Dear fellow VEA members,

I was born to two educators, raised in a Caribbean household, and was naturally impressed with the value of education. I began my career in education after graduating from college. I joined Teach for America, where I dedicated myself to teaching for two years in a Brooklyn high school. It could have been any school in any one of the under resourced rural or urban centers across the nation. I loved my students, and joined the ranks of the NYC teachers union to advocate for change on behalf of my colleagues, myself and my students. I protested with the most radical of the members, who unionized and worked for change along with students and parents.

Years later I would make a move to become a school psychologist, because I believed in the potential of each child to succeed in their own way. I have been a school psychologist for 16 years in Newport News, and have anticipated joining a movement that is larger than myself.

In my current role as a school psychologist, I have often been ear to teachers who will report back on some of the dynamics that make it difficult for them to teach effectively. I understand he importance of advocating for systemic change that would benefit invested educators across all spectrums. I’m excited to run for the office of delegate at large, and solicit your vote, alongside my enthusiastic and committed colleagues.

As your delegate, I will advocate for:

• Increased presence and numbers of counselors who will be able to speak with kids and engage them about challenges and difficulties within and outside of the classroom. This is important in order to support teachers in the work that they do of promoting emotionally safe classroom environments. I also advocate for providing safe spaces (physical and temporal) would support counselors in the work that they do.

• Continuation and even expansion of compensation for teachers who are having to cover for other teacher when there are absences and needs (such as covering for necessary district meetings).

• Special education teacher training, and placement of special education teachers in classrooms/under designations in which they have been properly and thoroughly trained. This model is in contrast to the current model of giving a general special education endorsement that may leave teachers to teach curricula or under a special education area that is outside of their scope of expertise.

• Ability of leadership and other members to advocate for increased VEA membership within the school structure/as a part of teachers’ systems of support.

• VEA representation/support for teachers who have been injured due to student contact.

• Administrative support for the crucial role that teachers play in maintaining consistency within the building.

• Insistence on environments that are emotionally safe for teachers as well as students.

• Increased opportunities for collaboration among teachers of core subject areas during the course of the school day, rather than making this an issue for individual building administrators to understand and make decisions.

If these goals appear to be consistent with your own, I ask for your vote and support in my run for delegate at large for the NNEA.

Sincerely,

Dr. Angie C. Roberts-Dixon, NNPS School Psychologist