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Subscribe to ATPE State Bylaws Updates
The 2021 ATPE House of Delegates (HOD) passed a set of bylaws amendments that transferred authority for amending the ATPE State Bylaws from the HOD to the ATPE Board of Directors. The amendments included changes to the member notifications required whenever an amendment is proposed or adopted. Article XVII, Section 3, of the ATPE State Bylaws states:
Section 3: Notice to Members
(a) Notice of Proposed Bylaws Amendments The Association shall provide notice of any proposed bylaws amendment by providing a copy of the amendment to the Board of Directors and placing it on the Association’s website. This notice shall occur no later than the following business day on which the state office is open after the proposed amendment has been received by the Executive Director in accordance with Section 2.
(b) Notice of Adopted Bylaws Amendments
Following the adoption of any bylaws amendments, notice shall be placed on the
Association’s website the next business day on which the state office is open and published in the first membership newsletter distributed after the Board of Directors meeting at which the amendment was adopted. A summary of bylaws amendments adopted by the Board of Directors shall be provided annually to the members in conjunction with the Association’s annual meeting. To meet Section 3’s requirements, any announcements related to the State Bylaws will be posted at atpe.org/bylaws. This is a member-only page where you may also sign up to receive email notifications whenever a proposed amendment is posted or has been adopted. Please direct any questions regarding the ATPE State Bylaws to bylaws@atpe.org. 2021–22 ATPE state officers
Wanted: State Officer Candidates
ATPE is now accepting nominations for state officer positions until March 15. If you think you’ve got what it takes to lead our association, then we want to hear from you. Contact staff liaison Bret Messer at bmesser@atpe.org to learn more about qualifications and how to run for office. A candidate for ATPE state office must be an active professional, administrator, associate, or retired member of the association and must currently be serving, or must have served within the past five years, as a local unit, region, or state officer within ATPE.
Official Notice of the 42nd Annual Meeting of the ATPE House of Delegates
The ATPE House of Delegates will meet July 7 during the 2022 ATPE Summit at the Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center in Grapevine. Delegates will adopt the 2022-23 ATPE Legislative Program and elect the 202223 ATPE state officers. Delegate certification information will be published in future ATPE publications. Please contact your local unit president (or region president, if you are an at-large member) if you are interested in serving as a delegate. This notice is published pursuant to Article IX, Section 4, of the ATPE State Bylaws.
New Member Benefit Alert: ATPE Wellbeing Packages
The past few years have brought new and previously unimaginable challenges to educators and their families. That’s why ATPE is pleased to introduce a new member benefit: ATPE Wellbeing Packages.
The ATPE Wellbeing Package is available to members for $7.50 per month, plus a one-time $3.95 fee. This package provides access to: ✔ Counseling sessions from the comfort of home. Evaluations are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
✔ The LifeSpeak library of educational videos from the world’s leading experts on mental health, stress management, financial health, infertility, and more. ✔ Prescription discounts through New Benefits Rx, allowing program participants to save 10% to 85% on most prescriptions at 60,000 retail pharmacies nationwide and through home delivery. ✔ An online financial wellness center and the opportunity to call a financial counselor. The ATPE Wellbeing Plus Package is available for $9.50 per month, plus a one-time $3.95 fee. In addition to the benefits available in the ATPE Wellbeing Package, the Plus package includes: ✔ Access to fertility, surrogacy, and adoption support by
WINFertility to guide you through the challenges of a third-party journey to parenthood. Support includes education, resources, and medical discounts, as well as the opportunity to work with a nurse care manager as you explore fertility treatment options. ✔ Caregiver support to help you manage the responsibilities of caring for family members at all ages of life.
Support is available through three services: a webbased platform for storing vital medical information, coordinating with care team members, and sharing updates with family; a companionship and task assistance service; and a legal document creation service.
For more information about these packages and to enroll, please log in to the ATPE Member Discounts page at atpe.org/discounts.
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In Memoriam: Past State President GeorGia McMeans
ATPE is saddened to share news of the passing of Past State President Georgia McMeans Dec. 23, 2021. McMeans served as the 1980 state president of the Texas Professional Educators (TPE), which merged with the Association of Texas Educators (ATE) in 1980 to form ATPE. TPE and ATE were both formed by Texas educators seeking an independent, nonunion professional association following the 1976 unification of the Texas State Teachers Association with the National Education Association, a labor union.
Born in 1932, McMeans grew up in the Houston/ Galveston area. She met her husband Russell at San Angelo College. The couple married and moved to Alpine, where they completed their education degrees at Sul Ross University. She taught in Van Horn, Imperial, and Stanton, where her husband eventually served as superintendent. The McMeans purchased a home on Lake Buchanan, and she taught in Burnet for five years prior to her retirement in 1990.
ATPE extends its sympathies to the McMeans family and friends.
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continued from page 10—Your Ally to speak.” This codifies what should be understood: In no situation should an educator put tape over a student’s mouth, even in “fun.” The list also prohibits withholding food. Elementary school teachers need to rethink the common consequence of a student not getting their afternoon snack because of morning misbehavior. Finally, the list includes denial of access to the restroom. Teachers will likely have campus or class rules about when students may be excused to the restroom. These rules can still be applied, but teachers need to be sure that if they are going to tell a student they cannot be excused, they have a rule they can point to and are not denying the student’s request as a punishment.
For more detailed information about student discipline, please visit the ATPE website at atpe.org/student-discipline.
The legal information provided here is accurate as of the date of publication. It is provided here for informative purposes only. Individual legal situations vary greatly, and readers needing individual legal advice should consult directly with an attorney. Please note: Rights based on the Texas Education Code may not apply to all. Many Texas Education Code provisions do not apply to public charter schools, and public school districts may have opted out of individual provisions through a District of Innovation plan. Eligible ATPE members may contact the ATPE Member Legal Services Department.
continued from page 23—In the Trenches out of this mess is just mind-boggling and really exacerbates the learning gaps.” Haveman recognizes this as a recovery year for her students and staff, and she would like to see grace rather than hard-line accountability.
“I have never seen the state of Texas implement anything consistently for five years except for standardized testing. Forget the mandates, and just let the teachers do what is necessary to recover,” she says.
Educators are observing many forms of learning loss in their students this year, and though they may not know how long it will take to bridge these gaps, they remain hopeful Texas lawmakers will hear their stories and empower them to see this through. They know that only in the classrooms—on the frontlines of education—could anyone hope to understand what needs to be done.
ATPE is excited to announce a new partnership with the Texas Girls Coaches Association (TGCA), the largest association for coaches of girls’ athletics in the United States. Like ATPE’s other content-area partnerships, the ATPE-TGCA partnership will expand the professional learning opportunities included in ATPE membership. Look for new content coming soon in the ATPE Professional Learning Portal and at the ATPE Summit. TGCA joins ATPE’s lineup of existing partners: the Texas Association for the Gifted & Talented (TAGT), It’s Time Texas, TCEA, Texas ASCD, and the Texas Association of Future Educators (TAFE).
LEARN MORE ABOUT ATPE’S PARTNERSHIPS AT ATPE.ORG/ABOUT-ATPE/PARTNERS.
4 Things to Know about Using ATPE's Professional Learning Portal
As an ATPE member, you have access to our online learning portal, where you can earn continuing professional education credits on your own time.
You worked hard to earn your teaching certificate. Now, as you work hard in the classroom for Texas students, it’s important to keep up certain requirements for when you need to renew your certificate—and ATPE can help!
Every Texas educator holding a standard certificate must complete a minimum number of continuing professional education (CPE) hours through approved providers every five years for certification renewal purposes. (Visit tea.texas.gov for full details.) Luckily, as an ATPE member, you have access to our Professional Learning (PL) Portal, where you can earn many of these CPE credits on your own time via on-demand courses. 1 COURSE ACCESS IS INCLUDED IN YOUR MEMBERSHIP. Access to the PL Portal is one of your ATPE membership benefits. All you need to do is log in to atpe.org, then head to atpe.org/cpe and click the “Continue to the Portal” option. That’s it; you’re in! Note: Members must access the portal through atpe.org,
not a bookmarked link.
2WE HAVE MORE THAN 130 SESSIONS AVAILABLE. As an educator, your schedule is already packed, and completing CPE hours on top of that can seem overwhelming—but have no fear because ATPE currently has more than 130 videos available to members. We have dozens of SXSW EDU sessions going back to 2016 and up to 2021. The portal includes several presentations from ATPE staff attorneys, as well as courses on college preparation, digital literacy, leadership, project-based learning, and social and emotional learning by various partners and members.
3YOU MUST COMPLETE A QUICK COURSE EVALUATION TO EARN YOUR HOURS. After you finish each course, you must complete a short evaluation statement in order to officially complete the course and receive your CPE hours. This is a mandatory requirement for all education taken on the PL Portal, so don’t forget!
4USE THE EDUCATION TRACKER TO RECORD YOUR PROGRESS. You can track your CPE hours and certificates through the Education Tracker in the PL Portal, making it easy to maintain a comprehensive history of your professional learning throughout your career. Additionally, you can record activities completed outside of the portal, including practice hours, offline courses, and seminars. (Another ATPE membership benefit!) Records are held for 10 years, and you can access, print, and download your history and course certificates at any time.
Meet ATPE’s
REGIONAL MEMBERSHIP SPECIALISTS
ATPE’s eight dedicated regional membership specialists support ATPE’s members and volunteers in their local communities across the state. Not sure what region you’re in? Visit atpe.org/find-atpe to find out.
ROGER GUTIERREZ
Regions 1 & 2 rgutierrez@atpe.org
DIANE POKLUDA
Regions 9 & 11 dpokluda@atpe.org
CYNTHIA VILLALOVOS
Regions 3 & 4 cvillalovos@atpe.org
MARY JANE WAITS
Regions 12, 14, & 15 mjwaits@atpe.org
GINGER FRANKS
Regions 5–7 gfranks@atpe.org
JEFF VEGA
Regions 16–19 jvega@atpe.org
JOSEPH CRUZ
Regions 8 & 10 jcruz@atpe.org
YVETTE MILNER
Regions 13 & 20 ymilner@atpe.org
ATPE Is Here for You
We’re Ready to Support Texas Educators in 2022-23
ATPE is honored to stand by your side, continuing our mission to support you as you work to inspire student success. While you’re on campus, ATPE is serving as your voice with lawmakers, providing individual representation to eligible members, and developing new programs and resources to help our members meet the challenges of today and tomorrow. In April, we’ll offer Texas educators a special opportunity to join ATPE early* for the 2022-23 school year. New ATPE members will enjoy access to ATPE’s amazing discounts and on-demand professional learning opportunities all summer long. Look for more details later this spring, and make sure your colleagues don’t miss out on all that ATPE has to offer!
Watch for details at atpe.org. Still on payroll deduction?
If you haven’t already switched your dues payment method, we’ll offer you an opportunity to switch to paying your dues via credit card or bank draft during our Join Early campaign. Switching payment methods puts you fully in control of your membership, and the convenience of auto-renew and installment payments are available when you choose these payment methods.
