Espanola-National Education Association (for the Espanola Public Schools)

Letter from Espanola-NEA President: Lucille Martinez-Holguin

2012-01-11T12:32:00.000-07:00

Happy New Year! Education employees enter 2012 with numerous challenges and changes in our work place. We teach students in elementary and high schools. We counsel students, we drive school buses and feed our students daily. We are the largest organization of educators, we are the NEA.
Promoting and defending public education means fighting for adequate and equitable funding that offers every child a great public school. I ask you to become actively involved in your local, Espanola-NEA. We will provide you the training you will need at the Bargaining table or Employee Rights. As Americans we believe in fair play, but sometimes just believing in fair play isn’t enough. That is why we need your involvement and participation. Be part of the change you want.
Contact your Espanola-NEA Board members to help strength your local.

SPEAK OUT, GET ACTIVE!

2012-01-03T08:49:00.002-07:00

Española School District
Will Not Deal with Union
By Charles Goodmacher [Note from CG - The submission did not have my name on it - the editor added this - it does list the signatures of local Officers at the bottom ]
Published:
Thursday, December 29, 2011 10:07 AM MST
Espańola Public Schools employees are deeply concerned about the state of affairs in our district. We are the backbone and life-blood of our schools, working directly with the students, and we are consistently mistreated by this district. Our Union calls for true “reform” of education here and we invite the community to work with us.

The Espańola-NEA wants to work together with parents, social service groups and others concerned about the state of our schools. Perhaps, working together we can overcome the current obstacles to progress.

We understand that true reform must come from the bottom-up. It will not come if the community simply replaces one school board member with another, though that may help. Without ongoing community and parent involvement and an active Union, meaningful changes are impossible.

Superintendent Evelyn Maruska’s disastrous policies show a complete disregard for the what is best for the students and those who directly serve them. The superintendent refuses to meet with our Union. The administration refuses the public the information which is the public’s, and then spends money it doesn’t have to produce a horribly written, ill-conceived advertisement. What an embarrassing attempt to make itself look good.

The community complains and some on the Board say “it’s not our fault,” come to the Board meetings to find out what’s happening. If the Board wants to find out what’s happening, listen to our Union, the students and the parents. The community wants more from our schools, and so do we.

One way in which the District mistreats the staff is in the dishonoring of contracts they signed for the ill-conceived and incompetently managed Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF). Teachers and other staff signed up for extra work, hoping to improve student performance. Then the District does not pay us for our extra work. Our Union presented information about this directly to the Board (and through the media). The silence of the Board and administration compounds the real damage done. Our Union is forced to prepare a law-suit to recover the pay that is rightfully owed our members.

Despite all of this, many of us attend workshops to remain current with the latest and best practices. Many give up unpaid half-hour lunches to help students progress. Teachers spend “vacation” time writing required dossiers and other requirements of the profession.

Couple years of no raises with increased insurance and retirement costs, and school employee take-home pay has gone down. Students also suffer: teachers used to spend lots of their own money for supplies the District fails to provide.

It is our hope that the new year will bring with it a revitalized community interest in working together for meaningful change in the schools. The courage of the high school students who marched against misguided discipline policies gives us hope. The many letters to the editor from concerned community members also give rise to hope. Working together, this community can do great things for our Espańola students.

This commentary was signed by the following officers of the Union's executive committee:

Charles Goodmacher

Lille Martinez-Holguin

Tina Talachy

Michael Lapoevic

Dolores Salazar

Patti Thomas

Town Hall Targets Superintendent

By Michael Maresh
SUN Staff Writer
Published:
Thursday, December 22, 2011 10:08 AM MST

Española School District parents convened a town hall meeting Dec. 14 to discuss a wide array of problems — and possible solutions — facing the District since Superintendent Evelyn Maruska took over in May.

Maruska was invited but did not attend the meeting, saying later she was meeting with principals. About 50 people, including one of Maruska’s bosses on the Española School Board, did attend the meeting.

Parents first wanted to know why the District does not make more of an effort to let them know when the Board meets. Many also questioned the Board's 5 p.m. meeting time because this makes it extremely hard for working parents to attend.

Parents, teachers and former students also criticized the integrated math program students are mandated to take to graduate. Some parents said they believe this course does not prepare students for college.

Parents also lashed out at comments made by Curriculum and Instruction Director Christiana Blea-Valdez about how the District’s low test scores could not be compared to La Cueva High School or the Los Alamos School District because the ethnic makeup of those two populations is mostly Caucasian, while 90 percent of Española’s students are Hispanic.

Many parents shouted for Blea-Valdez to resign or be fired for making these comments.

Jeremy Maestas, who helped organize the meeting, said comments like Blea-Valdez’s hurt the community, especially since many people in the state already consider Española to be a city of dumb people.

Judith Trujillo, who helped Maestas run the meeting, said she was shocked when she heard what Blea-Valdez said at the Dec. 7 Board meeting.

“That kind of negativity just doesn’t fly,” she said.

Parent Calvin Smith, an African-American, said these types of comments are similar to statements made in the South in the 1960s that prevented certain ethnic groups from taking the bus or eating at certain restaurants. He added the Board does not have the final say on issues like this.

“The School Board reports to us,” he said. “We are the boss. We call the shots.”

Safety

The meeting also touched on safety concerns, including a Nov. 9 BB gun incident in which a Mountain View Elementary fifth-grader pointed a BB gun at a fourth-grader.

Angelo Sandoval said comments that BB guns are only a toy and not a real weapon was disturbing to him since his cousin died 19 years ago after being shot with a BB gun.

“A weapon is a weapon,” he said. “If you are going to hurt someone — there should be a zero tolerance for any type of weapon.”

High school student body president Steven Gonzales said the District’s new code of conduct allows misbehavior to escalate. He also said Principal Theresa Flores shares these same beliefs.

Española Middle School teacher Patti Thomas said the student code of conduct gives students eight or nine chances to be disruptive before consequences can be implemented.

“That whole student code of conduct is a big safety concern because things are allowed to escalate,” she said.

Sandoval wanted to know why security officers were not stationed at the elementary schools, saying just their presence could be a deterrent against inappropriate behavior.

Walkout

Maestas wanted to know the reasons for the high school walkout on Dec. 2, and Gonzales said those students did not give a real reason why they staged the protest.

Trujillo said some of the concerns are students not being allowed to park on school grounds unless they play sports or have an after-school job and maintain at least a 2.0 grade-point average, as well as new rules governing tardiness.

Brandon Aragon said if he was still a student at the high school he would have joined the walkout.

“It’s obvious to see the problem is Maruska and Flores,” he said. “Maruska makes redundant comments. She makes horrible comments about (her being the boss).”

Communication

Freshman class president Nicole Romero said the athletes are upset because they cannot get their games or photos published in the newspaper, so they should have been the students walking out of class.

She said she and a friend tried to meet with Flores and were totally shut out for two months for an issue that needed to be dealt with in one month. The issue was applying in time so Española could have been picked as the location for an educational conference that could attract up to 3,000 people to the community.

She said the meeting with Flores finally took place and the District applied to host the conference, but the late application date will hurt the District during the selection process.

She said the new tardy policies are not a bad idea and she likes the reward incentive plan that came with them.

Trujillo said the administration is not on the same page, as the public receives different answers depending on which administrator speaks.

The meeting also discussed Maruska’s policy that does not allow Rio Grande SUN reporters on school grounds unless questions are submitted to her beforehand, which would then be forwarded to the principal.

“We disagree with a lot of what the SUN does, but they a1so do something good,” Sandoval said.

He said the SUN publishes honor rolls, students of the month and classroom pictures. These are free services for schools.

“To deny someone their First Amendment rights where they say, ‘I am the boss and you can’t come here’ (is wrong),” Sandoval said.

He also said it is hard to understand why Maruska thinks District officials should have questions in advance, as this would allow the person being interviewed a chance to skew the answers. Sandoval said the questions should be answered without the person knowing what is going to be asked so the correct answers will be given. Doing anything less, he said, is censorship.

Maestas asked parents how they felt about a six-page advertisement the District paid to insert in the Dec. 8 edition of the SUN with Maruska and other administrators being the focus of the piece, especially since it was paid for with public tax dollars. Trujillo mentioned the exact amount of almost $2,200 that it cost the District to publish the insert.

Regina Martinez, a parent and a District employee, said she was at the Dec. 7 Board meeting and there was a performance of students the Board attended that the SUN ignored. She said she had a big problem with that.

She also said it is her opinion that no media outlet should be allowed on school grounds during the school day because students are there to be instructed. And she said she would never allow her daughter to be photographed or interviewed at the school unless it was done while her daughter played basketball.

Maestas also asked the parents in attendance if they read the honor rolls that the SUN once published, and almost all parents at the meeting raised their hands to signify they did.

“They took that away from us,” said parent Bill Katen. “That is not the SUN’s fault.”

He said he believes the fault lies with the superintendent.

Josh Martinez, a member of the high school basketball team, said he was not for or against the student walkout, but said if there were issues they need to sit down and address the concerns formally.

Martinez then complained that the SUN was not covering Española Valley basketball games and said the paper is picking and choosing what it wants to report.

“We all know Española basketball is the heart of Española,” he said. “It’s a little bit depressing. We are the Española Sundevils. A lot of people buy the paper for the sports.”

Martinez’s coach, Richard Martinez, told the Board on Dec. 15 he supported Maruska’s policy banning reporters from campus (see related story on page A8).

Board President Coco Archuleta asked the parents to formalize their concerns in a parent-advisory committee and then present them to the entire Board.

When Lopez asked Archuleta how she could get in contact with Maruska since she was ignoring her calls, Archuleta asked her to send him an email so he could address it formally.

Parents decided to hold a special parent-advisory committee meeting on Monday to get their concerns finalized before presenting them to the Board in January.

Maestas said it appears the District has no one who knows how to deal with the media and suggested the District hire someone to be a single point of contact for the media.

Low Test Scores? Blame Race
Administrator pins Española's failing classrooms on high percentage of Hispanic students
By Michael Maresh
SUN Staff Writer
Published:
Thursday, December 15, 2011 10:06 AM MST
An Española School District administrator is blaming the District’s low test scores on the high number of Hispanics who attend the high school in comparison with other nearby school districts.

In a PowerPoint presentation to the Española School Board Dec. 7, Curriculum and Instruction Director Christiana Blea-Valdez said Española’s ACT scores cannot be compared to Los Alamos or La Cueva High School because of differences in the racial makeup of the districts.

She said 69 percent of students at Los Alamos are Caucasian while 24 percent are Hispanic. At La Cueva almost 68 percent of the students are Caucasian, while 29 percent are Hispanic.

Nearly 90 percent of Española’s students are Hispanic, according to state Education Department data.

According to information Blea-Valdez provided to the Board on Dec. 2, Española’s students had the lowest 2009 ACT scores in English, math and reading and tied for last in science when compared with the school districts of Gadsen, Moriarty, Pojoaque and Rio Grande.

“It’s unfair to compare any school district in the state to Los Alamos,” she said.

She also said Los Alamos has the state’s highest percentage of residents per-capita who have doctorate degrees.

Blea-Valdez, who makes $75,500 a year, said a better comparison for Esapñola would be school districts with similar demographics. She said the Pojoaque School District would be a good gauge because Española loses many students to this neighboring district every year. She also said Española needs to convince its students to take the test more than once, adding students almost always do better on subsequent tests.

School Board President Coco Archuleta was upset with Blea-Valdez’s assertion that Española’s students score low on tests because a majority of them are Hispanic.

“I do not see how being poor or Hispanic has anything to do with learning,” he said.

Archuleta said his daughter earned a doctorate degree and his son is a mechanical engineer with a master’s degree. Both graduated from Española before attending college, he said. Archuleta said his children are proof that Hispanic students can learn just as well as those from any other ethnic background.

Archuleta called Blea-Valdez’s comments a poor example and a bad excuse, saying all school districts can be compared with each other. He said the expectations could be higher at other school districts but scores have nothing to do with race.

Blea-Valdez tried to backtrack at the meeting, saying in no way did she mean poor or Hispanic students cannot learn, and explained afterward, on Dec. 9, that she was trying to tell the Board the reasons Española’s schools cannot be compared to schools with different demographics.

She also said she did not think Archuleta understood the comparisons that she presented to the Board.

But Archuleta argued Española’s students need to compete against Los Alamos because both sets of students someday will be competing against each other for jobs.

Board member Floyd Archuleta also did not buy Blea-Valdez’s explanation that the high number of Hispanic students is the primary reason why Española’s test scores are low.

“A lot of our students who have come out of our schools are doing well,” he said.

After being called on the carpet by the Board, whose five members are all Hispanic, Blea-Valdez said another reason Los Alamos’ test scores are higher than Española is because Los Alamos will not hire first-year teachers.

“How do we provide these same opportunities with what we have?” she asked.

Coco Archuleta said a majority of teachers at the high school have been teaching there for three to four years.

Blea-Valdez replied that she was talking about the teachers at the middle school.

“It is that constant turnover we have,” she said.

Floyd Archuleta said the Board is trying to figure out where it is and the news from Blea-Valdez was alarming.

“Apparently, we are headed for failure,” he said. “I am not hearing solutions.”

Blea-Valdez said the only way scores will improve is for the entire community to come together with the focus being to give students the same opportunities as what students receive in other school districts.

Floyd Archuleta said the Board had taken action in the past against low test scores, and one such action was hiring Blea-Valdez's boss, Superintendent Evelyn Maruska, who makes $120,000 a year.

“I would love to see a set plan and not waver from that,” he said.

Board Secretary Ralph Medina said teachers, parents and students need to come together to be a united team, and added he wished these people would come to Board meetings to learn what is happening in the District.

“They should all be listening to this,” he said.

Española Valley High School student body president J.R. Vigil said Blea-Valdez’s remarks that Espanola’s students cannot compare with Los Alamos students because of the racial makeup of the community are insane.

“What does it matter if you are Hispanic?” he asked.

Vigil said a better argument for why Española’s students cannot be compared with schools like Los Alamos is because of the qualified staff those schools hire; meanwhile, Española is stuck with an athletic director for a principal, he said

Sign the letter and attend the next board meeting too!

2011-11-02T15:54:00.000-06:00

A letter to the editor is now being circulated for signatures. Please return your copy with signatures no later than next Tuesday November 8 to: Lupe Griego at San Juan. Scanned copies may be e-mailed to lupegriego@hotmail.com. There is power in numbers!

Several people are going to make statements at the next regular Board meeting. Most likely this will be Wednesday, Dec. 7, but check the district web site to be sure. Please plan to attend to show your support. If you also would like to sign up, use the district form and please contact me too so that we can ensure the messages delivered by our several speakers do not duplicate each other. http://www.formstack.com/forms/?1094379-B7vsKvGAwl (if the link doesn't work for you: go to the Board page on the district web site. We suggest if you wish to speak on TIF, write "TIF (or "pay," or "inequities" from the perspective of a ____ at grade ___ at ____ school." There is power in numbers!

NEA-New Mexico and our local are pursuing legal action too - but that usually takes more time and we are hoping to pressure the district into doing the right thing without a court decision being needed.

WRITE ON!!!!

2011-10-24T10:28:00.000-06:00

HAVE AN OPINION THAT NEEDS TO BE HEARD?

Letters to the Editor of the S Fe New Mexican: http://www.santafenewmexican.com/SendLetter/

Letters to the Editor of the Rio Grande Sun:
http://www.riograndesun.com/forms/letters/

Unpaid teacher perks raise ire in Española

2011-10-24T09:59:00.003-06:00

Unpaid teacher perks raise ire in Española
District says it lacks cash to pay incentives for last year of federal program to boost students' scores

[PLEASE NOTE: Four or five current and past employees were interviewed, though only one was quoted. We urge all who wish for a positive resolution of this issue to contribute to balancing the power of district administrators by strengthening our ability to represent school employee interests through adding your membership to those of the majority of your colleagues. To Join Now ($50 rebates end October 31, 2011): see your Association Representative, or www.nea-nm.org ]

Robert Nott | The New Mexican
Posted: Thursday, October 20, 2011 - 10/18/11
Comments

Española Valley School District teachers are threatening a lawsuit over incentive pay they say they are still owed from the last school year.

Starting in 2006-07, teachers, principals and educational assistants in Española received up to $3,000 a year if they could show improved academic performance by their students.

The money came from the Teacher Incentive Fund, a $600 million federal grant program designed to foster innovative approaches to reforming teacher pay. The fund supports performance-based teacher and principal compensation to attract top talent to public schools.

In New Mexico, the grants are administered to both Española and Taos school districts by the Rio Rancho-based Northern New Mexico Network, a cooperative of nearly 30 rural school districts in the state.

During the program's first four years in Española, teachers who qualified for the incentive pay received between $1,000 and $3,000 a year, according to several Española teachers and Charles Goodmacher, the National Education Association liaison for Española. The total federal payout to New Mexico was more than $7.2 million, according to a U.S. Department of Education spokesperson.

Under the grant guidelines, in the program's fifth year — 2010-11 — the district was supposed to pay 75 percent of the cost of the program, or about $880,000.

But the district does not have the money, school board President Jose "Coco" Archuleta said.

"It's hard," said Archuleta, who joined the board in 2009. "The teachers did make a commitment. They followed the path to what they believed would get them some incentive, and now there's no funding for it."

It is unclear at this point whether it's the district that has let the teachers down or whether the Northern New Mexico Network, which administered the grants, is responsible.

Española teacher Damon McGinn wonders if the network is at fault for failing to comply with all the federal requirements.

For one thing, the network was supposed to send circuit-rider educators to monitor Española's teachers in the classroom. It did this in the second through fourth years, and then dropped the practice in year five.

McGinn was not a fan of the approach. "You can't come in my classroom for five minutes and really gauge anything," he said. "It came down to checklists. ... It was not very rigorous."

In August, the network's executive director, Carlos Atencio, informed Española Valley Public Schools Superintendent Evelyn Maruska that the network could not reimburse the district for this year's incentive pay because the Department of Education did not approve of certain elements within the grant.

A letter dated Aug. 5 from the Department of Education to Atencio said the network was not authorized to discontinue on-site visits. It also took issue with the network and district's plan to count mandated salary increases under the state's three-tier pay system toward the district's 75 percent matching-fund contribution.

The letter noted that the network did not have permission to remove the requirement for site visits, even if it was facing funding challenges. According to the Department of Education, the network has a balance of about $1.5 million to fund those visits.

"We fail to see how your project lacked sufficient TIF funds to conduct the required multiple observations of teachers as specified in the approved TIF application," wrote Sylvia E. Lyles of the department's Office of Academic Improvement and Teacher Quality.

Speaking by phone, Atencio said finances were not the main reason for suspending the on-site visits. He said that as the program progressed, the Department of Education put more emphasis on tying the incentive pay to an increase in student test scores and less on skills, knowledge and professional development, which is one reason the network suspended the visits.

Atencio said the remaining $1.5 million was earmarked for professional development and other uses. He said the network acted in good faith and will return about $1 million to the Department of Education.

McGinn thinks the fault lies with the network and suggests the teachers union push the district to sue the nonprofit.

"I think Northern New Mexico Network owes us that money because they allowed two unacceptable parameters that they, being the facilitator of the grant, should have understood," he said.

Goodmacher said, "My belief is that the district and Northern both share responsibility for not executing the program correctly."

Complicating matters is the fact that three different superintendents have served the district since the grant began, leading to what Atencio calls "a gap in continuity."

Maruska did not return a call seeking comment.

Northern New Mexico Network distributed the federal money to both the Española and Taos school districts. Atencio said Taos is in the same boat as Española in that it cannot meet the 75 percent matching grant in the fifth year.

Efforts to reach a representative of Taos Municipal Schools with knowledge of the grant were unsuccessful.

A study by Mathematica Policy Research is under way to evaluate the Teacher Incentive Fund program.

Contact Robert Nott at 986-3021 or rnott@sfnewmexican.com.

IF employees have lost wages due to lack of sick or personal leave, and did report to work, but were docked pay...

2011-10-10T22:52:00.002-06:00

IF employees have lost wages due to lack of sick or personal leave, and did report to work, but were docked pay--they are able to file with the Labor Commission 827-6838, http://www.dws.state.nm.us/pdf/WAGE-CLAIM-SF08.

In Espanola, we are fortunate to have a Collective Bargaining Agreement which extends your due process rights when, as in cases like this, the employer oversteps their bounds and unjustly deprives you of earned income. We thank you if you were one of the Eighty-eight percent of our colleagues at the time who voted, and especially if you were one of the nintey six point six who voted in favor of the creation of bargaining rights for the vast majority of our colleagues working for our common employer: the Espanola Public Schools. We thank you again and all readers who at present are voluntary dues-paying members: it is YOU who make our work possible.

In Espanola, there can be no legitimate automatic docking of pay, ever, period.

[This and other important information can be found on our Local Blog: espanolaeducators.blogspot.com Note there is no "@"].

Will they do it sometime? Perhaps, then we have to fight to undue it, but there is no question it would be reversed.

There is established law and there is wording in the Collective Bargaining Agreement that can both be brought forth in any needed advocacy to have a "docking" of pay reversed.

Any administrator who does "dock" pay subjects themselves to a Grievance and possible disciplinary action of their own for doing so.

Under basic contract law, it is established that a contracted right to salary cannot be unilaterally withheld from an employee without due process rights, and that means an opportunity to answer the charge that they were not at work on a given day (assuming there is no record of them not clocking in). The law is clear that time worked must be compensated for.

A NOTE OF CAUTION: Any Certified employee who does not use the time clock once per day during the work day has no defense against a charge that they violated the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement article requiring that they do so. They would therefore be subject to legitimate minor discipline (such as a letter of concern or possibly a reprimand), but even that discipline can only be imposed after an appropriate investigation. If the employee did try to "clock in" but there were technical problems and has a persuasive argument to that effect, there should be no disciplining of the employee.

The Collective Bargaining Agreement says this about employee discipline:

ARTICLE 33. EMPLOYEE DISCIPLINE

A. GENERAL:

1. Disciplinary actions will be based on just cause. When an employee is to be discharged or terminated, such discharge or termination will be handled in accordance with applicable New Mexico law.

2. An administrator may place an employee on immediate administrative leave with pay to ensure the physical and emotional safety of students and co-workers and/or employee pending and during an investigation.

3. Prior to implementing any disciplinary action, an employee will be provided written notice of a predetermination meeting that shall include the charges against the employee. The purpose of the predetermination meeting is to provide the employee an opportunity to respond to the charges and is not an evidentiary hearing.

4. Any suspension of an employee pending final District action shall be Administrative Leave with Pay and shall be documented on a form that will identify the employee’s right to have Española-NEA representation.

PAY RAISES FOR FAVORITES WHILE STUDENTS AND 99% SUFFER

2011-10-07T10:18:00.002-06:00

Click on the title of this post to see the video:

Here's the "copy" for the story: District gives thousands in pay raises
Gov. says that money should be spent on kids

Updated: Thursday, 06 Oct 2011, 11:31 PM MDT
Published : Thursday, 06 Oct 2011, 11:31 PM MDT

Reporter: Katie Kim

ESPANOLA, N.M. (KRQE) - Top administrators from the Espanola School District are getting tens of thousands of dollars in pay raises, according to district superintendent Evelyn Maruska.

District records show a group of administrators working in the central offices will see an increase in their take-home pay totaling about $375,000. Maruska said she has recently cut several high-paying administration jobs, so many employees are now pulling double duty and getting rewarded as a result.

"Some of the individuals that did get increases in pay are now responsible for multi-responsibilities," said Maruska.

Maruska got the biggest pay raise of all at $31,000, bringing her salary to up to $120,000. But Maruska said that is the same amount her predecessor made.

Maruska said even with the pay increases, she has saved the district more than $300,000.

But teachers and the governor said the money should be spent on kids in the classroom, especially in Espanola where the district is considered failing by state standards. The district has a 54 percent graduation rate, well below the state average of 67 percent. Also, more than half of the students are not proficient in reading and math, according to the state Public Education Department.

"To give supervisors and people in the bureaucracy large salary increases when that money needs to go into intervention programs, obviously we're not putting out kids first," said Martinez. "We're all doing more with less, but our kids cannot suffer the consequences just so we can have administrators have higher salaries."

NO PAY CAN BE DOCKED WITHOUT DUE PROCESS ... TIMECLOCK CONCERNS

2011-10-04T09:26:00.001-06:00

In Espanola, there can be no legitimate automatic docking of pay, ever, period.
[This and other important information can be found on our Local Blog: espanolaeducators.blogspot.com Note there is no "@"].

Will they do it sometime? Perhaps, then we have to fight to undue it, but there is no question it would be reversed.

There is established law and there is wording in the Collective Bargainig Agreement that can both be brought forth in any needed advocacy to have a "docking" of pay reversed

Any administrator who does "dock" pay subjects themselves to a Grievance and possible disciplinary action of their own for doing so.

Under basic contract law, it is established that a contracted right to salary cannot be unilaterially withheld from an employee without due process rights, and that means an opportunity to answer the charge that they were not at work on a given day (assuming there is no record of them not clocking in). The law is clear that time worked must be compensated for.

A NOTE OF CAUTION: Any Certified employee who does not use the timeclock once per day during the work day has no defense against a charge that they violated the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement article requiring that they do so. They would therefore be subject to legitimate minor discipline (such as a letter of concern or possibly a reprimand), but even that discipline can only be imposed after an appropriate investigation. If the employee did try to "clock in" but there were technical problems and has a persuasive argument to that effect, there should be no disciplining of the employee.

The Collective Bargaining Agreement says this about employee discipline:
ARTICLE 33. EMPLOYEE DISCIPLINE

A. GENERAL:

1. Disciplinary actions will be based on just cause. When an employee is to be discharged or terminated, such discharge or termination will be handled in accordance with applicable New Mexico law.

2. An administrator may place an employee on immediate administrative leave with pay to ensure the physical and emotional safety of students and co-workers and/or employee pending and during an investigation.

3. Prior to implementing any disciplinary action, an employee will be provided written notice of a predetermination meeting that shall include the charges against the employee. The purpose of the predetermination meeting is to provide the employee an opportunity to respond to the charges and is not an evidentiary hearing.

4. Any suspension of an employee pending final District action shall be Administrative Leave with Pay and shall be documented on a form that will identify the employee’s right to have Española-NEA representation.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: RE: clocking in questions
Date: Mon, 3 Oct 2011
From: ANOTHER MEMBER
To: John Reese

So if we fail to clock in is the district allowed to automatically dock our sick leave or force us to take leave without pay?

...

From: John Reese [mailto:espanola.nea@gmail.com]
Sent: Monday, October 03, 2011 2:23 PM
Subject: clocking in questions

We are informed that some Certified staff, especially at the HS are either not clocking in once per day, or are having technical problems with the system.

We remind members that through negotiations we removed the burden of having to clock in and out for most Certified staff. Our Collective Bargainign Agreement now requires this:

(a) Certified staff regularly assigned to one location only do have to clock in once a day, at any time during that day, to help the District know for certain you were at work on that day, not to document arrival and departure.

(b) Folks assigned to multiple sites do still have to use the time-clocks to indicate arrival and departure at work sites.

(c) All hourly employees must still clock in to arrival and departure at work sites.

For TECHNICAL PROBLEMS: If your name badge is not working, please see Crystal at the Human Resources office so they can get you a new badge. If there is a different type of technical problem with the clocks, please report that to the Principal.

Española-NEA also suggests that as with all employment-related matters, you keep a log of these actions, including dates/times technical issues occur for you and to whom/when/how you reported the problems. See http://www.nea-nm.org/ProfessionalIssues/ProfFileTips.htm for tips on keeping a professional file (at home, not at work).

Thank you,

John Reese
Española-NEA President
505-852-1150 h
505-692-8318 c
http://espanolaeducators.blogspot.com

T.I.F. Failure by District Blasted As Irresponsible: RG SUN Editorial

2011-10-04T09:06:00.002-06:00

Wheels Fall off
Teacher Incentive Fund
By R. Braiden Trapp
Published:
Friday, September 30, 2011 11:03 AM MDT
Imagine your boss comes to you at work and tells you he has access to a pool of money that he can disburse to employees who sign up for an incentive program. Your boss tells you if you meet certain criteria over the next year and raise your performance level, he’s going to give you a big fat bonus. You’d probably work hard and check in with your boss occasionally to make sure you’re meeting the bench marks.

Finally, your year is up and you have performed all the tasks your boss set for you. It’s time for that bonus.

But the boss didn’t read the fine print, set aside his share of the money and didn’t really understand how that pool of money should be distributed. No check, no apology, no explanation.

We’re referring to the Española School District.

Teachers five years ago were given the above scenario. Over 200 teachers signed up to participate in the Teacher Incentive Fund. Many of them met the list of things annually and got their money. However, in the fifth year, the District has to pay 75 percent of the cost or about $1 million. The District also has to show student achievement improvement and multiple teacher reviews within the period.

To no one’s surprise, none of the criteria was met, making the District ineligible for the funds. The District didn’t budget for the cost and the Board is clueless as to what was agreed. Further to no one’s surprise, they’re going to try to blame “previous administrations.”

National Educational Association liaison Charles Goodmacher told the District five years ago there would be an issue with the fifth year. The Rio Grande SUN stated pretty much the same thing in a story in March 2010.

We had problems with the Program from the start. The Northern New Mexico Network administers the federal money. It’s a non-profit in Rio Rancho operated by Carlos Atencio. This guy is the poster child for abuse of federal funds. He pays himself $177,576 a year to send checks to Española and Taos school districts. From a $2.1 million fund, his management runs $528,555 and he only distributes $451,752 to the schools. This must be the most lopsided federal fund in existence.

And Atencio is shameless. His beginning salary in 2003 was $94,004. He has raised himself over seven years to almost double his pay. Really, does this guy care about teachers at all? He’s milking this fund for all it’s worth and no one seems to care.

Our school Board needs to step up, address all the teachers personally and explain what happened and how they can possibly make up for it in the future.

Sure, we’re broke. Teachers know that. However, they were led to believe an incentive check was coming. The Board needs to own the problem and make amends. That’s what mature adults do. That’s what leaders do.

Copyright © 2011 - Rio Grande Sun

NEA President Takes on Merit Pay

2011-10-03T11:37:00.001-06:00

Educator Compensation Institute

NEA President Takes on Merit Pay

About merit pay schemes, NEA President Dennis Van Roekel says, "They're a little naive and short-sighted. Vanderbilt University did a study over three years. And what it says is when you offer bonuses of up to $8,000, it doesn't change student achievement. Daniel Pink's work says if you're doing a repetitive task, an incentive actually enhances performance. But as soon as you move into complex tasks, not only does it not enhance performance; it actually hinders it. So, with that as a background, what do we do about pay? There isn't enough money there. The pie that's available to distribute to teachers, it's going to have to be bigger."

Thanks,
Jim Carlson
President, Educator Compensation Institute
carlson@edcomp.org

T.I.F. Meeting a Huge Success: Express Yourself at the Board Meeting Sept 21, 2011!

2011-09-09T16:02:00.002-06:00

Fifty-four individuals came together Wednesday Sept 7, 2011 at the Gym of JHR Elementary to take action against the District's failure to come through on their promises to employees made under the "TIF" (Teacher Incentive Fund) program. The failed attempt to improved educational outcomes by offering a bonus of up to several thousand dollars per year, also is a massive breach of trust and contracts.

Participants formed a TIF Justice Task Force, and identified possible next steps to reverse this injustice. While other options are developed, a certain next step is to have a massive presence at the September 21, 2011 school board meeting. BE THERE (please)!

Upcoming Opportunities to be Part of the Solution

2011-09-09T15:53:00.000-06:00

Sept 10: 9 to noon Employee Rights Training: First Steps To Protect E.V.H.S. John Reese’s classroom
Sept 10: 1:30 p.m. CELEBRATE The Reinstatement of our President John Reese, LaCocina. Desserts!
Sept 20: 4:45-5:30 Espanola-NEA General meeting (AR’s required, all members welcome) CVMS Room 107
Oct. 22: NEA-NM Fall Professional Issues Conference on Teacher Evaluation, School Grading and School Funding issues (Abq.)

DISCHARGE OF ESPAÑOLA-NEA LOCAL PRESIDENT OVERTURNED BY SCHOOL BOARD: EDUCATION COMMUNITY ACTIVATION HELPED

2011-08-23T17:41:00.000-06:00

PRESS RELEASE Tuesday, August 23, 2011
For more information: Charles Goodmacher, NEA-New Mexico (505) 450-3155
John Reese (after 4 p.m.) (505) 692-8318
Todd Wertheim / Roxie De Santiago, The Jones Firm, (505) 982-0011
DISCHARGE OF ESPAÑOLA-NEA LOCAL PRESIDENT OVERTURNED BY SCHOOL BOARD: EDUCATION COMMUNITY ACTIVATION HELPED

Española-NEA Local President John Reese was reinstated to his position as a science teacher at Española Valley High School late last night in a courageous decision by the Española School Board to overturn the Notice of Intent to Discharge issued by the District’s Superintendent, Evelyn Maruska. The decision came on a unanimous vote by the Board. John Reese is back in his classroom today educating students.

The Notice of Intent to Discharge stemmed from an incident May 2011 in which Mr. Reese defended himself and his students from a wandering student who had invaded their outdoor classroom space. The student injured Mr. Reese when he hit him with an 8 foot pipe.

“We thank the Board members for their decision. They displayed fairness and independence in putting an excellent teacher back into the service of our students,” said Michael Lapcevic, Española-NEA Employee Rights Chair and fellow High School teacher. John Reese’ wife Erica Kay notes, “This is not only a great victory for our family, but for students in Española and the union as well.”

Of the victory, NEA-New Mexico UniServ Director Charles Goodmacher said, “No doubt the Board responded to both the strong case put forth by our attorneys at The Jones Firm and the enormous power of collective action as demonstrated by the public, including school employees, who signed a petition in just two days of circulation. Our union is stronger than ever,” notes Goodmacher. “In the Española Public Schools, any employee who had doubts as to whether there is value in being a member of the Española-NEA, is now invited to join by contacting their Association Representative or visiting our web site, www.nea-nm.org,” he added.

WE WON! THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT OF JOHN REESE AND THE UNION

2011-08-23T06:39:00.002-06:00

We beat the Discharge!

THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR YOUR SUPPORT OF JOHN REESE AND THE UNION - ESPANOLA-NEA. Some said the Board would vote against him no matter the merits. What those skeptics of union power did not realize is the enormous power of collective people (in this case, union) power, especially when combined with having the truth and justice on our side.

If anyone had any doubts about the power of collective action, let them now be erased!

Thank you so much to everyone who signed either the hard copy or the electronic petitions! In two days time, we gathered signatures on the hard copy from a majority of the school employees (more than 300) in Espanola, and many more were among the 200+ people who also signed the electronic petition.

We are glad too for the signatures gathered at Northern New Mexico College, also in Espanola, by our sister union there, a Local of the New Mexico Federation of Teachers. We hope this support signals the beginning of more collaborative, collective action ahead. That Local has six Prohibited Practice Complaints before the State Labor Board for their administration's offensive anti-union actions.

In the Espanola Public Schools, the need to convert many current not-yet-members is as strong as ever. We cannot rest on this victory, as sweet as it is. The issues with the non-payment of TIF incentives, the actions pending against other employees and the need to continue progress on improving the Student Discipline (and other) provisions of the Collective Bargaining demand that each member who shares these concerns convince their colleagues that now is the time to join (plus, the addition of a $50 rebate for the new members and a $25 thank you to the recruiter can't hurt).

IN JOYOUS SOLIDARITY!

Charles Goodmacher
NEA-NM UniServ Director
(505) 450-3155

Petition Against Reese Discharge Gains Steam - Nearly 100% at one site!

2011-08-19T11:31:00.002-06:00

At one school Thursday, in less than an hour, one individual gathered eighteen petitions signatures! Everyone signed except for two people - one had already signed the online petition, and the other was afraid for their job. It's sad that such fear exists, but in most cases showing fearful people the way through your example (and the example of others who sign) helps people to overcome their fear. The District certainly is not going to retaliate against hundreds of employees!

How many signatures are being gathered at your site?

Please bring completed hard-copy signatures to Lauro Barrera at E.T.S./Fairview Elementary by 4:30 p.m. today, Friday, or call him at 927-2100. We can pick up your signatures, if you don't have a way to get them to him from your school.

http://www.change.org/petitions/espanola-public-schools-superintendent-evelyn-maruska-reinstate-science-teacher-and-espanola-nea-president-john-reese

The Reese hearing is Monday!

RG SUN Latest Article on Attempt to Discharge Our President

2011-08-19T11:15:00.002-06:00

Video, Report Detail Teacher's Punch
[Please note: We do not necessarily agree with all the comments and implications of this article. We provide it for your further information.]

By Chris McGuinness
SUN Staff Writer
Published:
Thursday, August 18, 2011 10:07 AM MDT
A 12-page Española Police report and video footage shed more light on a May 10 fight between Española Valley High School science teacher John Reese and 14-year-old student Sonny Romero.

The report, written by School Resource Officer Danny Pacheco, includes summaries of statements given by students who witnessed the fight in which Reese allegedly sprayed Romero with a hose and then broke Romero’s nose when the student tried to hit Reese with a six-foot piece of metal pipe.

All nine of the witnesses confirmed Romero was not in Reese’s class and was talking with Reese’s students when Reese asked him to leave. When Romero refused to go, all nine students said Reese then grabbed and pushed Romero with one or both hands to try and get him to leave.

Three of the nine students said they saw and heard Reese try to call the school’s office for help. Reese said he used his cell phone to ask for help from administrators and security guards, but no one came.

Two other students said they saw Reese on his phone but did not know who he called.

Cell phone videos taken by two students show parts of the altercation. Both can be viewed by clikcing here.

One clip shows Reese and Romero speaking, as well as Reese talking on his cell phone. The second clip shows Reese spraying Romero with a hose. Romero then picks up a long pipe and strikes Reese with it. The second video clip ends with Reese grabbing the pipe and punching Romero in the face. Romero then throws a rock at Reese before the clip ends.

Pacheco’s report states some of the students said they heard Reese mock Romero. One witness, Juan Mondragon, told Pacheco he heard Reese refer to Romero as a “douche bag, (expletive) idiot and a retard” during the altercation.

“(Reese) was said to have told (Romero) to ‘get the (expletive) out of here you loser,’” Pacheco wrote.

Reese denied taunting Romero and said the name-calling most likely came from students watching the fight.

“There were a lot of students there, and they were taunting him,” Reese said. “I told him to pull his head out of his ass, but (Romero) was the one cussing at me.”

Romero, 14, of Chimayó, said Reese made fun of him and provoked the fight.

“He was calling me names,” Romero said. “I felt like he was disrespecting me.”

Neither video clip contains any evidence of words being exchanged between Reese and Romero.

Romero said he ended up in Reese’s class because his teacher was gone for the day and there was no substitute. Romero refused to give out the name of his teacher.

The police report also states Romero was supposed to be accompanied by a behavior management specialist. Such specialists are assigned to students with behavioral needs by the nonprofit Casa de Corazón, and the amount of time they are supposed to spend with a student can vary, according to District Special Education Director Christina Baca.

According to the report, when Pacheco asked Romero why the specialist wasn’t with him, Romero said the specialist wasn’t supposed to come to the school until after lunch. When the officer asked Romero’s grandmother why Romero came to school without the specialist, she allegedly said she wanted her grandson to attend school anyway.

“We can’t stop parents from sending their kids to school,” Casa de Corazón intake coordinator Tosha Martinez said. “If the specialist isn’t there, there’s not much we can do if they decide to send their child to school anyway.”

Martinez said she could not discuss specifics about the services Romero was receiving.

The failure of school security to respond to the incident, the alleged lack of a teacher in Romero’s classroom and the absence of Romero’s specialist left union representative Charles Goodmacher questioning the District’s commitment to supporting teachers in a tough environment.

“There’s no doubt that this incident would not have occurred if administration and the security staff had been on their toes,” Goodmacher said.

Romero said Monday he had not been punished for the fight and planned to return to school for the 2011-12 school year Tuesday.

Reese Fighting for Job

As Romero heads back to school, Reese is battling Superintendent Evelyn Maruska’s June 30 decision to fire him based on the allegations surrounding the fight.

In a letter to Reese, Maruska stated the teacher engaged in “violent and abusive” conduct toward Romero, which provoked him to fight.

Reese, who is also the District’s union president, sent a letter via his Santa Fe attorney July 7 requesting a termination hearing as per the union’s collective bargaining agreement. Reese said Monday the hearing was scheduled for Aug. 22.

Despite initially saying he would not have a problem requesting that the hearing be open to the public, Reese said he changed his mind based on advice from his lawyer, Roxie De Santiago. Reese maintained he was confident the evidence would show that he was acting in self-defense when he hit Romero.

Goodmacher chided Maruksa for trying to fire the teacher.

“We are certain that even if we have to go to arbitration, John Reese will be reinstated as a teacher,” Goodmacher said “(Maruska) will simply be wasting thousands of dollars in taxpayers’ money to oust the union president.”

Romero said he hoped the District would fire Reese because he provoked the altercation, which resulted in unwanted media attention for the student.

“It was kind of embarrassing seeing myself all over (television),” Romero said. “It was (Reese’s) fault, and he should be fired.”

However, one of Reese’s students, sophomore Bobby Ray Sisneros, questioned the District’s decision to fire Reese.

“I was there, and I saw the fight,” Sisneros said. “(Romero) started it, and (Reese) was just trying to protect himself. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.”

According to District policy, Reese will make his case to the Española School Board, whose President Coco Archuleta said he could not comment on the matter because it related to disciplinary action against an employee.

Maruksa did not return calls for comment.

Counselors in Espanola Won a Big Grievance Last Month!

2011-08-19T11:14:00.000-06:00

In today’s challenging environment, here is a testament to the power and value of maintaining a strong, collective voice…

Counselors in Espanola won a big grievance last month! After the end of the last school year, the Superintendent announced she would transfer all Counselors throughout the District. The Counselors organized themselves as a group, and with help from their local leadership, filed a grievance. After delays and a hearing which resulted in a continuation of the planned transfers, NEA-NM and Espanola-NEA filed for Arbitration with the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service.

The District then rescinded their transfer decision in a memo which acknowledged their failure to follow transfer processes included in the Collective Bargaining Agreement. They called Counselors into a meeting July 27, 2010 to discuss assignments for 2011-2012. Apprehensive that the District might try to simply do the proper process to accomplish the wrong thing (the original transfer assignments), the Counselors presented concerns for the impact of transfers on the students. In the end, the District assigned them all to school locations of their choice. Some stayed where they've been and some moved to other locations they were happy to be relocated to.

"This is a huge victory for the students, the community, all union members and especially for the counselors," said John Reese, Espanola-NEA President.

SIGN THE PETITION NOW - URGENT ACTION NEEDED!

2011-08-17T10:53:00.004-06:00

Sign the petition yourself, get colleagues to sign (especially those without frequent email/internet access) no later than this Sunday, August 21. The School Board hearing is coming up this next Monday, so we need these returned ASAP.

We have heard by word of mouth that some Board members have said they will vote to Discharge John without regard to the merits! Perhaps they will listen to the power of numbers, especially from employees such as yourselves who can make the difference in whether or not School Board members get re-elected or whether other votes the Board puts before the public for votes win, or not. We hope Board members will act ethically, but know they pay attention to the power of numbers!

If you have a "hard copy" of the petition, please return it by Close of Business Friday, Aug 19 to Lauro Barrera, ETS Fairview Elementary (927-2100). If you can't get hard copy to Lauro before 4:30 Friday, and you have signatures from colleagues in hand, please call Lauro (927-2100) to arrange a way so your signatures will count.

OR Sign the on-line petition at:

http://www.change.org/petitions/espanola-public-schools-superintendent-evelyn-maruska-reinstate-science-teacher-and-espanola-nea-president-john-reese

The on-line petition is for everyone, not just school employees or folks in the Espanola valley. Put it on your Facebook page, twitter it ... send it via email... just please do it today!

For the sake of this case, and for all employee rights cases in Espanola, your NEA membership is critical. As noted above, folks in power always react to the power of numbers. Do your part, if you're not already a member - join today. In Espanola-NEA, current members receive $25 when you enroll a colleague, and the new member gets $50!

Thanks for your Solidarity!

District ATTACKS Our Union President: Attempts to Discharge Him

2011-08-07T22:20:00.001-06:00

Should Not Have Come To Teacher/Student Fight
By R. Braiden Trapp (RIO GRANDE SUN EDITORIAL) Published: Thursday, May 19, 2011 10:06 AM MDT

The punch. That’s what is on students’ minds at Española Valley High School as they eye the homestretch of graduation and summer vacation.

When high school science teacher John Reese had enough of Sonny Romero’s disrespectful attitude and inability to follow simple directions, he called security. Then it escalated into Romero getting doused with a garden hose, maybe someone was pushed, a galvanized pipe was allegedly swung or poked at Reese and Reese punched Romero out.

There was a similar, yet dissimilar, situation last fall at the middle school regarding a student who was allegedly choked and the public outcry was against the teacher.

The similarity is that a teacher hit a student. That’s where the similarity ends.
To contrast these two different altercations one must look at the students' behavior and the way the teacher responded. In the case of middle school teacher Charles Prostak allegedly choking student Jacob Lovato, there didn’t appear to be a trigger or something that warranted the attack.

Also, in that case the mother was desperately trying to get middle school principal Ruben Lucero, security, Superintendent Janette Archuleta and eventually the Española School Board to answer her questions and address her concerns regarding safety in the middle school.

In Mr. Reese’s case, he had reported Romero to administrators and some of his ignored reports and poor responses by the administration are part of a civil suit several teachers are bringing against the District, Board and ProSec, the security company that is supposed to be watching over your little darlings at the high school.

We have heard from several sources, similar stories of Romero behaving poorly, to use a euphemism, and ProSec not really doing anything about it. There are eye-witness reports (often not the most dependable form of testimony) that Reese called for security before hosing down Romero and there was no response.

None of us in the newsroom can recall our web poll ever receiving such an overwhelmingly one-sided response and the speed with which people responded. Clearly, this is not a scientific poll in anyway. Our good sheriff figured out immediately how to game it, so it’s not that tough to figure out.

However, as of this writing, the response to the poll question, “Española Valley High School teacher John Reese allegedly punched a student, breaking his nose, after the student struck Reese with a metal pole and did not respond to verbal and non-violent attempts to make him stop. Was Reese’s punch justified?” was running 203 to 17. While not scientific, that’s significant.

Then there’s the comments on our web site following the story. Again, not empirical data but there are a lot of different people responding, other than the regular whiners who seem to have something to say about every story and our ineptitude and incompetence while blundering along for 56 years not knowing what we’re doing. Many are identifying themselves as teachers or students.

From the web edited for spelling, grammar and punctuation:

“That teacher should not have been arrested. He should have been given a raise.”

“It’s called self defense. That kid had it coming, end of story.”

“A student physically attacks a teacher, a public official, and he (the teacher) defends himself in an instinctive fashion, and he is arrested?”

“Why was he arrested? It sounds to me like he was just protecting himself.”

And on it runs. There are many very similar remarks. We did not find any stating the teacher should have his license revoked and publicly flogged.

That brings us to the final point. What should a teacher do in this case? Teachers want to know. It’s sad that we’ve come to the point that students drive teachers to defend themselves from physical attacks but as the student policy states, it’s against the law to attack anyone on school property. So what do you do?

Everyone has the right to defend themselves or another person being attacked. A teacher shouldn’t hit a student but if the administration and ProSec’s tired security guards were doing their respective jobs, it wouldn’t come to a point where a teacher is put in such a situation.

This really isn’t an issue of whether Reese was right to punch Romero out. It’s an issue of why did it come to a point Reese had to make that decision and the Board and transitional administration must address that breakdown soon, before it’s more than a broken nose.

DISTRICT OFFICIALS ARE TRYING TO DISCHARGE JOHN REESE FOR HIS ACTIONS … WE BELIEVE THEY ARE DOING SO BECAUSE OF HIS UNION ACTIVITIES … SACRIFICES HE MAKES ON YOUR BEHALF.

STAY TUNED TO LEARN MORE ABOUT WHAT YOU CAN DO TO END THE PERSECUTION OF ESPANOLA-NEA PRESIDENT JOHN REESE

JOIN ESPANOLA TODAY $50 rebate...

2011-08-07T22:18:00.000-06:00

For 125 years NEA-New Mexico
has been standing strong for public education.

Now more than ever
we need YOU to stand with us…
for our students, our profession, our rights,
and our future.

Join NEA-New Mexico today!
We know these are tough times, so we will rebate $50.00 of your annual dues to you right now!*

We need you to join today for the very same reasons you chose the education profession, because you believe:
• every child deserves a fair shot at a good education;
• public school employees deserve respect and a decent living; and
• working together, we can change the world, one child, one school and one
community at a time.

In tough and dangerous times,
tough and dedicated people stick together.

Become a member now!

See your local Association Representative to join and receive your

rebate:

*THIS REBATE OFFER IS GOOD ONLY until October 31, 2011

National Education Association - New Mexico
Putting Kids First - Promoting Professional Excellence
Improving the Well-Being of School Employees
www.nea-nm.org

So what good is a union, anyway?

2011-03-19T20:17:00.000-06:00

Support the Bond and Mill Levy!

2011-01-20T18:09:00.003-07:00

Dear Members and EPS employees –

Tonight at the board meeting the school board wrote and passed a resolution stating that if the Mill Levy passed, thus funding (re-funding) the maintenance for all the buildings as well as qualifying the district for matching state funds, that the money that is now being pulled out of the general fund for maintenance, approximately $775,000 – they resolve to not only put it back into the general fund but to earmark and budget it for the classroom.

When I say classroom, which was defined at the board meeting as student/classroom centered (the exact language will be available soon) but what it means is that the money will possibly be spent on staff raises (maybe, pending negotiations) for all staff directly involved with students, cooks, custodians, secretaries, receptionists, teacher aides, teachers. It may also be spent on classroom supplies, school trips, class projects, etc. Excluded from things that it can be spent on are administration, central office, and maintenance – maintenance being what the mill levy will fund, and why this money will be available for the students and student centered stuff.

The school board made, voted and passed this resolution because your Espanola-NEA leadership team asked the board to attend the January Executive Board meeting and explain both the Bond Issue, and the Mill Levy. They then spent considerable time talking with the school board members who came for that purpose and suggested to the School Board that if they could promise that the money freed up by the mill levy would be spent in the classroom for students, that Espanola-NEA would back the bond and mill levy and actively and ask all our members, and all other school employees to please

VOTE YES

on the bond and mill levy issue on Tuesday February 1, 2011.

The bond issue has been carefully orchestrated by the School Board so that there will be no tax increase for anyone, taxes regarding the bond will remain the same through out the life of the bond, as they are now. The mill levy will cost $2 for every $3,000 your property is valued at by the property assessor. The School Board has set up what we consider to be an excellent Bond Oversight Committee, with several community members on it, including Cathy Berryhill, the committee will meet and go over what the money is being spent on, and how it is being spent, and the order in which projects are being worked on. There will also be individual school site oversight committees who will stay on top of the individual school site projects.

This is more accountability for bond moneys than has ever occurred before, we think it is a good plan and we know how much the district needs both the bond and the mill levy – Please VOTE YES and encourage all of your friends and neighbors to VOTE YES.

Brought you by your friendly Espanola-NEA – thank you for voting yes, and if you would like to volunteer for the phone bank, please contact John Reese at the HS.

ESP SOCIAL ON NOVEMBER 17, 2010

2010-11-09T16:32:00.000-07:00

You are invited to our ESP Celebration SOCIAL on Wednesday, November 17 at 6:30 pm. Dessert and beverages are our gift to you! Bring yourself and your colleagues for the ESP Celebration Social event. For every n0n-member colleague you bring, we’ll give you a $5 gift card. Bring them as a new member, and we’ll give you a $10 gift card.

NEA’s Member Benefits representative will provide information on how you can save money through your membership too!

We will be at the OLD La Cocina (west of the intersection of Los Alamos Hwy and Santa Clara Bridge Road) . This will be an informal event.

2010-10-13T13:57:00.002-06:00

Many of our colleagues have raised serious concerns about how the District is implementing Leave and Salary articles of the Collective Bargaining Agreement. Please complete the brief survey on these issues. Your input will help us determine the full extent of the problems and will be useful as we determine our next steps.

Please go to www.formdesk.com/NEA-NM/Espanola1/

THE NEXT GENERAL MEETING OF THE ASSOCIATION IS TUESDAY, OCTOBER 19, 4:30 p.m. at the Laborer's Union Hall, near the highway to Los Alamos (and the OLD La Cocina). We'll end the day with phone calling on behalf of education-supportive candidates for the November ballot.

3 EMPLOYEE RIGHTS Days Scheduled

2010-09-10T11:52:00.003-06:00

YOUR EMPLOYEE RIGHTS:
Why (and how) NEA-Members Benefit from Greater Protections

(“If you’re not sharing the driving, then you can be taken for a ride!”)

One More Saturday Morning Opportunities
(10 a.m. to noon)

LaCocina, 415 Santa Clara Bridge Road

November 20 - Grievances: How It Works, What Do I Do?

Contact the Association Representative in your building: http://espanolaeducators.blogspot.com
www.nea-nm.org

OUR News Release!

2010-04-03T21:58:00.002-06:00

NEWS RELEASE

For more information, Contact: April 1, 2010
Espaňola-NEA President Brian Every
(505) 927-0284

Espaňola District Slaps Education Support Personnel:
Union Files Prohibited Practice Complaint

“It’s just plain wrong,” says Espaňola-NEA President Brian Every of the Espaňola school district’s declaration that they are “suspending” negotiations with the union over a new Collective Bargaining Agreement for Education Support Personnel in the district.

A letter from Superintendent Archuleta including the district’s declaration was received by the union Tuesday evening, March 30, 2010. One of our custodian members called it “a slap in the face of us working people who provide the students a clean and safe environment in which to learn.”

The Espaňola-NEA today responded to the district’s declaration by filing a Prohibited Practice Complaint about the action with the New Mexico Public Employee Labor Relations Board. The state labor board has the authority to order the district back to the bargaining table. The union’s complaint cites the district’s action is “bad faith bargaining” in violation of the New Mexico Public Employee Bargaining Act.

With their action, says Every, “the district is trying to deprive the lowest paid employees of their legal rights. We won’t let that happen. We’re following the process, while they act like they are above the law, and they seem to believe the district’s support personnel can’t speak for themselves,” said Every.

The December, 2007 vote in favor of collective bargaining was 88 to 1 among the employees eligible to vote on whether the Espaňola-NEA should negotiate on behalf of district employees in that unit.

The vote among all employees was 401 to 15. “It is an outrage that the District claims the union lacks support of the employees,” noted Espaňola-NEA Chief Negotiator Laurel Fain. “We have negotiated two successive contracts with the district and our membership continues to grow,” added Fain. It’s obvious the district needs to see many more dues paying members before they take seriously their responsibility to treat all employees with the respect we deserve.“

“There is absolutely no role for the employer in any action which could possibly end the union’s status as the Exclusive Representative. In fact, it is strictly prohibited under the law from doing so,” says Charles Goodmacher, NEA-New Mexico’s staff working with the local Espaňola-NEA.

The Letter from Our Superintendent

2010-04-03T21:53:00.002-06:00

And follow the link above to read the letter from our superintendent!

Our PPC

2010-04-03T21:03:00.007-06:00

STATE OF NEW MEXICO

PUBLIC EMPLOYEE LABOR RELATIONS BOARD

2929 Coors N.W., Suite #303

Albuquerque, NM 87120

(505) 831-5422 Telephone

(505) 831-8820 Facsimile

Thursday, April 01, 2010

Espaňola-N.E.A., Complainant,

Address: c/o NEA-New Mexico

4223 Montgomery Blvd, NE Albuquerque, NM 87109

Telephone Number: (505) 450-3155, or (505) 883-4737

Vs.

Espaňola Public Schools, Respondent.

Address: 714 Calle Don Diego

Espaňola, NM 87532

Telephone Number: (505) 753-2254

PROHIBITED PRACTICES COMPLAINT

Charles Goodmacher, NEA-NM UniServ Director

COMES NOW the Complainant and alleges violations of Section 10 7E-17 A. and D. (Scope of Bargaining) and also violations of Section 10 7E-19 A., B., C., D., F., G., and H. (Public Employer Prohibited Practice) of the Public Employees Bargaining Act (10-7E-1 through 10-7E-26 NMSA 1978) (the Act).

This alleged violation occurred as follows: Respondent failed to bargain in good faith, when on March 30, 2010, Respondent (a) provided a letter (Exhibit A) claiming to “suspend” negotiations over the Education Support Personnel Collective Bargaining Agreement; and (b) refused at the negotiation table to respond in any way to submitted proposals which language includes changing said Agreement.

This occurred as follows:

Espaňola-NEA was certified as the Exclusive Representative for two Collective Bargaining units (Certified and Educational Support Personnel) in the Espaňola Public Schools by the New Mexico Public Employee Relations Board pursuant to an election conducted by said board on Wednesday, December 5, 2007.

The parties entered into initial negotiations and an agreement, establishing a Collective Bargaining Agreement first for the year 2008-2009, then subsequently renewing the CBA’s for the 2009-2010 year.

The current agreements expire June 30, 2010.

On Tuesday, March 30, 2010, the parties met for the fourth time this year to renegotiate the two Collective Bargaining Agreements. At approximately 5:30, during a time that was declared for a “caucus,” the Chief Negotiator, Mr. John Martinez, hand delivered a letter (EXHIBIT A). The letter is dated March 26, 2010, but was not delivered until March 30, 2010. The letter is addressed to the Espaňola-NEA President Brian Every, but delivered to union Chief Negotiator Laurel Fain. The letter explicitly states that Respondent is suspending negotiations with Espaňola-NEA.

Upon resumption of the negotiation session (5:50 p.m.), Espaňola-NEA submitted new proposals for consideration by Respondent. Several proposals apply to both the Certified and the Educational Support Personnel Agreements. The Respondent’s Chief Negotiator responded that they would not respond to our proposals as they apply to the Educational Support Personnel Collective Bargaining Agreement, as they had suspended those negotiations. This same response was provided to several proposals made by Espaňola-NEA during the negotiating session. Additionally, though Petitioner had verbally stated readiness to sign a Tentative Agreement (T.A.) on one specific proposal which would have modified the same article in both Collective Bargaining Agreements, Respondent was unwilling to sign said T.A. Responded stated they would only sign a T.A. for the Certified Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Respondent’s letter to Petitioner and actions at the negotiation table March 30, 2010 violates Section 10 7E-19 (B) (C) (F) (G) and (H) of the Act by refusing to bargain in good faith with Respondent and by interfering with Espaňola-NEA’s duty to negotiate on behalf of employees that have selected it as their exclusive bargaining representative. Under the clear language of Section 10-7E-16 of the Act, Respondent plays no role in determining whether the Union continues as the Exclusive Representative for the bargaining unit. Therefore, Respondent’s actions to establish such a role constitute the violations noted, as well as of P.E.B.A. Section 10-7E-16 of the Act.

The current Personnel Collective Bargaining Agreements expire June 30, 2010, and per Article 42 (Certified) and Article 44 (Education Support Personnel) (EXHIBIT B), and explicitly states that the Agreement:

“will remain in full force and effect through June 30, 2010. For fiscal year 2009-2010 either party may reopen all economic/financial articles and six (6) non-economic articles for negotiations. This agreement shall continue in full force and effect until replaced by subsequent written agreement as per the Española Public School District Labor Management Relations Resolution section 15 C.3., and PEBA.”

Further, Respondent’s claim that union dues-paying membership of less than a simple majority is equivalent to a loss in majority support for the union and can therefore lead to suspension of negotiations is legally incorrect. The National Labor Relations Board (Levitz Furniture Co. of the Pacific, NLRB, 2001) specifically ruled a decline in union membership would not be reflective of an actual loss of union support in any event. “The NLRB Board has long held that a failure to pay union dues does not reflect a lack of support for union representation, because employees often are content to support the union and enjoy the benefits of union representation without joining the union or giving it financial support.” See Levitz.

Respondent’s letter to Petitioner violates Section 10 7E-19 (A) and (D) of the Act. Through the language of the letter Respondent states that Respondent had researched who is and who is not deducting membership dues through the District. Such research was clearly for purposes of creating a (false) justification for refusing to bargain with Respondent in good faith, and was not for otherwise legitimate purposes connected with administrating said deductions. These actions discriminate against employees and subjects them to unlawful inspection of their status as union members.

Rule 11.21.3.10(A) NMAC requires that a response be filed with the Board within fifteen (15) days of the date of service.

I hereby declare that the information contained herein is true and correct to the best of my knowledge and belief.

_____________________________________Complainant or Representative

Signed this ______ day __________,2010.

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

It is hereby certified that on the 1^st day of April, 2010, a true and correct copy of the foregoing Prohibited Practices Complaint was faxed and emailed to Respondent, Superintendent Janette Archuleta, Espanola Public Schools.

____________________________________

Charles Goodmacher

Udate for Week of Aug 9, 2009

2009-08-20T19:59:00.010-06:00

YOUR RIGHTS AS AN EMPLOYEE OF THE DISTRICT

(For Information on Employee Rights Training see below)

The new contracts are possibly in error.

Your salary should have increased by at least $1. You may have the same salary as last year on your current contract. We believe this is wrong and have brought it to the attention of the Superintendent.
Paragraph 10 of the contract states that you can be called in on weekends, during school breaks etc to work or attend PD. This conflicts with our Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA.) This has also been brought to the attention of the Superintendent
Some teachers have been told that the deadline to turn in the signed contract was Wed, Aug. 19. The Superintendent said this was incorrect and she will send out a clarifying memo.
The Superintendent will be reviewing the contract and comparing it to the CBA. This could mean there will be other changes/corrections made to the contract.
The Superintendent has put out a memo informing principals that as per our CBA no members of the Bargaining Unit need Dr's notes for any absences.

If you want to sign and turn in your contract you should write this next to your name:

"In accord with terms and conditions per the CBA."

Information for certified personnel:

Prep time is work time and therefore paid time. Other duties may be assigned during prep time without additional compensation but not to exceed more than 3 times in any 20 day period.
Certified professional employees may be required to work beyond the normal work day without additional compensation. Employees may be required to attend faculty meetings of not more than 1 hour, not to exceed 3 hours in every 20 days
Employees may be required to attend other professional activities after then the normal duty day not to exceed 13 additional hours per year. Certified salaried employees may volunteer to attend an unlimited amount of professional activities throughout the year. Level III teachers are required to perform two to three assigned leadership professional activities per school year, as per their competency level.

For more information about your rights we are having two "Employee Rights Trainings"

(Each will be different and cover different material.)

The first is Tuesday August 25, 4:30 pm, Room 806 EVHS (portables behind cafeteria)

The second is Tuesday, September 8, 4:30 pm, Room 806 EVHS

We will be learning what is in the CBA, how it affects you, and what you can do to help insure that everyone's rights are protected. Please come and educate yourself on procedure and employee rights. It is your knowledge and understanding that keeps us all safe and sane at work.

Next AR and General membership meeting:

September 15, Library, Española Valley High School, 4.30 pm

If you want a future meeting at your school please let your building rep or an NEA officer know that you are willing to sponsor a meeting at your school. We will help set it up.

Committee member needed:

We need an NEA member to sit on the School Board Policy Committee. This committee will make suggestions to the school board about school board policy. If you are interested in being a part of the solution, and would like to be a part of this committee, please email Brian Every espanola.nea@gmail.com. You will be expected to meet with the committee and come to the Executive Board meetings of the Espanola-NEA to give a report on the Committee meetings.

Until next time…

John Reese, blog novice

Back in the Saddle Again!

2009-07-29T21:23:00.001-06:00

Hello Fellow NEA Members!

Summer is nearly over, School is getting ready to start – and your Española-NEA executive board has been working already – This is going to be a long letter – so hunker down and get comfortable – or close it and forget about it – but that was fair warning!

In not any particular order except how it occurs to me here is the summer’s news.

There were at least 4 teacher that were given letters of termination who asked for our help – everyone of them was offered their job back –
There was some question about the application of the Sick Leave Policy as bargained – we had an Agreement Oversight Committee meeting to clarify and attempt to resolve the issue – I am glad to say that after discussion with the new superintendent and the administrative team we reached the consensus that administration would fully support the sick leave policy as written for all Bargaining Unit Employees (BUE’s) which is most members. Essentially all cooks (except some head cooks) all custodians (except some head custodians) all secretaries (except office managers) all maintenance workers, all teachers and all teacher aides. If I missed some category, I apologize. Regardless, what this means is that no doctors excuses are needed for any medical absence for BUE’s. But a word of caution here – abuse of the sick leave policy will result in disciplinary action and will give admin grounds to argue and fight to reinstate some restrictions on sick leave. Please – act responsibly.
While we have not yet settled on a calendar we have come to a temporary agreement on how the calendar will look while we continue to negotiate or wait for arbitration – here is the scoop – we will follow last years calendar, day for day, with the adjustment for the dates falling on different days of the week, i.e. last year we started school on Monday August 11, this year, the same date is Monday August 10. The rest of the year, until resolution of the agreement, we will follow last years calendar. The only exceptions are the first week of school. The first week of school we will start on Monday the 10^th, have a classroom work day on Tuesday, a day off on Wednesday, and students start on Thursday the 13^th. After that – see last years calendar.
There have been camera’s installed in assorted places, including looking at the time clock – the reason for the camera’s looking at the time clock is that someone at three different locations vandalized the fingerprint sensor on the clocks. While I understand the urge to engage in this kind of behavior as I too have been tempted to act on similar impulses, it really only hurts all of us to do so – the district reasonably and rightly had to spend money putting in security camera’s to protect the time clocks – spending money that could go for raises, hiring new employees, paying more of our insurance premiums, or more supplies for the classroom. Because the school board has decided to not spend more on security this year, to provide enough security for all places that need it, there are plans to put in even more camera’s, and to have someone monitoring the camera’s. I don’t at this time know where all the camera’s are going, but be forewarned there will be more camera’s going in, and this is the reason why. We have been assured that they are not being installed to monitor employees work habits in anyway – and will not be used to monitor employees for any reason – however, as has already been the case – video records have been used to verify employees being where they were supposed to be, or not being where they were supposed to be in the past. This is likely to occur in the future as well. Some administrators have told employees that they can not use the video records to prove their innocence – the committee meeting cleared this up – video records can be used by both employees and administration to ascertain the facts in any situation – after there is sufficient cause to want to check the video records in the first place. Video records are not to be used for fishing expeditions or routine employee monitoring but rather for security purposes only.
This is all I can think of at this time however we have a few events coming up for those of you who would like to get more involved – please email or call me if you can help with any of these events – dates are solid, times and places are still subject to confirmation – so please call or email for the latest info.

New Employee Orientation – August 7, EVHS, about 11 a.m. to talk to new employees about what NEA is, what it does, and why they should join - And to eat lunch with them and make them feel welcome – help them fill out applications.
All Employee Orientation – August 10, EVHS, about 9 a.m. (or earlier) to set up NEA table, greet employees, give out goodies, sign up members, present the wonderful smiling face of Española-NEA to the non-members, and do the same after the all employee meeting.
First AR & general membership meeting August 18. Time and place to be announced.
First ER (Employee Rights) meeting August 25, time and place to be announced.
We need volunteers for the ER team, and for the bargaining team – if you are interested, please contact me.

The CBA’s are posted on both our website and our blog – we have had some help with the blog – there are posts being made more frequently now than they were for a while, so please check it out – not all blog entries are sent via email. Also I am going to update the website, so you might check it out at some time, there is a lot of good information there.

Welcome back to school Española-NEA – I am excited about this new school year – I think you will find life quite different this year and I do hope you enjoy this year.

Brian

Collective Bargaining Agreement is RATIFIED!

2009-05-07T14:31:00.003-06:00

CONGRATULATIONS!
IT’S YOUR FIRST EVER COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT!

FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS …
* The District now pays 2% more of your insurance premium.
* When Education Assistants cover classes without a teacher present, they’re now paid an additional $5 hourly, in chunks as small as 30 minutes.
* When an employee is paid overtime or for extra duties, the timelines by which they are paid is sped up.
* All summer time and weekend work is now voluntary; none can be mandated.
* Stipends and increments are all negotiated. No more special deals. The list is updated and inclusive.
* Certified employees asked to work beyond the number of days in personal contracts will be compensated at their daily rate.
* For E.S.P., there are stronger protections for appropriate overtime.

PROFESSIONAL ADVANCES …
* Discipline of students must be fair and supportive of employees and classroom management.
* A new limit is placed on interference with preparation time: other duties can only be assigned during your prep period on not more than 3 of every 20 days.
* A new limit on the number and length of faculty meetings: not more than one (1) hour in length, and not to exceed three hours in every 20 days (and they can’t be called with less than 48 hour advance notice).
* A new limit is created on requirements for the participation of Certified employees in "other professional duties" of not more than thirteen (13) hours per year. When required, employees will receive ten (10) days notice beforehand.
* Grade changes can no longer happen mysteriously or without thorough documentation, and teachers play a critical role.
* Employees will be provided copies of all forms and information concerning PDP’s observation and evaluation procedures at the beginning of each year.
* Site-based committees can’t be staffed by "favorites" only: the administrator must use an open-process. Site-based decisions must comply with the C.B.A.
* The District must consult with employees prior to requesting Class Size waivers from the PED.
Employees who drive (on more than one day) to more than one site, ten or more miles apart, are now reimbursed at the state rate.
* Stipend "post-season" bonuses now apply to sponsors and advisors of academic and cultural activities as well as for athletic coaches.

EMPLOYEE RIGHTS ARE CLEARER AND EXPANDED …
* Now, Discipline of employees must be fair: high standards apply. Disciplinary actions will be based on just cause, and this includes new employees too.
* If a meeting involves any issues which may lead to discipline, the employee can stop it until a union representative can be present.
* Personnel files cannot include any documents which you haven’t been shown first and signed for. You can respond to any document in your file.
* Final Grievance decisions are now made by an Arbitrator selected by the union and management together. The process is no longer political: the Board has no role at all and the administration can be overruled.
* No more time-clocks for certified staff working in one building.
* At the conclusion of faculty/staff meetings, a designated Association Representative may make Association announcements
* When you’re too sick for work…
* Teachers and others can not be made to find their own substitutes (as has sometimes been the practice here).
* The Leave policies now treat you with respect. No more presumption that you’re abusing the policy.
* VOLUNTARY TRANSFERS: Current employees applying for another job will all be interviewed, and will always be considered before outside applicants. Interviewed employees will be given written notice of decisions – no more waiting in limbo.
* The District must prove a REDUCTION IN FORCE is needed before laying off employees for budget reasons and if it is, then the new fair and objective process protects the employment rights of all bargaining unit members. A RIF cannot ever be used to retaliate against an employee.
* INVOLUNTARY TRANSFERS: no employee will suffer a loss in compensation during the current or future years because of a transfer.

EXCLUSIVE ESPAÑOLA-NEA RIGHTS …
* No significant changes can be made by the administration to any working condition without negotiating first with your union.
* At the conclusion of a faculty/staff meeting a designated Association Representative may make short Española-NEA announcements
* Your representation rights are stronger than ever in all employee rights situations.
* An Agreement oversight committee composed of union and management representatives can meet at any time to discuss district-wide concerns, but all major changes need to be negotiated and Española-NEA members vote to approve or reject any changes. Non-members have no say.

Please Note: Your unpaid negotiation team spent hundreds of hours over 18 months, and now you and all other employees in our bargaining unit will benefit. The Collective Bargaining Agreement works for you. Everyone benefits from the success made possible by our dues paying members. We NEED the membership of every Espanola school employee so we can enforce this agreement and together achieve lasting power to negotiate more successes for next year. If you’re not already a member, join today!

NEA President Van Roekel - Union Advocacy, Activism Makes for Solid Education Policies

2009-03-30T12:15:00.000-06:00

SUPERINTENDENT FORUM

2009-03-30T10:49:00.004-06:00

Espanola-NEA will host a Superintendent's Forum. The district has reduced the list of 16 candidates to a list of eight, and they expect to reduce that soon to a short list of two. The forum is set for April 23rd from 4 pm to 6 pm at the CVMS Auditorium. Please send me some questions - we have already agreed to a good size portion of the two hours being questions from the audience, but they also wanted us, Espanola-NEA to ask some questions!

Mark April 23 at 4 pm on your calendar as a must show so you can meet our new superintendent as one of them will surely be chosen. And while I am asking - would you all like to vote on which candidate you like best as you leave the forum? I have not discussed this with Mr. Valerio, but I think he would be willing to hear your input. Obviously our vote would not be binding...but it might be nice to give them the input.

So feed it back to me please...what questions, and vote or no vote! Reminder - Next AR - General Membership Meeting Tuesday April 14, at Big Dawg's - 4:15 pm.

Sign up a few new members, and be there - bring them along we will all benefit from it. Plus, you will get to vote for the CBA!

Brian Every

ALL THE NEWS THAT FITS, WE PRINT!

2009-03-24T10:47:00.001-06:00

Hi everyone -
Here are the official election results for our 2009 Officers Election - 70 ballots were returned--all nominee's were elected. We have an elected RA and an alternate, and we have two alternates to the Spring and Fall council for next year as well as a full slate to go to the council. We also have three new officers Olivia Lujan as Treasurer, Becki Trujillo as VP Certified, and Tina Talachy as Corresponding Secretary.

This is exciting and I am looking forward to working with our new board and our new CBA. Election results were certified by John Reese, Election Committee Chairperson, Lucile Martinez-Holguin, Executive Vice President and Brian Every, President.

Exciting times are ahead. But as our new President Obama says, it will not be easy. With the 180 Day student instructional day passed by the legislature, we have very little in the way of options for setting the new calendar which we will be negotiating on March 30. We need all the members we can get signed up as quickly as possible so we have some strength going into those negotiations.

We have plans to have our Ratification election the last two weeks of April --culminating in an ballot count on May 1 -- time and place to be announced. Please plan on voting in that election and attending the Ballot count. The celebration will be on May 1st.

And a reminder of our General Membership - AR meeting on Tuesday, April 14, 4.15 pm at Big Dawg's - See you there.

Brian Every, PresidentEspanola-NEA

WHAT DOES ESPANOLA NEA DO? PLENTY!

2009-02-03T08:40:00.008-07:00

I am writing this while feeling pretty good about the subject title - So far, since August we have helped at least 4 employees keep their jobs, helped several employees with scheduling issues and gotten a couple of employees pay for things they should be being paid for but were not. The aggregate of this extra pay is quite substantial - in the thousands - for those employees. We have also assisted in countless smaller issues - helping our members develop better relationships with their immediate supervisors. Here is how a press release - sanitized to protect all involved - but seriously, a true story - about one of our more recent efforts.
UNION HELPS MEMBER WIN BACK PAY FOR LOST PREP:
The Espaňola-NEA helped a teacher-member recently win back their prep period as well as a large financial payment to compensate for prep periods already worked. The victory came at Level II of the process after the member developed the case, working closely with the Espaňola-NEA Employee Rights advocates. While the grievance moved forward, administrators repeatedly claimed nothing could be done to change the class schedules in order to provide the required preparation period, but they then yielded at the last minute.
ON THE NEGOTIATIONS FRONT:
Negotiations for our Certified contract has finally reached impasse. Ironically, this represents progress since it means a federal mediator will help us reach agreement on the only two outstanding issues on which we have not yet reached agreement: Stipends and Association Rights. Without good Association Rights, such as those enjoyed in other districts, we simply can’t represent you well.
Last night, we continued negotiations – this time on our "ESP" contract, and reached agreement on more than a dozen issues!
We will be having our next General Membership and RA meeting at Big Dawg's Tuesday Feb 10 at 4.15 - this will be followed by a presentation by Snookie on members benefits, If you are feeling the pinch of the current world (or local) financial situation you should come hear her presentation - there are lots of ways being a member can save you some money. So come on out, visit with some friends, have a snack and beverage, get the latest news and updates on what is happening with Espanola-NEA and learn how to save some money - we look forward to seeing you.
One other item of note - it is time to start recruiting more members - ONLY members can vote on ratification of our agreement and that election will be coming soon. We have had a lot of success with employee rights, but to be honest, the more members we have the stronger we are, the more success we have - it is a linear equation. Please talk to your friends and colleagues; membership is absolutely the key to our success.
Thank you, I hope to see you Tuesday the 10th.
Brian EveryPresident, Espaňola-NEA

BE IN THE FOREFRONT OF CHANGE

2009-01-28T14:28:00.008-07:00

Be an activist and don't leave the comfort of your home computer. Help shake things up during the 60-day session. Stand up to those who would increase our class sizes and reduce our pay.

The legislative session is a moving target. But you can stay on top of it by visiting the NEA-NM web site. http://www.nea-nm.org/

At the top of the site, you see the blog for the legislative session where you'll find the facts, the day-to-day changes at the Roundhouse. Visit the blog. Take action. Make a difference,

Earning and Saving $s in Tough Times

2009-01-19T16:11:00.002-07:00

Española-NEA
NEA-NM and NEA Member Benefits:
HELPING MAKE MEMBERS’ LIVES BETTER!

SAVING & EARNING $’S IN TOUGH TIMES:
Just In Time For Valentine’s Day:

ONE Hour To Increase the Financial Returns on your NEA Membership
(Your sweetheart is sure to be pleased)!
Presented by
Eleanor "Snookie" Krumbiegel, NEA Member Benefits

Tuesday, February 10, 2009
4:30 p.m. (arrive on time for door prizes!)
BIG DAWG’S RESTAURANT on Riverside Drive

ANTOINETTE "TONI" MONTOYA: NEA-NM HALL OF FAME

2008-11-05T15:34:00.002-07:00

The news today may be overwhelmed by the national election results, but it won't crowd out the news that Antoinette "Toni" Montoya (center) has been inducted into the NEA-NM Hall of Fame. She is shown here with Bobbi Stratton, left (Central Region chair) and right, Lucille Martinez-Holguin. Toni Montoya served as the NEA-Espanola local's vice president for six years and local AR for Espanola High School. She was Registrar at Espanola High School (for 26 years), library assistant at the high school, volleyball coach, Senior Olympics participant, and softball coach. She represented the Espanola local for state and national conventions. Now Toni has been retired for the past two years and is honored by her colleagues for her long service to NEA when she was a member for 19 years.

We Need to Think - and Stand UP!

2008-05-11T17:24:00.003-06:00

Hi All –

As a person working in the world of education I have been frequently surprised by people – in education - who seem to feel they really know what is best and what is right, usually someone in administration but occasionally another teacher. So I was surprised, and pleased to see these two very different people, in addressing very different crowds, agree with the point of view I have come to embrace as I have become more and more educated. For what it is worth, here are the two articles I read this week.

“In a rare public rebuke, Defense Secretary Robert Gates this week scolded the Air Force for not doing enough to help the war effort in Iraq and Afghanistan. In a speech at Maxwell Air Force Base, Gates specifically complained that getting the Air Force to send unmanned surveillance aircraft to war zones was ‘like pulling teeth.’ Gates has been pushing the Air Forsce for months to send more Predator drone aircraft, which can engage enemy soldiers without risking the lives of U.S. personnel. Officers ‘stuck in old ways of doing business’ have resisted the shift to unmanned aircraft, Gates said. Gates, who served in the Air Force in the 1960s as a young officer, urged the officers in his audience to challenge conventional wisdom. ‘Dissent is a sign of health in an organization,’ Gates said. (emphasis added) (The Week, May 2, 2008, volume 8, issue 359, pg 7)

So here we have the United States Secretary of Defense telling officers in the Air Force that they should be questioning their superiors, and suggesting that is a sign of health for them to do that. I wonder if that would be good policy for all organizations? For ours? Could, would or does this apply to us as well?

Story number two, same magazine, page 12, Susan Jacoby, Los Angeles Times. “The closing of the American mind – As an atheist who takes a dim view of the influence of religion, I am greeted enthusiastically in nearly all of my public appearances. I’m not bragging. It’s just that everywhere I appear, 95 percent of the audience shares my political and cultural views – and serious conservatives report exactly the same experience. Indeed it is getting harder to find anyone who’s willing to give a fair shake – or any hearing at all – to opposing viewpoints. Whether watching television news, consulting political blogs, or (more rarely) reading books, Americans today have become a people in search of validation for opinions that they already hold. So when Gen. David Petraeous testifies before congress, liberals tune to radio or TV shows that mock him and insist that Iraq is lost; conservatives, meanwhile, comfort themselves with echo-chamber pundits who proclaim that victory is at hand. Such close-minded stubbornness is not only lazy; it makes you very vulnerable to being duped and mislead. As long as we continue to avoid the hard work of scrutinizing public affairs without the filter of polemical shouting heads, we have no one to blame for our growing national ignorance but ourselves.“ (emphasis added)

So there are two – probably at opposite ends of several different spectrums – people saying essentially the same thing. We need to spend some time thinking about things ourselves, and listening to opposing points of view, and more, and I suggest, we need to be teaching our students to do the same thing. This is part of the skill set we supposedly are teaching our students called Critical Thinking Skills. And you know they are getting close to doing it when they complain “Oh, but teacher this is so hard! It makes my brain hurt!”

Thanks for thinking, and helping our students learn how to think – and for taking the time and effort to do all you do for our students.

I apologize for it being so long between posts - I too suffer from way to much to do and no where near enough time to do it.

Membership Drive

2008-03-10T21:27:00.002-06:00

Ladies and Gentlemen -

Española-NEA has teamed up with NEA-NM in a major membership drive. We are offering two different basic deals, with different permutations for Classified and Certified. You can down load the members apps at www.nea-nm.org upper right hand corner where it says "Spring Forward" - Put in the amounts shown, we are Central Region $4 and Local Dues are $20 for a total of $495 - Write "Pro-Rated" along the right hand side next to the membership fees.

New members will pay $20.62 (approx) every two weeks, same as everyone else, (Certified - $11.56 approx Classified) For every new member an existing member signs up, the existing member will receive a 'bounty' of $30 for every Classified new member and $20 for every Certified new member.

IN ADDITION - Every Classified new member (full time) will get a REBATE of $50 for Joining ($25 Part Time) and every Certified new member will get a REBATE of $100! Now we all know money doesn't grow on trees - and this is a goodly amount of money, so there must be some hitch right?

Yes. There is.

All new members signing up under this program agree to remain members through the 2010-2011 school year.

PLEASE NOTE - NEW MEMBERS MUST SIGN UP WITH THAT SPECIFIC MEMBERSHIP FORM FROM NEA-NM.

And the member who signs them up needs to write their name in on the bottom where it says recruiter to get their bounty.

So go sign them up! Our first new member had signed up another with in 12 hours of joining!

And the Bargaining has Begun!

2007-11-18T11:28:00.000-07:00

We met at CVMS Friday the 16th of November and began negotiations between the administration of EPS and the Employee's of EPS. Interestingly the administration tried to tell us that we were not employees for the purposes of negotiations, and therefore could not be on the negotiation team or at negotiations during duty time, but administrators could. As I was not in the room during this conversation I can't tell you exactly what transpired, nor am I supposed to - until agreements are reached the negotiations are essentially secret.

However is it not typical of the district to claim that we, the district employees, are not employees for the purposes of negotiations? Instead that we represent the union, not the district, as if the district is negotiating with some unknown entity - or for that matter a known entity it considered hostile. Why do you suppose they find it so hard to believe that highly educated and very dedicated professional people such as ourselves would want to work towards creating a better, fairer, more humane, and higher achieving district? A district whose even greater successes and achievements would make us feel even more pride than we do about our efforts and the goals we have met?

Approximately 16 of us walked into the negotiating room Friday evening - physically representing custodians, counselors, reading coaches, elementary teachers, mid-school teachers, and high school teachers - spiritually representing every single distinct employee in every job category except administrator and legally representing all employees except administrators, office managers and confidential employees.

Our Lead Negotiator - Laurel Fain - opened the negotiations with this short speech -

On September 12, the Employees of Espanola Public Schools made history. On that day, they declared two things:
1. Change was necessary and critical
2. They had faith in their colleagues who were a part of NEA to represent them in making those changes.

The statements were important, but not historic. What was historic was the unanimity of the employees' voice. Fewer than 4 of every 100 employees in the district disagreed with those two assertions. Fewer than 4 in every 100 disagreed.

Never, in the history of public school employees in New Mexico, and perhaps in the realm of public employees statewide and nationwide, have employees been so united in their desire for change.

So, I congratulate each of us in being here today. Our meeting today begins an unprecedented opportunity to Reach Excellence Together. We sit at this table today in a way that has not been done within this state before. We are making history.

I would like to introduce the members of our teams. After I speak the name of each member, I ask each to state their position and school or site. I am Laurel Fain. I am a teacher at Carlos Vigil Mid High School.

She then introduced the members of the negotiation teams for Certified, and for the ESP teams, and then the members of the Support Team. At that time the support team members retired to a caucus room to work on negotiation documents while the negotiating team negotiated the ground rules, and dates, times and places for future negotiations. Here are the agreed upon dates, times, and places for future negotiations. It is quite possible that more negotiation dates will be agreed upon at some point in time - if more dates are agreed upon, I will post those too.

Negotiation Dates -
ESP - Always 4.30 pm, always EVHS Conference room

January 7th
February 5th
March 4th
April 8th
May 5th

Certified - Always 4.30 pm, always CVMS Conference Room

December 11
January 22
February 19
March 25
April 22

Española-NEA welcomes and encourages all members of the bargaining unit (anyone who could vote in the bargaining election, whether they did or not) to show up before the beginning of the bargaining session to show your support for your team, to make suggestions and share ideas on how to better the district.

We also welcome any members who wish to have a more formal hand in the negotiations to join the support team - you may do so by emailing espanola.nea@gmail.com or sending a letter to any of the Española-NEA officers.

To all members of the bargaining unit - I suggest to you that if there was ever a time to stand up for what you believe is right and proper in our workplace, NOW IS THAT TIME! We can Reach Excellence Together and we will do so with your support United We Bargain for mutually agreeable rules in the work place with mutual respect, Divided We Beg for anything we might want or need, including dignity.

I hope everyone will come to CVMS on Dec 11th before 4.30 to shake the hands of the Certified Bargaining team as they go into begin negotiations - See you there!

Recent News -

2007-11-01T20:47:00.000-06:00

Hi All -

Sorry I didn't post anything last weekend - things were up in the air and I kept waiting to see if anything resolved. And it did - about mid week. We now have a date for our first meeting with Mr. John Martinez, and the rest of the administrations bargaining team. The purpose of the meeting will be to introduce the -we assume - three negotiation teams to each other (two for us, classified and certified and one for them administration) set the ground rules for negotiations, and set several dates for future negotiating sessions.

The date and time for this will be 4:30 on Friday the 16th of November.

And this ushers in a new age and reality for all of us. How interesting and strange it feels - to see our hard work actually make a change.

We have our first newsletter nearly ready to print, and I expect we will be getting it to you in the next week or so.

The bargaining team continues to meet and train, the support team is busy putting together positions on results of survey - we continue to plumb the data for indications of what is most important and to whom, and what other information we can glean from the results. Thank you all who filled in the survey and returned it. This information will help us tremendously.

We have an Employee Rights committee formed, they are working on learning the ropes, the ins and outs of the school and district policies and how those are affected by Collective Bargaining, and what proper procedures are when there is conflict and misunderstanding. Anyone interested in being part of the Employee Rights committee please indicate by email to espanola.nea@gmail.com and we will get right to you.

If you are interested in working on any of our other committees, please indicate by email to espanola.nea@gmail.com as always there is plenty to be done and your commitment can be as little as an hour a month or as much as you like. Remember WE are the NEA.

Till next week.

Brian

Modest Progress -

2007-10-20T21:42:00.000-06:00

I received an email from Dr. C, telling me that he and the school board would be meeting last Wednesday evening and discussing our negotiations. That we would be hearing from thier consultant in the near future. And that he would like to add NEA representation to several committees.

I asked him some clarifying questions that have not yet been answered regarding meeting times, duty issues, and our representative role. In the mean time I am wondering if there are any of you who would like to take on the responsibility of representing Española-NEA on any of these committees?

Current committees he specificially mentioned were Education, Restructuring, and Bond committees, not mentioned, but presumably coming up, would be calendar and budget committees. Dr. C seemed to think that he had NEA representation on the Superintendents Advisory Committee. Some of our members may indeed be on the committee, but being on the committee while being a member of Española-NEA and representing Española-NEA are two different things.

If you are already a member of the Superintendent's Advisory Committee, and are a member of Española-NEA or would like to join, and would like to represent Española-NEA on that committee, please email me at espanola.nea@gmail.com so we can discuss this.

If you are a member of Española-NEA or would like to join to represent Española-NEA on any of the other committees, please email me at the above address so we can discuss this.

On other news - I and 5 other Española-NEA officers and members went to the Fall Council meeting today where we all (All of Española-NEA) was honored for our election results and we were given the first ever "Rosie the Rivetor" Award for our success under pressure.

Congratulations to all of you.

The award is a very nice lamented poster - slightly larger than 8.5 x 11- suggestions on what to do with it can be emailed to the above address.

Thank you all for your support, your efforts, and all you do for our students.

Things to think about in the future –

2007-10-16T20:15:00.000-06:00

I wish to make perfectly clear at this time that what follows are my own personal thoughts, they do not in anyway reflect the opinion of Española-NEA, it’s executive board, or membership and with careful reading you will see that my mind is in no way made up or set in concrete. Thank you for your indulgence.

I was reading the Rio Grande Sun two weeks ago – the story about the land swap deal in Alcalde continuing to be delayed and the need for the district to get a $21 million dollar bond issue passed by January some time. This got me thinking about the last bond issue attempt that failed by something like 35 votes or so.

I started thinking about what might be different now. Back then there was talk about money raised in previous bond issues which hadn’t yet been spent, like build the Alcalde elementary school. There was also discussion about the new Sombrillo school being several million dollars over budget and a year or two behind schedule. I also recall people asking how or why a school was built with no water or sewage system, and which was too small on the day it opened for the number of students. Portable buildings now accommodate students at the brand new school.

Then there was that $100,000 hole dug out behind the high school for sports facilities which were never built. You can see a wonderfully flat spot where they got that expensive hole filled in so nicely…no building, no wrestling room. I believe there was also mention of two portable buildings sitting up on the hill behind the high school on traveling beams that cost thousands of dollars a month to rent for more than a year… the buildings sitting there unused and unusable, targets of vandals and graffiti artists while our good money was being spent on the beams. The bond election failed and the district openly wondered why. So really, what is different now?

At the time of the failed bond election, Española-NEA had just had a card drive where-in 77% of EPS employees had signed a card unequivocally stating they wanted Española-NEA to represent them, and that they wanted collective bargaining with the district. The school board chose instead to ignore the statement from its employees. If the district had responded positively, things would be very different now.

Board President Chavez did ask me personally to support the bond issue. I did support the bond issue, I voted for it, as did my wife. I even wrote a letter to all Española-NEA members telling them I was voting for the bond issue. I also asked Mr. Chavez for his support and recognition of Española-NEA – clearly he has not done that. In fact he has not even allowed the matter to come up for a vote so that any board members who do support their employee’s rights to discuss and negotiate their working conditions can do so.

Española-NEA was forced to wait 5 months to have the election for bargaining. By the largest margin ever in New Mexico public school bargaining elections, the vote was a whopping 401 to 15 in favor of bargaining and Española-NEA.

That was a month ago. The district continues to delay. We have yet to start the bargaining process, and soon the district will be trying to pass a bond issue. No doubt, they will ask for the support of school employees.

What has changed? We now know that last year our district kept over one million dollars in state and federal money intended to pay for employees and contractors in the special education department who no longer worked there. Now the administration is pleading poverty because it has to pay this money back…but the head of the special education department got a $15,000 raise. Is this change, or is it business conducted the same old way? Do you trust this administration to properly handle 21 MILLION dollars worth of your money? Or to build the schools in Velarde and Alcalde as they promised to do last bond issue?

What has changed? Why should you think anything is different now than it was a year ago, or two years ago or three years ago?

If we had collective bargaining a year ago, it is quite possible that the problem with the special education departments ‘oversight’ and retaining over a million dollars it had no business keeping would have been spotted long before it became a real issue – why? Because with collective bargaining the district has to detail exactly where every incoming penny is coming from, and how it expects to spend it. The union looks at that, making sure it is really being spent where it is needed, and in the most efficient, fair and effective manner. Do you think custodians, cooks, secretary’s and teachers would have been held to less than a 5% raise while people at central office got raises larger than some of our employees salaries? The district will need Española-NEA to agree with future salary decisions, and we won’t ever agree to the injustices of the past.

So do I know yet how I feel about a bond issue? NO. Honestly, we need to pass a bond issue, we need to make the improvements and build the schools and do the things the bond money is for, but do I have any faith or trust in the current administration to handle the money properly? I have yet to see any change in the way they are doing business.

There is absolutely no reason why the district should not be sitting at the negotiation table with us right now. We could be making progress creating new ways to do business and reaching an agreement that is fair and equitable and takes the best interests of our students and employees into account. The only reason we are not sitting there right now is because the school board is still refusing to acknowledge the election results, or that we even won the election. All of my life in watching election results I have been impressed when the loser of an election calls the winner and congratulates them on their victory. Has anyone been congratulated yet? I sure haven’t. I don’t need a nice pat on the back, what I do need is to have the district begin treating its employees and the voters of Espanola with the respect we all deserve.

Not much change yet.

Election Results Now Official!

2007-10-13T20:50:00.000-06:00

Well it sure seemed to take long time but the PELRB finally met and certified the election results as of Oct 9th. Congratulations Española-NEA you are the official bargaining agent for all 539 +/- employees of EPS. And now that the certification is official it is the responsibility of the district to start negotiating with us.

How quickly they will start negotiating is another story - I think it is probably fair to think that they will not be in a rush to start. On the other hand if they delay too long we can file an official complaint. So what ever you do, DON'T HOLD YOUR BREATH! But the good news is the longer they delay, the more training, the more understanding, the more educated we get, the more likely we are to be successful in helping to create a good contract.

Right now - This week, we are circulating a short survey of some of the issues we thought you might think were important. It only takes two minutes to fill out the survey so PLEASE take the time to fill out the survey and make sure to get it back to us. You can give it to your building AR (association representative) or put it in the school mail to me just be sure to get it out right away. Our goal is to have all the surveys done and returned by next Friday so that we are prepared with our list of issues to put on the table.

I thank you all for your time, efforts and support. I was reminded today that when I was talked into putting my name on the nomination form for president that I vowed if we didn't have collective bargaining in two years, I would quit. You all have helped us to make that goal - as we all know it is the steady progress from continued effort that gets us to our goals. Our goal now is to negotiate a fair contract.

I am going to try, every week, to make a post here letting you know what is going on. We also have a news letter we are starting for those of us who don't do email or computers. We are looking for news and information for the news letter from Elementary schools and the mid school so if there is anything happening at your building, please drop me a line with the information and I will try to get it in the news letter.

Brian
espanola.nea@gmail.com

Employees Beware!

2007-09-15T18:44:00.000-06:00

Actually what I mean is BE AWARE!

Dear Members -

As you probably know many employees have found discrepancies in their pay last year, some ending the school year with no final pay check or a greatly reduced final pay check. The district decided that it was the employee's fault because they had not checked their pay stubs carefully enough.

The fact that it was payroll who made the error in the first place was just not their problem. I have heard from a few other people that some actually got under paid as well, that is, they were shorted some money each pay period. This can add up fast - as little as $40 a pay period can equal over $1,000 a year.

So here is what I suggest you do, first find last years contract and see what it says you should be getting paid for the school year, next find one of last years pay stubs and look for the "Gross" pay that you were given for that pay period, Multiply that by 26, it should match the number on your contract. If it does, most likely you are OK, if it does not, then you need to find all your pay stubs, and check each gross pay, add them up and they should equal the amount on your contract. If it does, you are OK, if it does not, you need to get to Central Office ASAP and ask for the difference. Another thing to check is that if you are one of those who gets a large final check, it should equal 5 regular pay checks (the gross amount), if it does not...again, you need to figure out why and get to Central Office and get it straightened out. I would very much like to hear from you if you find any discrepancies, and I would like you to take a fellow member of NEA to accompany you on your visit to Central Office. Doing this is only exercising your rights to be paid what you are supposed to be paid, and Dr. Cockerham has already stated that failure to do our own checking makes it our fault for any difficulties later on. So please, check it out.

Email me here if you find a discrepancy. Also, as a member check to see if the proper deductions are being made for membership dues. We are having a heck of a time with Central Office and Payroll getting the correct dues deductions for our members. I know of several members who have never had deductions made...and we have shown Payroll, over, and over and over again the signed authorization for payroll deductions for membership dues, yet...some how or another, it does not get done. So we are going over the payroll deductions with a fine tooth comb, some of you may be hearing privately from me, asking for your help in getting payroll to do their job correctly...

Great job again on our election and I thank you for all your hard work and effort. Keep your head up, and your eyes on the ball we are making progress.

Brian

Congratulations Española Public Schools Employees!

2007-09-12T20:56:00.000-06:00

Every single Española Public School Employee should be beaming with pride tonight. Nearly 79% of the eligible employees voted today. Not bad for all the malarkey that was thrown at the employees between scare tactics such as the 'Informative Memo' that was filled with half truths, misleading statements and incorrect information, the telling of many employees that they could not vote even though they could and were on the districts eligible voters lists. Apparently being on the eligible voters list did not actually mean they would be allowed to vote! And then finally, the moving of employees to alternate schools through out the day for 'in service' so that voting was more difficult for them. In spite of all that almost 80% of the employees voted, more than signed the cards last spring!

I am very impressed. 99% of the classified employees who voted, votes YES for Collective Bargaining and 96% of the certified employees who voted, voted YES for Collective Bargaining. There were a total of 15 no votes in the entire bunch! Outstanding!

Clearly the Española Public Schools Employees have spoken to the board and the administration with one voice and one message. Great job Española! Hold your heads high and smile - we now have rights.

Thank you for all you do for our students.

General Information about the Election!

2007-08-28T20:14:00.000-06:00

September 12 - Bargaining Election
General Information Distributed for employees of the Espanola Public Schools
ESPANOLA – NEA, August and September 2007

Espanola-NEA urges you to vote and to vote "yes" in the upcoming secret ballot election which will be held at nearly every school site under the supervision of the State Public Employee Labor Relations Board. The date of the election is Wednesday, September 12, 2007.

After this election, Espanola-NEA is certain to negotiate over these and other issues: salaries; the work day; the work year; all benefits; the manner in which we are paid; leaves (how much and what is required); the number and type of in-services and instructional programs; job descriptions; and a grievance procedure that takes the politics and sweet-heart deals out of the system by providing for Binding Arbitration by a neutral third party. In short, if you want a real voice in how you work, how and how much you are paid for it and even the type of work that you do as a professional employee, then you must vote "yes" on Wednesday, September 12.

View some current Collective Bargaining Agreements negotiated by school employee unions in other New Mexico districts at: http://nea-nm.org/collective%20bargaining.htm

THE VOTING PROCESS: The election will be by SECRET ballot. Voters will be allowed to vote without interference, restraint, or coercion. The ballot will be very simple. You will indicate your "yes" or "no" vote with an "X". It will be very quick and easy to participate. You then fold the ballot and personally deposit it in the ballot box under the supervision of the State Public Employee Labor Relations Board. Do not write your name on the ballot or make any other markings on it: this will invalidate your ballot. Please be sure all your colleagues vote too (but not within 50 feet of the voting location)!

Eligible employees may vote at any location and any time listed. The district has agreed to provide ALL eligible employees with relief from your duty so you may have time to vote at your location. In some cases, this means folks leading classrooms or performing other duties will be provided a substitute while they vote. Employees who are not leading classrooms may leave their duty as needed to vote. However, to ensure everyone can vote, you may vote at any location, including at the end of the day at Carlos Vigil until 4:30 and at EVHS until 5:00.

THE VOTING TIMES AND LOCATIONS ARE:
7:45 a.m. – 8:30 a.m. Abiquiu, Dixon & Mountain View

9:30 a.m. – 10:15 a.m. Hernandez, Velarde & Chimayo

11:15 a.m. – 12:00 noon Alcalde, San Juan & TEQ Sombrillo

12:15 to 1:15 EMSE, Central Office, JHR, Los Ninos & Fairview
Central office employees will vote at EMSE. Los Ninos employees will vote at J.H.R.

2:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. Carlos Vigil Middle School

2:30 – 5:00 p.m. Espanola Valley High School

ESPANOLA PUBLIC SCHOOL EMPLOYEES WHO MAY VOTE: Employees need not be a member of Espanola-NEA to vote in this election. However, under the Public Employees Bargaining Act, all supervisory employees, confidential employees, and managerial employees are excluded from being eligible to vote and to be represented. If you are unsure about your eligibility to vote, contact Brian Every, Beth Sanchez, or Karen Martinez.

TWO BARGAINING UNITS: There are two bargaining units, both of which will be represented at the negotiation table by Espanola-NEA. The members-only Negotiation Teams will be professionally trained. The members-only Bargaining Support Committees for each unit will help your negotiators set priorities to negotiate for with the district.

The Certified bargaining unit consists of all certified employees in the position of Teacher, Assistant [Including all specialties such as Educational Assistant, Instructional Assistant, Library Assistant, Library Teacher Assistant, Special Education Assistant, Teacher Assistant, Special Education Teaching Assistant, Title I Assistant, Title I Assistant Teacher], Counselors, Educational Diagnostician, Librarian, Nurse, Psychologist, Reading Coach, Reading Intervention Specialist, Recreational Therapist, and Social Worker.

The Classified bargaining unit ( NEA prefers the term Education Support Professionals "ESP") consists of all classified employees in the position of Administrative Assistant I and II, ADS Coordinator, ADS Secretary, ADS Tech, Clerk, Cook, Head Cook (less than 400 students), Custodian, Head Custodian (less than 400 students), Data Specialist, Financial Specialist, Financial Specialist I, Indian Education Specialist, Library/Media, Maintenance, Medicaid Manager, Payroll Tech I, Procurement Specialist, Receptionist, Registrar, Secretary, Special Education Parent Liaison, Title I Liaison, and Title I Mentor, Bus Driver, Special Ed Coordinator, Insurance Specialist, Transportation Technician, and Transportation Coordinator.

Absentee Ballots:
Employees who are eligible to vote but who will be absent on the day of voting for legitimate cause, may request an absentee ballot, by telephone, from the Election Supervisor, the New Mexico Public Employee Labor Relations Board (PELRB) (505) 831-5422 or juan.montoya@state.nm.us . Your request must be received at least seven (7) calendar days before the election. To be counted, your ballot is to be mailed to the PELRB by September 6.

OBSERVERS: The district and the Espanola-NEA are entitled to one (1) observer to assist and observe each polling place. The observers shall not be supervisory or managerial employees over the eligible employees, union officers, or union employees. Representatives of the union and the district in addition to observers may observe the ballot counting. Observers will be relieved of their duty for the entire time that voting takes place at their location, plus sufficient time before and after. Espanola-NEA members wishing to be an "Observer" should contact: Andrea Schelter at EVHS.

THE VOTE TALLY:
The tally of the ballots shall occur at 5:00 PM at Espanola Valley High School. Immediately following the counting of ballots, the State labor board will serve a tally of ballots upon each party. The tally shall show the number of votes cast for Espanola-NEA, the number of votes cast against the Espanola-NEA, the number of challenged ballots, and the percentage of employees in the unit who cast ballots. The tally shall also state whether the results are conclusive and, if so, what the conclusive vote is. If the tally shows that the choice of "no" received fifty percent (50%) or more of the votes cast, then the tally shall reflect that the Espanola-NEA was not chosen as exclusive collective bargaining agent. If at least forty percent (40%) of employees in each of the bargaining units voted, and more than fifty percent (i.e., 50%+1) of the votes were "yes," then the Espanola-NEA shall be certified as the exclusive bargaining agent for the bargaining units. Espanola-NEA will begin bargaining with the district as quickly as we can. THANK YOU!

Back to School Picnic

2007-08-27T20:26:00.000-06:00

Hi Ladies and Gentlemen -

It has been a long and busy summer for me, and for all of you no doubt. We had a great election committee meeting back in July and have a wonderful Election strategy lined up. We have 20+ new members joined this past few weeks and more looking to join.

We had a great picnic this past Saturday with about 50 people showing up, including the current president of NEA-NM Sharon Morgan and the immediate past president of NEA-NM, Eduardo Holguin. We also had spouses, significant others and a lot children show up. It was really great. We all had a really wonderful time. It was very nice meeting and getting to know more of us in a social context with face painting, frisbee, swings, slides, and even a hoola hoop!

Our next social event is scheduled to be a tail gate election celebration in the parking lot at EVHS right after the vote counting on September 12th. Hotdogs, chips and salsa, ice cold soda's, high fives, and dancing in the street. Please plan on attending!

I want to thank everyone who helped put the picnic together and especially to thank Theresa and Janelle for their incredible efforts that made this such a great event. I also want to thank all of you members for all your efforts toward getting us to this election and for having the faith and trust that we can reach excellence together!

I also want to welcome the new members and thank them for joining. We need all the help we can get and I hope you are interested in being active, involved members. We are going to have a very interesting and exciting year, so get ready!

Watch this space for election details in the very near future!

Brian

School is Starting Up!

2007-07-30T14:01:00.000-06:00

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

Board Meeting 6-20-07

2007-06-26T06:27:00.000-06:00

Wednesday’s Board Meeting –

Hello My Fellow Espanola-NEA Members –

I sat through most of the board meeting last Wednesday evening at CVMS and I thought I would share with you what my perceptions are of the part of the meeting for which I was present.

One of the over riding perceptions I have received from this and a couple of other board meetings I have observed is how once again power and politics is playing a role where it has no place. What do I mean by this?

At a previous meeting there was on the agenda, under consent items, an item to approve the creation of a local labor board. One of the board members, Joann Salazar, objected to the item being included. It was her opinion, and she expressed herself eloquently, that not enough research and investigation had been done to make a decision at this time, and asked that this particular item be removed from the consent items list for further study and investigation. Her request, was backed by Joe Romero, who stated that in his opinion if any board member objected to any consent item that the item should be removed from the consent list. For those of you who don’t frequent school board meetings, items on the consent list are voted on, en masse, not individually, so it is not possible to vote for item one and against item two, for example. Board president Andrew Chavez did not accept either Mrs. Salazar’s motion to remove the item, or Mr. Romero’s supporting her in his pointing out that previously on the school board that item would be removed, that a motion was not needed, that all that was needed was for one member to object to any particular item. He forced a vote on the consent items, Joann Salazar voted no, and made it clear her vote was based on her objection to the creation of the local labor board at this time. It is important to note that she did not say she was opposed to a local labor board, only that she felt there were many unanswered questions regarding the value and the costs of creating one that needed answering prior to approval. Everyone else voted yes, the motion carried and our school board voted to create a local labor board, which will have to be funded by district funds, office space, staffing, phones, lawyers, legal fees, etc, all unknown at this time. Politics? Best use of district funds?

This past Wednesday’s meeting the issue of selecting a new school board member came up. Apparently from what I was able to understand of the conversation (sometimes the board members did not speak directly into their microphones) there are 4 applicants, two favored by Mr. Chavez and Mr. Valerio, and two others. Mr. Chavez and Mr. Valerio seemed to attempt to eliminate two of the 4 applicants immediately in the interests of saving time and so as to not have to interview all 4 of them. Mrs. Salazar and Mr. Romero wanted to create some sort of mutually agreed upon criteria for judging all 4 applicants, and possibly eliminating a couple of them based on these mutually agreed upon criteria.

There was some finagling going on there that I could not quite follow, followed by a vote, on what, I am not quite sure, but the result of the vote was 2 to 2. Dr. Cockerham declared the vote to be a yes, based on the fact that it was not defeated. I apologize for not having caught more of that exchange, but I found it very interesting that a tie vote between the board members was declared for one side or the other by Dr. Cockerham. Politics?

The net result of all the discussion about selecting the fifth board member (Recall that Joe Guillen resigned to become director of the state school board association.) was that Mr. Chavez would meet with Dr. Cockerham on Monday, June 25, and using lists provided by the other board members they would create the list of criteria by which all 4 applicants applications would be judged. Then on Tuesday the 26th, using that list, the 4 applicants would be winnowed to 2. Finally, I believe, there will be a special board meeting, open to the public is my understanding, where the school board will interview, in public, the two finalists. This meeting will be at CVMS Wednesday the 27th, at regular board meeting time. I have no idea if they will make their decision at that time or not. If it all sounds fuzzy, that’s because it was really hard to follow, and audience participation (as in, excuse me, can you repeat that?) is definitely frowned upon.

If you are in the least interested in who is going to fill that 5th seat, I strongly recommend you attend the board meeting, which I believe is at 5 pm CVMS Wednesday 6/27/07. You may not get to say a thing, or participate in any way, but at least you will see how our elected officials, our elected leaders, operate. This will help us tremendously during negotiations in our collective bargaining, and in deciding how involved we want to be in local elections in the future.

One of the most important, and interesting things I have learned in my 3 weekends of training is to discover how very fragile our right to collective bargaining is. Every time the legislature meets, (every year) it is possible for them to pass laws limiting our rights as people and as employees. Our participation and involvement at local, state, and national level is incredibly important. I urge you to be involved, be informed, be educated and to participate.

Again, more later.

New Experience for Espanola-NEA

2007-06-22T06:57:00.001-06:00

Hello Fellow Members!

We had a totally new experience in the annals of Espanola-NEA yesterday. You should have been there! Ha. That was actually not the place for all of us to be, but here is where I was, and why it was such a new experience.

I (Brian Every, President Espanola-NEA) was with Juan Montoya of PELRB (Public Employees Labor Relations Board), Dr. Cockerham (Superintendent, Espanola Public Schools), and Charles Goodmacher (NEA UniServ Consultant) at Mr. Montoya's office on Coors Blvd in Albuquerque. We were there, at a legal hearing as total equals to Dr. Cockerham. It was the first time that I am aware of where we, Espanola-NEA and Espanola Public Schools met as total equals. This was not our usual stand before the Board, or meet with Dr. Cockerham at his office, we asking (begging) for some favor or boon,and they having every right to refuse it. NO, this was the two of us standing before a higher authority, each with equal rights, each with our own story, our own wants and needs, negotiating the future. No superior, no inferior, just two equal entities trying to settle on how things are going to go.

I was also impressed by the fact that it became clear to me in that meeting that we were going to end up with collective bargaining. Dr. Cockerham had originally submitted every name of every person in the district as part of our bargaining unit. Even his own! Imagine, he wanted us to represent him! In all we submitted a list of 73 names of district employees who we thought should be excluded from the bargaining unit, and once Dr. Cockerham saw them, pretty much agreed that these people should be excluded.

It was also obvious that this was another stalling tactic. In fact if I got one thing out of the entire hour plus meeting it was that Dr. Cockerham and possibly the School Board are going to stall at every possible opportunity. This was an obvious stall because Dr. Cockerham and his new lawyer, John Martinez, widely known around the state to represent school boards against Employees, had to have known that Dr. Cockerham and the other 73 people on our list were not eligible to be part of the bargaining unit. So instead of our having walked out of there with an agreement on who was part of the bargaining unit. What we got was..."I will have to look this over and get back to you." from Dr. Cockerham. Another few days between now and our sitting down to negotiate. In fact he said, and this is a direct quote "I am not in any hurry!" in response to setting a date for the next meeting.

I say the school board might possibly be involved in the stalling action because I wondered how much of the real truth the school board was getting. I am not saying that Dr. Cockerham was not telling them the truth, but you know how you can slant any story, spin any situation to favor one side or another. Dr. Cockerham and the school board have hired an attorney, John Martinez, who is well known for making his living fighting for school boards and against employee interests. This is also the reasoning behind the tactic of the school board voting for forming a local labor board, because that can take time, time for PELRB to approve the local labor board, time to assemble it, time for it to get it together to hear anything...sometimes as much as a year. Aren't we glad that their decision to form a local labor board came after our petition for Collective Bargaining? Because we filed first, the state labor board will hear all issues related to our certification for exclusive bargaining rights, not the local labor board, so we will proceed forward as quickly as possible with out the delay they tried to create by creating an expensive to the district, local labor board.

Yet another stalling tactic Dr. Cockerham trotted out at the meeting yesterday was his insistence on creating two bargaining units (after it was pointed out to him that he and the other administrators, principals, etc couldn't be in the bargaining unit) one for certified and one for classified employees. He was concerned that we had different issues and that the teachers would over ride, or ignore our fellow employees, the custodians, the cooks, the secretaries. Look at their pay raises this coming year, and see if you can figure out who is really ignoring them!

It turns out that the Labor Board will decide what the appropriate bargaining unit is, and even if we are split into two bargaining unit, there is only one union, us, and we decide who sits at the negotiating table, and our MEMBERS decide if they like what we agreed to or not. NOT THE NEGOTIATING TEAM. So while again this may delay actually sitting down at the table by a few days it is not anything other than another sign of the fear that Dr. Cockerham, and possibly the board has of meeting with us as equals and trying to figure out what is really best for our kids.

Signs of desperation abound, hiring an expensive attorney to advise them, setting up an expensive local labor board, stalling at every possible turn. Think of how much money Dr. Cockerham and the school board is wasting trying to keep from meeting with us as equals - while at the same time the board approved a nearly $7,000 raise for Dr. Cockerham. Need any chalk, or white board markers, cleaning supplies, a new mop? Or construction paper, text books, a new broom, or other school supplies? Maybe you need to buy them from your own huge raise because the district keeps pleading poverty to us doesn't it?

I have a lot more I want to tell about many things that have been happening the past several weeks, I hope to get that info up here soon. Please let me know you are checking in and if you are ready to help us in our efforts for fair and equitable treatment. We are organizing all kinds of committees to deal with the many different aspects of being a truly representational organization and we can use all the help we can get. Just think, if everyone of our membership volunteered one hour a month to our efforts what we could accomplish.

Oh, and by the way, after reducing the districts 'bargaining unit' to the appropriate size, we had 77% of the eligible district employees signing the cards in the card drive, not the 64.47% that included Dr. Cockerham. I think maybe we do need to represent him too, what do you think?

CB Update

2007-06-16T10:45:00.000-06:00

Hi Everyone -

As usual there is a lot going on, and nothing happening all at the same time. Our bid for collective bargaining is on schedule - the school board has decided to form a local labor board. This does not stop or slow down our bid for CB at all as I understand it. What does slow us down is their refusal to voluntarily grant us bargaining rights. This is OK. We have a meeting on the 21st of June at the PELRB where an election date will be set. This will most likely be sometime in August or September. The big deal on the election will be to get everyone to vote. It will be a secret ballot vote, just as all other elections are. The election will most likely be overseen by the County Clerk's office.

It is very important when we get to the election that EVERYONE VOTE! So please, when election time rolls around...make sure everyone you know goes and votes. This is your constitutional and legal right here in NM to engage in Collective Bargaining. Naturally I am hoping you will vote in favor of Espanola-NEA being your exclusive bargaining agent, but I would rather that you voted no, than you didn't vote at all.

So that is where we are now. I will know more after the meeting at PELRB and will give an up date by next weekend. I would love to get the update posted on Thursday but I will be en route to Ruidoso for more NEA Training...Collective Bargaining training actually, and am writing this while at an NEA training learning about employee rights and due process. I will try hard to be at the board meetng this coming Wednesday, but I don't expect to be asked or allowed to speak.

I hope to see some of you there regardless. We need the board to see that we are there and that we care. After all, we are the experts in education...that is what our degrees say.

Insult?

2007-06-07T22:40:00.000-06:00

Last night many of us went to the board meeting as the board had promised to discuss and vote on voluntary recognition when the results of the PELRB count of our card vote were finished. They were finished early this week. We more than met the burden of proof for collective bargaining. Minimum threshold is 30% of the "bargaining unit." We submitted a list of job classifications that eliminated some of the districts classifications for a variety of reasons, our card count gave us over 75% of those classifications. The district included every single classification and employee, we had cards from 64.7% of that more complete list. We clearly more than met the requirements for certification as the exclusive representative for collective bargaining.

At the board meeting we were not invited to speak. The promised discussion and vote did not occur. Instead the board voted to create a "local labor board." This means that our poor district, poor in the sense that Dr. Cockerham continually uses lack of funds as a reason for not doing many different things like paying our teachers full pay for having to work 3 weeks of their summer vacation, has to spend thousands of dollars setting up and maintaining a local labor board. The district has to pay all the expenses of this labor board, including legal fees for legal council, while the local labor board will be duplicating the services that the state labor board performs. The state labor board is paid for by the state, and is a humongous 30 miles away.

It is clearly much more cost effective to save that 30 miles in wear and tear on school vehicles while paying for different set of lawyers to research questions the local labor board might need answered, or to even take the district to court for what ever possible illegal actions the board might take during negotiations.

Joann Salazar deserves full credit for asking the board to wait on voting to approve the local labor board. She wanted to research and discuss further the wisdom of this move. It was pointed out by Joe Romero, that he believed that board rules required that if one board member objected to anything on the consent list, that it be removed from the consent list. This did not happen. Instead the consent list was voted on, and passed, approving the creation of a local labor board. Mrs. Salazar voted against the entire consent list rather than vote for the approval to create a local labor board. It is not clear at this time if the actual vote for approval of the consent list was legal because of Joann Salazar's objection to the inclusion of the that item in the consent list. It is also not clear what happens if the vote was indeed illegal.

What is important here is to recognize that in spite of there being new faces on the board, nothing much has changed. There is no more respect for the employees than there was before, and the concept of doing what is really best for the students of the district is lost in the shuffle. It is also important to realize that, regardless of this apparent insult and seeming lack of honor as demonstrated by the board, it is we the employees, who get to decide if we want collective bargaining or not, and we have already decided. Collective bargaining will become a reality, this is only a slight delay and nothing to be overly concerned about.

We need to thank Joann Salazar for doing what she believed to be the right thing in wanting more information on the cost and role of a local labor board. We also need to thank Joe Romero for pointing out that he believed it proper protocol to remove the objected to item from the consent list. It would have been nice if he had voted against the consent list and there by back up his belief in following the rules of propriety with appropriate action. It is also important to clarify that we are not opposed to a local labor board, nor are we in favor. A local labor board must do pretty much exactly what the state labor board would do and if it doesn't, either side can appeal to the state labor board, it just costs our district more money. Which if we had plenty of it, wouldn't bother me at all.

When it comes to money I have a really hard time figuring out this district. On the one hand administration pleads poverty, there is no money for this, there is no money for that, but there is enough to give Dr. Cockerham a $6,930 raise. Last year he got a $10,000 raise. So in two years he has gotten an additional $17,000 in income. While giving some of our teachers and other employees, a paltry $700 one year, and $1,400 this year. Last year in a fit of anger I suggested that Dr. Cockerham's raises should be limited to no more than the highest raise a teacher received. That was pretty stupid as Dr. Cockerham pointed out while thanking me for insuring his raise this year. I should have said his raise should be no more than what was received by the lowest raise given to any employee.

Students of Espanola Public Schools - Pay Attention. If you have a PhD and run a school district, you can make big bucks - and if you let emotion run your mouth, you might live to regret what comes out of it.

Membership and Patience - Professional attitude and actions. This is what will get us to where we want to be. If we can continue to act with these foremost in our minds we will be happy with the results.

Why? This is why.

2007-06-05T17:16:00.000-06:00

Below these words I am going to print the discussion Dr. Cockerham and I have had regarding the "mandatory" Saturday in-services, and the "mandatory" 3 week summer institutes. Until we have collective bargaining, we can only beg. I tried to do that here. You can see that I was reasonably unsuccessful. We will be bargaining by next school year. We will do what we can retroactively. In the mean time the PERLB has certified our card count at - if my memory serves 66.8% using the district listed bargaining unit, which was larger than ours. More on that at a later date. But rest assured, we will have collective bargaining, and we will have a voice in all of these activities, and all members will get to vote on any changes to our contracts after we start bargaining. So please hang in there, we are making a difference.

Here is our conversation with Dr. Cockerham regarding the in-services and the Summer Institutes. I start at the beginning and go to the most recent.

From: Brian Every

Re: Mandatory Summer Institutes, and Saturday In-Services

At the May 16th Board meeting, Mr. Goodmacher and I left a letter for all of you with Frances Frazier asking you to reconsider the "mandatory" summer institutes. We also asked you to respond to the letter. We did not formally bring this to your attention because it is our hope that we can work this out informally.

We believe that it is illegal to require employees who have a contract obligation to work for the period of 186 days, to be required to work beyond that time. As phrased by Charles Bowyer, Executive Director of NEA-NM – "A full day in-service or any other work on a Saturday if outside the contract days enumerated in the instructor's contract (180,182, 184, etc.) would be one party (the district) attempting to change a contract between two parties (the district and the instructor) and not legally binding unless both parties agreed to a contract addendum to allow the member to agree to the work and the district to agree to the compensation. This is really basic contract law and has nothing to do with the school personnel act." And, since it is not the district paying the teachers at all, but rather a grant from LANL, it is our belief that the district has no legal standing at all in requiring employee participation.

We are not anxious to embroil the district in a lot of grievances or lawsuits for breech of contract now or ever. However, we are bound to protect and defend our membership from contract infringement or exploitation and may not have any choice in this matter. I am asking again that you respond to this email, that you rescind the 'mandatory' language used to force attendance for most of the month of June and ask that any who fail to show for the 3 week summer institute for MSA or who failed to show for the Saturday in-service in April, not be punished, slighted or have any pay docked in any way.

I personally, because I believe in professional development, will encourage all who can, to go to the summer institutes. I thank you for your rapid reply to this email as a lot of employees are agonizing over changing plans, defying principals, ruining vacation plans etc.

Respectfully,

Brian Every
President, Espanola-NEA

Mr. Every,

I appreciate your encouragement for this attendance. As you know we need to have all our teachers up to par in Math. You know how in is when your students are not prepared to take the basic Algebra class and you having to fail many of your students.

These workshops are needed if we are to succeed in our new math program. We do compensate each employee who attends as well. What I understand is that if a teacher does not want to participate they will be transferred to a lower grade as to not affect this vital math program. I understand that they can also continue these classes throughout the year and receive compensation as well as a Master which will move them on to Level III.

It is never my intent to punish any instructor or employee but if we are to continue to move this district forward and make AYP in math, I believe all staff will need these workshops.

ALL EMPLOYEES OF ESPANOLA PUBLIC SCHOOLS NEED TO PUT OUR STUDENTS FIRST.

I also believe that we all need this extra effort if we are to succeed. I am hoping that NEA wants all students in Espanola to succeed and we can continue to work in cooperation to make this happen as you stated in your first letter to the Board of Education.

Once again thank you.

Dr. David L. Cockerham
Superintendent

Dr. Cockerham,

I do appreciate our teachers getting all the professional development they can, however we still believe that insisting that they give up three weeks of their very hard earned summer for less than half pay is legally and morally wrong. I believe you should try hard to find the money to pay them full wages, and encourage them to attend. If you are so set on them attending the least you can do is give them their full pay. They deserve no less and you honestly insult them by not offering them full pay or the option of not attending if they have other jobs, family plans or just plain need the break.

Most teachers know they need, and want more meaningful training, beating them over the head with threats of transfers and reassignments and robbing them of fair pay for being forced to attend is hardly a way to get them to willingly or eagerly attend. Offering full pay, and maybe an extra day off at Thanksgiving, or Christmas, or Spring break would do a lot more for getting people there willing and eager to learn than the route they are being forced to follow now.

Regardless, teachers who have family plans that can not be canceled, commitments to work other jobs, or other reasonable reasons for not attending should not be in any way penalized, and we definitely feel that transfers between grades and reassignments between schools based on attendance at these summer institutes is a penalty. Any such transfers or reassignments need to be based on solid educational reasons, more experience, better qualifications etc and backed up by the appropriate paper work and certificates, not based on attendance at one single three week summer institute.

We also ask that any teachers who have been reprimanded for failing to attend Saturday in-services earlier this year have those reprimands expunged, and/or any other penalty set right at this time.

We can and will encourage all of our members to attend if they are being treated fairly and with compassion and understanding, we will protect and defend them if they are not.

I thank you for your understanding and willingness to work with us on this issue.

Respectfully,

Brian

Brian L. Every
President, Espanola-NEA
espanola.nea@gmail.com

Brian,
I would love to pay more. I also know that our Espanola teaching staff are dedicated. We both agree that the only way we will get our Math score up is to have highly qualified teachers teaching our students. Some will earn college credit and get their master and LANL is paying for this as well which will benefits each employee on our pay scale.

In my meeting with Reprehensive Udall yesterday I again emphasize the need to pay teachers more for schools that are not making AYP. He agreed in this as well.

Once again I will have to continue to have the goal of meeting the children of Espanola needs first. I would hope NEA and our teachers in this district will keep in mind, “The most precious resource we have in Espanola is our students.” I will have to continue to focus on our students first.

Dr. Cockerham

Brian,
I would love to pay more. I also know that our Espanola teaching staff are dedicated. We both agree that the only way we will get our Math score up is to have highly qualified teachers teaching our students. Some will earn college credit and get their master and LANL is paying for this as well which will benefits each employee on our pay scale.

Not all will get college credit, MSA is not offering college credit except if you enter their masters program, many have no desire for a second masters but would like to get credit to advance up the pay scale regardless, this option is not available. So not each employee is benefited by this. How about offering a step for each summer institute attended?

In my meeting with Reprehensive Udall yesterday I again emphasize the need to pay teachers more for schools that are not making AYP. He agreed in this as well.

This is good, but we will not be holding our breaths.

Once again I will have to continue to have the goal of meeting the children of Espanola needs first. I would hope NEA and our teachers in this district will keep in mind, “The most precious resource we have in Espanola is our students.” I will have to continue to focus on our students first.

Sir, you keep talking as if we, the teachers and support personnel, have no clue who our students are, what is in their best interests or what their needs are. We work with those students all day long, every day we are working, and they are on our minds first thing in the morning and last thing at night for over ¾’s of the year. We need to have a life of our own as well. In addition all of us work much more than the 7 hours a day that we are paid for. Yet it is from us that you keep asking for sacrifices. We believe that if sacrifice is necessary that all EPS Employees should sacrifice equally.

Would you and the rest of CO and other administrative staff please donate half of 15 days of your vacation pay to be used for classroom supplies and give up 15 days of your vacation to attend these summer institutes as well? Would you and the rest of all administrative staff district wide please attend these summer institutes? Then during the school year all could help substitute in the classroom as needed so that our students are taught by trained personnel? This would do a lot to improve student achievement.

Respectfully Sir – We would ask that you and the rest of your administrative staff make equal sacrifices for the goal of meeting the needs of our students.

Brian Every
President, Espanola-NEA

Thank you for this information.

I would like to explore some type of credit for not only inservices but also curriculum development and other district committees.

We were working this out in Littleton Colorado when I left. If I recall so many hours would equal unit credit for the pay scale.

Dr. C

Me again - you can see that this is going nowhere - with CB there are legal steps that have to be taken and discussions have to continue, with out CB it ends here. Aren't you glad that we are getting CB. Please understand, it is a done deal, we will have CB. You, the employees have spoken, and it is only a short ways away. The School Board and Dr. Cockerham can try to obstruct and slow down this process, but they can not stop it. I urge you to speak up, let the board and Dr. Cockerham know how you feel, and how you support NEA. And ask your friends and cohorts who are not yet members to join, the greater our membership, the better our bargaining position.

I hope to see you tomorrow (6/6/07) at the board meeting. 5pm, CVMS.

Brian

CB & The Board Update

2007-05-24T08:49:00.000-06:00

Hi Everyone -

We had our meeting with the school board last night. Our attendence was moderately good. I believe that there were 50 of us there at the beginning and between 20 and 30 who managed to sit through the 1:10 excutive session. I would have prefered Standing Room Only, but maybe that will come in the future.

We made our comments to the board, Mr. Charles Goodmacher our NEA UniServ and Mr. Eduardo Holguin, our NEA-NM President also addressed the board. The board members seemed in general to be favorably inclined to grant our request for voluntary recognition. Dr. Cockerham recommended not granting voluntary recognition until at least after receiving confirmation from the Public Employee Labor Relations Board that we had met the burden of 30% of the employees wanting collective bargaining.

Board members Joann Salazar and Joe Romero both made comments that indicated they would look favorably on recognizing us voluntarily pending confirmation from the PELRB. There was some talk about creating a local public relations board, Mr. Holguin spoke about that, questioning why we might want to spend a lot of money we don't really have to duplicate something that is available to us all for free, 30 miles away. We shall see where that goes.

On the whole, I was favorably impressed with the reception we recieved by the board and am hopeful that we will be engaged in collective bargaining in the near future. We still need people to do some training. Espanola-NEA is paying the registration fee, and $25 towards expenses (per day) for the first training in Santa Fe (6/15-16) and $100 a day for the second training in Ruidoso (6/22-23). The Santa Fe training is more about building our local and employee rights, the second is more about collective bargainging.

To register for the retreats: go to http://fd2.formdesk.com/NEA-NM/sar1santafe for the Santa Fe training or http://fd2.formdesk.com/NEA-NM/sar2ruidoso for the Ruidoso bargaining training.

I missed the conversation that went on regarding when recognition might be an action item - there was some talk about then next board meeting 6/6 and other talk about a special board meeting on 6/13. I will try and sort this out and post it here.

Thank you to all who showed up last night, and thank you all for your membership and support. Please consider reaching out and being more active. This is how we build success, one member at a time.

Brian

ps. To stay connected over the summer, email home email addresses to espanola.nea@gmail.com and chech this blog regularly.

2007-05-22T11:12:00.000-06:00

Hi all –

This is just a reminder – TOMORROW at Carlos F. Vigil Middle-High School – We, that is Espanola-NEA is meeting with the District School Board to discuss their option of voluntarily recognizing us as the exclusive bargaining agent for the EPS employees. They will be looking for us to present good, sound reasonable reasons for them to do as we ask.

I can think of no better reason than 400+ employees, in a Standing Room Only meeting, all of us asking them to do so.

Please Be There!

4 pm, CFVMHS Auditorium
Wednesday, 5/23/2007

Thank you – I hope to see you there.

Brian

Brian Every
President Espanola-NEA
United We Bargain - Divided We Beg!
Please note emails with this signature and the replies are considered public communications.
505-753-7357 x503
espanola.nea@gmail.com
http://espanolaeducators.blogspot.com

Meeting Minutes and Letter to Super and Board President

2007-05-11T13:00:00.002-06:00

Minutes from last nights meeting - (Letter to the Superintendent and Board President follows)

May 10, 2007 4:30 P.M.
Española Valley High School Room 503

The regular monthly meeting of the Española NEA was duly called to order by Brian Every, president.

In attendance were Lucille Martinez-Holguin, Edward Holguin (President NEA-NM), Brian Every, Michael Lapcevic, Michael Trujillo, Michael Throne, Damon McGinn, Rebecca Caudill, Karen Martinez, Theresa Chavez, Beverly Averitt, John Reese and Eileen Ulibarri.

New Business:
· John Reese is working on updating our local membership roster into a data base.
· NEA-Española filed on Monday with the State Labor Board to become the sole bargaining agent for Española School employees.
· The card drive was extremely successful. So far 77% of the employees have opted to have Española NEA as their Collective Bargaining agent.
· CVMS has returned very few cards. We are hoping that someone at that school is getting the cards signed.
· Brian Every is e-mailing a letter to the School Board members and the Superintendent on Friday, May 11, 2007. He will be informing them of the petition to be the exclusive representative for Collective Bargaining with the district and giving them the opportunity to accept us as the bargaining agent.
· We are on the School Board agenda on the 15th of May. We are asking for as many of our members as possible to attend this very important meeting.
· We still need to set up a committee for Employee Rights to ensure that the agreements we reach will be enforced. Anyone interested in being on this committee please e-mail Brian Every.
· July 9, 2007, has been set for CB training at the local level.
· Lucille Holguin made a motion to allow a $100 per day per diem for the Ruidoso training on Collective Bargaining, pay for registration for the Ruidoso and the Santa Fe trainings with a budget allocation of $25 of SAR training. The motion was seconded by Rebecca Caudill. Motion passed.
· Brian is looking into the possibility of renting a large van for transportation to Ruidoso.
· The following individuals have volunteered to help on the Bargaining Team or the Support team; Eugenia Cornelius, Lucille Holguin, Paulette Lopez, Beverly Averitt, Michael Trujillo, Michael Lapcevic, Brian Every, Andrea Schelter, Michael Throne, Rebecca Caudill, Janelle Guitierrez, Eileen Ulibarri, Laurel Fain, Pat Littlefield, and Karen Martinez.

Michael Throne moved that the meeting be adjourned. The motion was seconded by Brian. The meeting adjourned at 5:35 P.M.

Letter to the Superintendent and Board President -

Superintendent David Cockerham
And President Andrew Chavez, Board of Education
Española Public Schools
714 Calle Don Diego
Española, NM 87532

Friday, May 11, 2007

Superintendent Cockerham and President Chavez:

The Española – National Education Association, an affiliate of the National Education Association – New Mexico is hereby notifying the Española Public Schools that this Monday, May 7, 2007 we filed a Petition for Certification as the exclusive representative for Collective Bargaining with the district.

We presented authorization cards from a vast majority (seventy percent) of the employees in the district wide bargaining unit to the State of New Mexico Public Employee Labor Relations Board (PELRB), along with the petition. Since Monday, additional cards have been collected, so the final tally of signatures from district employees asking for recognition of our Association as their bargaining agent will exceed seventy-five percent of the employees eligible to be included in the unit. The PELRB will be in touch with the district regarding the filing.

It is our sincere hope that our new collective bargaining relationship will be a major positive step toward increasing student achievement for our district’s students.

We are asking that the Española Public Schools voluntarily recognize the certified and classified school employee positions listed in the petition for the purposes of collective bargaining. Some districts have taken this step through action at their board meetings, then communicating such action to the PELRB. In the absence of voluntary recognition, we ask that the school district agree to a petition card count showing the Espanola-NEA majority status.

We ask that voluntary recognition from the School Board of Espanola-NEA be an action item at your next Board meeting. We also ask for time on the agenda both during the discussion on the action item and during public comment so that our leadership and interested employees may speak to the issue.

Respectfully submitted,

Brian Every
President, Espanola-NEA

Note – Hard copies of this letter to follow via USPS

Meeting Minutes and Letter to Super and Board President

2007-05-11T13:00:00.001-06:00

2007-05-11T13:00:00.000-06:00

Petition Filed!

2007-05-08T11:48:00.000-06:00

It is getting to be time to plan the party. I am not a big party person...so I would welcome some volunteers to plan it. Send an email to espanola.nea@gmail.com with Plan Party in the subject line and we will get back to you on doing that!

We filed our petition to the labor board on Monday (5/7) with 70% of all the district employees having signed a card. At that time we did not have all the cards from Hernandez or from CVMS - since then we have gotten the cards from Hernandez - A great big Hurrah! for them with 100% signed. Our unofficial count with them included makes 77.8% in the district and we are still waiting for CVMS - I hope their cards will take us over the 80% mark! We will file an amended petition when we have all the cards we are expecting, so if you have any or know of any just waiting to get to me...please let me know and let's get this DONE!

I want to thank each and every one of you for all of your efforts. We are working hard to make our professional lives fulfilling and enjoyable and it is clear from the overwhelming response to the card drive that everyone wants to make a change.

While 80% (approx) of the district employees are willing to sign a card to help make a change, membership is considerably lower - We need to continue asking people to sign up - we are now in the early enrollment phase for the 2007-2008 school year. Enrolling as a member using the "Early Enrollment" form found at www.nea-nm.org costs nothing for the remainder of this year, but is a commitment to remain a member through the 2007-2008 year at regular membership dues. There are a lot of benefits for being a member, not the least of which is a say in what we bargain for, and whether or not to accept the bargain that is made.

Please ask a non-member colleague to join today.

Card Drive Successful!

2007-05-04T11:54:00.000-06:00

Congratulations Espanola-NEA!

While we still have a few errant cards out there waiting to find their way into our hands - we have achieved and surpassed our baseline goal of 60% of the district employees signing the cards.

This is quite an achievement and is making waves or at least ripples across the state. Below is posted the results from all buildings, those in yellow we have the report of the cards being collected but have not yet received them. We have one school we are still waiting on but we hope they will have it all for us by next Thursday as that is the day we intend to call the card drive over, and submit our petition to the State Labor Board. With out that building we still have approximately 72.5% - with that school I hope to pass the 80% mark!

The next step is to present the labor board with our petition for Certification. When they certify it we go to the School Board - where we expect they will accept us as the bargaining agent for EPS employees. We have reason to expect that because all of the candidates at our forum prior to the election said they supported NEA and Collective Bargaining.

Abiquiu 73%

Alcalde 74%

Central Office 87%

Chimayo 100%

CVMS 3%

Dixon 82%

EMSE 100%

EVHS 85%

Fairview 87%

Hernandez 67%

JHR 68%

Los Ninos 97%

Mountain View 77%

San Juan 52%

Sombrillo 100%

Velarde 67%

Total 73%

The NEXT and LAST general meeting for this school year is next week May 10, 4:30 PM, room 503 at EVHS. Please come, bring more cards if you know of anyone who has yet to turn them in, and give us your input and feedback re what we need to be putting on the table after certification.

Special Kudos to Sombrillo, Chimayo, and EMSE for achieving 100% in the card drive. That means every single eligible employee agreed that Espanola-NEA could bargain for them. A Job Well Done to Los Ninos who had all but one eligible employee signing the cards. There are some seriously dedicated staff!

Please check this space through out the summer as I will try hard to keep you all informed of developments as they occur. This process is likely to take a month or two - before we even start bargaining - and there may come a time when I will need to ask you for some help. I hope you will be there for us.

If I don't see you on Thursday - Have a great summer!

Brian

Mandatory Non-Conforming In-Services

2007-04-29T18:20:00.000-06:00

Dear Colleagues:

I was informed late last week that San Juan Elementary School had a Mandatory In-Service on Saturday. I was also informed that staff members who did not attend the Mandatory In-Service were disciplined in some manner.

This is a gross breach of contract. Our contracts spell out the number of days we will work, and the number of hours we will work each day. There is some wiggle room in that they specify we will perform duty at the discretion of the Superintendent. This means that going to faculty meetings, doing bus duty etc. is covered but not specifically spelled out. It is something we can bargain over when we have finished the CB process. However no where in our contracts does it say we are required to work on normal days off. Saturdays are normal days off.

Espanola-NEA believes that requiring staff to attend Saturday In-Services and especially disciplining non attendance is an error on the administrations side that can and should be grieved and will fully back any and all members who wish to file a grievance.

This will require full documentation of what was required of you that is non conforming, and what disciplinary procedure was imposed upon you for not attending.

Please contact me if you wish to pursue this issue. It is my intention that all duty will be on the table when we finish the CB process.

Thank you.

Brian Every
President Espanola-NEA
espanola.nea@gmail.com
505-753-7357 x503

PS. I remind you to make sure the CB Cards are being signed and returned to me or Andrea or Lucille ASAP - Clearly we want Collective Bargaining - I got an update over the weekend that put our card collection at past 50% but have not crunched all the numbers quite yet. Look for an update here soon.

Card Drive Progress!

2007-04-29T18:13:00.000-06:00

Hi All!

Well we have good news and not so good news.

Good news first – We have 7 schools reporting on their card drive – with all 7 schools reporting better than 60% of their cards have been signed and returned. Those schools are –

Alcalde 65%
Dixon 75%
EVHS 65%
Hernandez 67%
Los Ninos 97% (and a probable 100% - I will paint it red when that last card comes in!)
Mountain View 86%
Sombrillo 100% !!!

This gives us to date – 34% of the district employees have signed our cards that we know of.

Schools who have not yet reported their progress –

Abiquiu
CO (I did talk to Eileen – just don’t remember what she said)
CVMS
EMSE
Fairview
JHR
San Juan
Velarde

and please – if you are in one of these schools or buildings please let either me or Andrea know the following
You have cards and they are being circulated in your school
People are signing them!

If you don’t have cards and no one is circulating them for signatures, we need to know right away so we can get you some. Thank you!

Remember – Our goal was to finish by April 30 – which is Monday! We have a lot of work to do after the cards are done, and not a lot of time to do it. I have heard some very interesting rumors re next years calendar...including teacher start date of August 8th, longer days, more days, more in-service – but my biggest concern about the calendar is that to my knowledge no one I know has had any input into it at all. So all bargaining about and around the calendar is going to have to be retro-active bargaining rather than pro-active bargaining...trying to change what is, instead of planning for what could be.

Brian

Brian Every
President Espanola-NEA
United We Bargain - Divided We Beg!
Please note emails with this signature and the replies are considered public communications.
505-753-7357 x503
espanola.nea@gmail.com
http://espanolaeducators.blogspot.com

How to Enroll ...

2007-02-22T14:58:00.003-07:00

$50 rebate for New Members – JOIN NOW!

The Local’s power to effectively change the way our District operates is directly related to our membership numbers. If you’re not yet a member, join today to be part of the solution, not part of the problem.

$25 “Recruter Incentive” for current members for each new member you enroll!

Espanola school employees may enroll at any time throughout the year. Dues are pro-rated so a new member only pays for the remaining part of the 12 month year. Most members have our dues deducted, but other payment options are shown on the form too. Please remember to sign your form, and provide all the individual information on the top part of it.

To become a member, please find the Association Representative (A.R.) in your building.

Or, you may click here https://sites.nea.org/JoinNea/ to join online.

Please mail or fax the form to the address/fax number given. PLEASE DO NOT TAKE THE FORM DIRECTLY TO PAYROLL.
THANK YOU!

DIXON EDUCATORS RECEIVE NATIONAL NEA GRANT

2007-02-20T16:02:00.000-07:00

A team of educators from Dixon Elementary School in Dixon, N.M., has been selected to receive a $5,000 Student Achievement Grant from The NEA Foundation for the Improvement of Education.
Classroom teachers Kiva Duckworth-Moulton and Eugenia Cornelius (both members of Espanola-NEA) will use the grant to support a multi-media yearbook project designed to prepare students for technical and creative jobs. Students participating in the project will use technology to document the year’s events, design layouts and storyboards, edit and proofread writing and assemble a DVD presentation. Students will also visit a local publisher and discuss career opportunities with community members working in the graphics and design field.
The $5,000 NEA Foundation Student Achievement Grants are given to school staff to develop unique projects designed to foster high student achievement by implementation of creative, project-based learning. These break-the-mold ideas focus on closing the gaps in achievement that exist among various subgroups of public school students.
These NEA Foundation Student Achievement Grants are part of the The NEA Foundation’s Small Grants Program and are intended to reach directly into the classroom to improve teaching and learning. The NEA Foundation has presented 85 small grants totaling over $400,000 during the current school year.
“The innovation and creativity public school employees can bring to their students with just a little extra support is absolutely amazing,” says NEA President Reg Weaver. “These may not be the largest grants available to public school employees, but they’re oftentimes the little extra that makes the difference between success and failure for innovation in the classroom. It’s also important to remember that these grants fund ideas created by school employees themselves and not some outside organization’s preconceived idea about what should be happening in the classroom.”
All public school teachers, education support professionals and higher education faculty and staff are eligible to apply for The NEA Foundation Student Achievement Grants. These grants are available for all subjects, including the arts, literature, science, mathematics, social sciences and technology. Presented for the first time in 2000, The NEA Foundation Student Achievement Grants have funded hundreds of creative, locally designed projects.
The NEA Foundation was created by the National Education Association in 1969 and is sustained by an annual $1 contribution from each of NEA’s 3.2 million members as well as contributions from corporate partners.

WELCOME Education Employees of the Espanola Valley Public Schools!

2007-02-20T14:09:00.000-07:00

Bienvenidos/Welcome to our new "blog." This "blog" allows members to comment on messages posted here by the local leaders of the Espanola-NEA, your local association affiliated with the National Education Association - New Mexico.

To keep in touch with the latest at NEA-New Mexico, see www.nea-nm.org . The state web site has all the information you need to know about licensure, collective bargaining, employee rights, professional responsibilities and much more.

You need to know what is happening in Santa Fe, and how it will affect you. For the latest, see http://www.nea-nm.org/2002legislature/2002legfrnt.htm