Education Support Professionals

Great Webinar Opportunities

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FYI from:   National Education Association-ESPQ

As we head into the holiday season and closer to a new year, we want to share several upcoming opportunities that will support ESPs in their personal and professional growth. Please add these events to your calendars and share them with your members and colleagues!  

  • ESP Community Conversations: Self-care for ESPs (NEXT WEEK!) 
    Wednesday, December 6, 2023, 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM ET 
    Self-care is important now more than ever. Join us for a virtual networking session centered around self-care. ESPs who join the conversation will have an opportunity to share self-care tips, learn from one another, and engage in activities to guide them in their self-care practice. Register now > 
     
  • ESP Mentoring in Oregon 
    Thursday, December 7, 2023, 7:00-8:00 p.m. ET  
    Learn how to take an established ESP mentoring program and make it your own, suiting the unique needs within your district. Educators from two locals will share their successes and the roadblocks they encountered in building two successful ESP mentoring programs thriving in Oregon and how you can do the same within your state. Register now > 
     
  • ESP Rights and Respect Series: How to Build a Strategic Campaign 
    Thursday, December 14, 2023 (Webinar en Español), 7:00-8:30 p.m. ET 
    Join us for this webinar, offered in Spanish, to learn how NEA members, staff, and leaders have partnered to build a strategic campaign to increase ESP visibility, rights, and respect. Note: This webinar series is only open to NEA members, staff, and leaders. See the attached flyer and share it with your Spanish-speaking members and colleagues. Register now > 
     
  • NASP PREPaRE Workshop I: School Safety and Crisis Preparedness  
    Saturday, January 20, 2024, 10:00 a.m. –  6:00 p.m. ET 
    Are you interested in learning about school safety and crisis preparedness? No matter your role in our schools, it is important to understand how schools prepare, mitigate, and respond to a crisis. Join us for Workshop I of the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) PREPaRE curriculum to learn more about how a comprehensive school crisis team functions and how to organize one. Each participant will receive a certificate of completion. All fees for the course and course materials will be covered by NEA. ***Space is limited, register today!  Register now > 
     
  • Strengthening Family and Community Engagement for ESPs 
    Thursday, January 25, 2024, 7:00-8:00 p.m. ET 
    Through NEA’s Community Schools initiative, ESPs across the country are participating in powerful family and community engagement efforts, which help students and support positive worksites. Join us to hear from ESPs and Community Schools coordinators across the country discuss lessons learned and promising practices on family and community engagement, and how these insights can empower ESPs. Register now > 

See all upcoming webinars for ESPs at www.nea.org/esppdwebinars. 

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ESP Mentoring in Oregon

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Click to register: Virtual Training

About this event – Thursday, December 7, 6 – 7pm CST

Education Support Professionals (ESPs) play a vital role in schools and deserve quality ESP Peer Mentoring programs. These programs support and enable ESPs to fulfill their crucial roles in public education today. Join us as we highlight two ESP mentoring programs in Oregon. Hear how two locals worked together to support each other in the journey. Learn how to take an established ESP mentoring program and make it your own, suiting the unique needs within your district. They will share their successes and the roadblocks they encountered in building two successful ESP mentoring programs thriving in Oregon and how you can do the same within your state.

Presenters: Laura Warren, ESP, Lebanon Oregon Kim Grousbeck, School Administrator, Lebanon, Oregon Patty Lawrence, ESP, Grants Pass, Oregon Allison Orton, State Affiliate Staff, Oregon

Education Support Professionals, Illinois Education Association

School Finance for Bargainers

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Sat.  |  Dec. 9  |  10 a.m. – noon
School Finance for Bargainers

Join IEA Research to review key school finance concepts for the upcoming bargaining season. The training will explore three core areas:

  • Discuss compensation systems, including salary schedules and salary tables, and the impact of the increased minimum wage/increased minimum certified staff salary
  • Review key school finance terms that will come up at the bargaining table
  • Highlight school finance issues related to bargaining in spring 2024, including property tax revenue, state funding and federal ESSER funding

The session will also provide an overview of school finance bargaining resources available through IEA Research to assist teams in their negotiations this spring.

Click to register
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Mark Your Calendars: Upcoming rESPect Steering Meetings

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rESPect Steering virtual meeting registration links – 5:30 – 7:00pm

Come and bring your voice to the table to collaborate as we move rESPect forward and bring the changes we need. Meetings are on the Second Thursday of each month. I hope to see you there.

DECEMBER
https://www.mobilize.us/ieanea/event/592185/
 
JANUARY
https://www.mobilize.us/ieanea/event/592186/
 
FEBRUARY
https://www.mobilize.us/ieanea/event/592187/
 
MARCH
https://www.mobilize.us/ieanea/event/592188/
 
APRIL
https://www.mobilize.us/ieanea/event/592189/
 
MAY
https://www.mobilize.us/ieanea/event/592190/

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Congratulations Classified Staff Union of District 227

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Welcome to the IEA family!

Local Association Growth Announcement

On October 18, 2023, the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board (IELRB) issued an Order of Certification recognizing the addition of School Security staff to the Classified Staff Union of District 227 (Rich Township High School District) out of Region 26 (UniServ Director, Robyn Washington).

#iearespect #IEAESP #IEAESPCouncil

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Have you heard of the RISE Award? Hear what is being said on the national level about education support professionals!!

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RECOGNIZING INSPIRING SCHOOL EMPLOYEES (RISE) AWARD

Did you know that there is a national award to celebrate the essential work we do? This is a national award that celebrates the contributions of education support professionals. The U.S. Department of Education invites the governor or designated state official of each state to nominate up to two classified school employees annually. (The deadline is already closed for this year)

Here is what is said about education support professionals in the award Fact Sheet.

WHY: To celebrate classified school employees as the unsung heroes—the “living
infrastructure”—of America’s public schools. They engage with students on the bus and in the classrooms, cafeterias, health suites and hallways of America’s public and private schools across the nation. Their unique professional skill sets range from classroom and library assistant, school health aide, bus driver, mechanic, and school crossing guard, to cook, janitor, school secretary, vision and hearing tester, accounting control clerk and much more. They work closely with students every day, keeping them healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged so that learning can take place. To educate the public on the important, and often invisible, educational support rendered by some of the hardest-working people in our schools – they serve in the capacity of the glue to the school. In short, to remind the school community that it takes a village to ensure student success.

We are making a difference in promoting the amazing contributions ESPs make every day in schools and universities. We must keep the essential work and support we do front and center as we work to advance rESPect. The more we make it real, the more we make it a reality!