Back in Black: members of the Montgomery County Education Association sport their union’s black t-shirts with “We have your back!” emblazoned on them. MCEA President Matthew Fentress says the shirts effectively “reinforce the sense of unity in our members,” and MCEA sported them at numerous public meetings and events.
LYNCHBURG EDUCATION ASSOCIATION members are celebrating, too. City Council there voted, by a paper-thin 4-3 margin, to fully fund LEA’s push for a 5 percent raise, also approving a step plan for staff, which guarantees increasing pay until employees reach the top of the pay scale. “It took us three years,” says LEA President Karl Loos. “We created a compensation committee, laid the groundwork with the school board, created multiple proposals to present to school administration, spoke numerous times to the School Board and City Council about the need for pay increases, shared the struggles of our staff, held public events to bring the community into the discussion, built relationships with school leaders, got a seat at the table as new pay schedules were created, and advocated for the new pay schedules individually with candidates who became city council members. “We kept up those relationships with council members and it helped sway a very tight vote,” he
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says. “Now, every LCS employee will earn a living wage!” WINCHESTER EDUCATION ASSOCIATION members will also enjoy raises beginning this summer: 3 to 6 percent for teachers and 3 to 8 percent for education support professionals. “My biggest takeaway for local action is just to be consistent, positive, and try to work with whatever hand we are dealt,” says WEA President Michael Siraguse. “I’ve built positive relationships and really try to meet my local School Board and City Council members as individuals, in order to develop a personal relationship.” In the past, WEA has also run an email campaign directed to City Council members. Earlier this year, Siraguse had a letter to the editor calling for salary increases published in the Winchester Star, telling the community, “We come in early, stay late, bring work home, and still manage to get a student to absorb and internalize thousands of ideas or actions in their journey from pre-K student to high school graduate.”
VIRGINIA JOURNAL OF EDUCATION | JUNE 2019
Email blasts, extensive use of both Facebook and Twitter, rep meetings, even videos were a big part of the effort made by members of the FAUQUIER EDUCATION ASSOCIATION, and they helped generate so much enthusiasm that more than 200 FEA representatives trekked to Richmond for VEA’s Fund Our Future rally in January. “Some folks were most interested in the rally and march,” says FEA President Lauren Brill, “and others were excited about meeting legislators and lobbying. We definitely came to do both.” FEA made their presence known in Richmond and for months back home at School Board and Board of Supervisors meetings, public hearings, and work sessions. When the process wrapped up, all school employees had at least 5 percent raises. In HENRY COUNTY, HCEA members spent two years building their case and working hard to elect Board of Supervisors candidates who understood it, including the division’s former superintendent. HCEA also spent years working for a stronger school board, which now features six former educators among its seven members. The results? An additional $400,000 for schools and a 4.5 percent raise for school employees, over two years, plus one step on the salary scale next year to make up for some previously lost ground. “Elections matter,” says Dorothy Carter, HCEA’s executive vice president. “When the right people are in office, HCEA’s job is proactive rather than reactive.” In YORK COUNTY, members also began advocating several years
ago and, as a result, they got 3 percent raises last year. When the state put up money for a 5 percent raise this year, YEA members got their local leaders to pony up 3 percent more. “Our focus right now is on ESP salaries,” says NEA Director and YEA member Carol Bauer, who notes that administrators are planning an increase of at least 4 percent for support professionals.
Stand-Up Women and Men Across the State At press time, budgets were still being worked out in many Virginia communities and, as that process has unfolded, Union leaders were also raising their voices in public forums there. Here are a few examples: WHAT KIND OF SCHOOLS DO YOU WANT? Rosemary Wagoner, president of the Waynesboro Education Association: Many of our students’ families cannot make a living wage in Waynesboro. We need to attract business with good-paying jobs. In order to do this, we need high-quality schools. This is the first year that Waynesboro teachers are being paid the lowest salaries in our area. We can’t have high-quality schools if we continue to be the lowest paying school division in the region. Keeping and being able to attract good teachers to Waynesboro is going to be increasingly hard, especially if we’re just one of a few divisions that do not take advantage of that state salary increase. We shouldn’t throw away money from the state, because we need to see if can find, as a community, a way to
accept that money and finish that 5 percent that they’re offering to pay a portion of. I’m not saying this lightly…I know it’s going to be really hard. However, we can work with you to make that happen. We’re willing to do that. The Waynesboro community needs to decide what type of schools it will provide for our youth.
MAKE A STATEMENT! Jeff Rudy, president of the Shenandoah County Education Association: Meeting the governor’s 5 percent salary increase would fortify staff retention, heighten morale, ease the monthly burden on teachers and staff, and even encourage more highly-qualified applicants for bus drivers, teachers, and other needs in the county. The 5 percent is not just a number, but a statement to teachers and staff, here in Shenandoah County and surrounding communities, that SCPS is a leader in education in the Valley. Sadly, there are, in fact, SCPS employees currently working here whose entire Jeff Rudy paycheck is for health insurance. The insurance conundrum has been a huge concern for many of our members. But the SCEA is very appreciative of all your efforts and difficult decisions made in the best interest of SCPS, its employees, and most importantly, the students.
WAYS
YOU CAN MAKE
A DIFFERENCE 1. Share information you receive from the VEA and your local with fellow Union members. 2. Attend your local school board meetings and bring fellow Union members with you. Tell your story during public comment. 3. Plan a meeting with an elected official (school board, city council, board of supervisors, House of Delegates, Virginia Senate) and talk to them about your work and what you need. 4. Reach out to your UniServ Office, local leaders, building reps, or UniServ Director about getting more involved in the Union. 5. Recruit potential members to join the Union. 6. Sign up to be a VEA online advocate. You can do this at the Union’s website, www.veanea. org. 7. Join VEA’s Political Action Committee and vote!l
VIRGINIA JOURNAL OF EDUCATION | JUNE 2019
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