The local faith, labor, and community organizations of WeROC (Washtenaw Regional Organizing Coalition) invite you to attend a special event Sunday, November 15, from 3:00 to 5:00 pm, in Ypsilanti at Emmanuel Lutheran Church ELCA (210 N River St.) 

A broad range of people, united around the basic shared value that “we’re all in this together,” are working to make real changes that improve the lives of everyone in our area. Please come to participate in this effort.

With a commitment of less than 2 hours that day, hundreds of us will be able to signal by our actual presence that we expect our public officials and other decision-makers to take concrete actions on several meaningful issues that the WeROC Action Teams have been busy working on:

• Reducing school suspensions and breaking the school-to prison pipeline.
• Broadening the number of businesses in our area that offer employees earned sick time for themselves or to care for a family member, instead of losing a paycheck or their job.
• Expanding public transit options, locally and between Washtenaw and Detroit.
• Building on the very real public health consequences of our unacceptable level of incarceration, especially as communities of color have been affected.

Next Saturday, November 21, 2015, We will hold a PRAXIS SLLA Educational Leadership Exam Workshop at Louisiana State University for anyone who plans to take the assessment as part of the requirements for school leadership / administrator certification.

Also, We will also hold a PRAXIS PLT Principles of Learning and Teaching Exam Workshop for anyone who plans to take the PLT exam as part of the requirements for certification. 

Attention 911 Center Union Members: Your union and the Baltimore County Administration have reached a tentative agreement (click to view the document) that affects ECT Trainee, Tech I, II, Assistant Supervisor, and Supervisor (40 hour) classifications only.

Informational sessions and a ratification vote are scheduled for Friday November 20, 2015, 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the union office, 305 West Chesapeake Avenue, Suite L-30. Only union members are eligible to vote and must present a government issued photo id.

Membership Concerns Form available for download below:

membership20concerns20form.pdf

Charities depend on the generosity of donors to support them for various causes and purposes. Many charitable organizations use your donations wisely; however, some may misrepresent their fundraising intentions or solicit for phony causes. Keep these tips in mind before making a donation.

Madison, WI: With Wisconsin at the center of a national debate over tenure, academic freedom, and funding for public higher education, members of the AFT-Wisconsin Higher Education Council announced a series of events to be held across the UW System in November examining the theme of “The Wisconsin Idea in Crisis.” “The Wisconsin Idea is a simple one,” said Richard Leson, a UW-Milwaukee associate professor of art history and the president of AFT local 3535, The Association of UW Professionals. “It’s the idea that the University of Wisconsin System should improve the lives of all Wisconsinites—through high quality education, research for the public good, and constant community outreach. As members of the AFT-Wisconsin Higher Education Council, my colleagues and I—academic and university staff, faculty, and graduate employees—are deeply troubled by efforts of radical politicians to weaken one of the preeminent public university systems in the world. That’s why we will be holding events on UW System campuses across the state—at Eau Claire, Stout, Madison, Green Bay, Stevens Point, and Milwaukee—to draw attention to the existential crisis that we in the UW System are confronting.”

Congrats to PTLs in Political Science who have won their grievance about scheduling current lecturers for upcoming semesters instead of hiring new lecturers from outside the bargaining unit. You can read the arbitrator's decision here: Political Science Arbitration Decision

On November 3rd, North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple was called out for administering bonuses to his staff to the tune of nearly $100,000.

Gov. Dalrymple has defended those bonuses, saying that it is important to retain quality employees for the state; amidst a teacher shortage where retaining quality teachers has become a difficult task, one can't help but wonder where our teachers and public employees stand in relation to the governor's own staff.
 

North Dakota is one of many states experiencing a teacher shortage and has been taking measures to get more teachers in the classroom, including creating a "community experts" rule for the Education Standards and Practices Board that would allow unlicensed individuals to teach in places where there are not enough teachers to fill critical positions.