For the membership of the Oklahoma Education AssociationFor the membership of the Oklahoma Education AssociationFor the membership of the Oklahoma Education AssociationFor the membership of the Oklahoma Education AssociationFor the membership of the Oklahoma Education Association

May 2005May 2005May 2005May 2005May 2005

The Education FocusT

he

Ed

uca

tion

Foc

us

OE

A’s

all

-mem

ber

pu

bli

cati

on

Peri

od

ica

lP

ost

Pa

id a

tO

kla

. C

ity,

OK

In this issue

An affiliate of theNational Education Association

OEA award profilesOEA award profilesOEA award profilesOEA award profilesOEA award profilesPages 4-7Pages 4-7Pages 4-7Pages 4-7Pages 4-7

Retirement Q & ARetirement Q & ARetirement Q & ARetirement Q & ARetirement Q & APage 9Page 9Page 9Page 9Page 9

GPS locals attendGPS locals attendGPS locals attendGPS locals attendGPS locals attendnational trainingnational trainingnational trainingnational trainingnational trainingPage 10Page 10Page 10Page 10Page 10

Myths & facts ofMyths & facts ofMyths & facts ofMyths & facts ofMyths & facts ofchild abuse reportingchild abuse reportingchild abuse reportingchild abuse reportingchild abuse reportingPages 11Pages 11Pages 11Pages 11Pages 11

Poll says OEAPoll says OEAPoll says OEAPoll says OEAPoll says OEAmoving in rightmoving in rightmoving in rightmoving in rightmoving in rightdirectiondirectiondirectiondirectiondirectionPage 12Page 12Page 12Page 12Page 12

OEA election resultsOEA election resultsOEA election resultsOEA election resultsOEA election resultsPage 13Page 13Page 13Page 13Page 13

By Doug Folks

Many a politician has won anelected office on the promise that edu-cation would be his first priority.

Shawnee’s Brad Henry made sucha promise and pulled what many con-sider a major upset to win thegovernor’s mansion in 2002. But thereare two major differences in his prom-ise and the standard “education first”campaign pledge: He made good on hispromise almost immediately, and hiswife Kim was there encouraging hisevery move.

Unless you’ve been locked awaygrading essay tests for the last fewyears, you know that in two shortyears in office, Brad Henry has donemore to improve public education thanmany politicians do in a career. Andyou also know that first lady KimHenry, a former teacher and memberof the Oklahoma Education Associa-tion (OEA), is a dynamic advocate forstudents, teachers and public schools.

Gov. and Mrs. Henry have beenawarded OEA’s highest honor, the Friendof Education, for their dedication andcommitment to schools, the adults whowork in them and the young people whogrow up in them. The award was pre-sented to the Henrys at OEA’s awardsbanquet April 22.

“Working with Brad Henry is likeworking with a parent who is concernedfor his child,” said OEA President RoyBishop. “He is someone who is genu-inely concerned about every student andevery teacher in Oklahoma.”

A short list of Gov. Henry’s accom-

plishments includes:> Raising teacher pay to the re-

gional average by 2007-08;> Paying 100 percent of teachers’

individual health insurance premiums;> Pumping an estimated $221 million

a year into education with the passage

of the Education Lottery and TribalGaming Compact;

> Earmarking $2 million for earlychildhood education;

> Creating a fully-funded endowedchair program at state colleges and

True friends of educationGov. and Mrs. Henry given OEA’s highest honor

Gov. Brad and Mrs. Kim Henry are both great ambassadors of public education. Thegovernor has made good on campaign promises to place education first at the Capitol;and the first lady, a former high school teacher and OEA member, promotes education atmany of her speaking engagements. This photo appears on the first page of thegovernor’s official website, and was taken by Mark Zimmerman of The Edmond Sun.

Special education teachers inOklahoma will soon know exactlywhat they must do to be considered“highly qualified” and meet the re-quirements of President Bush’s so-called “No Child Left Behind Act.”

Oklahoma Education Association(OEA) President Roy Bishop, Associ-ate Executive Director Dr. Dottie

Caldwell, and Teaching and LearningSpecialist Larry Miller recently at-tended a meeting of stakeholders re-garding the state’s Highly QualifiedMulti-Subject HOUSSE for SpecialEducation teachers. The OklahomaState Department of Education (SDE)meeting also included representatives

No test required for special edteachers to meet “highly qualified”

See “Special ed matrix” on Page 2

See “First lady brings” on Page 3

Page 2/Oklahoma Education Association

Volume 22, No. 7A production of OEA’s

Communications Center

The Education FocusThe Education FocusThe Education FocusThe Education FocusThe Education Focus

Roy Bishop, PresidentBecky Felts, Vice President

Lela Odom, Executive DirectorDr. Dottie Caldwell, Assoc. Exec. Dir.

Doug Folks, EditorContributing Editors

Marty BullStacy MartinJeff Savage

Bruce TreadawayPatti Razien

Pam Westbrook, ProofingMaureen Peters, Center Assistant

The Education Focus (ISSN 1542-1678) ispublished nine times annually with issues inSeptember/October, November, December/

January, February, March, April, May, June/Julyand August for $5 by the Oklahoma EducationAssociation, 323 E. Madison, Oklahoma City,OK 73105. Periodicals postage paid at Okla.

City, OK, and additional mailing offices.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to TheEducation Focus, PO Box 18485, OklahomaCity, OK 73154

As I write this column, the April 1deadline to “Put Education First” hascome and gone without an agreement.The House leadership and its staff,who championed education issues dur-ing the last election cycle, has not onlyfailed to follow through, but they’ve ig-nored the law.

In this case, there is no penalty fornot following the law. It is another mis-use of the public’s top priority. I’vereached the point where I’m fed upwith these self-serving people who willrelease all kinds of great sound-bites insupport of schools, but won’t stick totheir own mandate when it comes togetting it done by the deadline.

Everyone talks about accountability,

but where is theirs? If educationmisses a deadline, a benchmark score,or any other of a thousand mandates(many of them unfunded), we hearabout it. And not only do we hearabout it, we have to deal with condem-nations and new legislation that makes

it more difficult for our kids, teachersand schools to be successful.

Perhaps the best way to make legis-lators accountable is to give them theirown AYP. For schools, AYP is “Ad-equate Yearly Progress,” which mustbe met or risk losing everything. How-ever, for legislators we’ll call it the

“Are You Progressing” in efforts to puteducation first. AYP is a yearly man-date for schools, but since legislatorswork only 90 days each spring, we’lljudge them on a weekly basis.

• Week 1 – Fail to meet AYP andnothing major happens except that youwill be required to answer questionsfrom the media on why you ignore thelaw that you wrote.

• Week 2 – You move to the firstweek of Legislator Improvement (LI).The state will give eligible voters theoption of voting in the next election in alegislative district of someone whovoted to put education first.

• Week 3 – You move to week 2 ofLI. Governing by press release is pro-hibited. Eligible voters who stayed inyour district are given the option of us-ing representatives from the OklahomaEducation Coalition to explain why “puteducation first” was ignored.

• Week 4 – Your 3rd week in LI.You will continue all the previous activi-ties but also be required to do at leastone of the following:

– replace your staff– have OEA members appointed to

assist you– extend the legislative work week– contract with a member of the op-

posite party to meet the AYP.• Week 5 – Your 4th week in LI

means that you must plan for redistrict-ing. You must replace your staff, beprepared to step-down, and turn yourdistrict over to the governor.

• Week 6 – Your 5th week in LI

means that you must implement yourredistricting plan. The governor willset a special election in your districtfor failure to meet “Are You Progress-ing” to put education first.

We will hear from those who failed toput education first. They will tell us thatwe don’t know how the legislatureworks, and that we aren’t in their shoesday in and day out at the Capitol.

They will tell us that it’s difficult towork with members of the oppositeparty and all of the constituents whoask so much of them. They will tell usthat if they read all of the bills thatwere written, they’d have to work onThursday afternoons – and all day Fri-day!, which they don’t do now – andlate into weekend nights. And they willtell us that it’s not fair to judge themon a “one-size-fits-all” law.

Accountability can be a wonderfulthing, especially if you are truly commit-ted to it. But when you use it for politicalgain, you should be prepared to deal withthe criticisms and consequences.

The governor and Senate have puteducation first, it’s now time for theHouse to do the same.

President Roy Bishop

from the Oklahoma Commission forTeacher Preparation and the State Re-gents for Higher Education.

The group reviewed the state’s pro-posed HOUSSE (Highly ObjectiveUniform Statewide Standard of Evalu-ation) and decided on a number oftechnical details surrounding the build-ing of the matrix. One important out-come was that elementary andsecondary special ed teachers will bothdetermine their highly qualified statusfrom the same HOUSSE.

“The best thing to come out of thisprocess is that special ed teachers willnot have to take a test to be highlyqualified,” said Bishop. “That wasOEA’s biggest goal. Our special edteachers have more than proven theirworth as educators, and they don’tneed to take another test to prove it.”

Instead, special education teacherswill complete a matrix similar toOklahoma’s HOUSSE for regular edu-

cation teachers. Holding National BoardCertification in special ed will automati-cally earn highly qualified status.

Other details of the HOUSSE willbe available when it is released by theSDE later this spring.

“Larry Miller is our staff expert onspecial education and he was involvedwith the State Department throughoutevery step of the process,” Bishopsaid. “He made sure our membersconcerns were met.

“No other education association hashad as much input in the special edHOUSSE as OEA.”

Special ed matrix expected to besimilar to regular education HOUSSE

Continued from Page 1

By Roy BishopOEA President

An AYP for legislators

Perhaps the best way to makelegislators accountable is togive them their own AYP –

“Are You Progressing.”

May 2005/Page 3

universities; and> Providing full funding for the

Oklahoma Higher Learning AccessProgram (OHLAP), the state collegescholarship program.

This session, Henry’s educationprogram includes funding for all-daykindergarten and more training formath teachers.

“Gov. Henry truly understands themeaning of long-term commitment. Heunderstands how providing quality edu-cation is the best way to grow ourstate economically,” Bishop said.

If you haven’t seen Kim Henry talkto a crowd about the importance ofreading or how dedicated Oklahomateachers are, then you’ve missed achance to be truly inspired.

“Kim brings a teacher’s perspectiveto our state’s highest office,” Bishopsaid. “She’s one of us, and she’s a mom,too. When she talks about teachers andthe success of students, you just knowthat our state has the right two people inthe Governor’s Mansion.”

OEA has been giving the Friend ofEducation award since 1988. Past

recipients have included OklahomaObserver editor Frosty Troy, Tulsaphilanthropist Henry Zarrow, formerGov. Henry Bellmon, the late Con-gressman Mike Synar, and John Rex,chief operating officer of American

“It’s been a long time since wehad a governor who has doneso much for education. I knowthat Gov. and Mrs. Henry arevery sincere in their efforts.”

Dian Bell, secretary,Checotah High School

“With the Education Lottery,Gov. Henry looked for a newsource of revenue for education.He didn’t just identify a problemwithout bringing an answer.”

Connie Jenson, 3rd gradeteacher, Newcastle Elementary

“Gov. Henry’s proposal to get usto the regional average salaryis right on target for what we’vebeen looking for. He gives us anew lease on the prospect ofstaying in the classroom.”

Steve Hawkins, 2nd gradeteacher, Vinita Elementary

“Kim has added a realisticperspective of teaching to thegovernor’s office and to thelegislature. She’s done thesame thing as a mother, too.She is genuinely concernedabout her own children, but alsoevery student in Oklahoma.”

Sabra Tucker, 3rd grade teacher,Sequoyah Elementary, Shawnee

“It’s nice to have someone likeKim Henry in our corner. She’sbeen there. She understandsabout going into the classroomeveryday and seeing kids attheir best and at their worst.”

Greg Johnson, vocal musicteacher, Mustang High School

“Oklahoma’s children are luckyand all of our futures arebrighter because Kim Henry isnot a First Lady who happens tobe a teacher — she is a teacherwho happens to be First Lady.”

Carolyn Crowder, NEA ExecutiveCommittee Member and 4tht

grade teacher in Mustang

What OEA memberssay about . . .

Gov. Brad Henry

1st Lady Kim Henry

Fidelity Assurance.“It’s a great compliment to be men-

tioned in the same breath with all ofthose honorees, no matter what thesubject, but obviously, I am honored tobe recognized for my contributions toeducation,” Gov. Henry said. “Theroots of public education run deep inmy family, and it is very gratifying tobe honored for my work in such an im-portant area.”

Kim Henry expressed the samegratitude.

“It is an honor for me to receive theFriend of Education award,” she said.“As a mother of three and a formerhigh school teacher, I have a speciallove for the world of education, and soit is a sincere and wonderful honor formy efforts to be recognized by theeducation community.”

Kim added that her position hasoffered her a unique role in Okla-homa education.

“One of the best things about beingfirst lady has been the opportunity tohave a role in setting education initia-tives,” she said. “Although I dearlymiss being in the classroom, one con-solation has been the ability to travelthroughout the state and press forwardwith reforms to elevate Oklahoma’spublic education system to even

greater heights.”While Gov. Henry is

proud of his accomplish-ments for education sofar, he still has goals toreach before leaving of-fice.

“First, I want to keepthe commitments we’vemade thus far. It’s criticalthat lawmakers fund myplan to raise teacher payto the regional average,”he said. “My goal is notjust to meet the regional

average but to exceed it, and that’swhat I will be aiming for in the yearsto come.

“I believe we have the best teachers

and schools in the country, but histori-cally, we haven’t done a good job ofproviding them with the resources theyneed. My focus will remain on improv-ing school funding and support.”

In a recent OEA education poll (seepage 12), 91 percent of OEA membersand 86 percent of nonmembers saidthey have a favorable attitude towardGov. Henry. One could expect that rat-ing to remain high, or even rise, as theHenrys continue their work for educa-tion from the Governor’s Mansion.

First lady brings teacher’s perspectiveto the Governor’s mansion

Continued from Page 1

Page 4/Oklahoma Education Association

By Doug Folks

Rachel Maze is the ultimate volun-teer, giving of her time and leadershipyear round. Luckily for the students ofTulsa Public Schools, she gives unself-ishly of herself for education.

For all that she does for education,Maze has been awarded the OEA’sF.D. Moon Educational Award. Estab-lished in 1972, the award is presentedannually to a person who has contrib-uted significantly to the advancementof education for students.

Maze is the first two-time winner ofthe Moon award, having also won it in1992.

She first volunteered when her sonsentered public school. Since then,Maze has worked for the ParentTeachers Association, serving twoterms as president for the Tulsa Coun-

cil of PTAs and serves today as theCouncil’s parliamentarian.

She has worked alongside teachersas a science enrichment volunteer anda guest reader in classrooms. Mazehas promoted education by workingwith TulsaPublicSchools’Partners-In-Education, the Tulsa Met-ropolitan Ministries, the Tulsa MetroChamber of Commerce, the TulsaEducation Fund, and, most recently, asdirector of the Foundation for TulsaSchools.

“TPS had not passed a school bondissue in years until Rachel becamechairman of the Tulsa Public SchoolsBond Development Committee in1995,” writes Robyn Sanzalone andDan Tanner in their nomination of

Maze.It was Maze’s leadership that

helped create a 20-year plan thatwould fairly and adequately addressthe needs of Tulsa students. She hasbeen the guiding force behind millions

of dollars in fund-raising through bondissues and through the Foundation.

As successful and giving as Mazeis, her desire for the spotlight and rec-ognition is almost nonexistent, saysSteve Stockley, Tulsa CTA president.

“Ms. Maze is one of the mosthumble, kind and charitable people Ihave been honored to meet,” Stockleysays. “Her newspaper clippings and ci-tations would fill notebooks, yet shehas kept almost nothing.”

By Doug Folks

The Tulsa Classroom Teachers Asso-ciation last year found itself fighting bothwith and against the Tulsa School Boardon three different issues of academicfreedom. Each battle required quick, or-ganized efforts. In each case, TCTA pro-vided a constant voice for teachers andacademic freedom, prevailing, at leasttemporarily, in each instance.

Steve Stockley, TCTA president,has been awarded the OEA Advocate

for Academic Freedom Award for hisdetermined and proactive leadership inthese three “landmark” events.

Behind Stockley’s leadership, TCTA• fought off elimination of the Aca-

demic Freedom Policy from the TPSSchool Board Manual;

• opposed an effort to force Tulsa highschool teachers to teach the same lessonthe same way on the same day; and

• provided a consistent voice of rea-son over the offering of a professionaldevelopment workshop on teachingabout the Arab world.

When the Tulsa board proposedeliminating the district policy on Aca-demic Freedom, one Tulsa teacher de-scribed the action as, “…an outrightattempt to dictate not just a vision forwhat is taught, but the minute detailsfor how this vision is delivered.”

TCTA, through Stockley, providedthe sole voice to argue the policy’s re-tention. Stockley lobbied board mem-bers and shared the concerns of hismembers with the board and the ad-ministration. Thanks to his efforts, theBoard Policy Committee voted to with-draw the proposed removal.

While nothing official has ever been

sent to teachers, TCTA members atTulsa high schools continue to reportthat the idea of a “lockstep district syl-labus” is being considered. As word ofthis trend began circulating, Stockleyquickly formed an ad hoc committeeon curriculum to investigate the threatto academic freedom.

Stockley was able to gain writtenagreement with the district’s curricu-lum director that Tulsa Schools deter-mine “what” is taught, the state and

district candetermine“when”

something is taught, but the teacherstill has the right, within professionalstandards, to personally create andperform “how” a subject is taught.

In October 2004, the Tulsa schoolsoffered its teachers a workshop en-

titled, “Content and Strategies forTeaching About the Arab World.” TheSaturday workshop was clearly publi-cized as “…voluntary and for informa-tion only.” Still, a very small but veryvocal group of religious and politicalextremists bombarded local media de-manding the workshop be censored.

Again, TCTA, through Stockley, wasthe voice of reason. In spite of scores ofcalls from angry and threatening individu-als, Stockley defended the workshop and

the right of teachers to gain more knowl-edge to help them teach children. Hiswork did not go unnoticed.

“This scares me. I have never seensuch hysteria demanding censorship,”said a local journalist. “I’ve never seenpeople who claim to be religious stir upsuch pure hatred. TCTA has changedmy opinion of unions forever. No voicehas been louder, clearer and less fear-ful in the defense of academic andconstitutional freedom than (TCTA).”

Stockley providesloud, clear voicefor academic freedom

F.D. Moon Educational Award

Tulsa CTA President Steve Stockley took on three separate issues during the last year,each time providing a strong voice for academic freedom.

Advocate for Academic Freedom

Rachel Maze does it all for Tulsa students

May 2005/Page 5

By Patti Razien

Mozart and Beethoven better watchout! Under the guidance of VivianRice, Putnam City fifth graders arelearning to write rhythm and add notesto compose their own songs.

A music specialist for grades 1-5 atCoronado Elementary, Rice is being hon-ored with the Oklahoma Education

Association’s Excellence in EducationAward for Teachers Teaching Students.

Composing a song, then learning thesymbols to express it, permits the stu-dent to experiencethe transmutation ofideas and feelingsinto music and the transcription of thatmusic into signs that are meaningful to

others. This contributes tostudent’s musical and cogni-tive growth.

Once the compositionshave been completed and per-formed, Rice guides the stu-dents to evaluate their work.

“Creativity is not taught, onlyguided. Students are natural in-ventors of song,” she said.

Rice has taught music inPutnam City Schools since1994. Before that, her profes-sional career centered on mu-sic, whether as a musician,vocalist or music coordinator.

By Patti Razien

An amazing team of teachers fromthe Tulsa Classroom Teachers Asso-ciation is mentoring new teachersthrough a dynamic project.

The New Teacher Initiative Leader-ship Team is this year’s winner of theOEA Excellence in Education award

for “Teachers Teaching Teachers.”The prize recognizes OEA membersfor their outstanding contributions in in-structional excellence with studentsand colleagues.

The NTI Leadership Team consistsof six teacher consultants of the Okla-homa State University Writing Projectand two members who joined the teamtwo years ago as new teachers andare now mentoring other new teacherswithin the Tulsa district. They workside-by-side with new teachers to em-power them in their classrooms.

Comprising the NTI LeadershipTeam are East Central High Schoolteachers Eileen Simmons, English;Greg Stiver, art; Brad Cagle, math;Stephanie Cagle, social studies; JoAnne Stafford, English; Jennifer Potts,Choteau Elementary 3rd grade teacher;Donna Berryhill, Fulton Teaching andLearning Academy resource teacher inprofessional development; and PatriciaMumford, Cooper Elementary co-di-rector of the OSU Writing Project.

Combined, these eight teachers repre-sent 124 years of teaching experience,five Teachers of the Year, and two Na-tional Board Certified Teachers.

For the past four years the OSU Writ-ing Project and Tulsa Public Schools(TPS) have collaborated to create theNew Teacher Initiative, which creates asupport system for new teachers withinthe Tulsa Public Schools. The target au-dience is Tulsa teachers in their firstthree years of teaching. The goal is to

support them and to help them be suc-cessful in their classrooms.

Monthly meetings for these newteachers are held to teach variouseducational strategies. At the end ofeach meeting, the new educatorshave the opportunity to discuss theirneeds and the strategies they would

like to learn. Duringthe summer, thereare two week-long

mini institutes during which teachingstrategies are modeled and newteachers are introduced to researchthat underlies the strategies.

Besides addressing the needs ofnew teachers and increasing teacherretention in TPS, all teachers, bothnew and seasoned, become or continueto be reflective practitioners and con-tinue to build a community of profes-sional teachers.

Leadership team creates support network

She is a National Board CertifiedTeacher who has won numerousawards and honors including ExcellentEducator, Teacher of the Year in 1997-

1998, presenter at the Oklahoma Mu-sic Educators Association, and winnerof over 10 grants from the PutnamCity Foundation.

“I believe teaching involves mybody, mind and spirit. Teaching is help-ing and allowing students to learn,” shesaid. “I guide students to be active par-ticipants in their learning. I share mylove for music as I adapt to thechildren’s learning style.

“With a safe and secure environmentmy students involve themselves singing,playing instruments, studying musictheory or music history, or dancing.”

To the students of Coronado El-ementary, Vivian Rice is music totheir ears.

PC’s Rice nurtures new composers

Putnam City’s Vivian Rice

Members of Tulsa CTA’s New Teacher Initiative Leadership Team are (clockwise frombottom left) Eileen Simmons; Stephanie Cagle; Patricia Mumford; Greg Stiver; Dr.Britton Gildersleeve, director of the Oklahoma State University Writing Project; JenniferPotts; Donna Berryhill; Brad Cagle; and JoAnne Stafford.

Teachers Teaching Teachers

Teachers Teaching Students

Page 6/Oklahoma Education Association

By Doug Folks

Michael Perea joined the OklahomaEducation Association because he real-ized the organization could provide himwith support and some real benefits.

But he also joined because he felthe might be able to give somethingback as well. That “something” turnedout to be dedication and leadership.

Those attributes and the results ofhis enthusiasm have earned Perea theOEA Education Support Professionalof the Year Award.

Perea is a bit of a renaissance manin Chickasha.

• By day, he is technology assistant

for Chickasha Public Schools, oversee-ing the installation, maintenance andrepair of some 900 personal computersthroughout the district.

• As CASE president, Perea isstrengthening the local by getting mem-bers involved in the organization and de-veloping leaders for the coming years.

• Away from the job, Perea is se-nior pastorfor Free-dom Fel-

lowship, a small, nondenominationalChristian congregation that occupiesa storefront church in downtownChickasha. It’s right next to the poolhall if you are looking to visit.

He is also chaplain for the GradyCounty Jail and Grady Memorial Hos-

pital, speaks atgraduation andconducts thebaccalaureate.

“Whetherwearing histechnologyhat, his CASEhat or hiscounselor’s(pastor’s) hat,Mr. Perea isalways in theservice mode.He genuinely cares about the peoplehe serves and never shirks any re-sponsibility set before him,” wroteRobyn McLemore, Chickasha’s di-rector of education programs in hernominating Perea for the ESP award.

The most tangible result of his workas CASE president was a huge jump inmembership. He was able to sign 50new members at the first meeting of theschool year for the largest increase inmembers of any Oklahoma support local.

Perea’s plan to grow CASE hasn’t

By Doug Folks

The Putnam City Association ofClassroom Teachers (PCACT) oper-ates with a philosophy that bargainingisn’t something relegated to the sum-mer months. Instead, negotiations area continuing process that includes openand ongoing discussions with theschool board and administration.

This attitude towards bargaining andPCACT’s organization surrounding theprocess has earned the local OEA’s 2005Collective Bargaining Award.

It’s hard to pinpoint a beginning tosomething that never really starts, butJanuary can be seen as the top of acontinuing circle. That’s when filingopens for seats on the bargainingteam. In February and March, thePCACT Executive Committee inter-views candidates for the team and rec-ommends a slate of candidates for thebuilding reps to vote on.

In April, the team sets goals anddevelops a survey in which memberstell the team what issues need to beaddressed during negotiations. Sur-vey results are tabulated in May anda written request to bargain is sent tothe administration.

Using results from the survey,PCACT bargains with the school

Dedication,leadership earnPerea ESP Award

stopped with a great meeting to openthe year. He has held meetings withguest speakers throughout the schoolyear, and is grooming several membersto one day step into office and keepCASE growing.

“I try to make our meetings relevantto their lives,” he said. “I’ve tried toshow them how we can combine ourvoices to be a stronger organization.”

Support Professional of the Year

No matter which hat ChickashaAssociation of Support EmployeesPresident Michael Perea is wearing, he isalways providing service.

Bargaining is a year-round process in Putnam Cityboard in Juneand July, andwraps up asettlement inAugust. Theteam providesa training ses-sion in Octoberto help buildingreps and otherinterestedteachers to un-derstand thenegotiated

agreement. And in January, the pro-cess starts again with filing for seatson the team.

Throughout the year, PCACT’s bar-gaining team is communicating withmembers across the district.

“Our focus as a team is always,‘How does this impact student learn-

ing,’” said Katherine Bishop, PCACTbargaining spokesperson, of the team’sphilosophy toward negotiations.

Last year, the team won a huge vic-tory when they were able to get thedistrict to agree to pay 35 percent of asalary protection insurance policy forevery teacher. Bishop said a PC mem-ber has already been able to benefitfrom the true fringe benefit.

“I am so impressed with the waythe team works with their administra-tion,” said Pam Westbrook, advocacyspecialist for the Oklahoma CityMetro team. “When both sides focuson the goal of furthering studentlearning, the outcome of negotiationsis always successful.”

Members of the Putnam City ACT bargaining team include (fromleft) Jody Williams, Vicki Vaughan, Vivian Rice and KatherineBishop. Not pictured are Jan Sands, Candye Chavez, BruceHubbard and Rhonda Lee.

CollectiveBargaining Award

May 2005/Page 7

By Bruce Treadaway

Byng secondary science teacherDeborah Cornelison is certainly a fa-miliar face to many Oklahoma Educa-tion Association members. She haswon over 10 professional awards, butshe may well win the award thatwould imprint her with the success thatshe so richly deserves.

Cornelison is Oklahoma’s nomineethis year for the NEA FoundationAward for Teaching Excellence. Thetop prize is $25,000, a commemorativeplaque and national recognition. Tensemifinalists will travel to Washington,D.C., for final interviews. From those,five finalists will be named. These fivewill receive the Horace Mann-NEAFoundation Award for Teaching Excel-lence, which includes $10,000 cash andan expenses-paid trip to the awards

gala in Washington, D.C. Theseawardees are considered finalists forthe $25,000 national prize.

This reporter spent some time inCornelison’s class recently, and justtaking pictures proved difficult becauseshe is a whirlwind of activity with eachof her students receiving a tremendousamount of attention. Comments from

By Patti Razien

Each year the Oklahoma EducationAssociation recognizes an outstandinglegislator who has been instrumental inthe formation and passage of educa-tional reform benefiting the educational

Outstanding Legislatorsemployees of Oklahoma.

This year, Sen. KennethCorn and Rep. Terry Harrisonshare the honor of OEA’s 2005 Out-standing Legislator for the work theyhave done in the field of public educa-tion. Corn, (D-Howe) represents SenateDistrict 4, which includes Leflore andSequoyah Counties. Harrison, (D-McAl-ester) represents House District 18,which includes parts of McIntosh andPittsburg Counties.

During the 2004 legislative session,Corn continued a well-established patternof leadership and support for Oklahomapublic schools as he served as author ofthe OEA teacher salary bill which willbring Oklahoma teachers’ salaries to at

least the regional average over a four-year period. In his role as chairman ofthe Senate Retirement and Group HealthCommittee, more than any other legisla-tor, he provided leadership to grant acost-of-living raise to current retirees andmade benefits more equitable for allclasses of future retirees.

Harrison’s short tenure in the Househas been marked by courage and de-termination to do what is right forOklahoma’s public education andschool employees. He was the Houseauthor of HB1968 to bring teachers’salaries to at least the regional average

her students were, “She explains thingsso well. It’s easy to understand in herclass,” and “She wants us to alwaysdo our best.”

Todd Crabtree, current ByngSchools administrator and Cornelison’smentor teacher when she began hercareer, says, “I know DeborahCornelison to be truly dedicated to

teaching. From my perspective as anadministrator, a former scienceteacher, and a parent of two studentsshe taught, I feel that you could find noone more deserving of this award.”

Cortney Timmons, a former Byngstudent says, “Many Byng studentscan tell success stories, and none couldhave happened without Ms.Cornelison’s inspiration and guidance.Ms. Cornelison believed in us andhelped make every outcome positive.She taught us not only science, but alsodiscipline, responsibility, perseveranceand everything else it takes to be ableto celebrate excellence.”

On the eve of her OEA recognition,Cornelison received word that one of herninth grade science research teams inthe U.S. Army’s eCYBER-MISSION contest won first place in theSouthwest/Pacific region. Each studentwill receive a $3,000 savings bond andtravel to Washington, D.C., in June topresent their project. The Byng studentswill be competing against three otherteams for the $5,000 nationalaward. This is the first Oklahoma teamto win the regional award.

Tireless and professional, DeborahCornelison’s influence will be felt forgenerations to come in the Byng com-munity and in Oklahoma.

Byng science teacher is OEA’snominee for national award

Legislators step out front for education

Oklahoma’sNFIE Nominee

Byng science teacher Deborah Cornelison, surrounded by some of her students, isOklahoma’s nominee for the National Foundation for Instructional Excellence Award.

over the four-year period.In addition, hewas a recog-nized advo-cate forimproved edu-cation fund-ing, enhancedretirementbenefits for teachers and other schoolemployees, and a staunch opponent ofthose who would bring harm to theOklahoma public schools in our state.

Both Corn and Harrison are cham-pions of public education in areas ofsalaries, employee benefits, job secu-rity and school funding. With their per-sistent efforts Oklahoma’s educationalemployees will continue to benefit.Sen. Kenneth Corn

Rep. Terry Harrison

Page 8/Oklahoma Education Association

Friends of EducationGovernor Brad Henry and

First Lady Kim Henry

Outstanding LegislatorsSenator Kenneth Corn and

Representative Terry Harrison

Stan Bryant Political ActionZone SW-A, Linda Long, ZoneDirector, and Charlene Bower,

PAC Representative

Advocate for AcademicFreedom

Steve Stockley, Tulsa CTA

Human and CivilRights AwardsF. D. Moon Award

Rachel Maze, Tulsa

Excellence in Education –Teachers Teaching Students

Vivian Rice, Putnam City ACT

Excellence in Education –Teachers Teaching Teachers

Tulsa’s New Teacher InitiativeLeadership Team – Donna Berryhill,

Brad Cagle, Stephanie Cagle,Patricia Mumford, Jennifer Potts,Eileen Simmons, Greg Stiver, and

JoAnne Stafford

NEA Foundation Award forTeaching Excellence,Oklahoma Nominee

Deborah Cornelison, Byng EA

Education SupportProfessional AwardMichael Perea, Chickasha

Collective BargainingAward

Putnam City ACT

Marshall GregoryAwards

Student Division – PrintYear Round Photojournalism

Blaine Bertrem, Edmond North H.S.

Single Coverage PhotojournalismAnthony Fernandez, Edmond North

Single Coverage PhotojournalismNimisha Verma, Edmond Memorial

Single Event News StoryHaley Doran, Edmond North,

“Program Helps Get Freshmen Readyfor High School Expectations”

Single Event Feature StoryKerry Dixon, Edmond North, “Far

From Home, North CounselorFound Freedom”

Single Event Feature StoryTaniel Longacre, Edmond Santa Fe,

“Media Center Ghouling UpFor Teen Read Week”

Single Event EditorialJulie Brown, Edmond North, “Media

Coverage of High School‘Threats’ Overdone”

Special Recognition Award – YearRound News Coverage

Staff of the Ruff Draft, Edmond PublicSchools; Edmond Memorial, Carol

Heitz, adviser; Edmond North, JudyAckerman, adviser; Edmond Santa Fe,

Terri McGill, adviser

Student Division – VideoYear Round News – Norman NorthBroadcast Class, Timberwolf Tracks

Single Event Feature StoryAmina Benalioulhaj, Norman North,

“Free Speech”

Single Event Feature StoryAmanda Custer, Norman High,

“SAT Changes”

Special Recognition AwardNorman High, TNT Show, PSAs

Professional Division –Video

Single Event FeatureJanna Clark, Fox 23 News, Tulsa,

“Rose Hill School”

Year Round FeaturesJanna Clark, Fox 23 News, “Making

Music,” “Full Day Kindergarten,”“Schools Attuned,” and “A Jazzier

Facility”

Year Round Feature SeriesAshli Simms, KOTV-Chan. 6, Tulsa,

“Raising the Grade”

Year Round SeriesJoint Award KOTV Ch. 6, Tulsa, and

KWTV Ch. 9, Okla. City, “RaisingThe Grade: Betting on Education”

Year Round PhotojournalismDoug Johnson, FOX 23 News,Tulsa

Single Event PhotojournalismAaron Primmer, FOX 23 News, Tulsa

“Making Music”

Professional Division – PrintSingle Event News

Sean Kennedy, Tahlequah Daily Press,“Teachers, Parents Hope Special Ed

Will Get Its Due”

Single Event EditorialKim Poindexter, Tahlequah Daily

Press, “Boards, Parents,Administrators Often The Problem,

Not The Teachers”

Year Round SeriesDanaline Bryant, Lawton Constitution,

“LPS School Bond Issues”

Year Round NewsTulsa World’s Community World,

Delbert Schafer, editor, “Closing theBook on Central,” “Shaping Habits At

An Early Age,” “Memorial ChoirDoesn’t Miss A Beat,”

Year Round EditorialsKen Neal, Tulsa World

Golden Apple AwardsExternal CommunicationsEdmond ACT – EACT Web Page,

www.edmondact.com,Melanie Dry, webmaster

Mid-Del ACT – “School BoardCandidate Forum,” Jamie McCoy,

President

Internal CommunicationsProfessional Educators’ Association

of Lawton (PEAL),PEAL in Action newsletter

Best of the best2005 OEA awards

Edmond ACT – EACT Insightnewsletter, Gail Williams and Dee

Ann Wallar, Editors

Sand Springs EA, In Focusnewsletter, Lynda Bynum and Shari

Ogburn, Editors

Professional Educators of Norman,Printed Series of Communications,

Sheri Childress, President

Tulsa Classroom TeachersAssociation, TCTA Connection

newsletter, Steve Stockley, President

Tulsa Classroom TeachersAssociation, TCTA Email

Communications, Steve Stockley,President

Tulsa Classroom TeachersAssociation, TCTA webpage,www.tulsateacher.org, Rachel

Gunnels, Webmaster

Special CommunicationsProjects

Professional Educators’ Associationof Lawton (PEAL), PEAL 3rd

Annual Golf Tournament, Ruth Ritter,Chairperson

Five Star LocalProgram

5 Star LocalsThese local associations

demonstrated excellence in all fiveprogram areas: Advocacy,Communications, Legislative andPolitical Organizing, OrganizationalDevelopment,and Teaching andLearning

Edmond ACTEnid EA

McLoud ACTMid-Del ACTMoore ACT

PEAL (Lawton)PEN (Norman)

Ponca City ACTPutnam City ACTSand Springs EA

Tulsa CTA

3 Star LocalsMustang EA

Earned stars in Communications,Advocacy, and Teaching

and Learning

May 2005/Page 9

16 (years of service before ‘95)x .02 (TRS retirement calculation)= .32x $40,000 (the cap)= $12,800÷ 12 (divided by 12 months)

$1,066.67 (unreduced monthly benefit)

14 (years of service after ‘95)x .02 (retirement calculation)= .28x $43,400 (3 highest years)= $12,152÷ 12 (divided by 12 months)= $1,012.67 (unreduced monthly benefits)+ $1,066.67 (pre-95 years)= $2,079.34 total monthly retirement

The Two-Tier SystemHere is an example of

how the two-tier system forretirement works. This for-mula applies only to Rule of80 members of the TRS.

In 1987, teacher Betty JoChalkboard elected to cap re-tirement contributions at$40,000. Now, after 30 yearsof service, she is retiring. Dur-ing her last three years of ser-vice, she averaged $43,400, soher retirement will be figuredon a two-tier system. Here isthe calculation for Betty Jo’sretirement.

As employees in any industry nearretirement age, they begin researchingtheir retirement plans. They want toknow exactly when can they retirewith full benefits, and how much theirpensions will be worth.

Education employees are no dif-ferent. However, education retire-ment can sometimes be a littleconfusing. Structural changes to theOklahoma Teachers Retirement Sys-tem (TRS) more than a decade agocreated employee subgroups basedon the initial date of TRS member-ship. Therefore, it’s impossible to citeone example and explain to everyOklahoma teacher, support profes-sional and administrator how the lawand TRS rules will impact them.

Below are some general questionsand answers on retirement for educa-tion employees. There is also a look atthe two-tier system that employeeshired prior to July 1, 1992, fall underfor retirement.

Q – When can I retire?A – Education employees can retire

with full benefits when they reach acombination of years and service thattotal 80 or 90, depending on when theindividual joined TRS. “Rule of 80”employees are those who joined TRSprior to July 1, 1992. These employeesneed 80 or more points to retire withfull benefits. For example, 55 years ofage plus 25 years of service equals 80points. “Rule of 90” members joinedthe system on or after July 1, 1992.Their age and years of service mustequal or exceed 90 points.

Q – In 1987, teachers were re-quired to sign a form capping theirretirement based on either$25,000 in annual salary or at

$40,000. How do these two planswork?

A – The $25,000 or $40,000 capaffects only Rule of 80 members. Itsays that retirement will be based onthe average salary of the three high-

est years of salary for which contri-butions were made.

If the final average salary is under$40,000, that figure will apply to allcreditable service years. If the finalaverage salary exceeds $40,000, themember will have a two tier retire-ment calculation (see the calculationchart in the box on this page). Allyears prior to July 1, 1995, will becalculated at $40,000 and all yearsafter July 1, 1995, will be calculatedon the average salary for the threeyears of highest pay.

A member who elected to contributeonly on compensation up to $25,000shall have the average salary limited tono more than $25,000 for years of ser-vice performed prior to July 1, 1995.

A member who elected to contributeon compensation up to $40,000, but has

not paid all contributions and any appli-cable interest for any year after June30, 1987, shall have the average salarylimited to no more than $25,000 foryears of service performed prior toJuly 1, 1995.

Q – What about the plan forRule of 90 employees?

A – Retirement benefits for Rule of90 employees are based on multiplying2 percent times the average of the fivehighest consecutive years of servicetimes the number of years of service(e.g. .02 x $45,000 average salary x 35years = $31,500). However, Rule of 90employees hired before July 1, 1995,will have their retirement capped forthose years before the ’95-96 schoolyear at $25, 000 or $40,000, accordingto the election they made when theywere hired.

Q – I don’t remember signing adocument that capped my retire-ment contributions. How can I findout what I elected?

A – Check your own records to seeif you received and kept a copy of the

form. Your school district should havealso kept a record of your election.

Q – My district didn’t keep thatinformation. Does TRS have a copyof my election form?

A – Districts were supposed to sendcopies of the forms to TRS, but not alldid. If a form cannot be found, it is as-sumed that the employee never signedone. However, TRS has a record ofemployee contributions and can deter-mine whether contributions were madeon income between $25,000 and$40,000 for the period in question.

Q – What is the status of theTRS’s unfunded liability?

A – The TRS is at 47 percent ofcomplete funding. It remains one ofthe most significantly underfunded,major public pension plans in the coun-try. The current funding level has de-clined slightly in the last few yearsprimarily due to enhanced retiree ben-efits and the legislative requirementthat TRS assume a 1 percent annualcost of living allowance (COLA). TheEducation Lottery will supply a newrevenue stream (5 percent of net pro-ceeds). It is estimated the lottery willadd between $3 million to $5 million toTRS in the first year of the lottery.

Q – What are the definitionsand differences of a defined ben-efit and a defined contribution re-tirement plan?

A – A defined benefit guarantees abenefit at retirement, based on a calcu-lation method that is not affected byany outside sources.

A defined contribution does notguarantee a benefit. Under this sys-tem, money contributed by you and/orby your district would be invested in

Retirement Q & AA look at some of the basics, andwhat could be on the horizon

See “No guarantee” on Page 14

Page 10/Oklahoma Education Association

By Marty Bull

An intensive, week-long trainingsession recently proved to be a greatenergizer for several local leaders, andsome of them are already putting whatthey learned into action.

Oklahoma Education Association(OEA) Vice President Becky Felts re-cently headed a delegation of local As-sociation leaders at NEA’s StrongAffiliates: Organized for Member-ship and Collective Action confer-ence. Held in St. Louis, the five-daytraining was a component of the NEAGreat Public Schools Project that waslaunched here in Oklahoma in January.

Local Association presidents or theirdesignees from each of the 11 targetedlocal OEA/NEA affiliates, along withFelts and OEA Associate ExecutiveDirector Charles McCauley, joinedleadership teams from across thecountry to gain insight into buildingstronger locals. The interactive trainingmodel was built around a variety ofskill sessions to assist local Associa-tions in building strong foundations for

organizational develop-ment and membershiprecruitment.

Participants at-tended the skill sessionof their choice andthen shared what theylearned with othermembers of the lead-ership team. Each dayoffered plenty of teamtime, and the Okla-homa leaders took fulladvantage of the op-portunity.

“I was impressedwith the time allottedfor brainstorming withour team,” said Mid-Del ACT President Jamie McCoy. “Itgave us the opportunity to developideas that we could use in our indi-vidual locals.”

Not only did Oklahoma’s partici-pants have the opportunity to shareideas with one another but they wereexposed to numerous suggestions fromother states as well. One such ideawas the ‘Ask Me’ button. The basicconcept was to use the buttons duringmembership recruitment but after in-depth discussions, the Oklahoma del-egation developed a much broader use.

“We want touse them through-out the school yearas a visual signalto our membersthat the buildingrep has some im-portant informationto share,” saidYukon EA Presi-dent Alicia Priest.“I think that it willadd to our visibilityat the buildinglevel. You will defi-nitely be seeing

Targeted locals attend national training

‘Ask Me’ buttons in Yukon.”The combination of high energy and

renewed emphasis on working withnonmembers inspired Putnam CityACT President Jan Sands to use hernew skills immediately.

“It seems we spend so much timeworking with member rights issues, weforget to connect with nonmembersand sometimes with our members,”said Sands. “I was so energized I wentout, made a connection and now wehave a brand new member.”

Having Felts and McCauley play anactive role throughout the trainingadded to Professional Educators Asso-ciation of Lawton President Judy Run-nels overall positive impression of thetraining experience.

“Not only was the training fabulousfrom start to finish, we also had theopportunity to work with our stateleaders,” said Runnels. “Becky andCharles were part of the team everystep of the way.”

According to President Jill Dudley, thedevelopment of the Moore ACT GreatPublic School Organizing Plan and theopportunity to attend such an extensivetraining will help MACT implement someimportant organizational components.

“Networking with other Associationleaders from across the state and fromacross the nation will go a long way inhelping us meet our goals.”

The participants will get a chance tocontinue their networking when theNEA Great Public Schools targeted lo-cals meet again April 26-27 to discussprogress on their individual plans.

“I’ve really enjoyed the informationsharing during this process,” said Yukon’sPriest. “It’s great to hear other ideas andthen try them back home.”

OEA Vice President Becky Felts (far right) discusses lessons learned at a Great Public Schools skillssession with attendees (from left) Jill Dudley, Moore ACT president; Jan Sands, Putnam City ACTpresident; and Jamie McCoy, Mid-Del ACT president.

Local leadersreturn with newenergy, ideas

Alicia Priest, Yukon Professional Educators Association Judy Runnels, Professional EducatorsAssociation of Lawton president

May 2005/Page 11

The OEA Legal Department annuallyreceives a large number of calls regard-ing child abuse issues. Sadly, countlessmembers are misinformed about their re-porting obligations and many districts runafoul of the statutory requirements. Thefollowing article is designed to help dispelthe most common myths relating to childabuse reporting.

Myth: If I don’t believe the child’sstory, I don’t have to report it.

Fact: Your job isn’t to assess credibil-ity, it is to report. However, if you do notbelieve the child’s story, you should tellthat to the DHS worker or police officeryou contact. Reporting abuse doesn’tmean acting as an advocate for the pros-ecution. Rather, you simply convey all in-formation you possess to the DHSworker or police officer.

Myth: Telling my counselor or prin-cipal about the concern meets my re-porting obligation, and if my principaltells me not to report, I don’t need to.

Fact: We deal with numerous callsannually from school staff memberswho have been instructed by their prin-cipals just to tell the counselor or not toreport the incident at all. The principalmay not believe the child, wants toavoid dealing with angry parents,doesn’t want a police investigation onhis or her campus, hopes to duck nega-tive press, etc. Regardless of the moti-vation, you have the obligation toreport the alleged abuse yourself andno administrator can lawfully directyou to do otherwise or relieve you ofyour individual reporting obligation un-der the statute.

In addition, if your district procedurestates or implies that you should let

someone else make the DHS call, youneed to make the DHS call anyway(violate the procedure, not the law),but in all other respects follow the pro-

cedures set forth in your district. Inshort, you have to report child abusecases to DHS yourself regardless ofyour internal district procedures oryour principal’s directives.

Myth: If I didn’t hear it first hand, Idon’t have to report it.

Fact: First hand, third hand, writtenon a bathroom stall, or an anonymousphone call – you have to report the al-leged abuse. Every person “having rea-son to believe” a child is being abusedmust report it, and it is not your right toassess the credibility of the source.

Myth: If I call DHS and the personanswering the telephone tells me not toreport this type of incident again, Ishould do as they advise.

Fact: Many DHS workers are wellinformed, qualified individuals who willwork to assist you and provide accu-rate answers. Some won’t and manydon’t fully understand the laws theyare supposed to enforce. Don’t rely ontheir legal advice – make the call, andif it annoys the DHS worker, so be it.

Myth: If a child is in imminent dan-ger, calling DHS is enough.

Fact: DHS is as understaffed andoverburdened as any other state agency,and it is unlikely that they will be able toimmediately respond to every situationwhere a child is facing imminent harm.In situations where you believe a childwill be facing an imminent threat, call911 in addition to DHS.

Myth: As long as I made the call,DHS will keep the record that I con-tacted them so I won’t get in troublefor failing to report.

Fact: Sometimes they will, sometimesthey won’t. Especially in cases wherethe DHS worker tells you that the infor-mation you reported isn’t reliable enough

to act on or doesn’t constitute abuse,keep a record of the time and date youcalled, the name of the individual youspoke with, the number you called, andwhat information you conveyed.

Myth: Being strict or chastising astudent constitutes child abuse.

Fact: While “threatened physicalharm” to a child constitutes abuse,simply yelling at a child (while it maybe inappropriate) does not meet thestatutory definition of child abuse. Thesame is true of making a child feelguilty or embarrassing a child – eventhough it, here again, may be inappro-priate and unprofessional conduct.

Myth vs. FactChild Abuse Reporting

By Heath MerchenAssociate General Counsel

Unfortunately, many districts in at-tempting to discipline staff memberswill apply the term “child abuse” to ac-tions that, while not professional, in noway constitute abuse. Similarly, simplyseeing a parent yelling at a child or ex-ercising reasonable parental discipline(including spanking), does not consti-tute child abuse under Oklahoma law.

The above article by no means an-swers every child abuse reporting ques-tion, but hopefully gives you some usefulguidance. The safest bet is to alwayskeep student safety as your first priorityand call your advocate with questionswhen specific concerns arise.

Heath Merchen

The National Board for ProfessionalTeaching Standards® (NBPTS) is tak-ing applications for national certifica-tion assessors.

The summertime employment pays$125 a day, and offers graduate creditopportunities from several institutions.In addition, assessors are providedlunch and snacks while working 8:30a.m. to 5 p.m. for two to three weeks.

Working as an NBPTS assessor is aunique professional development op-portunity that offers in-depth interac-tion with other experienced teachersand exposure to more examples ofteaching than most educators will typi-cally see during their entire careers.

To qualify for the positions candi-dates must have:

• a bachelor’s degree,• a valid teaching license or certificate,• three years of teaching experience

in a pre-K through 12 setting,• be teaching at least halftime in the

certificate area they are applying toassess, or be a National Board Certi-fied Teacher® in the certificate area,and

• Not be a current or non-achiev-ing candidate for National BoardCertification.

For more information, call 1/800-22TEACH, or visit www.nbpts.org.

NBPTS is a private, nonprofit orga-nization governed by a board of direc-tors comprised of education, corporateand government leaders, the majorityof whom are classroom teachers.

NBPTS is lookingfor a few good assessors

Your job isn’t to assess credibility, it is to report.

From Your Counsel

Page 12/Oklahoma Education Association

so many nonmembers see OEA in apositive light,” Odom said. “So manytimes we only hear negative commentsfrom nonmembers.”

Hamilton Beattie asked members torank their own priorities on a scale ofone to 10, with 10 being a very highpriority. The results also confirmedOEA is on the right track.

For instance, public awareness ofeducation and protecting new revenueboth averaged 9.2. Odom pointed outthat OEA’s budget for 2005-06 reflectsthe two high priorities. The Associationplans to dedicate money to reinstitutean image advertising campaign nextfall and is continuing to pursue the Ad-equacy and Equity Project, which willask the courts to determine the ad-equacy of current education funding.

“During our budget hearings lastfall, we heard over and over again thatmembers want us to bring back themedia campaign,” she said.

While the majority of the informa-tion was positive for OEA, it also gavethe organization some ideas of whereto work harder. For instance, only 41percent of members and 31 percent ofnonmembers think OEA does a goodjob of reaching out to nonmembers.

Among its recommendations, Hamil-ton Beattie suggested the OEA developtalking points for local membership re-cruiters, increase email with nonmem-bers, and do a better job of reaching outand communicating with nonmembers.

“Polling information is important,and it is almost always helpful inkeeping us on the right track,” Odomsaid. “We’ll use the polling data tostrengthen our programs and our ser-vice delivery system.”

By Doug Folks

An overwhelming majority ofmembers believe that the OklahomaEducation Association is doing theright things.

Somewhat surprisingly, many non-members feel the same way.

The findings are from a telephonesurvey conducted by HamiltonBeattie and Staff for the OEA inmid-January. The polling firm called400 members and 200 nonmembers,and the survey has a plus or minusmargin of error of 4 percent.

“What was most encouraging aboutthe results to me was that our members,and even the majority of nonmembers,see OEA in a positive light,” said LelaOdom, OEA executive director.

Among the more encouraging find-ings were:

• 95 percent of members and 60percent of nonmembers have a favor-able opinion of OEA;

• 74 percent of members and 36 per-cent of nonmembers think OEA is mov-ing in the right direction. Only 30 percentof nonmembers think the opposite;

• 92 percent of members approve ofOEA’s job performance; 61 percent ofnonmembers agree;

• 80 percent of members say OEAworks for their priorities while 44 per-cent of nonmembers agree. Only 29percent of nonmembers disagree;

• Members (87 percent) and non-members (60 percent) both say OEAstands up for teachers; and

• 94 percent of members trustOEA’s information, and so do 68 per-cent of nonmembers.

“I was a little surprised to learn that

Members andnonmembers agree:OEA is movingin the right direction

The NEA Foundation’s next roundof Innovation Grants and Learning &Leadership Grants is right around thecorner. As this school year comes to aclose, why not send an application tobegin planning for next year?

All applications received by June 1,2005, will be reviewed, with award notifi-cation by November 15. Applications forthese grants are accepted on an ongoing,year-round basis, so it’s never too late toapply. Grants fund activities for 12months from the award date.

Innovation Grants and Learning &Leadership Grants are funded in partby Staples Recycle for Education, thenationwide program that’s good for theenvironment and great for publicschools. Since July 2003, Recycle for

Education has helped raise more than$1.8 million for public education!

NEA members received over1,500 grants throughout the years.Innovation Grants and Learning &Leadership Grants are available forall subjects, including the arts, lit-eracy, science, and technology.

All members who are practicing K-12public school teachers, education supportprofessionals or higher education facultyand staff at public colleges and universi-ties are encouraged to apply. NEA nowoffers bigger and better grants – either$2,000 or $5,000 per project.

Applying for a grant is easy. Visitwww.neafoundation.org today for moreinformation, including guidelines and anapplication. Or call 202/822-7840.

NEA Foundation’s grant reviewdeadline is fast approaching

Excellent Mixed Unfavorable Can’t rate notrecognized

95%

60%

4%

26%

0%0%

0%10%

1% 4%

members

nonmembers

OEA’s Favorability

Excellent Good Don’t Know Not so good poor

22%

4%

70%

57%

1%6%2%

12%6%

20%

members

nonmembers

OEA’s Job Performance

Oklahoma City University helps students prepare for lives in which they look forward totheir jobs and other pursuits.

ENROLL NOW!Graduate admissions (405) 208-5351 or (800) 633-7242

gadmissions@okcu.edu • www.tgimatocu.com

THANK GOD IT’S MONDAY!

Scholarships for teachersWe have tremendous scholarship opportunities for teachers, both working and laid off. Call (405) 208-5351 for more details.

Program excellence and proven resultsWe offer master of education degrees in appliedbehavioral studies, elementary education, and early childhood education with optionsin Montessori and Oklahoma teacher certification. Our graduates have the highest pass rate inOklahoma for teacher certification.

Small class sizes and individual attentionBe a name, not a number.

May 2005/Page 13

America’s children need DrewSchnoebelen.

He’s a senior at a state universityin Idaho, and studying to be a highschool teacher. With a growing needfor highly qualified teachers inAmerica, he will be a welcome addi-tion to any school.

It hasn’t been easy for Drew, andcollege students like him, to completetheir degrees and enter theworkforce. In fact, it’s getting harderand harder for middle- and low-in-come families to get the financial aidnecessary to attend college and earna four-year degree.

At many universities and col-leges, tuition has skyrocketed – insome cases there are double-digitpercentage increases from one yearto the next. In Drew’s case, that

means he’ll be paying off $25,000 inloans once he graduates. That’s a lotof debt for someone just starting outon a teachers’ salary.

Also, Congress is debating legisla-tion that might make it even moredifficult by further cutting federal aidfor higher education in this year’sfederal budget.

In the Pell Grant program alone, for-mula changes already mean 90,000middle- and low-income studentswould no longer receive a Pell Grantand an additional 1.3 million would seedecreases in their allocation.

This decrease in assistance seemseven more absurd when the averagedisbursement of the Pell Grant is only$2,400 – an amount that pays for onlya fraction of a semester at most col-leges and universities.

It’s amazing to me that some mem-bers of Congress will in one breath ex-

College aid cuts: Make your voice heardBy Reg WeaverNEA President

NEA President Reg Weaver

pound on the need to make America’sworkforce more globally competitiveand then turn around and vote to de-crease federal aid to higher education.

By doing this, Congress is not justhurting Drew’s generation, but creat-ing a cycle that will be felt for gen-erations to come.

Without federal student aid, many

middle- and low-income families willnot be able to provide their childrenwith higher education, making itharder to get a good-paying job, mak-ing it harder for them to send theirown children off to college.

Representative government re-quires participation. Unless we thepeople make our voices heard, mem-bers of Congress will continue tomake choices that meet short-termpolitical goals, rather than long-termeconomic and educational goals.

Let’s make sure our voices areheard. Find out more at NEA’s Legis-lative Action Center at nea.org.

It’s time for Congress to really in-vest in our future, and make sure thatstudents like Drew have access tohigher education, so that America’seconomy can grow and succeed forgenerations to come.

NEA DirectorLinda Hampton, Pleasant Grove CTA

OEA Board of Directors/NEA Delegate (Years 1 & 2

of 3-year term)Zone Northeast BJohn Lefler, Muskogee EAZone Northwest BCarla Wilson, Guthrie ACTZone Okla. City BJan Sands, Putnam City ACT

Zone Okla. City DLori Burris, Mid-Del ACTZone Tulsa EJanet Brewster, Broken Arrow EAZone Southwest ESheri Childress, Norman PENZone Southeast BLawrence E. Lane, Checotah EAZone Southeast CSharon Hill-Wooten, Idabel EA 170*Deborah R. Tustin, Poteau 143

Zone Tulsa BPatti Ferguson, Tulsa CTA 927*Sandy J. Conner, Tulsa CTA 157

NEA Category I /Delegate-At-Large

NorthwestMary Hamilton, Alva CT*Okla. City MetroRoma Clark, Moore ACT*Sherrie Stout, Mid-Del ACT*SoutheastAnn Weaver, Muldrow CA*Lawrence E. Lane, Checotah EA*SouthwestTerrie Keck, Marlow ACT*Tulsa MetroDr. Karen Dawson, Tulsa CTA*Lupe E. Johnson, Tulsa CTA*Ana J. Ortega, Tulsa CTA*

NEA Category II (Administrators)/ Delegate-At-Large

Todd Crabtree, Byng EA

OEA Ethnic MinorityDelegate-At-Large

2005 OEA Delegate AssemblyLupe E. Johnson, Tulsa CTA*Denise Rhodes, Quapaw CTA*

Candas A. Bullock, Coweta EA*Gerald Thompson, Bartlesville EA*Sharon K. Hill-Wooten, Idabel EA*Debra Hatler, Ketchum PEAK*Lori A. Wakefield, Ketchum PEAK*

Administrator-At-Large2005 OEA Delegate Assembly

Raford Ulrich, Poteau EA

NEA Retired Delegate-At-Large2005 NEA Representative

AssemblyJoyce Drew Parsons, Okla. City 287*Tommy Fulton, Del City 260*Theo L. Crawley, Weleetka 145Joy Dennis, Enid 142Edith LaForge, Tulsa 98Shirley Nero, Warner 94

OEA Retired Delegate-At-Large2005 OEA Delegate Assembly

Jane Mershon, Lawton 229*Joy Dennis, Enid 203*Theo L. Crawley, Weleetka 190*Shirley Nero, Warner 153*Edith LaForge, Tulsa 125

(* -- elected to the position)

NEA Director Linda Hampton wins re-electionOEA elections results

Page 14/Oklahoma Education Association

some manner. What you receive at re-tirement would be based on the suc-cess or failure of those investments. Ifthe market is up, your retirement couldbe great. But if you wanted to retirewhen the market is experiencing a se-vere down turn, your retirement couldbe just as bad.

OEA believes a defined benefit pen-sion plan is far superior to a definedcontribution plan.

Q – If a defined contributionplan were to be passed, what effectwould such a bill have on the un-funded liability of the TRS?

A – At the beginning of the currentlegislative session, a Republican mem-ber of the House pre-filed a bill thatwould have established a defined con-tribution plan. It would have forcedteachers hired next school year into a

defined contribution plan and givencurrent teachers the option of stayingwith the current plan or moving perma-nently to a defined contribution. Thebill was never heard in committee anddied there.

This type of bill could potentiallycripple the TRS because new teacherswould no longer be making contribu-tions to the system. Without employeecontributions continuing to fund theTRS, the state would have to find analternate funding source or the un-funded liability of the system wouldcontinue to increase dramatically.

Q – Is there any education re-tirement legislation, good or bad,currently alive in the legislature?

A – At press time, it was unclear ofthe intentions of House and Senateleadership in terms of changes to thesystem or benefits this session.

Continued from Page 9

No guarantee offeredby defined contribution

Protected websiteshould prove invaluableto bargaining teams

Oklahoma negotiating teams nowhave an invaluable tool to help themget ready for bargaining.

A new password-protected web-site was unveiled at the AdvocacyConference in early April to nearly200 local leaders. Through okea-research.org, local bargaining teamscan now search other contracts in avariety of ways, said MicrosearchPresident Susan Kelly.

Kelly’s company has contractedwith OEA to build the site, which ispart of The OEA Adequacy and Eq-uity Project as approved by the 2004Delegate Assembly.

A dynamic search engine allows ateam to look at an entire contract froma particular district, or search all con-

tracts in the database for a specificitem. In addition to the local contracts,the site will have links to other researchmaterial, including the Oklahoma LawBook and the OEA Green Book, whichprovides financial information on everyOklahoma school district.

OEA is still collecting electronicversions of local negotiated agree-ments. Local presidents should sendtheir local agreement on a computerdisk (preferably in Microsoft Wordformat) to Debbie Moore, A&EProject, PO Box 18485, OklahomaCity, OK 73154; or by email atdmoore@okea.org.

Locals that do provide the localagreement electronically will receive arebate of $1 per member of the local.

Susan Kelly (above),president of Microsearch,describes the dynamics of anew, searchable website forOEA members. At left,Advocacy Conferenceparticipants take part in anexercise during a breakoutsession. Nearly 200 localleaders attended theconference in early April.

Participants staying overnight must makereservations directly through the Holiday

Inn Select by calling 800.836.9635.plus tax (king or double beds)

Please reference OEA-SLA to receivethe conference rate.

QualityStandards

Respect

Connecting with members and potential members isessential to building strong local Associations.

The 2005 OEA SLA is designed to boost leadership skillsthrough a basic organizational framework that will attractnew members while increasing the Association’s viability

for continuing members.

Summer LeaderSummer LeaderSummer LeaderSummer LeaderSummer Leadership Aship Aship Aship Aship Academcademcademcademcademyyyyy

JulJulJulJulJuly 2y 2y 2y 2y 27 - 28, 20057 - 28, 20057 - 28, 20057 - 28, 20057 - 28, 2005

Holiday Inn Select5000 E. Skelly Drive - Tulsa, OK

$30Registration fee includes training

materials, all breaks,and lunch on the 28th.

$65Need more info?

Cindy Manning, 800.522.8091, or www.okea.org

Connect, Lead, Grow!!

May 2005/Page 15

American Fidelity Assurance Company

Providing Quality Products and Services to the

OKLAHOMAEDUCATION

ASSOCIATION

American Fidelity Assurance Company has been providing financial security solutions to the Oklahoma Education Association since 1949. With

insurance products and services developed specifically for the educationemployee, our commitment to the members of the Oklahoma Education

Association is to continue to provide quality products and services.

• Disability Income Insurance • Accident

• Cancer Expense Protection • Tax-Deferred Annuities

• Life Insurance • Long-Term Care

• Section 125 “Cafeteria” Plans

Oklahoma City Branch OfficeKacey Taylor

7510 Broadway Ext., Ste. 202 • OKC, OK 73116

(405) 416-2116 or (800) 933-1853

Lawton Branch OfficeKacey Taylor

1 S.W. 11th Street, Ste 195 • Lawton, OK 73501

(580) 248-0011 or (800) 288-1239

Tulsa Branch OfficeMartha Pate

4606 S. Garnett, Ste 100 • Tulsa, OK 74146

(918) 622-6994 or (800) 365-2782

Page 16/Oklahoma Education Association

Since its initial introduction, fewinvestment opportunities have helpedmore people prepare for retirementthan the Individual Retirement Ac-count (IRA).

There are currently two differentkinds of IRAs designed for retirementplanning: the Traditional IRA and theRoth IRA. Deciding which one is bestfor you depends on your own uniqueset of circumstances.

The first step is to determine youreligibility for the different IRAs, andthen the suitability of each to your re-tirement plan. To find out your eligibil-ity, take this short quiz.

The Traditional(deductible) IRA

1. Are you under age 70 1/2?2. Do you have earned income?If you answered “yes” to both of

these questions and do not participatein an employer-sponsored plan, you areeligible to start contributing to a Tradi-tional IRA today. Even if you do par-ticipate in an employer plan, you maystill be eligible. It’s a good idea tocheck with a financial professional toget all the details.

The Roth IRA1. Do you have earned income?2. Are you single with an Adjusted

Gross Income (AGI) below $95,000,OR married with a joint AGI below$150,000?

If you answered “yes” to both ofthese questions you are eligible to startcontributing to a Roth IRA.

Contribution LimitsThe contribution limits for both

types of IRAs are:

Tax year 2004 – $3,000Tax years 2005-07 – $4,000Tax year 2008 and beyond – $5,000There are also catch-up provisions

that allow additional contributionswhen certain criteria are met. It’s bestto consult with your NEA Value-builder® Financial Counselor to get allthe information.

Determining which IRAis best for you

You may well be eligible for eitherIRA, so it’s a good idea to look at thebenefits of each to determine whichone best suits your retirement goals.Depending on your circumstances,contributions to a Traditional IRA maybe tax deductible and the earningsgrowth tax-deferred. When distribu-tions are taken from the IRA, however,they are taxable.

On the other hand, contributions to aRoth IRA are never tax deductible, butdistributions are completely tax free ifthe Roth IRA has been held for fiveyears and the account owner has ei-ther attained age 59 1/2, died, becomedisabled or used the proceeds up to$10,000 (lifetime maximum) for a “firsttime” home purchase.

As with any major financial decision, itis wise to consult with a financial profes-sional to weigh the benefits of each typeof IRA. If you are not currently workingwith a financial advisor, an NEA Value-builder Financial Counselor will be happyto meet with you and discuss yourchoices. Both a Traditional and Roth IRAare available as part of the NEA Value-builder Program.

To find the NEA Valuebuilder repassigned to your area go towww.okea.org/MemberBenefits/okvaluebuilderreps.htm or call 800/632-8258.

Choosing theright IRA for you

Tips from Liz PiconeNEA Member Benefits

Discount auto insurance

for NEA membersonly.

Protecting America’seducators for over 50 years.

www.neamb.com/aplus.html

AH390505

From $250 personal property coverage, whichincludes school supplies you’ve purchased; to a summer skip payment option, A+ offersunique benefits.

While most auto insurance companies onlyoffer six-month plans, A+ will lock you into a low rate for an entire year.

Educators as a group are responsible drivers.At A+, we believe that excellent driving records like yours should be rewarded with discount rates.

Our friendly, courteous representatives providefree quotes. And our emergency claims service is available toll-free 24-hours a day.

Low rates exclusivelyfor NEA members like you.

As an NEA member, you qualify for the NEA Members Auto & Home Insurance Program.It’s an outstanding plan with discount rates negotiated just for you.

For over 50 years, A+ Auto & Home Insurance Plus has been creatingunique plans for education professionals. We offer the benefits you needat rates you can afford. You could save hundreds of dollars each year.

Call today for a free quote, toll-free:1-888-744-9717.

Comprehensive coverage.

Guaranteed lock-in rates for

a full year.

Great discounts for good drivers.

Excellent service.