Making Strides Walk: The effort was a huge success! Nearly 300 AEA members and APS students raised over $26,000, and contributions are still trickling in. Walkers also purchased $2,000 worth of t-shirts. Ellet led all secondary schools, collecting $2,203. Findley Academy raised $825 to lead all elementary schools. Members in each of those two buildings who participated in the Walk will be treated to boxed lunches courtesy of AEA.

The Power of Perseverance: Roughly 50 volunteers worked tirelessly to help elect Brian Williams to the Ohio House. Members placed over 3,000 phone calls and delivered door-to-door countless pieces of campaign literature in Norton, Copley, Fairlawn, Richfield, Twinsburg, Macedonia and Akron.  That Brian was able to win this seat is truly remarkable, and could not have been done without the efforts of so many Akron teachers. We will publish the names of those who worked on the campaign in the next edition of Random Notes.

Content Literacy: Training began this week, and is taking place during the workday. Subs should be provided for teachers attending this training. Training times should fall within the normal workday hours.

Negotiations: We are in the last year of our three year contract with the Board. Negotiations are scheduled to begin in March, 2005. The Board and Association are planning again to employ the services of a mediator to guide negotiations as we have the past several rounds. Rumors have already surfaced that we are going to strike. Nonsense, obviously. While we expect negotiations to be difficult, to speculate at this point about how our talks with the Board will end is folly. The decision to ratify a contract or authorize a strike is not made by the negotiating team; it is made by the membership.

Children’s Christmas Party: AEA has arranged for Santa to be at North High on Saturday, December 11, from 10:00 a.m. until noon. Members are invited to reserve a spot at the party for their children or grandchildren. Watch for the reservation form in your mailbox soon, or download a pdf. form from our website at www.akronteach.org.

Toys for Tots: We have agreed to be a collection center for this year’s Toys for Tots campaign, sponsored by the United States Marine Corps Reserves. Cash or new toys are acceptable contributions.