23 Days until Mediation Begins

Countdown to OEA's mediation is 23 days. Have a great 4th weekend. Rick

NEA Representative Assembly Begins

Both OEA and WEA have sent representatives to the NEA Representative Assembly in San Diego. Paul Fawson (newly elected Uniserv VP) traveled to San Diego earlier than the others to attend the National Council of Urban Education Association meetings. Mary Courney, Marlene Smith, and Christine Tea from OEA are traveling today to begin meetings tomorrow. From WEA Glen Larsen, Teri Maxfield, and Jerry Wilkins are also attending the RA. The NEA RA is the representative body of the NEA that will set the agenda for the following year, approve the budget and change the documents according to the 9000 delegates who attend, debate and vote.

Impasse countdown 23 days.

Stay tuned. Rick

Mediation Countdown - 24 days

OEA negotiations will continue under the direction of LaVonne Ritter, Federal Mediator, on July 22. Ms. Ritter will working with Jordan Education Association on July 20 and 21. Our negotiations team is meeting July 20 to discuss the upcoming mediation.

We are saddened to announce the passing of LaVon Grow, mother of Lynette Grow. Services will be at Lindquists Mortuary at 3408 Washington Blvd, Wednesday at 2 pm.

We want Lynette to know that all of her association brothers and sisters are thinking of her at this time.

Rick

Mediation Countdown - 28 days

Only 28 days until Mediation Meetings begin between OCSD and OEA's Negotiation team on July 22. Lavonne Ritter, Federal Mediator from Las Vegas, will serve to mediate the contract impasse called a couple weeks ago. Stay tuned to this station for updates.

"Utah legislative leaders were told last Tuesday that tough financial times are still ahead", writes Bob Bernick in the Des News. Next year could be a worse financial year than this one was for public education. Tax collections are down 11.7% for the first 11 months of the fiscal year.

An Associated Press story last Friday, warned that the Dept of Education will withhold federal stimulus funds if states do not use them correctly.

Both Weber and Ogden School Districts have benefitted from stimulus money.

I will be on vacation until Monday. Rick

Transformation Team Meeting on Advocacy

I met for several hours Friday with the "Products and Services" subcommittee of the UEA Transformation Team and discussed several topics including: Political Action, Legal Services, Bargaining, Message and Visibility. The entire team will meet again July 13 to start preparing for our August presentation to Local Presidents at Council of Local Presidents.

Rick

OEA sets Negotiations mediation meeting

OEA sent out postcards Thursday notifying members of the upcoming mediation process. Both the district's team and the OEA negotiations team will meet with Lavonne Ritter, Federal Mediator, on July 22 at 10 AM at the district office to begin mediation. Ms. Ritter will meet separately with each group to address their concerns and work to find a common resolution. We will continue to update you during this process.

Lisa Vipperman, incoming Vice-President of OEA attended the Organizing Training at UEA Wednesday and Thursday. She reported that she learned a lot about leadership and organizing that will help our association.

Rick

Peanut-Butter Politics: Newsweek June 15, 2009

Jonathan Alter writes about education funding in his June 15th article entitled, "Peanut-Butter Politics". He writes "...teachers can't be evaluated on whether their students actually learned anything between September and June" (referring to restrictions on evaluations in San Francisco). He lays the blame at the feet of the "teachers unions". It is an interesting read, but shows Alter's bias (I actually like his political writing) against the NEA and AFT. He sees us as stumbling blocks to reform. If perception is reality, we have some work to do to show that we aren't here to "protect bad teachers" , but to help improve the profession and protect due process.

OEA will be sending out postcards with info on the scheduled "mediation" in July. Look for a bright pink postcard coming soon.

Rick