Image: Screenshot from NAEYC’s website
Turn off the television news for a while and tune into an inspiring election that’s all about children: NAEYC’s election for its 2017 Governing Board.
Here’s how the election process works:
“As a membership association governed by an elected board, NAEYC is committed to diverse leadership on the Governing Board. The slate for each year’s election is identified by the Nominating Panel. Candidates are chosen to reflect broad knowledge and awareness of the issues facing the Association. They are selected for their ability to objectively consider the variety of perspectives inherent in decisions affecting the Association’s future, not to represent a particular group, region, or interest.”
The slate has eight candidates and two appointed candidates who will, if elected, work to support NAEYC’s vision that, “All young children thrive and learn in a society dedicated to ensuring they reach their full potential.”
This work is based in NAEYC’s core values and beliefs, which include excellence and innovation, equity and opportunity, and doing work that’s based on knowledge of how children develop and learn.
The two candidates for President Elect are:
• Sherry M. Cleary, executive director of the New York Early Childhood Professional Institute in Brooklyn, N.Y., and
• Our own Amy O’Leary, director of the Early Education for All Campaign at Strategies for Children here in Boston
NAEYC members will also be voting for at-large Governing Board members and student board members. In addition, the treasurer and one at-large member are being appointed by the Governing Board.
Image: Screenshot from NAEYC’s website.
The candidates will be formally presented next month at NAEYC’s annual conference in Los Angeles. NAEYC members will also receive a written statement from each candidate. And all the candidates’ biographies are available on the election website.
Who is eligible to vote? “All current NAEYC members on December 31, 2016, will be eligible to vote in the election. Voting begins by mid January and closes March 1.”
So if you’re an NAEYC member, please vote. Nothing beats a big-hearted election for an organization that recognizes “that children and adults achieve their full potential in the context of relationships that are based on trust and respect.”
Eye on Early Education is a blog of Strategies for Children, an organization that works to ensure that Massachusetts invests the resources needed for all children, from birth to age five, to access high-quality early education programs that prepare them for success in school and life. The blogger, 
eyeonearlyeducation.org 
While NAEYC will benefit from electing a governing body that is diverse and inclusive, we as a field also need the board to be an articulate, unified voice for compensation levels that will attract and sustain a well-educated workforce with the experience, competencies, and commitment to maximize the growth and development of our nation’s young children. We can’t seriously call for raising standards and not adequately pay the front-line educators teaching and caring for our children and families. For decades, we have done just that–advocated for higher quality, while remaining largely silent on the issue of compensation–and not made significant headway; that is, we have done the same thing and expected different results–a definition of insanity. In considering the candidates for the governing board, look for who in their posted statements mention “compensation” “pay,” “salaries,” “wages,” “benefits,” etc. If you ask early childhood educators in the trenches about their priorities, these are the words that you are most likely to hear.