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More than 500 delegates are expected to attend the 2008 Annual Convention of the Texas Classroom Teachers Association to be held in Houston on February 29-March 1, 2008. The TCTA Representative Assembly will elect statewide officers and members of the Board of Directors, and participants will have an opportunity to earn continuing professional education units at numerous mini-conference sessions to be held on Friday, February 29.
Activities / Elections / Hotel (deadline 2/6!) / Delegates / Schedule / Special Events / Mini-Conference Descriptions / Additional Information / Register online
Convention activities
Convention activities will begin on Friday, February 29, with registration opening at 7:00 a.m. Three groups of three concurrent mini-conference sessions, scheduled from 8:00 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. (tickets required), will include a special presentation by two key legislators who will provide a legislative preview and an open forum with TCTA legal staff. Other sessions will cover such topics as teaching test-taking strategies, disciplining special education students, dealing with angry and difficult students, and the latest on TRS issues. TCTA opening ceremonies mark the official start of the Convention at 1:30 p.m., with a keynote address by Fort Worth attorney Mac Fulfer on “Face Reading: The Power of Human Connection.” The TCTA 2007-08 Friend of Education award winners will be announced at the first business meeting scheduled for 3 p.m. See schedule.
Elections
Elections for TCTA officers and Board of Director positions are scheduled for Friday, February 29, following the close of the second business meeting. Delegates will select TCTA’s 2008-09 President-Elect and statewide chairs for the Budget, Curriculum & Instruction, and Teacher Personal Services committees. They also will elect one or more district director(s) for each of TCTA’s 20 districts, and directors at-large to fill seats, if needed, to balance the board’s ethnic minority representation.
Note: Names of candidates nominated for TCTA offices/director positions had to be submitted in writing to TCTA headquarters by Thursday, Nov 1, 2007, to be printed on the ballot at the 2008 Representative Assembly (RA). Nominations were not received by the Nov. 1, 2007 deadline date for a few district director positions. Nominations for all offices and director positions will be accepted from the floor of the RA no later than the close of the first business meeting of the RA on February 29, 2008; however, these candidates’ names will not appear on the ballot.
Convention activities will continue Saturday, March 1, when the business meeting resumes. Election results will be announced and run-off voting will be conducted if needed. The Convention closes with a TCTA Awards Luncheon from 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. (ticket required), honoring additional recipients of TCTA’s 2007-08 awards for excellence in the field of education: Administrator of the Year in three categories, School Board Trustee of the Year, Silver Apple media awards (print and broadcast), Retiree of the Year and Faculty Representative of the Year. Tickets for the luncheon are required and reservations must be made by Feb. 15, 2008.
Hotel information
The TCTA 2008 Convention will be held at the Westin Galleria Hotel located at 5060 W. Alabama in Houston. A TCTA group rate of $165 is available for TCTA members UNTIL Feb. 06, 2008.
TCTA delegates who make reservations after that date may be required to pay a higher hotel rate. Hotel reservations must be made by calling the Westin Galleria Hotel directly at (800) 937-8461 or may be booked online. Specific instructions for online reservations have been mailed to local presidents.
Becoming a delegate
Each local affiliate is allocated a certain number of voting delegates it may bring to Convention, based on the CTA’s size and determined according to the number of active-level members in the affiliate as of Dec. 31 of each membership year. The specific delegate allocation for each local affiliate was mailed to the local president in early January. Members who need assistance with delegate information may contact Jan Lanfear at (888) 879-8282 (a toll-free call) or by e-mail at jlanfear@tcta.org.
Additional information
Detailed information on the TCTA 2008 Convention has been mailed to local affiliate presidents. In January, Convention information and mini-conference descriptions are available on the TCTA website, along with online registration for the mini-conferences and awards luncheon. Members who are not serving as voting delegates may attend sessions of the Representative Assembly seated in the visitors section and are welcome to attend the mini-conference sessions and the awards luncheon (tickets required for both).
