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UPCOMING FEA EVENTS
The Fort Bragg Association of Educators is holding a banquet May 16, 2019, to celebrate its 2019 group of retirees. Those planning to attend are asked to RSVP by May 6. View the flyer for the event to learn more details, including how to RSVP.NEA Director Lily Eskelsen Garcia will be visiting FEA members in South Korea and Okinawa during the month of May. Lily will be in Korea May 20-21 and in Okinawa May 22-23. On May 22nd - AEAO will have their annual Retirement Dinner where Lily will be the guest of honor and speaker. Members are encouraged to check with their local Association reps for details on other events during Lily's visits. Learn more in the FEA Pacific Area Director's Spring Report
The FEA Annual Membership Meeting will take place July 1 and 2 at the Royal Sonesta hotel in Houston, Texas, prior to the NEA Representative Assembly being held in the same city. The FEA meeting is open to any Active or Retired FEA member. Learn more about the meetings here.
2.8% AVERAGE RAISE FOR OVERSEAS TEACHERS
posted April 11, 2019The SY 18-19 Overseas Salary Schedules can be found here
The SY 18-19 overseas salary schedules have been finalized and include the largest average rates of increase for positions in the FEA overseas bargaining unit since the 2007-2008 school year.
The AVERAGE percentages of increase for the Overseas salary schedules in SY 18-19 are as follows:
* Classroom Teachers: 2.80%
* Guidance Counselors: 2.89%
* School Psychologists: 2.85%
* Speech Pathologists: 3.18%
Read FEA's full update on the overseas salary increases for SY 18-19 here
Overseas VERA/VSIP Program Now Closed
posted April 10, 2019DoDEA Headquarters has informed FEA that Phase 4 of the DoDDS (overseas) Excess Placement program has been completed. Phase 4 included VERA/VSIP offers to DoDDS educators who were not excessed. This program is now closed and no additional VERA/VSIP offers will be made to DoDDS (overseas) teachers.
VERA/VSIP and ENI To Be Offered To Stateside Educators
posted April 3, 2019Voluntary Early Retirement Authority and Voluntary Separation Incentive Pay -- VERA and VSIP will be offered to school level professional educators in DDESS/FEA Stateside Region.
Today (April 3) DoDEA management shared with the Union that offers of VERA/VSIP and ENI (Early Notice Incentive) will begin being given to Stateside certified school level employees on April 8. These offers will be delivered by email. If an employee declines an offer of VERA VSIP, management will make additional offers based on teaching category and service computation date beginning the week of April 15. Management stated employees would have at least three days to respond to the offers.
MEMBERS ELECT 4 OFFICERS TO FEA BOARD
View the full election tally report here
Congratulations to the following individuals who have been elected by their fellow members to At-Large offices on the FEA Board of Directors.
FEA PRESIDENT - Brian Chance
VICE PRESIDENT/SECRETARY-TREASURER - James "Mike" Adair
NEA DIRECTOR FOR FEDERAL - Anita Lang
HUMAN AND CIVIL RIGHTS COORDINATOR - Alina Rozanski
Each will serve a three-year term. Terms will begin on August 1, 2019, except for the NEA Director for Federal, whose term begins September 1, 2019. The full election tally report is available here.
Thank you to all who ran for office this year and to all FEA members who voted in this year's election.
FEA-Stateside Arbitrating Illegal Contract Implementation
FEA-Stateside Region is proceeding to arbitration over management's efforts to illegally and unilaterally impose a new contract on Stateside schools, including its dictate forcing Stateside employees to work extended hours without added compensation in violation of the current valid contract. Read the update from FEA-SR hereOverseas Excess Placement Notices Now Going Out
posted March 20, 2019
Notices of placements for Overseas excessed educators began going out the afternoon of March 20. Educators have within 3 workdays of receipt to respond whether they accept the reassignment, request reconsideration (if they qualify), or retire/resign.
Read FEA's update here
FEA and NEA Annual Meetings
Get details on this summer's FEA Annual Membership Meeting and NEA Representative Assembly, both taking place in Houston, Texas, the first week of July.Find FEA and NEA meeting info here
Positive News on PCS Tax
posted March 18, 2019A bipartisan group of Senators has reintroduced legislation that would provide relief from PCS moving taxes to incoming and retiring/separating federal employees.
Read FEA's update on the reintroduced legislation.
DoDEA Releases Info on RITA/WTA for PCS Taxes
posted March 11, 2019DoDEA has (FINALLY!) issued guidance to Overseas employees regarding the availability of and procedure to follow in order to claim Relocation Income Tax Allowance (RITA) and/or Withholding Tax Allowance (WTA) for taxes on applicable civilian PCS moves. Anyone who PCSed in 2018 is advised to visit DoDEA's Web site and carefully read the guidance from DoDEA (found at the bottom of the linked page) to make sure you take advantage of the resources available to you.
DoDEA Info on PCS and Tax Changes
FSIP Sides With Management on Overseas Contract Ground Rules
posted February 22, 2019In a move that was disappointing but not at all surprising given its clear bias in favor of management, the Federal Service Impasses Panel (FSIP) this week imposed ground rules for the bargaining of a new contract for Overseas employees that align almost exactly with those requested by DoDEA.
Read the full update about the ground rules
GOOD NEWS: No Salary Freeze for 2019
FEA and NEA worked together to make sure the recent law funding government operations and ending another shutdown threat would also negate any possibility of a pay freeze in 2019 for Stateside and Overseas members. Read the full update hereDoDEA Withdraws Law Attacking Workers' Rights
In a victory for DoDEA employees and proponents everywhere of workers' rights, DoDEA has announced it is withdrawing a proposed law that would have stripped workers of rights and basis civil service protections under the guise of merging Stateside and Overseas schools into a single system. The law may be reintroduced in the future, however.Read the full update from FEA on this issue here
VSIP/VERA AND EXCESSING INFO PAGE
FEA is compiling information on the 2019 VSIP/VERA offering as well as the placement procedures for excessed employees. Visit our VSIP/VERA and Excessing Information PageOver 300 to be Excessed From DoDEA This Year
VERA/VSIP Are To Be Offered
We were told in a meeting Tuesday that around 370 positions throughout DoDEA will be declared excess this year. Note: after our initial meeting, DoDEA told us the true figure would be slightly more than 300. Roughly 60 of the excessed positions are due to the closing of schools at Seoul. It is not clear how many of the remaining 300+ are due to changes in staffing at the high school level announced last week by DoDEA Director Tom Brady. That announcement said DoDEA would be altering staffing formulas for high school staff. The change is likely to result in larger class sizes, something FEA adamantly opposes.
Staffing documents should now be in the schools and FRSs should be working with their building principals to identity how this impacts current staffing.
DoDEA has received authorization from DOD to offer VERA and VSIP. Specific details on those offerings are expected to come out from DoDEA HQ in the coming days but we were told the amount to be offered for VSIP will be up to a maximum of $40,000.
FEA will inform members as soon as we have more details on the changes in staffing as well as the VSIP/VERA offering. For overseas school, any excessing should be done by the Excess Flow Chart based on MOU's signed by FEA and DoDDS.
DODEA PLAN TO INCREASE SECONDARY CLASS SIZES IS HARMFUL TO STUDENT LEARNING
posted January 4, 2019DoDEA Director Tom Brady has informed employees he intends to implement unspecified increases in Pupil-Teacher Ratios (PTR) that would result in increases to secondary school class sizes -- a move FEA denounces as harmful to student learning and unnecessary, given the hundreds of wasteful administrative positions within DoDEA that should be cut before any changes to PTR are even considered.
Read FEA's full update on management's announcement.
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Read the December FEA Journal in PDF format
Government Appeals Executive Order Ruling
posted October 3, 2018The federal government recently filed an appeal of a judge's decision that struck down most parts of three anti-worker, anti-union Executive Orders issued earlier this year by the Trump White House. Those Executive Orders seek to limit union representation and bargaining rights and to make it easier to fire federal employees. In August, a federal judge ruled most provisions of the Executive Orders to be improper because they infringed upon existing labor laws passed by Congress. The government's appeal of the ruling is not a surprise and the outcome of this appeal is likely to eventually head to the Supreme Court. This appeals process is expected to carry over into 2019.
Get details about the judge's ruling here
FEA MEMBERS:
DODEA HEADING IN WRONG DIRECTION
A recent online survey of FEA members revealed that, by a huge margin, Association members feel that DoDEA as a whole is heading in the wrong direction. See the survey results 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.
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CALL ATTENTION TO PAY PROBLEMS
IMPORTANT -- Do not download or forward this information while on government time or while using government equipment. Also, do not forward this information to any government email account, such as DoDEA Outlook mail.Under guidance from the FEA Board of Directors, FEA Europe General Counsel/UniServ Bill Freeman has developed a letter writing campaign, aimed at bringing the numerous pay and collection issues DoDEA employees face to the attention of Congress and Pentagon leaders. Please use the link below to access information from Bill Freeman and share your stories/concerns with the decision makers suggested by Bill. Please avoid doing so, however, while on government property, while using government owned computer equipment, or while on government time.
Click here to learn more about writing decision makers in an effort to raise awareness of pay problems
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.
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