Delegates used the morning session of day two of the 2016
convention to call for a full-time, licensed nurse in every school building,
create implementation teams both at the state and local level for the new Every
Student Succeeds Act, and propose that failing test scores for students with
excessive absences not be reflected on a teacher or school.
VEA
members also presented “Legislative Champion” Awards to eight members of the
General Assembly in gratitude for their support for public education during the
2016 session. The recipients were Senators Barbara Favola, Ben Chafin, Jill
Vogel (above)
, and Tommy Norment and Delegates Jim LeMunyon, Tim Hugo, John Bell, and
Terry Kilgore. In addition, Sen. Chafin was named VEA’s Legislator of the Year.
Outgoing
VEA President Meg Gruber also gave her final convention report, reminding
delegates that almost no improvement in public education ever comes easy, and,
in the words of Garth Brooks, we must “do what you gotta do.”
She
also reviewed some highlights of her four-year presidency, noting the success
of the Put Kids First rally last year, the growth in organizing training
opportunities available to members, the additional investment in K-12 schools
made by this year’s General Assembly, the coming implementation of a statewide
health insurance plan for school employees, and the successful work done on
behalf of numerous education-friendly candidates for public offices.
