WAEA: After The Bell...

In this episode we catch up with our WAEA Observer,  Sue Darden, about the March 14th WA Board of Trustees meeting.  

Sam's monthly update for February 2022. In this episode, Sam covers what we know about House Bill 443 (Insurance) and explains the media statement the WAEA made in response to the district's lack of transparency in its COVID dashboard.

 

We again get a summary of important events that transpired at the most recent WA Board of Trustees meeting from our vigilant WAEA observer Sue Darden. In this episode we discuss:

• Trustee Johnson's resignation and how a new trustee will be chosen
• Open Meeting Violation #2 
• The CTE spotlight
• New school schedule proposals (including a spring P/T conference)
• Opioid lawsuit presentation

You can view Sue's detailed meeting notes HERE
 

After Senate Bill 1238, also known as the "Self-Directed Learner Bill" unanimously passed the Senate, we sat down with Senator Thayn, the author of the bill, to discuss the its conception and potential impacts.  Additionally we discuss his place on the Senate Education Committee and some of the looming educational crises we face as a state.   

Today we talk with former West Ada Board member Ed Klopfenstein, who is spearheading a new organizing effort to counter some of the instability and partisanship that he believes is forming around board elections and operations. We talk with Ed about his tenure, the wild-ride of COVID,  and what motivated him to leave the board and co-found this new organizing committee.   


The "Let's Get Organized Committee" meets online on Wednesday, February 2nd at 6:30pm. To join the meeting you can search the group on Facebook, or we will post the link here the day of the meeting. 

We discuss the January 24th Board of Trustees meeting with our diligent WAEA Observer Sue Darden. Covering topics such as:

• The uncovering of the source of an open meetings violation report!
• The re-election of the chair and vice-chair positions
• Public comment
• Dr. Bub's report on COVID in our district and the Dashboard's shortcomings
• Removal of parent notification emails
• Proposed new year start/end schedule

Sam gives his monthly update about happenings with the WAEA in the month of January. 

We start off another exciting year talking with Sue Darden, our infamous WAEA observer, about Monday's WA Board of Trustees meeting (1/10/22). We discuss a variety of topics: 

• The new board members. 
• The first clash that occured over leadership organization
• Bub's Spotlight
• The District's COVID numbers dashboard
• Open meeting laws
• What to expect this year 

Read Sue's detailed meeting notes HERE

In this episode, WAEA President Sam Perez recaps the year and talks about all that we have accomplished during these really challenging times.  

It is pretty clear, to anyone who cares to look or ask, that teachers working today are experiencing unprecedented levels of anxiety, stress and pressure about their jobs. Some are predicting a "great resignation" if something doesn't change soon. 

Today, we talk with Carmi Scheller, the WAEA Vice-President about teacher burnout: what it is and what we need to do as a state, as a district and as individulas to ensure we don't lose some of our most caring and talented teachers, who feel as though they just can not stay in the profession any longer...