Death of the NEA proposal to change “mother” to “birthing parent” It turns out that, at least for this year, the National Education Association won’t be switching “mothers” out for “birthing parents.”
A controversial proposal to replace the terms “mother,” “father,” and “maternity leave” in contract language with gender-neutral terms did not come up for a vote this week at the annual meeting, according to the largest teachers’ union in the country.
The NEA informed The Washington Times via email that “NBI 63 [New Business Item 63] was not considered on the floor of NEA’s 2022 Representative Assembly.”
In the name of LGBTQ inclusion, the item sought to change “mother” to “birthing parent,” “father” to “non-birthing parent,” and “maternity leave” to “parental leave.”
At the assembly in Chicago, which ended on Wednesday, the delegates did approve a number of other left-of-center resolutions, including ones on abortion, LGBTQ issues, and battling conservative educational organizations.
Among the successful proposals was one to spend $140,625 to produce and disseminate “fact sheets” about the top 25 organizations attempting to “dismantle public education,” which would include details on their funding, management, and office locations.
One delegate reportedly said, “You cannot put a price tag on truth,” as reported by Education Week. “We must understand our adversaries.”
According to Education Week, a massive 74 percent of respondents approved the idea of taking a public stance “in support of abortion and reproductive rights” and “encouraging members to participate in activities, including rallies and demonstrations.”
A $56,000 initiative to “take all necessary steps” to repeal Florida’s HB 1557, dubbed the “don’t say gay” law by opponents, which forbids the teaching of sexual orientation and gender identity in K–3 classrooms, was also approved.
The delegates also agreed to spend almost $500,000 to offer “a unified response to the rise in gun violence” and, when appropriate, refer to mass shootings as “murder” and “murderer” incidents.
NBI 37, which asked the NEA to support a national policy of required masking and COVID-19 vaccinations in schools, was rejected. Eighty-four percent of the delegation voted against it.
According to Education Week’s Madeline Will, “new business items direct the union to do something for a year, but they are not a permanent statement of belief.” A motion to bring such a resolution to the floor of the representative assembly only needs 50 delegates.
Following its disclosure on Tuesday by Terry Stoops, director of the John Locke Foundation’s Center for Effective Education, along with a dozen other items up for discussion at the meeting, the “birthing parent” item sparked a commotion.
On Fox’s “The Ingraham Angle” on Thursday, Mr. Stoops said, “The difference this year is that the NEA decided they weren’t going to publish their agenda and make it available to the public. So that’s where I stepped in and I said, I’m going to find this agenda and I’m going to make sure that I let everyone know what the NEA is talking about at their representative assembly.”
Mr. Stoops claims that he was banned from Twitter on Wednesday for breaking the service’s rules against “posting private information.” He disputes this claim, claiming that he got the list of NEA proposals from a website that was open to the public. The report is currently available on the Locke Foundation website.
He told the Carolina Journal, “The reality is that NEA bosses wanted to keep its conference agenda secret because it exposed their obsession with social justice and appalling disregard for the needs of public school students and educators.
The business-related items, according to Mr. Stoops, who claimed to have appealed the Twitter suspension, had little to do with academic instruction.
Mr. Stoops observed that they “seem incapable of talking about what really matters: student learning.” “I find solace in the fact that the union keeps losing members, dues, and power, especially in North Carolina.”
Numerous proposed business items were listed in the document “RA Today: The Official Newspaper of the 2022 NEA Representative Assembly.” They were introduced by delegates or state affiliates rather than the NEA leadership.
According to the NEA statement, members of the organization submit New Business Items on a variety of topics each year. Some are closely related to NEA operations, while others reflect the positions delegates would like the group and its state-level affiliates to take on various policy issues. The NEA is dedicated to democratic procedures and free speech. These principles are crucial to the mission of the NEA as a union as well as the operation of our multiracial democracy.
The union’s most recent in-person representative assembly took place from July 3–6, 2019. 1,500 people participated virtually, while 4,500 people attended the event.
