Media Advisory
You are invited to:
Gubernatorial Candidate Forum 2008 on Education
Sponsored by the Delaware State Education Association
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Dover Downs Conference Center, Ballroom C
9:00-10:30am
David Skocik, moderator
Questions will come from DSEA members.
Attendance: between 200-250
Candidates present: State Treasurer Jack Markel
Lt. Governor John Carney
Mike Protack
Format: Two-minute opening statements followed by six questions for each candidate from DSEA members.
Final three questions will be from candidates to the other two candidates.
The Forum is being filmed for broadcast by Comcast.
This forum is only open to DSEA members, media and invited guests.
It will be broadcast on Comcast in Kent and Sussex Counties the following week:
Tuesday 4/15 10:00 am
Wednesday 4/16 10:00 am
Thursday 4/17 10:00 am and 7:30 pm
Saturday 4/19 7:30 pm
Sunday 4/20 7:30 pm
We hope you are able to attend. If so, please contact Pam Nichols to that effect so that we reserve you a seat in the Press Section.
Who we are
We currently represent all the K-12 public school district teachers and specialists in Delaware's 19 school districts, and approximately 2,000 school secretaries, paraprofessionals, aides, school bus drivers, custodians and food service workers in 18 school districts.We do not represent any charter schools at this time (ie, we are not the bargaining agent for any charter schools, although we do have individual members who work at charter schools and join for other benefits, information and networking opportunities)..
The Delaware State Education Association, founded in 1919 and incorporated in Delaware in 1952, is both a professional association – providing information, training, professional development, advocacy, issues forums, networking opportunities, awards, membership discount benefits – as well as a bargaining agent or union.
DSEA is a unified association of local, state and national affiliates. Our national affiliate is the National Education Association, or NEA. Local affiliates are organized by school district, i.e., teachers in Brandywine belong to the Brandywine Education Association, paras in Colonial belong to the Colonial Paraprofessionals Association, etc.
The state affiliate is DSEA. Members belong to all three.
Mission
As the union of public school employees, DSEA’s mission is to “…advocate for the rights and interests of its members and outstanding public education for all students."
DSEA’s members
DSEA has just over 11,500 members in all of Delaware’s 19 school districts. As the recognized bargaining agent, we represent all of the teachers. Approximately 86% of them are dues-paying members.
In addition, we represent the teachers who work for the State of Delaware’s Department of Youth, Children and their Families (at Ferris School and other residential and/or detention facilities); and the state’s public health nurses and nurses who work for the Delaware Hospital for the Chronically Ill in Smyrna.
DSEA also represents approximately 2,000 education support employees in 40 bargaining units in seventeen districts: transportation workers, paraprofessionals, office workers, aides, custodians and food service workers.
In addition, DSEA has a retired chapter of 550 members, and two student NEA chapters at the University of Delaware and Delaware State University.
Our National Affiliate – the National Education Association, www.nea.og
DSEA is an affiliate of the National Education Association, headquartered in Washington, D.C. NEA is the largest professional organization and the largest employee organization/union in the nation, with a membership of 2.7 million.
The only other professional teacher organization that represents U.S. teachers is the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), which has no teacher bargaining units in Delaware. On the national level, NEA and AFT are working together on many projects as they explore ways in which a merger might be feasible.
NEA’s current focus is on helping members and their schools close the Achievement Gap in the most challenging schools, as well as working with legislators to fix and fund the so-called No Child Left Behind Act. NEA recently filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Education for not funding its mandates.
The current president of NEA, Reg Weaver – a middle school science teacher from Harvey, Illinois – is an outspoken advocate for public education and one of the country's foremost African American labor leaders. As NEA president, Weaver travels across the country as an ambassador for public education. Speaking on behalf of education reform and innovation in the nation's schools, he has addressed national conferences and public policy forums sponsored by the NAACP, Cable Television Association, National Conference of Black Mayors, ASPIRA, Rainbow/Push Coalition, and University of Wisconsin. Weaver has also represented the Association internationally at meetings of the World Confederation of Organizations of the Teaching Profession and the Federal Education Association.
Governance
DSEA is a democratically-run organization whose policies and positions are debated and voted on by elected representatives from each local association at our annual Representative Assembly held in March or April of each year.
An Executive Board, including officers, is also elected directly by members. This board determines and carries out policy in between Representative Assemblies.
Leadership Team
DSEA’s Leadership Team is made up of its president, vice-president, treasurer and NEA director (DSEA’s representative to the NEA Board of Directors). The officers and NEA director are elected directly by the membership.
Staff
DSEA currently employs twelve professional staff and nine support staff who work out of two offices: a headquarters office in Dover and a branch office in Stanton.
Click here for more information about DSEA.
Click here for contact information and names of DSEA's officers, staff and local association officers up and down the state.
Jan. 15, 2008 - DSEA proposes that Delaware contribute to research on single-gender schools by studying both all-boys and all-girls classrooms
March 12, 2008 - The "Center for Union Facts" (CUF) has begun a campaign to demoralize good teachers, block reform and ultimately hurt our public education system.” A national campaign of press releases, TV, radio and newspaper ads, it targets twenty school districts nationwide, none in Delaware.