Executive Board Member Published in Tribune

DEA Executive Board Member Richard Heath had an article published in the opinion section of The Salt Lake Tribune on Sunday, December 12. Click to read the article.

School Board Approves Calendar Revisions

The school board officially restored the two furlough days, February 7 and 8, during school board meeting on December 7. The restoration of the days also resulted in some other calendar changes.

• The end of third term was moved from March 24 to March 18 in order to keep the terms relatively even in length.
• The professional day originally scheduled for March 25 was moved to March 21.
• Year round track C will have the restored days on May 12 and 13.

The revised calendar can be viewed on the District's web site.

DEA Represented at NCUEA

Last week, four leaders from DEA attended the National Council of Urban Education Associations fall conference in Tulsa, Oklahoma. This conference was a great chance for our leaders to communicate with others from the largest local associations in the country. They had three busy days of workshops and discussions focusing on issues facing the NEA along with state and local units. NEA Vice President and former Utah teacher Lily Eskelson addressed those in attendance. Building Reps will be updated on issues facing the association at their meetings next Monday and Tuesday. This photo was taken while the DEA delegation was changing flights in the Phoenix airport on the trip home Saturday night. Southwest Airlines offered free photos with Santa. Don Paver, Jessica Dunn, Susan Firmage, and Valerie Lindeman took advantage of the chance.

Schools to be Open February 7 & 8

As you should have heard, the District and DEA have agreed to use some of the money from the federal jobs bill to restore the two school days on February 7 and 8, resulting in two additional days of pay for employees.

Those two days will be the same as any other school day. Students will be expected to attend, although teachers are asked to be accommodating with make-up work for that day. We suggest that in most cases teachers follow already established classroom procedures for absence make up, with perhaps a little more understanding for those who made plans based on the original calendar.

For those employees who may have made unchangeable plans for those days, leave will be allowed as on any other school or contract day. In negotiations on November 30, options available to employees were discussed. Teachers who may be out of personal leave may request an advance of personal days, rather than lose pay. The district indicated administrators should be inclined to approve those requests because of the exceptional circumstances involved.