Santa Rosa EA – speaking up for employees!
Christy Wolpoff is a Santa Rosa EA member and a 6th grade Math teacher at Woodlawn Beach Middle School. Christy recently attended the February School Board meeting and spoke during public input about the need for Annual Contract teachers to be provided another year of employment for obtaining “Effective” or higher evaluation ratings. Wolpoff, who also is an Annual Contract teacher herself, explained, “While we believe it is important to pay teachers fair and competitive salaries, it’s equally important to have language protecting us from being terminated if we are performing at high levels. This assurance exists in neighboring districts, like Escambia and Okaloosa, so why don’t we already have the same kind of language? I urge you to consider adopting such a policy, as doing so would help recruit teachers to Santa Rosa and keep them here.”
As evidenced in Christy’s remarks to the Board, Santa Rosa EA speaks for you. Tired of the same union doing the same thing every year, expecting different results? Are you ready for change, or more of the same? If you are, there is hope. Santa Rosa EA is dedicated to being a different kind of association – one which values member input, communicates with all, and advocates for all. Currently, we are collecting Showing of Interest cards to petition the state for a bargaining unit election.
Please complete the card (please fill out the correct form – the top is for teachers and the bottom for Education Staff Professionals) and send it one of two ways:
- Mail to Santa Rosa EA, P.O. Box 723, Milton, FL 32570
- Email us at [email protected] to arrange for your card to be picked up at your worksite
Come, join the change. NOW is the time!
Degrees not Debt Workshop, March 1st
Do you have federal student debt and are unsure of whether or not you qualify for federal loan forgiveness programs such as Teacher Loan Forgiveness (TLF), Teacher Loan Cancellation (TLC), and/or Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF). Are you interested in lowering your monthly payments? You do NOT need to work at a Title I or Low-Income school to qualify. Join us Wednesday, March 1st from 4-5:30 pm at Avalon Middle School, Room 402. Please RSVP by Monday, February 27th.
NEA’s Read Across America program coming to Santa Rosa!
In cities and towns across the nation, teachers, teenagers, librarians, politicians, actors, athletes, parents, grandparents, and others develop NEA’s Read Across America activities to bring reading excitement to children of all ages. Governors, mayors, and other elected officials recognize the role reading plays in their communities with proclamations and floor statements. Athletes and actors issue reading challenges to young readers. FEA Secretary Treasurer and teacher Luke Flynt will be coming to Santa Rosa as our guest reader at several schools next week to celebrate the big event. Stay tuned to see where the Cat in the Hat shows up!
State News
Dismal results from vouchers surprise researchers
The confirmation of Betsy DeVos as secretary of education was a signal moment for the school choice movement. For the first time, the nation’s highest education official is someone fully committed to making school vouchers and other market-oriented policies the centerpiece of education reform. But even as school choice is poised to go national, a wave of new research has emerged suggesting that private school vouchers may harm students who receive them. The results are startling — the worst in the history of the field, researchers say.
National News
The ‘Trust Gap’ in Schools … And How Teachers Can Help Close It
Many students of color think school is unfair, but educators can help break the cycle of distrust that can harm long-term academic success.
Education By Design: Challenging the Traditional Definition of a Learning Space
Net zero energy use, flexible furniture, barn door walls, grab-n-go mobile food carts, and indoor slides. Meet the New Public School.