreement on just whom the enemy actually is, and no explanation of how we would ever know when we won so we could all go home again! There is also the unstated premise that we belong there in the first place, that shedding the blood of young Americans and that of countless other people’s blood to extend American dominion over others is actually a good thing.

Does putting Americans in harm’s way in Afghanistan “assure the survival and the success of liberty” for Americans at home? Of course not. This is a watershed moment in American history, and it appears President Obama intends to slide us into another Vietnam. He probably won’t remove existing troops and will more likely add some soon, and Vietnam will be repeated once again. We must voice our opposition loudly and now. Those of you who remember the movie “Network” will recall that Howard Beale stuck his head out a window and screamed, “I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!” Please write or call your congressman, your senator, and especially President Obama. One way to write the president is to flood him with emails at this address: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/. Let our voices for peace be heard as we ponder the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, "The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace and brotherhood."

Tom Wolfe
P&J Midwest Regional Director

Fair Trade Curriculum Courses

Win Win Solutions: An Introduction to Fair Trade and Cooperative Economics.
Equal Exchange’s 124-page curriculum provides a link between personal actions and community efforts to create a more just and sustainable world. This interdisciplinary resource is designed for grades 4-9 and addresses standards from a wide variety of subjects. The flexible structure allows teachers to incorporate individual experiential activities into current lesson plans or use all four units. Addresses national curriculum standards from a variety of subject areas. Available online for free download at http://www.equalexchange.coop/educationaltools.

Setting a Higher Bar: Global Exchange’s Fair Trade Cocoa Unit for Kids. This full unit from Global Exchange has nine ready-to-use lesson plans using inquiry-based learning and encouraging critical thinking. The unit was written broadly for grades 2-5, but is suitable for younger and older students with adaptation. While primarily a social studies unit integrating language arts, it also includes art, math, and life science. Designed to be supported by the Global Exchange Fair Trade Chocolate Book. Book AND unit are available for free download at www.globalexchange.org/cocoa

Focus on Fair Trade from TransFair USA . Each unit highlights our global interdependence by focusing on three different Fair Trade foods: Chocolate Explorers (grades K-2), Banana Bonanza (grades 3-6), and Coffee Connections (grades 7-12). Units include lesson plans and address relevant national standards with ideas for accessible, interactive activities on topics ranging from geography, economics, social studies, history, environmental studies, and marketing. Download for free at http://www.transfairusa.org/content/support/classroom.php.

Maya Arts and Crafts of Guatemala /Artes y Artesanias Mayas de Guatemala, Bilingual Coloring Book. Pictures and text illustrate the importance of arts and crafts in the lives of the Maya. Two Teacher and Parent Guides are available online for free download: Kids and Fair Trade, which contains lessons designed to help children understand how Fair Trade helps address some of the injustices inherent in our present trading system, and Learning From the Maya About Diversity, Culture and Ecology. For more information about ordering the coloring book or to download Teacher Guides, visit: http://www.proartemaya.org/

Constitution - September 17th

In this day and age, our students are witnessing massive changes in our country, perhaps even larger than they (or we) can comprehend.

On September 17, Constitution Day, schools receiving federal funds are required to integrate the Constitution into their lessons. The day offers an opportunity for all of us to teach students something about the Constitution, the document that unites us as Americans across our various political views. Taking some time to discuss the Constitution in your classroom can help students make sense of this unique historical moment by connecting the rights it protects to current issues like domestic spying, preventive detention, and the expansion of executive power.

Because it implicates so many subjects, the Constitution can be an apt subject for a lesson plan regardless of what you teach, or at what level. The Bill of Rights Defense Committee (BORDC) has compiled and developed a series of resources to make it easier for teachers to bring these issues into their classrooms. Additionally, BORDC has grassroots volunteers in a variety of locations available to serve as guest lecturers.

Please consider a lesson focused on the Constitution and its current relevance on September 17. Several lesson plans are available online. Feel free to use them in any way you wish, and please share feedback on your students' experiences.

Finally, please contact Emma Roderick at BORDC if you're interested in (a) inviting a BORDC guest lecturer to visit your class, (b) helping compile lesson plans or other curricular materials about current constitutional issues, or (c) working with other volunteers to draft a report about troubling and pervasive security measures in schools. In your email, please include your school's zip code and a phone number where we can reach you.

Thank you for your invaluable work preparing our nation's future leaders.

Sincerely,

Flavia Alaya, Bridgeton, NJ
Barbara Ehrentreu, North White Plains, NY
Elizabeth Hanson, Lake Forest Park, WA
Meagan Magrath, Springfield, MA
Bradley Olson, Evanston, IL

and other members of the BORDC Educators Team

P.S. Feel free to share this email with your colleagues, both at your school and in other schools.

Bill of Rights Defense Committee
Address: 8 Bridge Street, Suite A, Northampton, MA 01060
Web: http://www.bordc.org/
Email: info@bordc.org
Telephone: 413-582-0110
Fax: 413-582-0116

Health Care: It's Broke. Fix It, Already!

Lily Eskelsen
NEA Vice President

We’ve now seen that dangerous combination of bad information and sincere people who believe it because they read it on the internet:

Town Hall Q. Do you support death panels that want to murder my grandmother?
Town Hall A. Say what?

Yes, it’s entertaining, and there’s a musical in the works based on the actual transcripts of Barney Frank’s town hall meeting. But for now, let’s be party poopers and stick to facts. Let’s talk about what’s broken and what we could do to fix it.

I’m a teacher. We have pretty good health insurance. So why do we care? Well, we care about our communities. We care that a lot of our students and their families don’t have access to quality health care. Those kids miss a lot of school, and that hurts them academically.

And even if you have good insurance, you’ll notice it’s not as good as it was ten years ago. You’ll notice paychecks are smaller as employers pay ever higher premiums to insurance companies that spend 30 cents out of every dollar on administrative overhead.

Hopefully, you won’t be among the people with insurance who find out what isn’t covered when they get sick and make a claim. Or those who have faithfully paid premiums for years only to find their insurance cancelled just before their prostate surgery as they’re notified they neglected to report an unrelated but previously-existing hangnail.

One man’s job stops providing family insurance, and he can’t afford to pick up the $1,000 monthly premium. One woman can’t get insurance because she’s young enough to get pregnant. Another because she’s old enough to need hormone therapy.

We all need this reform. Without decent coverage, medical bankruptcies will impact more families and local economies. Wages will stagnate as more of our wealth is shoveled into the bureaucratic abyss of insurance companies. It will crash in the end.

And when it does, we’ll reach the critical mass of the motivated that allowed Medicare to pass. In 1965, there were no town hall shouting matches. Why? Because seniors tend to have bad hearts and bad eyes and bad hip joints. Insurance companies didn’t want them. There was no motivation for them to oppose it.

The motivated folks were terrified seniors rejected by health insurance companies as a bad risk whose greatest fear, other than getting sick, was becoming a burden to their families.

The motivated folks were the adult kids of seniors who were desperately caught between helping their parents pay doctor bills and risking their own financial security.

The motivated folks were the hospitals that were left with expensive end-of-life treatments and no one to pay the bill.

When some guy would stand up and call it socialized medicine, the motivated folks would tell him to sit down and shut up. People wanted a public option called Medicare. It isn’t perfect. But it fixed the worst of what was broken.

It’s important that House reform proposals contain a similar public option. If you like your private insurance, keep it. For working people who fit better with a public option, they would finally have the choice.

Premiums would be based on your ability to pay, so everyone can afford reasonably priced insurance. Reform would end the nasty gotcha game of pre-existing conditions – no insurance would ever again be able to deny or cancel coverage because of past illness. All proposals keep choices of private doctors, clinics and hospitals.

The problem is real. And now we have real solutions and a rare opportunity to bring common-sense to our crazy quilt of a non-system.

No more shouting of absurdities. This is too important. Speak the truth. Calmly but with conviction. Call your member of Congress. Your senator. Tell them it’s time to lead our country something that works for all of us.

Links:

TAKE ACTION! Sign up as a Cyber Lobbyists and send your health care message NOW!
http://www.nea.org/home/19546.htm

Health Care Lies Being Spread to Seniors
http://www.nea.org/home/ns/35328.htm

The Price of Private Insurance Overhead
http://www.governmentisgood.com/articles.php?aid=20&p=3

Cancelling the Insured because of Pre-Existing Conditions
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/27/business/smallbusiness/27sbiz.html

Medical Bankruptcies
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/health-care-reform/2009/06/new_study_shows_medical_bills.html

President Obama on a Public Option to private insurance
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGJmi6JB4js