The Membership Q&A in the Jan/Feb 2011 DKG NEWS seemed to create a bit of concern with some of our members! In case you didn’t see it, let me share it with you: Question – A dear friend taught for four years while completing her certification as a lawyer. She has spent the last 22 years, serving as a defender in family court. Is she now eligible for invitation to membership? Answer – Potential members come from two groups (1) Women presently contracted as professional educators; (2) Women who are retired professional educators. Women who are not presently employed as professional educators or who left the profession before retirement are not eligible.
Perhaps a bit more explanation would be helpful. Our rules do not define retirement with any type of qualifier such as a number of years worked. But there is an understanding that retirement occurs after a woman has devoted a significant amount of time to the profession and leaves with some type of pension or annuity. In the question posed above, the woman in question did not work the significant amount of time as an educator to be a candidate for Active Membership. She certainly has made a significant contribution to children and families in the community and might well be a candidate for Honorary Membership.
Another issue that is bothersome to some members is the new rule that an employed educator is eligible for membership even in the first year of employment. Members ask if their own chapter rules can indicate that an educator must have been employed for a certain number of years before being a member of that particular chapter. To put this into the chapter rules would make them not in sync with International rules which is verboten. A member selected by one chapter is a member of the Society and is therefore eligible to transfer or reinstate to any chapter. In other words if a first year teacher is initiated in Chapter A, she should be able to transfer to Chapter B which is awkward if Chapter B has imposed membership restrictions on itself that other chapters do not have. We are suggesting that every candidate for membership be looked at individually. Some chapters have sponsored candidates the for teaching profession through early grants and support during internships. These chapters can feel very confident about the candidate’s potential for future teaching success and might well offer membership to them and mentor them through their early career years. This is the priceless aspect of asking early career educators to be active members of Delta Kappa Gamma.
