1. Approval of Minutes from last meeting (LINK HERE)
2. Approval of Agenda (with flexibility) of this meeting
3. New and/or Continuing Business Items:
   1. HWY 37 Labor Support Letter: recommendation from Exec Board
   2. Kairos Charter High School Petition: recommendation from Exec Board
   3. Bargaining Action Plan
   4. Motion to purchase 200 Safe Space cards & 200 Stand Up to Jewish Hate pins (from the Equity Team)
4. Treasurer’s Report: Ariel Ray
   1. Approval of Treasurer’s Financial Report (LINK HERE)
5. Bargaining Report: Megan Morris and Tracy Begley
6. PAC Report (including Treasurer’s Report): Corey Penrose/Jennifer Dickinson
   1. Approval of PAC Treasurer’s Financial Report (LINK HERE)
7. President’s Report: Brenda Hensley
   1. Site Rep Resources: (LINK HERE)
   2. Exec Board Vacancies
8. Committee Information (in writing please):
   1. Grievance: Lisa Cusi (LINK HERE)
   2. New Educator: Rachel Bulris (LINK HERE)
   3. Membership Engagement: Alyson Brauning
      1. 2023 ME Site Visits – Google Sheets
      2. Lunch at sites ME.docx – Google Docs
      3. Membership Engagement Plan for Sites.docx – Google Docs
      4. Plan for Directors & Site Reps.docx – Google Docs
   4. Equity: Tricia Cowen (LINK HERE)
   5. Action: Corey Penrose (LINK HERE)
   6. Labor Council Reps: Corey Penrose, Jennifer Dickinson, Alyson Brauning (LINK HERE)
   7. State Council: Keri Tafuro, Ariel Ray, Jennifer Dickinson (LINK HERE)
   8. Membership: Jax Stornetta (LINK HERE)
   9. Elections: Aaron Stephens (LINK HERE)
   10. Sick Leave Bank: Julie McGee (LINK HERE)
   11. SPED Quarterly Meeting Committee: Becky Wylie (LINK HERE)
9. 4:45pm: Ramiro Barron and Jeremy Johnson: Safety Dialogue with Site Reps
10. Member Engagement Planning Time
11. Raffle (must be present to win)

1. Approval of Minutes from last meeting 
2. Approval of Agenda (with flexibility) of this meeting
3. Shout Outs & Successes
4. New and/or Continuing Business Items
   1. Kairos High School Charter Petition Position
5. President’s Report: Brenda Hensley
   1. 10/17 Rep Council Planning
      1. Site Rep Training Part 2?
      2. Member Engagement Plan and Planning Time
      3. Safety Dialogue with Ramiro Barron and Jason? Johnson (4:45pm)
   2. Calendar of Events and Leader Attendance
   3. Board Member Meet & Greets
   4. Ways to Use the Member Survey Data
   5. Exec Board Vacancies
6. Treasurer’s Report: Ariel Ray
   1. Approval of Treasurer’s Financial Report 
   2. Information only: Check Detail
7. Bargaining Report: Megan Morris and Tracy Begley
8. PAC Report (including Treasurer’s Report): Corey Penrose and Jennifer Dickinson
   1. Approval of PAC Treasurer’s Financial Report
9. Committee Information (in writing please)
   1. Grievance: Lisa Cusi 
   2. New Educator: Rachel Bulris 
   3. Membership Engagement: Alyson Brauning (Membership Engagement Plan for Sites.docx – Google Docs)  Plan for Directors & Site Reps.docx – Google Docs
   4. Equity: Tricia Cowen 
   5. Action: Corey Penrose
   6. Labor Council Reps: Corey Penrose, Jennifer Dickinson, Alyson Brauning
   7. State Council: Keri Tafuro, Ariel Ray, Jennifer Dickinson 
   8. Membership: Jax Stornetta 
   9. Elections: Aaron Stephens 
   10. Sick Leave Bank: Julie McGee 
   11. SPED Quarterly Meeting Committee: Becky Wylie 
10. Other?

WCW Library (middle of campus, to the right of the office)

3:30pm-4:00pm: Elementary Site Rep Networking and Problem Solving

Main Meeting: 4:00pm

1. Approval of Minutes from last meeting (LINK HERE)
2. Approval of Agenda (with flexibility) of this meeting
3. New and/or Continuing Business Items:
4. Treasurer’s Report: Ariel Ray
   1. Approval of Treasurer’s Financial Report (LINK HERE)
5. Bargaining Report: Megan Morris and Tracy Begley
6. PAC Report (including Treasurer’s Report): Corey Penrose/Jennifer Dickinson
   1. Approval of PAC Treasurer’s Financial Report (LINK HERE)
7. President’s Report: Brenda Hensley
   1. August Check In Report Questions/Follow Up: (LINK HERE)
   2. President’s Site Visit Schedule (LINK HERE)
8. Committee Information (in writing please):
   1. Grievance: Lisa Cusi (LINK HERE)
   2. New Educator: Rachel Bulris (LINK HERE)
   3. Membership Engagement: Alyson Brauning (LINK HERE)
      1. Site Member Engagement Plans
   4. Equity: Tricia Cowen (LINK HERE)
   5. Action: Corey Penrose (LINK HERE)
   6. Labor Council Reps: Corey Penrose, Jennifer Dickinson, Alyson Brauning (LINK HERE)
   7. State Council: Keri Tafuro, Ariel Ray, Jennifer Dickinson (LINK HERE)
   8. Membership: Jax Stornetta (LINK HERE)
      1. Member Site Lists
   9. Elections: Aaron Stephens (LINK HERE)
   10. Sick Leave Bank: Julie McGee (LINK HERE)
   11. SPED Quarterly Meeting Committee: Becky Wylie (LINK HERE)
9. Site Rep and Grievance Training: Jaxie Murray, Lisa Cusi, Alyson Brauning
10. Member Engagement Planning Time
11. Raffle (must be present to win)

The Vacaville Teachers Association, along with our labor partners, parents, and local elected officials, would like to ask you to join us in helping elect Amy Tran Russell to the Vacaville Board of Education, Area 6.

Help us do so by clicking here and signing up to help us win this important election!

Webspace paid for by VTA-PAC – FPPC# 1222549

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The Vacaville Teachers Association has endorsed a UC Davis dean and former school teacher as a candidate in the VUSD Trustee Area 6 special election on Dec. 19.

Amy Tran Russell — a senior assistant dean for student affairs, earned two master’s degrees — an MBA from UCD and one in education from UC Santa Cruz. She also earned a bachelor’s degree in history from UCD, according to a teachers union press statement sent to The Reporter on Wednesday and information in her candidate statement.

Russell, 43, started her career teaching social studies for the Benicia Unified School District and coaching track and field. She then worked with high school students as part of a youth leadership development program for five years.

In 2010, she began work at the Davis campus, where she is now responsible for six out seven programs at the business school. She and her husband have lived in Vacaville for the past 10 years and their child attends a district school.

In her candidate statement, Russell noted she was a first-generation American, adding, “I know that access for all to the best possible education is a powerful way to shape positive outcomes. This belief guides my career.”

“I bring knowledge to facilitate school success to support career success,” she added in the prepared statement. “I hope to empower collaboration between parents, teachers, staff and the community to transform student outcomes. From technical to college track, I’m dedicated to showing our students what they can do today to maximize careers tomorrow and galvanizing support for them.”

“Amy really wowed us,” Brenda Hensley, a Will C. Wood High math teacher and president of the 700-member VTA, said of the union’s endorsement. “In addition to real classroom experience, she’s able to bring a wealth of professional knowledge, deep connections to UC Davis, which will only benefit our students, and a real understanding of how data can drive collaborative reforms which will benefit every student in our community. She’s a perfect partner for this sort of important work.”

Russell has gained some significant other endorsements. They include Michael Kitszes, the VUSD school board president and resident of Trustee Area 7; Nancy Dunn, a trustee from Area 1; Michael “Mike” Silva, a Vacaville city councilman and former trustee; and Nolan Sullivan, a former Vacaville city councilman and former district trustee.

The trustee seat will be on the ballot in November 2024, because former VUSD governing board member Kelly Dwyer moved out of the district. The current board appointed Russell to the vacant seat, but 1.5% of Area 6 voters forced a special election, which will cost the district the equivalent of “two first-year teacher salaries,” noted Hensley.

On Thursday John Gardner, the assistant registrar of voters for Solano County, estimated the election will cost the district $122,000, based on the number of voters in the trustee area.

“Between this special election (for Area 6) and the special election for the Area 4 seat,” said Jaxie Murray, VTA vice president and kindergarten teacher at Orchard Elementary School, “that’s nearly five new teachers that we will not be able to hire to teach our kids — and that’s heartbreaking, our kids deserve better.”

Currently, there are three special elections for school board members in Solano and Yolo Counties which have been triggered by 1.5 percent petitions: two in Vacaville (besides Trustee Area 6, also one in Trustee Area 4) and one in Davis. There was also a special election forced by the 1.5 percent threshold in Benicia last year, Murray pointed out.

“We’re seeing this sort of thing all over the state,” said VanCedric Williams, a history teacher from San Francisco and California Teachers Association board member for District A, which reaches from Solano County to the Oregon border. “In community after community, a very small group of people has discovered that they can force districts to waste money on unnecessary elections in order to advance an anti-public education agenda. This needs to stop, our kids don’t deserve to have the money meant to educate them being wasted.”

In advance of the Sept. 12 Trustee Area 4 special election, the candidates are David McCallum, a local radio broadcaster and longtime former VUSD trustee; Michael W. Martin, a real estate broker; and Lindsay Kelly, an insurance claims adjuster.

The VTA represents classroom teachers, school psychologists, counselors, school nurses, librarians, speech language pathologists and educational specialists.

Equity Multicultural Calendar 2023-2024