Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/348932
AEA Advocate x Fall 2014 5 MEMBER TALK V O I C E Y O U R V I E W S MEMBER TALK MEMBER TALK MEMBER TALK MEMBER TALK MEMBER TALK MEMBER TALK MEMBER TALK MEMBER TALK MEMBER TALK MEMBER TALK MEMBER TALK MEMBER TALK MEMBER Members are more likely to feel the value of Association membership when they see their local association take action and engage their members in addressing priority issues. I look forward to holding more conversations with members across the state this fall and throughout the school year. No state level meeting can offer more insight into the real world of our members than a one-on-one conversation in a classroom or at a job site. The greatest source of expertise and the most authentic understanding can be found in and with our members in the field. I encourage you to vote—in the Primary Election on August 26 and the General Election on November 4—for those who would best support your work and value your expertise. Be sure to check out AEA's recommended candidates on page 19. And thank you for the world you create for the students in your charge. Andrew F. Morrill, President Arizona Education Association POINT OF VIEW: cont. from page 4 Creighton EA member Cyndy Woods-Wilson invited Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction John Huppenthal to do a site visit with her in the classroom for three days. Below is the email she sent to the superintendent and the editor of the Arizona Republic West Valley Edition. Dear Superintendent Huppenthal, Speaking as a long-time educator and researcher, I am appalled. Appalled at your thinly veiled attempts to "anonymously" post incendiary comments about the very electorate you pledged to protect and uplift. Really? Your comments were, and remain, the antithesis of such a pledge. And said comments were hidden beneath a cloak, perhaps beneath a rock at the bottom of a swamp. Said swamp is where such scurrilous comments belong, with other decaying and poisonous thoughts. But, silly me. Rarely do we have educators in charge of education, because true educators don't live or hang out in swamps. Nope. We hang out with others who care, who want to make a difference, and realize that not everyone looks or acts the same. We're in the trenches, every day, dealing with individuals who may have had a rocky start to life, and who may need every bit of positivity we can give them on their own path out to the world. Too bad all our positivity was wiped out this past month. How? Because students and parents might now wonder whether an obviously biased, and perhaps racist, elected Superintendent speaks for all of us. Guess what. You do not speak for me, nor for my colleagues. Let me throw down a challenge. Come hang with me for three days in a row. Meet real people. Meet real folks who make real differences in the lives of students. Start early and stay late with me. Observe what a real educator does. Perhaps you can even try your hand at teaching, playground duty, grading, planning, remediating, solving problems, listening, analyzing data, planning with colleagues, and perhaps the most important skill of all: being non-judgmental. Schools start again the first week of August. No swamps, just students. I'll be there. I'll be prepared. Care enough to join me? Cyndy Woods-Wilson, PhD Open InvItatIOn tO the SuperIntendent Write us! Readers are encouraged to state opinions or make comments in letters that will be considered for publication in this column. The editor reserves the right to edit lengthy letters representing a balance of viewpoints. Generally, letters will not be published without the names of their writers and local associations. Send letters to: "Member Talk," AEA Advocate, 345 East Palm Lane, Phoenix, AZ 85004. Email: sheenae.shannon@arizonaea.org.