WASHINGTON — The National Education Association was created in Philadelphia, Pa., in 1857. Over 9,000 NEA members will visit the city over the Fourth of July holiday to celebrate the Association’s 150th anniversary and to conduct the Association’s Representative Assembly. Along with setting NEA’s agenda for the coming year, delegates will hear eight presidential candidates, seven Democrats and one Republican, lay out their visions for the future of America’s public schools.

Delegates to the NEA Representative Assembly are elected locally by NEA’s 3.2 million members to participate in the Association’s pre-eminent decision-making body, the world’s largest democratic deliberative body.

Led by NEA President Reg Weaver, delegates will discuss, debate and vote on critical issues facing public education, such as teacher recruitment and retention and education funding. A major topic at the NEA Representative Assembly will be No Child Left Behind, the Bush administration’s controversial education reform program up for Congressional reauthorization this year.

Confirmed presidential candidates who will address the NEA RA include Hillary Clinton (D-NY), John Edwards (D-NC), Chris Dodd (D-CT), Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), Bill Richardson (D-NM), Barack Obama (D-IL), Mike Huckabee (R-AR), and Joe Biden (D-DE).

              WHO: Nearly 10,000 education professionals, including NEA President Reg Weaver, joined by eight presidential candidates

            WHAT: NEA’s 145th Annual Meeting
 
            WHEN: Saturday, June 30 – Thursday, July 5, 2007

         WHERE: Pennsylvania Convention Center
                          1101 Arch St.
                          Philadelphia, PA 19107
                          www.paconvention.com

June 26

More than 300 volunteers will help paint, landscape and clean Gotwals Elementary School as part of Outreach To Teach, starting at 7:30 a.m. Gotwals is located on 1 East Oak Street in Norristown, Pa. The NEA Student Program started Outreach To Teach in 1996 to give back to a local school in the city hosting the Annual Meeting.

June 29

Delegates will take time out to read to local children as part of NEA’s Read Across America, a year-round program to promote adults and children reading together on a regular basis. Reg Weaver and the Cat in the Hat will read to students at the Free Library of Philadelphia, 1901 Vine Street, from 10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.

July 2

Reg Weaver, NEA president, will address more than 9,000 delegates, and outline tactics to help teachers and educators provide great public schools for every child, regardless of race or background. Weaver’s keynote address will take place on the convention floor.

Presidential candidates will address the NEA delegates:

      1:30 p.m. – Hillary Clinton
      2:30 p.m. – John Edwards
      4:30 p.m. – Chris Dodd

July 3

NEA member Veronica Henderson of Maryland will be honored as the 2007 NEA Education Support Professional of the Year.

Presidential candidates will address the NEA delegates:

      2:30 p.m. – Dennis Kucinich
      4:00 p.m. – Bill Richardson

July 4

NEA member Andrea Peterson, a music teacher at Monte Cristo Elementary School in Granite Falls, Wash., will address the delegates as the 57th National Teacher of the Year.

July 5

The Association will honor the 2007 NEA Friend of Education – Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).

Presidential candidates will address the NEA delegates:

      11:00 a.m. – Barack Obama
      2:00 pm. – Mike Huckabee
      4:00 pm. – Joe Biden