Our Libraries in the Cheney Free Press

In case you missed it, this past edition of the Cheney Free Press had a great article about the school libraries here in Medical Lake, including a picture of Pam Wilcox-Mann and a quote from MaryKay Rowles.

It's well worth your time to read, along with a different article in the same vein about our drama program that Ginny Luhn is working hard for this year at the high school.

Enrollment Period for State Guaranteed Education Tuition Plan (GET) Now Open

The Guaranteed Education Tuition Program (GET) operated by the State is now open for new enrollees. This is the pre-paid college tuition program that Washington founded a few years back where you can buy credits now at the current tuition rate to pay for college later on; 100 credits will pay for one year of college at the most expensive public college in Washington (Go Huskies!), with the money also being transferable to any college in the country.

We’re currently working with Lynn in the payroll office to see if we can get automatic payroll deduction set up. We’ll let you know if and when that goes through.

For more information you can check out their website above; the FAQ list is also very comprehensive.

So It Begins....

Coming Tuesday you'll see graphic evidence of the power of this year's COLA when you get your first paycheck with the pay increase. Given our state budget deficit, you might not see that again for a while. From the Olympian:

DeBolt and Alexander appeared to be split on whether cuts should include salary increases for teachers and state employees. Alexander says he believes Gov. Chris Gregoire’s contract negotiation for 2 percent yearly increases is reasonable.

But Alexander also wants to have fewer state employees and he’d like to see the state do contracting out of some services, something that was supposed to be part of the personnel reforms that created collective bargaining in 2002.

DeBolt said he is not yet sure if the state should consider freezing pay for state workers or teachers, which happened in 2003 when Dino Rossi was Senate budget writer. Rossi’s budget did include raises for the newest one-third of the teaching profession.

“Right now the most important thing we can do is be economically sensible. We need to make sure we don’t put any more burdens on the taxpayers of Washington. The money they make is a finite resource and we need to respect that,’’ DeBolt said.

I think we can all acknowledge that, as state employees, it's pretty apparent that the vicissitudes of the state budget process are always going to impact what we're paid. That said, increases in gas and health insurance are checking account killers.

What are your thoughts?

A Handy Website

Teacher Clock Hours.com is a comprehensive list of classes and workshops that you can use for continuing education purposes. I'm adding it to the tool bar over on the side; it's a good resource for us teachers to have!

2008-2009 Conferences and Workshops

This is a partial list of conferences and events happening in or near Washington State this year; I say partial because I'm certain that there are things that I've missed. If you know of a conference that should be on the list, please post it in the comments section and we'll get it updated ASAP!

Remember--even though the $95 travel allotment is no longer a part of the contract, there will still be staff travel. If there is a conference on this list that meets your personal and buildings interests, ask!

OCTOBER

• 5th to 7th: Washington Association of School Administrators fall workshop, Wenatchee.
  
• 9th to 11th: International Reading Association Regional Conference in Seattle. Registration deadline is September 25th. This is also the Washington Organization for Reading Development meeting for the year.
  
• 9th to 11th: Northwest K-16 Mathematics Conference meeting in Portland, Oregon.
  
• 9th to 11th: Washington Library Media Association annual conference in Portland, Oregon. This is a joint conference with the Oregon Association of School Librarians.
  
• 11th: Washington State Council for the Social Studies (WSCSS) fall conference, Edmonds Woodway HS.
  
• 23rd to 25th: The Washington Association of Educators of the Talented and Gifted (WAETAG) conference in Lynnwood.
  
• 26th to 28th: The Association of Washington School Principals fall meeting in Spokane.

NOVEMBER

• 6th to 8th: The Washington State ASCD annual conference in Spokane.
  
• 7th and 8th: WEA Collective Bargaining Conference in Sea-Tac.
  
• 12th to 15th: Washington State PLC Summit in Seattle. This event is sponsored by Solution Tree and focuses on Professional Learning Communities.
  
• 19th to 22nd: Washington State School Directors annual conference in Spokane.
  
• 20th to 22nd: National Science Teachers Association regional conference in Portland.

DECEMBER

• 3rd through 5th: Washington Educational Research Association (WERA) winter conference, Sea-Tac.

JANUARY

• 7th through 9th:OSPI Winter Conference in Seattle.

FEBRUARY

• Date TBD: WSCSS K-8 Conference, Seattle
  
• 4th through 6th: AWSP Assistant Principal's Conference, Vancouver
  
• 8th and 9th: WASA/WSSDA Legislative Conference, Olympia

MARCH

• 19th to 21st: Washington Science Teacher's Association spring conference, Moses Lake

APRIL

MAY

• 6th through 8th: Infant and Early Childhood Conference, Tacoma
  
• 13th through 16th: WEA Representative Assembly, Spokane.

JUNE

• 28th through 30th: WASA/AWSP Summer Conference, Spokane

JULY

• 1st through 6th: NEA Representative Assembly, San Diego, California
  
• 27th and 28th: AWSP New Principals/Assistant Principals Conference, Lacey

Cheney's New Boss

In the August 7th issue of the Spokesman-Review they ran a profile of Larry Keller, the new superintendent for the Cheney School District. He's a former base commander at Fairchild, so he knows the area well.

Welcome back, Commander Keller!

Happy Labor Day!

It's an odd situation when you have a day off of work to celebrate the work we do, and as teachers we go back to work tomorrow, and many of us will be working in our classrooms today, but no matter--enjoy the day, enjoy the sunshine, and enjoy the next year of your career!

With thanks for all you do,

--The MLEA Exec Board--