CEA Office Open House

Just a reminder that today is the big day!  The CEA Board of Directors welcomes you to our Office Open House.  Don’t forget to drop by between 3:00pm and 7:00pm to experience the feel of your Professional Organization in its NEW location:

Winchester Building, Suite 100

10800 Midlothian Turnpike

North Chesterfield, VA 23235

804-897-1756

CEA-CCPS Discuss Collaboration at TURN

Chesterfield sent a team of CEA and CCPS representatives to the Mid-Atlantic/Southeast Teacher Union Reform Network (MASE TURN) meeting in Raleigh, NC, this past weekend.  The majority of the trip was funded through a Gates Foundation grant designed to help unions and school divisions better understand each other's perspectives, and communicate those concerns in ways that will lead to greater collaboration to improve student learning. The theme of the meeting, which included teams from Fairfax and Spotsylvania Counties in Virginia, as well as teams from Maryland, Georgia, North Carolina, and Florida, was Building Collaborative Partnerships to Improve Teacher Effectiveness.  Presenters from the Center for Teaching Quality, the U.S. Department of Education, and Jefferson County School District and its union partner Jefferson County Education Association led us through conversations focused on joint union-district responsibility for teacher evaluation, and differentiated compensation.

CEA Rep Council Rescheduled

The CEA Representative Council meeting that had to be postponed due to weather concerns on Tuesday, September 18, has been rescheduled for WEDNESDAY, September 26.

The meeting will still be held at Monacan HS from 4:30-6:00pm.  Please enter through door #1, and follow the hallway to your left to the Library Media Center.  See you there!

Breaking Update: Rep Council Postponed

This is an important update:

The CEA Rep Council meeting scheduled for TODAY at Monacan HS has been POSTPONED as a result of CCPS issuing a school closure announcement due to sever weather concerns.  All after-school activities are cancelled today, and all school facilities will close immediately after the student instructional day is over. 

Information about a rescheduled date for Rep Council will be announced as soon as it is available.  We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, but appreciate CCPS caring for the safety or our Members and the students they educate.

More Movement: Rep Council now at Monacan HS

Many of you have already stopped by the new CEA Office on Midlothian Turnpike, but we're not the only thing that's moving this year.  Not to be left out, Rep Council has a new venue as well.  Last year we left our old familiar meeting place (Manchester MS) in search of a room without a dividing wall that separated our Reps, making it difficult for everyone to see one another while discussing issues.  We tried the Fulghum Center, which allowed everyone to see each other, but that cavernous room made it difficult to hear everyone without amplification.  So where will we be this year?  Monacan HS has agreed to host our first meeting of the new school year, and possibly beyond. We will kick the tires on their library tomorrow afternoon.

Monacan HS is located in the Smoketree subdivision, at
11501 Smoketree Drive, North Chesterfield, VA 23236 
(right off of Courthouse Road between Hull Street and Midlothian Turnpike).  As always, Rep Council begins at 4:30pm, with a half hour of light refreshments and social time preceding the meeting.  The scheduled ending time is 6:00pm.

Important changes to our governing documents (Bylaws and Articles of Incorporation) will be discussed, as well as local and state-level issues that will affect our Members.  I hope to see all of the Reps tomorrow at Monacan; they will be bringing back important documents to share with all the Members in their buildings.
~Frank

CEA Office Moves to Midlo

We'll be unpacking for much of the summer, but will be open
to help Members throughout the entire process.

New Home for CEA!

School ended, and while everyone was busy getting ready for summer, CEA office staff were busy getting ready for the big move.  

That's right, the next time you visit the CEA Office, you'll be three miles farther west on Midlothian Turnpike.  After a dozen years at our previous location in the Cloverleaf Office Park, and almost 30 years total on Turner Road, market conditions and membership changes made the time right for CEA to relocate.  

The CEA Office is now housed in Suite 100 of the Winchester Building at 10800 Midlothian Turnpike.  The new office takes advantage of shared conference room facilities to reduce the number of square feet of leased space, thus allowing us to redirect financial resources into projects to support our Members.  As in the past, the Colonial Heights Education Association will be partners in maintaining the office, and both of the  UniServ Directors assigned to our unit (District 15; Chesterfield/Colonial Heights UniServ) will be housed on site, along with the CEA's full-time released president, and an administrative secretary.  

Many months of research and planning went into the move, including securing the help of a commercial real estate agent who has experience with non-profit organizations.  In fact, she helped our neighbors in the Richmond Education Association relocate and save Members money as well.  The new CEA Office is an upgrade in every way except cost: the interior was designed and configured to meet the needs of an active Association; new carpet and freshly painted walls create a comfortable, professional environment for our Members to host meetings in; since most meetings take place after school and well into the evening, a safe neighborhood was important; the parking lot is well lit, and all exterior doors are locked after regular business hours with electronic keycard access required to gain admission; other tenants in the building include financial consultants, property management groups, attorneys, insurance companies, and medical firms.

The Chesterfield Education Association is THE employee advocacy organization for all of the education professionals of the Chesterfield County Public School system.  We hope you will take advantage of all your union has to offer, and come visit YOUR office in its new location.

Chesterfield Education Association
Winchester Building, Suite 100
10800 Midlothian Turnpike
North Chesterfield, VA 23235
(804) 897-1756 

Testing...Testing...1, 2, 3...

Several CEA Members recently attended a public forum on High-stakes Testing sponsored by the Richmond Teachers for Social Justice. It was great to see our Members and Building Reps out in the community sharing their expertise and networking with other teachers and parents in the Richmond Metro Area. Participating in events like this is a great way to share our message about what really works well (and what doesn't) in public education, and to confront in a very positive way the corporate-sponsored and government-backed attacks on our profession.

RTSJ is hosting a follow-up meeting on Monday, June 4, 4:30-6:00 pm, at VCU's Oliver Hall Room 4084B (1015 W. Main St., Richmond). The agenda includes a continuation of the public discussion, including steps that can be taken to resist the corrupting effects of high-stakes testing. You can learn more about the group and how to become involved by visiting their website, http://www.rvatsj.org/.

While not affiliated with RTSJ, Chesterfield County Public Schools acknowledges the amount of student, parent, and teacher stress created by high-stakes testing, at the emotional and cognitive levels. The April 2012 edition of Psych Briefs, published by CCPS Psychological Services, was entirely dedicated to managing test anxiety.

This is a big conversation nationally and at the state level. Don't let all the dialogue occur between people who are years removed from the classroom; become part of the conversation here at the local level. Tests, like any other entity, are neither inherently good nor bad; it is the design, implementation, administration, and utilization of the results they yield that can have significant impact on quality teaching and student learning.