EAA Election: Board of Directors/Building Representatives

The EAA Elections Committee has issued a Call to Election for the Board of Directors/Building Representatives.  The Call is being emailed to all buildings for distribution to the membership and can also be accessed here.  The responsibilities of the position are described in the Call.

Members interested in serving in this position should submit a Candidate Filing Form to have their name placed on the ballot for their building.  The deadline for submission of the form is 5:00 pm, Friday, May 11th.

Those questions about the elections process should contact Kim Blake-Wilcox, Chair, EAA Elections Committee at this email address.

Kim Blake-Wilcox, Chair
EAA Elections Committee

EAA Member Audrey Biggers Speaks to VEA Convention

Audrey Biggers spoke on the floor of the VEA Convention in Virginia Beach today to protect classroom teachers relative to a proposed amendment to count recess as instructional time.  Ms. Biggers realized the passage of the proposal might then require lesson plans for recess!  Way to go, Audrey!

Kickball Tournament & Family BBQ

Join other educators from around Northern Virginia as we celebrate each other in our First Annual NoVA VEA Kickball Tournament and Family BBQ!  This event will be hosted at Prince William County's beautiful Locust Shade Park, allowing for a great afternoon of activities, raffles and fun for all ages!

Saturday, June 2, 2012, 11 am - 3 pm
Tickets: $7/adult, $5/child

Put together a team of 11 people to participate in the Tournament!  Space is limited to 16 teams, so hurry and form your team today!

You may register for this event online at http://bit.ly/J82kZs or by filling out the registration form and submitting it to the Fairfax Education Association today!

Download the event flyer here.

Vendors are important to the success of our event. If you are interested, or know someone who would like to be a vendor, please give them a copy of this vendor flyer.

For more information, contact:

Committee Chair Tracey Brown (brown.tracey@yahoo.com)

or

FEA UniServ Director Joia Jones (jjones@fairfaxea.org)

We Are Proud of Our Members!

EAA members work hard every day to do the best that they can for our kids, our Association and our Community!  Below are a few who have recently received special notice:

• Terrific Teacher Tuesday Award from WPGC and State Farm
• Denise Santiago, nominated by her former student, DeNancy Brown
  
• Certificates of Study from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
• Laura Aleckson, Katelyn Collier, Jane Fett, Mark Fort, Timothy Johnson, Angela Lutzker, Wesley McCune, Sheila Walsh, Courtnay Weitekamp

Congratulations to one and all!

FOIA Request: Executive Staff Contracts

EAA submitted a request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) for the employment contracts of the ACPS Executive Staff.  Click on the name of the staff member listed below to open a copy of the contract provided.

• Brown, John - Executive Director of Curriculum Design & Services (Hired 11/15/2009)
• Byess, Margaret - Deputy Superintendent for Planning & Support Operations (Hired 11/1/2006)
• Dawson, Monte - Executive Director for Accountability (Hired 6/13/1988)
• Henson, Madye - Deputy Superintendent for Student & Community Support (Hired 7/11/2011)
• Holmes, GwenCarol - Chief Academic Officer (Hired 6/16/2011)
• Hoover, Elizabeth - Executive Director for Technology Services (Hired 8/21/1995)
• Ignacio, Tammy - Chief Administrative Officer (Hired 8/21/1991)
• Johnson, Stacey - Interim Chief Financial Officer (Hired 1/26/2012)
• North, Kevin - Chief Human Resources Officer (Hired 8/29/2011)
• Sherman, Morton - Superintendent of Schools (Hired 8/15/2008)
• Sina, Jean - Chief Financial Officer (Hired 10/9/2009)
• Walsh, Margaret - Executive Director for Policy Development (Hired 4/1/1993)

EAA Update - April 2012

Dear EAA Membership,

First, I hope everyone had a relaxing Spring Break!  EAA thanks you for your continued membership and your continuing commitment to our students. 

We continue to work for better communication and transparency in our school division. To that end, I have typed up notes from our most recent Meet and Confer meeting. I am also adding the contracts of executive staff to our website (see separate posting). We will be doing more FOIA'ing as new staff is added to ACPS Central Office!

Thank you and take care!

Gina Miller

EAA President

Meet and Confer Notes from April Meeting

In attendance: EAA Meet and Confer team, Dr. Sherman, Tammy Ignacio and Kevin North

Date: April 11, 2012 - which was the first meeting since February 1, 2012

Agenda and Responses

:

Old Business:

• Enrollment of Non-resident Employee’s Children - students will be enrolled and policy set due to work of Lisa Staib

• Grading Window  - EAA stated that there should be a five day window to include a weekend (Wed-Sunday). This will be addressed in the 2012-2013 calendar.

• Stipend Letter - EAA has requested that all work that is outside the normal contract expectations have some form of documentation. Some examples of that work would be mentoring, writing curriculum or IEPs during the summer. EAA has submitted examples and Kevin North said that he would edit it and figure out a process for putting it out to all staff.

• ACPS Competencies - EAA feels that this work should be tied to TCR which has another year before it is ready to be discussed. The work of TCR will drive this work and roll-out.

• Evaluations of Administrators by staff - EAA feels strongly that all administrators should get some feedback from their staff in written form. All of the administrators at John Adams will be evaluated by staff, as promised by Dr. Sherman when Gene May was removed. HR will come up with a system by which administrators will be evaluated by their staffs.

 New Business: 

• 21 hours versus 3 days - Dr. Sherman has no intention of lowering the daily rate of staff. Mr. North will have a solution to discuss with Meet and Confer at the May 2^nd meeting.

• Supplemental Retirement Committee - EAA wants staff to have some oversight of the money in this account. Mr. North agrees that this is the process in Fairfax and he is working to put this together here, hopefully for the 2012-2013 school year.

• Instructional Coaches - EAA wants to know who is evaluating them and who is responsible for evaluating the entire model. Dr. Holmes was unavailable to answer this question due to a scheduling conflict.

 Dr. Sherman’s Issues:

• The role of the EAA Building Rep and EAA President in meeting with Principals - EAA provided the role of the Building Reps, and we stated that the President only meets with Principals when they refuse to meet with the Building Reps or the Building Reps feel intimidated by their Principal.  Dr. Sherman made it clear that all Principals will meet with Building Reps, as requested. 

Jump Start for National Board Certification Candidates

Every year VEA offers a professional development program for candidates - the National Board Jump Start Seminar.  A team of NBCTs will conduct a 4-day training module intended to give candidates the "jump start" needed to start the National Board process right.  Experienced support group facilitators designed this seminar based on the following question: If you had the luxury of several days to work with National Board Certified Teachers before you started the process, what things would be most helpful to you?

Time:                        July 23-26, 2012

Location:                  Old Dominion University Peninsula Workforce
                                  Development Center, Hampton VA

Participants:              A maximum of 75 participants will be enrolled
                                   on a first-come, first-served basis.

Download the flyer and registration form here.

NEA Joint Conference on Concerns of Minorities and Women

To reduce conference costs and optimize new technology, the NEA Joint Conference on Concerns of Minorities and Women registration booklet will not be mailed this year.  Participants will be able to register online via the Joint Conference website - www.nea.org/jointconference - beginning April5, 2012.  Please direct  any questions to Alexzine Green, conference registrar by leaving a voicemail message on the Joint Conference message line at (202) 822-7202, by faxing at (202) 822-7735, or by e-mailing agreen@nea.org.

Important Dates:     Joint Conference dates - June 28-29, 2012
                                 Early registration - May 10, 2012
                                 Registration deadline - May 21, 2012

Checks for registrations must be postmarked no later than May 21, 2012.

The Joint Conference will be held at:     Washington Hilton Hotel
                                                                 1919 Connecticut Avenue NW
                                                                 Washington DC 20009