President's Views

I can't say THANK YOU enough to everyone who walked the picket line. Whether you were an MCEA member, a non-member; a professional or service personnel, you made a difference that was noted across the state! A special thanks goes to the following:

• Building Reps and/or Executive Council Members who got the ballots and information out to their schools as well as organized the picketing at their schools.
• Bonnie Barr (Vice-President) who always helps me with her perspective and ideas. She didn't even complain when I called her from Charleston Saturday night, waking her up to inform her what was happening.
• Beth Hardy (Treasurer) for her support and who will hopefully write a check to reimburse some of my expenses.
• Connie Harr (Secretary)  who got the ballots and all the needed e-mails to the schools. She worked hard to keep the information flowing in a short time frame
• Skip Hackworth (Superintendent) who had the fortitude to do what was best for Mineral County and its employees.

And finally and most importantly,

• My wife, Susan for letting me wake her up when I called from Charleston and needed phone numbers. I couldn't have gotten through all the mass confusion without her love and support.

As I sit here the evening after the walkout, I'm wondering what impact we make. Here are a few thoughts:

1. Fourteen counties walked out from two regions of the state. (I heard that 5,000 teachers were involved.)
2. Maybe some other counties will plan to walk later. (If they do, their Superintendent should use the Skip Hackworth plan.)
3. The Governor says we need to talk. (Talk is good, but action is better.)
4. All elected Legislators know how upset we are. (WVEA plans to continue reinforcing this knowledge with planned activities until they correct the problem.)
5. We learned locally that we had public support. (The honks, thumbs up, as well as donated coffee and donuts greatly outnumbered the thumbs down.)

I"m pleased how well we transitioned back to school. There were no hard feelings as with the 1990 strike. The county-wide closing by Skip helped keep our county united.

Where do we go from here? I'll keep you informed of any new events as soon as I learn of them. One thing we CAN do is to wear red every payday. This will keep reminding our local elected Legislators and others that Mineral County is upset with our current pay.

Until next time,

Dan

WVEA Delegate Assembly

This year's WVEA Delegate Assembly will be held on May 3 - 5, 2007 at the Embassy Suites in Charleston. Mineral County is entitlled to send 5 delegates and 5 alternates. Cary Kyle (KHS) will be accepting nominations by phone (788-4230) or e-mail (ckyle@access.k12.wv.us) until Tuesday, May 27th. Please be sure the person you nominate is willing to attend.

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