Teacher Assembly notes

At the teacher assembly on Wednesday evening, we were warmly greeted by Dr. Spence.  He spoke of the need to familiarize ourselves with several bills in Richmond going before the General Assembly.  He is highly concerned with some of the proposed changes for Virginia education.  For example, there is a bill to provide private “virtual” K-12 education with the state paying.  Dr. Spence encouraged us to share that he wants educators to call our local delegates and use our VBEA platform if you are a member.  He says that it is time to “advocate” for education and children.  He also discussed the budget for next year, and promised that the School Board will TRY to ensure an unencumbered raise for next year.  He knows that this would be the first “real” raise in years.  The health care premiums will NOT increase next year.  That was already negotiated.  The other top concerns facing the board are reduction in class sizes and providing full day kindergarten across the system.  The remainder of our time was spent in an EdCamp model discussion with other educators concerning our Compass to 2020 objectives.