Colbert Teacher Addresses 9,000 At National Meeting

Thu., July 13, 1995

By Kim Barker kimb@spokesman.com

Last week, Mead teacher Debbie Rose gave her shortest lecture to the largest class she’s ever faced.

Rose had reason to be slightly nervous, with 9,000 listeners, not to mention the moderator, the Rev. Jesse Jackson. She spoke for 3-1/2 minutes.

Rose was one of several teachers who spoke at the National Education Association annual assembly, held July 1-6 in Minneapolis.

“I was really, really nervous,” Rose said Monday. “But I was so excited to get up there and say, ‘I’m a teacher, and I’m proud of what I do.’ Since I was a little girl, I’ve wanted to be a teacher. I feel sometimes, we get a bad rap.”

The NEA is the nation’s largest professional employee organization, representing more than 2.2 million elementary and secondary teachers, college faculty, educational support personnel, retired teachers and students preparing to be teachers.

Rose was one of four teachers to speak from Washington, the state that was highlighted at this year’s convention. A teacher from Battleground and two from Seattle also took the podium. No other teachers spoke.

Rose, who teaches second and third grades at Colbert Elementary, talked about restructuring schools and education to help students learn. The Eastern Washington Restructuring Network was a crowning example of restructuring described at the conference.

The Eastern Washington network aims to create district oversight committees of NEA members, administrators and school board members; help schools set up their own decision-making models for restructuring; involve parents; and assist students in preparing to be involved in society.

“We wanted to be actively involved in these changes, rather than being passive, thus having the changes forced upon us,” Rose told the audience.

Rose, 39, has been a teacher in the Mead School District for 17 years. She’s taught either second, third or fourth grade at Colbert for the past 15 years.

She said the all-expenses-paid trip to Minneapolis was the highlight of her career. She ordered room service and stayed at the Hilton.

“I felt like a movie star, let me tell you,” Rose said.

, DataTimes

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