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Delegates to the 1998 WEAC Representative Assembly will review two proposed new resolutions and proposed changes to seven existing resolutions presented by the Resolutions Committee.
The two proposed new resolutions involve compensating Educational Support Personnel for professional development and calculating class size.
The WEAC recognizes that Educational Support Personnel members perform a variety of important responsibilities within the school setting. The Council encourages school districts to support and compensate ESP members for pursuing professional growth opportunities such as the WEA Professional Development Academy’s ESP Certificate.
The WEAC believes that excellence in the classroom can best be attained by small class size.
The Council also believes in an optimum class size of 15 students in regular programs and a proportionately lower number in programs for students with exceptional needs. Class size maximums must be based on the type of students, subject area content, physical facilities, and other criteria. Weighted class size formulas should be implemented to reflect the inclusion of exceptional students.
Additional provisions should be made for a “student-staff ratio” being introduced as a clarifier enumerated in such a way as to include the following: 1) teachers; 2) administrators; 3) guidance counselors; 4) librarians; 5) specialists; 6) aides; and 7) other auxiliary personnel.
The Resolutions Committee made minor editorial changes throughout the document. For example, it changed the word “urges” (as in, the Council urges ...) to “encourages” in most usages.
More significant changes are proposed for the following existing resolutions:
The committee proposes to delete the following sentence: “The Council urges that all teachers receive inservice training to handle the subject of sex education as it occurs naturally in the classroom” and replace it with: “The Council believes that all teachers should be inserviced in the subject of sex education.”
The committee proposes to delete the last two paragraphs and incorporate that language into a new resolution on class size (see below). This new resolution also includes language from NEA Resolution B-5 on Class Size.
The wording of this resolution is changed slightly to apply more broadly to all education employees. The changes are:
The WEAC believes that for effective instruction to take place an education employee must have an adequate, and secure work space. These areas are to be included within the classroom setting where appropriate. If such work space is not available or appropriate in the classroom, then it should be provided in a space contiguous to necessary resource materials necessary for the efficient use of preparation time or conferences.
The committee is proposing insertion of the following paragraph: “The Council further believes that educational employees should have the right to bring suit against the legal party who brought forth false allegations or caused harm to them, in order to cover damages, emotional duress, pain and suffering, and time lost.”
In order to bring this resolution up to date, the committee proposes to delete the following sentence: “Furthermore, the Council opposes the proposed reduced positions in 1997,” and replace it with “The Council opposes any further reductions in positions.”
The committee proposes the addition of the following sentence: “The Council does not oppose the allocation of educational funds for remediation.”
The committee proposes a complete rewrite of this resolution to emphasize the important role retired educators play in the organization. The new language would read:
“The WEAC believes that retired members are a valuable asset in furthering the goals of the Association in areas including, but not limited to, political action, legislative lobbying, member training, crisis assistance, and other programs in which their years of experience would be beneficial.
“The Council further believes that retired members should be encouraged to support and participate in association activities and governance at the national, state, UniServ, and local levels.”
Posted April 3, 1998