FEA Members
Who are FEA members?
For Teachers, Educational Support Professionals (ESPs) and retired Fairfax County Public Schools staff, FEA serves as a voice for students and those who truly care about their education and the future of our region.
Teachers
Who gives students the power of a great education? You do.
You spend your life teaching kids, supporting them, and making sure that they have the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in their lives, careers, and communities.
You give your students the power of a great education. FEA makes sure that you have the tools, the protections, and the resources to do the incredible work that you do every day. The Fairfax Education Association provides programs to assist all members with professional and career development, leadership skills and much more.
While the definition of a teacher varies in the Commonwealth of Virginia Education Law, a teacher’s customary duties might be described this way: Teachers usually perform duties that include planning educational experiences for students, providing classroom instruction, supervising students in non-instructional periods such as lunch and study hall, attending faculty and other professional meetings, participating in school conferences with parents, supervising extracurricular activities and attending school functions such as school open houses.
It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Educational Support Professionals (ESPs)
FEA represents all FCPS employees — including instructional support employees and operational support employees.
For many children, the first school person they see every day is their bus driver. Administrative Assistant can make students and their parents feel important, wanted, and welcome in their school. Instructional Assistants, who are often one-on one with the neediest of students, may know those children better than anyone in the school. Custodians are essential not only to maintaining a clean and safe environment, but also, they convey a sense of pride and caring for students as they carry out their duties. Food service personnel often provide students with their primary source of nourishment.
The important influence of educational support professionals in the education of students is becoming increasingly recognized and appreciated!
FEA members include…
Transportation professionals who ensure our students get to school, home and other places safely.
Para-educators who provide your child with extra help in the classroom and library
School nurses who teach students healthy habits and comfort your sick child
Language tutors who help students learn while preserving traditional ways
Food service workers who prepare and serve your child a warm, healthy meal
Sign Language interpreters who empower deaf and hearing impaired students
Administrative & Office Asst. who make our schools run efficiently and effectively to enhance our children’s education
Special education aides who help special needs children become independent learners
Technicians who keep computers and electronic systems in our schools operating efficiently
Custodians who work to keep schools clean, safe and well maintained
Bilingual instructors who bridge cultures through language development
School safety assistants who help keep students safe
Physical plant and warehouse workers who maintain security, heating, lighting, and other systems so our children have a safe learning environment.
Retirees
In 2004, during the last full year of her Fairfax Education Association (FEA) presidency, Barbara Allen appointed an ad hoc committee of retirees to lay the foundation for a local division of VEA-Retired. She did this based on work laid by two of her predecessors. Mimi Dash, in the last year of her presidency, had strongly suggested to then FEA Executive Director Ken Reinshuttle that such an organization was needed. Her successor Rick Baumgartner saw to it that the FEA Constitution was amended to permit such a formation.
Within one year the committee appointed by Allen, under Dash’s leadership, completed a constitution and by-laws for FEA-Retired. These were then approved by the new organization’s parent organization, the FEA.
In addition to writing governing documents, the organizing committee got FEA to agree that membership in FEA-R would be automatic when one joined as a life-member of NEA-Retired/VEA-Retired. In other words, there would be no additional cost to be member of FEA-R nor would there be any dues. Its expenses would be handled by FEA itself.
In 2005, FEA leadership appointed a nine member FEA-R Council, four of whose members were given one-year terms and five two-year terms. Thus, elections in the future would never replace an entire Council. This Council then elected its first president, Dennis Pfennig, who like his successors, was granted a full voting seat on the FEA Board of Directors. This was done so the FEA-R president could provide the FEA Board institutional memory and guidance when newer Board members faced problems similar to or in some instances the same.
Today, it continues to advise and caution FEA leaders. It does not mandate; it does not insist; it suggests. However, as the Council today consists of four former FEA presidents (Barbara Allen, Mimi Dash, Kathy Davis, and Walt Mika) and one former VEA president (Walt Mika), its advice is carefully considered. In keeping with this role of the Council, the FEA president makes it a habit of attending each of every other month Council meetings.
In January of every year, FEA-Retired along with an independent organization, Fairfax County Retired Educators, provides a bus to take its joint Government Relations Team and supporters to lobby the Richmond state legislature. Every year in May, the Council hosts an all member luncheon meeting. In past years that meeting has been addressed by public officials such as Governor Terry McAuliffe, State Education Secretary Anne Holton, State Senator Richard Saslaw, and 11th Congressional District House Member Jerry Connolly; leaders in the field of public education, former Fairfax County Public School Superintendent Karen Garza; current FCPS Superintendent Scott Brabrand; and an expert in the area of retirement, FCPS retirement system Executive Director Jeanne Carr.
Today, FEA-Retired is diligently working to ensure that FCPS upholds its end of early bargaining agreements. These past months, its Government Relations Team led by Barbara Allen, assisted by FEA-R vice president Mimi Dash and several other equally distinguished retirees, has interviewed and lobbied nearly every candidate for the School Board and Board of Supervisors as well as those seeking election to the state legislature. In addition, the FEA-R Council has met with Scott Brabrand and members of his staff on regular basis. These meetings are designed to show the school system that we retirees know the importance of personal contact and are willing to work with them to provide the best benefits possible to both active and retired members of the FCPS family.
Retired we may be. Active we certainly are. Almost 15 years have passed since FEA-Retired first appeared. It remains alive and well today. - written by Dennis Pfennig
Interested in joining FEA as a retiree? Email president@fairfaxea.org today!
Browse the current Retired newsletter and archives of FEA-Retired newsletters here: