Following AFSA’s meeting with President Biden’s education team, they said "we need your help." To keep the White House better informed on front-line issues happening in our schools, tell us what you need to improve education in your community. Send us your ideas, concerns, wants and needs; email us now and we will share them with the White House.
President Biden’s education advisers heard real stories from AFSA about the challenges and needs facing our professions and asked our union’s leadership team for input.
“We discussed the everyday problems and issues that confront principals, assistant principals, central office administrators, school district directors and supervisors, and other school leaders, as we try to deliver quality education to our students in this post-COVID-19 environment,” said AFSA President Dr. Leonard P. Pugliese.
“We found the White House team very knowledgeable and receptive, and they made it clear they wanted to hear from us on a regular basis addressing a host of topics,” Pugliese added. “This ensures that the voice of school leaders will be heard by the president of the United States.”
The meeting was an outgrowth of a letter to President Biden from Pugliese after the release of National Assessment of Educational Progress data in October 2022. The correspondence expressed AFSA’s apprehensions with the test results and the widespread political reasons being discussed for lower numbers. It also outlined the union’s broader concerns with public education reform in our nation over the past 40 years.
In response, Biden’s team invited AFSA to have a discussion on critical topics impacting our schools and districts. That meeting took place at the White House complex, where high-level White House representatives from the Domestic Policy Council hosted the AFSA team, which included Pugliese and:
- AFSA Executive Vice President Lauran Waters-Cherry
- AFSA General Vice President Robert Motley, a front-line principal at Altholton High School in Howard County, Maryland, who also is president of the Howard County Association of Supervisors and Administrators (HCASA), AFSA Local 36
- Liza Caraballo-Suarez, principal of PS 120, The Magnet School of Architecture, Engineering, and Design in Brooklyn, New York, and an executive board member at the Council of School Supervisors & Administrators (CSA), AFSA Local 1
- AFSA Chief of Staff Nick Spina
- AFSA Director of Government Affairs Jon Bernstein
As an AFSA member, educator or someone who makes our school operate, your voice is what truly matters in our policy making. Please take a moment to tell us your thoughts, so we can bring your voices to the White House, and truly improve public education. Email us now.
