Saturday, April 12, at 9:00 A.M., President Lynn Warne called Delegate Assembly to order in the Peppermill’s new Tuscany Convention Center. The President ran a well organized Assembly and the agenda moved very quickly and smoothly.
The first major order of business was the election of the two Nevada NEA Directors. Tom Wellman and Ken Buhrmann were re-elected to represent Nevada on the NEA Board of Directors in Washington DC. Tom Wellman was elected to a three year term and Ken Buhrmann was elected to a two year term. NEA Directors are elected on alternate years so an experienced director is on board at all times. President Warne gave the State of the Association address. In her speech, the president updated the delegates on the status of the NSEA “Save Our Schools” tax initiative. Petitions will be sent to all members who are registered voters. Hopefully each member will sign their petition as well as have family members, friends and neighbors sign as well. The deadline for gathering the 58,000+ signatures necessary to qualify for the ballot in November is May 20. Each petition must be notarized before being turned into association offices. The WEA Office Manager, Chelsea Wesnousky, is a notary.
Several New Business Items were presented to the delegates for their consideration and debate. Items of major interest that were passed by the assembly were as follows:
• The establishment of a Technology/Budget committee that would “investigate ways and means... to provide information to members and Board of Directors through use of electronic communication.” This would decrease the expense of hard copy paper and printing.
• Instructed the NSEA President to provide “timely and accurate information to membership regarding GPO/WEP Social Security offsets.” Information is to be in NSEA PERSPECTIVES at least twice a year and updated continuously on the NSEA web site.
• Fifty cents a month to the Advocacy Fund that was due to “sunset” at the end of August 2008, was renewed for one more year, now to “sunset” at the end of August 2009. The advocacy fund is used to promote teacher issues in the legislature and help with imitative drives.
• An additional fifty cents was moved and passed to be added to the Advocacy Fund to also “sunset” at the end of August 2009. These funds will also be used to promote education issues in the upcoming 2009 Legislature.
Saturday evening was the celebration of the NSEA Awards Banquet that honors educators in the state for their efforts on behalf of teachers and support professionals in the association. Many touching testimonials were given in honor of the recipients.
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Washoe’s own Barbara McLaury received the Dedicated Educator Award for this year.
On Sunday when the Delegate Assembly re-convened, New Business Items were finished. Resolutions were introduced, discussed, and passed. The presentation of the Legislative Program was next on the agenda and the Assembly adopted the program as presented. Finally, the presentation of the budget for NSEA was given, discussed, and adopted. After announcements and Points of Personal Privilege were given, the Assembly was adjourned and Sine Die occurred approximately at 1:00 P.M.
Next year’s Delegate Assembly will again be in April, location to be announced. As your president, I would like to encourage anyone interested to consider running for a delegate seat. If you are curious to see first hand how your association is governed, this is a wonderful opportunity. Ask any of this year’s delegates and I am sure they will agree. It is a truly educational experience and a “close up and personal” view of a truly democratic process. If you have any questions concerning the business of Delegate Assembly, please feel free to ask any Washoe delegates or me. All of us would be very happy to tell you all about Delegate Assembly 2008!