COMMUNIQUÉ
A PUBLICATION OF THE IOWA STATE EDUCATION ASSOCIATION – MARCH 2019 – Vol. 56, No. 5
IN THIS ISSUE:
The Work
We Do
Getting
Results
Delegate
Assembly
3 7 10
Set it...
Set it...
and forget it!
and forget it!
EFT
AVAILABLE
NOW!
EFT
AVAILABLE
NOW!
Focus: Organizing for solid contracts,
greater membership & stronger public schools
Emerging Educators
FOLLOW US ON:
By Mike Wiser, mwiser@isea.org
By Mike Wiser, mwiser@isea.org
Starting salary for a beginning teacher in the Waterloo School District –
the state's sixth largest - has never topped $40,000 a year.
There's also concern that class sizes are getting so unwieldy in some
courses that educators don't have much opportunity to give students the
individual attention they need.
These were some of the concerns the Waterloo Education Association
had going into bargaining this year. The district has an experienced
The National Education Association sends in extra
funding to pay a dozen more boots-on-the-ground
organizers this year.
see ORGANIZING on page 6
see EDUCATORS on page 9
Iowa City
Education
Association's
Brady Shutt
(left) and Megan
Johnson discuss
organizing
strategies for
their local during
the organizer
training in West
Des Moines. BY
MIKE WISER/
IOWA STATE
EDUCATION
ASSOCIATION
Students who get into Allysen Lovstuen's Algebra and AP Calculus classes in Decorah
High School, know they're in for a challenging semester with one of the best teachers
in the country.
It's probably to be expected from Decorah Education Association's Lovstuen who
instituted FIRST LEGO League and FIRST Tech Challenge in her district, has been a
member of the Iowa Outstanding Educators Advisory Council and Iowa Council of
Teachers of Mathematics as well as district and building leadership teams plus the
recipient of the national Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science
Teaching.
But what's probably not expected are the sticky notes.
See, on the first day of class, Lovstuen's students each receive a sticky note with a clue
on it to help them find their assigned seat. The clues are written in such a way that
students have to use problem-solving and – gasp – interact with one another, if they
hope to figure out where they're supposed to sit.
Lovstuen is sharing the sticky note story with a crowd of college students, early career
educators and their mentors as part of the Emerging Educators Conference at Simpson
Norwalk Education Association members Taylor Officer (left) and Mallory Hollingsworth
share a laugh during a morning breakout session at the Emerging Educators Conference
at Simpson College. BY MIKE WISER/IOWA STATE EDUCATION ASSOCIATION
