The MLEA Report

Who Are These Folks Saying Vote No on the Levy?

2012-01-25T22:41:00.000-08:00

Many of you around town--indeed, around Spokane County--received flyers in the mail yesterday encouraging you to "Vote NO, Reject New Taxes" when considering the local school levy. If you didn't get one, you can see the Medical Lake version here. Some facts for your consideration:

Who are these guys?

They call themselves Citizens for Responsible Taxation, and they're based in Spokane. That tells you nothing--the real fun is that, since they're engaged in politics in Washington State, they have to register with the Public Disclosure Commission and reveal who their donors are. You might remember that around this time last year they were organizing against the levy elections in Mead and Central Valley.

So, who are they really?

According to the PDC, there isn't really a they, it's a he: Elvin "Duane" Alton, who last year donated $32,150 to Citizens for Responsible Taxation. That's 98% of their operating budget.

Wait a minute.....that Duane Alton?

One and the same. Grandma Alton's baby boy, neighbors helping neighbors, "We merged with Tire Rama!"--that's the guy. He also recently spent $6,300 trying to buy a school board seat in Spokane, so he's got an obvious interest in education. Right now, he's got an interest in making sure our kids don't get one.

What about the facts presented in the mailer?

The headline number, $3,390,000? You get that by reading the levy resolution the school board passed and adding up what the three year total would be. The mailer doesn't tell you that's a three year number; it's very intentionally designed to make you think that the MLSD wants to raise your taxes $3 million dollars plus next year.

The numbers at the bottom are similarly misleading; when they say that the cost to you on a $150,000 home is $895 dollars, that's really only $298 a year in local property taxes, or $25 a month. This is the classic lie of omission, and the rest of the flyer needs to be seen in that light.

OK, that's where they got their numbers from--what about the rest of the flyer?

"$3.39 MILLION IN EXCESS NEW TAXES!" is a lie--this is a replacement levy. The levy committee had a very frank discussion and took in a ton of input on the question about whether to run the levy at a higher amount, and they decided not to. This is not a new tax, at all.

"Did you know that YOUR TAX $$$'s already fund 100% of our children's education without requiring excess tax levies??? Why pay more???"---Is there anyone out there who really believes this? When our libraries have been cut in half, when there is no more elementary art, when we've had to tolerate reduction after reduction, do you as someone who works in the schools feel like our schools are being funded at 100%? When we just had the State Supreme Court affirm, essentially unanimously, that the state isn't living up to it's duty to provide basic education, isn't it a little silly for them to make the argument that 100% of our children's education is being funded?

Any other missing facts?

The biggest one--levy equalization. The reason they call it levy equalization is because it takes the levy you pass locally and puts more state money into it--if there's no local levy, there's no state matching. If we lost the levy, we'd also lose the $1.5 million a year in levy equalization. If that were to happen, I don't know that the District could continue on as a going concern.

So what now?

First we recognize that this hit was paid for by people with an agenda, people who don't live in the Medical Lake School District, and then we push it aside the same way we would the opinion of someone who says to you, "You know, your kid is kind of ugly."

After that, we communicate. Please tell your neighbors about the good work that we're doing in Medical Lake. If you live outside the district, take a look at the levy for your local school (almost everyone in the county is running a levy in February), and vote your conscience.

With thanks,

--Ryan--

On the School Levy

2012-01-16T17:24:00.000-08:00

PLEASE NOTE: Canvassing was last Saturday, January 21st. Thank you to everyone who was able to participate!

Valentine's Day is going to be critical for most every school district in the county this year, as that's also election day. THANK YOU to everyone who signed up to donate to Citizens for Medical Lake Schools on a continuing basis, as well as those of you who made one-time donations to the levy committee. Every bit helps and is appreciated!

This Saturday at 10:00 we'll be gathering at Denny's to do some door-knocking around town. It's an easy time--assuming there's not two feet of snow, anyhow--and anything we can do to help get the message out will help the cause. If you're able to attend, please let your building principal know, or you can email me at medicallakeea@earthlink.net

What's the Deal With Our Dues Going Up?

2012-01-16T16:10:00.000-08:00

About once or twice a year I get an email asking about the monthly dues, and I'm frankly surprised it's not a question I get more often--at better than $65 a month for a full-time employee, it's a pretty good chunk out of your salary every cycle.

I wrote back in September about what the monthly breakdown is for a full time person, but there's another perspective I'd like to offer as well--a comparison of what the yearly local dues are between us and other districts in the area. Remember, the MLEA portion of your dues is $60 a year:

Spokane: $248
West Valley: $204
East Valley: $191.40
Cheney: $216.96
Central Valley: $183.46
Mead: $272.00
Deer Park: $192
Nine Mile Falls: $120
Pullman: $90
Colville: $132
Riverside: $240
Moses Lake: $226.80
Freeman: $114.84
Grand Coulee: $120
Garfield-Palouse: $120
Liberty: $120
Newport: $84

The $60 that we charge is equal to what members pay in Republic, Ritzville, Nespelem, or Northwest Columbia, but ahead of Reardan ($36) or Davenport ($24).

We've worked really hard to keep the local portion of your dues low; we're not overly litigious, we keep our stipends meaningful but affordable, and we still provide the three $500 scholarships a year to Dollars for Scholars to assist our MLHS graduates in their post-secondary pursuits. With our declining enrollment and the concomitant decrease in the number of members our Association budget has gotten a little tighter every year, but we still have a very healthy reserve that would cover any emergencies that might come up.

If you have any questions about your dues money--where it goes and what it's used for--feel free to email or give me a call on my cell phone.

--Ryan--

WEA-Eastern Workshop on Maternity and Paternity Benefits

2012-01-15T14:48:00.000-08:00

For those of you who have recently expanded your family, or are thinking of having children, this workshop to be held at the WEA-Eastern office on March 5th should help you with any questions you have about leave, insurance, and all the other administrative things that go along with pregnancy. It'll also be useful for the gentlemen who may want to access paternity leave.

WEA-Eastern will pay for milage.

What You Need to Know About................Election 2012

2012-01-15T11:51:00.000-08:00

The Education Votes website from the National Education Association is updated frequently with perspectives on the 2012 races. If you're interested in national politics, it's a fun place to spend some time!

The WEA on Charter Schools

2012-01-15T11:49:00.000-08:00

This video gets to the heart of the WEA objection to charter school legislation here in Washington State; it's only a couple of minutes, and well worth your time.

Some Political Op-Eds for Your Reading Pleasure

2012-01-14T19:19:00.000-08:00

The first was written by Represenative Susan Fagan of the 9th LD, regarding levy equalization; she's a great friend of the district and someone with a lot of passion about education issues. You can read it here.

Another good read comes from Rep. Joel Kretz of the 7th, which includes Fairchild and everything up to the Canadian border; you can find it here. Rep. Kretz was instrumental in beating back an attack on levy equalization a few years back, and that's meant millions of dollars for Medical Lake.

ProTeach Seminar in Spokane, February 10th and 11th

2012-01-14T16:11:00.000-08:00

Below is a cut-and-paste of an email that I received from the WEA regarding a ProTeach workshop being put on in Spokane next month. ProTeach is the process that new teachers have to go through in order to get their Professional Certificate; the feedback I've gotten from these WEA workshops in the past has been overwhelmingly positive. If you have any questions, please email!

Washington teachers certified after Aug. 31, 2000 are required to attain professional certification. The ProTeach ® portfolio, a fully online assessment run by the Educational Testing Service (ETS), is the means by which teachers earn their professional certification. The WEA ProTeach ® Jump Start Seminar provides candidates with important information about the portfolio requirements, time to examine the three-entry portfolio in detail and the opportunity to plan how to meet requirements. This pre-candidacy support option helps candidates to prepare for the process and complements work with a support group during candidacy. Click here for more information about the ProTeach ® Jump Start Seminar, including information about four-day summer offerings.

Winter Seminars: For the first time, WEA will offer a "condensed" two-day winter version of its ProTeach ® Jump Start Seminar. The cost for this 20-hour event is $120 for full WEA members. Trainings will be 10 hours each day (8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.) and will include breakfast, lunch and dinner. Participants must cover their own substitutes for the Friday portion of the training, if needed. Registration is on a first-come, first-served basis. Up to 20 clock hours are included in the registration fee. To run each seminar we require at least 20 registrants. If there are insufficient numbers, we will fully reimburse registrations that have been submitted. Course registration will close if a given event reaches capacity.

Spokane 2-Day Seminar (20 hours) -- Feb. 10-11, 2012 (Friday/Saturday). Register now.

Note: Our registration system closes Jan. 23 at 5 p.m. After that date, please e-mail Sheila Beaver to see if space is still available.

We hope you'll join us for this high-quality introduction to the ProTeach ® portfolio. Past participants have given this seminar series consistently positive evaluations.

What You Need to Know About................The Health Insurance Takeover

2012-01-14T13:51:00.000-08:00

Currently in Washington State most every school district has a separate insurance program. Here in Medical Lake we have 10 options, which differ slightly from the options in Cheney, which is different from Spokane, right on down the line statewide.

What the legislature is considering is creating one statewide insurance plan, much like the other state employees have, and putting all school employees into this new system. The genesis of this was a report out of the state auditor's office last year that said the state could save $180 million dollars by creating One Big Pool, which is math that is strenuously denied by the WEA. Statewide the Public School Employees union, which represents classified staff, has come out in favor of the idea, though our own local PSE has concerns.

In general, the thought about switching is that folks who cover their entire family would likely end up paying less out of pocket than they do now. Those who cover only themselves--essentially, those who contribute to the pool--would see their rates increase, and there wouldn't be pooling and longer. If the plan switched there wouldn't be a guarantee that you would be able to keep your current doctor or dentist, though if they accepted other state employees odds are they would take the new School Employees plan, too.

For more information please visit the WEA Our Voice website, here. The Governor, the Senate Majority Leader, and the House budget writer have all come out for the idea, but even if it goes through the important thing is to let them know that lowering our health benefits would be an awful thing to do to families.

What You Need to Know About................The Redistricting Commission

2012-01-14T13:26:00.000-08:00

Currently the MLSD is split roughly into between the 7th LD district, which includes Fairchild AFB and most everything north of Highway 2, and the 9th LD, which contains the town of Medical Lake proper and stretches all the way south to Pullman. We've been well represented by those legislators on our big issues like levy equalization, and it's been great to have them representing us.

Over the Christmas break the lines were re-drawn, and now Medical Lake will be in the 6th LD. You can see all the maps on the Redistricting Commission's website here and the new 6th LD specifically here; the upshot is that we'll now Cheney, Medical Lake, Nine Mile Falls, Airway Heights, Fairchild, and parts of the northern and southern portions of Spokane will all be in the same legislative district together.

We'll be working with the District to invite the current 6th LD legislators out to Medical Lake this spring; this includes Rep. John Ahern, who is on the House Education Committee, Rep. Kevin Parker, who serves on the important Ways and Means Committee, and Senator Michael Baumgartner, who is running against Maria Cantwell for US Senate. I have every hope that they'll be just as passionate about school funding as our previous legislators were, and we look forward to working with them in the future!

The WEA-Eastern Newsletter

2011-10-05T15:20:00.001-07:00

Hopefully most of you have received the newsletter via your home email address, but just in case you haven't you can read the WEA-Eastern newsletter by following the link here.

The American Jobs Act

2011-10-03T10:56:00.001-07:00

It would be a happy thing for teachers, certainly. Here's an ad that the NEA is putting out:

This Year's Dues

2011-09-02T16:34:00.000-07:00

Hello friends,

I wanted to provide you with a breakdown of where your dues dollars go, by organization. The numbers below are for a full-time employee; if you're less than 1.0 fte and you want this analysis, please let me know and I'll get that for you ASAP!

NEA Dues: $178 a year, or $14.83 a month. This helps to support the work that goes on at the national level, as well as covering the costs associated with the liability insurance you have as an NEA member.

WEA Dues: $410 a year, or $34.17 a month. Your WEA dues pay for the staff in our Federal Way office that keep the organization running, as well as partly for the field staff around the state that are available for work issues.

UniServ Dues: $140.28 a year, or $11.69 a month. The UniServ is our WEA-Eastern office, and these dues support the staff there as well as the trainings that we attend regarding budgeting, grievances, and the like.

Local Dues: $60 a year, or $5 a month. If you've taken a look at the Association budget you know where this goes--our two biggest spending items are the scholarships that we offer every year and the stipends for building reps, the bargaining team, and the exec board.

If you add those all up you'll come up with $65.69 a month. Some of you may be paying more than that if you contribute to the WEA Political Action Committee ($2.25 a month, $27 a year) or the NEA Fund for Children ($1 a month, $12 a year). There's also an additional $1 a month for what's known as the Community Outreach fund, which is used to pay for grants to locals for projects in the community.

If you have questions about the money and where it goes, feel free to ask--you have the right, and the only way to keep a right healthy is to exercise it! :-)

With thanks,

--Ryan--

WEA-Retired Information

2011-07-03T14:30:00.000-07:00

This comes to us from Kit Raney, the President of WEA-Retired. I'm already a life member of the Retired branch, and I'd happily endorse it for anyone at any stage of the profession--it's never to early to think about the next chapter.

You may have read or heard about the benefits of joining WEA-Retired/NEA-Retired while you are still an active member. There are many reasons to join before you retire and become a pre-retired member, which are detailed below. There is also a $50 reason to join WEA-Retired/NEA-Retired before Sept. 1 of this year because on Sept. 1, lifetime dues will be increasing from $350 to $400.

By joining WEA-Retired/NEA-Retired now, while you’re still an active association member, you’ll become a pre-retired member and receive publications from NEA-Retired and WEA-Retired. You will also be protected from any future NEA-Retired or WEA-Retired dues increases. And, when you do retire, your membership will move seamlessly to that of an active member of NEA-Retired and WEA-Retired. WEA-Retired is the only retired organization that is affiliated with WEA and NEA.
Membership in WEA-Retired\NEA-Retired keeps you a part of the largest profession/union advocating for public education and the welfare of its workforce.
You will always be eligible to use WEA/NEA member benefits.
You will have opportunities to work in partnership with WEA and NEA members to improve retirement benefits for both retirees and active members.
WEA-Retired and NEA- Retired members can help with your planning for your retirement.
As a WEA-Retired member you will continue to receive NEA’s NEA Today, WEA’s We 2.0, NEA-Retired’s This Active Life and WEA-Retired’s WE...Too. Thus, you will be able to keep up on the issues of concern to your colleagues and remain an informed education voter.
Your retired membership will allow you to remain active in governance as long as you are not an administrator at the time of your retirement. You can continue to contribute actively to your profession locally and at state and national levels.
You will have friends at state and national levels to network with about your education and retiree interests.
If you choose to substitute when you retire, you will continue to be covered by the NEA liability insurance you now have as long as you maintain “continuous” membership. Becoming a pre-retired member ensures no lapse in membership.
You will remain one of the 3.2 million NEA\WEA voices advocating for students, public schools, and the welfare of retirees.
Retire from your position, not your profession. For $350 you become a lifetime member of NEA-Retired and WEA-Retired. It’s very easy to join. You can join using your credit card by going to www.washingtonea.org/retired/join. You can also join by check for the full amount or by making 10 payments of $35. Some districts will do payroll deduction for the 10 payments. For a membership form and/or more information, please call Stacia Bilsland at 360-482-2431 or contact her at sbilsland@washingtonea.org.Join before Sept. 1 and SAVE as lifetime dues will be increasing to $400 on that date. Pay $350 prior to Sept. 1 or begin making the 10 payments of $35 before Sept. 1 and avoid the dues increase.

Good Column

2010-11-28T14:20:00.001-08:00

The Myth of the Powerful Teachers Union, by David Macaray. It's a great debunking of many of the myths surrounding teachers today.

President's Newsletter, November 7th

2010-11-07T17:29:00.000-08:00

Hello again,

Election Results: The education stories that you have coming out of the Tuesday election are numerous: the 2/3rds majority for any tax increase was restored, the candy/soda tax was repealed, and the practical impact is that the legislature will be looking at a $4.8 billion dollar deficit this year.

I've been talking with you for a couple of years about the legislature, but the worst has never come to pass thanks to stimulus money in 2009 and federal jobs money here in 2010. That's not going to happen this year. Governor Gregoire is promising an all-cuts budget, on top of the mid-year cuts we're already having to absorb, which means that levy equalization and the K-3 class size enhancement are once again in the line of fire.

This year, though, and Lord knows I never figured it would get to here, those might just be the beginning. There's going to be a huge push to get teachers into the Public Employee Benefits Board plan (PEBB), which is a major, major change. Those of you who got the National Board certification might be in line to get hosed, but you'll hear about that potential from Jim Meadows before you hear it from me. Get ready for TRS4, where upon retirement you're processed into soylent green.

(I may be joking about that last one, but in these times it's kind of hard to tell)

I'll keep you informed as things come along. The Governor releases her budget next month, and it's going to be ugly.

Evaluations, Observations, and Walk Throughs: I've heard feedback from a number of buildings regarding an increase in the number of walk-through evaluations, particularly "scored" walk-throughs where you're given formal feedback. Additionally, there are increased concerns about the tone some observations are taking.

If you have received a negative observation or walk-through, please let me or your building rep know as soon as possible. This is a trend that we want to keep an extremely close eye on.

Where's Ryan This Week: On Monday the District Reading Festival is from 5:30 to 7:00 at Hallett. Hope to see you there!

On Tuesday the legislators from the 9th LD (Sen. Mark Schoesler, Rep. Susan Fagan, and Rep. Joe Schmick) are coming to the District Office at 11:30 for a joint meeting between us and the Cheney School District. We'll be communicating to them about the sacrifice we've already made, and getting their thoughts on the upcoming legislative session.

On Wednesday the Eastern Washington Uniserv Council is hosting a new member's night at the Council office. I invited a number of you, but if you're interested please let me know and I'll rsvp for you!

Thursday is Veteran's Day. Thank them for their service--freedom isn't free.

On Friday I'll be attending the WEA Small/Rural Locals Conference in Federal Way. It's designed for those locals that have less than 150 members, and it's always an interesting conversation, especially when we get to comparing contracts. I'll let you know what we learn!

Thank you for your time, and good luck going into conferences!

--Ryan--

News on NEWS

2010-11-01T18:35:00.000-07:00

Last week the school board voted to make Medical Lake a part of the Network for Excellence in Washington Schools (NEWS), which is probably best known as the leading party to the most recent school funding lawsuit working through the system.

It's a big step for us, and I personally applaud the District for taking it. Now that they've signed on to the network the Medical Lake EA also joins on simultaneously, and you're also going to see many (if not most!) of the other school districts in Eastern Washington take the plunge as well.

What's the issue? For us, number one with a bullet is levy equalization (LEA). The state treats LEA like it's a favor to the property-poor school districts that they don't really have to follow through on, but for us it's a million dollars plus every year that allows us to offer programs, lower class size, and fair compensation. It's the same with the reduction in the Learning Improvement Days--Olympia's one-time savings is something that our near-retirees are going to be paying for as long as they draw a pension.

For more information about NEWS you can check out their website here.

United Way

2010-11-01T17:49:00.001-07:00

Just a reminder that you can select the WEA Fund for Children as a part of your United Way donation. We've accessed them several times the last few years to help out families in need here in Medical Lake; if you have a student in your room who could use assistance, let me know and I'll get you the appropriate request form.

Thanks!

--Ryan--

Information About Dues

2010-10-24T11:14:00.000-07:00

Hello again,

I received an informational packet last month about a grant that the WEA offers for release time. The piece inside that I wanted to share relates to the average local dues for districts statewide.

The average for locals with 100 to 300 members is $116.21 a year.
The average for locals with 301 to 600 members is $234.71 a year.
Here in Medical Lake, the cost for a full time employee? $60.

All of us on the exec board have worked hard to be dilligent with the local budget. It will be coming out for your vote soon; please read it over and let us know if you have any questions. We appreciate the input!

With thanks,

--Ryan--

President's Newsletter, October 10th

2010-10-10T10:10:00.000-07:00

If I type really fast I can post this at 10:10:10 on 10-10-10. The math major in me would find that delightful! :-)

What we've been working on this week:

New Uniserv Council Rep: Over the years I know that many of you had the chance to meet and work with Mike Boyer, one of the staff members at the WEA-Eastern office in Spokane. He's moved up to work more directly with grievances and bargaining, and last week we hired a new staff member. Our field reps are some of the hardest working people in the union--Lord knows that I keep ours, Sally McNair, hopping--and they're our first contact when things go off kilter. I think we hired a good one; I'll let you know when things are official!

Evaluation Survey: Next week the Teacher/Principal Evaluation Pilot team is having another series of meetings to work on the new evaluation system. Going into that meeting I'm putting together a survey to help guide me in what you as members want out of a new evaluation tool; look for a link to that to be coming out this week. If you could give it 5 minutes of your time, it would be greatly appreciated!

Homecoming Game: It was great to go out to the High School on Friday night and see such a dominating performance by the Cardinal Football team. The band looked and sounded great, the team played lights out, and the excitement from all the students was a neat thing to see. Thank you to all the High School staff for making this such a great week for the kids!

Politics: Remember that you can always find the official WEA recommendations on the Our Voice WEA website. If you want to dig deeper into the initiatives I'd highly recommend the Inside Olympia program on TVW. Ballots should be mailed out this week.

The Spokane Children's Fund: For those of you who live within the boundries of Spokane District 81, you'll also be voting on the Spokane Children's Fund Initiative. This video from KSPS gives a good look at what fund would mean for the kids in Spokane, as well as the taxpayers who would need to fund it. If you need more info, it's a good piece to check out.

Have a great week!

--Ryan--

Dollars for Scholars

2010-10-09T13:57:00.000-07:00

This is from Brenda Vasquez, a Title teacher at Hallett and Michael Anderson who has also had two students attend MLHS:

Purpose of DFS: to expand educational opportunities through scholarships and academic support and encourage educational achievement and support students pursuing education beyond high school.

This is a non-profit, volunteer-operated organization: At ML, we try and raise funds to help as many MLHS students as we can. Students must apply for scholarships and they are granted based on need, merit, or both. Some fund-raising activities through the year are the Silent Auction and the Big Yard Sale at Denny's parking lot in the spring. Scholarship dollars are acquired through the fund-raisers plus through donated gifts, memorials, etc. People donating to the Cardinal Star help scholarship money go into an endowment fund to ensure there is permanent scholarship money available. Thousands of dollars were raised to help our own MLHS seniors last year.

The Dollars for Scholars organization needs people to contribute to the Cardinal Star endowment fund. All that is needed is a $50.00 contribution per year for 3 years. The goal was to raise $50,000 for the endowment fund (though the economy has brought it to $30,000) which in turn will be used for scholarships for our seniors right here in our own community. If we could find 100 individuals/families to commit the $50.00 for 3 years, then the endowment would grow to about $45,000. If someone wants to donate yearly, but can't do the $50.00, then any amt. is greatly appreciated. Any donation, whether a one-time gift, or the 3 year committment, is greatly appreciated at whatever amount. All donations are tax deductible. Should you have goods/furniture to donate for the yard sale, we are collecting and storing them now.

Dollars for Scholars is a great group that has poured tens of thousands of dollars into our students over the years; if you have the chance to support them by either joining the Cardinal Star endowment that Brenda mentioned, or by signing up for a monthly donation via payroll deduction, you can count on it being money well spent.

The New Evaluation System

2010-10-08T11:17:00.000-07:00

Hello again,

Some of you have asked for information about the new Teacher/Principal Evaluation Pilot that Medical Lake is a part of; OSPI has a website set up here with everything there is to know. Right now the group is in a very exploratory stage with no definite products yet, but be assured that as they come available I'll be around to talk with you.

Those of you who have access to the works of Charlotte Danielson might be interested as well; a lot of what we're doing comes straight from her books.

--Ryan--

President's Newsletter, September 18th

2010-09-18T08:59:00.001-07:00

Hello again,

Many of you are aware that my stepfather was diagnosed with leukemia in July of 2009. At that time they said his particular symptoms usually meant that patients had about 13 months left; on Tuesday morning I got an urgent phone call from my brother and was in my car driving home to Olympia by 8:00. I share this with you in order to thank the staff at Anderson for helping my sub during my absence, particularly Jackie and Sandy on the 5th grade team, lead secretary Dolores Martin for passing along the sub plans I emailed, and everyone else who sent along their well-wishes.

The Medical Lake School District is a great place because of the people who work here and make it go. Thank you to everyone for what you do!

State budget update: Thursday's kick in the teeth was the announcement from the state's Revenue Forecast Council; you can watch the meeting here or read Seattle Times coverage here.

The Governor is ordering an immediate 6% cut to spending. For us that gets a bit hard to figure because so much of our funding is mandated by the state constitution, but there are two pots of money that aren't considered basic education that mean a lot for us: levy equalization and K-3 class size enhancement. Put them together and those cuts equal about $120,000; combine that with the decline in enrollment (30 kids, or $150,000) and you can get an early handle on the problem we're facing.

A small ray of sunshine: Last month the big push by the NEA congressional lobbyists in DC was to get the education jobs bill to pass through the congress; it did, which will mean about $200,000,000 for Washington and $400,000 for us here in Medical Lake (assuming that all the relevant projections come to pass). It probably won't cover the full deficit that we're being faced with this year, but every little bit helps.

Busy week for education reform: There's a ton of things going on around the state this week. On Tuesday the Quality Education Council is meeting in Olympia; they're the legislative taskforce charged with managing the recent school reform bills. Also on Tuesday I'll be in Federal Way for a PAC meeting to hear about where we're at with elections and initiatives. On Thursday the Evaluation Pilot Project is having a meeting at the ESD, and on Friday the State Levy and Local Effort Assistance Technical Workgroup is meeting in Renton to talk about potential policy changes to levies and levy equaliation.

And for good measure, a new staffer too! Many of you may know Mike Boyer; he was our field staffer out of the WEA-Eastern Uniserv office for a number of years. He's recently taken a new position with the WEA where he'll work on arbitrations and bargaining, which means we'll be hiring a new face at the Uniserv soon. I'll let you know how it goes!

As always, if you have any questions please feel free to call or email. Go Eags!

--Ryan--

President's Newsletter, September 12th

2010-09-12T19:59:00.000-07:00

MLEA Members,

I hope you've all had a great start to the school year!

Enrollment Update: It's been shared with some buildings that our enrollment has again come in below projections. We planned for 1,900 students for the district; we're running about 1,870. Last year there was a spike in Running Start students that was a large part of the issue; this year, there isn't really a pattern to the enrollment drop.

What this means is an instant $150,000 hole in the budget. Further, our enrollment tends to be at it's high point in September and October; as families move away and struggling students drop out, the enrollment tends to trend down during the year.

It's something I know the administrators keep a close eye on; the impact will be felt most directly in April and May, when we start setting the budget for the 2011-2012 school year. If you have any questions, please let me know.

The WEA Children's Fund: You may have received an email two weeks back from WEA Vice President Mike Ragan about the WEA Children's Fund. It's a great charity that we've had cause to access in the past to support families in crisis. If you have a child who could use their help the application process is easy; if you have the ability to make a donation to support their work, it would be very much appreciated. You can also make the Children's Fund your United Way designated charity; I'll offer more information about that process in the next newsletter.

Another great group to support is the Medical Lake Dollars for Scholars. Brenda Vasquez at Hallett and Michael Anderson is a board member for them, and the work they do every year getting scholarships to deserving Medical Lake grads is to be commended. You might also get a request from Citizens for Medical Lake Schools; you can donate to them through payroll deduction. It's a great way to support our levy elections on a consistent basis.

Class Size: We've been made aware of some class size problems in different buildings. The 4th grades at Michael Anderson were running at 30+ kids each until last week; they've since added a class that is being staffed with a long-term sub. We're now hearing about general ed classes at the High School with 40+ kids; that should get settled this week.

We have some of the best class size language in the area, but that's only doable as long as you speak up and let it be known how important class size is. If you're currently faced with an overload please talk with me or your building rep so that we can go over what options and relief you can have.

Negotiations: This is the last year of our three-year contract with the school district, meaning we'll be entering into negotiations soon. We'll be running a survey to gather your ideas on what the process should look like, so please be thinking about the areas where the contract has mattered for you and how you think that process could be improved. Look for the survey soon!

I hope you've all had a great start to the school year, and Go Cardinals!

--Ryan--

Your Weingarten Rights

2010-09-09T12:54:00.000-07:00

For a while now I've wanted to share this newsletter from Sharon Bacon, a recently-retired rep for the Spokane EA. It gives a great overview of your Weingarten Rights, which is your right to representation during a meeting with administration.

Please give it a read and keep it in mind!

--Ryan--

President's Newsletter, September 2010

2010-09-02T22:04:00.001-07:00

MLEA Members,

Welcome back! I hope you all had a fulfilling summer and a great first day of school, especially those of you who are new to the district or are taking on new assignments this year. With the construction and the work that's been put in front of us regarding test scores we really are living in some interesting times; here's to best wishes for a successful 2010-2011 campaign!

There are a few things I'd like to make you aware of as we get going:

1) Evaluation Pilot Project: You may have seen the recent article in the Cheney Free Press about the new evaluation system that we'll be working on this year. Medical Lake is part of a consortium along with Reardan, Davenport, Pullman, and a number of other area districts. This year will be spent in conversation talking about what effective teacher and ESA evaluation should look like; next year we'll be piloting a new system. In 2013 Superintendent Dorn makes a recommendation to the legislature regarding the system that should be used on a statewide basis.

I'm excited about the potential here, and you'll be hearing a lot more about the project as the year goes on. Please feel free to call or email if you have any questions!

2) Negotiations: This is the third year of our three-year contract, meaning it's time to go back to the table and review the agreement we have in place and talk about any changes that need to be made. As I write this word is coming through that the Seattle EA has approved their new contract just in time for the beginning of school next week, so it looks like this could be a blessed year of labor peace here in Washington State.

If you have interest in being a part of the bargaining team please let me know; it's a great way to get involved, and there's no better way to get to know your contract than by helping to write it. We'll also be setting up opportunities to talk about what you want out of the MLEA during these negotiations. Please, let us know what you think!

3) Candidate Endorsements: Part of the work that I do with the WEA-Eastern Uniserv Council is to lead the candidate interviews and endorsements process for all the area legislative districts. We met with almost everyone who has declared that they are running, and I really do believe that we are blessed with some strong education advocates representing us in the state legislature. Our official WEA endorsements:

3rd Legislative District (downtown Spokane): Andy Billig and Timm Ormsby (Democrats)
4th Legislative District (Spokane Valley): No endorsements given.
6th Legislative District (Mead, Windsor, and the area east of Airway Heights): Chris Marr and John Driscoll (Democrats); Kevin Parker (Republican)
7th Legislative District (essentially everything north of Highway 2): Shelly Short and Joel Kretz (Republicans)
9th Legislative Distict (Medical Lake, Cheney, south to Pullman): Susan Fagan and Joe Schmick (Republicans)

There are two area politicians who I'd like to point out for special consideration. Senator Marr has been one of the most consistent voices in Olympia regarding education. He was one of the most vocal that changing standards and "overhauling" the system without funding what we have didn't make any sense, and that one of the priorities of the state needed to be to restore the lost COLA for teachers. Similarly, I think that Joel Kretz is one of the best friends public schools have. The House Republicans were instrumental in saving levy equalization in 2009 and getting it expanded in 2010; without his hard work, we'd be far worse off to the tune of almost $1,000,000.

4) That said, this legislative session is going to be rough. The number being bandied around is that the legislature will be looking at a $3 billion dollar shortfall when they go back in January; some expect it to me more like $5 billion, and a few estimate even higher. Congress did pass the teacher jobs bill that should make some difference for the schools, but areas like levy equalization are still critically at risk. I'll update more frequently as the legislative session gets closer; please just know that making effective contacts with your Representatives and Senators is more important than ever.

5) Construction Project: The Cheney Free Press has had some great coverage of the interactions between the MLSD and the City of Medical Lake regarding the hang-up with getting the construction done at Hallett Elementary. The City Council will be taking the issue up soon; I'll let you know when it's set to be before them.

Should you ever have questions or concerns, please feel free to call me on my cell phone or contact me via email. Thank you for taking the time to visit the site, and have a great Labor Day weekend!

--Ryan--

The WIAA, 2A, and the MLSD

2010-01-10T18:54:00.000-08:00

The WIAA has released their athletic classifications for the next two years, and it's looking like Medical Lake will remain in the 2A ranks. Colville and Riverside are both dropping down to 1A; coming into the AA classification from AAA will be some traditional powers like East Valley of Spokane, West Valley of Yakima, Port Angeles, and North Thurston. You can see the newest breakdowns here.

At the October school board meeting Russ Brown, former principal at MLHS and a current field rep with the WIAA, talked about how the WIAA organizes the leagues around the state. The goal is to have a balanced number of teams in each of the 6 classifications (2B, 1B, 1A, 2A, 3A, and 4A), meaning that you'd expect about 64 schools per division. That's their idea of balance--an equal number of teams.

The practical impact on 2A, where we are, is pretty profound. The smallest 2A schoo, Mount Baker, has 515 kids. We're running at 527 for counting purposes. The largest 2A school is Interlake HS of Bellevue at 1,085 students, a spread of 560 kids from top to bottom. You could combine Medical Lake with Mount Baker and you'd still only have the 7th largest school in 2A.

It gets even worse when you compare it to 3A--there the smallest school is 1,086 students while the largest is 1,303, a difference of only 217 students!

How does this happen? If you look at that chart I linked to above you can see many schools choosing to "opt-up" to a larger classification. Gonzaga Prep is a prime example; their enrollment would put them solidly in the 2A bracket otherwise, but they choose to compete at a 4A level in order to keep their historic rivalries with the other Spokane high schools. Every time a school opts to go up, the lowest school in that bracket is kicked down to the classification below so that the WIAA can keep their numbers balanced.

22 schools opted up into the 3A ranks. That pushes 22 "small" 3A schools down, into the 2A classification, and that's where the imbalance is born.

The Cheney Free Press has more here and here.

--Ryan--

Some Retirement News

2010-01-03T19:36:00.000-08:00

Hi MLEA members,

A couple of things to think about this month, both related to retirement:

1) As per Article V Section 11 of the current contract, if you notify the District in advance of your intent to retire at the end of the current school year you'll receive a Notification Stipend to be added on to your base contract amount. Given the fiscal mess that we're faced with it's a real blessing to know what the staffing for the next year will look like as early as possible; to that end, the District has agreed to both raise the amount offered from $1,000 to $1,500, and keep the amount level until March--under the current language, it would step down a couple hundred dollars per month.

If you have any questions about this part of the contract, please give me a call!

2) For those of us on Plan 3, this is the month where you can change your contribution option either up or down. There's a form that you'd have to turn in to Lynn Paul in the payroll office; you can find it, and more information, here:

http://www.icmarc.org/xp/plan3/trs/contributionrateflexibility.xml

Happy New Year!

--Ryan--

Where the Jobs Aren't Going To Be

2010-01-01T17:43:00.000-08:00

Interesting list in the Spokane Journal of Business' December 23rd edition on the largest employers in Spokane County.

#1 is the State of Washington
#4--Spokane Public Schools
#5--Spokane County
#6--City of Spokane
#7--The US Government
#11--Community Colleges of Spokane
#12--Central Valley School District
#14--Eastern Washington University
#18--State Department of Corrections
#25--Eastern State Hospital
#30--Lakeland Village
#31--East Valley School District
#45--Cheney School District
#50--Washington State DOT
#55--Deer Park School District
#58--West Valley School District
#59--Medical Lake School District

9 of the top 60 employers in the county are school districts, the community colleges, or state universities. If you put them all together, you have 8,565 jobs.

Now think about the cuts that could happen--if you laid off 5% of those people, you'd have 428 more people out on the streets looking for work. This, in a county where unemployment is currently 7.9% and a state where nearly 1-in-10 people can't find a job.

I guess that's why I can't really be sympathetic to the belief expressed by some that the government doesn't create jobs; the underlying bias in that statement is that a government job isnt' a "real" job, and that's a slap in the face. And if we don't save some of these pesky government jobs, you're going to be looking at a lot of unemployed school employees slowing the recovery down even further.

The Medical Lake School District is the 59th Largest Employer in Spokane County

2009-12-30T17:34:00.000-08:00

This, according to the December 23rd edition of the Spokane Journal of Business.

It sorts of puts in perspective jost how important teachers are to the local economy.

The Governor's Education Budget

2009-12-15T11:22:00.000-08:00

MLEA Members,

The big news last week was that the Governor released her supplemental budget for the 2010-2011 fiscal year. I mentioned in October that the picture wasn't very bright, but now we have a guide for how things could be. The cuts to the MLSD in her budget include:

$1,085,361 in levy equalization funds, which helps to bridge the gap between property-rich and property-poor school districts in Washington.
$199,137 in I-728 money, which we use for class size reduction.
$268,799 from what is known as "K-4 Enhancement" funds, provided by the state to allow lower class size in the primary grades.
$31,667 when the last state-funded Learning Improvement Day goes away.

There are also some other cuts to categorical programs and gifted education funding; when you put it all together, the potential deficit that we're looking at for Medical Lake next year is in excess of $1.5 million dollars.

To say that things are going to be tight would be an understatement on a magnitude of 10. The Governor is talking about a "revenue increase" that would allow us to avoid some of the worst cuts, but it remains an open question whether we'll be able to get that done for the 2010-2011 school year or not.

What can you do about it? Quite a bit, actually.

Contact your legislator to let them know how much these cuts will hurt. Losing teachers will hurt. Losing funding for gifted education will hurt. Losing the levy equalization that allows a district like ours to stay in the black will hurt. I think they know this, but they also need to hear it loud and clear from us as often as we possibly can.
If you're not already a member, please consider joining the WEA's Political Action Committee. It's an easy way to make a difference for $2.25 a month.
Stay together. We're all in this handbasket, wherever it may be taking us.

I'll be coming around in January doing building meetings at each of the schools; a schedule will come out next month. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me or call on my cell phone.

We live in interesting times.

--Ryan--

WEA Republican Educators Caucus

2009-11-26T21:59:00.001-08:00

Hi MLEA Members,

There's a new group starting up within the WEA called the WEA Republican Educators Caucus. The intent is to give Republican and Conservative educators more of an active voice within the organization and make sure that their viewpoint is heard; it's an effort being put together by Ken Mortland, a retired member and former high school teacher who I've had the pleasure of meeting through my WEAPAC work and some who I think very highly of.

If you're interested in being a part of the effort you can get more information off of the the Facebook page that has been set up, here. You can also email me and I'll happily send you an information packet, or you can email Ken directly at wearec1130@aol.com.

Thanks!

--Ryan--

MLEA Budget Approved

2009-11-19T13:54:00.001-08:00

Thank you to everyone who voted!

Weingarten Rights

2009-11-04T07:37:00.000-08:00

A little bit of labor law for a Wednesday morning!

One of the ways that collective bargaining benefits us is through the codification of what are known as "Weingarten Rights" from a 1975 Supreme Court case of the same name. Fundamentally, what Weingarten means for you:

*You have the right to Union representation at a meeting with a principal, superintendent, or direct supervisor if you "reasonably believe that discipline" could result from the meeting. That's a tricky phrase, though, because "reasonable" has everything to do with your thoughts and feelings at the time, and "discipline" could be anything from a verbal reprimand to a loss of status to termination.

Bottom line: if you're requested to attend a meeting and you're not comfortable going on your own, you can request representation. If you're in a meeting and it takes a turn against you, you can request representation. If after a meeting you need to talk about what it could mean, you can call your Association Rep and debrief.

If you have any questions about Weingarten Rights, or any other aspect of the Association, please feel free to ask!

Network for Excellence in Washington Schools Lawsuit

2009-10-31T09:15:00.001-07:00

Over in King County recently they've been hearing the big school funding lawsuit; it has the potential to heavily impact both how schools are funded by the state, as well as the overall level of school funding. You can read more about it here.

President's Newsletter for October 26th

2009-10-24T20:07:00.000-07:00

Hello MLEA Members,

I hope that you've all had a great first two months of the school year! I wanted to share some of the thing that I've come across recently to keep you informed as to what is going on both here and Medical Lake and beyond. If you have any questions, please feel free to call or email me!

State Budget Blues: Last year's legislative session was a bloodbath. The School Reform Act passed, which is a conversation for another day, but what impacted us the most locally were the $1.5 billion dollars in cuts made to the education budget. During collaborative budgeting with the administrators and the PSE we made more than $700,000 in cuts, which cost us good people (Joe Benzo, Nathan Geyer) and forced others to change buildings or work in multiple buildings.

This year could be worse. Actually, let's not equivocate: this year will be worse.

Problem number one is that we're still experiencing the declining enrollment trend that we've been living with for better than 5 years now. During budgeting we built around a projection of 1,980 FTE (full time enrollment), which was about 20 kids below where we ended last year. Usually we come really, really close to that projected number.

This year, we missed it by more than 50. Our September count came in at ~1,924 kids. If you estimate about $5,000 per kid in state funding, that means a $250,000 hole that we weren't planning for.

Why did that happen? I've heard a couple of different theories. #1 has to do with the housing on base still being in such a state of flux that families avoid living there, which means we lose them from Medical Lake as they go to Cheney, Spokane, and other surrounding districts. Theory #2 is that we have many, many more kids participating in Running Start this year, potentially because families that are being pinched by the economy are looking at the possibility of free college credits and taking that option far more seriously than they did in the past.

There is some good news--the District received a back impact aid payment that came in over the summer, which covers the current shortfall and keeps us at even keel. Without it, things could be a lot worse.

So there's the past and the present--what's the future going to hold? Right now the number being tossed around Olympia is that we're looking at a billion dollar plus deficit that will have to be rectified come January when the legislature goes back in session; the chatter coming out of some of the professional school organizations is that the deficit very well could grow to $2 billion dollars before it's all said and done. An advantage that we have is something called "Maintenance of Effort", which was language in the stimulus bill that says that education can't be cut to anything less than the level it was at in 2006. What's chilling is what they can cut, which is shown in this slide from the Senate Ways and Means Committee (go to page 5):

They're looking at cutting what is paid in levy equalization, which would save the state $250 million dollars. This year, Medical Lake is receiving $1.4 million dollars in levy equalization funds.
The "K-4 enhancement" is money provided by the state to lower class size in kindergarten through 4th grade. Last year the Senate proposed that cut as well, but it didn't go through--if it had, it would have meant a $275,000 hit.
What's left of I-728 is worth $266,000 to us this year; it's also known as the "Student Achievement Fund" money.

That's $1,941,000 in cuts that are very likely to happen. Put another way, that's 10% of the district budget. Put yet another way (and take this with a grain of salt, because it would never happen like this, but still) if you consider the average teacher's salary plus benefits to cost about $75,000, that would be almost 26 teaching positions.

This is why I worry. Throw the proposed cuts to Lakeland Village and last year's scare about Pine Lodge, each facilities that employ many MLSD residents, and the local economy starts to look pretty intimidating as well.

I'm sharing this with all of you because I want you to know that the Association is fully on top of things as best we can be, given the uncertainty of the numbers and just what the legislature will do. This Thursday afternoon Carol Tyson and I are attending a workshop on how to better understand the RIF language in the contract. In two weeks the WEA is holding their annual collective bargaining conference in Federal Way, and we'll get a representative sent over to that as well to make sure we get all the information we can.

These are going to be challenging times. If you have any suggestions please talk with me, a member of the exec board, or your building rep--this is your Association, and any input is greatly appreciated.

With thanks,

--Ryan--

No on 1033

2009-10-04T16:44:00.000-07:00

Hi friends,

MLEA Vice President Kate Mills took a quick break from her maternity leave last week to appear at a press conference for WEA-Eastern to express opposition to I-1033, the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights Initiative being sponsored by Tim Eyman. You can find more information about it on the WEA Our Voice website, here.

--Ryan--

This Week's News

2009-09-14T09:30:00.000-07:00

Hello again,

A couple of pieces of news to share with you as we go into our first full week of school:

Just to reiterate what was covered in the emails last Friday, we will all get paid for the missing LID day that the state did not fund. The procedure that we're looking at is to have a sign-in sheet for the October LID day; if you're out that day, we'll make adjustments accordingly. If you have any questions, please ask!
A note about that restored day of pay. Seattle had to bargain all summer to get that for their employees; it was also a big issue in Sedro-Wooley, another district that was on the verge of strike this fall. Many local districts aren't getting the money at all.

My point? In Medical Lake we've had this resolved since May, and I'd like to thank this opportunity to thank Dr. Veltri and the rest of the administrative team for coming up with the funds to protect teacher salaries.
If you have been subjected to an involuntary transfer, an overload, or have had your class schedule changed since school began, please let a member of the exec board or your building rep know ASAP. We'll be having our first Labor/Management meeting with the District soon, and all of these things need to be brought up.
I'll be putting out information later this week about our fall WEA-PAC drive. WEA-PAC is an organization that I believe in absolutely, and if you'd give it your thoughtful consideration I'd be grateful.
Finally, with my switch to a 5th/6th grade combo, my extension at Anderson has changed from x3625 to x3648. If you need me, that's where I'll be!

With thanks,

--Ryan--

Pat Hailey in the 9th Legislative District

2009-09-12T20:53:00.000-07:00

Hello again,

One of the things I do for WEA-PAC locally is to take part in the candidate interviews for local legislative races, and this summer the big project was to interview all of the candidates running in the upcoming special election in the 9th LD. The 9th includes Medical Lake, Cheney, and all points south to Pullman and the Tri-Cities. There were several good candidates, so the WEA didn't make an official recommendation in the primary, but now that we're on to the general election I can share with you that the Washington Education Association has endorsed Republican Pat Hailey in the 9th Legislative District.

Ms. Hailey is a former high school secretary in the North Franklin School District (Connell) and has served on the school board there. She lost her job after they experienced a double levy failure that crippled the district, so she has an understanding of just how important school finance can be. When we interviewed her we were very impressed with her knowledge of the state testing regimen, levy equalization, and other issues that impact us right here in Medical Lake. She's a former member of the Public School Employees union, so she has an understanding of labor as well.

We may not agree on every issue--her stance on health care reform, for example, is the opposite of the party line from the NEA--but our visceral reaction was that even if she didn't agree with us she'd be willing to listen to us and offer a fair hearing, and given the economic issues of the times that's all we ask for.

That's the WEA position. I'll also speak for her on the personal level from my standpoint as the husband of a dairy farmer--Ms. Hailey is very well versed on agriculture issues and would be a great spokesman for our farm families. You can read about her ag background on her website; she runs cows and raises crops in Mesa, just north of Pasco.

If you're undecided on who to vote for come November, please consider Pat Hailey--she's the kind of pro-education candidate we need more of!

With thanks,

--Ryan--

Class Size: We Have It Pretty Good

2009-08-22T12:18:00.001-07:00

There are a number of labor hotspots around the state, and Kent might be the hottest. They've gone to impasse, which means that the state has entered the negotiations to try and reach an agreement, and there is a chance that they could go out on strike at the end of the month.

Something that's worth looking at is the contract proposals that the Kent EA has made, particularly class size on page 2:

They top out at 26 per class in grades K-3; we're 22 in kindergarten, 22 in 1st, 23 in 2nd, and 24 in 3rd.
Their limit is 29 in grades 4-6; we top out at 26.
Their limit is 29 in middle school and 31 in high-school, which is comparable to where we're at.

There's always room to improve, and here in year 2 of our three-year contract we've already got a couple of areas (CTE stipends and special ed case loads among them) that we're thinking about, but overall our skinny agreement stands very well side-by-side with the 100+ page contracts that some of the bigger districts have, and that's good for us.

We hope you had a great summer, and we'll see you soon!

With thanks,

--Ryan for the MLEA Exec Board--

From the Most Recent NEA Education Insider Newsletter

2009-07-19T08:51:00.000-07:00

SPOTLIGHT: WHAT IS CONGRESS DOING FOR EDUCATORS?
(The first in a new periodic feature highlighting Members of Congress who are supporting public education and educators)

Lawmakers on the Hill want to see educators recoup more of the money they spend “out-of-pocket” for classroom expenses. Several of them—including Representatives Dina Titus (D-NV) and Suzanne Kosmas (D-FL)—are sponsoring legislation that would make positive changes to the educator tax deduction.

Currently, K-12 teachers can deduct up to $250 on their taxes for out-of-pocket classroom expenses. Both Titus and Kosmas have introduced bills that would double the deduction amount and make it a permanent part of the federal tax code. Representative Judy Biggert (R-IL) has also introduced legislation to double the deduction.

Meanwhile, Representative Larry Kissell (D-NC) has introduced a bill that would extend the deduction in its current form through 2011, while Representative Zach Space (D-OH) has introduced legislation to make the deduction permanent.

According to the National School Supply and Equipment Association, educators’ out-of-pocket expenses for the 2005-2006 school year, on average, totaled nearly $2,000.

Open Thread: Pro-Cert

2009-07-08T10:07:00.000-07:00

Hello again, and I hope you're all having a good summer!

I attended a workshop in Spokane at the end of last month on the changes that are coming down the pipe regarding Professional Certification; frankly, it didn't seem very encouraging. In 2011 there will be more big changes, including a move to a sort of on-line model, and instead of being scored at the University level (the way it was when I did ProCert) or at the state level (the way I understand it is now), OSPI will instead be contracting with an outside agency to score the portfolios.

If you have to do ProCert, then, it could be a good time to get started now before the standards change again.

IF YOU HAVE DONE PROCERT, OR ARE IN THE PROCESS NOW, could you share some of your thoughts in the response section below? What program were you in? Did it work for you? What would you have done differently going in, given the benefit of hindsight? You can leave your posts anonymously, if that's your preference--my main goal is for this to be a resource that members can access when they have to make ProCert decisions.

Thanks!

--Ryan--

WEA Leadership Academy

2009-06-01T08:08:00.000-07:00

Hello again, and welcome to June!

From August 3rd to August 6th the WEA will be holding their annual summer Leadership Academy in Yakima. There are a variety of classes being offered on all range of topics, from retirement to advocacy to budgeting, and it's always a good time.

You can find the complete class list here.

If you'd be interested in attending please let me know by the end of this week so I can figure out the finances.

Thanks!

--Ryan--

Where Are We At With Budgeting?

2009-05-19T08:32:00.000-07:00

Hello again MLEA Members,

We wanted to share with you some thoughts about the impending school district budget.

As part of their budget cuts the state reduced the number of Learning Improvement Days by one, which means that next year your contract will have 181 days instead of the past 182. The District has committed to come up with enough money to pay for the lost day on a supplemental contract, meaning that you'll still receive 182 days of pay. That means no loss of salary next year.

We've also come through the process with per diem completely intact. The state didn't "freeze" the salary schedule, meaning that you'll also still receive your usual step-and-lane increases if you haven't topped out on the schedule yet.

The practical effect, then: no teacher should lose salary. Many teachers will receive a raise.

But what about jobs?

There are several provisional employees in the district who have received non-renewal notices, and we're working hard to make sure that as many of them as possible are brought back. We've had a couple of resignations that help in this regard. It's still an on-going process, and while the impact is felt mainly in two buildings it affects every single one of us through class size and services that we provide the kids.

Since our most recent collaborative budgeting there's been quite a bit of change. An anticipated hit to levy equalization didn't happen, and we've had some more retirements announced. There's also a bussing/schedule change coming through that has the potential to save the district money.

Our view, then, is that the collaborative budgeting process isn't finished. We feel very strongly that the numbers we built the budget around are no longer the numbers that reflect what next year could be, and we look forward to engaging the district more on what next year's program will look like.

Please contact a member of the exec board with any questions.

Thanks,

--Ryan, for the MLEA Exec Board--

Why Political Action Matters

2009-05-09T16:24:00.000-07:00

Hi MLEA Members,

It really is true--that government which governs best is that government which governs least!

Let me set the stage, though--when the legislature adjourned two weeks back they didn't get all of the bills passed that they needed. One of those left begging was HB1776, which dealt specifically with education spending in this year's budget. It's the bill which would have raised the levy lid for many districts (not ours, but about 70 statewide); it also would have been devastating to Levy Equalization, a key source of funding for small and property-poor school districts like our own.

So that last Sunday was buzzing along, and then 1776 comes up for a vote in the House, and everything grinds to a halt, and it's all about the cut to levy equalization. Many of our local legislators (Rep. Shelly Short and Rep. Joel Kretz out of the 7th; Rep. Joe Schmick and Rep. Don Cox out of the 9th; Rep. Larry Crouse of the 4th; all of them, not for nothin', Republicans) made beautiful, impassioned floor speeches on why Levy Equalization mattered; Rep. Schmick actually mentioned the MLSD on the floor.

For almost 2 hours they went on, and then the bill was inexplicably tabled. The House GOP broke out in applause. Looked good.

The concern, though, was that if a special session was called that HB1776 could get pulled back onto the floor and passed. Now that the special session has been taken off the table the state will have to find the money for levy equalization out of the state reserves. For us, that's a $180,000 difference.

Your phone calls, emails, and contact made the difference. Levy Equalization would have been very, very easy for legislators from Seattle to cut, but teacher's voices persuaded them not to. Thank You to everyone who contacted their legislators--your voice made a tangible, definite difference for us right here at home.

I'll have more to come about the district budgeting process soon, as well as the WEA Representative Assembly this week.

Thank you, and enjoy these last days of spring!

--Ryan--

Regarding Budgeting

2009-04-13T10:45:00.000-07:00

Hi friends,

You may have read the email that Dr. Veltri sent early Friday evening, where it is suggested that you were instructed not to fill out the administration survey.

To be clear, we believe that generating as many ideas and as much input as possible is to everyone's benefit as we go through budgeting. We also believe that how you offer feedback is up to you, as is the mechanism that you use to deliver that feedback. Short answer: do the survey if that's what your conscience tells you to do. If you'd rather not, that's also a legitimate choice.

The piece that I'd like you all to remember is that during the whole budgeting process we all have a role to play. The role of the MLEA is to save jobs and keep working conditions as positive and productive as they can be, and when we are asked to consider things like eliminating music, eliminating art, raising class size, and altering your health insurance, then of course our role is to push back and passionately advocate for your interests. The administration's role is up to them to define.

My great hope as we develop the budget for next year is that all of us--the 12 administrators, the 128 members of the Medical Lake Education Association, and the many members of the PSE, the coaches, along with all the non-represented staff--can get to the other side of this budget crisis with minimal impact on the kids and employees. I truly believe that we have the potential to not only survive this crisis but thrive during it by demonstrating to the community at large that we have the moral courage to make responsible choices about how we spend their tax dollars.

That's my goal, and that's the role that the Medical Lake EA will play during
budgeting.

I hope that all the other parties at budgeting will also choose to play their role
in a positive manner.

In solidarity,

--Ryan and the MLEA Exec Board--

What's the Expiration Date on Your Certificate?

2009-04-10T10:40:00.000-07:00

Hi friends, it's a rare bit of non-budget related news! :-)

There's a bulletin that was just put out by OSPI....

You can access it here

....that has a tidbit we should all keep in mind:

Our certification office appreciates school districts past efforts to encourage early certification renewal of their employees. Due to the volume of certificates to process and our current operating system, we maintain nearly an eight- to twelve-week processing time for issuance of certificates. With current fiscal restraints and budget shortcomings, this peak season will burden our certification office to its limits. We are asking school districts to continue promoting the early renewal process of certificates by communicating to their employees the importance of submitting applications as early in May as possible.

You'd be well advised to take a few minutes to double-check your certificate and make sure that your credit/clock-hour requirements are met. For those of you who are National Board Certified I know that the re-certification process is a bit different, so if you've gone through the process and could educate me I'd appreciate it.

Thanks, and Happy Easter!

--Ryan--

The Proposed Budgets are a Disaster for Medical Lake

2009-04-05T20:17:00.001-07:00

Hi friends,

I was really hoping that I'd have good news for you here after spring break. Sadly, that's not the case.

During the holiday the state House and Senate released their general operating budgets, where they lay out the school funding for the year. The theme in Olympia has been "Cut, cut, cut!", but I don't think anyone expected it to be this drastic.

The House budget would be a hit to the district of about $1.2 million dollars.

The Senate budget--which is much, much worse--would mean a $1.9 million dollar reduction in money coming in from the state.

There's a sub-section of the OSPI website, here, where you can read the numbers for yourself.

Now more than ever it is critical that we communicate with Olympia and tell them to do whatever it takes to protect education funding in Washington schools. I'll be getting some materials out to you this week that I ask you to take a look at--please, make your voice be heard.

Also a reminder about the "How could we save money?" survey that was emailed out to you before spring break. If you have any ideas that we can take forward to the budgeting meetings we need to hear them; you can find the survey at the link below:

Medical Lake Budget Survey

Classified staff, the survey is for you as well--we'll share the responses we get with your PSE leadership!

If you have any questions please call or email. It's going to be a challenging couple of weeks, but please know that your Association is working hard on solutions, and we deeply and sincerely appreciate any suggestions that you have.

With thanks,

--Ryan, for the MLEA Exec Board--

Help Understanding the State Budget Deficit

2009-03-27T22:41:00.000-07:00

Schmudget is a good read; the post I just linked to has an embedded PowerPoint that makes understanding the projected deficit quite easy. It's well worth your time!

Great Levy Results!

2009-03-11T09:27:00.000-07:00

Hi friends,

Just going over the levy results, and a couple of pieces that I think we can all be quite proud of:

1) We had the highest passing percentage of any district in Spokane County, the only one to get over 70%.
2) The lowest precinct was Deep Creek, but even there it passed with 55% positive.
3) The highest precinct was Fairchild AFB, with an 85% passing rate.
4) Deer Park, Reardan, and Riverside would all have failed their M&O levies if it hadn't been for the Simple Majority. On the flip side, the City of Spokane barely "passed" their bond issue to renovate public facilities, but city bonds are still supermajority issues, so it fails despite getting 51% of the vote.

It's a happy day. I'd go frolic in a meadow, but it's too damned cold.

Thanks to all of you for the work you did on the levy--this makes the coming months much easier than they would have been otherwise!

--Ryan--

Now That the Levy Has Passed, I Can Tell Jokes and Be Happy Again!

2009-03-10T22:41:00.000-07:00

A large company, feeling it was time for a shakeup, hired a new CEO.

The new boss was determined to rid the company of all slackers.

On a tour of the facilities, the CEO noticed a guy leaning on a wall.

The room was full of workers and he wanted to let them know that he meant business.

He walked up to the guy leaning against the wall and asked, “How much money do you make a week?”

A little surprised, the young man looked at him and replied, “I make $400 a week. Why?”

The CEO then handed the guy $1,600 in cash and screamed, “Here’s four weeks’ pay, now GET OUT and don’t come back.”

Feeling pretty good about himself, the CEO looked around the room and asked, “Does anyone want to tell me what that goof-ball did here?”

From across the room came a voice, “Pizza delivery guy from Domino’s.”

Recent Events

2009-03-06T23:06:00.000-08:00

Hi again MLEA members,

A few items of interest that I wanted to make you aware of:

*Two weeks ago we sent a team to the Budget Analysis Training that the WEA-Eastern office puts on every year. Representing Medical Lake were Tina Francis of the high school, Melissa Madsen and Kate Gandolf from Anderson, Jeremy Clark from Hallett, and Stephanie Lundberg from Medical Lake Elementary. The information that comes out of a good budget training is incredible, and I look forward to sharing more of it with you in the coming weeks!

*I'm receiving word that provisional employees are being notified of their provisional status. I will be coming around to every building at least once before the spring break; for anyone in that boat, I'd like to talk with you and go over some of the options we have.

*The most recent word trickling out of Olympia is that the House and Senate will be unveiling pieces of the budget in the coming weeks; as soon as the Education budget comes out there will be a tidal wave of information for all of us to process. Please know that I'm watching all the different pieces of the pie very closely, and that we're going to work like hell to get through this in a way that's fair to everybody.

*On April 20th your MLEA exec board, along with past president Wendy Stewart, is attending an evening workshop on how RIF and non-renewal work. It's knowledge that I'm hoping we won't need, but it's knowledge we need to have.

*If you have any questions, please ask--that's what we're here for!

With thanks,

--Ryan, for the MLEA Exec Board--

HB1410 and SB5444: Victory!

2009-02-21T07:05:00.000-08:00

Really good news this week as HB1410 and SB5444, the two bills to completely gut education that I've been worrying about, have been killed in the legislature. There are varying degrees of dead in Olympia, certainly, but it would be a very, very large shock to me to see the old bills come back in any form.

The two bills two watch now are SB6048 and HB2261. These are "intent only" bills that will codify where the legislature wants to go and have real potential to change what we do here on the local level; they're also being built from the ground up (we've gone from a 111 page long bill to 3 pages!) which gives us a chance to talk about the pieces that should go into the bill instead of needing to fight to have things taken out.

To everyone who called or emailed their legislators, thank you! We had more than 20,000 emails sent to Olympia via the Our Voice WEA website, and any time that we can make ourselves heard to that scale it's a powerful sign to our elected officials. Collective action--catch the fever! ;-)

I'll be keeping an eye on the bills, and as always please feel free to ask if you have any questions!

With thanks,

--Ryan--

The Stimulus Will Help Me Sleep Tonight

2009-02-14T22:25:00.000-08:00

Speaking to the Association of Washington Businesses the other day Governor Gregoire indicated that most of Washington's share of the education money in the stimulus bill would be used to replace the cuts that she had proposed to levy equalization and I-728 money, which could have been a $1,000,000 blow to our district budget.

More recently an analysis by Schmudget puts additional credence into this theory, and gets into how the money can be spent.

This is still a very fluid situation, even with Obama's signature expected to come within the next couple of days. There's an early budget report presentation being made to the state Senate this Thursday at 4:30, and that'll be a pretty powerful signal as to where the money situation might go.

I'll keep on top of it!

--Ryan--

More on HB1410 and SB5444

2009-02-13T09:56:00.001-08:00

Here is a .pdf file from the WEA that succinctly gives the Association objections to the two bills.

Please, keep emailing and keep making those contacts with our legislators--it makes a difference!

--Ryan--

The Big Legislative Project: HB1410 and SB5444

2009-02-09T07:56:00.000-08:00

One of the many hats that I wear is as a part of the Member Lobby Team (MLT) and WEA-PAC Chair for WEA-Eastern. What they do in the legislature today is what you're going to end up doing in the classroom tomorrow, and I think that with the state budget situation being what it is it's more important than ever that we communicate with out elected representatives to let them know the reality of the classroom today.

That's why I'm very, very concerned about two pieces of legislation moving through Olympia right now: House Bill 1410 and Senate Bill 5444. They're companion bills, meaning that if you've read one you've read them both, and there are things to like about them. To wit:

*They'd mandate a class size of 15 in grades K through 3!
*Mentoring for teachers!
*Librarians defined as being basic education--no more cuts to library!
*A prototype schools model that would mean BILLIONS more dollars in education spending!

The devil, though, is in the details. I've started maintaining a second blog dedicated only to school politics where I've been running down reasons why I'm deeply troubled by these two bills; a couple that I'll share with you here:

1410 and 5444 would eliminate two funding sources, levy equalization and I-728, that together mean hundreds of millions of dollars for schools state wide, and more than 10% of our budget here in Medical Lake. The theory is that the state would kick in more money from somewhere, but the bills don't define where.
Similarly, the certification system would be overhauled--again--into a more "performance based" system to be defined by the Professional Educators Standards Board. As someone who had to do ProCert I'll personally attest to the pain that we went through when the state was trying to figure out how to make it work; here we go again with yet another wholesale change.
The salary schedule would be overhauled. Eventually the extra money for getting a Masters degree would be phased out; instead, to get to the top of the salary schedule, you'd have to get National Board certified. Right now teachers get a hefty additional stipend if they get the certification, and that's as it should be IMO--it was their choice, and now they get to reap the rewards. Making it a mandate, though, is troubling.

Please, go to the Eastern WEAPAC site that I linked to above and read some of the other troubles with the bill. I think this has the very real potential to be a white elephant--it will pass on the promise of additional funding and a glorious new tomorrow, but when the money doesn't come through we'll still be stuck with a new certification system, less rights than we have now, and a weakened profession.

THIS IS ESPECIALLY IMPORTANT FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO LIVE IN THE 9TH LD--Rep. Don Cox of the 9th is on the House Education Committee. Please email him and share your thoughts on the bill. For those of you in the 3rd LD--Lisa Brown's district--let her know, too; as Senate Majority Leader she has a lot of sway on where these bills go. For everybody, if you would take the time to send 1 email to a legislator, it will help make a difference.

I'll keep you informed on these bills and the other legislative business as the session goes on.

As always, please call or email if you have any questions.

With thanks,

--Ryan--

For Those Interested in National Board Certification

2009-02-09T07:51:00.000-08:00

The first round of NBPTS scholarship applications is being accepted on the OSPI website, here. Applications are due this Friday, February 13th, but there is a second round of scholarships available in March that I'll be able to give you a bit more of a heads-up on.

This subsection of the OSPI website has more information. Also know that you'll need to work with an organizer through one of the local universities (either EWU, Gonzaga, or WSU-Spokane); our guest speaker in November was from Gonzaga's program and is thought well of, but go where your instincts tell you to go.

Please call or email if you have any questions!

--Ryan--

On the Federal Bailout Money

2009-02-02T09:00:00.000-08:00

Hi friends,

You may have seen the article in the Spokesman-Review over the weekend on what the Federal Stimulus Package could mean for school districts here in the area; the figure cited for Medical Lake was almost $931,000, which would be stimulating indeed. There are a couple of things to remember, though:

That figure above is spread out over two years, weighted more towards year 1 ($574k) than year 2 ($356k).
Right now it's only theoretical money. Some would argue that even after they write the check it's still only theoretical money, but that's an economics argument for another day.
Given the vicissitudes of federal funding, any money coming out of the bailout could still be a long ways off from trickling down to us here in Medical Lake. Consider the Impact Aide money that we're already supposed to get; it's been known to run two years behind schedule.
The stimulus bill passed the House, but it still has to wend its way through the Senate, and then a conference committee, before it can find itself on President Obama's desk.
It's not a blank check. You can read here the allocations that are made to various programs; the first year, for example, provides money for construction, while both years have additional alotments for Title and IDEA spending. That narrows the scope of where the money can go.

There are currently a ton of moving parts to our monetary situation that I'm keeping an eye on right now: the discussion over Governor Gregoire's proposed budget, the next revenue forecast for the state (due out in three weeks), the state Senate budget proposal (by the end of the month), this pot of Federal money, the other pot of money from DC going towards construction projects, along with a couple of different bills in the Legislature that would impact us here at home. If you have any questions about any of it, please feel free to call me--being up-to-date on these issues is what I'm here for!

With thanks,

--Ryan--

Lobbying in Olympia

2009-01-31T13:44:00.000-08:00

Hi MLEA Friends,

Last Tuesday the 27th I went over to Olympia with the WEA-Eastern Members Lobby Team (MLT) to meet with the legislators from the 3rd, 4th, 6th, and 7th legislative districts, which essentially covers Spokane and all points north.

It was an ugly day on the hill in more ways than one. This picture that I put up on my Facebook profile was the view from the hotel room that morning; the sort of skiff of snow that we would all shrug off but had districts over there opening two hours late. Later in the day the snow turned into that familiar western Washington rain/mist combination that is absolutely miserable for someone like me who wears glasses. Fun times! :-P

The meetings with the legislators were very rewarding. The day opened with Rep. Joel Kretz, a Republican out of Okanogan County who is also the deputy leader of the House Republicans. He was very interested in hearing our thoughts on levy equalization, which is a funding source that means an awful lot to districts here in Eastern Washington. Rep. Kevin Parker (R, Spokane) is new to the house and listened very intently to what we had to say about class size, why HB1410 deserves to fail, and the importance of de-linking the WASL from graduation.

Towards the end of the day we went to visit with Sen. Bob McCaslin (R, Spokane Valley), where we found that his Chief of Staff has a local connection to us here in Medical Lake. Senator McCaslin has been working to pass SB5212 for a couple of years now, which would help military parents who have to make changes to parenting plans while overseas. He's highly interested in military families, and I thank him for his commitment!

I also was in on the meetings with Rep. Shelly Short and Sen. Bob Morton (both of the 7th LD), Rep. Timm Ormbsby (3rd), and Rep. John Driscoll (6th); Matt Shea (4th), Alex Wood (3rd), and Lisa Brown (3rd) were all covered by other members of the MLT. The only local legislator we weren't able to meet with was Rep. Larry Crouse out of the 4th, so we'll redouble our efforts to meet with him the next time around.

It's an interesting time, with the state budget deficit getting that much worse but with potential for federal money on the horizong that could help a big piece of the situation. I'll keep you up-to-date as things evolve!

With thanks,

--Ryan--

The Levy Committee is Meeting Wednesday, January 21st at the Lutheran Church in Medical Lake

2009-01-20T13:50:00.000-08:00

Hello MLEA Members,

The levy committee will be meeting at 4:00 this Wednesday, January 21st at St. John's Lutheran Church in Medical Lake. If you have the ability to come to the meeting it would be appreciated; the levy election is under 2 months away, and there's a lot of work yet to be done.

Thanks!

--Ryan--

Snow Days and Other Issues Upcoming

2009-01-12T19:25:00.000-08:00

MLEA Members,

We hope that you enjoyed your extended Christmas vacation; it's funny how often these once-in-a-lifetime storms come any more, isn't it? :-)

With regards to how the days will be made up, your Exec Board will be meeting with Dr. Veltri next week to talk about the calendar and where we want to go. Ryan will be meeting with the Uniserv office and the other local presidents beforehand to make sure we all have the WACs and RCWs straight, and then we'll most likely do an on-line survey to get your opinions. We're waiting for a week to see what the Governor does regarding a state of emergency, as well as to get some direction from OSPI.

The executive board met over the weekend to discuss the current state of issues regarding the association and potential cost-cutting measures as well as our working conditions. More information is coming.

If your building had leaking/flooding issues, please remember that page 25 of the contract provides for reimbursement of personal property damaged in a "disturbance". We haven't had to use that language in a while, but if you did have anything damaged beyond repair we're here to advocate for you if you need it.

If you have any questions please feel free to email your building rep, an exec board member, or call Ryan on his cell phone.

Thank you for all you do, and here's to hoping for good weather from here on out!

--Cheryl, Carol, Kate, and Ryan--

No Comment

2009-01-11T11:33:00.000-08:00

Found on Digg.

2008: A Look Back

2009-01-05T13:24:00.000-08:00

Locally, we had the worst snow in 40 years last January, and then we had the worst snow in 40-something weeks this December. We negotiated a new three year contract with the district, raised our WEAPAC membership to the highest level it's ever been, and used our money wisely to keep our local dues among the lowest in the region. If there's something more that you'd like to see out of the MLEA, just ask and we'll do what we can!

For a national perspective check out this article from USA Today; it's a well-written overview of the big stories of the last year, and it gives some good indicators of where we could go in 2009.

I hope to see you all again soon, and here's to a great 2009!

--Ryan--

On the Brighter Side....

2008-12-29T11:38:00.000-08:00

....at least we're not missing school days, right?

Right?

Ahem.

Merry Snowmas and Happy Snow Year, MLEA!

I Hope You Had a Great Holiday!

2008-12-26T11:10:00.001-08:00

It started earlier than it was supposed to, with the two snow days wiping out last Thursday and Friday (and the Christmas parties that were supposed to go along with them), but it's nice seeing that we have a week in front of us now to recharge, travel, and enjoy.

A couple of things that I'd like to share here as we go into the new year:

A belated but enthusiastic congratulations to Courtney Strozyk and Linda Sexton, who received their National Board Certification when the scores were announced earlier this month. I'm glad that the hard work paid off for them!
There were about 30 teachers who attended the informational session about the National Boards last month at the High School. I'm getting some blog posts ready to go about that process; you can look for them to roll out in early January.
I know one of the concerns expresed at the meeting, and it's a legitimate one, is that the $5,000 bonus for achieving the Certification could go away given our state budget crisis. When Governor Gregoire released her draft budget last week there was no mention of touching the program, which I think is a pretty good signal. Things could still happen in the legislative session, but right now I'm feeling pretty optimistic about that piece.
The weather prevented a lot of us from attending his retirement party, but all of us in the MLEA give our best regards to Bruce Ottmar as he begins this next chapter in his life. Thank you for all your years of service to the Medical Lake School District, Bruce!
There will be another WEAPAC drive coming your way soon, because even though the Governor's budget protects the NBPTS bonus it goes after the I-728 money for class size reduction and (even more importantly) the levy equalization money (LEA), which for us is several hundred thousand dollars a year.

Dr. Veltri and I are planning some joint communications to talk about what the proposed cuts could mean for the MLSD, which I'll post here on the blog. It's a critical time for our schools, and I'll pass on any information as soon as it comes my way.

Thank you for visiting, and here's to a great 2009!

--Ryan, for the MLEA Exec Board--

MLEA Budget Approved

2008-12-07T17:33:00.000-08:00

Thank you to everyone who voted!

In Loving Memory: Nancy Rice

2008-12-01T20:57:00.001-08:00

Nancy, the former lead secretary at Blair Elementary and Michael Anderson Elementary, died tragically this morning in an automobile accident in Airway Heights. For all the families that passed through Fairchild during her time she was a familiar face, helping to register their students and fielding all questions that came through the front office. It's not an exaggeration to say that Nancy touched the lives of thousands of students; she was the quintessential example of what an office manager could be, and she was a big part of the success of her schools.

Please remember her family in your thoughts and prayers. We'll miss you, Mrs. Rice.

First Retirement Notification Incentive Date Coming Up

2008-12-01T11:29:00.000-08:00

In the most recent Bargain we negotiated language regarding an additional stipend for teachers who announce their retirement early on; the exact language is on page 25, lines 24-27:

Employees who plan to retire at the end of the school year will be given an extended contract if they announce their retirement early. If the employee notifies the District with a letter of resignation by January 31st, the extended contract shall be worth $1,000; by February 28th, $800; by March 31st, $600; and by April 30th, $400.

Should you have any questions please contact an Exec Board member, or your building Bargaining Team representative.

Thanks!

--Ryan--

Merry Christmas, You're Fired!

2008-12-01T09:21:00.000-08:00

Below is a blurb from Pat Clark, one of the Uniserv representatives who works down at the council office. Here in Medical Lake they've historically been good to us in this regard, so in many ways I'm passing this on more as a way to show what goes on in other districts, but if you have any concerns please let one of us know right away.

Thanks!

--Ryan--

-----------------------------------------

The evaluation/probation season is upon us. If you or someone you know is struggling or "has the eye of the administration" on them contact your building representative, local president AND especially your UniServ Staff Representative right away. Do not wait until AFTER the second evaluation or AFTER you receive notification (any time after October 15 and before January 20).

Be sure to read your contract. Some Collective Bargaining Agreements provide provisional teachers with the right to the probationary process beyond those rights afforded to them by law.

For more information on how the WEA can assist you call the UniServ office at 509-326-4046 or 888-525-4044. We have resources and experts who can help!

The 2008-2009 MLEA Budget

2008-11-22T19:23:00.000-08:00

As with every year, we need you to vote on our budget for this school year.

First, please click here to see the proposed budget that Cheryl put together.

After you've had a chance to look at it, please click here to vote to either accept or reject the 2008-2009 budget. The ballots will be tabulated December 4th.

Thanks!

--The MLEA Exec Board--

The Future of the NWEA

2008-11-22T11:10:00.001-08:00

A few weeks ago the Joint Legislative Task Force on WASL Reform had a meeting in Renton where the future of testing was the #1 topic of discussion. Superintendents from Vancouver and Richland gave presentations on how their districts use the MAP assessment from the NWEA, and it sounds like the legislators were very open to the idea of giving that test more play.

That would be great for us here in Medical Lake, since we've been using the MAP effectively for years; I'll let you know when I hear more!

Also, check out this article from Education Week on computerized adaptive testing, which is what the MAP is. It's a good overview of what goes in to constructing those sorts of tests.

--Ryan--

A Political FYI....

2008-11-21T14:48:00.000-08:00

Joel Kretz, one of the members of the State House from the 7th Legislative District (everything north of Medical Lake, stretching all the way up to the Canadian border) was recently elected the Deputy Minority Leader for the House Republican Caucus. I met with Rep. Kretz on a couple of different occasions when I went back to Olympia last year; he's a good listener when it comes to education issues, and as a member of the House Appropriations Committee he's also in an important position when it comes to the discussion on education funding.

Given that a good part of the Medical Lake SD lies within the 7th Legislative District, I'm optimistic that he'll continue to listen to us in his new position.

Happy Substitute Educators Day!

2008-11-21T00:06:00.000-08:00

Here at the end of American Education Week we honor the substitute teachers who make it possible for us to attend inservice, have a sick day, look after our families, and go to meetings. A good substitute is worth their weight in gold, and all of us in the MLEA thank them for their time and dedication!

--Ryan, for the MLEA Exec Board--

Pride

2008-11-19T22:49:00.000-08:00

I know there's a lot of you out there who would just as soon never here about WEA-PAC again.

I know there are many of you who would like to run the other direction when you see me or your building rep coming with a WEA-PAC form.

I know there are just as many more of you who would like to tell me to put that WEA-PAC form in a place the sun doesn't shine.

But, all that said, I am as proud as I can possibly be at how the first round of our WEA-PAC drive has gone, and thank with all my heart those of you who signed up to be members. We're doing great:

If you look at just the raw numbers, we've got more WEAPAC members than Deer Park and Pullman.
We've also got more WEAPAC members in Medical Lake than the Community Colleges of Spokane do, and they're three times our size.
We have more WEAPAC members in Medical Lake than Pullman, Newport, Colville, and Riverside combined!
On a percentage basis, we're ahead of East Valley and Cheney.

I'll have more information to send out to all of you shortly (probably after conference week and Thanksgiving) about some of the projections the WEA is making about the coming legislative session. I'll warm you up with the big news of the day, that we're facing a $5.1 billion dollar budget deficit now, and there's a ton of evidence to suggest that this legislative session is going to be one where we have to fight like mad to defend the gains we've made.

Your WEA-PAC money makes a difference in that fight. The next time you see your building rep coming with the sign-up sheet (we'll be having another drive this winter), please give it your thoughtful consideration.

With thanks,

--Ryan--

It's a Busy Time in the World of Education

2008-11-18T22:56:00.000-08:00

Busier than you'd think, given the time of year, but the floodgates really opened right after the election, as noted by one member:

I am completely baffled. Since the results of the election, there has been regular negative news in the Spokesman starting with auditor suggesting an overhaul of the education system with specific details and suggestions. Today, district expense accounts are under scrutiny. I've already forgotten the third one I saw. Has WEA said anything about all this coming now? Was Bergeson hiding this or protecting us from this negative publicity? Is there more you hear coming down the pipe? Do you know how this kind of investigation has been funded or who has been asking for it?

And I'll share with you all the answer I shared with the member: we live in interesting times.

Well, we live in interesting times. :-)

Basic Ed Finance Task Force: This was the front page article about the commission lead by Dan Grimm. Last year the big discussion was about the Washington Learns commission that Governor Gregoire made to look at education in the state; Washington Learns didn't really accomplish anything except to punt to the Basic Ed Task Force and tell them to study things more. Pretty useless, really.

Dan's made it pretty clear that he's no fan of unions. Under his proposal collective bargaining would be done at the state level, there would be no per diem (because in his world, having per diem in some districts is unfair to those districts that don't have any), and salary would be differentiated based on different areas of the state, not on degrees or years of experience.

The WEA has presented to his task force a couple different times in conjunction with the Principals and the School Administrators. Every proposal--every single one--has a price tag of at least a billion dollars; the WEA proposal alone would require about $2.5 billion in new spending. I don't think that any of them have any chance of succeeding, because of the big budget hole we're already facing.

It's something to keep an eye on, though, because Dan Grimm is a pretty dynamic guy and if he can convince the legislature to take money from one area (the carve out, per diem, what have you) and put it somewhere else, that could be dangerous for us.

The State Auditor: A couple of years ago initiative something-or-another passed, mandating that the Auditors Office do more performance audits of state spending. Brian Sonntag, the state auditor, immediately took a look at the schools, because we're the biggest piece of the pie. Last summer they released a 400+ page audit of all the ESD offices around the state, last month they released their audit of the 10 largest school districts in the state (Spokane included), and this week it's the audit of travel practices at those 10 large districts + OSPI.

It's an interesting piece, because if the audit had come out before the election it would have been even worse for Dr. Bergeson; there are tens of thousands of dollars of waste identified from her office alone, including 400+ hotel rooms reserved for a conference that weren't used but that OSPI had to pay for anyhow.

What's Coming? Next month Governor Gregoire will release her proposed budget, which is almost certainly going to include some cuts to education. The big number there will be to see if she proposed a COLA for teachers at all or puts it on hold; I'm willing to bet the chance of us getting the COLA this year is slim to none. For a preview of what could be cut check out this website...

http://www.ofm.wa.gov/budget/pog/finalreport2009-11.asp

...from the state Office of Financial Management, wherein they talk about the things that should be funded and the things they think should be cut to make this coming budget balance. There are a lot of good ideas that are going to go away.

WEA-Eastern Council Meeting, December 10th @ 6:00

2008-11-18T22:16:00.000-08:00

The WEA-Eastern Uniserv Council will be having their annual Christmas celebration on Wednesday, December 10th at 6:00 at the Council office in Spokane. Senator Chris Marr will be there to speak and take questions, so I'm expecting some great insights into what we can expect from the coming legislative session. The December meeting is always a fun one to attend; if you're interested in coming, please let Ryan or Wendy know.

Thanks!

--Ryan--

It's American Education Week!

2008-11-16T12:16:00.000-08:00

The report cards are done, Christmas is on the horizon. The Cougars and Huskies are soon to fade into the blessed oblivion of the off season, and conferences are next week. And, best of all, it's American Education Week 2008!

Feel good about what you do, because it makes a difference. Thank you for your work, and please know that your Association is always there for you when you want us!

With thanks,

--The MLEA Exec Board--

It's Not Funny, Because It's True

2008-11-13T12:00:00.000-08:00

From The Onion: Majority of Americans Never Use Physical Education After High School.

"I don't know why they bothered teaching us all that stuff," said Higgins, who since graduating has not once encountered a situation that required him to move his body at a sustained pace or keep himself in healthy shape. "I mean, come on—when will I ever need to physically exert myself for an extended period of time?"

Higgins is not alone. According to a recent poll, nearly 85 percent of all Americans admitted that, since entering the real world, they have found very few reasons to utilize the concepts they learned in physical education. In fact, most high school graduates claim that despite their gym teachers' insistence that this knowledge would come in handy later in life, they have still never used bending, breaking a sweat, or coordination.

"I remember my gym teacher droning on and on about this thing called 'physical well-being,'" Higgins said. "I still don't even know what that means."

God bless ya, PE teachers--you do a hell of a job in the face of increasingly long odds. :-)

In Loving Memory: Thelma Spillman

2008-11-13T07:24:00.000-08:00

Hello MLEA members,

On Tuesday night Thelma Spillman passed on after a long battle with cancer. She spent many years at Blair Elementary teaching kindergarten down in the old Botteen Annex building, retiring right before the beginning of the 2003-2004 school year.

Thelma was a woman of faith--faith in the Lord, faith in other people, faith in the kids that she taught. She personified grace, dignity, and kindness in everything that she did, and the hundreds of kids she taught are all better for having known her.

We'll miss you, Mrs. Spillman.

--Ryan, for all the MLEA--

Remembering Veteran's Day

2008-11-11T12:53:00.001-08:00

One of the most well known poems of the last century, In Flanders Fields:

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Thank you, Veterans, for your service and sacrifice.

The Transportation Budget is Feeling Gassy

2008-11-02T09:47:00.000-08:00

From a piece earlier this year in the Seattle Times:

The state funds only a portion of the district's transportation costs. The rest is paid for with levy money. So rising costs affect programs regardless of whether a district budgets enough money, said Susan Stoltzfus, spokeswoman for the Northshore School District.

"Revenues to support schools are not keeping up with the increased cost of many things, including fuel," said Stephen Nielsen of the Puget Sound Educational Service District's construction services group. "To the Legislature's credit ... on the occasion they have allocated money for those needs, but it's not a regular adjustment."

This is one of those issues that effects everybody, and it’s certain to be a high legislative priority when Olympia gets going again in January. Larger districts like Mead struggle with the costs of driving thousands of students every day, while a district like Reardan (which covers as many square miles as East Valley, West Valley, Mead, and Spokane combined!) has to account for long rural routes that add up the mileage in a hurry.

Don Johnson did some figuring and found that it now costs $4.13 a mile to operate a school bus. That’s a pretty incredible number, and a large part of it is diesel being $4.00 a gallon. Consider, too, that the district has to supplement what the state gives us by using almost $200,000 a year out of the general fund, money that could be used for staffing and programs, and you start to see the scope of the problem.

Dan Cools does a superior job of running our bus barn; it’s just a shame that the state hasn’t risen up to the challenge of funding transportation the way it should. You'll be hearing more about this come January when the Legislature goes back in session.

4 Days Until the Election!

2008-10-31T09:38:00.000-07:00

This is a copy of an email that I sent to the staff here at Anderson. If you'd like the stickers that are mentioned, just let me know and I'll email the template to you ASAP.

--Ryan--

------------------------------------------

Hi friends,

One of the things that I remember from election day growing up is that, after they voted in the morning before school, most of the adults could be seen sporting those "I Voted!" stickers that you used to be able to get at the polls. That tradition sadly went away with the rise of mail-in ballots, but the tradeoff is that I can vote while watching Gossip Girl, so I think that's reasonable.

Anyhow, I miss those stickers--so I went and made some. If you'd like an "I Voted!" sticker, there are some sheets in the staff room that you can use. I figure it's a quick and easy portable civics lesson that you can show on your chest.

Thanks!

--Ryan--

A Loud Party for Deaf Kids

2008-10-30T09:22:00.000-07:00

Hello again MLEA members,

Many of you know that my daughter is profoundly deaf because of a condition called Congenital Cytomegalovirus Exposure. She has no hearing in her right ear and an 80% loss in her left ear that they're currently treating with a hearing aide. As her dad it's been a learning experience every day, with all the highs and lows that you'd expect, but I wouldn't trade the adventure for anything.

At WSU-Riverpoint they have a program called the HOPE School which works with kids from birth to 5 who have any degree of hearing loss. On Tuesday night they had their annual Halloween Party, and it was a real treat to see all the kids dressed up (pirates are popular yet again!) and cutting loose. The kids didn't care a whit about who had a cochlear implant or who had double hearing aides or who knew sign and didn't; they were looking to have a good time, and so they did. Especially mine :-)

School really is the great equalizer, where everyone has a chance to succeed and find their way. Thank you to all of you for the work you do for all the kids, and good luck with your Halloween celebrations tomorrow!

With thanks and gratitude,

--Ryan, for the MLEA Exec Board--

And you thought we had pretty strict tenure....

2008-10-21T21:50:00.000-07:00

Check out Teachers Strike in Mexico for Hereditary Jobs at Joanne Jacobs' website; apparently down south after you retire you can guarantee that your child gets your position.

That gives me an idea for the 2011 negotiations! :-)

Dino Rossi and Christine Gregoire Have a Debate

2008-10-21T09:59:00.000-07:00

Two weeks from today and the election will be behind us; three weeks from today the work for the 2010 election begins. We'll all get a reprieve from campaign ads, at least!

Of the 5 debates that they had, the best one for getting their insights into education was the 5th, hosted by King 5 TV out of Seattle. You can watch it off of their website here; the neat thing, too, is that you can watch it in sections, instead of trying to piece through the whole debate. The parts most related to education were 3 and 4.

Good luck to whichever candidate you're supporting--it should be a heck of a finish.

Why Teacher Compensation is Always a High Priority

2008-10-20T13:32:00.000-07:00

Hat tip to NYC Educator, where I found the picture.

Why WEA-PAC Matters

2008-10-20T11:41:00.000-07:00

Hello again,

If you haven't been approached yet about joining WEA-PAC you will be soon. WEA-PAC is the political action arm of the WEA, set up to promote candidates and legislation that support education here in Washington State. Some things to know about WEA-PAC:

In the 2004 and 2006 elections, WEA-PAC supported 12 new pro-education candidates. Without their support the Simple Majority proposition for school levies would have died in the legislature, like it did for the previous 25 years.

Why that matters for Medical Lake: We have a maintenance and operations (M&O) levy coming up this February. Given the state of the economy, 60% would be an almost impossible hill to climb, but with the Simple Majority we have a much, much better chance.
Without WEA-PAC supported candidates, the COLA plus .5% would not have happened. How much has your pay increased this year?

Why that matters for Medical Lake: Last year a beginning teacher made $32,746; this year it's $34,426, a $1,680 difference. Similarly, for those of you at the very top cell of the salary grid, last year you made a base salary of $61,720; this year it's $64,887, a $3,167 increase. Without action in Olympia, that wouldn't have happened.
WEA-PAC has had much success that directly affects you, such as salary increases, I-728 funding, Pro-Cert improvements, pushing for enhanced retirement, maintaining funding for National Boards, full day kindergarten, and additional funding for health benefits.

Why that matters for Medical Lake: With the National Boards project we're getting started, that $5,000 increase will really make a difference. 2/3 of our members pay out-of-pocket for health insurance; getting the state to pick up more of those costs is just like a COLA. With our poverty numbers we're still a far shot away from getting full-day K for our elementaries; it's legislative funding that will help us get there.

Joining WEA-PAC costs $2.25 a month--$27 for the year--and it can make a great difference for us right here at home. Please consider joining; it's an easy way to be involved.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me via the Association email to the right, or call my cell.

With thanks,

--Ryan--

For the Math Teachers

2008-10-19T12:45:00.000-07:00

The Eyeballing Game, which will test your geometric acuity in a pretty interesting way.

My accuracy went down the more I played; see how you do!

Phonebanking for Governor Gregoire October 20th

2008-10-12T21:41:00.000-07:00

For anyone who is interested, the WEA-Eastern Office is holding a special phonebanking event on Monday, October 20th to try and get out the vote for Governor Gregoire. If you're interested or able to attend, please send me an email via the Association email address to the right.

Thanks!

--Ryan--

Our Libraries in the Cheney Free Press

2008-09-29T17:20:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-28T17:14:00.000-07:00

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....

2008-09-26T20:49:00.001-07:00

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

2008-09-03T22:34:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-02T08:00:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-01T13:08:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-09-01T10:00:00.000-07:00

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--

A Bit of Trouble in Cheney

2008-08-31T12:58:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, in their August 21st edition, the Cheney Free Press ran a very well written article about a teacher discipline situation in Cheney that had resulted in a special ed preschool teacher getting yanked out of her classroom and moved to Cheney Middle School. I think it's a very balanced look at the situation, and a good overview at how these things can go.

Note that the Sally McNair mentioned in the article is also our UniServ rep out of the WEA-Eastern office downtown.

Hopefully, it will work out for the better for everyone involved.

Also check out the recent Free Press article about Scott Kerwien, the new counselor at the high school. All of us in the MLEA welcome him to the district!

Bellevue Teachers Set Stage For Strike

2008-08-28T09:17:00.000-07:00

The 1,100 teachers in the Bellevue School District are set to start striking on September 2nd. While there's a wage issue on the table, one of the biggest themes that I heard from Bellevue's leadership at conferences over the summer was the "scripted, rigid" curriculum that the district is mandating the teachers use.

It's an interesting conversation to have. Curriculum is a district prerogative, and the role of the state in that domain has certainly increased. On my first grade team at Anderson we've been trying to blend the math curriculum we have with the new math expectations from the state and turn that into a cohesive sequence that also fits what we're looking for on the report cards, and all of this is before you get to teaching the actual lesson in front of the kids.

Keep an eye on what happens in Bellevue; the over-arching issue could mean something for us all statewide.

Summary of Changes to the New Contract

2008-08-25T15:25:00.001-07:00

Bottom line: when it was all said and done, more was said than was done. That's not a bad thing. :-)

Below you'll find the major changes that we're asking you to approve in the new contract. During our meeting this Wednesday morning the members of the Bargaining Team will be happy to answer any questions, after which we'll have a ratification vote.

There are no major changes. The biggest items to know:
*You will receive 2 more hours of per diem this year, for a total of 86.
*The work day language has not changed; we will be studying possible options for change next year.

SOMETHING NEW: I've uploaded the tentative contract to a hosting website; you can click this link to read the final draft. I haven't tried this before, so please let me know if you run into technical problems.

Below I've listed the items that most impact you as a staff, going in order from the beginning of the contract to the end.

The contract will be for three years, expiring at the end of the 2010-2011 school year.
From now on a copy of the contract will be posted on-line, which should make it easier for everyone to get to.
Pre-school is now guaranteed to have a paraprofessional.
Remedial math classes at the Middle School and High School will be capped at 20 students.
Combination class teachers will receive an additional $3,000 a year stipend.
We now have better language for special education caseload size. There are still no firm caps, but the process of how to get relief for Resource teachers and ESAs is clearer.
Also for special ed teachers, if you don't use your release days for IEP paperwork you'll be able to cash them out at the substitute rate of pay.
Substitute teachers will now be placed on the salary schedule after 20 days of consecutive subbing, instead of 30.
As was discussed in the spring, employees who announce their intent to retire by January 31st will receive a $1,000 stipend, with the amount prorated after that.
Teachers may now access up to four days of Professional Leave per year to work on programs like National Board certification, or the Professional Certificate required by the state. This leave has to be arranged in consultation with your principal.
There is no longer a $95 allotment per teacher for travel. This doesn't mean there won't be travel, which is a discussion that you'll be having at the building level.

In prepping for the bargain I looked at a lot of comparable data for our district and others, and please believe me when I say this: we already have a very, very good contract. I think that these changes will make it better, and I would strongly ask that you vote to ratify.

Please, ask questions. This is your contract, and all of us on the Bargaining Team are here for your benefit.

Thanks!

--Ryan--

A Step You Can Take to Help School Libraries

2008-08-24T12:00:00.000-07:00

The Washington Library Media Association has started an on-line petition to try and raise awareness regarding school libraries here in Washington State; their goal is 10,000 signatures by September 1st. MaryKay Rolwes will be talking about it a bit more at our beginning of the year meeting this coming Wednesday.

I just signed it, and I'm #8447. Add your voice to the chorus and see which step you are towards the goal!