membership

PHONE   806.790.8063              EMAIL    dennis@natedtaskforce.org

Hello, NET Members!
We finally have a new website location (note the above address, not to mention the new phone number and email). We are not officially linked or beholden to any institution public or private, or any individual, elected or otherwise. Speaking of linkage, the question of whether we should align ourselves with a specific major political party has arisen. It seems to me that our responsibility is not to political parties that can fend for themselves, but to U. S. school children who cannot. By being nonpartisan we can approach members of either party about NCLB or other issues without walls being erected before we even open our mouths. However, this is a bottom-up organization, so I invite dissenting views.

     Speaking of our website, I have added to our home page a link called related websites that should be a good resource for anyone researching the effects of the No Child Left Behind Act. Many of these links were sent to me by NET members, each of whom is cited. I’ve also begun a NETwork newsletter archive link.
     I ask each NET member to:

     1)  Become familiar with the website if you are not already.
     2)  Please read each edition of NETwork (including the first three issues) if you have not already.

     3)  Please read each of my emails in its entirety. My email volume is at times heavy and increasingly it is devoted to answering questions that I already have answered by one or more of these means.

Contacting our Congressional representatives

I am not hearing much about members contacting their representatives in Congress, so here is a thought or two: The NET is now represented in nearly half of the 50 states. We have about 60 members and are growing fast. We will undoubtedly end up with over 100, possibly even 200, and almost certainly every state will be represented. That touches a lot of members of Congress. If through these many relationships we convince even five percent of NCLB supporters to change their minds, these efforts could mean the difference on the reauthorization vote.

     If we are in the NET because we are in deadly earnest about changing what happens to children at school, then we need to pursue this relationship until it is developed. It might not be easy— after four months of phone calls, email, and district office drop-ins, I still have not exchanged a solitary word with my representative, and only superficial conversation with his staffers. Finally, it looks like I might get to sit down next week with his staffer who deals with education. (My difficulties might be due to a correct assumption on the Congressman’s part that he and I disagree about NCLB. All the more reason for me to pursue this relationship relentlessly.) On the other hand, some of you have reported to me about prompt responses and courtesy, in some cases from members of Congress who support NCLB. So it will vary from case to case. Let’s press on regardless.

NET dinner at AERA

At this point we have 15 confirmations (one fourth of our current membership) for our dinner at P. F. Chang’s, which I am told is about five blocks from the conference (although it probably depends on which part of the conference). The following have said yes: David Berliner, Patty Bode, Maria Brisk, Ursula Casanova, James Crawford, Richard Duran, Dennis Fehr, Mary Fehr, H. Jerome Freiberg, Catherine Horn, Linda McNeil, Sonia Nieto, Shannon Pennington, Judy Radigan, and Angela Valenzuela. If your name should be on this list but is not, please let me know.

That funding business

Our website got moved because I
placed the year-long contract on my credit card, which is no big deal, but it signifies that the NET is at a point at which it is going to be spending money. Except that we don’t have any. Early on when I called for funding possibilities, several of you offered suggestions. Only one of those suggestions is still alive, and only as a possibility. If anyone has any ideas, please step up. We are working on becoming 501c3, which should help.

Houston “mini-summit”

As I travel around the country I like to meet with groups of NET members in the places I visit. On March 12 I had the good fortune to meet in Houston with a group from Central and Southeast Texas. We met in the offices of NET member Linda McSpadden McNeil’s Center for Education. The Center kindly provided lunch. Present (l to r) were Judy Radigan, Angela Valenzuela, Mary Fehr, NET Associate Director Charles Meisgeier, H. Jerome Freiberg, me, Linda, and NET Secretary Jacqueline Kenneally. We discussed individuals’ NET concerns, but the most meaningful part to me was at the beginning when each person took five minutes to “tell our story.” That enabled us to get to know each other quickly and will facilitate our continuing working relationships.