About & Updates

2/22/23

Nominations to the DAE Board of Directors and Delegates to the NEA RA

The following individuals have been nominated for positions to serve on the Durham Association of Educators (DAE) Board of Directors and to serve as delegates to the National Education Association (NEA) Representative Assembly in Orlando, Florida in July 2023:

Nominees for DAE President:

Turquoise LeJeune Parker-Lakewood Elementary

Symone Kiddoo-Club Blvd. Elementary

Nominees for Treasurer:

None

Nominees for Middle School Director:

Ryann Mitchell-Rogers-Herr Middle School

Christy Paterson-Carrington Middle School

Nominees for Exceptional Children’s Director:

Sandra Jameyson-Y.E. Smith Elementary

Nominees for Elementary Director(one of two):

Sonja Thalheimer-Lakewood Elementary

Nominees for Member-at-large (one of two positions):

Ericka Mayo-Lakewood Elementary

Reilly Finnegan-Hillside High School

Nominees for Student Services Director:

Jovanna Foreman-Bethesda Elementary

Nominees for Delegates to the NEA RA in Orlando, Fl, July 2-6,2023

Michelle Burton-Spring Valley Elementary

Mika Hunter Twietmeyer-Riverside High School

Kiara Thorpe-Hillside High School

Ericka Mayo-Lakewood Elementary

Christy Patterson-Carrington Middle School

Jamal Nisbett-Pearsontown Elementary

Congratulations to all those who have been nominated. DAE elections will start on April 2, 2023, beginning at 7 pm and end on April 16, 2023 at 11:59 pm. If you are an active, dues-paying member of DAE and you joined by Dec. 15, 2022, you will be eligible to vote. Look for more information on how to vote in the coming weeks.

Appliance Policy Survey! Please Move Through Your Buildings!

DAE wants to hear from you. We want to know if your principal is sharing with staff about the purchasing of appliances and where they should be located as well as if the date of implementation should be pushed back until August 2023. Please complete this survey and share it with others in your building.

NCAE Summer Member Organizer is Back! Apply by Friday, April 14, 2023!

The NCAE Summer Member Organizer program is back and this year DAE can accept up to 40 participants. Summer Member Organizers will be paid $25.00 an hour and reimbursed for mileage. If you are interested in learning more about the Summer Member Organizers please email me at unionstrong@daenc.com and complete the application at this link: NCAE Summer Member Organizers. Priority will be given to members who apply by Friday, March 17, 2023.

Beginning Teacher Support Group, Sat. Feb. 25 at Omie’s Coffee starting at 2:30p

Meet with other beginning teachers as well as veteran teachers, for collaboration, support and fellowship. We will meet at Omie’s Coffee, 2300 N. Roxboro Street at 2:30. For more information, contact John Davis at jodaemail@gmail.com.

Durham Association of Educators

What is the Durham Association of Educators?

The Durham Association of Educators (DAE) is a local affiliate of the North Carolina Association of Educators (NCAE) and the National Education Association (NEA), the largest teachers’ union in the country.  We are a member-led organization of educators and allies, committed to leading the fight to defend and transform public schools so that every young person can achieve their full potential and live happy and healthy lives.  We believe that educators, in collaboration with parents, students, and community allies, have the knowledge, skills, and power to build the schools and communities that ALL Durham residents deserve.

What do we do?

DAE is committed to developing worker leadership within Durham Public Schools, organizing our school buildings and communities, and winning the schools that our students, parents, and educators deserve.

Our Culture

• Students at the Center
  • We believe in our students and their ability to be happy and healthy, to achieve their fullest potential, and to transform the world.  Their learning conditions are our working condition,  and our futures are inseparable. Our work centers their lives.
• A Commitment to Racial and Social Justice
  • Educators have a special responsibility to understand, and intentionally work to undermine, racism and other forms of injustice in our curricula, our classroom cultures, and our relationships with our students, our parents, and each other.  Our collective future depends on it.  
• Leadership
  • Educators, organizing alongside our students and their parents, are the most potentially powerful force in the state of North Carolina.  We accept the responsibility of rank and file educators to lead, and constantly develop and support new leaders, in a movement that unites the majority of the people in this state and wins the schools and communities our students deserve.
• Collective Care
  • We are in this together and none of us will get what we need or deserve by acting alone.  We are committed to caring for, and supporting one another, as a union family, through good times and challenges.  
• We Fight to Win
  • We believe that change happens when people act together in strategic ways, build broad alliances, critically reflect on their successes and the challenges of their work, and contend for power in a variety of ways.  For our students, our co-workers, and ourselves, we take our work seriously and look to be as effective as possible.  
• Celebration
  • We do the most difficult job on the planet and it is hard to sustain ourselves amidst our challenges.  We are committed to a culture that consistently recognizes and celebrates victories, big or small, and rejects hopelessness and fear.  

How can you get involved? 

To join the organization, please contact Michelle Burton at unionstrong@daenc.com or (919) 667-7073.  You can also follow us on Facebook (Durham Association of Educators), Twitter (@DurhamEducators), or Instagram (@durhameducators).

You can also join now online by clicking here.