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May 4, 2018
Vol. 2, #9
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Hi All,
Region 3 has been experiencing some significant staffing changes in the last few months - layoffs, retirements, medical leave, and, starting on Monday, May 7th, a new Regional Director! You can meet
Kristin Lytie at the Region 3 RA on Saturday, May 12th, and we'll have a feature article about her in next week's
Connection.
With a drop in staffing from 5 Directors to 3, it's the perfect time to analyze the way we do business and reorganize the work we do. The staff will be working with the Region 3 Board of Directors and communicating with you all along the way to make sure you are in the know about what kind of changes are coming your way.
Stay tuned!
--Peace
Kathy Rohde
Regional Director
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Region 3 Representative Assembly
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Region 3 Representative Assembly
Are you a delegate to the Region 3 RA?
If not, here's your chance to have your voice heard! Yes, please plan to attend your Representative Assembly:
Saturday, May 12, 2018
Comfort Suites - 1951 Bond Street, Green Bay
9:30 - 10:00 a.m. Registration
10:00 - 11:30 p.m. Business Meeting
11:30 - 12:00 p.m. Lunch
12:00 - end Leader/Zone Meetings and election of Zone Leaders
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NOMINATIONS FOR ELECTED OFFICE:
Delegates to the RA will be electing the following positions to the WR3 Executive Committee: President, Vice President A, Vice President B, and ESP Member-at-Large (see position descriptions). In order to be elected to one of these positions, nominees must be an elected delegate or delegate-at-large to the WR3 RA.
If your local has anyone interested in running, please have them complete and return the attached nomination form postmarked, or hand-delivered to the WR3 office. Nominations may also be made from the floor at the RA, however, names received after May 5, or accepted from the floor, will not be included on the preprinted ballot.
A Leader/Zone meeting will be held at the conclusion of the WR3 RA. Please contact the
Region 3 office
if you are interested in running for a Zone leader position. Zone leaders are not required to be a local president.
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WEAC officers Ron Martin and Arlene Braden, along with WEAC staff Jeff Baas, attended an informational meeting with Neenah EA on April 26th to discuss changes in teacher licensure.
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Above:
: Nick Westphal, Paul Cigler, Arlene Braden, Val Cleveland, Heather Shebesta
Right: Jeff LaPlant,
Kim Braunel, Chris Meixl, Ron "Duff" Martin, Debbie Dreher
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Early Enrollment Opportunity
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From now until August, employees who have never been a member of NEA have the opportunity to participate in an EARLY ENROLLMENT program. These folks who may have been on the fence about deciding to join, can sign up now and not pay dues until September 10th. What do they get for their early enrollment membership? They get access to NEA member benefits. They do NOT get access to representation for disciplinary issues.
If your Local would like to participate in the Early Enrollment program, Region 3 can customize membership forms for your Local that show the dues payments (which would begin September 10, 2018) in monthly increments. For more information about Early Enrollment, contact me at
[email protected].
Click
here for an Early Enrollment flyer.
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The Ten-Minute Meeting
All too often we hear, "there's no reason to hold a meeting if there's nothing to report/decide/vote on." Or, we hear, "I'm not sure we have a union because there are never any meetings." But mostly, we hear, "I don't have TIME to go to ANOTHER meeting."
You have an opportunity to keep members in the loop AND respect their time by holding 10-minute meetings! It's also a great time to get feedback from people in the building.
If you feel like you're in a rut, why not try the 10-minute meeting?
For more details about how the 10-minute meeting works, click
here.
Past topics can be found in our archived newsletters on our website:
The May 10-Minute Meeting topic:
Teacher Licensing Questions
As June 30 fast approaches, our office has received many inquiries about the new teacher licensing rules that went into effect with the most recent biennial budget, signed by the Governor on September 21, 2017.
The easy answer to almost all the questions is: teachers don't have to do anything (yet).
For the most up-to-date information about teacher licensing, the DPI has set up a blog and you can sign up to receive alerts when information is updated in the blog: Latest Licensing News,
https://dpi.wi.gov/tepdl/news
I have a professional or Master Educator license that is due to expire June 30, 2018. What do I need to do in order to convert that license to a "lifetime" license with no expiration date?
Educators who hold a Professional or Master Educator license that was supposed to expire on June 30, 2018, DO NOT NEED TO APPLY to renew their license with credits or a PDP. The state budget has removed the expiration dates from these licenses, and we are working to have license lookup reflect that. DPI is continuing the process of converting current Professional Educator licenses to Lifetime licenses. Once that conversion is complete, DPI will notify Professional Educators in a similar manner [via email] regarding their new license.
I have an initial educator license that is due to expire on June 30, 2018. What do I do?
The 2017-2019 Wisconsin state budget, also known as 2017 Act 59, requires DPI to issue a new three-year Provisional license to every educator who holds a valid Initial Educator license. This Provisional license is a new license with a new license number. DPI has completed the conversion process for the creation of these new Provisional licenses. Educators who hold a valid Initial Educator license should now see a new three-year Provisional license on both our online License Lookup and in Educator Licensing Online (ELO). All existing five-year Initial Educator licenses will continue to appear in educators' license records and in the DPI License Lookup. The three-year Provisional license allows educators to fill the same teacher, administrator, and pupil services assignments as the five-year Initial Educator license. You can find more information about Provisional licenses by reading our FAQ. Starting Monday, March 26th, DPI will begin to notify by email all educators who have been issued a new Provisional license. All Provisional licenses that were issued via the conversion have a start date of July 1, 2017, and an expiration date of June 30, 2020.
What about the background check I heard about?
Background checks are triggered when you apply for any new license.
Educators with a current professional or master educator license that was supposed to expire in 2018 will likely need to complete a background check in 2018. Be aware that paying for an application of any type will also prompt a new background check. Educators with a current professional or master educator license that was to expire in 2018 may already have a current background check if they have applied for any license type since their last renewal.
We are working on a system to notify educators when they must submit a background check. Additionally, we hope to eventually make the most recent background check date more publicly available, so that educators can keep track of their own background check timeline.
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NOW AVAILABLE: a state-wide
calendar of Professional Development events offered by the Academy, WEAC, Regions, and everywhere in between!
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Mark Your Calendars for These Region 3 Events
- Union Skills Workshop: Tuesday, June 12, 9-noon OR Thursday, June 14, 1-4pm
- ESP Workshop - How to Safely Manage Student Behaviors: Tuesday, June 12, 1-4pm OR Thursday, June 14, 9-noon
Workshops to be held at Region 3.
Details & Registration coming soon!
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Political Action
This is an 11.0101(10)(b)(1) communication with WEAC members
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