Anacortes Education Association Newsletter

Issue 3                                                                                                                                             March 2006

Promoting the cause of public education, by assisting in all statewide activities of the Washington Education Association and by representing AEA members to the public, the school board, the administration, and the profession.

News You Can Use

Important Dates

·         April 3-7 -- Spring Break

·         April 11 – 3rd Qtr. Grades Secondary

·         April 17- May 4 – WASL Window

·         April 19 – 21 – AMS Conferences

·         April 20 – AMS & AHS Evening Conference

·         April 21 – AHS Conferences

·         April 25 – General Membership Meeting, Island View School 4 p.m.

·         May 5 – K-12 Staff Dev. No School

·         May 26 – K-12 Early Release

·         June 9 – High School Graduation

·         June 14 – Last Day of School

Upcoming

·         WEA Rep Assembly – AEA will be represented by Pamela Torgerson and Corinne Schauls this week in Tacoma. They’ll report on the state meeting when they return.

·         Bargaining – Now that the survey results have been coded and correlated with the listening campaign, your bargaining team is working hard to put together a representative and realistic proposal. We will meet regularly with the Administration until we reach an agreement.

·         General Membership Meeting – Please mark your calendars for April 25 at 4 p.m. This is the date for our annual general meeting. We will talk about several issues, but most importantly, about raising our local dues assessment. See editorial corner for more details.

 

Your Association Leadership

Putting Members First

President – Peter Donaldson, Mt. Erie

Vice President – Chris Pearson, AHS

Treasurer – Roxanna Moser, Whitney

Secretary -- Pamela Torgerson, Island View

Building Reps: AHS – Ron Campbell, Jon Ronngren, Tom Houser, AMS – Carol Springs, Doug Dore, FID. – Chuck Starkovich, Tina Franulovich-Martin, IV – Dawn Greenfield, Didi Funk, Whit. – Kathy Ruckdaschel, ME – Linda Ricksen, Suzy Boyes

Negotiators: Brian Tiland, AMS, Scott Burnett, AHS, Macushla Jacot, IV

Grievance Officer: Scott Burnett

In the Works

Your exec board and negotiation team has been busy on several fronts:

ü       Answering questions and identifying resources for members who specific concerns.

ü       Working with the Administration to bargain a new contract.

ü       Continuing our work from The Better Future’s Summit, to bring about meaningful change in a variety of areas that affect staff at all levels. Some of those areas include: peer coaching, student placement, and district-sponsored day-care.

ü       Working to represent and empower Association members.

ü       Communicating to all our members about issues that concern each of you.

ü       Continuing to develop a sense of advocacy and professionalism within our organization.
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Information

·         Bookmark the following web address for a PDF version of our Association Contract:

https://staff.asd103.org/unions/index.cfm

·         Bookmark the following web address for a link to our Association Website:

 HYPERLINK "http://cms.washingtonea.org/wea/my/local/AnacEA/aeatitle.htm" http://cms.washingtonea.org/wea/my/local/AnacEA/aeatitle.ht
 

 

 

 

 

 

From One Member to Another

Comments by Building Rep Tom Houser, AHS

 

 

My duties with the Debate Club at Anacortes High School take me to schools from Tacoma to Bellingham and I get to listen to teachers from around the state on a weekly basis from September to March each year.  I know one thing about teachers; they enjoy talking, especially about their schools and any particular difficulties in their assignments.  I must admit that after going through a few difficult years, including last year, this year in our school district seems to be fairly much, sailing along without many major hitches. 

The climate created by our staffs, union team and administration seems, for the most part, to have been pretty smooth.  We've worked well together on the levy and the common rancor and complaints just haven't surfaced much this year.  As for me and what my ears have heard so far, we are far ahead of so many other districts.  I guess this is my 'shout out' to all of you.  Let's keep it up.  This is a very nice place to work.

 

Tom Houser
 

Member Opportunities

WEA Road Team – 4th Corner has graciously offered to pay for release time and send about 5-6 individuals from our Local to WEA Federal Way. The trip has been tentatively scheduled for late April (after WASL testing). I plan on going along with 2 other members so far. I would encourage anyone interested in seeing where our dues go to come along. It will defiantly be worth your time. Contact Peter Donaldson if you have any interest at all. We have room for 2-3 more!

 

Association Leadership – It’s that time of year again when your current Leadership team looks to encourage members to assume a more active role in our local. It’s a personal commitment that pays tremendous dividends in the long run. Your participation builds strength within the local and relationships with your colleagues. Please consider the opportunity, whether you’ve served in the past before, to represent Anacortes Education Association for the 2005-2006 school year. Talk to an officer or building rep.

 

ProCert Event – Meet with WEA Certification expert Jim Meadows to talk about qualifications, requirements for Professional Certification.

When: March 27, 5-8 p.m.

Where: Best Western, Cotton Tree Inn, Mount Vernon

Contact: Edna Lopez at eblopez@washingtonea.org

FREE!