|
|
ARTICLE I Membership Section 1 Active membership in the association will be accompanied by active membership in the Washington Education Association and the National Education Association in all cases where reciprocal arrangements are assured. Section 2 The membership of the association will consist of these classes: 1) Active membership will be open to any person engaged in the profession of teaching or in other educational work who holds or will be eligible to hold a baccalaureate or higher degree or a Washington State Certificate (where required). 2) Reserve membership will be limited to any person who is otherwise eligible for active membership, but who is on limited leave of absence from professional educational work. 3) Retired membership will be limited to any person who has retired from teaching or other educational work. 4) Associate membership will be limited to any person (such as teacher aides) not eligible for other classes of membership and not actively in the education profession. 5) Staff membership will be open to any person employed by the association. 6) Substitute memberships will be open to any person qualified. ARTICLE II Dues Section 1 The annual local dues of an active member will be .932% of the current year's base salary as on the negotiated salary schedule. This will be exclusive of Uniserv dues. This amount will be rounded to the nearest dollar. Section 2 The annual dues of certificated employees who are employed less than full time will be assessed according to the following formula:
Full-time from .67 to 1.00 F.T.E Two-thirds from .51 to .66 F.T.E. Half-time from .34 to .50 F.T.E. One-third .33 or less Section 3 The annual dues of a teacher employed after Sept. 30 will be the regular dues prorated by the number of months remaining in the school year. Section 4 The annual dues of an associate member, will be one-third the dues for active members, adjusted in amount to the nearest whole dollar. Section 5 Reserve and retired members will not be required to pay dues. Section 6 The Co-curricular dues for each season's contract will be a $10 amount of each season's contract. Those employees who are not currently members of the Washington Education Association Southeast, Washington Education Association (WEA) and the National Education Association (NEA) because of a position other than the Co-curricular contract will also be required to pay the basic yearly membership fees of the Washington Education Association (WEA) and the National Education Association (NEA). ARTICLE III Officers Section 1 The president is the executive officer of the association and will: 1) Preside over meetings of the executive board, the representative assembly and the general membership. 2) Assume the office of presidency according to Article V of the Constitution. 3) Appoint all unexpired terms of chairmen as vacancies occur. 4) Appoint ad hoc committees with the approval of the executive board. 5) Be an ex officio member of all standing committees. 6) Represent the association before the public, either personally or through delegates. 7) Meet with the Superintendent of the Kennewick School District No. 17, to inform and to exchange ideas on matters of concern; 8) Approve payment of all invoices and bills submitted; 9) Perform all other functions usually attributed to the office. 10) Prepare the annual budget. Section 2 The vice-president will: 1) Serve as vice-president of the association and will perform the functions usually attributed to the office. Section 3 The secretary/treasurer will be responsible for: 1) Recording minutes of the executive board and the representative assembly. 2) Reporting the financial status of the association to the executive board and the representative assembly. ARTICLE IV Representative Assembly Section 1 Delegates to the representative assembly will be elected for two-year terms. Those delegates first elected from new buildings, or in the event of the need to elect two new representatives from a building, will draw for one and two year terms. Section 2 Only active members of the association will be eligible to be delegates or to vote for the election of delegates. Members will vote in one building only and that building will be considered the member's "home building." Section 3 Building units will consist of: Unit 1 - Amistad Elementary Unit 2 - Canyon View Elementary Unit 3 - Cascade Elementar Unit 4 - Eastgate Elementary Unit 5 - Edison Elementary Unit 6 - Hawthorne Elementary Unit 7 - Lincoln Elementary Unit 8 - Southgate Elementary Unit 9 -Sunset View Elementary Unit 10 - Vista Elementary Unit 11 - Washington Elementary Unit 12 - Westgate Elementary Unit 13 - Plymouth Unit 14 - 6th Grade School Unit 15 - Desert Hills Middle Schools Unit 16 - Highlands Middle School Unit 17 - Park Middle School Unit 18 - Kamiakin High School Unit 19 - Kennewick High School Unit 20 - Tri-City Area Vocational Skill Center Unit 21 - Special Services Unit 22 - Substitutes Any additional building unit(s) will be represented accordingly. Section 4 Each delegate to representative assembly will represent a proportionate number of the members from his or her building. These members will be named, and lists of those members, together with the name of the delegate who represents them, will be submitted to the president and will also be posted in the faculty room of the respective buildings. It will be the responsibility of the "senior' representative to see that these requirements are carried out. Section 5 The representative assembly will meet at regular monthly meetings during the months of Sept. through May. The president, a majority of the executive board, or a majority of the delegates to the representative assembly may call additional meetings of the representative assembly. Section 6 Each representative assembly delegate will attend the regular meetings of the representative assembly. If a delegate is unable to attend a representative assembly meeting, he or she may designate a substitute from his or her own building to attend in his place. Section 7 The chairman of the representative assembly will notify a building unit when any of its delegates has two absences without a substitute. The building unit will have the option of holding an election to replace that delegate for the remainder of his or her term. The president may designate a member in good standing to carry out this special election. Section 8 For voting purposes, each delegate to the representative assembly will have one vote, which will represent the judgment of the members whom he or she represents. However, no votes will be cast for those members unless the delegate or a substitute named by him or her is personally present at the meeting. Section 9 It will be the responsibility of each delegate to poll the members whom he or she represents, in order to determine their considered professional judgment, and in order that the voting may be representative of the wishes of the members. Section 10 The budget for each year will be presented for consideration by the representative assembly by the Oct. meeting. Section 11 A representative assembly quorum will consist of those representatives present and voting. Section 12 The representative assembly will elect from its membership representatives to the Uniserv Council each Sept. ARTICLE V Executive Board Section 1 Regular meetings of the executive board will be held during the months of Sept. through May. Additional meetings may be held at the discretion of the president or on request of a majority of the executive board. Section 2 An executive board quorum will consist of at least fifty-one percent of the members. Section 3 The executive board will carry out the purposes of the corporation, have the power to issue in the name of the corporation its promissory notes, bonds, or other obligations which may be secured by mortgages on its real estate and other property or may be unsecured with only the promise of the corporation to pay the same from the net income of the corporation. Such notes, bonds, or other obligations and the mortgages securing the same, if any, may be issued in such amounts, may bear interest rate or rates, may be payable at such other terms and conditions as the executive board determine. Section 4 The executive board members will be the trustees of the corporation. Section 5 Representative assembly delegate members of the executive board will have had at least one year's experience in the representative assembly. ARTICLE VI General Membership Section 1 An annual general membership meeting will be held at which time the nominated candidates for president, vice-president and secretary/treasurer will be presented. Additional nominations may be offered from the floor, and nominations will then be declared closed. Section 2 In the event that an action taken at a representative assembly or at a general membership meeting should be deemed in need of reconsideration, twenty-five active members representing together three different building units in the association may, by petition within five school days after the representative assembly or general membership at which the said action took place, signify to the officers of the association their intent to seek a referendum on the action. Within ten school days following the receipt of the petition of intent, there must be on file in the association office, a petition bearing signatures of fifty bona fide members. Upon verification of these signatures, the president will cause to be distributed to each member of the association a ballot bearing the question. Ballots must be returned to the association office, no later than five school days following the date of the ballot. Section 3 The referendum will become effective if it is approved by two-thirds of the valid ballots received at the association office. Section 4 All general membership votes are to be taken in the buildings with a reasonable response time, unless at a general membership meeting it is the judgment of the presiding officer that time is an essential factor and that an immediate vote must be taken. Section 5 At a general membership meeting a quorum will consist of those present and voting. ARTICLE VII Committees Section 1 Each committee will meet on the call of the chairman or a majority of the members. Section 2 Those present at a published meeting of that committee will constitute a quorum. Section 3 The president will appoint committee members and the committee chairmen and will, as far as possible, represent differing interests and instruction levels. 1) The Membership Training Committee will manage the budget for membership training and promote programs that will help train KEA members. 2) The Teacher Rights Committee will consist of one member and one alternate from each building. The alternate will be used only when a vacancy occurs within a building, or in the event that the Teacher Rights Representative becomes directly involved in grievance. Representatives and alternates will be members of KEA, WEA, and NEA with at least two years of previous teaching experience, one of which must have been in the State of Washing ton. The executive board will select representatives and alternates from candidates submitted by the respective building units. The term of office will be concurrent with the school year. 3) The Special Services Committee will explore such programs as group insurance, group purchasing, investments, and credit. 4) The Legislation Committee will have concern for local, state, and national legislation affecting the interests of the association and for exercise of civic responsibilities by members. The committee will inform members about newly enacted legislation pertaining to education and/or educators. 5) The Public Relations Committee will seek to develop public understanding of the purposes and programs of the association, the values and importance of education, and the educational philosophy and programs of the schools. It will develop procedures by which the association can work cooperatively with parents and public, in civic, fraternal, and social organizations, and through all available channels of communication. 6) The Salary Committee will review salary and other money needs of the schools and will work closely with the Professional Negotiations Committee. 7) The Professional Negotiations Committee will be responsible for receiving items for negotiations and for compiling these items into the final negotiations packet. Members of the Professional Negotiations Team will be nominated by the president and the executive board and will be ratified by the representative assembly; this body will also authorize a letter of authorization that the team will present to the district negotiator(s). If the executive board and/or representative assembly deem it necessary or advisable to establish a new negotiations team, nomination, confirmation and authorization of a new team will follow the same procedure as for the original team. It will be the responsibility of the Professional Negotiations Chairman to see that minutes of all negotiations sessions be recorded and that copies of the minutes are filed in the association office. 8) The Candidate Review Committee will interview or study School Board candidates' positions on issues related to education and teacher welfare. An objective fact sheet will be distributed to the membership stating the findings of the committee. KEA representative assembly will then be polled to determine a KEA endorsement of any or all candidates or a no endorsement action. 9) The District Professional Development Committee will be composed of two elementary teachers, one of whom is a classroom teacher, one middle school teacher, one Special Education teacher, one high school teacher, one librarian, one vocational or other special interest teacher, three building principals, two central office administrators. The association president will appoint all bargaining unit members. A person will serve a three-year term with one-third retiring each year. Persons may be reappointed once to a consecutive term. Ex-officio members may be appointed as agreed to by the committee. 10) Sick Leave Sharing Committee. Member(s) appointed by the president will screen applicants to assure that all procedures have been followed and that all qualifications for eligibility have been met. ARTICLE VIII Nominations and Elections Section 1 The Nominations and Elections Committee will be composed of the three at-large delegates from the representative assembly to the executive board. Section 2 The Nominations and Elections Committee will: 1) Notify each building by Feb. 1 of the vacancies of the offices of president, vice-president, and secretary/treasurer. 2) In the event that there are no nominations for these off ices two weeks prior to the regular April representative assembly meeting, the Nominations and Election Committee will attempt to provide at least two candidates for each office. 3) Nominations will be closed one week prior to the regular March representative assembly, provided that nominations may be made from the floor at the March meeting. Section 3 Candidates for offices of president, vice-president, secretary/treasurer, and at-large candidates will be present at the regular April Representative meeting, which will be an open meeting; and, at this time, candidates will be presented to the members. Section 4 Voting will be by secret ballot at each building and will take place within one week following the regular representative assembly. Section 5 In those cases where a KEA officer position or an executive board position becomes open at a time other than during a regular election cycle, a vote will be held in a timely manner, at the discretion of the executive board. Section 6 Ballots will be brought to the association office by the time and date designated by the executive board and will be tabulated by the executive board. Section 7 The candidates for each office who receive the largest number of votes will be deemed elected to that office. Section 8 Any uncontested KEA office as determined by the Nominations and Elections Committee at the May representative assembly will not require a vote by the membership. ARTICLE IX The Employed Staff The executive board will employ all personnel. ARTICLE X Amendment Section 1 These bylaws may be amended at any regular meeting of the representative assembly by a two-thirds vote of all delegates present and voting, provided that: 1) The amendment will have been proposed in writing at a regular meeting immediately preceding the one at which action is taken, and provided that the text of the proposed amendment will have been timely distributed to all buildings by means of a special bulletin, or 2) The text of the proposed amendment will have been sent to all buildings at least four weeks prior to a regular meeting of the representative assembly and will have been recommended for adoption by a vote of the members in at least three buildings. Section 2 These bylaws will be reviewed annually to determine the need for amendment.
|
