Bargaining sessions Feb. 9-10. Included were discussions on the days prior to school starting in August, criteria for what districts to compare ourselves to monetarily, clarified language in 4 articles of the contract, Ryan Stokes gave a budget overview and we continued to build relationship and practiced the Interested based technique. A joint statement will be coming out soon. The district is building a website that will keep the community abreast of what is happening in bargaining.
The next bargain will be March 1 from 4:30-7:30 and March 2nd from 7:30-3:30. Each day the bargaining team is released from their classrooms it costs SVEA roughly $750.00 in sub costs. These are your union dues at work.
The Bargaining team would like to thank one and all for filling out the survey. Out of 400 members 317 filled out the survey. 79% of our members. That is awesome and cannot be ignored. I apologize if your received more than one reminder to do the survey. We are creating an issues list and will be presenting it at our next bargaining session.
Leadership
Nominations are open for SVEA President, Vice-President and Secretary. The current President (me) and the Secretary (Nate Ziemkowski) are willing to run again for a two year term. This will be my last term. Our VP, Nancy Byrnes, is retiring at the end of the year. This position is for one year. Our election cycle next year will be for VP and Treasurer (2 year terms). We elect for the positions every other year.
Many of our buildings are in need of SVEA Rep. Council representatives for next year. Please consider running in your building for this paid and influential position.
Scholarships
WEA-Retired is offering up to five $1,000 nonrenewable scholarships to aid WEA members in enhancing skills in specific education areas and/or attaining or maintaining a teaching certificate. Please contact me if you want more information.