Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/575770
Back To School 2015 | wyoea.org 11 Northwest Region Strenger, Hot Springs EA Southwest Region by Sandra Bowling, GREA President Every year the Green River Education Association (GREA) does a new teacher luncheon at the beginning of the school year. We invite all of the new teachers, administrators, the superintendent, and school board members. Carol Jelaco, WEA Southwest UniServ Director, comes and shares information and the cost. This year we went to China Garden for some excellent Chinese food. While we were there, we all got to visit and then we presented the benefits of joining the Association. This year we added to the luncheon by having a new teacher bazaar. Last spring we asked for donations from teachers during the last week of school. We were very excited because we had so much stuff donated for new teachers. Then the district let us store it at Central Office for the summer. We were very excited to offer this to our new teachers. We held the bazaar on the day of the new teacher training, the day of the luncheon and the first day back for all of the teachers. We had a very good turnout, and teachers were able to take as much as they wanted. Some took two to three boxes of materials. We had a lot left, and it is being stored by an Association member in her horse trailer until we can find a home for all of the sets of books and other teacher supplies we have. Some people are asking if we can open it to all Association members next year!! course of the last seven years, our Local (Hot County Education Association) has seen a steady drop in membership. In our size, this loss of membership not only causes a financial burden, but weakens the we have when addressing issues. There are several factors that are likely to have caused decrease in membership. We believe that the biggest factor in the drop in membership is the negative view that our district's administration and non-members have of the Association. positive efforts we have been doing in the past were only seen by Association members. negative issues that arose due to disagreements between the district and Association, of how few, were heard of and seen district-wide. Therefore, going into the 2015-2016 year, our Association decided to change our approach on how we work to build a positive within our community. primary goal for the upcoming school year is to build a positive image within Thermopolis in an attempt to increase membership over the next few years. To achieve this, we working to engage all employees of our district, regardless of their Association membership. identified hallway representatives, who already work with many of the non-members basis. They are building dialog and identifying individual passions that could help become a valuable asset to the Association. Our local has also adopted a highway in community. We currently have plans to complete a fall clean-up in which all HSCSD#1 will be invited to participate. We are fortunate to have a member at the end of the will host a BBQ after the clean-up. Another effort we are using to build relationships community is to engage the local businesses by partnering with them to sponsor and Students of the Month. The school district already selects these individuals; the simply plans to sponsor them in partnership with the local businesses to build trust appreciation. confident that our efforts will build a positive view of the Association within the town Thermopolis and the school district. The greatest thing about our plan is that as membership ideas to build a positive image will also grow.