November 8, 2019
WEAC Region 3 represents public education employees in a large territory stretching from Florence to Port Washington,
and from Menominee to Washington Island.
Notice of Important Upcoming Deadlines:
WEAC
JANUARY 15: Nominations are due by January 15 for Alternate NEA Director to be decided at the Representative Assembly in April. All persons desiring to be candidates for this position shall file their intention in the office of the Executive Director, P.O. Box 8003, Madison WI 53708-8003. Such notice must be postmarked no later than January 15, 2020. Please contact Ann Caruso for paperwork for filing for this position. She can be reached at CarusoA@weac.org or 800-362-8034, extension 219.
JANUARY 15: The deadline for submitting proposed changes to WEAC Bylaws, Constitution, standing Rules or Resolutions is January 15. Changes should be submitted to the Office of the WEAC Executive Director, P.O. Box 8003, Madison WI 53708.
FEBRUARY 1: The deadline for applying for the four WEAC Scholarships for children of WEAC members is February 1. Scholarship winners will receive grants of $1,450 per year for four years of college or university study, if they remain eligible. Find out more at weac.org/scholarships .
FEBRUARY 1: February 1 is the deadline for nominations for several WEAC awards : the Education Support Professional Award; Friend of Education Award; Lewandowski Award for Humanitarian Activities; Tenia Jenkins Activist Award; and the Cunningham, Dickinson, Watson Staff Award. For details, go to weac.org/awards .
Election of 2020-22 State Delegates to the NEA Rep. Assembly
The 2020 NEA Convention will be held July 2-6 in Atlanta, Georgia; the 2021 NEA Convention will be held July 2-6 in Denver, Colorado; and the 2022 NEA Convention will be held in Dallas, Texas. Members of the WEAC will elect delegates to the NEA Representative Assembly for a three-year term in February 2020. Members planning to seek election as delegates are required to file their declaration of candidacy in the office of the WEAC Executive Director, postmarked no later than December 1, 2019 .
It is the policy of NEA that the delegation from each state to the NEA Representative Assembly shall include ethnic minority delegates in numbers commensurate with the population of the state, and the Wisconsin Education Association Council is committed to the achievement of this goal in the Wisconsin delegation. The WEAC Board of Directors has approved and submitted to the NEA its plan to achieve ethnic minority representation pursuant to NEA Bylaw 3-1(g). WEAC asks you to assist in fulfilling the NEA/WEAC goals for ethnic minority representation by encouraging minorities to seek election as state and/or local delegates.
The NEA will notify the WEAC of the total ethnic minority population in the state based on the most current U.S. census and the percentage goal for each ethnic minority group. While proportional representation cannot be a requirement, ethnic minority representation remains a goal of the United Education Profession.
Please note that NEA members in the non-supervisory active and education support professional (ESP) categories are eligible to run as delegates and to vote.
Forms for declaration of candidacy and for submission of candidacy information for publication on the WEAC web site can be found at weac.org/delegates Please feel free to duplicate the forms or call the Executive Director's office for additional copies. Election procedures may also be found at weac.org/delegates . 
Human and Civil Rights Award nominations due December 6
Nomination applications and information guidelines for the 2020 NEA Human and Civil Rights Awards are available at www.nea.org/hcrawards . Visit the website today to submit your 2020 application to nominate champions for social justice from your community! All Human and Civil Rights Awards nomination applications must be submitted online no later than Friday, December 6, 2019. To be considered, nominators must provide all required information and supporting materials, as explained in the guidelines outlined in the 2020 Human and Civil Rights Awards Nomination Brochure (also found on the website). Please be reminded that nominators must be an NEA member, affiliate or caucus.
Attention K-12 Members & Non-Members -
RECERTIFICATION IS COMING . . .
Vote YES to Support Your Colleagues
and RECERTIFY
Begins: Noon on Wednesday, November 6, 2019
Ends: Noon on Tuesday, November 26, 2019
The recertification vote is conducted via telephone or online voting. Please follow these steps to cast your anonymous ballot to show your support:
Directions :

V oters who choose to vote online do so by logging on to  http://www.aaaelections.org/WERC and following the on-screen instructions for online voting. Make sure you VOTE YES for recertification and submit your vote . Then CONFIRM your vote by selecting “yes” again.  Wait until you are informed that your vote has been successfully processed before leaving the site so that your vote is counted.

Voters choosing to call the recertification voting line dial:  1-866-458-9862 (toll free) anytime:
  • When prompted, confirm your identity by entering the first 4 letters of your LAST NAME, then the last 4 digits of your Social Security Number. The image to the right above shows which letters are associated with the telephone keypad numbers;
  • You will then be asked “Do you want to continue to be represented by (the name of your current union) for the purpose of collective bargaining?”
  • When prompted, VOTE YES to recertify your union; after voting, STAY ON THE LINE. Do not HANG UP until you receive a “thank you” message. Otherwise your vote is simply not counted and therefore you will need to go back and vote again. The same is true for interrupted calls - you must repeat your call and vote again to be counted.  

Additional Information :
  • Your vote is secret;
  • All employees in a bargaining unit vote, not just union members;
  • The union needs to win 51% of all unit employees to recertify, which means that not voting is the same as voting no. Your colleagues need your support, so please vote YES.
  • Employees experiencing trouble using the telephonic or online voting system, can call 1-800-529-5218 during the hours of 10 am to 6 pm Monday-Friday.
  • If the prompt gives you the name of another local union, hang up and call WEAC Region 3 at 920-496-2440 or 800-472-5582.
  • If you have problems casting your vote, report the problem as instructed and report it to Region 3 at 920-496-2440, 800-472-5582 or email Region3@weac.org.
Having Hard Conversations about Race & Bias in the Classroom

Based on Teaching Tolerance materials, participants will walk through how to have hard conversations about race, racism and bias in their classrooms with students and with other staff members. Teaching Tolerance is a free resource available to all educators in the country. Participants will learn about resources that are available to them for little to no cost that will transform their classrooms into a safe space for students.

Where: 
GBEA/Region 3 Office
1136 N. Military Ave.
Green Bay, WI 54303

When: 
November 14, 2019 4:30-5:30 pm

Snacks will be provided.



Region 3/GBEA National Board Support Sessions

WEAC, Region 3 and GBEA have organized ongoing monthly National Board Support for the 2019-2020 cycle. Generally, the first portion of the session will feature a presentation on a topic or issue and the second portion of the session will be reserved for working with candidate concerns and questions. Sessions will be held at the WEAC Region 3 Office, 1136 N Military Ave, Green Bay. We have a new facilitator, Sarah Johnston (Marinette).

We have added the option of joining us via Zoom if you are unable to
attend in person! Pre-registration is not required but appreciated - light dinner will be served. To register, click here .

CALL FOR PROPOSALS

Region 3 is planning a professional development conference for  Saturday, January 25th .  (In case it matters to you, this is a bye weekend between NFL playoffs and the Super Bowl!)  It will be the 2nd year of sharing best practices and learning new skills - - member to member!

Last year's conference included sessions such as "Mindfulness for Teachers and ESP," "GaGa for Google Classroom," "Special Ed. Law and Violent Student Behaviors," "Managing Student Behaviors," and "Beating Back the Bully Principal."

Now's the time for you to think about topics that YOU would be willing to present! Fill out the  Call for Proposals form  and help us fill the agenda for this great event.  Fun Fact: Presenters get a $200 stipend!
Comments from last year:

Very informative. Very relatable presenter. Thanks!!

This was great. I learned a lot and it was very helpful!

Got more out of this class than I have in all my other classes I have taken.
Member Benefits
ETF
Live Webinars Scheduled for November/December

ETF is offering a series of 30-minute, live, interactive webinars designed to increase your understanding of Wisconsin Retirement System benefits. Individuals can also ask questions at the end of these sessions. Visit their webinar page to learn more about any of the following sessions. Here is what others have said about their webinars: 

  • "My participation in the webinar was a first for me, and I just want to compliment you on how easy it was to connect, follow along, and provide questions or requests. Excellent job!"
  • "Thanks for having these valuable webinars. The professional but conversational style helped me to understand the presentation as easily as an "in office" meeting. Really appreciate that the presenter fully understands the subject. Wonderful job."
Political Action
This is an 11.0101(10)(b)(1) communication with WEAC members.   
Hello all,

Write it down! When something seems out of the ordinary, write it down. When someone yells at you, write it down. When a student acts out in class and you have to have a conversation with her, write it down. when you talk to that student's parent about the behavior, write that down too. AND, most importantly, when a supervisor places a letter of reprimand or a written documentation of a verbal reprimand (it's a thing) in your personnel file -- WRITE YOUR SIDE OF THE STORY DOWN! Contemporaneous notes of stuff that happens to you in the course of a normal day at work are very valuable when, at some later point, you are asked to remember or explain. Really - how many interactions do you have in any single day? It's a good practice to jot down some notes at the end of a busy day about all the unusual encounters. These notes are very valuable, especially in the case of a reprimand in your personnel file. So, write it down. Please.

Peace!
--Kathy Rohde
Uniserv Director
Region 3 WEAC