Judson Education Association

JEA President's Report

This has been a fast and furious year for all, I know.  Teachers and administrators alike are working at 110% to assure student success.  Take a deep breath and pat yourself on the back!

JEA has had five notable successes this year.
  

PROFESSIONAL DIGNITY SUPPORTED
at the New Teachers Orientation
After working diligently for four years we were successful in our efforts to be included in the official proceedings of the New Teacher Orientation (NTO).  This yearly meeting provides teachers new to the profession or to the district with an orientation regarding district policy, benefits, opening day tips, etc.  An official and professional introduction to the district’s professional teacher associations has been noticeably absent in the proceeding of past NTO meetings. 

This year, we lobbied board members both in the open forum and behind the scenes, and we achieved our goal—all Judson ISD teacher/educator associations were allocated a brief time at the podium to introduce themselves and talk about their role in a teacher’s professional life.  We were proud to see that proceedings went smoothly and representatives of all five associations spoke to the new teachers in a time period of less than twenty minutes.
 

PDAS WAIVER IMPLEMENTED AS JISD POLICY
JEA was instrumental in the passage of a new FIVE-YEAR PDAS WAIVER policy!   This policy is a dramatic improvement over the old policy, and was based on House Bill 1440, passed last year by the legislature.  This bill gave to districts the discretion to implement a waiver up to five years, (actually a five-year evaluation period with a four- year waiver) provided the teacher was rated proficient on their last formal evaluation.  After much debate at our JEA meetings, we wrote a proposal very similar to the policy passed by the board in November.  This policy change would not have been possible without the ardent support of Mario Salas, who went to bat for teachers in a big way.  If you see the board members, please thank them! 
  

A CLOSER WORKING RELATIONSHIP WITH THE SUPERINTENDENT
The first day Dr. Constanzo was in his office, JEA was there welcoming him to the district and offering our help in finding common ground for improving education in our district.  JEA has since had two further meetings with the superintendent.  Dr. Constanzo was very approachable, courteous and eager to work with us.  JEA has a direct line to his ear and a reciprocal agreement to keep him informed of our issues and advocacy.
 

A WORKING RELATIONSHIP WITH ATPE
Sadly, all of the aforementioned successes were achieved without the professional collaboration of any of the other teacher associations in JISD.  The good news is, however, that ATPE has new leadership that is eager to work actively in the district toward their members’ goals.  JEA has initiated contact with these leaders and we have had productive discussions regarding finding common ground in our advocacy of issues supporting our profession.  This is a positive development that cannot help but serve the interests of the students we all serve.

SUCCESSFUL PROFESSIONAL ADVOCACY BY OUR GRIEVANCE CHAIR
Our intrepid and knowledgeable grievance chairperson, Marilyn McKinney, has continued to support JEA members in numerous instances of advocacy.  Not only has she been successful working on official grievances, but she has also been able to resolve professional disputes by working with administrators behind the scenes to seek remedies in the best interest of both administrators and our members.  Our deepest appreciation goes out to Marilyn, who has stuck her neck out countless times for our members.

So hang in there, folks, do your professional best!  Call if you have concerns!  Things have been tough, but we are professional and we will prevail—we will provide our students with the best education possible!

—Kent Scheffler