AEA Educators’ Days at the Capitol on March 15 & 22

Arizona Capitol

Once again, AEA will be holding their annual Educators’ Days at the Capitol on Wednesday, March 15 and Wednesday, March 22. This is a fantastic opportunity to learn more about what’s happening at the Capitol, make our presence felt, and potentially meet with your legislators to discuss issues critical to our profession. These days also happen to be during our spring break! Please use this form to RSVP for one or both of these days!

CEA Member Sara Wyffels Named AZ Teacher of the Year

After being named one of five finalists for the Arizona Educational Foundation’s 2021 Teacher of the Year, we are so proud to share that nationally board certified Chandler HS Spanish teacher (and CEA member) Sara Wyffels was named the 2021 Arizona Teacher of the Year! Congratulations, Sara!

In this role, Sara will travel across the state over the coming year to serve as an ambassador for the teaching profession, as well as travel to the White House (COVID restrictions permitting) to meet the President along with other Teachers of the Year from across the country. You can read more about Sara and this amazing honor at the Arizona Educational Foundation’s website. We are so proud of you, Sara!

More School Reopening Resources

We received more information tonight from our CUSD Governing Board and Governor Ducey on what school reopening may look like (you can also watch tonight’s board meeting to view the discussion around our reopening). This is obviously a fluid, constantly changing situation, but your union has been busy putting together critical information to help us navigate it.

As mentioned earlier, CEA’s survey results have been shared with the Governing Board and with district administration (thanks to those of you who made your voice heard by responding to that survey). With input from members across the state (including some CEA members), AEA has also released their New Vision for Arizona Schools Task Force report, which contains a bold vision of what our schools can and should look like in a post-COVID world. Finally, NEA has released their All Hands on Deck: Initial Guidance Regarding Reopening School Buildings report, which includes science-based and health-focused guidelines for schools to reopen in a way that meets the needs of students and educators. You can also find many more resources regarding the impact of COVID-19 on our schools at NEA’s Educating Through Crisis website, as well as AEA’s COVID-19 update page.

We encourage you to read through these resources and discuss them with fellow CEA members (and non-members) at your site. Together, we will work to ensure a safe, quality learning and teaching experience for our community.

School Reopening Update

Thank you to everyone who took the time to respond to our school reopening survey. You can now view a summary of the survey results (these results have been shared with Dr. Casteel this morning).

The CUSD reopening plans will be discussed at tonight’s Governing Board meeting. The study session starts at 4:30pm, followed by the regular meeting at 7:00pm. We encourage everyone in the CUSD community to study the agenda and supporting documents, as well as view the meeting live on YouTube.

We know this is a very difficult time right now, so please reach out to your Site Representative or Executive Board if you need anything. We also hope you’ll consider joining our reopening task force subcommittees to continue the conversation about what school will look like when we reopen.