Connecticut Education Association - W Hartford Conn Educ Association

During the 2022-2023 school year we accomplished the following: the whea was a gold sponsor for the hands across the green golf tournament in july. The whea president and the exec vp had bi-monthly meetings with the superintendent and director of human resources. Members of the executive committee were able to attend the new teacher meeting and luncheon at the beginning of the year to welcome the teachers. Thanks to a grant from cea/nea, the whea has two new member organizers, amanda beaulieu and becky pauluk. Amanda and becky stepped into their roles as member organizers as they greeted teachers who were new to West Hartford at the new teacher social at brio on wednesday, august 24. Teachers from across West Hartford gathered at the whea's annual fall social at gastropark on thursday, september 29 to celebrate the start of the new school year. We also presented our "teacher of the year - michele haggerty" with a plaque and a check for this year's dues. This year West Hartford public schools implemented the new elementary schedule. This was completed and members were surveyed and offered monthly meetings with the assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction. Over 85 whea members were in attendance as cea retirement specialist robyn kaplan-cho presented the cea's retirement workshop to West Hartford teachers in the auditorium of king philip middle school on thursday, october 25. Robyn covered a wide range of issues related to the state teachers' retirement system and offered time for questions following the presentation. Our comprehensive whea workshop covered all issues related to the state teachers' retirement system, such as retirement eligibility, purchasing additional service, how social security may be affected, retiree health insurance, and choosing a retirement plan. In addition, members were invited to attend Hartford county forums during the year. The president attended all of the Hartford county president's forums. 15+ members signed up to attend the cea ra. The executive team met monthly and as needed to execute their responsibilities. Monthly representative council meetings were held to inform members of issues and concerns throughout the district. Several training workshops for new whea representatives and their mentors were held. As needed, the whea exec vp called the grievance committee together to discuss possible grievances. Our executive board also met several times for exective team workshops where we discussed updating our vision, mission, goals, and plans for the upcoming year, the whea president also sits on the town wide safety committee and surveys all members four times per year to share safety concerns at this meeting. The whea sent 20 members of the representative council to the "resolving conflict: advocating for your members" training which was held november 5, 2022 at the gillette ridge golf club. The presenter was cea, organizing and training specialist gloria dimon. The whea sent a member of the representative council to every board of Education meeting. In addition, whea members are seated on the plec (professional learning and evaluation committee), townwide safety & health, superintendent's advisory and a districtwide stipend committee. The whea president also sits on the steering committee for the district pdec(plec). In december, the whea again made a donation to conard's junior class holiday effort; they shop for and wrap toys, gifts, and much-needed warm clothing for less fortunate West Hartford students. The whea also participated in the cef holiday bear project (filled 5 bags). The whea continued the tradition of contributing to safe-grad after-prom parties at hall and conard high schools. We made donations to the West Hartford scholorship fund, which provides scholorships to high school seniors, and the foundation for West Hartford public schools, which supports "educational projects, programs, and initiatives that enhance and enliven the classroom experience for all West Hartford public school students". Whea members attended the cea summer leadership program. The cea survey was filled out and suggestions for workshops were provided. We held whea office elections. Officers include president, executive vice president, administrative vice president, and treasurer. Candidates who were interested in running for office needed to have been members of the whea for at least 2 consecutive years prior to becoming a candidate, obtain 15 signatures on their petition for candidacy, and submit their petition to the nominating committee in care of the whea office by march 1, 2023. Brian putkonen was elected as our new union president. The whea recognition gathering was held on thursday, may 18 2023 at the farmington club. Retirees were honored, including our own president, theresa mckeon. Member of the year and citizen of the year were acknowledged during this event. Sara tamborello, the editor of the whea world newsletter won the award for the best newsletter in our category. Finally, our whea president attended 10-minute building rep meetings in person and online. She represented teachers on tevel assitance plans and held weekly 1:1 meetings with cea uniserv.