SWVEA thoughts

SWVEA stands for Southwest Vermont Educators Association. It is made up of staff from North Bennington Graded School, Shaftsbury Elementary School, Pownal Elementary School, Bennington Elementary School, Monument Elementary School, Molly Stark Elementary School, Mount Anthony Union Middle School, Mount Anthony Union High School, Southwest Vermont Career Development Center, Title I and Special Educators.


SWVEA is a member of VT-NEA. It is governed by a set of rules called the constitution which is supplemented by standing rules. I have been a Unit Representative, more commonly called a Building Rep, for the middle school. Last Spring I asked for a copy of the constitution, a document that I didn't even know existed until then. After much resistance from the current president I received a copy.

I have found several areas where the constitution is not being followed three of which have alarmed me exceedingly. These are Article V Officers, Section 2 F The Treasurer shall and Section 3 Selection of Officers; and Article VIII Standing Committees.

I think that right now I will talk about the Standing Committees. The president has not appointed any standing committees members nor has the board approved standing committee members in at least six years. The committees include Membership, Social Affairs, Public Relations, Grievance (this is the exception), Political Action, Professional Negotiations, SVSU Educators Convention, and Inservice (this one may be an exeption, too). The lack of a Professional Negotiations Committee alarms me the most, especially since we are coming up on negotiations. Because the committee members have not been appointed each year they have not had the opportunity to get training and to understand trends.

This is probably enough to start with. Get a copy of the constitution and start asking questions.