OCEA Quest - February 2000

OCEA Wants You!

by Jeffery Greb

The recent contract ratification vote highlighted a serious and growing problem in our organization: the lack of member participation. While the contract was ratified by over 99% of members who voted, only 25% of the eligible membership took the time to vote. I'm positive most people who neglected to vote did so because they trusted the negotiation team and felt their abstention was a de facto vote of confidence to the team’s hard work. Their lack of participation, however, could have skewed the results, could have caused a result with which most of the membership would not agree.

    You should realize there are fewer and fewer people running your organization. I am Administrative Vice-President, Membership Chair, and the new chief negotiator. While I have accepted these positions and the duties they entail, I have taken on some of my responsibilities simply because the job needed to be done and no one else volunteered to do it.
    There are a handful of other members who, like me, have accepted obligations they would have preferred not to, but recognize the need for the business of the Association to continue.
   I understand that we all have commitments. I understand, too, that we all are entitled to a life outside of our careers. You should understand it is not healthy or wise to give so much power and control to so few people. This is not to say that those who work so diligently for us abuse their positions. It does mean, however, that fewer voices mean less debate, fewer new ideas, and less creativity: all dangerous things to a democratic organization.
    When making those important choices of where to commit your valuable time outside your regular workday, please keep OCEA in mind. Participation does not necessarily mean running for office; it could be as simple as writing an article for the Quest. Newer teachers: becoming more involved in your association can lead to important contacts and open opportunities. (For example, many persons now in administration in our district were once leaders in OCEA). More participation means less work for a dedicated few and a healthier, more representative Association for all.

As you can see, many of the same people wear many different hats. Your Union needs your participation: become trained and involved to make OCEA even better than it is.

The big celebration date is Thursday, March 2, 2000, Dr. Seuss's 96th birthday.   The National Education Association is calling for every child in every school in every community to celebrate.
    Last year 20 million children celebrated reading. This years NEA's birthday bash promises to be the biggest, boldest, and brassiest yet. Rock stars will read with children at the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame in Ohio. The Cat in the Hat will ring the opening bell on the New York Stock Exchange, and hundreds of thousands of teachers across the country are planning their own celebrations.
    With the 3rd annual celebration the National Education Association wants to send a crystal clear message to America's children that reading is important...and fun! Research tells that the more children read, the better they read, and that the more children read outside of school, the better they do in school.

Visit www.nea.org/readacross for event ideas and other information. You can also call (202) 822-SEUS or use the fax on demand service at 1-888-2GET NEA.

Top Ten Reasons To Take the First-Ever "Carson-Douglas Open Summer Institute" with the Northern Nevada Writing Project

v You'll help your students meet standards and do better on writing assessments.

v Your Carson-Douglas instructors, Katie Burnmham, Rod Hearn, and Lorie Schaefer

For more information call the NNWP office at 784-4951 or e-mail Judy at <judyo@unr.edu>.

    Teaching – Let me see if I have this right. You want me to go into the room with all those kids, and fill their every waking moment with a love for learning. Not only that, but I am also to instill a sense of pride in their ethnicity, modify disruptive behavior, and observe them for signs of abuse.
    I am to fight the war on drugs and sexually transmitted diseases, check their backpacks for guns and knives, and raise their self-esteem. I am to teach them patriotism, good citizenship, sportsmanship and fair play; how to balance a checkbook, and how to apply for a job.
    I am to check their heads for lice, maintain a safe environment, recognize signs of potential antisocial behavior, offer advice, write letters of recommendation for student employment and scholarships, encourage respect for the cultural diversity of others, and oh yes, teach, always sure I give the girls in my class 50 percent of my attention.
    I am required by my contract to work on my own time (summers and evenings) and at my own expense toward additional certification and a master’s degree, to sponsor the cheerleaders or the sophomore class (my choice); and after school, I am to attend committee and faculty meetings, and participate in staff development training to maintain my current certification and employment status.
    I am to be a paragon of virtue, such that my very presence will awe my students into being obedient and respectful of authority. I am to do all of this with just a piece of chalk, a bulletin board and a few books (some of which I may have to purchase myself.) And for doing this, I am to be paid a starting salary that, in some states, qualifies my family for food stamps.
    Is that all?

Written a good children’s book and want to see it published? I am accepting manuscripts to be considered for publication. You may submit with or without illustrations.Writer’s Marketplace is made up of teacher authors and student authors.