IEA Education Support Professional Council

ESP Proud!!

This is just one of the many stories that shows what amazing ESPs are doing all around the country!! Thank you for all that you do. Please share what you or your ESP members are doing to help our students and communities through this trying time. Stay safe, stay healthy, and remember we will get through this, stronger together!! We Are ESP!!!

ESPs tell your story!

With the concern over ESPs, at this perilous time, and knowing that all ESPs matter. For this post I want to address school food service workers, who may fall ill or need to quarantine/self isolate, how might schools be able to address still making sure kids are fed? Concerns over running afoul of CBAs? Concerns over our members losing their jobs, etc., but how to have hands on deck to get the food out.

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Our goal is to provide examples of solutions that could do a few things 1) ensure the food industry doesn’t use this time as an opportunity to push privatization of our food service workers and 2) provide a healthy list of ideas schools can use that would prevent them from putting their operations at unnecessary risk by having one central food preparation and distribution school.

Please send your ideas to Tim Barchak, TBarchak@nea.org ASAP. Feel free to collaborate with your colleagues on ideas or share what your district is doing.

Thanks!

We at NEA Member Benefits want you to know we’re here to support you during this difficult time.
Many of our benefit partners are offering special assistance to members in need who may have been affected by an involuntary layoff. Below is a list of contact information for our partners and details on specific assistance they have available.

We hope that you and your families are safe. Please contact us if you have any questions about your benefits and we will help you however we can. You can reach our Member Advocacy Center by telephone or email:

1-800-637-4636
(Mon-Fri: 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. ET, Sat: 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. ET)

Contact Us
neamb.com/contact-us

FINANCIAL SERVICES

Many district admin have asked ESPs who are home during this time, to do activities that will enhance our skills as education support professionals. I wanted to share some great links to webinars NEA has to offer ESPs that will better prepare us to support our students when we return. 

Professional Development Webinar Training

NEA ESP Quality Department in the Center of Great Public Schools, in collaboration with various professionals in the education workforce, have created a wide variety of professional development webinars designed to support the professional growth of Education Support Professionals (ESP).
Enhance you professional skills today and sign up here!
View our archived training recordings here.

Copied from the Illinois Education Association Facebook

#StrongerUnited

March 15, 2020

Yesterday, the Illinois State Board of Education held a series of “town hall” meetings all day Sunday with superintendents and other public education stakeholders from around the state to provide information and answer questions about the upcoming emergency-ordered school closings.

Another meeting with stakeholders will be held in the morning to try to finalize some details and give closure to several issues. One thing is very clear, all regularly employed school employees will be paid for Act of God days regardless of whether they are salary or hourly.

And, one other lingering question answered Sunday that will be important for Monday (because the closure does not officially start until Tues., March 17), is that the day can be considered a regular school day, an emergency day or a teacher institute day. If a district has used all of its emergency days, it can be taken as an Act of God day.

Here is the update from State School Superintendent Carmen Ayala for Sunday. Please watch for Monday’s Covid-19 update on this page as it should be full of important information.

Also, on Sunday, the State of Illinois announced the number of Covid-19 cases jumped another 23 cases and added the counties of Champaign, Clinton, Whiteside and Winnebago.

Please feel free to provide any feedback or questions to COVID19Guidance@ieanea.org.

I know the next few weeks are going to be extremely stressful times for many ESPs, students, and communities. As we face this time together your ESP Council is continuing to do its important work of bringing you quality, relevant, and engaging sessions to be offered at this years One Conference. Please fill out the form below with your suggestions of topics that you would like to see offered that will benefit you, your members, and your students.

I know we are in unsettling times. We have so many questions and not enough answers. These questions cause fear and stress of the unknown. If you are like me you are use to being in control, fixing, planning, organizing, and making sure everyone is taken care of. Lists of things to do and not enough time to do them. Oh, I have a lot of lists.

The news has been bombarding us all. The Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and the fear of the unknown, stats, CDC, school closings, what happens next? This can be debilitating. I believe ESPs by nature are giving people, sometimes to a fault. I want to share with you this Self-Care Challenge. You deserve to take care of yourself. You deserve time to breathe, rest, and heal. I challenge you to choose a few self-care suggestions from the list below and spend some time for your self. You DESERVE it!

Today we need to breathe, and stay safe. I am adding the button below because I believe knowledge is power. As more information emerges and evolves over these next few days and weeks I will update this site. Please do not lose the main reason for this post by reading more information and not take time for you.

Thank you for all you do for your students, your school, and your community. Now I ask you to take some time and do for you. We are ESP!!