General News

/General News

A lot accomplished in a short amount of time!

Yesterday was an amazing day with my partner Fedrick Ingram. We started the day early with our AFT executive council meeting...from there we hopped on buses and rallied on the lawn of the Capital with President Randi Weingarten leading the charge with a hundred of our AFT family from across the country. There were no [...]

By | July 20th, 2017|General News|Comments Off on A lot accomplished in a short amount of time!

What’s a summer break?

Totally awesome professional development happening all week at the Schultz Center in Jacksonville! This is a jump start to FEA's professional development. Shout out to DTU for helping secure the facility, helping with logistics and providing awesome member trainers. Almost 90 dedicated educators giving up an entire week of their summer for no pay to [...]

By | July 10th, 2017|General News|Comments Off on What’s a summer break?

Press Release: HB 7069 another bad school law

FEA: HB 7069 another bad school law Florida Education Association (FEA) President Joanne McCall expressed her disappointment today that Gov. Rick Scott signed House Bill 7069 into law, saying that it’s the latest in a line of bad legislation designed to undermine Florida’s public schools. “The implementation of HB 7069 will do harm to our [...]

By | June 15th, 2017|General News|Comments Off on Press Release: HB 7069 another bad school law

My episode on “Florida This Week”

Had a great discussion on "Florida This Week" about all aspects of education. Click here to watch.

By | March 5th, 2017|General News, In My Opinion, Legislative Session|Comments Off on My episode on “Florida This Week”

Every student, every school, every day.

I have spent many days over the past year visiting public schools throughout Florida that state education officials say need the most help. The state makes its determination about these schools based almost entirely on test scores – and they don’t dig any deeper than that. What I saw at our Priority Schools and learned [...]

By | March 1st, 2017|General News, In My Opinion|Comments Off on Every student, every school, every day.

Celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, "The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education." That goal is what we strive for each and every day for every student in every school. Today our nation is commemorating the legacy [...]

By | January 16th, 2017|General News|Comments Off on Celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Highlights from First Book event in Immokalee

Take a look at some highlights from the event!

By | January 9th, 2017|General News|Comments Off on Highlights from First Book event in Immokalee

Immokalee Community Receives 40,000+ Free Books

FEA partnered with CCEA, AFT and First Book to give away more that 40,000+ FREE books to the Immokalee community. Take a look at some of the photos from the event in my photo gallery! https://www.joannesbackpack.org/photo-gallery/

By | January 3rd, 2017|General News|Comments Off on Immokalee Community Receives 40,000+ Free Books

First Book delivers free books in Immokalee

From the Immokalee Bulletin: "Amazed by the demand for quality education and lack of resources at Lake Trafford Elementary School, Joanne McCall with the Florida Education Association, saw a need to help fill the void in literacy efforts with Immokalee area school children. McCall reached out to Tom Moran with the American Federation of Teachers [...]

By | December 22nd, 2016|General News|Comments Off on First Book delivers free books in Immokalee

Almost at the finish line.

The election is almost over... finally! Before celebrating, there was some campaigning to be done in Miami this past weekend. On Saturday, I joined the campaign trail on the Chiva bus caravan! The first stop was Shenandoah, where I met up and campaigned with Sonia Rodriguez for her husband José Javier Rodríguez. From there we [...]

By | November 7th, 2016|General News, In My Opinion|Comments Off on Almost at the finish line.