Lyon County Education Association January 2005 Newsletter

Lyon County Education Association

An affiliate of
NSEA & NEA L. C. E. A.

The Tutorial Enterprise

Steve Fargan, President
Leanna Ogle, Vice President
Val Friskey, Secretary
Noreen Albers, Treasurer

The Lyon County School District and the Lyon County Education Association held an arbitration hearing to determine if LCEA President, Steve Fargan, was wrongfully terminated at the end of the 2003-2004 school year. This case had nothing to do with Mr. Fargan's job performance or any allegations of misconduct. The District took a position that Mr. Fargan, a post-probationary teacher at Yerington Elementary school, signed a two year contract when he was hired and they decided not to rehire him when his two years ended.

NSEA opened a legal case over this dispute and NSEA Attorney Tom Donaldson represented Mr. Fargan throughout this long process which resulted in Arbitrator Catherine Harris' decision on November 18, 2004. NSEA/LCEA argued that the District was relying on an improper NRS 391 statute (concerning short term contracts) that was superceded by Mr. Fargan's rights as a post-probationary employee under NRS 391.312.

Arbitrator Harris, in her decision, stated, "The arbitrator is not convinced that the Grievant (Mr. Fargan) waived his statutory rights to admonition, notice of refusal to reemploy, or to a hearing. Nor is there any indication that the association (LCEA) ever waived Article VII rights (Teacher Protection) on behalf of the grievant. For all of these reasons, the arbitrator concludes that the teaching contracts signed by the Grievant did not serve to cancel his statutory or collectively bargained rights as a teacher".

LCEA President Steve Fargan was also awarded all back pay and benefits that he would have received if he had been properly rehired at the end of 2003-2004 school year. Mr. Fargan has subsequently taken a teaching position at Cottonwood Elementary School.

You, as members of LCEA, may want to share this victorious decision with non-members because it really does matter if you belong to the LCEA family.

It is that time of year to nominate candidates for the 2005-2006 slate of officers, delegates and representatives to the assemblies.

The nomination for LCEA President is open only to a member who has been on the LCEA Executive Board for at least one full year. This includes all building representatives and former officers.

The LCEA Vice President is in charge of membership and elections. The LCEA Treasurer is responsible for the finances of the organization and chairing the budget committee..

The Secretary is responsible for taking and publishing minutes of the executive meetings and participating on various committees.

Please use the link to the form below to make nominations for any of the offices (LCEA members only please.) Please be sure your candidate is aware of the nomination and is willing to accept. Nomination forms may be given to your building representative by January 31, 2005. You may Fax your form to the Vice President (Leanna Ogle) 463-6850 no later than January 31, 2005.

An analysis of decennial Census Data clearly shows that over the past 60 years the annual pay teachers receive has fallen sharply in relation to the annual pay of other workers with college degrees. The mid to late1990's, a period of vigorous national economic growth, was a particularly bad time for teacher pay relative to the pay of other occupations.

Throughout the nation the average earnings of workers with at least four years of college are now over 50 percent higher that the average earnings of a teacher. At no other time since a college degree was required to teach has this wage gap been so wide.

A historic turn over is taking place in the teaching profession. While student enrollments are rising rapidly, more than a million veteran teachers are nearing retirement. Experts predict that overall we will need more than 2 million new teachers in the next decade. This teacher recruitment problem is most acute in urban and rural schools; for high-need subject areas such as special education, math and science and for teachers of color

Teacher compensation is a significant deterrent to recruitment. Teachers are still paid less than professions that require comparable education and skills. Teachers still are not valued and respected to the extent of their actual contributions to society.