Teachers Have Voice on School Board

On April 17, teachers took a representative position during the Albert Lea school board meetings.
President Al Helgerson of the Albert Lea Education Association (ALEA) and Vice President Janece Jeffrey will be taking turns during the spring and summer months sitting in during the regular school board meetings. They were chosen by their leadership positions in the ALEA organization which is the professional labor union that represents teachers in our school district. Helgerson and Jeffrey are the first teachers to sit on the school board.
There are teacher representatives from each of the schools that sit on the executive council of the ALEA. Once the 2017-2018 school year starts, Helgerson and Jeffrey will choose different teachers from the executive council to represent the teachers on the board.
Helgerson and Jeffrey are on the board to provide information to the public about what happens in the classrooms, school building or within the ALEA organization. They can also answer questions about what teachers think of the issues discussed during the school board meetings.
“Teachers are on the frontline of educating our students,” said Jeffrey. “The teachers are looking forward to the opportunity to represent themselves at the school board meetings. We think this can be a valuable way of building positive communication within the community.”