When the incoming president of the nation’s largest teachers’ union visited Minnesota this January, she witnessed teachers’ protests against immigration raids there.
For Princess Moss, the activism highlighted the two sides of educator activism: both the teachers’ fears for their students and themselves, but also the connections they helped build, she said in an exclusive interview with Education Week.
“I was in Minnesota on the ground in January, and I saw those [teachers’] fears first hand,” Moss said, “but what I also saw there was the building of community, and that is the thing I believe we have to build.”
Moss secured her first three-year term in a four-way race at the National Education Association’s annual Representative Assembly here, when 5,800 representatives of the union’s 2.8 million members gathered to set the organization’s initiatives and legislative priorities for the year.
She said she wants to work with the other candidates on initiatives to protect marginalized teachers and communities.
Moss begins her term in September, and answered questions about her priorities for her first hundred days.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
How has your long partnership with outgoing President Becky Pringle shaped your approach to leading the organization?
You know, I have been a local [union] president, I’ve been a state president, and I sit in the state of [national] vice president now, but you never know the role of president until you get there. So, it’s really exciting, but it’s also a learning journey as well.
My vision for the organization is a natural evolution from the work that we’re doing now. I think that’s really, really important.
What are your top priorities for your first hundred days?
I set my campaign around three words: organize, organize, organize. We’re doing a lot of that already, but I see us being more intentional. I don’t see myself sitting in an office every day; I want to be with our members. I want to be talking with people. I want to make NEA real to them, and let them know that they were working in the most noble profession in the world.
The attacks on the education profession are concerning—but I know our detractors are trying to destroy public education, and that is concerning in and of itself. I want educators that feel valued and respected for the expertise they bring to the profession.
How do you plan to respond to the new federal voucher program, and expansion of state programs?
First of all, it’s important our members understand what’s happening. I don’t know if they know there is an intentional plan to destroy public education—and if public education is destroyed, then we have a population whose critical thinking skills are diminished, and it’s easier for an authoritarian government to have influence.
Part of my priority is to help educators, help our members feel confident about standing up and speaking about what they know for their students and for public education. The things that they do—whether it’s spending time with students after school, extra tutoring sessions, working with the family—we are the backbone of the community, and I want to help educators, help our members lean into the beautiful power and community stability that they really have.
NEA has grown in the last couple of years, but it is still below pre-pandemic and pre-Janus levels. What is your membership strategy?
In organizing, building relationships is a primary tenant. We build by having those one-to-one conversations about everything that educators have to face these days. Sometimes, taking the time to build relationships [with other teachers] doesn’t happen because you’re so worried about making sure that you’re grading your papers or getting your classroom together, so it’s tremendously important that we be intentional about building community.
Teachers are experiencing rapid change in classrooms and what they are asked to do. How do you see the profession evolving?
I’m sick and tired of people who drive by school, who have never been inside of school, telling us what to do with our kids. They don’t know anything about how to teach, or what our kids really need. We need to lean into our professional authority, and that’s something I want to build with the organization.
There will be continued attacks on our professionalism, attacks on curriculum, attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion and attacks on our kids.
NEA has taken a strong stance against Immigrations and Custom Enforcement activity in and around schools. What is the national union doing to support affected schools?
We are doing a lot of “know your rights” training now to help educators, and at this juncture, we are just letting members know that we are here to provide knowledge and resources they need in order to feel safe.
Legally, there are a lot of resources that have been dispatched and mobilized in [court cases over issues including] birthright citizenship.
