UEA Standing Committees

Bargaining, Professional Rights & Responsibilities (BPR&R)

Chair: Janalyn Duersch, Ogden-Weber UniServ

Staff Support: Tracey M. Watson ([email protected])

One of the committees established by the UEA Bylaws is the Bargaining, Professional Rights and Responsibilities Committee (BPR&R). The activities and services of the Committee are among the most important provided by UEA to our members. The Bylaws provide:

The Bargaining, Professional Rights and Responsibilities Committee: (a) trains members to protect and promote the employment rights of members through bargaining and professional negotiations; (b) promotes and encourages Association members to engage in conduct consistent with the ethical principles outlined in the UEA-NEA Code of Ethics of the Education Profession; (c) directs case studies involving professional conduct and ethical behavior; (d) fosters professional attitudes and stimulates professional performance on the part of each member; and (e) promotes sound personnel policies that will clearly define the civil and human rights of members.

The UEA Board of Directors has assigned to the BPR&R Committee duties to promote membership and educate members about their rights and responsibilities by:

Hearing and deciding appeals of the general counsel's actions denying or limiting attorney representation of members and appeals of the general counsel to the Committee.
Making presentations to members in their local associations about the committee's role, UEA’s legal services program, and reasons for joining UEA, focusing primarily on teacher rights and responsibilities.
Training members of their local(s) to promote membership by presenting to members about the role of the Committee, UEA’s legal services program, and reasons for joining UEA, focusing primarily on teacher rights and responsibilities.
Assisted and encouraged the creation of local BPR&R Committees.
Acting as liaisons between local Committees and the UEA BPR&R Committee. (Liaison means keeping local Committees informed about the activities of the UEA BPR&R Committee, encouraging the local BPR&R Committee to promote the UEA’s BPR&R programs, and keeping the UEA BPR&R Committee informed about these activities. It also includes sharing ideas with other committee members to accomplish the objectives of the UEA and local BPR&R Committees.)
Participating in training sessions or seminars for members of the Committee and the Association. The training sessions should be designed to give Committee members the skills and resources to accomplish their responsibilities as Committee members.

The BPR&R Committee’s responsibilities include informing members about teacher rights and responsibilities. (The Committee’s emphasis on responsibilities has substantially increased in its efforts to address the number of complaints made regarding unprofessional behavior by teachers in the past.) Two pamphlets prepared by the BPR&R Committee describe teachers' rights and responsibilities. Copies of the pamphlets are available to members on request. The BPR&R Committee’s newest responsibility is to provide and improve bargaining skills for members and local associations.

The Member Advocacy Guide, designed to assist local associations and members participating in bargaining, is available to members on request. The BPR&R Committee also publishes UEA’s Professional Agreement Reference Manual—Model Language, available to members upon request. The Manual contains a short history of bargaining in Utah, the law applicable to bargaining in Utah, and a description of common problems in negotiated agreements. The central part of the Manual is a model language for collective bargaining agreements on almost all topics that can be bargained, alternative language, and rationales for the language. The objectives of the Model Language include identifying common problems in negotiated agreements, finding solutions acceptable to educators and boards of education, promoting better relations with school administrators, promoting professional development, and involving educators in designing and promoting quality education programs.

Elections

Chair: Annette Croucher, Color Country UniServ

Staff Support: Paul Chadwick ([email protected])

The Elections Committee issues and validates petitions for elective office, notifies candidates of petition status and campaign procedures, prepares ballots, determines the validity of all ballots, verifies election results and notifies candidates, and hears all election challenges and makes recommendations to the UEA Board of Directors. Standing committee members of the Elections Committee are selected from corresponding committee members of the UniServs.

Ethnic Minority Affairs Committee (EMAC)

Chair: Cedric Smith, UEA Board of Directors, Weber Education Association

Staff support: Bianca MIttendorf, ([email protected])

The 2016 UEA House of Delegates meeting marked a milestone for the UEA. Delegates that year voted to elevate the Ethnic Minority Affairs Committee to the status of Standing Committee, one of only five such UEA committees. The committee's stated goals are to increase ethnic minority representation in the association, educate school districts on hiring a diverse workforce, promote inclusive civil rights programs for students and members, and advocate ethnic minority viewpoints, concerns, and issues to the UEA Board of Directors.

Committee Goals

Increase ethnic minority representation in all levels of the Association;
Assist ethnic minority members to be elected to positions of Association leadership so they can experience the NEA RA, help the Association meet the NEA Bylaw 3-1(g) goal, advocate for and train potential ethnic minority leaders, and increase active involvement of ethnic minority members;
Educate school districts in the hiring of a diverse workforce and raise the awareness of diversity in our schools;
Educate our members on inclusion education and other issues affecting students, e.g., school-to-prison pipeline, immigration reform, institutional racism, and privilege, using crucial conversation skills, etc.;
Promote more inclusive civil rights programs for students and members;
Collaborate with the UEA Board of Directors on programs, including mentoring programs that recruit, support, and retain ethnic minority educators;
Advise, recommend, and advocate ethnic minority viewpoints, concerns, and issues to the UEA Board of Directors and
Maintain, edit, and implement the UEA Minority Involvement Plan.

Organizing and Membership Capacity-Building (OMC)

Chair: Jody Lawhorn, High Desert UniServ

Staff Support: William Spiegel ([email protected])

The Organizing and Membership Capacity-Building Committee oversees various membership development programs and implements new and innovative ideas to support local affiliates’ efforts to recruit new members, maintain current members, recapture former members, and engage educators in the association's work.

Rules and Resolutions

Chair: Elinda Nedreberg, High Desert UniServ

Staff Support: Heather Shepherd ([email protected])

The Rules and Resolutions Committee has the following responsibilities:

Review proposed actions before they are considered by the House.
Prepare and present proposed resolutions for adoption by the House.
Hold hearings on all bills, resolutions, new business items, amendments to the legislative program, and budget amendments before they are presented to the House.
Annually review governance documents and Board policy statements to ensure they are up-to-date and free of conflicting statements.
Report any recommendations to the House.

Documents that the Rules & Resolutions Committee considers for inclusion in the House of Delegates are: