Sioux Center EA Leaders Gather at Kinsey Elementary

At the end of the first day back following the Labor Day holiday, Sioux Center EA members gathered for conversation at Kinsey Elementary. Sioux Center EA President Jenn Traver (pictured at left) led the discussion on the start of the school year in Sioux Center. Sioux Center is one of the fortunate Iowa school districts that is experiencing growth! Jenn and her colleagues shared that construction has begun on two additions to the elementary building (one addition to add 4 pods, the second to have 2 pods). Completion of the construction is set for the fall of the 2007-2008 school year. Kinsey Elementary experienced a growth of 50 new pupils this fall! Even with the new additions due to open, association leaders said they still will not have enough room for all elementary students.


Another association leader to join us was Middle School teacher and member of the Sioux Center EA Negotiations team, Lucy Charleston (pictured at right). Lucy shared her concern regarding the issue of performance based pay in which she had recently read about in an article from a statewide newspaper. Lucy and her colleagues shared their concerns that it is important that all school employees share in any performance pay increase since all employees are vital members of our educational teams.


Another member of the Sioux Center EA Negotiations team present was Vera Verdoorn (pictured at left). Vera is an elementary Counselor and a member of the Kinsey Elementary education team. Vera brought up the issue of the Teacher Quaility legislation that passed the General Assembly this past session. She shared with the members gathered how money will be distributed to all Sioux Center educators through the efforts of the local Negotiations team.

It was great to reconnect with both Jenn and Vera after having first met them at Delegate Assembly in March 2006! They had an awesome group gathered on Tuesday to share concerns and successes of the classroom. Thank you all, Sioux Center EA members for your work in the classroom with students and your leadership in the association!