Here’s yet another way to do something to get Congress to fix No Child Left Behind, and you can do it without leaving home.
Communities for Quality Education has put together what they’re calling a virtual Town Hall project that is aimed specifically at first-term legislators. If your Congressional representative is a first-year member, you go to the web site, http://www.call4action.net/index.php, and sign up to indicate your interest in participating in a virtual Town Hall call-in event. Then the Call for Action people will call you at the number you indicate on a specific evening, and you participate in a conference call with other constituents and your member of Congress.
The idea is to find out where your new member of Congress stands on NCLB and other education issues. Of course, it’s also a way to let them know where you stand. One reason they are doing this is that many new members expressed opposition to NCLB when they ran for office. They need to be supported – and strengthened – in keeping this position.
Note that they say you must sign up for a call two business days in advance. Check the call schedule page to find the date and times of each call. There are currently calls scheduled for Monday, April 30, 2007 at 8:30pm EST with U.S. Representative Henry Johnson Jr. (GA – 04) through Thursday, May 17, 2007 at 8:30pm EST with U.S. Representative Ron Klein (FL – 22).
The web site also lets you listen to audio files of previous virtual Town Halls, which could be a good way to prepare for your upcoming call – http://www.call4action.net/pastcalls/index.php. They also plan to have summaries of calls posted within the next few weeks.
The CQE site links to a site that helps you find your member of Congress, http://www.congressmerge.com/onlinedb/index.htm. When you arrive at your congressperson’s web page, if they are a first-termer, it will say “new” under “voting history.”
Monty Neill, Ed.D., Co-Executive Director
Lisa Guisbond, Policy Advocate