News from locals on fall recruiting

• Edgewood signed up 30 members at a luncheon for new teachers.  

• Southwest Educators Association invited 52 new teachers to lunch and signed up 32. 

• Brownsville held an AR training/meeting with 85 people present, including the superintendent. At the new educator orientation, the local had a drawing for $100 and $50 gift cards from Best Buy. They signed up 60 out of 64 new members. 

• Laredo signed up 28 new members at the Laredo new educator orientation and 31 at United. By the first break at the United NEO, the person running the TCTA table joined TSTA. 

• Ysleta Teachers Association signed up 61 of 98 new teachers attending the New Teacher Orientation, and nine of the 98 were already members. Their booth included a prize wheel, black & gold balloons, and a door prize raffle. As of August 16, 72% of the new teachers in Ysleta ISD are part of YTA/TSTA/NEA Family.

• Association of Brownsville Educators, TSTA's largest local association, signed up 60 of 65 new teachers. The local has almost 4,000 members.

Building a power plan
Waco TSTA/NEA's executive committee works on its "building full capacity" power plan. Locals all over the state are working on their power plans this month, as a result of training at the TSTA Leadership Institute in July.

NETA's new transportation representatives
North East Teachers Association President Cindy Marthes with newly elected Transportation ARs; from left to right, they are David Maldonado, representing BAC; Maurice Phillips and Dennis Johnson, representing North Barn; and George Rodarte, representing Central Barn.

Many locals have websites, facebook pages
Check our ever-growing list and please email us at debbiem@tsta.org if you'd like us to link to yours. more

Donna TSTA/NEA kicks off new campaign
Donna TSTA/NEA and Donna ISD held a joint "Respect, Dignity & Professionalism for All" campaign kick-off May 20 at the Donna AEP Center.

"It was a HUGE success!" President Linda Estrada reports. "We had six reps from every campus which included an administrator, teacher, instructional TA, clerical, custodial and cafeteria worker."

Socorro celebrates NEA’s Read Across America
Students, teachers and district administrators in Socorro ISD celebrated NEA’s Read Across America on March 2 and honored beloved children's author Dr. Seuss. They tied in silly fun to motivate children to become lifelong readers and learners. From donning red and white striped hats to decorating their classrooms and wearing "silly" socks, schools across the district creatively brought to life the work of Dr. Seuss. 

The events were kicked off in February when Norma Ayala, assistant principal at Slider Middle School and the SEA’s coordinator for NEA’s Read Across America, and a group of students presented Board President Karen Blaine with a Cat in the Hat hat and invited the Board and community to participate in the annual celebration of reading. “To honor the good doctor and celebrate the fun and value of reading, we are asking you to join us under one hat – the red and white stovepipe made famous by the Cat in the Hat – for a flurry of reading excitement,” Ayala requested of the Board and Socorro community. 

“NEA’s Read Across America Day is a wonderful day in education,” Ayala added. “Through the efforts and celebrations of schools and educators around the country, more than 45 million readers, both young and old, are expected to pick up a book and read. Our goal is to show America’s children the joy of reading – on March 2nd and every day.” 

Board President Karen Blaine and Trustee Michael Najera attended the official NEA’s Read Across America night at Barnes & Noble and read Dr. Seuss books to students. Proceeds from sales that evening were donated to the Slider Parent/Teacher Organization (PTO). Superintendent Dr. Xavier De La Torre also prioritized his schedule to join Salvador H. Sanchez Middle School and read Dr. Seuss classics “The Cat in the Hat” and “Green Eggs and Ham” to the entire study-body over the school intercom. 

Vista Del Sol Elementary School’s second grade team joined forces to transform their hall into a rainforest, resembling the Cat in the Hat series book “If I Ran the Rain Forest”. Teachers read the book with students and worked with them to create the decorations, complete with tropical sounds. The students are learning about animal characteristics, habitats and life cycles of animals and plants. 

“The students really enjoyed all of the activities this week,” said Yvonne Garcia, a second grade teacher at Vista Del Sol. “From wearing stripes and silly socks to decorating our area, they had fun. The best thing is Dr. Seuss’s books tie-in to our classroom activities and help us connect with the students.” 

NEA’s Read Across America was established by the National Education Association (NEA) in 1998 as the nation’s largest celebration of reading. The purpose of the event is to highlight the importance of motivating children to read as an important factor in student achievement and creating lifelong successful readers. Research shows that children who are motivated and spend more time reading do better in school. 

Ayala referred to the classic line of Dr. Seuss in closing her presentation to the Board. She said when we work together as a community to encourage our children to read, “there is no limit to the places we can go.” 

Look for photos of the event in the photo album on TSTA's facebook page.

Bill White Visits with Laredo Leaders
Bill White was in Laredo Feb. 15, one day before early voting began, and TSTA Region 1C was there to show the gubernatorial candidate that he has the support of all three local unions, who have a combined total of 3,600 members. TSTA-Political Action Committee endorsed White in early January. more

Haecker Visits NEA-Dallas and Dallas County Schools
TSTA President Rita Haecker was in Dallas in February to visit with members and recruit new ones at three Dallas County Schools (DCS) Service Centers. Haecker started at the Richardson Service Center early Monday morning; sat in on the NEA-Dallas Member Advocacy Team meeting for Dallas County Schools; met with Dallas County Schools Superintendent Dr. Rick Sorrells; then finished off the day at the Don Shields Service Center.