WEA Website:
NEA Website:
http://www.nea.org
Wyoming Education Portal:
http://www.k12.wy.us |
Inside this
issue:
·
Reminder: ESP & Higher Ed. Meetings in Casper This Weekend
·
WDE to Hold PAWS Test Administration Workshops
·
Winner Announced in WEA Giveaway
·
Action Needed by You on Issues of Importance!
·
State Board of Education Takes Stand on PSL Issues
·
2006 NEA’s RAA Resource Kit Available Soon
·
All Casper College Students Can Have Free E-mail Accounts
·
Wyoming’s New Data System Watched by Nation
·
Taking Lessons from a Baby
·
SeaWorld/Busch Gardens/Fujifilm Environmental Excellence Awards Application
Deadline Approaching |
Reminder:
ESP & Higher Ed. Meetings in Casper This Weekend
This coming
Friday and Saturday, Oct. 14-15, marks 2 important WEA meetings:
ESP Summit—This
meeting is designed to bring together ESP members from each local to address
membership issues, assist in defining the WEA program for ESP, organize and
energize the ESP Ad Hoc Committee, and address other issues/concerns of ESP
members.
WEA Council on Higher Education—Representatives
from each of the campuses will come together to address membership issues,
participate in defining the WEA program for Higher Ed, and address other
issues/concerns of Higher Ed members.
Dates: October 14-15
Times: Both meetings will begin at 7:30 Friday evening and
conclude by 3:00 Saturday afternoon
Location: Ramkota Best Western Hotel in Casper
Space is limited and reservations are
required! If you have not RSVP’d to attend but are interested, please
contact Mary Hoff at
mhoff@nea.org or 1-800-464-6419 immediately! |
WDE to Hold
PAWS Test Administration Workshops
The Wyoming
Department of Education will soon be holding workshops regarding the new
PAWS student assessments. Five regional meetings are scheduled: October
17—Riverton; October 18—Cheyenne; October 19—Casper; October 20—Rock
Springs; and October 24—Gillette. WEA
encourages you to work with your district to be part of the team that
attends the meeting for your region. |
Winner
Announced in WEA Giveaway
Tia Reed
of Laramie, WY, was selected today as the winner of a copy of
The Teacher’s Calendar 2005-2006—The
Day-by-Day Almanac of Historic Events, Holidays, Famous Birthdays & More! Tia
entered the giveaway announced in the Aug./Sept./Oct. issue of
WEA NEWS.
Watch future
issues of the WEA NEWS for
your chance to win other free prizes! |
Action
Needed by You on Issues of Importance!
1.
Tell
Congress to Protect Student Aid, Oppose Vouchers
In response to the rising costs of Hurricanes
Katrina and Rita, the Bush Administration and Republican Senate and House
budget leaders plan to move ahead with tax cuts while cutting funding for
programs that help low- and middle-income families, including loans for
college students. At the same time, the Administration and its allies
continue to push for a $488 million voucher program aimed at private school
students displaced by Katrina and Rita.
Your voice is critical to passing a budget and
hurricane education relief package that helps students and schools.
A note from WEA President Gary McDowell:
“Please contact Senators Enzi and Thomas by clicking on the link below. It
is important for our Senators to hear from their constituents.
“Senators Enzi and Kennedy are the sponsors of the Katrina relief
legislation in the Senate and their proposal does not include vouchers. It
is important that Sen. Enzi receives our support on this issue.
“Senator Thomas has a long history of opposing vouchers. Please encourage
his continued support.”
Action Needed:
Click here and tell your Senators and Representative
[http://capwiz.com/nea/issues/alert/?alertid=8091731]
to pass a Fiscal Year 2006 budget that funds the nation's priorities, such
as student college loans, and does not include tax cuts that we can't
afford. Urge them to oppose private school vouchers in any education relief
package for students displaced by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
2.
Tell
Congress to Oppose Legislation that would Undermine Employer-Provided
Pension Plans
Congress will
soon consider H.R. 2830/S.219; these measures deal with pension reform and
will negatively impact private sector employers’ ability to continue to
provide “defined benefit” pension programs for their employees.
We urge all
members to click on the action link below and send a message to Congress.
You will find additional information and links to your Federal lawmakers
there.
Action Link (http://www.nea.org/lac/pension/index.html) |
State Board
of Education Takes Stand on PSL Issues
The Wyoming
State Board of Education recently took important action on a number of
Private School Licensing (PSL) issues.
The most
significant work done by the board was approving a resolution directed at
the Wyoming State Legislature, stating the board's support of adopting
legislation requiring accreditation for all post-secondary degree-granting
institutions to be effective July 1, 2006.
In addition, the board stated it opposes any effort to "grandfather" or
exempt any school licensed under the current system and wants any
accreditation to come from a regional accreditation association approved by
the U.S. Department of Education.
The board also
passed a resolution to suspend the license of American Capital University, a
private school licensed in Wyoming. On July 8, 2005, American Capital
University had voluntarily requested the suspension of their license.
The board
approved sending a letter to Rutherford University, a private school
licensed in Wyoming, notifying the school that it was in violation of
statutes and rules for such issues as not conducting substantive academic
and student service related activity in its Wyoming office and failing to
provide the Department of Education a list identifying the instructor for
each course. The school has ten days from the date of the letter to address
the allegations and otherwise demonstrate compliance. The action was due to
a complaint filed with the Wyoming Board of Education because the school was
found by the Wyo. Dept. of Education, during an inspection, to be in
violation of the state statutes and Chapter 30 rules and regulations.
|
2006 NEA’s
RAA Resource Kit Available Soon
The 2006 Read
Across America (RAA) resource kit, filled with new posters, a literacy
planning calendar, materials, and more, will ship later in October. You’ll
find a new NEA’s Read Across America Day logo poster; Reading Rocks!, a new
teen literacy poster; and a new early literacy poster with art by author and
illustrator Eric Carle. And, get ready for the new online toolkit filled
with media tips, event tips, sample proclamations, and resources for
celebrating reading year-round—available soon on the Read Across America Web
site. To request your copy of the 2006 resource kit and to pledge your
activities for 2006, go to
www.nea.org/readacross.
Don't forget to sign up for the monthly RAA e-newsletter. You'll find news
from RAA partners and student achievement, links to grant information or
literacy news, and tips from NEA locals and members around the country. Go
to
www.nea.org/readacross
to sign up. |
All Casper
College Students Can Have Free E-mail Accounts
Postcards have been sent to registered, credit-generating and
credit-auditing Casper College students to let them know that they have a
new communications tool available to them: free e-mail accounts. It is
important to note that students must sign-in and register for the account.
Casper College is going to be using the student e-mail system as a primary
communication channel for official correspondences with students.
Registration details and more information are available on the CC Website
at:
https://register.caspercollege.edu/mail/src/login.php. |
Wyoming’s
New Data System Watched by Nation
Wyoming will begin rolling out an
inner-school, intra-district and district-to-state data delivery system to
speed the collection of vital education statistics, keep better track of
individual students and save money. Other states will be watching Wyoming’s
experience closely as NCLB pushes them to create better and faster
data-collection systems.
http://www.educationdaily.net
|
Taking
Lessons from a Baby
The new issue
of "Greater Good" profiles a Canadian program called Roots of Empathy that
teaches compassion and parenting skills to children. The program's key
innovation is in designing its curriculum around the development of a
newborn baby. Through the program, hundreds of newborn babies are paired up
with local public school classrooms; the same baby visits the same classroom
over the course of the school year. By watching "their" child develop
physically and emotionally, the children gain a greater understanding of how
to understand their own emotions and the emotions of others. Roots of
Empathy has been rigorously evaluated by researchers, and they've found that
the program not only improves participating students' social skills but
improves their academic achievement as well.
http://peacecenter.berkeley.edu/SpringSummer05_Naiman.pdf
|
SeaWorld/Busch
Gardens/Fujifilm Environmental Excellence Awards Application Deadline
Approaching
2006 SeaWorld/Busch Gardens/Fujifilm
Environmental Excellence Awards recognize the outstanding efforts of
students and teachers across the country who are working at the grassroots
level to protect and preserve the environment. (This is an awards program,
not a grant. Project applicants should be able to demonstrate significant
accomplishments that have occurred prior to the Wednesday, November 30, 2005
deadline.)
Maximum Award: $10,000. Eligibility: All schools (grades K-12).
Deadline: Nov. 30, 2005.
http://www.seaworld.org/conservation-matters/eea/about.htm
|
