Teachers Saving Children® of Pennsylvania Inc.
Newsletter
Volume 9, Number 1
October 2007
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“The Lord has done great things for us and we are filled with joy.”
The Board of Trustees met September 15, 2007, at the Union County Library in Lewisburg, PA, and had a very productive meeting.
The first order of business was to vote for acceptance of Pat Bartow to our board. She was unanimously approved. Thank you, Pat, for your willingness to join us. We are also grateful that Pat will continue as our newsletter editor.
We said farewell to Linda Burroughs as she officially turned over the treasurer’s materials to Patty Yamrick, our new treasurer. Kudos to Linda for her ten years of faithful, dedicated service to Teachers Saving Children®! Linda, enjoy your retirement from our board.
Please seriously consider volunteering to help man the Teachers Saving Children® - National booth at the 2008 National Education Association Expo, to be held in Washington, D.C. If you are willing to help, contact Connie Bancroft, Executive Director, to tell her of your interest. She can be contacted by e-mail at tsc-life@juno.com, or by telephone at 330-821-2747.
We discussed options for creating a new brochure. Suggestions included producing a postcard or business card, rather than a bifold brochure. We would like to have your input. Contact me at bilskto@paonline.com with your ideas for promotional information.
At this time, we have only 38 members, and we need your help and ideas on how to increase membership. Will you share your thoughts with me about this, also? I also encourage you to enlist at least one new member. If all 38 of us were to do this, we could double our membership. Please direct interested people to www.teacherssavingchildren.org, for information and a membership form, or suggest that they contact a board member (see names and contact information in this newsletter).
I attended the Teachers Saving Children® - National Board of Trustees meeting on October 6 in Columbus, Ohio, as your representative. Please remember to alert me to any concerns you have throughout the year so I can relay them to our national board.
Our next board meeting for the Pennsylvania Chapter of Teachers Saving Children® will be May 3, 2008. We need two more board members. Please contact me if you are interested in serving or would like to recommend a candidate.
I am on the ballot as a delegate to the 2008 National Education Association Representative Assembly in Washington, D.C. If you live in South Central Pennsylvania and are a voting member of the Pennsylvania State Education Association, please consider voting for me when you receive your ballot by mail in December of this year. Please inform others of my candidacy, as well, and encourage them to vote for me. If you are not from south-central Pennsylvania, please support me with your prayers. I will fight for the rights of our yet-to-be-born students as I have done at past representative assemblies. Thank you!
Although I was not a 2007 delegate, I attended the National Education Association Representative Assembly in Philadelphia this summer as a volunteer for our “Wonders of Life” exhibit sponsored by Teachers Saving Children® - National. The experience was very positive. We had a highly visible location in the Pennsylvania Convention Center exhibition hall. Many people offered favorable comments about our exhibit, and many registered to receive our newsletter and to find out more about Teachers Saving Children®. Our message was delivered in an informal but powerful way.
To educate his professional colleagues about this issue, Jeff informs them about his decision through a letter. He explains his pro-life position and, therefore, his concerns about the pro-choice position of the National Education Association.
Jeff does much more than talk about being pro-life. As a delegate to the 2004 National Education Association Representative Assembly, he proposed a new business item that addressed his discontent about the organization’s position on abortion. Speaking to the 9,500 delegates, his rational recommendation was for the National Education Association, which supports “reproductive freedom,” to adopt a position of “no position” on abortion. His rationale was that the National Education Association should not force on its educator-constituents a controversial position that goes beyond the bounds of the classroom. However, his proposal was met with an “Object to Consider” motion, meaning that it was stricken from the record and any floor debate on that issue was closed.
Clearly, any pro-life educator would be justified in sharing Jeff’s concern as well as his desire to bring about change in this position of the National Education Association. Jeff has not given up this venture. As you read on page one of this newsletter, he is hoping to become a delegate to the 2008 Representative Assembly. Please remember to vote for him and/or pray for him. In the meantime, you can also become an agent for change and voice your pro-life position by sending a letter, such as Jeff does, in response to the request you receive for a donation to PACE. Jeff has generously shared with us the content of his letter, and he has consented to the use of his idea, if you are inclined to do so. Here is his letter:
Date:
Dear (local association), PSEA, and NEA:
As I have done in the past, I respectfully decline to contribute to PACE due to PSEA’s and NEA’s stance on abortion as evidenced in New Business Items, Resolutions, and Actions.
New Business Item 1990-65:
“NEA will oppose any legislation which will erode the status of Roe v. Wade and/or which impedes access to and choice of reproductive health care options, by providing technical assistance to state affiliates.”
Rationale: “NEA resolution supports family planning including the right to reproductive freedom. Erosion of reproductive rights by states, currently provided by Roe v.Wade, must be challenged.”
Resolution 1-12:
“NEA supports. . .reproductive freedom.”
Action:
In addition, NEA and its affiliates supported the abortion rights rally held in Washington, D.C., in the spring of 2004 in the following ways:
1. The NEA headquarters was a hospitality station for the rally.
2. NJEA sponsored buses to the rally.
3. Blue T-shirts in support of the rally were available with our NEA logo on the back.
I would encourage PSEA/NEA to take a position of “silence” (no position) on abortion since this very controversial issue is outside the immediate realm of classroom teaching. It is surprising that our organizations take a stand on such a controversial issue. As I was told by countless delegates at the 2004 NEA-RA, our position on this issue costs us membership and financial contributions each year and needs to be addressed to keep our organizations strong.
Respectfully submitted,
Jeffrey Remington (PAEA/PSEA/NEA member)
Have you read the September 2007 issue of NEATODAY? If not, I recommend your reading the (very fine print!) section, “Democracy in Action,” on pages 50-57. National Education Association Resolutions and Amended Resolutions adopted at the 2007 Representative Assembly are listed there.
Of particular interest is 1-13, “Human and Civil Rights of Children and Youth,” on page 57. It reads in part: “The National Education Association believes that the human and civil rights of children and youth must be protected and opposes the exploitation of children and youth under any circumstance.” In section 1-11, entitled “Human Rights,” there is mention of the organization’s belief that “violence is abhorrent. . .” Apparently this protection does not consider the “violence” done to a child in the uterus!
In C-23, “Comprehensive School Health, Social and Psychological Programs and Services,” it reads in Section f: “If deemed appropriate by local choice, family planning counseling and access to birth control methods with instruction in their use” should be provided. Is “family planning” an euphemism for abortion, one wonders?
How right the prophet Isaiah was when he wrote, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil. . .Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight. . .who acquit the guilty. . .but deny justice to the innocent.” (Isaiah 5:20, 21, 23)
On the other hand, this same issue of NEATODAY reports on page 15 a trend to add the Bible to school elective courses. It seems “in at least 37 states (460 school districts total), two privately produced curriculums are used to teach the Bible.” The rationale: “The Bible is a crucial component of literature, history, music and film. . .[thus] students need to have a working knowledge of it.” Amazing!
The last time I publicly voiced my opinion to the association leadership, I was abruptly silenced with an “Object to Consider” motion for suggesting that we be “silent” on the abortion issue, since it is an inflammatory issue that can divide and harm our membership.
As it turned out, the World Café was nothing more than a cyclical strategic planning meeting. Member input was carefully controlled. Rank and file members were placed in small groups with a Pennsylvania State Education Association leader carefully monitoring the conversations. I had prepared a brief speech to deliver at the meeting, but the forum was set up to prevent such an expression of ideas. Although our education associations pronounce that they exhibit one of the largest democratic processes, as a rank and file member I continue to feel that my voice cannot be heard.
| SUNDAY: | “Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise – the fruit of lips that confess his name.” (Hebrews 13:15) Praise the Lord today! |
| MONDAY: | “I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercessions and thanksgiving be made for everyone – for kings and all those in authority that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.” (I Timothy 2:1-2) Pray for our leaders in every area. |
| TUESDAY: | Pray that we would “be very careful, then, how [we] live – not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity because the days are evil.” (Ephesians 5:15-16) |
| WEDNESDAY: | Pray that we would “not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” (Galatians 6:9) Pray for perseverance in our effort for LIFE. |
| THURSDAY: | “O Sovereign LORD, my strong deliverer, who shields my head in the day of battle – do not grant the wicked their desires, O LORD; do not let their plans succeed, or they will become proud.” (Psalm 140:7-8) |
| FRIDAY: | May we “trust in the LORD with all [our] heart and lean not on [our] own understanding; in all[our]ways acknowledge him, and he will make [our] paths straight.” (Proverbs 3:5-6) |
| SATURDAY: | “Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. . .Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name.” (I Chronicles 29: 11, 13) |
| Balance - September 1, 2006 | $708.28 | |||
| Receipts: | ||||
| Donations: | 240.00 | |||
| Memberships: | ||||
| 2006-2007 | 217.00 | |||
| 2007-2008 | 763.00 | $1928.28 | ||
| Disbursements: | ||||
| Administrative Expenses | 53.12 | |||
| Postage | 142.16 | |||
| Public Relations (Newsletter) | 270.00 | |||
| Miscellaneous (Plaque/Flowers) | 126.29 | |||
| Audit | 175.00 | $766.57 | ||
| Balance - August 31, 2007 | $1161.71 |
| Administration | 100.00 | ||
| Public Relations | 300.00 | ||
| Postage | 200.00 | ||
| Telephone | 50.00 | ||
| Travel Expenses | 300.00 | ||
| Miscellaneous | 200.00 | ||
| Total | $1100.00 |
| Robin Ross (Executive Director), York County | 717-292-2021 |
| Patricia Bartow, Lancastser County | 717-872-7283 |
| Patricia Brock, Elk County | 814-832-6976 |
| Julie Myers, York County | unpublished |
| Jeff Remington, Lebanon County | 717-838-7538 |
| Patricia Yamrick, Indiana County | 724-349-7489 |
“No free government now exists in the world, unless where Christianity is acknowledged, and is the religion of the country.”
(Pennsylvania Families, Fall 2007)
©2007 Teachers Saving Children® of Pennyslvnia Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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