The Great Northern Road Trip!

Wow! 977.2 miles in three days on a whirlwind trip to visit members in Glenallen, Kenny Lake, Tok, Delta, Fairbanks, Nenana, Healy and Cantwell! I am so impressed with the committment and compassion of our members as they work to make sure that Alaska's children are fully educated. Watch for photos coming soon!

New View of Alaska

A couple of months ago I received an intriguing invitation. It was from the Institute of the North, a forward thinking group founded by former Governor Wally Hickel. The invitation was to attend the 2009 Dialogue to discuss issues of importance to our state and our citizens. I accepted the invitation and attended the dialogue in Talkeetna this weekend. It was a powerful experience. There were presentations by an array of speakers from a communications multinational corporation, to someone who works with a small village in Africa, to current and former legislators and public policymakers. The Dialogue began on Thursday night and ended today at noon. My mind is filled with ideas and plans on how we can work to impact the future of Alaska. I'm so happy I attended. It was a great opportunity to share vision and become more aware of the plans and activities of other groups. Of great interest was my extended conversation with the director of the Cold Climate Housing Research group. We have excellent plans to discuss rural teacher housing.

Secretary of Education Comes to Alaska

Last week was a real opportunity to share the Alaskan perspective on NCLB and education. Secretary Arne Duncan was in our state to listen and collect information on the needs of public educators and Alaska's schools. During his visit to Bethel on Wednesday I was able to share the need to correct the requirement that a letter be sent to parents explaining that teachers are not highly qualified in every subject they teach. This puts undue doubt into the minds of community members that educators may not be able to do the job. Further, it is demoralizing to teachers when they are working hard and don't have control over which courses they are assigned to teach. I also stated concern about a lack of role models for rural students and encouragement for them to become teachers. It is tough to share a love of learning with students when they see educators doing non-stop test prep instead of providing creativity opportunities for growth. The good news is that I think the Secretary was really listening and has plans to do a thorough remodel of NCLB. He even wants a new name for it!

Best Spot in Our Capital City

Wow! Our new building in Juneau is finally finished and it is wonderful! For those who remember our space at the corner of Second and Main, we're in the same spot. To make a long process short, we bought the old building we had used for a very long time, tore it down, and built a completely new office building at the same location. I'm waiting for all the signs and final details to be completed before posting photos, but I know we will make good use of the space and enjoy the convenience of the location only two blocks from the capital. Please stop in to say hello if you're in Juneau! We will be holding an Open House in January.

New Board/New Direction

At the end of May 2009, we held a unique board retreat in Talkeetna. After riding the train together and getting settled in at the McKinley Princess Lodge, we went to work. Our work focused on setting priorities for how we will work together as a board of directors to provide leadership to our members. It was a wonderful start, and I anticipate having even more discussion in the upcoming year. Look for new ideas, new intensity, and new energy as we move the agenda of NEA-Alaska forward!

A friend has stated recently that blogs with photos are much more fun and interesting, so I'm posting some pics from the retreat. Enjoy!

NEA Representative Assembly 2009

I am just back from San Diego, California where this year's annual meeting was held. Fifty NEA-Alaska members represented our state during discussion and debate on a number of topics. Several items that we brought forward from our own in-state annual meeting were approved! Overall it was a productive week and I am so proud to be involved with such wonderful NEA-Alaska delegates. I hope everyone enjoys the rest of the summer and that the great weather holds.

Standards

It's not always possible to be as clear as we hope we can be when asked about our opinions. This became crystal clear to me this morning. Yesterday a reporter from the Anchorage Daily News contacted me. She wanted to know what NEA-Alaska's opinion was regarding standards. I thought I made it clear that we support standards but that sometimes implementation in areas of our state is difficult. It came out that we support the Governor's decision to stay out of the discussion regarding standards in reading in math that are taking place. We support the idea of moving slowly to implement standards to be sure they can be implemented in Alaska. It was not my intent to say we like the idea of letting others decide without our voices in the room.