Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/175002
PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE WELCOME BACK TO SCHOOL President Vetter has dinner with the Campbell County Education Association leaders to discuss membership potential in their locals. WEA members attend the Human and Civil Rights dinner one night during Representative Assembly in Atlanta, GA, this summer. 4 BACK TO SCHOOL 2013 BTS 2013.indd 4 I hope your school year is off to a great start. I have been busy visiting locals, schools and classrooms this past month. I have visited 27 locals so far this fall and hope to get to all of our locals at least once before the winter weather hits. My goal is to listen to our members and find out what is happening in their workplaces and local associations. I want to not only learn about the great things that are happening but also any concerns or needs that our members have. This information helps me to be a better voice for our members as I attend legislative meetings. It also helps WEA to develop trainings to address our members' needs. I would like to thank the local leaders and individual WEA members for inviting me to their local meetings, schools and classrooms. I have truly enjoyed getting to spend time with both members and students. I hope that you will consider inviting me to a local meeting or to visit your school or classroom in the near future. You can contact me at kvetter@nea. org. Throughout the summer I have been attending meetings of the Select Committee on Statewide Education Accountability and of the Advisory Committee to the Select Committee. I feel it is important to have our voice in the room when these committees meet. This is one of the ways that I use the information I have gathered from listening to our members during my visits to locals around the state. As the Wyoming Accountability in Education Act moves forward, WEA needs to continue to be a voice for our members and the students we serve. I, along with two staff members, Kathy Scheurman and Ken Decaria, and four great local leaders, Travis Duncan, Barry McCann, Amanda Gill and Dirk Andrews, attended the Western Region Organizing Institute this June in Albuquerque, NM. We learned ways to institute organizing activities not only at the local level but at the building level as well. As we continue our organizing efforts around the state again this year, I encourage all of our members to get involved and become active members of their local Association. NEA's Raise Your Hand for Public Schools campaign is one way you can get involved in your Association. You can learn more about the campaign by logging onto: http://www.gpsnetwork.org. | WEAnews 9/17/13 6:47 PM WEA Krist how for a Syne