Category: Uncategorized

NEA President Becky Pringle will sit down (virtually) with Education Secretary Miguel Cardona to discuss his experience in public schools, his vision for learning, and the Biden-Harris Administration’s priorities for our public schools and institutions of higher learning.

You are invited hear directly from President Joe Biden’s new secretary of education about the important issues facing students and educators coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic.

What: A Conversation with Miguel Cardona
When: Wednesday, April 21 at 6:00 p.m. ET / 3:00 p.m. PT

Also when things get out of focus… stop and re-adjust your lens.

April 15, 2021
7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. EST

Education Support Professionals (ESPs) are an integral part of the education team that supports student learning. When ESPs are hired, they are often left alone to “figure out” what their job entails. This leads to poor job satisfaction, high turnover, and weaker performance. When ESP mentoring is done right, it can lead to improved outcomes for students, greater retention of ESPs, higher job satisfaction, greater confidence, and leadership development.

This session will explore ESP mentoring and how to justify the importance of mentoring to the district, build the program from the bottom up, and document the success of the program through data collection and analysis. Participants will receive information and materials they can bring back to their locals that can be customized to meet their needs. ESP mentoring uses the ESP Professional Growth Continuum (PGC) as its foundation, providing a vision for each ESP career family as ESPs develop their professional learning goals.

Presenters:
Tara Gauding, Vermont-NEA
Stephanie Dupras, Vermont-NEA
Gloria Mantagaris, Vermont-NEA

Register >

IEA GR Director Sean Denney provided updates on two IEA backed bills in this week’s legislative update:

 House Bill 2789 passed out of committee. This is the COVID safety bill.

 House Resolution 77 passed unanimously out of committee. This calls for equity for ESPs.

2021 IEA One Conference – October 1-2, 2021 (Virtual)

The One Conference is a fabulous IEA conference that is planned with ESPs in mind, to enhance leadership skills and designed to provide professional and personal growth. IEA and your ESP leadership work together to plan this high quality conference. Many of the trainers are ESP leaders who have a passion and talent to support their students and fellow ESPs. Maybe you could be one of our next trainers at this years One Conference. Example of past sessions have been on topics such as, Self Care: Yoga or Communication Strategies for ESPs. If you would like to present at this years ESP Conference please fill out and submit an RFP, the link is below. The deadline to submit is April 30,2021.

What sessions would you like to see at this year’s One Conference?

Please comment below or email me at Jill.Scarcelli@ieanea.org with your suggestions. This will help in our planning process.

October 1-2, 2021
Virtual

One Conference RFP form is now available!
The 2021 One Conference will be a virtual event scheduled for October 1-2, 2021. If you are interested in presenting a session this year, please complete the One Conference RFP no later than April 30, 2021!

Teaching and Learning

The conference will be held virtually on April 20-21, 2021.  The Southern Illinois PreK-20 Education Alliance proudly presents an innovative opportunity to address educator self-care, self-awareness and emotional well-being strategies for ALL educators. Due to the isolation and uncertainty surrounding the pandemic, many of our educators and students have been traumatized. By providing insight, tools and strategies for our educators, this will go a long way in benefiting our educators and the students they teach.  Breakout sessions will target topics such as adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), building resilience, building community from within, stress levels on the body, self-regulation, stress responses, self-care tips and strategies, and educator support sessions.  Click here for more information and to register.

ESPs are the backbone in every school across this country! They support students, teachers, and communities and without ESPs quality education would not happen! The ESP Council worked with IEA to bring this ESP Resolution for positive recognition and equitable treatment of all ESPs.

2021 NEA ESP of the Year!!

Good luck to one of our own, Debbie Cicioria!! You are amazing and we are so proud to have you represent Illinois ESPs.