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AMENDMENT PASSES, ESP POST FILLED

FEA members have voted to amend the Association's Constitution, creating and filling the post of Education Support Professional (ESP) Coordinator on the FEA Board of Directors. Teresa Brown, an ESP member at Camp Lejeune, was elected to fill the ESP Coordinator post. Her term begins May 1, 2021. The full election report can be found here. The amendment approved by members also clarifies voting rights and election procedures for Human and Civil Rights (HCR) Coordinators at the Area level in FEA. You can read a summation of the changes that were made to the FEA Constitution here.

RAT GRIEVANCE FILED

posted February 19, 2021

An Association Grievance over the issue of delayed Renewal Agreement Travel (RAT) from summer 2020 is progressing.

At issue is whether Overseas employees on a two-year agreement who were eligible for RAT last summer but delayed their RAT due to numerous factors, including COVID and other travel restrictions, must begin a new two-year cycle if they take RAT during summer 2021.

Employees on two-year agreements who delayed RAT in 2020 should be eligible to take RAT this summer using normal procedures.

DoDEA's position is that employees will begin a new two-year agreement by taking travel in 2021, meaning they would not be eligible for RAT again until summer 2023.

FEA disagrees. FEA's position is that educators should be eligible to take the RAT delayed from summer 2020 during summer 2021, and in accordance with the Joint Travel Regulations, again in summer 2022, before returning to normal two-year RAT cycles thereafter.

An arbitrator was recently selected to hear the case, but a hearing date has yet to be set.

We will continue to update members as this case progresses.

UPDATE ON FSIP AND FLRA

posted February 19, 2021

We recently reported President Biden dissolved the sitting Federal Service Impasses Panel (FSIP). No appointees have been named yet to the new panel and it is uncertain how long it will take to fill those posts. As a result, multiple disputes that had been sent to the Panel regarding negotiation of a new contract for FEA's Overseas bargaining unit remain on hold.

This week, the recently appointed Chair of the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) announced the restoration of the body's Collaboration and Alternative Dispute Resolution Office (CADRO). CADRO, which has been in existence for more than 20 years, was shelved under the previous FLRA Chair. The body exists to help labor and management come together to resolve cases that would otherwise be heard by the FLRA.

REPAYMENT OF DEFERRED 2020 SOCIAL SECURITY TAXES

posted January 4, 2021
Social Security taxes that were deferred from federal employees' pay over the last third of 2020 will now be collected in installments between pay periods ending January 16 and December 4, 2021.
Read the update from FEA here for more info

December 2020 Journal Now Online

Overseas Contract update; Election and Constitutional Amendment info; Resolving pay problems
Read the December FEA Journal in PDF format

NEA DIGITAL LEARNING RESOURCES

NEA has put out an info paper with critical tips and considerations for educators tasked with developing and implementing digital learning environments in reaction to COVID-19.

These are great resources. There are also links to educational resources. Those resources may or may not all be approved by DoDEA. If you have questions please check with your ET (Educational Technologist) and the approved digital resources.

Remember that the Information Specialist at your local school has a wealth of digital resources available in the DoDEA purchased databases. The Information Specialist can recommend items to support your digital delivery of lessons.

STATESIDE MEMBERS: BE SURE TO LOG UNPAID TIME

FEA-Stateside members are reminded to use the Association-provided tracking sheet to log the unpaid hours they were required to work this school year and submit the tracking sheets to FEA-SR, for use in the Association's upcoming arbitration. Read the full update and access the tracking form here.

Hatch Act Information

Visit this page to learn more about the Hatch Act and find examples of activities allowed and prohibited under the law.
Hatch Act Do's and Don'ts

FEA HCR Newsletter and other HCR Info

View the latest issue of The Advocate, the monthly newsletter of FEA's Human and Civil Rights Program, and find other resources by clicking here.

FEA Social Media

FEA members (and anyone else) can follow FEA on Facebook and Twitter. We remind members these are public forums and should not be used to solicit or share legal advice. Members should always begin the process of seeking legal advice and services by contacting their local association representative and not share or reveal any personal information, particularly information pertaining to legal situations, on any public forum or social media site.

As always, we encourage our members to use these resources courteously and professionally.

Follow FEA on Twitter (#fededassoc)

Like FEA on Facebook

Teaching Channel: Videos that Inspire Teaching

The Teaching Channel website offers a growing library of short videos to inspire K-12 teaching. These video lessons - in English language arts, math, science, and history/social sciences - include lesson objectives, questions to consider, homework ideas, and more.

Free registration provides access to:

Highlights of skilled teachers teaching a lesson, such as Kick Me: Making Vocabulary Interactive

Tips and tricks for new teachers, such as Attention Getting Signals: One Spot and Planning Full Days & Practicing Fast Facts

Featured "Amazing Classrooms," such as Building Community in a Multi-Language Classroom

See the Welcome to Teaching Channel video.

Updates for our Members

Read the FEA President's Report and link to other updates for FEA members here.