RCEA T-Shirts Now Available

The RCEA Officers ordered and received new t-shirts with our logo on it! They are red cotton with our logo in white on the left side. We will use these as a fundraiser for our RCEA Scholarship Fund. If you would like one, contact Nancy Bassett at nbassett@rockingham.k12.va.us. The t-shirt sizes are medium, large, extra large and 2X and are $5.00 each. Check out the pictures below to see what they look like!

RCEA Officers Preparing for NTO 2020

The RCEA Officers met on July 28, 2020 to prepare for the Rockingham County Schools New Teacher Orientation for this year. Due to COVID-19, the NTO will be virtual this year; so, because of this no extra groups will be allowed to meet the newest teachers in person. However, the officers were told that we could send in literature and anything with our e-mail or other website information. The officers prepared letters and information to be given to each new teacher along with a little treat!  Here is Kishia Tutt, RCEA Vice President and teacher at MMS working on the letters and showing the finished product, which Nancy Bassett, RCEA President and ESP at MMS, took to Central Office once we were done:

For anyone who needs our contact information, check out the RCEA Leadership Team link on the right of the page!

Message to RCEA Members - July 22, 2020

To RCEA Members,

Thank you to all who answered the survey we sent out. If you have not had a chance to fill it out, it is still open to you. If you are a newer member and did not receive the survey and would like to tell us your thoughts, let us know and we will send it to you.

The RCEA Officers met with Mr. Breeden and Ms. Reed of the RCPS School Board yesterday to speak with them about the concerns you sent to us in your survey responses. They were very receptive to everything we reported to them. They answered all our questions and concerns to the best of their abilities; and asked us to let you know they do hear you and have the same concerns we all do for the safety of staff and students. They also said they are open to hearing from anyone who has concerns and questions for them. They also know of the letter being circulated and welcome the chance to answer questions and concerns that are in this letter. We will be speaking with Mr. Breeden and Ms. Reed again and with Dr. Shiekl and others this evening in a Zoom meeting specifically about the concerns stated in the letter. 

Again, thank you for your input on the survey; and, Mr. Breeden and Ms. Reed said they are open to hearing any concerns.

Thank you,

RCEA Officers

Nancy Bassett    Kishia Tutt   Amy Harris

RCEA Scholarship 2020 Winners

In the previous post, I mentioned that the RCEA Officers were able to use saved money to give out RCEA Scholarships to three high school students who had applied. The three recipients are:

Caden Hogen (TAHS) who is looking to become a music educator. He has been accepted to several different colleges, but has not made a decision on where he would like to attend.

Ashley Schoenhardt (SHS) who is looking to become an elementary teacher (preferably First or Second Grade). She will be attending Eastern Mennonite University in the fall.

Gregory Weeks (ERHS) who is looking to become a social sciences teacher at the high school level. He will be attending JMU in the fall. 

Congratulations to all the winners and best of luck to them as they look to begin their college careers!👏

RCEA Information Update

Hello RCEA members!👋 It has been a while since I posted an update to the blog! I do apologize for not keeping this up to date; but, I hope you have read all the e-mails I have sent out! 😊
With the closing of schools due to the coronavirus, we have all had some big changes to go through. I thank all of you for everything you are doing for your students! Due to the virus, the VEA Convention, which delegates you had voted on were going to in March, was cancelled. With that, the RCEA Officers met via an e-mail and phone conference and decided to also cancel our annual Retirement Banquet. It was a decision we found hard to make as this is when we recognize ALL the retirees from Rockingham County and our RCEA Scholarship winners. But, we knew this was what we needed to do.
However, since we had already sent out applications for our scholarship, the officers met and decided to use some saved money to be able to give to those high school students who applied. We heard back from three high schools; and, were able to give out three scholarships! Each recipient will receive $500.00 to help them as they continue their education. The RCEA Officers are looking at different ways to raise money in the coming year for the RCEA Scholarship. We thank you for the donations you have given in the past; and, hopefully we can do this next year!

BE SAFE!