Dear VTA Members,

I am going to be retiring in January and will be unable to finish my term of office, which ends on June 14, 2016.  My husband and I have moved up to the foothills and I am finding the commute to be too much. Rep Council has approved a special election, to be held October 11-18, to select a President for remainder of my term. There will also be an election in the spring for all VTA Officers (including the President) and Directors for the 2017-2019 term. With the special election, there is the possibility that the same person who fills the remainder of my term may also be elected President for the next term. This will allow for the continuity of leadership, which we believe is important.

We will also hold the election for our local National Education Association Representative Assembly (NEA/RA) Delegates during the October 11-18 window. This is a three-year term. We are not sure at this time if we will be allowed four or five delegates. That is based on membership numbers and is announced by NEA in January. We will have five slots on the ballot and, in the event we are allowed only four Delegates, the fifth highest vote winner will be the Successor Delegate.

I have attached a list of the roles and responsibilities of VTA President as well as information on the NEA/RA. I have also attached a nomination form. If you would like to run for one, or both, of these positions, please complete the form and email or deliver it to our Elections Chair, Sylvia Shepard, at Markham. If you would like to nominate someone else for one, or both, of these positions, please contact that person and encourage him/her to complete and submit the form. The deadline for submitting nomination forms is October 5^th at 5 P.M.

It has been my honor to serve as your VTA President! I will mentor whomever is elected in October and help prepare him/her to take over this important job. I have been so incredibly fortunate to work, over the past five years, with the dedicated and hard-working Officers and Directors in VTA leadership. I am confident that this amazing group of leaders, along with the newly elected President, will continue to take VTA in the right direction and be a strong voice and advocate for our union and our members.

Moira

Rep Council Meeting Minutes

Sept. 20, 2016 – 3:30-5:00 @ Jepson library

 Members present: Moira McSweeney, Alyson Brauning, Brenda Hensley, Corey Penrose, Sylvia Aquino, Todd Blanset, Jenny Brown, Tracy Begley, Sofia Calderon, Megan Morris, Mike Ensley, Tammy Parker, Sharon Riehl, Annmarie Woehler, Yvonne DiMichele, Russ Tucker, Julie McGee, Leslie Losberger, Mark Richardson, Carolyn Thomas, Cyndi Marshall, Jose Bermudez, Sylvia Shepard, Janel Curtis, Becky Wylie, Lisa Cusi, Marcus York, Glenn Branaman, Andrew Bower, Jouli Jara, Chris Fickes, Cindy Bray, Erin Gordon, Lindsay Richardson, Nancy Anderson-Louie, Helen Blood

 Members absent: Samantha Dubs, Navjot Kaur, Allen May, Rebecca Pinto, Greg Gmahling, Miranda Merino, Chris Wagner, Liz Meagor

1)- Approval of the minutes– the minutes were approved.

2) – Approval of the agenda – the agenda was approved.

3) – President’s report – After Alyson reviewed the August “Site Rep To Do” list and took some feedback on the items for the August list, we developed a new list for September.

Once that was done, Moira reported on the following:

Jerry Eaton – our board member, stopped by for a visit! Be sure to follow his website here.

Mark Fraizer follow-up – updates on block scheduling, academic achievement at the K-1 level, LCAP, school start time, procedures to be followed for classroom coaching, homework policy and extensive prep for K-5 science instruction.

Cordelia Leadership Conference – is on October 8^th. See here for more information.

Sierra Vista reopening – is featured in The California Educator, head over here to check it out!

Prop 55 – be sure to vote yes. For more information, please the Campagin 2016 section of www.vacateachers.org.

CTA Well-Baby Program – is being discontinued.

4) – Treasurer’s report – after reviewing the treasurer’s report and discussing the financials, the following motions were made:

Motion – approve last year’s financial report – seconded and approved.

Motion – approve the treasurer’s report – seconded and approved.

5) – Committee/Chair reports:

Action/PAC/Labor Council – Corey reported on the following:

• Yuba City Teachers – settled after an eight day strike. CTA practices for striking affiliates were discussed and some questions were taken.
• The Teacher Mixer – was a great success and pictures can be found here.
• K-8 classroom teacher energy grant – information can be found here.
• Cordelia Leadership conference – information can be found here.
• CTA’s 403b vendor and site visit schedule – can be found here.
• Campaign 2016 – our endorsements, and some campaign dos and don’ts, can be found here.
• AB 709 – and the campaign to support it, can be found here.

The report finished with the distribution of the endorsement letters for our members and reminders about best practices to follow when distributing political information at school sites. For more specific information, please visit here.

Bargaining – Brenda reported that the next bargaining sessions have been scheduled for 9/23 and 9/29.   The report finished with a general discussion of what we might expect for this bargaining cycle and a few general questions about what to expect this fall.

Grievance – Sylvia reported that, if you’re being evaluated this year, your site administrator needs to meet with you by Wednesday, September 28^th and determine mutually-agreed upon goals. Reps are urged to remind their members to be sure to contact administrators if they’re failed to meet the deadline. The report finished with a general discussion of contract language regarding teacher evaluations.

Equity Team – Alyson reported that the equity team meets tomorrow and discussed some of the issues facing GLBT students in our district.

Health Care – Moira reported that the health care estimates for 2017 can be found here and thank Sylvia Shepard for serving in the district Health Care Committee. Open Enrollment ends on October 7^th and members are urged to be sure to be sure to take advantage of the tax benefits from their out-of-pocket medical expenses.

Member Engagement – Alyson reported that the next mixer is scheduled September 27^th at 4 pm at El Patron and distributed new teacher letters. The report finished with a general discussion of the member mixers planned for this fall and some feedback on how to make mixers even more awesome!

Special Ed – Tammy reported on ongoing special education issues in Vacaville USD and reminded reps that, if there are any special education issues, to be sure to let her know prior to the next meeting.

Leave Bank and Julie Davis Scholarship – none.

Membership – none.

6)- Business:

Vote on proposed By Law Change presented at the August 23^rd Rep Council meeting and election timeline:

OFFICERS

A vacancy shall be deemed to exist in the case of death, resignation, or inability to serve in any of the offices of the Association. If there is a vacancy occurring in then office of the President, the Vice-President shall assume the office, unless the Representative Council decides by a majority vote to hold a special election to fill the unexpired term of the President. In the event a vacancy occurs in the other offices, a special election shall be held to elect successors to fill the unexpired terms.

Motion – approve the bylaw amendment – seconded and approved

Motion – hold a special election to fill the term of Moira McSweeney and fill the NEA three-year delegate seat – seconded and approved

The report finished with a discussion of the logistics of the election. Mike Ensley, Tracy Begley, and Sylvia Aquino were nominated for the presidency by rep council. Sylvia Aquino declined the nomination and Mike and Tracy will be on the ballot, pending filing of the election paperwork.

Motion – VTA allocates 300 dollars towards the Cordelia Instructional Leadership Council – seconded and approved.

7) – Conference reports – Lisa Cusi and Megan Morris reported out from the Labor Mediation Conference and took some questions about the logistics of managing labor grievances.

8) – Others –

Delivering instruction during study hall – was discussed.

Motion – VTA donate a dollar per member to the Yuba City Education Association Strike Recovery Fund – seconded and approved.  To donate to the strike fund, please go here!

9) – Raffle – A ten dollar gift card to Amazon and a five dollar chocolate bar were won by Tammy Parker and

10) – Adjournment – the meeting was adjourned at 5:30.

Respectfully submitted, Corey Penrose

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