IEA Education Support Professional Council

Your Education Support Professional Council and IEA staff have been working overtime planning and preparing for the representative assembly! The representative assembly is where elected IEA members come together to submit New Business Items, Resolutions, and Legislative Platform amendments that will set the direction of our union for the upcoming year.

I am so excited to share all of the RESPECT updates. If you are an ESP delegate don’t miss the ESP Open Hearing Thursday morning at 10:00am, on March 14th.

All delegates are invited to stop by the ESP Council and RESPECT tables for important information. We will have tons of resources, opportunities to take action to help move RESPECT, and yes…tons of prizes.

 

Flowers and candy are nice, but RESPECT is a necessity!

Education Support Professionals are essential to a high quality public education. ESPs are often the first to arrive and last to leave while supporting students health, safety, and academic success.

Learn how NEA members, staff, and leaders have partnered to build a strategic campaign to increase ESP visibility, rights, and respect.

Hear from three state affiliates—Massachusetts, Maryland, and Illinois—on how they built their campaign from the ground up, what successes and challenges they faced, and what resources and strategies they have for affiliates seeking to engage in their own campaign.

Thank you to everyone who joined us tonight for the February rESPect steering meeting. This meetings focus was to finalize our plan on organizing around rESPect at the Illinois Education Association Representative Assembly in March. It is our goal to grow this campaign into a powerful force to achieve our goals.

To learn more about rESPEct and to join go to: https://ieanea.org/members/esp/respect/

Your voice is important!!

We still have not received nominations for the following ESP Council positions for this springs election.

• Educational Support Professional Southern/Central Sectional Representative/NEA RA Delegate. South Central Regions: 1-14, 45, 47, 48, and 62
• Educational Support Professional Southern/Central Sectional Alternate/NEA RA Successor Delegate. South Central Regions: 1-14, 45, 47, 48, and 62
• Educational Support Professional Northern/Central Sectional Alternate/NEA RA Successor Delegate (remainder of term to 2025) North Central Regions: 15-25, 37, 38, 40, 44, 49, 51, 53, 54, 60, 61, 63, 65 and 66

Nomination window closes on February 14th at 4:00pm

Congratulations to our 2024 IEA ESP of the Year and nominees!

Wow! The Education Support Professional Council received 5 unbelievable nominees this year and were extremely impressed with each of the applications. This award is meant to further emphasize the contributions of Education Support Professionals to their association, their schools, and their communities and these nominees did not disappoint and did just that!

Congratulations to:

• Winner: Amy Evans – Region 13
• Teresa Borass – Region 17
• Yvonne Glodz – Region 59
• Eboni Rucker – Region 27
• Kathy Zoppa – Region 53