News Bulletin
September 2017
NCAE
3
HOPE...An Important and Essential Four-Letter Word So many things have happened recently in North Carolina, our country, and the world -- natural disasters, political disasters, and other trials of the mind and heart. In some cases, fear-mongering and extreme views are the norm. It seems as though more and more energy and time are spent pushing us apart rather than pulling us together. Given this landscape, it can be hard to hold onto hope some days. However, this is when humanity can be at its best. This is when hope and decency and love and life prevail. This is when educators step up and lead for our students. Against this backdrop, school begins anew, and students return to fill the halls once again with laughter and mayhem. Teachers everywhere return to newly prepped classrooms. Educators return to bus garages, offices, cafeterias, etc. ready to embrace the whole child’s needs as only public schools can. Public schools and educators must lift up every child and deliver an education that meets his or her needs, regardless of what those may be. We cannot pick and choose who we want to educate nor should we. Our mission has been and will always be to provide a quality public education to ALL students, regardless of geography, race/ ethnicity, religion, socioeconomic situation, gender, sexual orientation or identity, etc. It is who we are as educators. We are leaders. Given our mission, our role as educators during this tumultuous time is crucial. We must meet the challenge of guiding our students through this incredibly difficult time. We must educate them to embrace differences and to
understand them, not fear them. We must provide a safe place to have conversations about what is going on in the larger world and allow them to work through their feelings about current events. We must shape a generation that believes in community and humanity and will lead our nation back into Rachelle Johnson the space of light and hope. We Executive Director must lead by example. As classes start again, you are the shining example students see and some aspire to be. You shape their understanding of the world and how they should function in it. As trying as times are in the world, you are beacons of hope for our students and public education. Despite all that may be going on outside of your classrooms, work locations and offices, one thing remains true -- your desire to do what is right by your students and to give them the tools they need to navigate these historic tumultuous waters. Please keep the faith, and keep moving forward. In this journey, NCAE stands with you and is ready to support you in all that you do. We value you as a NCAE member and as part of our community. Please support one another as you do this meaningful but often tiring work. Thank you for being part of our NCAE family.
NCAE Hispanic Caucus Beginning with this issue, the NCAE News Bulletin will include a feature in each publication on one of the Association’s state caucuses. To coincide with National Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15 – October 15), we will kick off by highlighting the NCAE Hispanic Caucus. Formed in 2011, the focus of the NCAE Hispanic Caucus is to advance NCAE by working to impact the social and racial inequities affecting Hispanic students and by advocating for their excellence in education. Under the leadership of its officers – Saletta Urena, president; Julio Morales, vice president; Edris Glover, secretary; and Amanda Camacho, treasurer – the Caucus last school year: • created a compilation of scholarships for university-bound students with DACA/TPS status; • encouraged educators to embrace cultures, histories, and languages of their Hispanic students through the awareness and inclusion of resources/activities during Hispanic Heritage Month and hosted an education forum that identified best practices, policies, and programs to boost the academic achievement of Latino students; and
The Caucus recently hosted an educational forum.
• endorsed Julio Morales for a three-year term as NEA director and consulted with NCAE on the needs of Hispanic children and the adverse nature of the ASW process on educators. For the 2017-18 year, the Caucus hopes to advocate for the daily inclusion of identified best practices, policies, and programs that boost the academic achievement of Latino students, and encourage the Association to engage more in highlighting awareness of racial bias and the eradication of its effects on students by providing bias training and cultural sensitivity training for educators. For more information, click here. If you are interested in becoming a member of the NCAE Hispanic Caucus, contact Saletta Urena at sadu7801@hotmail.com.