Frequently Asked Questions
Who is my site rep?
Site reps are elected every year. Check out your site's KEA bulletin board to find out who your site reps are. If contact information is not on the board please contact the KEA Vice President at [email protected].
Where is our contract?
Our paper contract is given out every 3 years. If you would like to request a paper contract please send an email to [email protected], Digital versions of our contract can also be found here.
How much are our dues and where do they go?
Here is a link to a breakdown of our dues.
What is a grievance and how do I file a grievance?
A grievance is an official complaint that is filed when your contract is broken. Grievances can only be between members and admin. You can not file a grievance against another member or a CSEA member. The first step of any grievance is to talk to your site rep. You can find your site reps contact info on the KEA bulletin board in your staff room. You can also contact the grievance team at [email protected].
How can I report a situation that KEA Leadership should be aware of?
You can send an email to [email protected] or you can text/call the KEA Hotline at (707) 350-9412.
How can I join KEA?
You can join KEA here.
How can I leave KEA?
Contact the KEA President at [email protected]
Why do we start school so early and not after Labor Day?
The decision to shift the calendars was made for the following reasons:
1) At the time of this being typed, all of the districts in Lake County start in August, except for Kelseyville. This makes it easier for our members that have children enrolled in other districts.
2) Starting after Labor Day provides instructional challenges for semester based schools which are our middle and high schools. Fall semester ends up running into January with finals given after winter break. This breaks up the semester with its final which is bad practice for our students.
I don't hear enough about what KEA Leadership is up to and I feel like my site needs their help?
Like all unions KEA is structured from the bottom up. This means that your leadership team depends on active site reps to inform them about what is happening at their site and to communicate what KEA Leadership is working on back to their site. Yes, there are newsletters and emails but your KEA Leadership team is too active to be able to include everything in direct communication and honestly some information is better kept out of writing and verbally communicated. This means that site reps play a crucial role in the effective functioning of KEA. Here is what should be happening at your site:
- site reps should be elected every year and your site should have 1 site rep for each 10 members
- site reps should be organizing site meetings weekly or biweekly
- site reps should be organizing and attending standing meetings with the site admin
- site reps should be attending monthly KEA Rep Council meetings
If even one of the above items is not happening that may be why you feel this way. KEA Leadership cannot function effectively until members like yourself become active in our union. So please first check in with your site rep and let them know how you feel. If you don't feel comfortable checking in with your site rep please pass on your concerns to [email protected] so that we can support you and your site.
I don't like how the district is choosing to spend their money. Why isn't KEA looking into this?
Typically unions negotiate raises by asking for them, in the form of a proposal, during negotiations. This type of negotiations require KEA to be invested in the district budget. They often follow how the district spends their money and will advocate for or against certain expenditures with the understanding that every dollar the district spends could negatively impact their chances of a raise. KEA is different. We have a formula in our contract. When we say formula, we mean a math formula. The numbers that go into this formula come from our district's budget. This formula dictates if and how much of a raise we get. There are pros and cons to this formula. One of the pros for KEA and our district is that we don't have to be so invested in how our district spends their money. It doesn't impact our raise. This can also be seen as a con though, because we may not always agree with some of our district's decisions. Our district and KEA Leadership understand and have accepted this formula and the pros and cons that come with it, such as KEA not being a loud voice regarding their budgeting decisions. Feel free to bring any budgetary concerns to your site rep and they will pass it on. KEA Leadership will discuss these with the district but any large-scale organizing around these issues would interfere with the integrity of our formula. See the next FAQ for more info on the formula.
What is the KEA formula?
Here is an excerpt from our contract that explains our formula:
"The proportionate share shall be determined by dividing the cost of “Total Prior-Year Compensation Package” (salaries, payroll taxes and health benefits) of all unit members whose positions are funded by Unrestricted General Funds by the prior year “Total Unrestricted General Fund Expenditures.” The resulting “Factor” shall be multiplied by the total amount of New money. "
This formula results in a dollar amount that is allocated to KEA. KEA can then decide if we want to put this money on our salary schedule or in our Insurance Reserve.
What is currently undecided is how we apply the dollar amount to our salary schedule. We need to agree on how to convert the dollar amount into the cost of a 1% salary increase so that we can easily place the money on our salary schedule. Hopefully this will be agreed upon during the upcoming 23/24 negotiating session.
What is KEA doing about non re-elects?
A lot. First we need everyone to understand the our admins right to non re-elect probationary members for no cause is protected in California Ed Code 44929,21. Because of this KEA, nor any other chapter, organizes against non re-elects. KEA Leadership does do the following:
- Educate our site reps on this process so that they can inform and support our probationary members
- Provide site rep training to ensure that our site reps know what to do in non re-elect meetings
- Look into non re-elects that appear suspicious that are brought to our attention. We may not find out a lot due to HR laws and even if we do we are not able to share what we know. This sadly results in many rumors regarding non re-elects of which we can not easily dispel because we respect our member's privacy when it comes to any discipline or evaluation matters
- We've applied and received grant money from CTA to create a buddy program. The intent of this program is to connect probationary members to a buddy veteran member that can help guide them through probationary status
- Advocate for the integrity of our evaluation process to ensure that all probationary members are evaluated properly and given the feedback and support. If you know of a probationary member that has not been evaluated please report this to your site rep or the Grievance Team at [email protected]
My question is not here and I think it should be. How can I get it added here?
Send your question to KEA Leadership at [email protected] and we will answer it and then possibly add it to the page.