Blount County Education Association

Early voting for the March 3rd primary starts tomorrow and continues through February 25th.

Locations & Hours

Sample Ballot

Other Voter information on the election commission website.

If you were unable to attend any of Human Resources’ informational sessions about the 2020 insurance plan, they have shared the slides and a recording of the information on their website:  Slides   Video 

The contract information for Blount County Human Resources if you have questions about insurance is here.

The Employee Health Fair is Thursday,  October 17th, 3-6 p.m. at First Baptist Maryville.

Below is some information that may help you compare the 2020 insurance plans before open enrollment begins October 14th. For teachers, local plans have to be about equal to or better than the state’s insurance plan.  The county’s insurance vendor believes the 2020 plan will meet that requirement. 

• Insurance information you should have received via email today.
• Employee portion of premium comparison.
• Information presented to the commission from the county’s health insurance vendor on the 2020 plan.
• Previous post regarding insurance.

Registration for the TEA New Teacher Retreat is now open. It will be held at Natchez Trace State Park Friday, November 15th – Sunday, November 17th The cost is $75 for members and $250 for non-members. TEA will reimburse the cost for a half-day substitute for members who work more than 75 miles from Natchez Trace State Park. The registration link is http://teateachers.org/new-teacher-retreat .

Here’s what the Human Resources committee for the County Commission adopted. It will be on the next commission agenda:

Proposed 2020 Insurance plan

Teachers are constantly looking for new ways to improve their practice and expand their professional skills. One of the ways to grow as a professional is through the National Board Certification process. Since it is such a rigorous process, it is important to have strong National Board Certified Teachers (NBCTs) to support candidates.

The Tennessee Education Association (TEA) and Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) are pleased to offer Candidate Facilitator training for current NBCTs on Saturday, August 17, from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. Registration will begin at 9:30 a.m. and the training will conclude at 3 p.m.

The training will provide participants with the following:

o   Fundamentals of candidate support, the roles and responsibilities of Candidate Facilitators, and the Architecture of Accomplished Teaching.

o   How to interpret and apply NBPTS guidelines that ensure ethical candidate support.

o   The processes used for scoring portfolio entries and assessment center exercises.

o   How to review portfolio entries and provide meaningful and ethical feedback to candidates.

Upon completing the training, the NBCTs will be designated state-certified Candidate Facilitators. In addition, Candidate Facilitators are eligible for $25/hour for up to 30 hours of candidate facilitation work each academic year.

An application for the training is attached. The application should be completed and returned to Deborah Bonner at dbonner@tnea.org on or before Friday, August 2, 2019. It can also be mailed to:

Deborah Bonner, Associate

Instructional Advocacy

Tennessee Education Association

801 Second Avenue North

Nashville, TN 37201

The application is also available online at the following link:http://www.teateachers.org/NBCTtraining

7 pm. Members can email Deborah Bonner to register.

Tonight the school board unanimously approved the 2019-2022 MOU, which includes a base increase for the next two years. It also extends the longevity step and other working conditions language through 2022.

Thank you to the school board members, and those on the collaborative conferencing committee.

Interested in presenting at the TEA Spring Symposium April 5-6?

This Symposium attracts 300 educators each year and is an excellent opportunity to attend quality professional development sessions, enjoy keynote speakers, and spend time with fellow educators from across the state. It is an unparalleled opportunity to hone skills that impact today’s educators and students.

For more information or to submit your proposal, visit http://www.teateachers.org/spring-symposium-presenters