Petitions are available for the following FEA officers:  FEA President-elect (term to run from August 1, 2012-July 31, 2016); FEA Treasurer and FEA Secretary (terms to run from August 1, 2012-July 31, 2015).  Petitions are also available for  three VEA Directors and three FEA Directors At-large (terms to run from August 1, 2012-July 31, 2014).

Candidates are required to obtain 50 member signatures on their petitions, 25 of which must be from members at schools other than the candidate's base school. Click Read More below to get a petition form.

In an editorial on Sunday, January 15, the Washington Post came out in support of Virginia Governor Robert McDonnell's plan to eliminate continuing contract for teachers, saying that it is "akin to tenure." FEA President Michael Hairston wrote a letter to the editor explaining that under continuing contract teachers are evaluated regularly and poor performing teachers can be dismissed or non-renewed. Virginia teachers do not have "tenure."

The revised Teacher Evaluation process is still being developed by the FCPS Teacher Evaluation Task Force. The FEA representative assembly has developed a set of principles to guide our advocacy on the evaluation process. Principals have received direction from Dr. Rich Moniuszko, Deputy Superintendent in the form of a message.

Ten FEA members and children of members were awarded scholarships at the December 14 FEA Representative Assembly.

The long awaited Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission’s (JLARC) "Review of Retirement Benefits for State and Local Government Employees" was presented and approved by the commission on December 12.  Read more for a summary of the details of the report.

The Fairfax Times reported that "Fairfax County school teachers say they are disappointed improvements to workplace conditions were not made by the current School Board, which leaves office at the end of this year." The complete article is available here.

We have a battle ahead in the 2012 General Assembly.  It was a miracle that we won the pension battle in the last session, and in November's elections we lost some key friends.  What VRS is saying regarding the state's ability to change the benefits of current retirees and vested employees is shifting, partly because case law is emerging in states that have faced legal challenges after making changes to the pension plans in other states.http://betterchoicesva.org/

VEA is hosting a series of seminars to explain VRS and the benefits associted with you retirement in an easy to understand format.  For Northern Virginia the seminar will be hosted at the FEA office on March 20, 2012 from 4:30-6:00 pm in the Professional Development Center.  If you are interested in attending please contact the FEA office at 703-352-7300 and make a reservation.   You can also send an email to receptionist [at] fairfaxea [dot] org.