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As Emma González, a survivor of the school shooting in Parkland, said this weekend after the March For Our Lives, “This was not the end. This is just the beginning.”
The National Education Association and the millions of educators we represent are proud to support the students who are so courageously leading actions to end gun violence. But that’s not enough. We, too, need to help create the change we seek.
Here’s the reality: If we want to stop gun violence, Congress needs to pass legislation — and we need to make our voices heard until they do.
Click here to email your members of Congress and demand they pass comprehensive gun reform to keep students and educators safe inside and outside of schools.
Skeptics say Congress is unlikely to take meaningful action on gun reform, especially in an election year. But that is exactly why we need to keep up the pressure and show our elected representatives why solutions are needed NOW, not later.
We need legislation that addresses the root causes of violence, including the use of deadly force by police in communities of color, and keeps weapons of war out of our neighborhoods. Arming teachers and fortifying our schools are not the answers. Instead, we need comprehensive gun reform that includes programs that we know will have an effect, like banning assault weapons. We need universal background checks and to keep dangerous people from having easy access to dangerous weapons. And, we need to make sure that troubled individuals get the help they need before they terrorize a school, movie theater, or community street.
To end gun violence in schools, Congress needs to pass gun reform legislation. Your voice is crucial to making this happen. Email your representative and demand they act now.
This should not be a controversial issue. Since the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School less than two months ago, four more schools have experienced shootings. At least seven more people have died. And since the shooting at Columbine nearly 19 years ago, 216 school shootings have taken place. That is unacceptable.
If the March For Our Lives showed us anything, Myghea, it’s that people are eager to enact laws that will save lives.
In solidarity,
Lily Eskelsen García
President
National Education Association
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Will you record a message too? Post a video to Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook and tag #ThankYouStudents. You can also upload it here and NEA will add it to our gallery.
This weekend, students will join together at March For Our Lives in Washington, D.C., and in sibling marches across the country. It takes a lot of courage to stand up to Congress and state legislatures to demand measures that will protect them at their schools and in their communities.
Let’s show how proud of them we are.
Thanks,
Mary Kusler
Senior Director, Center for Advocacy
National Education Association
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State Superintendent Whiston To Take
Leave To Attend To Health Issues
March 14, 2018
LANSING – Following his positive annual performance evaluation by the State Board of Education today, State Superintendent Brian Whiston informed the Board that he will be taking a Long Term Disability leave in 30-60 days to attend to his health.
Whiston, appointed State Superintendent by the State Board in April 2015, was diagnosed with cancer late last year. He has been receiving medical treatments since then, while continuing to run the Michigan Department of Education. He told the State Board today that he will continue to lead the Department for the next 30-60 days, depending on his medical treatments.
“We have worked with the State Board, Governor Snyder, the legislature, and education stakeholders over the past three years to develop dynamic strategies to make Michigan a Top 10 education state in 10 years,” Whiston said. “We have begun setting those strategies into motion and I believe Michigan’s public schools will rise up and meet that goal.
“It has been my humble honor to be given the responsibilities of State Superintendent and will continue to do what I can to keep Michigan moving forward.”
The State Board earlier today gave Whiston a rating of Outstanding on his annual evaluation, and as is its custom, extended his contract by one year.
“We appreciate the vision that he has set for the Department of Education, and the goals he has set for the Top 10 in 10 that were established with multiple entities and organizations,” said State Board Co-President Casandra Ulbrich. “It takes true leadership, true talent, to be able to establish something as important as a vision and a list of goals that go with that vision; and to get literally everyone on board at every level of the organization to encompass their work around that vision and those goals.”
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Myghea,
Like never before, students are stepping forward and demanding our elected leaders protect them in schools.
Like never before, America is listening to them.
As students across the country prepare for the March For Our Lives and other coordinated actions to demand action to end gun violence, please take a moment and record a video to tell them how thankful and proud of them you are.
They need to know that their educators, parents, and communities are with them, supporting them.
Record a video thanking the students who are speaking up about gun violence and share it with #ThankYouStudents.
Here’s my message. Check it out:
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After her remarkably ignorant interview on 60 Minutes, the calls for Betsy DeVos’ ouster as U.S. Secretary of Education have resumed with gusto.
While MEA agrees wholeheartedly that our students and members deserve someone in the country’s top education job who is actually an expert in the field, we also know Betsy DeVos and her family too well here in Michigan. We know they don’t just quit.
They lost the voucher campaign in 2000. They lost the governor’s race in 2006. They could have walked away in defeat and kept their massive wealth to themselves. But they kept at it and, over the past eight years, they accomplished many of their goals of outsourcing, privatizing and profitizing public education.
They don’t quit. That’s not how the DeVoses operate. So we can’t quit either.
Take a stand against the DeVos agenda by making a contribution to MEA-PAC today.
At www.meavotes.org, you can make a one-time contribution or set up recurring deductions, so your credit card can be charged a small amount each month to make up your total contribution – whatever is easier for you.
Your contribution to PAC will help MEA elect friends of public education across Michigan and the country – friends like our recommended candidate for governor, Gretchen Whitmer. Together, we can push back on Betsy DeVos and others who want to attack public education.
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Michigan Education Association Budget & Finance Committee - Member Survey
David, In an effort to create a healthy budget, the MEA Budget and Finance Committee is sending out a survey to members to ask that you tell us what services you value the most. |
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