April 26, 2019
WEAC Region 3 represents public education employees in a large territory stretching from Florence to Port Washington,
and from Menominee to Washington Island.
Tell Us Your Story
"With six kids, a full-time job teaching high school English, and a recently-started master's program in creative writing, I don't take time for myself. It's a treat to sit in a workshop or reading for my own edification. It's a treat to take a walk through the streets during the Untitled Town as a gift to myself. That's what I'm looking forward to this year. Taking that little slice of writing time for myself."

-Sarah Rose Thomas
Poet & Educator
and Coleman EA President
THE WRITING OF POETRY AS HISTORICAL UNDERSTANDING
with Sylvia Cavanaugh
Friday, June 21, 2019
10:00 am - 12:00 pm
Old Gibraltar Town Hall, Fish Creek
 
Wow! This sounds like a fun place to be on a June morning - a fun place to kick off a summer weekend!
 
A Kohl Fellow, Sylvia Cavanaugh teaches social studies at Sheboygan North High school. She prefers an inquiry-based approach to the study of history, and her students participate in the National History Day program. Cavanaugh is also a Pushcart Prize nominated poet and has published two collections of poetry.
 
Complete details here .
 
For more information about Write-On Door County and to register, click here .
Important Union Stuff
Join Early at No Extra Cost
WEAC EARLY ENROLLMENT

Did you know WEAC Region 3 is participating in the Early Enrollment program? That means you can sign up members NOW, and they don’t pay until the fall. Have someone pledge to become a member of your local association, WEAC, and NEA and they'll immediately receive the following benefits:

  • Pay nothing until Sept. 1, if you complete an early enrollment membership form.
  • Enjoy big discounts and savings through NEA Member Benefits  (www.neamb.com).
  • Save even more with WEA Member Benefits (www.weabenefits.com).
  • Beginning Sept. 1, become eligible for legal services for individual employment-related matters, including representation on unemployment compensation and certification issues.
  • Plus, receive the benefits of the WEAC Personal Legal Services Program and get two, free half-hour consultations with a participating attorney every year.
  • Get up to $1 million in Educator Employment Liability (EEL) insurance to protect you if a student or parent sues you during the course of employment.

Contact WEAC Region 3 for an Early Enrollment form.

BECOME A MEMBER TODAY!

WEAC
NEA
All Region 3 Retirees Invited
Kettle Moraine Retired (KM-R) is sponsoring the following event for all Region 3 Retired members and their guests. Please join KM-Retired for their annual meeting (brief) and a special event, “Show Me the Money”.

Where: Altona Supper Club: 2306 Calumet Drive, New Holstein
When:  May 15th, 4:30 Annual Meeting, 5:00 registration and cocktails, 5:30 dinner, 6:30 presentation
Cost: $10 for members and their guests. The cost for new retirees (2019) and local active presidents and their guests, will be subsidized by KM-R. The fee will be collected at the door.

We are very excited to have the esteemed Dennis Eisenberg give a presentation that will cover:

  • Investments before you retire
  • What to do with your investments after you retire
  • WRS
  • Medicare
  • Required minimum distribution ideas

Dennis is a certified Financial Planner who monitored the WRS for WEAC and had similar duties in Minnesota. He has a Masters Degree in Business and an advance certificate in Mutual Fund Management. He also chaired a pension committee for twenty years and worked for the WEA TSA. Some of you may remember his work as Unisev Director at CLUE and SLUE.

We are looking forward to seeing you, please respond to KM-R Secretary Linda Helf lhelf@lsol.net   by Friday, May 10th. This event should be a lot of fun as well as very informative.

Hope to see you there!

Deb Dassow, KM-R President; John Binder, Vice President; Robert Jome,Treasurer; Linda Helf, Secretary; Board members: Faye Billmann, Tara Leithold, Bernie McKichan, Elaine Reiter, Karen Sullivan, and Brad Vollbrecht
The WEAC Region 3 RA is scheduled for Saturday, May 11, 2019. Delegates to the RA will be electing the following positions to the WR3 Executive Committee: Secretary, Treasurer, and ESP Member-at-Large. In order to be elected to one of these positions, nominees must be a local delegate (either the local president or their alternate, or elected by the local) or delegate-at-large to the WR3 RA.  Application process can be found here.

A Leader/Zone meeting will be held at the conclusion of the WR3 RA. Please contact the Region 3 office by May 6 if you are interested in running for a Zone leader position. Zone leaders are not required to be a local president.
Here is an opportunity to lead! The WEA Academy will be electing three new Board members for 3-year terms. The nine-member Board of Directors is committed to providing all educators quality, needs-based professional development during approximately 4 meetings per year. The term starts September 1, 2019.

For details about the Academy, the Board's functions, and how to be considered for these open positions, please click here.

If you know you'd like to run for one of these positions, please contact the WEAC Board member from Region 3, Dean DeBroux.
Apply By June 1 to Serve On A WEAC Committee
WEAC is looking to tap into our members' expertise! There are openings on several WEAC standing committees and we are hoping you are interested in applying to be a member of one of the committees for the 2019-2020 membership year. You can find the application form HERE . Application deadline is June 1. 
Political Action
This is an 11.0101(10)(b)(1) communication with WEAC members. 
Professional Development
Region 3 will hold a 1-day Membership Drive Workshop on Thursday, June 20. Click here to register .

In addition, nearby Regions will hold their workshops on August 6, 7 and 8 - - any member can attend any meeting in any Region! Stay tuned for the details on those workshops.

Why Go?
You and a team from your Local can acquire some basic skills and have time to create a plan for a FANTASTIC back-to-school membership drive.

Start talking about this in YOUR local! Get some friends together to join you in this project!
 It's YOUR Lifetime Teaching License    
As a teacher, it is YOUR responsibility to pay attention to timelines, respond to correspondence from the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) and/or your school district, and do all that is necessary to keep your teaching license current.

With the advent of a "lifetime" license in Wisconsin, it is no longer necessary to complete a PDP or take college credits to renew your license every five years.

Those teachers with LIFETIME licenses must complete a background check every five years.

The DPI has added a feature to License Lookup - when you look up your license, it will now show the most recent background check submitted to the DPI. For more information, click here .

Do you need a background check? The DPI has added a video to help explain the process. Click here .

Do you have a provisional license and, at the end of this school year have six (6) successful semesters of teaching under your belt? For information about the Lifetime license application , click here .

And, if you'd like to learn more about the process in the company of other teachers learning about applying for and maintaining Lifetime licenses, attend our May 16th "Nuts and Bolts" workshop - either in person or by ZOOM video-conferencing. Register by clicking the image above or here .

For a flyer advertising our "Nuts and Bolts" workshop, click here .
Hello all,

The year is winding down and it’s finally getting warmer out! I know thinking about next school year is the last thing anyone wants to think about, but the break does provide us a valuable space to strategize. So, take some time to recharge and then let’s talk! I’ve been working with new leadership in a few locals helping them learn the ropes, run meetings and set goals. Most importantly I want to instill that union involvement can be fun! It can be an experience that is tailored directly to meet the passions of your members. In fact, that’s exactly what it should be! If you’re wondering how you can boost involvement or rebrand your local, reach out to Region 3. We’ve got a summer calendar of events ready for you! We can also meet one on one and talk about a plan for your local!

Get these upcoming summer workshops mentioned above on your calendar:

Membership Drive June 20 th 
  • Focuses on the basics of organizing, developing an action plan and how that feeds into membership recruitment.

Solidarity Seminar August 8 th
  • Focuses on leadership development, advocacy and enforcing our rights! 


Kristin Lytie
UniServ Director
Region 3 WEAC