Another Wednesday is upon us.  As I walk through the halls of the junior high school, I am mixed with emotions.  About half of my colleagues are dressed similarly to me, sporting red, supporting ed.  That makes my heart happy and proud.  But on the flip side, I walk past others who not only are not wearing red, but who ask me questions like, “Why is everyone wearing red, did I miss something?” Or my favorite one, “Who is Ed?”  Even though I want to cry, I don’t, instead I fill my colleagues in on what they’re missing.  Ed is no person; instead, the #RedForEd Movement is a movement that started about a year ago in West Virginia, Oklahoma, and several other states where educators, students, and communities took a stand for strong public schools.  PSEA president Rick Askey explained the movement in his own words by saying, “We stand with our colleagues in those states and their students as we raise our voices to protect public schools and to support every student in this great commonwealth.  That’s why we’re wearing our ‘Red for Ed.'”In our own state this past July, some PSEA members traveled to Harrisburg, dressed in red, to encourage lawmakers to approve legislation to increase school funding, enhance school safety, increase the state minimum teacher salary and minimum wage, and improve student-to-professional ratios for school counselors, nurses, psychologists, and social workers.  And locally, our AAEA president has urged us to wear red as a sign of solidarity, not necessarily solidarity as a union, but solidarity as people who support public education.  It is such a small gesture, wearing red on Wednesday, but if we all participated, it could send a very powerful message.  I know some members, myself included, have complained each week saying, “I don’t own a lot of red.”  (I have one red sweater that I wear weekly, and that thing is on it’s last limb.)  Well, that’s where I come in!  From today, November 20, through Friday, December 6, I will be selling red apparel.  It is not AAEA apparel, it is not AASD apparel, but red apparel that can be worn for many other occasions (think of the upcoming holiday season) besides#RedForEd; but my hope is that you’ll buy it ito add to your #RedForEd collection.  If this sale goes well, I’ll be happy to offer other choices after the new year, shirts, vests, etc.  I’m open to suggestions.    In order to try to accommodate everyone’s preferences, I have 3 ways that you can order. 1) See your building rep.  He/she has a paper order form which you can fill out.  You can then give the order form and money to him/her on or before December 6.  2)  I have attached a link to that order form.  You can print it out yourself.  Then you can give the form and money to your building rep on or before December 6.  This will also give you a chance to look at the scarves and ties you have to choose from.  3)  Use the attached link to access a Google order form.  You can fill it out and then give the money to your building rep, or send it to Maggie Lewis via inner office mail by Friday, Dec 6.  https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe-2aOg5K8deCdKFoGla2L9f0RJ-veIyxwLG-AxTeyKJ-Vg2g/viewformIn addition, this sale is not closed to AAEA members.  If you have other people in your building, students, parents, community members, etc who would also like to support public education, please encourage them to buy as well.  The more support we can get, the merrier.  Thanks for all that you do to make our profession great!  Maggie Lewis