Hello friends, colleagues, and community members,

I am Joy Weisel and I am the proud Co-President (running for reelection in August) of the Caldwell Education Association. Over the past year, we have built something powerful together. Through solidarity, community building, and steady, values-driven work, we’ve accomplished more movement for our members than we have seen in years.

We have increased our visibility, successfully unfroze our salary schedule, were instrumental in getting the Caldwell School District Supplemental Levy reinstated for the 2025-2026 School Year, and have overall brought a new energy to into our union.

None of this happened by accident- it happened because people shows up for each other. We believed in the progress we could make, and we committed to co-creating the schools and workplaces that our students and educators deserve. Visibility, solidarity, and equitable representation has been the cornerstone of so much of the work we have accomplished together this year.

But alongside those victories, it has still be a tough year. In Idaho, we have faced one of the hardest, cruelest legislative sessions in our history, rivaling even that of the Luna Laws in the early 2000s.

It was rife with anti-education, and anti-union, legislation that will have generational impacts on Idaho, putting veteran educators on the sidelines once again, making decisions that value profit over people, and attacking the very systems that allow us to support our communities.

This cannot be allowed to continue. Together, we can fight to elect representatives that REPRESENT us, share our values, and advocate for the needs of our students and educators.

This summer, I have the opportunity to carry our stories, both of our successes and our struggles, to the national stage by attending the National Education Association Representative Assembly- the largest democratic decision-making body in the US. This event shapes national policy, advocacy priorities, and fights for schools just like ours. It is critical that locals from smaller, rural, and underrepresented communities have a seat at the table. Our stories and our struggles matter.

That is why I am reaching out to you. To ease the financial burdens of our local association, I am attending this year’s Representative Assembly self-funded. I am asking for your help to cover a portion of the costs, so I can represent us with honesty, strength, and purpose.

Here is where the money goes:

1. A minimum $200 to the NEA Children’s Fund, which is a grant fund that is available to all members to support students who are experiencing emergencies, like sudden loss of housing, grief, or just the persistent impacts of poverty.

2. A minimum $200 donation for the NEA Political Action Committee for Education, which is a non-partisan PAC focused on supporting pro-public education candidates and policies.

3. $500 for Travel Expenses, including transportation, a hotel, and food.

I will be using all donated funds on the Children’s Fund and the PACE contributions first, and will donate any additional funding (after meeting the $500 mark) to the Children’s Fund and PACE evenly.

Every contribution, no matter the size, is a show of support for the work we’ve started here and a commitment to keeping our local’s voice heard at a national level.

It’s a statement that we will not let anti-education policies go unchallenged, and that we will continue advocating for students, staff, and the dignity of this profession.

Thank you for standing with me, for standing with our educators, and for believing in the power of what we can build together.

In solidarity,

Joy Weisel

Co-President, Caldwell Education Association