IS NAEYC MOVING AWAY FROM A MEMBERSHIP ORGANIZATION?Yes, I have said it out loud.
We are NAEYC accredited school that recently added two new teachers. We decided that this year, we would take our new teachers to the NAEYC National Conference in November. Our director went about the task of signing our new teachers up as members and then purchasing the registrations for the conference.
It took nearly a week for the membership IDs to be sent to these teachers by email. When our director tried to sign them up for the conference, the online system indicated that the membership numbers were not valid. So our director called the NAEYC customer service helpline. She was told it would take weeks for the new membership numbers to "activate". She could register these teacher by phone, however, only one at a time. That's right. She was told she could only make one reservation for the National Conference one teacher at a time, one phone call at a time. Credit card in hand, she hung up.
Not be be deterred, our director registered the new teachers for the National Conference by fax. Welcome to the 21st century!
In January, when many of us were renewing our memberships we found the online membership site unable to process our transaction. Again, we had to call the help desk to renew our membership.
The Membership System is broken. Broken online. Broken in marketing support.While Affiliates encourage teachers to join NAEYC, they find that the membership online site does not work. When Affiliates ask for marketing materials (brochures, sample magazines), they find months of waiting for materials to arrive. It is beyond understanding.
NAEYC seems to be asleep at the wheel.... or perhaps NAEYC has decided it no longer needs Affiliates or memberships. Perhaps there is a new business model in play?
What a shame.
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Mary Ann Biermeier, M.Ed.
Director of Professional Development
INSPIRE Early Childhood Leadership Series
Scottsdale, Arizona
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Original Message:
Sent: 09-27-2019 04:25 PM
From: Dawn Chase
Subject: Membership Materials
Has anybody else had issues with not receiving hard copies of their membership certificate and ID card?? I renewed in MARCH - the 1st to be exact - and I STILL have not received my certificate and card in the mail. And yes, I know the certificate is emailed. I finally called NAEYC Membership in the middle of June to get them re-sent out. I was told that the materials would go out in the next mailing on July 1st since I had just missed the June 15th cutoff. The rep said to call back around July 10th if I had not received my mailing. Come July 14th - NO CERTIFICATE, NO CARD!! Called back and requested an expedited mailing since I had already been waiting for 5 months. I was told that they only mail the membership materials through bulk mail but should be receiving it shortly.
I AM STILL WAITING. What will it take for me to receive this year's membership materials before I have to renew for next year? Looking for advice and guidance and perhaps some answers from NAEYC leadership.
Thank you!
Dawn Chase
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Dawn Chase
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