The Racine Educational Assistants Association (REAA) is the local professional union representing education assistants in the Racine Unified School District.  We use the term professional union because we are both a professional association and a union.

In addition to our elected leaders, we have five professional staff helping to carry out our policies and programs and ensure member rights are protected.  The staff is headed by the Executive Director who manages the rest of the staff, the program and the facilities for the REAA.

We are a professional association because we spend a great deal of our time and resources in trying to improve education for all the children of the district.  We provide training opportunities for our members, professional consultation, research, and interact with the administration and school board to improve student learning and promote member professionalism. 

We are a union because we are recognized by Wisconsin law as the bargaining representative of the members and we negotiate a collective bargaining agreement that determines the salary, benefits and working conditions for our members.  We are also an advocate for our members providing legal and other forms of support for members who have employment problems.  We perform other activities such as electing and lobbying our local legislators and school board members.

We are a democratically run association operating with a group of dedicated unpaid Association Representatives in each building.  Our elected governance sets the policy for our local and determines what programs we provide.   Every member participates in electing the leadership.

The REAA is a partner in the Racine Education UniServ Council which is the organizational vehicle used to combine the two separate organizations (REA and REAA) into one; hire staff and provide services to the members in the separate organizations.  In addition, we are both affiliated with the statewide organization, the Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC), and the national organization, the National Education Association (NEA).

   

Governance

Lily Ramos, President

Jenni Ticer, Vice-President

Renee Goff, Secretary

Mim Baggesen, Treasurer

LeAnn VanBoven, Member-At-Large

Doris Szejna, Member-At-Large

Staff

Nicholas Whitman, Executive Director

Juan Jimenez, Associate Executive Director

Susan Hahner, Admin. Asst. to the Executive Director

Diane Hanson, Admin. Asst. to Assoc. Ex. Director

Heidi Komistra, Receptionist