School is Starting Up!

Hi All -

Below is a letter we sent to all members recently, a similar letter was sent to potential members. We are going to be pushing hard for new members here at the beginning of the year. There is a meeting scheduled with PELRB on August 13 to schedule the election - unless the school board voluntarily recognizes us - Please feel free to call or email them and let them know your wishes. One thing that seems to keep getting lost in our discussions is that the school board works for us, we elected them, they are supposed to represent us and our wishes as part of the community as well as of course us as employees, and our students interests.

The school board will be meeting this coming Wednesday, August 1, where they are supposed to be approving, again, the creation of a local labor board - Or continuing the process of creating the local labor board. You might consider calling and asking them how this serves the students, employees, or taxpayers of the Espanola School District, to duplicate at expense to the district, and therefore the taxpayers, and students of the district, a service that is available free, and much more impartially, just 30 miles away.

Could it be a control issue? Hard to see how, they pick one member, we pick one member, the two members then pick a third, so unless we pick one of their cronies they have no more control than trusting a totally impartial labor board paid for by the state instead of having to pay all the costs of a newly created one.

Regardless, here is the letter, read and enjoy, and get ready to get active, we will be facing some real challenges!


July 19, 2007


Dear Member –

We hope you are having a relaxing and revitalizing summer. We will soon all be returning to school, and working hard again. Of course this year will bring a whole new set of challenges. One of the very first challenges will be finishing the process of getting certified for Collective Bargaining. The purpose of this brief letter is to express our appreciation for your prior support, to bring you up to date, and to let you know that we need your continued support and involvement.

Demonstrating overwhelming support from the employees for collective bargaining (over 77% district-wide signed the cards), does not seem to be enough for the district to start bargaining with us. Dr. Cockerham, it seems, would like nothing more than for us all to just go away, give up, eat crow, bow our heads and do exactly as we are told, no matter what he dishes out or how abusive it is. We do appreciate the comments of board members Romero and Salazar who publicly supported our efforts to begin bargaining. Although Dr. Cockerham and some on the board appear to not respect your opinion, we do and we THANK YOU for your support of collective bargaining.

By choosing not to recognize us based on the support shown by the 77% who signed the cards, the district is forcing all employees to have a secret ballot election on the question - probably in September. Polling places and dates will be announced later. The state labor board will organize the election so we don’t have to worry about any “powers that be” here messing with the process.

Prior to this election we will ask every single one of our fellow E. P. S. employees to pledge to fellow employees that they will vote in the coming election. We urge every employee to vote – whether you support us or not. Of course we do ask that you do vote in favor of your own interests by voting for collective bargaining.

We will also be frequently asking you to tell us your opinion about what we should work for in collective bargaining, i.e. what is most important to you: salary, extra duty, sick leave, prep time, etc. We need to know on a continuing basis what is most important to all of us, so that we may all be represented properly.

Now is the time for all of us to be pro-active; we have an opportunity to REACH EXCELLENCE TOGETHER. This is our campaign motto and our goal for our role within the district. A Campaign Committee has been formed to reach our campaign goals: a 90% turnout and a 77% margin of victory. To reach these ambitious goals we need your active support. We also need your help recruiting more of our colleagues to become members.

Please contact me now to become active in the campaign (e.g. asking fellow employees to pledge to vote yes). Please also stop by to help at our membership tables on our first day back. We’ll have goodies, but most of all we’ll have materials for you to use in talking with our colleagues about collective bargaining.

Please set aside the afternoon of August 25th for a social for both continuing and new members and our families. Bring a potential member and help them become a real member by joining NEA. You and your guest can meet your fellow members, catch a door prize, eat some good food and brag about those incredible summer vacations you took. I hope to see you there! Our new Social Committee is organizing this effort, and needs help, too.

The writers of the Constitution of the United States knew of the value of working together to change the future. They started it with these words “We the People, of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union…” We are a union, the people of the Espanola Public Schools, working together to Reach Excellence. This is a just and noble cause and we are proud to be making this effort. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

Sincerely yours,
Brian Every, President of Espanola-NEA