AEA Leadership Conference (June)
AEA Professionals Rights & Responsibilities (PR&R) Conference (April)
ACT/AEA Professional Development Conference (March)
Alabama Aerospace Celebration (March)
AEA Divisional Conference (January)
AEA Emerging Leaders School (held in conjunction with Leadership Conference)
AEA Bell Team Training (held in conjunction with Leadership Conference)
AEA Minority Leadership Conference (November)
Student Alabama Education Conferences (April and November)
Future Teachers of Alabama Conferences (March and October)
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Under spotlights in the ballroom of the new Renaissance Hotel in Montgomery, 648 AEA members including teachers, support professionals and administrators met for two days, April 11 and 12, at the annual AEA Professional Rights and Responsibilities Conference. The conference provided more than 42,000 hours of professional development credit for attendees.
Overall the conference provided a variety of sessions that addressed legal concerns on professional issues and on personal issues. In the professional category, a very popular open forum session titled “All Things Considered”offered participants the opportunity to ask AEA attorneys questions on topics related to their employment. In this standing room only session, questions were posed on the sick leave bank, teaching out of field, changes in teaching assignments, the Deferred Retirement Option Program (DROP), dress code for staff, summer school pay rate, and what happens when a school must divide its staff with another school.
Other sessions in the professional category included the Tenure Law, the Fair Dismissal Law, federal protection of employment, and recent developments in case law. A session on discipline and special education examined the role of the federal law in student discipline and provided information on how school systems can enforce discipline for students covered under these laws.
Another session outlined the types of issues that give rise to litigation, the issues that should be properly addressed through a local grievance, and the issues that are just day-to-day irritations that come with the job.
In the personal category participants learned about wills and estate planning and the laws that cover home ownership.
The following presentations from the 2008 PR&R Conference are available for download: Discipline: Federal Register Citations; Discipline and Students with Disabilities; Variation of Code of Student Conduct Flowchart; Gripes, Grievances, and Lawsuits; Introduction to Estate Planning; Teacher Tenure Act; and Property Rights of Homeowners.
AEA Associate Executive Secretary Dr. Joe Reed gave the keynote address at the closing session.
State and local school boards key races for educators in 2008
AEA Associate Executive Secretary Dr. Joe Reed, whose office coordinates the annual Professional Rights and Responsibilities Conference, touched on several issues in his closing remarks on Saturday using the conference theme “Protecting Our Members with Courage, Commitment and Concern.”
“AEA has the courage and commitment to help our members everyday,” Reed said. “The association is often the only firewall standing between employees and the administration. If you have been wronged, we will stand behind you.”
After assuring members that AEA would be there for them, Reed returned to two of his favorite topics, the quality of those we elect to serve us and the implications for the offices they hold.
Reed urged particpants to pay close attention to local and state school board elections. “We must have quality people in positions on our school boards. We can’t raise the quality of education when boards are not quality. How can the blind lead the nearsighted?” Reed said.
Once a strong proponent of elected local school superintendents, Reed now wants those school leaders to be selected and urged that standards be put in place for school board members. “There are school board members who are just breathing, and that is their only qualification. Don’t shut your eyes to incompetence and ineptness. Go out and recruit somebody good to run. Put your local association dollars in the local school board races. You have to get involved in who will govern you. Don’t trivialize your vote, elect somebody who is qualified,” Reed said.
Reed also expressed concerns with what is happening in the court system and that in some cases it has become a system of payback. “The American system of justice cannot be a system of payback. Political parties cannot use the justice system as a way to investigate their political opponents. Some are guilty but many are not,” Reed said.
According to Reed, voters often fail to see the important connection between themselves and the presidential election. “Don’t go away from this conference underestimating what this presidential election is all about,” Reed said. “Presidents appoint judges for our court system and right now the courts are hostile. Judges are hostile and they were put on the bench to be hostile. We don’t want a conservative on the bench. They are hostile to justice and they will not give you justice,” Reed said. “We think that juries will protect us, but judges can take that away just as they did in the Exxon case. Injustice is an epidemic that won’t stop at the county line. If it is unfair to one, it will be unfair to another,” Reed concluded.
Hubbert clarifies education and political conncetion
The opening session of the 2008 AEA Professional Rights and Responsibilities conference featured AEA Executive Secretary Dr. Paul Hubbert who defined the education and politics conncection and provided a legislative update with special emphasis on the status of the Education Trust Fund (ETF) and the education budget now being considered by the Alabama Legislature.
“Because of our slow economy, we are looking at a shortfall in the ETF of between $400-500 million for next year,” Hubbert told participants. “We are feeling the crunch this year but because of our Rainy Day Fund we haven’t heard the proration word” said Hubbert. “However, the budget for 2009 will certainly be affected. We are looking at ways to make sure that no jobs are lost, and that there are no cuts in health or retirement benefits. The cuts are expected to be between two and four percent for K-12 and about 13 percent for higher education. We hope to find revenue sources so that the cuts are not too severe,” he said.
After discussing education budget concerns, Hubbert turned his remarks to the connection between state elections and what happens in Alabama classrooms. “It is so critical that we all be involved in the political process. We must elect friends of education. Politicians will make decisions for us or with us and we certainly want those decisions to be made with us,” he said. “The Legislature acts like a giant school board, because decisions made there determine class size, teachers’ supply funds, and other issues that have a direct impact on the classroom. Our involvement is about survival, and we want to make sure that the education funds appropriated by the Legislature are spent for the things that you need to provide the best education you can for Alabama’s children. That is the connection between politics and education and I urge you to get involved,” Hubbert said.
Hubbert also urged participants to get involved at the national level. “Find out how the presidential candidates stand on education issues because ultimately the greatest national defense we can build for our country is educating the next generation,” Hubbert said. “Please remember that if we don’t get involved, laws will be written for us and not with us and that is never a good thing,” Hubbert concluded.