It’s time for my annual rant about the New Jersey Education Association’s annual convention. What accounts for my ire?

New Jersey is the only state in the country to close schools for two full days in order for some unknown—likely small— number of teachers to gather in Atlantic City and listen to educational experts like Ani DiFranco, go to sessions called “Campaign Against Nonexistent Critical Race Theory,” and “Konscious Educators: An Interactive Experience of Embodiment, Transformation and Awakening,” and, of course, party hearty.

I get it: Teachers are overworked, underpaid, and burnt out; of course they need time to decompress and relish the camaraderie of others. But why can’t they take the lead from 49 other state education associations and do it on the weekend or in the summer? One of the few states that used to close schools (for one day, not two) was the Utah Education Association, which recently announced it was ending this tradition:

“This was a difficult decision for our Board,” said UEA President Heidi Matthews. “For more than 100 years, Utah teachers have gathered annually in a statewide convention for professional learning and social networking. However, the statewide convention format is now proving difficult for many, as evidenced by declining UEA Convention attendance in recent years.”

And, really, how many of the 200,000 NJEA members actually attend the convention?

The answer is “we don’t know” because NJEA doesn’t tell us. I did a non-scientific poll of teacher friends and they’re all home. “Hey, it’s a four-day weekend!,” one told me.

Meanwhile, students will miss out on yet more instruction and parents will be missing work or paying for childcare. To add insult to injury, this is November when schools are closed for Thanksgiving and parent-teacher conferences. For instance, in South Orange-Maplewood Schools District (currently in chaos), during the month of November students will have 12 full days of school and 3 half-days. One mom told me, “they might as well call it a wash and close the whole school system down for the month.””

If you’re looking for a scapegoat look at the State Legislature. One century ago our representatives voted to inscribe in statute a two-day holiday for NJEA members. Hey, moms were home anyway, right?  Here’s N.J. statute 18A:31-2:  “Any full-time teaching staff member of any board of education of any local school district or regional school district or of a county vocational school or any secretary, or office clerk” can “attend the annual convention of the New Jersey Education Association” and “receive his whole salary for the days of actual attendance upon the sessions of such convention.”

Yet let’s look at neighboring states with strong unions. The Pennsylvania State Education Association holds all its conventions on weekends: importantly they’re broken up by “interest group”–special education, collectively bargaining, etc.—so teachers can choose what to focus on. New York State United Teachers offers multiple professional development sessions directly to school districts. The Connecticut Education Association doesn’t have conventions. Illinois, with a political landscape similar to New Jersey, has a half-day conference for new teachers—on a Saturday. Similarly, California Teachers Association has a convention that starts at the end of the day on a Friday and runs through Sunday afternoon.

Is it time for NJEA leaders to get with the program and put student needs first?