So You Want To Get Involved:

Congratulations! This is an important first step in getting involved. You’ll be helping the rest of the teacher’s across our district work to improve the education of our students and the working conditions of our teachers. Becoming a Building Representative is just ONE of the ways you can become more active in SHEA.

Other ways you can become involved to represent SHEA and building are on School Councils (varies by school, typically involves staff, parents, community members & administration), Action Teams, Committees (appointed and volunteer), your support and presence as Silent Bargainers during Negotiations and visible presence at School Committees and other events around the district. You can find out information about all the various positions and committees HERE and HERE.

And of course, get to know your colleagues in and out of your home building! This is easy to do during social events like our Retirement picnic in the spring and at monthly social get-togethers at a local establishment.

What does a Building Rep do?

A Building Rep is the heart and soul of a union. In the case of the SHEA, educators will come to you about questions, problems, and issues that they need help with. Sometimes you’ll just need to be a good listener and other times you’ll need to sit in a room when a teacher needs representation with an administrator. Building representatives are also liaisons between staff and administration.

• The first thing you’ll need is some training. We’ll supply that to you in October with an MTA sponsored presentation.

• Building Reps are also responsible for updating and maintaining the building bulletin boards. This is a central location in each building to direct colleagues to. Here they will find Information regarding upcoming events and notices. Prospective members will also be able to find printed applications here that they can complete and then return to their building representative to forward to the Membership Chair.

How to Be a Great Building Representative

🐾🍎Be Knowledgeable🍎🐾

Regular attendance at Membership and Building Rep meetings is critical. Read the contract, ask questions, read the SHEA updates, newsletters, executive committee reports, as well as all emails and mailings you receive.

🐾🍎Communicate Effectively🍎🐾

Try different ways to communicate what you know to the members. When you hear interesting ideas from a member, or you hear many members are concerned about a particular issue, communicate that knowledge back to the CEA leadership and staff so we can act on it.

🐾🍎Communication is a two way street and you are a crucial link.🍎🐾

Lead by positive example If you tell the members to go to the monthly membership meeting —but you don’t go yourself —the message you send is that membership meetings may not be that important after all. If the contract requires that you be at your post at X:00 and you’re walking in the door at X:05, that makes us all look bad.

🐾🍎Be an organizer.🍎🐾

Know the people in your building you can count on to get out the word on important issues to create an active union network. Don’t just go through the motions of distributing and posting materials. Enlist the help of others whenever possible. The method you choose to communicate is indicative of the importance of that message. A face to face conversation is much more memorable than another email in the inbox.

🐾🍎Solve Problems🍎🐾

We need you to monitor day-to-day school activities and keep members informed about how union policy impacts their working lives. You will gain skills in all these areas through training, practice, and experience. But know that you can always seek out assistance from the MTA staff and SHEA leadership to help you improve your effectiveness.

🐾🍎Be a Friend 🍎🐾

The SHEA is nothing more or less than a collection of all of us sharing our common hopes and aspirations. Alone and isolated we are just employees.

🍎🐾With over 200 members, we are stronger together. 🍎🐾