WEA-Sammamish's Mock RA Assembly was held on Monday, May 5th at Interlake High School.
90 WEA-Sammamish Delegates were there to prepare for the WEA Representative Assembly that will be help in Spokane on May 15 - May 17. New Business items were discussed. There were presentations on WEAPAC and Take The Lead. Mary Lindquist, WEA President, attended and spoke to the delegates.
Our Lake Washington Educational Support Personnel Local has been awarded the Washington Education Association Living Wage Grant. Congratulations to their members and their president, Sheila Nokes.
LWESP, Bainbridge Island ESPA and Yakima Paraeducators were selected to receive this grant from the WEA. This fund was established last March at the WEA Representative Assembly in Tacoma.
This campaign is a multi-year project requiring significant commitment from both the leadership and the membership. LWESP members met with the WEA committee on Tuesday, January 15, 2008 to formulate their plan and budget.
The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) released national and state certification results for the new group of National Board Certified Teachers (NBCTs). Nationally, there are now 63,821 NBCTs with the addition of 8,421 new NBCTs.
Here are some Washington-specific statistics that might be of interest to you:
--Washington certified 484 new NBCTs this year, bringing our state total right to 1,800
--Nationally, Washington has 5th highest number of new NBCTs
--NBCTs teaching in public schools get a $5,000 annual bonus; those teaching in high-needs schools (70% or higher free/reduced lunch) receive an additional $5,000 annual bonus
--50% of Washington's NBCTs teach in Title I schools; nationally, 42% of NBCTs teach in high-needs schools
--Washington once again had the highest National Board certification rate of any state
--Washington has over 1,400 new candidates (the largest ever) in the 2007-08 candidate cycle
--3.5% of Washington's teachers are now certified through NBPTS (we are 7th in the nation in terms of this overall percentage; the highest is North Carolina, where 13.5% are NBCTs)
Here are numbers of newly Board Certified WEA-Sammamish members:
the WEA-Sammamish Council Board of Directors on June 4 for the
2007-2008 school year:
President – Art Galloway, Snoqualmie EA President
Vice President – Neva Luke, Issaquah EA President
Secretary – Michele Miller, Bellevue EA
Treasurer – Mike Blodgett, Lake Washington EA
*WEA Board Director - Art Galloway, Snoqualmie EA President
WEA Board Director - Stephen Miller, Bellevue EA President
WEA Board Director – Sheila Nokes, Lake Washington ESP
WEA Board Director – Jill Van Glubt, Lake Washington EA
*Due to changes in the WEA Constitution based upon action taken at the WEA Rep Assembly, an elected Council President now automatically serves on the WEA Board of Directors.
The drive is on and now is the time for you to get involved and become a part of WEA-PAC. The WEA-PAC drive is that time of the year when members are asked to join WEA-PAC. If you are not already a member your building rep and/or local leadership will be contacting you.
The Legislative Session ended on Monday, March 14, 2008. WEA members across the state were actively involved in making sure legislators know the will of the people regarding issues about public education and education funding.
