Who Represents Me?

One of the benefits of association membership is the secure feeling that someone will be there to "represent" you in a situation when you feel your job or your profession is threatened. I wonder if the word "advocate" is a better term to use because in most cases we assist the member in knowing what rights they do have. Many times we ask "what can the WEA/OEA do for us? or What do my dues give me? I would like you to ask yourself instead, "What can I do to make our association/union stronger?" Are we stronger with 60% of the teachers as members or are we stronger with 70% of the teachers as members? Wouldn't we be stronger if we all looked for ways to participate in the lobbying of our legislators than just read about how our UEA Lobby team is working on Capitol Hill? Can I say positive things about the association to my "non member" friend that would promote membership recruitment rather than wait for the building rep or Rick or Marlene or Mary to stop by and ask them to join? What can I do to help get elementary teachers more prep time? What can I do to improve working conditions? Building capacity in our membership means increased participation and as a result a stronger association. Do I have time to serve as a rep, join a committee, or run for an association office? Is just paying my dues enough? Only you can answer those questions.

Governor's Budget Introduced

Do you want the good news or the bad news??? The good news is that the Governor's budget (remember it is only a request/plan, the legislature sets the budget) tries to infuse enough one time money to keep education funding stable and pay for the growth (you know those thousands of little guys coming into the school system). The bad news (not unexpected with the revenue shortfalls) is no sight of increases in any wpu, no money for supplies, and no one time funding (where we had received a lot of technology, media, etc. funding in the past). UEA's lobby team is meeting as I write this to strategize and work on a plan to remind the legislature of the priority of public school funding in our state. Stay tuned...See you back on the ground Monday. To enter Dec.'s contest email me with the words San Jose Sharks in the message (they beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-2, my first NHL game) thanks again for all you do. rick @ogdenweber.org

Good Morning From San Jose...does any one know the way?

I represent my other UniServ Directors around the state on the UEA Transformation Team. Our purpose is find ways of "transforming" UEA so that we can meet our strategic goals. You can help us by going to the UEA Website at www.utea.org and answering a few survey questions. If you were unable to hear NEA President Van Roeckel's (sic) fine speech at the UEA Convention, his remarks are there also and I encourgage you to take a few moments and check them out. One of our goals is to listen more to our members. We are a "service" oriented association and we want to hear ideas from you, our strength. Thanks again for checking out my attempt to communicate with you and I love to hear your comments. I will try and survive the 65 degree weather here. Oh, did I hear it snowed in Ogden? I will be hearing reports from our NEA leaders and staff today and tomorrow. Check back and I will share some of what I hear. Rick

Professionalism Presentation

I will be presenting a power point presentation to the faculty at H. Guy Child Elementary Wednesday, Dec. 3. The title is "Professionalism, Ethics, and the Contract". I robbed it from another colleague, Nikki Peterson, from Granite Education Association. I have shown it at a few schools in Weber and in Ogden. If I haven't been to your faculty meeting, have your Association Rep or your principal call and schedule it. I think it is important that our association promotes professional behavior and it never hurts to have a reminder of the dos and don'ts that get us in trouble. To enter in this month's blog contest, send me an email (rick@ogdenweber.org) with the word "ethics" in the message. I will allow you to enter more than once. Thanks for reading. I will post from my NCUEA meetings in San Jose tomorrow. Rick

New Blog Contest Starts Today

Congratulations to Alicia Mason, Mound Fort, for winning the November contest. Alicia won a 25 dollar gift card to Olive Garden. Weber's winners will be drawn next Monday. The new contest will start now with directions given each week in one of the daily blogs. This month you can enter more than once, giving you better odds. Today I am attending the Transformation Task Force at UEA meeting to look at ways we can better serve you as a member. In these tough economic times, your dues dollars need to be spent in the best and most efficient manner possible. About half of your UEA dues dollars come back to support our UniServ office here in Ogden. I hope you contact us with any concern or question that we can help with. We are here to serve and represent you. I will be attending a NCUEA conference in San Jose Wednesday, Thursday and Friday this week. I will post on information I learn at the meetings. Look for rules coming this week. Thanks for reading. Rick

Ogden/Weber UniServ Committees

One of our most important UniServ commitees is membership. This group meets regularly to plan and implement our strategies for increasing our membership numbers. We are only as strong as our membership. This year OEA has seen its first increase in ten years. Ogden's licensed educator numbers have been falling for many years. This year OEA signed up a large number of our new hires at New Teacher Orientation. OEA has about 80% of licensed educators in Ogden District. WEA remains strong after a large increase last year. Weber has over 1000 members this year. We have enjoyed using the funds from a NEA Grant to help us promote the association.

We will draw for an Ogden winner in the Blog contest today in AR meeting. We will draw for WEA's winner next Monday. Look for the December contest rules to appear at this same blogsite in the next few days. Thanks Rick

Happy Turkey Day

Hope all of you are enjoying the turkey day break with family and friends. I am in Idaho with my folks enjoying the good food and football. See you back in town Monday. Oh, yeah, I did golf today too. Thanks Rick