Hi everyone-

I want to include you in an on-going discussions that is taking place at Rep Council.  We are in the process of updating our LTA Bylaws.  First of all, CTA has certain guidelines that all associations have to follow with regard to their bylaws.  Every few years CTA updates it’s guidelines, so we have to check and make sure our bylaws still meet their new requirements.  The LTA EBoard has conducted a thorough review of the LTA Bylaws, and in their current form they’re pretty close to what CTA wants, but we will have to make some minor changes to bring them into compliance with the most recent CTA guidelines.

Second, in addition to the updating our Bylaws for CTA, we also want to make a few changes so our Bylaws can continue to meet our needs as a union.  The main changes we are proposing have to do with composition and responsibilities of the Executive Board.  We are proposing:

• Clarifying that chairpersons and members of all committees be appointed with majority approval of EBoard and require 2/3 vote of EBoard to remove (this language existed before, but it was confusing and inconsistent).

• The responsibilities of the Recording Secretary, Corresponding Secretary, and Technology Secretary would be rolled into a single position, simply called Secretary.

• Split the existing position of Vice President into two positions – Vice President of Contractual Affairs and Vice Principal of Curricular Affairs.  The Contractual VP would chair the Grievance and Professional Relations Committees, while the Curricular VP would chair the IPD and Membership Committees.  The Contractual VP would be the “First Vice President” and would step in if the President can’t fulfill his/her duties, and Curricular VP would be “Second Vice President,” stepping in if both the President and Curricular VP are unavailable.  We believe this will clear some responsibilities off the President’s plate (who currently chairs Professional Relations, IPD and Rep Council), allowing him/her to focus more on responding to emergent issues that require quick responses, as well as communicating with the membership.  It would also create two experts who focus on core issues of importance to our members – maintaining the contract and involving teachers in making curricular decisions and strengthen the executive team.

• Language describing the composition and selection of the Bargaining Team would be removed from the Bylaws and moved to the Standing Rules.  Standing Rules are where very specific policies and procedures are usually located, and require a majority vote of Rep Council to update, while the Bylaws require, at minimum, a two month process including a public airing, before they can be changed.  The slower bylaws process is appropriate for structural issue of union governance, but other things, like committee compositions, need to be more flexible and adaptive.

• IPD would be added to the Bylaws as an official, permanent standing committee (which it really is; it just isn’t mentioned anywhere in the Bylaws).

link to full text of proposed bylaws revisions

We have gone over all the proposed changes with Rep Council, and Rep Council has been asked to go back to their schools, share the proposed changes with members, answer questions, and gather feedback.  The goal would be to make any changes to the proposal at the next Rep Council meeting in May, and approve the new, updated Bylaws in time to run the May 2013 LTA Election under the new Bylaws and elect folks for the new positions for next year.  Your feedback is very important.  Please review the proposed changes and give you feedback to your Site Reps, or, if you prefer, contact me directly, or join us at the May 9^th Rep Council to share your feedback with the whole Rep Council.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, and for you participation in our efforts to make your union more effective and responsive to your needs.

Sincerely,

Brian Guerrero

President, Lennox Teachers Association

PS- I have summarized the major changes above, but I am also linking to the full text of our proposed changes so you may review them as carefully as you’d like.  Your Site Reps also have a copy.  Thanks, BG