IEA Education Support Professional Council

Happy Holidays from your ESP Council!

The Illinois Senate passed the COVID School Employee Benefit and Wage Protection Bill (HB2778) 53-1 and the House 92-23!

Now, there’s just one more hurdle — getting the governor to sign it! Please take a moment to email Gov. J.B. Pritzker and ask him to sign HB2778 immediately. The law is retroactive to the start of the school year.

Share this link with all of your friends and family. This is just to important to let this fail.
Here’s what it means for you: It requires districts to provide COVID administrative days to any school or college employees abiding by the vaccination or testing orders to be used for all COVID-related absences like quarantining and testing, so employees will not have to use all of their accrued benefit time during the pandemic.Provides paycheck protection for hourly employees. This means if a school or higher education institution has to close because of an emergency, hourly employees would still receive their full paycheck. Members made more than 15,000 calls to their Representatives over the past couple months, urging them to pass the bill and those lawmakers listened. Now we need Gov. Pritzker to sign this in to law.

Here is what the nominators had to say about these ESP STARS!

West Aurora Paraprofessional Association – WAPA

A big shout out to these fabulous ladies from the Early Learning Academy in School District 129 in Aurora and members of the WAPA in IEA Region 40.  They are an awesome group of ladies who have worked hard keeping our kids safe! We love our ELA Paras!

Bloomington ESPs – Region 14

Our Dynamic Learning Program (DLP) at Bloomington High School in District 87 offers severe and profound students a bright future. These three ladies are just a fraction of the crew helping students with everyday tasks; box jobs, eating, self-care, reading and math skills. We operate as a family within our school and look forward to seeing our kiddos each and every day!
This awesome crew of the DLP program helps our kids be strong, independent and capable members of our world!

Thursday, January 20, 2022
7:00–8:30 PM ET
Register: nea.org/esppdwebinars

Our lifestyle, environment, and bodies are trying to tell us something. Mental health and physiological health go hand in hand, and there are many lifelong and recent factors that impact both, including external stressors, toxic systems, habits, and more that have been either activated or exacerbated by the pandemic. In this webinar, we will examine the risk factors and resulting health problems that educators are experiencing, as well as provide strategies to improve personal health and mental well-being.

IEA is accepting applications from IEA members to be RA Assistants for the 2022 IEA RA. There are a limited number of assistant positions available for the 2022 IEA RA. RA Assistants will be chosen from these applications on a first come, first serve basis. The deadline for submitting RA Assistant applications is midnight on January 14, 2022. Only non-delegates can be considered for these positions.

If you know anyone who may want to volunteer as an RA Assistant, please have them apply at this weblink: 2022 IEA RA Assistant Application (This link is also on the IEA Representative Assembly webpage).

This is currently me!! One more get up before holiday break! When does your break begin?

I saw this post on my school districts parent FB page and just had to share. Jeff Grigoletti is one of the fabulous school bus drivers who works for the Troy 30c School District in Plainfield, Il. This is his post:

(Meanwhile, on this dark and rainy Elementary run this afternoon…)

Students: Mr. Jeff, Emma is crying!

Me: Dispatch, pulling over for a sec. (Pulls overs and walks to student and kneels next to crying student)

Me: What’s wrong Emma?

Emma: It’s too dark in here!

Me: Okay. (Turns on interior lights and starts driving again)

Me: Better?

Emma: Yes

Students: Mr. Jeff, William is crying!

Me: Dispatch, pulling over … again. (Pulls over walks to and kneels next to sobbing student)

Me: What’s up William?

William: You’re driving ….through big puddles …and it’s too loud!

Me: Seriously? Okay, here’s what we’ll do. When I’m coming up to a big puddle, I’ll yell ‘PUDDLE’ and you put your fingers in your ear. Then look at me and I’ll give you a thumbs up when we are past the puddle. Okay buddy?

It was a long ride……

Jeff’s act of kindness is just one example of how important ESPs are for our students to receive the quality education they deserve and how classroom teachers and communities get the support they need. If you know of an ESP that deserves recognition for the amazing things they do please nominate them for the IEA ESP Star Award. Click the link below for more information. Nominate an ESP in your local for the ESP Star Award today.

Request for Funding applications are being accepted for the following conferences. 

·       2022 NEA Leadership Summit – due Dec. 17 – TBD

·       2022 NEA ESP Conference – due Dec. 17 – New Orleans, LA

The applications are also available on Members Only under EVENTS/Funding. Applications can either be mailed to the attention of Kathi Griffin, President of IEA, 100 E. Edwards St., Springfield, IL 62704 or emailed to Courtney Gillespie. Any questions regarding funding for the conferences can be directed to Courtney Gillespie.

Jan. 15, 2022 is the application deadline for IEA SCORE Grants. All IEA members are encouraged to apply! Funds are available for IEA members and their local associations to collaborate and create opportunities for community service or school projects. To learn more and apply online, visit ieanea.org/score.