Notes from BR Meeting, Delegate Nominations

Thanks to the building representatives who made it to last Thursday's meeting. High school open house held attendance down a bit, but the following schools were represented (is your school on the list?):

Bowerman, Carver, Cherokee, Cowden, Hickory Hills, Holland, Jarrett, Kickapoo, Parents As Teachers, Parkview, Phelps, Pipkin, Sequiota, Special Ed. Services, Study, Westport, Wilder, Wilson's Creek and York. I hope we can double this number in October.

Agenda items included Executive Board introductions, Treasurer's Report, MNEA candidate endorsements, Springfield Public School Survey results, Compensation Committee report, Benefits/Insurance Committee report, Continuous Quality Improvement, voucher hearings, TABOR, DESE Virtual School report and the April school board election. Yes, it was a full agenda, but it was a lively session with good questions and discussion (and some nice door prizes). Uniserv Director, Gerald Bonham and Missouri NEA President, Greg Jung were the featured speakers.

While the social atmosphere is great at these meetings, the issues, problems and solutions we discuss are directly related to facilitating a great education for the kids in our classrooms. We work in a large district, and sometimes the system is unwieldy and actually creates obstacles and boundaries that inhibit our best work with the students. It's up to us to come together, make people aware, and present opportunities for improvement. SNEA is our voice for positive change. Please try to attend the next meeting (Oct. 19) and bring a friend. (end of sermonette)

MNEA Conference Delegate nominations were taken on Thursday, but there are some slots available and still time to send nominations by email to snea@aol.com. This is a great way to keep up with issues facing public education and to meet teachers and support professionals from around the state. Deadline for email nominations is October 1st. Here's more info on the conference:

Fall MNEA Representative Assembly

Where: Jefferson City Capitol Plaza
When: November 10-11

Featured programs
Visualization: The Key to Reaching Students Today—Mary Kim Schreck
Active Learning: Strategies for Achievement—Tom Jackson
Bully check: A Safe School - MNEA Bully—Free Schools Cadre
The Source of Behaviors -- Horatio Sanchez

Workshops
Planning for a Pandemic - Don't Panic!
Collective Bargaining
Smart Support Staff Strategies
Family-School-Community Partnerships
National Board Certification
Elementary Math Strategies
Legal Issues - Your Rights and Responsibilities
How to Improve Behaviors and Academic Performance for All Students
From Classroom to Capitol: Framing Our Current Legislative Issues
Election 2006 - Now What?
Teaching Autism Spectrum Students
What's New in Science
Handheld Computers in the Classroom
Motivating Reluctant Adolescent Readers
School Funding - Crisis and Opportunity
Backward Design
Yes, We Are All Reading Teachers: Reading Across the Curriculum

SNEA reimburses the district for subs (key SNEA on back of sub-finder brochure). Delegates nominated for the fall assembly also attend the spring conference at Tan-Tar-A, April 20-22.

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*SNEA Phone System - our wonderful new SNEA/MNEA phone system has been down for several days. We have not been able to hear any incoming local calls. We're so sorry for any inconvenience or delay in services this has caused. Technicians are reportedly working on the problem over the weekend. While they iron out the bugs, if you need to speak with Ray or Gerald Bonham, please send an email to snea@aol.com, and we will call you back as soon as possible.