RGNEA Members,
This is a reminder that our RGNEA Monthly Meeting will take place this Wednesday, December 12, 2007 at the Corner Coffee House, 100 S. Florissant Road in Ferguson, Missouri with the business meeting starting at or shortly after 4:15p.m.It is extremely important that every building bring multiple people to this meeting. Why? Because RG's co-superintendents will be the honored guests and they believe the issues that we bring to them are just coming from a few of us. Our administration has been telling everyone that this district is running smoothly and there are no major issues among the staff. Do you AGREE with that? We've been telling them these are the entire membership's issues. Your executive officers and negotiation team continue fighting for our membership every week over the issues that you have brought to us. Now is the time for the membership to step forward and show this administration this is not just a "small group of rebellious members" trying to create some conflict in the district. These issues are real. These issues include planning time, pay freezes, administrative/C.O. staff raises, discipline, communication, morale, substitutes, increased work load, class size, curriculum, professionalism, reduction in teaching staff, excess of C.O. staff, consultants, DESE mandates and many more issues, but unless the membership steps forward this Wednesday, it sends a message to this administration that we DO NOT CARE about these issues. The message to the administration is THEY can dictate the direction they take us. It will also send a clear message to your hard working RGNEA board that the time they spend is not worth the trouble. Your team will not step up and continue spending hours each week to this fight these issues we continually face without the membership standing behind us. The RGNEA team already is fighting an uphill battle because the financial meeting last week had less than a dozen teaching staff in attendance. The message sent was "teachers don't care about a freeze in salary or what the financial situation is in the district. The teachers are content with the way things are." I don't believe that is the message the membership wants to send, but that was the perception the administration received. The freedom to speak openly is one thing that is much improved. The superintendents WILL listen to us. We need to insist they start acting upon these issues. Let me remind you that the RGNEA leaders are a group of your peers that stick their neck out and fight these issues for the sake of all of us. These RGNEA leaders that serve you do not get a single cent for the time they spend. They negotiate, they are there to fight for your rights, and attend all of the important meetings to make sure our point of view is heard loud and clear. The NEA is an organization of locals with members that govern and run themselves. Certainly we pay our dues to the MNEA and NEA and expect to be supported when things are beyond our means of handling situations ourselves. Gilbert, our UniServ Director, spends an excessive amount of time in Riverview even though he has several other districts he serves. He always makes sure our needs are met. Our local spends many hours to get small gains. Believe me when I say that many of our the smaller problems are fought and resolved without the membership even knowing. Let me remind of the past couple of years when the MNEA stepped forward to back us in a lawsuit over contract issues. I'll also remind you of the hours of time your local RGNEA officers and members gave voluntarily to create an awareness to the community and leaders in the state of Missouri that ultimately led to elimination of the personnel and corruption of the last administration and remind you of the hours we spent to seat RGNEA supported board candidates to the positions they hold today. That is not all by accident. Many devoted hours by many devoted people through all levels of the NEA made that happen. So now we need your support again. The direction of the district is different than what we desire. Please make it a point to put this event on your schedule to attend the Wednesday meeting. Let's get the word out to all of the membership in your building about the importance of this meeting. A minimum of 60 minutes on Wednesday is all the time we ask so you can listen and discuss these issues with the superintendents and share why these issues are important to us. We need to tell them we insist on changes in the way things are done and change the way the staff is treated. Let's share with them how these issues do affect student achievement.Let's be there in force at 4:15 and make our position known as a group. The freedom to speak openly is one thing that is much improved. The superintendents WILL listen to us. No more retaliation. We just need them to start acting upon these issues. We are in this together. Let's let our voice be heard.Thanks for your support. See you on Wednesday. Any last minute updates or cancellation due to superintendent cancellation or by weather will be posted on the RGNEA homepage and/or in your email by Wednesday afternoon.
Richard Thies
RGNEA President
314-518-4305
