April 19, 2019
WEAC Region 3 represents public education employees in a large territory stretching from Florence to Port Washington,
and from Menominee to Washington Island.
Important Union Stuff
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 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
Getting Ready for the April 27 WEAC Representative Assembly

WEAC has posted some important information and documents ahead of the April 27 RA. Go to  weac.org/ra for information that includes:
  • The agenda
  • Statements from candidates for office
  • WEAC Board of Directors' recommendations on proposed amendments to the WEAC Constitution and Bylaws
  • Proposed changes to the WEAC Governance Documents

Check out one of the raffle baskets (pictured above), donated by Region 3 for the Children's Fund drawing -- and then   DONATE .
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. 
2019 NEA Social Justice Activist Award Nominations Now Open
Do you know an educator who demonstrates the ability to lead, organize and engage fellow educators, students, parents, families, and the community to advocate on social and racial justice issues? Do you know an educator who impacts the lives of students, fellow educators and their communities as an activist and leader? Nominations are now open for the 2019 Social Justice Activist Award. NEA’s Social Justice Activist Award will be presented to a NEA member this year at the NEA Conference on Racial and Social Justice. Find out more.
Political Action
This is an 11.0101(10)(b)(1) communication with WEAC members. 
State Representative Jim Steineke Public Listening Sessions
5-7 p.m.

Tuesday, April 23
Muehl Public Library, 436 N Main St, Seymour
Gov. Evers Statewide Budget Listening Tour Coming to Oshkosh
Governor Tony Evers is bringing his Statewide Budget Listening Tour to Northeast Wisconsin.

Residents are invited to share their thoughts on Evers'  proposed state budget   in Oshkosh on Tuesday, April 23.

The listening session will be held at the Oshkosh Senior Center from 5:30 p.m.to 7 p.m. with doors opening at 4:45 p.m.

Those interested in attending can  register online .




JFC Budget Hearing
10:00 am
Wednesday, April 24 – Public Hearing – UW-Green Bay Union, Phoenix Room
Professional Development
SIGN UP NOW
(and save some dates for later)

Region 3 will hold a 1-day Membership Drive Workshop on Thursday, August 8. Click here to register .

In addition, nearby Regions will hold their workshops on August 6 and 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,

Last week's “Divide and conquer” discussion is really the perfect segue into a related topic: "How the Boss Keeps Us Disorganized." While last week's article focused on inter-union relationships, it's important to note that when we have disagreements among our own ranks, the boss benefits. And Division is just one tactic an ineffective leader uses to stay in control.

Fear: I'm afraid that if I speak out, there will be a target on my back.

Hopelessness: There's nothing I can do about this particular issue at my school, so I'll just keep coasting until _______________(fill in the blank: "...I retire." "...this principal/superintendent/school board president retires." "...this group of students graduates/moves on to the next grade.")

Division: There are friends of Principal who get what they want. I'm not a friend of Principal, so _____________ (fill in the blank: "...I'll lay low until this thing blows over." "...I'll find out what the Principal likes and do that too.")

Confusion: We never know what is the most important priority, so why bother trying to figure it out?

Here is a handout that details these four tactics and what WE can do together to fight against them and affect change in our own building or district. Please remember, we can ALL BE ORGANIZERS.

If you are feeling fear, hopelessness, division, or confusion and want some help in combating these tactics, give us a call!

--Peace (yes, there can be Peace at work!)
Kathy Rohde
UniServ Director
Region 3 WEAC