Theta Chapter News Theta Chapter, Cedar Rapids, Iowa

April 2017

February 26, 2015 Executive Committee 2016-18 Co-Presidents: Deanne Robinson 319-826-1737 gdrobins@mediacombb.net Sue Vogel 319-573-9461 sjvogelstar5@gmail.com Co-Vice Presidents: Ann Nicholson 319-364-2869 anicholson2869@gmail.com Betty Stewart 319-393-2554 iluvdoggs@mchsi.com Recording Secretary: Char Zrudsky 319-378-9202 czrudsky@msn.com Treasurer: Betty Gorsegner Ehlinger 319-654-0610 bettyge@mchsi.com Parliamentarian: Nancy Danforth 319-366-4383 ndanforth@imonmail.com Past President: Lori Bruzek 319-551-0149 LoriBruzek@hotmail.com deltakappagamma.org/IA-Theta iowadkg.weebly.com www.dkg.org

Please bring your HyVee receipts and Box Tops for Education to a meeting. We will get them to Grant Wood School. They mean cash for the school.

Upcoming Meetings

May 11, 2017 Thursday 4:30-6:30

Prairiewoods Spirituality Center 120 E. Boyson Rd. Hiawatha Leading the way for future educators –Join us as we

expand on our informational tour from last year at the

center and celebrate with a meal in honor of our student

grant recipients and our chapter initiates. Hostesses: *Lori Bruzek, Dorothy Evans, Tammy Wawro

✓ Meal payment is $9.00 and is due in advance. Please send your check payable to DKG Theta Chapter to Betty Ehlinger, 7105 First Avenue SW, Cedar Rapids, IA 52405

✓ Please RSVP for the May meeting by Monday, May 7th so we can provide an accurate meal count to Prairiewoods. Call Ann Nicholson or complete the survey at:

https://doodle.com/poll/5duui2tcv2vcn8xm

✓ If you have any dietary needs, please let us know.

Upcoming Events

May 2, 2017- National Teacher Appreciation Day

June 9-11, 2017- Upsilon State Convention

Music Man Square, Mason City

June 28-July 1, 2017- Northwest Regional Conference

Spearfish, SD

Upsilon State Convention Registration Deadlines

April 26–Early registration deadline May 26–Regular price registration deadline

Celebrate May and June birthdays: May 27 Betty Ehlinger

June 5 Rhonda Achenbach

June 25 Barb Taylor

Also, DKG turns 88 on May 11 and

Upsilon State turns 81 on May 16

Theta Chapter News April 2017 p. 2

Linn County Legislators Contact Information Senator Liz Mathis - 515 281-3371 - liz.mathis@legis.iowa.gov

Senator Rob Hogg - 515 281-3371 - rob.hogg@legis.iowa.gov

Senator Wally Horn - 515 281-3371 - wally.horn@legis.iowa.gov

Rep Liz Bennett - 515 281-3221 - liz.bennett@legis.iowa.gov

Rep Ashley Hinson - 515 281-3221 - ashley.hinson@legis.iowa.gov

Rep Ken Rizer - 515 281-3221 - ken.rizer@legis.iowa.gov

Rep Kirsten Running-Marquardt - 515 281-3221 - kirsten.running-marquardt@legis.iowa.gov

Rep Art Staed - 515 281-3221 - art.staed@legis.iowa.gov

Rep Todd Taylor - 515 281-3221 - todd.taylor@legis.iowa.gov

Rep Louie Zumbach - 515 281-3221 - louie.zumbach@legis.iowa.gov

Student Grants

The 2017 Recipients of our student grants

are Elizabeth Jasper, Kennedy HS, and

Hanna Saville, Linn-Mar HS. Both girls

will be attending Iowa State. You can find

out more about them and hopefully meet

them at our May meeting, or check out our

Chapter website and newsletter later in

May. The committee received seven really

good applications.

April Meeting

If you missed our April meeting and Emily

Emonin’s talk about her death experience

and miraculous recovery, you can find a

chapter about her experience in the book

Real Life, Real Miracles: True Stories That

Will Help You Believe by James L. Garlow

and Keith Wall.

A glass class just for Theta members will be

set up at the Ceramics Center if a date can

be found that works for at least six of the

seven interested members. Watch for an

upcoming email.

My DKG - My Account

Have you updated your profile on the DKG

website? Let an exec board member know

if you need help.

Leadership Seminar

Pam Wittkamp, Upsilon President, has

announced “with great disappointment” that

the 2017 Neva Barnhart Leadership

Seminar has been cancelled because of too

few applicants. She urges everyone to look

ahead to 2019 when this valuable leadership

tool will next be available to members.

Iowa DKG Vision Statement Women Educators Committed to

Lifelong Learning Opportunities for All.

Yearbooks

The Chapter Executive Board will soon be

making the 2017-18 Yearbook. Please let a

member of the board know of any updates

to your personal information, and any

suggestions for program ideas and meeting

sites.

Advocacy

If you would like to learn

more about how to be

involved in advocating for

education issues, contact

Cindy Garlock at

cjgarlock@aol.com or 319 310-4763.

Theta Chapter News April 2017 p. 3

DKG April Legislative Report From Cindy Garlock

Federal Issues

• 13.9% ($9.2 billion) cut to Dept. of Education Budget

• Eliminates Title II which funds teacher training & professional development, after school &

summer programs, low income college assistance, class size reductions, science & math

partnerships

• Amounts to about $600,000 for CRCSD (according to figures I could find)

• Additional $1.4 billion for school choice (vouchers) and charter schools

• Elimination of the National Endowment for the Arts (funds NPR and PBS)

State Issues Friday, March 31 was the second funnel deadline. Bills had to have cleared the other chamber’s

committee to be viable.

Education related bills that are still alive

• Gun rights, “Stand your Ground” allows

children under the age of 14 to handle

loaded handguns with parental

supervision

• Ban on bathroom cameras

• School funding equity - allows districts to

use categorical funds for a broader variety

of needs, depending on local

circumstances

• School funding/transportation equity -

evens out spending per pupil across the

state and allows additional funding for

districts with high transportation costs

Bills signed into Law

• Rollbacks for collective bargaining

• School aid increase of 1.11%

• Reduction in Worker’s Comp benefits

• Preemption bill - nullifies increases in

minimum wage enacted by 4 Iowa

counties, including Linn

Dead bills

• Disruptive students - would have allowed

a teacher to remove a disruptive student

temporarily or permanently from the

classroom

• Sanctuary campuses

Bills that can be resurrected from

“unfinished business” calendar

• Changes to high school equivalency

programs

• Opening up participation in 403B

program to additional vendors. This has

the potential to be the beginning of the

end of IPERS and a shift from defined

benefits to defined contributions.

• Exemption of certain religious institutions

operating residential facilities from a

requirement that they provide appropriate

services by contracting with local public

school, accredited nonpublic school or

becoming accredited themselves

• Expansion of the provision of who can be

charged with a criminal offense of sexual

exploitation by a school employee

Theta Chapter News April 2017 p. 4

U.S. FORUM CONNECTION #159, MARCH 2017 SUPREME COURT REVISITED

The U.S. Supreme Court remanded the case of the Gloucester County Virginia School Board

versus a transgender male concerning which bathroom the student should use to the Fourth

District Circuit of Appeals and referred to a recent reversal of the Justice Department policy

dealing with use of restroom facilities when they ruled that bathroom assignment is a state’s

right issue rather than a sexual rights issue covered by Title IX.

The case of sixth grader Elena Fry who suffers from cerebral palsy and a school district which

denied her service dog into the school was remanded to the Sixth District Circuit of Appeals.

FAIR PAY/TITLE IX

Women’s soccer which was ranked #1 from March 2008 to December 2014 has for some time

been involved in a dispute with U.S. Soccer (the organization which rules professional soccer

competition in the U.S.). The team’s 5–2 final win over Japan was watched by more than

twenty-five million people in the United States, the largest-ever television audience for any

English-speaking broadcast of any soccer game, men’s or women’s. In a federal complaint the

players accused U.S. Soccer of wage discrimination because the women earned significantly

less money than men playing soccer. It is estimated that the women’s national team earns

about 25% less than the men despite outperforming the men’s national team, and producing

nearly $20 million more in revenue for U.S Soccer than the men’s team. The women have

filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) about pay

discrimination as well as filing a law suit in court against U.S. Soccer for equal pay.

If the U.S. women’s soccer team is subject to wage discrimination, the U.S. women’s hockey

team has been the subject of even more unfair wage inequity and is involved in a wage dispute

with USA Hockey its governing organization. Despite being ranked number 1 in the world,

players are forced to work one or two other jobs in order to earn a living. They are asking for

an annual salary of $68,000 as well as child care and maternity leave. That would be over and

above the cost of equipment, coaching salaries and travel expenses. They also want some sort

of program for younger players who have the potential to play at the higher lever. (Players on

the men’s teams earn a minimum of $650,000.) After threatening to sit out the upcoming

International Ice Hockey Federation World Championship March 31, 2017 which they are

favored to win, USA Hockey agreed to a wage settlement, and the women consented to play.

IMMUNIZATIONS

Although it is not yet available, a potentially more effective shingles vaccine is in

development. In the meantime, medical professionals recommend that people over the age of

60 get the currently available shingles vaccine, both pneumonia vaccines and an annual flu

shot. Several institutions are currently working hard and long to develop a vaccine against the

Zika virus. There is evidence that Zika may cause substantial hearing loss in older adults, and

there have been several documented cases of Guillain-Barre Syndrome which developed after

Zika virus infection of older adults.

REGIONAL CONFERENCE FORUM SESSIONS

Northwest Region, Spearfish, North Dakota, 10:15 AM - 12:15 PM on June 29, 2017