Another Successful Conference for Classified Members
“I would recommend this conference to my co-workers because it’s a lot of fun, has great classes, and I can catch up with other paraeducators,” said one participant at the recent AFT Washington Professional Development Conference for Classified Members. The annual conference is planned by the AFT Washington Classified Council.
About 80 members attended the annual conference on Saturday, March 18th, to take workshops that gave them new or expanded job skills about topics including workplace bullying, tools and tips for Microsoft Office programs, and working with children who have autism. In addition, there were two workshops to build union skills: Know Your Contract-Know Your Rights and Labor in the Time of Trump. Thank you to the workshop presenters Nancy Grimes, Jen Haggard-Mlynarek, Todd Hahn, Randy Holt, Nancy Kennedy, Barb Randall-Saleh, Dan Troccoli, and Lee Williams. After the workshops, there was a labor history presentation by Merrilee Miron.
President Karen Strickland brought greetings and talked about the challenges and opportunities ahead of us, and TFP boardmember Maria Haynes emceed the program.
The highlight of the event was the donated door prizes that were raffled off by AFT Renton Classified president Janet Watson who solicited most of the items. Door prizes were donated by Starbucks Coffee, Sunrise Dental, Sam’s Club, I Fly Indoor Skydiving, AFT Washington, Taco Time, Bartell’s, the Fife family, TFP Local 461, AFT Renton Classified Local 6367, Panera, Olive Garden, and Red Robin.
Locals represented at the conference were AFT Renton Classified, UCWU Northshore and Issaquah Chapters, Lake Washington Institute of Technology, Clover Park Technical College Classified, and Tacoma Federation of ParaEducators (TFP).
We appreciate everyone who took their Saturday to attend the conference.
