<![CDATA[REYNOLDS EDUCATION ASSOCIATION - REA President Newsletter]]>Tue, 06 Oct 2026 23:51:59 -0700Weebly<![CDATA[Staffing and Organizing]]>Mon, 05 Oct 2026 17:42:55 GMThttps://www.reynoldseducationassociation.org/rea-president-newsletter/staffing-and-organizing​I hope this finds everyone settling into the year as best as could be expected given the overwhelming circumstances facing Reynolds educators. 
Class Sizes and Caseloads: We met with the District HR team last week to look at class sizes and caseloads and to hear the District’s recommendations on moves to help balance the workload everyone is facing. As you would expect, there was little that can be done without hiring.

REA leadership invoked Article 27 (Class Size and Caseload Workload) that includes language to help give relief to “Elementary, ELD Newcomer, and SPED Class Size.” This is the first year this language could be used as we forfeited it to save jobs in the Furlough MOU.

Article 27 gives us access to $400,000 to “1) Balance classes; 2) Proved full-time Educational Assistant Support; 3) Add or assign educator FTE.” To start, we are recalling two of our colleagues at the elementary level as there were kindergarten classes with over 30 students. Once we have a clear understanding of that cost, we intend to push for additional EA support with the remaining funds. We should have a better idea of what more we can do by next week.

I know this money is far too little to shrink class sizes and caseloads across the District, or to truly help everyone equally. The intent is to help where the situation is most dire and we are doing the best we can with what little is available.  
Bargaining: I joined our REA Bargaining Team last week as they put together counter proposals for tomorrow night’s Bargaining Session. Your Bargaining Team continues to put in long hours to get the best contract possible for you. The two teams meet tomorrow night, October 6, starting at 5:00 pm on the Edgefield campus, Building I. Please join us and show them your support! 
Complaint: REA leadership is meeting this afternoon with the District to discuss the complaint we filed regarding the poor start to the school year and the extra work and stress the District’s lack of planning and preparedness caused members. Today’s meeting is our opportunity to go through our concerns in more detail. We will provide updates as to the District’s response when we have them, hopefully in a couple weeks. 
Organizing: I hope you have seen the Union 10 slides about the East Co. Organizing Team being formed through our Uniserv. If you are interested in participating in making plans to pressure the state legislature as a unified group of educators, please take a minute to complete this short interest form.  
Keep an eye out over the next few weeks as the RSD Bond Committee will be seeking volunteers to do some canvassing of likely voters to ensure they get out and vote. Educators are considered the most trustworthy sources when it comes to school improvement bonds and we will be called upon to help get the bond passed. 
School Board: You’ve probably noticed the push to get members to School Board meetings this year to share your voices about what is happening in our classrooms and schools. This can be done in groups or solo. It is also good to just show up and support those who do speak. The Board and District need to hear from members and your voice is our best chance to see change in Reynolds. I am always happy to assist if you want feedback on a prepared statement if desired.

We are also trying something new and recording the president’s board report to share with you. Click here to watch my September report. 

]]><![CDATA[A Difficult Start]]>Tue, 22 Sep 2026 15:25:44 GMThttps://www.reynoldseducationassociation.org/rea-president-newsletter/a-difficult-start​I want to first recognize the incredibly difficult work everyone is doing. The beginning to this school year has been one of the most exhausting and overwhelming starts most of us have ever experienced. Not only do we have excessive class sizes and caseloads, we have fewer supports than at any time in the last decade. Student needs are not and cannot be met appropriately. 
On that note, I want to share some uplifting praise that was shared with me while visiting Fairview last week. I met a student teacher there who told me she likes working in Reynolds the most because the educators here (certified and classified) care more about the kids and the work they are doing than anywhere else she’s been. While the system cannot rely on our good graces forever, it was still nice to hear. 
While many of the problems that we’re facing are not contractual and therefore cannot be grieved, we filed a large complaint with the District this afternoon. The complaint focuses on the poor planning and ill-prepared manner with which the District started this year. Whether due to sloppy work on their part, a lack of follow-through, a lack of communication, poor planning, or something else entirely, the District made an already grueling rollout to the school year that much more arduous. We will share updates as this process moves forward. 
I want to invite each of you to join me at a School Board meeting this year. Come with your team and stand together to give testimony about your experience(s). And I want to encourage everyone to reach out to their state legislators repeatedly. Share your experiences. Ask them what they plan to do to ensure proper funding. I’m hearing that a status quo funding bill would be considered a win to many. That’s not okay. We deserve better and our students deserve better. 
Finally, I want to thank everyone who has already shared their stories with me. I’ve learned a lot visiting the small handful of buildings I’ve been in so far. Thank you for taking time to chat with me when I’m there. I have a lot of buildings left to go before I’ve successfully been in each one, but I will be there. In the meantime, don’t hesitate to reach out. 
In Solidarity, 
Jeffrey Fuller
REA President
]]><![CDATA[Opportunity and Change]]>Mon, 07 Sep 2026 21:20:21 GMThttps://www.reynoldseducationassociation.org/rea-president-newsletter/opportunity-and-changeDear REA, 
I hope this message finds you well rested from summer break and ready for your first day with students. 
While there is no denying that most of us are entering this year with a sense of trepidation due to increased workloads, continued concerns with disrupted learning, as well as the fact that we are working without a contract, I want to focus this message on a few positives, as well as some things your REA leadership team hopes to bring you this year. 
There are a couple major opportunities before us: 
RSD Bond
RSD is looking to renew the facilities bond that would replace Glenfair Elementary, fix and/or replace the roofs on buildings, update HVAC, and much more. Polling currently looks good. We cannot, however, rest on polling and expect enough people to turn out and vote in favor. We will all be called on to canvas the community and share with them what this would mean for Reynolds educators, students, and the community. 
Oregon Legislative Long Session
Maybe our biggest opportunity is the Oregon legislative long session scheduled from January 11 to June 19. Julia Silverman’s articles in the Oregonian about the state’s broken funding system, combined with educators advocating (like many of you did last year), and community groups such as the Community and Parents  for Public Schools working to put pressure on Salem, have all worked to get the funding formula conversation started. 
More opportunities, organized by OEA, REA, and the E. Mult. Co. Uniserv (REA, Centennial EA, David Douglas EA, Gresham Barlow EA, Parkrose Faculty Assoc., and Corbet EA) are coming soon.
There is a twinkle of light on the horizon for the first time in years. It will be our job to stand in solidarity to demand the state make the changes we and our students deserve. 
Half-Time Release
While I am still working out some details and will happily adjust based on your feedback, my main goal is to spend as much time as possible in schools throughout the year. I teach US History every other day at RHS. The other days will be dedicated to working for you. 
Classroom Visits
Many members shared the desire for the union president to come work with them for a day (or part of a day) to see what different jobs were like. The hope is that this will allow me (and future REA presidents) to advocate for members better. If you are interested in having me join you, please complete the Classroom Visit Form.
Building Visits
One question that recently came up is where will I work on days I’m not teaching. There are, of course, days that I will be in classrooms or meetings. But for all the others, my plan is to work from different buildings. I’ll set up in teachers lounges or some other available space so that members can more easily check-in, ask questions, share concerns, etc. I will make sure you know when I will be in your building beforehand. 

I hope this week goes well. Please do not hesitate to reach out with any concerns, ideas, or questions. 
In Solidarity, 
Jeffrey Fuller
REA President

]]><![CDATA[District Admin Raises]]>Wed, 27 Aug 2025 01:47:37 GMThttps://www.reynoldseducationassociation.org/rea-president-newsletter/district-admin-raisesI need to share some information that REA leadership learned yesterday. We have reached out to the District for clarification on the following matter and they have refused to confirm or deny our understanding of District admin raises over the summer before the end of the week. With OEA’s assistance, however, we believe we are reading the adopted RSD 2025-26 budget and new information correctly and that members deserve to know now. 
In short, despite the fact Superintendent Carapelo informed members this week that the “budget is tight,” that cuts “will impact students,” and that there is little room in the budget for “supplies, repairs, and maintenance,” it appears the District has found extra money to boost some admin salaries at the top of the RSD hierarchy. 
Three positions labeled in the old Organizational Chart as “Executive Directors” have had their titles changed to “Managing Officers.” With the change in title, it appears they were also handed a 15.7% raise. That’s over $26,000 more each! 
We continue to seek clarification and an explanation where they found this money and why they made this expense a priority. We also have requested information on other District-level admin positions to see if anyone else in RSD administration received raises above and beyond the COLA listed in RSD’s official adopted budget. ​

]]><![CDATA[RSD's Misleading Budget "FAQ"]]>Mon, 09 Jun 2025 17:41:33 GMThttps://www.reynoldseducationassociation.org/rea-president-newsletter/rsds-misleading-budget-faq
Dear REA and Reynolds Community,

Last week Superintendent Caropelo emailed a link to RSD’s budget FAQ. Unfortunately, much of district administration’s answers to staff and community questions are one-sided, ignore educator workload realities, and make claims that are exaggerated, misleading, or just plain wrong. 

While we will not deny some costs today did not fully exist in 2000, some of them are offset by costs that no longer exist at all. Not every new cost must be fully absorbed without cutting elsewhere. None of the questions the district responds to, however, ask why RSD is in this position, as it is well-established that state funding and the school funding formula are inadequate for sufficient student support and learning. Most of the budget questions put to district administration relate to the fact that current district office positions continue to outnumber district office positions back in 2015. 

Misdirection 
One of the first things to emerge is the wide range of dates the district chose to use throughout their FAQ. It should be unsurprising that they regularly bounce between 2000, 2015, 2022-23, this school year, and the next school year, depending on the data that most conveniently fits the narrative they are trying to weave. Don’t take the bait. It’s meant to obfuscate and confuse. 

Their greatest display of information gymnastics is how they chose to look at proportionate cuts. District administration wants to only look at the year of “highest” FTE compared to next year. This ignores, or deliberately hides, that the recent Diaz administration nearly doubled district office staffing. During the same period, licensed staffing also grew, but by only a fraction of district office positions (admin and others). 
What bothers REA leadership most, however, is that district office staffing numbers are wrong. They are wrong in a manner that benefits them at every turn. 

Misinformation: Licensed FTE
Licensed staffing will not be 624 FTE next year. In reality, we will sit at 582 FTE next year. If they want to make it 624, we will happily welcome them bringing back 44 of our union colleagues, relieving the number of RIFs by more than half, and reducing our extreme class sizes and caseloads. 

The reality is that the district cut about 50 licensed FTE last year. While some FTE was brought back throughout this school year, district administration cut an additional 116 FTE last month. The administration seems to have forgotten they cut most of the TOSA positions, plus a handful of others in April 2024. The reality is the difference between certified’s highest FTE of 741 (in 2023-24) to next year’s 582 FTE is a cut of 159 certified FTE. That is a 21.5% cut of our certified positions by the district in two years. 16.8% of those cuts came this spring.   

Misinformation: District Admin FTE
But they don’t just get certified numbers wrong. They get the number of district administration positions wrong as well, again in their favor. Unless an additional, unannounced cut currently sits in the budget, the district administration has 20 FTE positions, not 19. They list an additional.4 FTE in the budget as “Temporary Admin Salary” counting it as a cut. But that’s not a real cut. They simply moved it so that they can pretend it does not exist. This means district admin staffing levels continue to be higher than in 2015, not lower as they suggest. 

District administration chooses to focus on the highest FTE under the Diaz years because it creates the appearance they are taking the most significant hit, despite the fact they agree the district office was beyond bloated at that time and happily pushed several Diaz hires out the door (appropriately and with REA’s appreciation) with no intention of refilling their jobs. 

It remains to be seen whether these numbers are wrong due to dishonesty or ineptitude. I’m not sure which concerns REA leadership more. 

Private vs Public
During our preliminary furlough discussions, district administration claimed FTE data was not a proper way to look at these things. Rather, we should be looking at total spending for these positions. We have no problem with this, but two weeks later, we were informed that getting such information to us could take several more weeks. Meanwhile, the district administration is choosing to publicly use FTE data as their main point to defend their cuts as equitable-ish.  

Disconnect with the Classroom
The most disappointing portion of their FAQ is their focus on how much more work they have at the district office while wholly disregarding how much student-facing work has increased and changed in the last five years. Their disconnect from the dire realities of disrupted learning, mental health, and physical safety for students and staff alike is dumbfounding. 

Other
There is one point REA leadership will not argue as inaccurate, but we do question the timing of their response. District administration notes that the district office specialists we have cited as having grown over 119% since 2015 were mostly moved over from the classified ranks. In private strategy sessions for over a month with our OSEA union siblings, in joint meetings with district administration, and publicly in Budget Hearings and Board Meetings, we’ve discussed the number of specialists in the district office. This FAQ to the public is the first time they have responded to our concerns. If most of this really is as simple as reclassifying from classified to administrative, there seems to be little reason to have sat on this information for so long.  

REA leadership will continue to work and fight for Reynolds schools, staff, and students. We will not be cowed by the district administration’s bullying tactics and misinformation. We will continue to work side-by-side with our OSEA union siblings on a furlough MOU with safeguards to return days when certain benchmarks are met.

​In Solidarity, 
Jeffrey Fuller
REA President



]]><![CDATA[June 5th Action]]>Tue, 03 Jun 2025 15:07:00 GMThttps://www.reynoldseducationassociation.org/rea-president-newsletter/june-5th-actionDear REA and friends, 

This Thursday, June 5th, OEA with SEIU and AFSCME will hold a rally in Salem as a final push for school funding. As we here in Reynolds are painfully aware, every penny helps. Because this is in the final two weeks of school for most districts around the state, many locals, including REA, will focus on calling legislators. 

On June 5th, before or after school or during your prep, we ask all members (and anyone else seeing this) to take 5 minutes and make 2 calls. One to your state House Rep and one to your state Senator. If you want to give a few more minutes of your time, you can also contact members of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Education, Sen. Kate Lieber and Rep. Tawna Sanchez (co-chairs of the Ways and Means Committee), and/or Gov. Tina Kotek. 

Legislators make it clear that a two-minute phone call--the voice of a constituent--is more powerful than signing a form letter or a mass email. Click here to quickly reach your local legislators (grab friends to do it before or after school!)

While we all know that fully funding Oregon schools to the tune of the QEM is beyond realistic at this current juncture, it is vital to note the historic and continued underfunding of the QEM in your phone call. Salem has been ignoring its own QEM for 25 years now and it must be put back on their radar for the long-term fight. Legislators need to know that we are mobilizing for future actions. They need to know that they must do everything in their power to add funding for schools now. Listen to us now, or expect us to be in your face later.

Use these links to find phone numbers, talking points, and more. In Solidarity,
Jeffrey Fuller (he/him/his)
REA President]]><![CDATA[May 1st Informational Picket]]>Mon, 28 Apr 2025 03:24:31 GMThttps://www.reynoldseducationassociation.org/rea-president-newsletter/may-1st-informational-picketDear Reynolds Community, 

The Reynolds School District is in crisis. Due to a failure by state leaders to fully fund Oregon Schools, Reynolds is looking at a $25,000,000 shortfall. This will mean cutting 118 educators, significantly increasing class sizes, and making it more difficult for students to access their counselors, social workers, English Language Development teachers, and Special Education teachers. In addition, we are looking at cutting up to 10 school days, making it even more difficult for students to fully access their education and putting a greater burden on parents to find childcare. 

The state of Oregon is proposing to fund schools at $2 billion less than what its own research says is necessary to meet standards—not to make Oregon schools great and stand out--just to make them adequate. 

Please join us on May 1st for an Informational Picket to share our concerns about the impact of the state education budget on the Reynolds community. 

​What to expect on May 1st- educators standing next to major roadways and intersections throughout the Reynolds School District holding signs that say “fully fund Oregon schools” or “our students deserve the state to fund their education,” etc. We hope to have you join us, give a friendly honk or wave, and call your state representatives (click here if you need/want talking points and contacts).

If you want to keep up to date on what's going on, please click here to sign up for the REA Community Newsletter!

We look forward to seeing you Thursday, May 1st near your closest Reynolds school! Picture
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]]><![CDATA[REA Barganing Dates]]>Thu, 22 Feb 2024 01:38:26 GMThttps://www.reynoldseducationassociation.org/rea-president-newsletter/rea-barganing-dates
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]]><![CDATA[REA Newsletter - December 2023]]>Tue, 12 Dec 2023 15:31:43 GMThttps://www.reynoldseducationassociation.org/rea-president-newsletter/rea-newsletter-december-2023
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]]><![CDATA[State of the Union . . . and a Call to Action]]>Mon, 12 Dec 2022 01:47:00 GMThttps://www.reynoldseducationassociation.org/rea-president-newsletter/state-of-the-union-and-a-call-to-actionDear REA, 

​Despite the promise at the start of the school year, the struggles and difficulties posed by the pandemic have proven stronger. Students and staff both continue to show signs of trauma, burnout, or both. Furthermore, District mandates pushed through despite these issues are overwhelming building level staff. The staff shortages–most significant in SPED classrooms–have made educating students difficult for all of us, but has had an outsized impact on the most marginalized students and the staff who spend the majority of their time working with them. The addition of too few subs has wreaked havoc on staff ability to take needed sick time and too often left students under-supervised. To add insult to injury, there have been repeated payroll issues and other problems circulating through the District office, and the District refuses to allow staff access to a COVID sick-leave bank without first exhausting all other leave. Needless to say, all of these issues have taken their toll and all stakeholders have suffered as a result. 

As in every school year and throughout the summers, your elected union leaders have met with District leadership and School Board directors regularly. We have filed multiple grievances, letters of complaint, and demand to bargain letters. We have written letters to the Board that have worked to spur action by District leadership and to ensure a paper trail exists documenting a number of problems facing students and staff. We have worked to highlight maintenance and safety issues, and brought individual member concerns and payroll issues forward on a daily basis. We have held listening sessions with various groups upon request, helped guide several caucuses as they formed, and fought tirelessly for staff at Four Corners, who’s CTP program was forced to move mid-summer to a building that is still not fully finished. In addition, REA worked with OSEA to address the Superintendent Goal Performance Measures, Student Outcome Goals, and Board and Superintendent Guardrails. All of this work is ongoing and we will continue to stand for you at every turn. 

While we have made progress in some areas, we continue to have a great deal of work ahead of us. These progresses, however, have felt overshadowed by setbacks that have proven beyond leadership’s reach alone. In order to make more significant gains, we believe your assistance will be necessary. As such, your Representative Assembly has requested the REA Organizing Team put together some actions for members starting in January. Please keep your eyes open for opportunities coming to your personal email and from your Building Reps to make your voice heard.
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Finally, we are now approaching Winter Break, a time to rest and recharge for most staff. It’s a time to be with family and friends. It’s time, for most of us, for celebration. But as we are painfully aware, it is a time of fear and trepidation for many students. A time without the safety and routine of school, with too little access to food, and sometimes worse. While we are all stressed, exhausted, and overwhelmed, it is important to remember that many students are struggling even more. Their anxiety may be high and they may act out, but our kindness, generosity, and patience is integral to their success. 

Thank you for all you do for our students. Thank you for all you do for our community. Thank you for all you do for our union. We are strong when we are united. We are strong when we are one. Together, we can make real, positive changes to our working conditions and students' learning conditions. 

In Solidarity,

Jeffrey Fuller
REA President

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