SEA President’s Report
November 3, 2009
Archived issues of this Report and other information about the Shoreline Education Association can be found at: http://shorelineea.blogspot.com/
In this issue….
Education News: Remember to VOTE, Shoreline Financial Update, Bond & Levy Planning, Building Visit Schedule
Your Membership: Keeping Your Interactions with Students Safe - Electronic Communications
Know Your Contract: Classroom Coverage
On a Personal Note: American Education Week - Nov. 15-21, Toppenish EA Contact Info
Education News
Remember - today is the last day to VOTE! Ballots must be postmarked today, or delivered before 8:00 PM to a drop box location. A list of the drop boxes in this area, as well as other election information, can be found on the King County elections website. The WEA’s OurVoice website has information about WEA-PAC recommended positions and candidates.
The most recent Building Visit Schedule is available on the SEA News blog.
At last night’s Shoreline School Board meeting, Deputy Superintendent Marcia Harris and Director of Business and Finance Mark Spangenberg presented the Year-End Financial Statements for 2008-09. While they stated that some minor changes may yet be made, the District’s Total Ending Fund Balance is $8,318,125, and the Unreserved Ending Fund Balance is $4,460.907. The latter is approximately 5.1% of budgeted expenditures, which is very healthy for a district of Shoreline’s size, and just over Shoreline School Board policy. Binding Conditions were officially lifted last month. The large amount of funds set aside for “Reserves and Carryover” ($3,857,218) is still a subject of discussion and is being monitored closely by SEA leadership.
Also at last night’s board meeting, district leadership and school board members officially began the planning to place three measures on the February ballot: a Maintenance and Operations (M&O) Levy, a Bond, and a Capital Projects Levy for Technology Support. The M&O Levy is a replacement levy – this must be renewed every four years; it provides approximately 20% of the district’s general fund revenues. The Bond is intended to provide the funds needed to follow through with the modernization/replacement of Shorewood and Shorecrest High Schools. The Capital Levy for Tech Support would provide funds to be used for such things as tech-related professional development, additional staff to support technology and tech integration, as well as equipment replacement and repair. Planning for these ballot measures will continue in the next few weeks, so please keep your eye out for future updates. If you are interested in getting involved with the Bond/Levy campaign, please email Elizabeth Beck from your home email address on non-contract time.
Your Membership
One of the roles of Association leadership and staff is to represent educators who have been accused by students or parents of inappropriate behavior. Many, many times these accusations are unfounded --- and are often the result of actions being misinterpreted by the student and/or unintended by the teacher. Here is the first in a series of articles about keeping your interactions with students safe. While it’s never possible to completely eliminate the chance of being falsely accused of wrongdoing, these are some suggestions of things you can do to minimize the risk. Today’s topic: Electronic Communications
Many of us have Facebook, MySpace, or Twitter accounts; others have personal blogs. While these social networking tools allow us to be more connected to friends and family, they also make our private lives more visible to parents, students, and employers. Be smart about what you post on your personal sites, your privacy settings, and who you allow as ‘friends’ online. For example:
- Do not ‘friend’ students on a social networking site, or confirm their friend requests. You may want to establish an up-front policy about this.
- If you choose to allow former students as friends, they should be over 18 and graduated out of the school system. Think carefully before you do this.
- Think about what you post on your site, including photos and links --- would you want your students, or your administrators, to view them?
- Communicate with the idea that whatever you write should be able to be read by your students, their parents, and your administrator, even if you are using privacy settings that allow only friends to view your page.
- Make sure you update your personal sites on your own time - and if you use the sites for any politically-related activity, be sure to also use your own personal computer equipment.
- Google your name from time to time to see what comes up. Notify your administrator and the SEA office right away if you find something of concern that could be school-related.
The idea that whatever you write should be able to be read by your students, their parents, and your administrator applies to email and school-related text messages, as well.
- Remember that your Shoreline email account is the property of the school district and is not to be considered private or confidential. It is subject to public records requests, and can be accessed at any time by administrators via the technology department.
- Avoid giving your personal email address out to your students. Use your district email instead.
- Keep e-mail communications brief and related only to school issues. Save copies – either paper or electronic - for your records.
- Be sure you understand and follow your school’s policy about communicating with parents and students via home phones or cell phones, including text messaging.
- Avoid frequent cell phone, home phone, or text message conversations with a particular student, even if they are school-related and allowed by your school’s policy.
- If a student sends you an inappropriate text or email, notify your administrator right away.
Remember that these are only suggestions, and ultimately, you need to make your own decisions about your online presence. It is always a good idea to be intentional about your communications with others, and particularly important to do so when it involves your professional practice. For many of us, the personal and professional often seem to overlap and intertwine these days, which actually makes it more important to be aware and thoughtful about what we say and do in public or semi-public situations. If you have questions, always feel free to contact Elizabeth Beck or Donna Lurie at the SEA office (425-486-7101).
Know Your Contract
While (to my knowledge) substitute coverage has been good this year, given what is shaping up to be a severe flu season, this seems an appropriate time to remind everyone that if you are asked to cover a colleagues’ class during your planning time due to a lack of substitute coverage, you should be paid additional for that time, at your per diem rate, as per CBA Section 58.5 (copied below). Your office manager can explain the process for this, if needed. Please take care of yourself, stay well, and be sure that you have ‘emergency’ sub plans ready at all times, just in case. If you really are sick, your colleagues likely don’t want you coming in to work to write your plans!
57.5 Classroom Coverage. Employees who agree, upon the request of the District, to cover classes for an absent certificated employee when a substitute is not available shall be compensated at the employee’s per diem rate.
On a Personal Note… Later this month, November 15–21, 2009, is NEA’s American Education Week NEA's American Education Week (AEW), a celebration highlighting the importance of providing every child in America with a quality public education from kindergarten through college, and the need for everyone to do his or her part in making public schools great. Our national association’s tagline of “Great Public Schools: A Basic Right and Our Responsibility” calls upon educators, parents, students, and communities – including our elected leaders – to come together in a unified effort to provide students with quality public schools so that they can grow and achieve in the 21st century. NEA has an online toolkit available at www.nea.org/aew, if your school is interested in participating. Each day of the week spotlights different people who are critical in providing a great public education to the nation's 50 million K-12 students, including ESPs, community leaders, and substitute educators. Even if you don’t choose to participate in the week’s celebration, the toolkit has ideas that you might want to incorporate into your school’s year-long culture. While we are all incredibly busy, it’s important to make time to honor and thank each other for the work we do and the difference we are making in children’s lives each day.
Also, in case some of you are interested in sending words of support via U.S. mail to Toppenish EA (see last week’s President’s Report for more information), their address is: Terri Winckler, Toppenish EA President, c/o WEA MidState, 711 North Keys Road, Yakima, WA 98901.
Thanks for all you do! --- Elizabeth
Coming Up
SEA Representative Council Meeting: Thursday, 11/19/09, 4:15 – 6:00 PM, Alumni Room, SLC
Shoreline School Board Meeting: Monday, 11/16/09, 7:00 PM, Board Room, SLC
For more information regarding YOUR Association, visit:
http://shorelineea.blogspot.com/
www.weacascade.org
http://www.washingtonea.org
http://www.nea.org
SEA Office Contacts:
Elizabeth Beck, SEA President ---- 425-486-7101 ext. 113
Krista Tenney, Assistant to the President ---- 425-486-7101 ext. 114
Donna Lurie, WEA UniServ Representative ---- 425-486-7101 ext. 102
SEA & Cascade UniServ Council Offices:
18704 Bothell Way NE Suite 101
Bothell, WA 98011
Phone: 425-486-7101
FAX: 425-486-7154