It was my honor to be chosen as a delegate from Coast CCA to the National Education Association Representative Assembly (RA), which met in San Diego June 30 – July 6. The RA is considered to be the largest democratic assembly in the world with more than 9000 delegates proposing, debating and voting scores on of amendments and resolutions, as well as choosing the people who will lead NEA in the next year. Our own Jack Price wrote a resolution supporting increased job security for part-time instructors, which passed on the floor overwhelmingly. This means the entire NEA organization is dedicated to achieving this goal.
The first two days of RA are spent meeting in caucus groups. I was part of three groups, California delegates (a huge meeting in itself), higher education (much smaller, most delegates are from K-12 schools) and part-time instructors (smaller still). Caucus meetings discuss and debate the proposals before the RA with the hope of finding a consensus on most issues. The caucus then recommends a vote, either Yea or Nay, but, of course, each delegate is free on the floor to vote as he/she wishes. On those issues in which I had little knowledge or direct interest I found the caucus recommendations to be very helpful. The entire assembly also heard an excellent speech by the new Secretary of Education in the Obama Administration, Arne Duncan, during the caucus period.
The Representative Assembly opened on July 2 and ran for five days. To hold nearly ten thousand delegates and several thousand more guests and observers the room at the San Diego Convention Center had to be huge, and it was. Fortunately the room had dozens of microphones and two huge screens that made it easy to hear and see everything from anywhere in the hall. Screens carried the texts of amendments, bylaws and resolutions and as people stood to speak for or against they were seen on the screens. Rather than the chaos I had expected things ran smoothly and a tremendous amount of work got done. Every legislature should work this well!
There was time for fun. The California Teachers Association bought us tickets to the Padres baseball game, all-you-can-eat snack bar section, and T-shirts to wear to the game.
There was a dinner reception in Hillcrest hosted by CCA. And since the RA always occurs during Independence Day week (and yes, we did work on the 4th of July) I got to see an incredible fireworks display over San Diego Bay from the top of the Manchester Hyatt Hotel, my home for the week.
Next summer the NEA Representative Assembly will be held in New Orleans and any Coast CCA member is eligible to be chosen as a delegate. All expenses are paid with a combination of District and Coast CCA funds. It’s an incredible experience and if you would like to go, get involved with our chapter this year. You won’t regret it.
TOM CHAMBERS
Coast CCA VP – GWC