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Education Support Professionals

Education Support Professionals

We’re NEA ESPs and Proud of It!




Education Support Professionals: It's More Than a Job, It's a Career


ESP's are the school support staff working side-by-side with teachers and administrators to help students achieve their best. A major source of support professionals' work satisfaction is the personal fulfillment they get from working with students and serving their communities. Listen to Stephone Avery, in the video below, about his work as a head custodian in the Camden, Arkansas public school district.


Passionate School Chefs Could Win $10,000 on “Chopped”

Food Network will be doing an episode featuring four passionate school chefs! The Food Network is looking for men or women (ages 25-55) who work in school nutrition services and have dynamic personalities and strong culinary skills. The network must be able to film the school chef competitors at their schools as part of the bio package/introduction to the show. Filming most likely will take place in late February or early March, and the contestants selected must be available to film their episode in New York City on April 30, 2012. The episode will air later in the year.

You know you’ve got culinary skills, so show the world your talent and dedication to your students and possibly win $10,000!

Click here to complete and submit the online application form. Application deadline is February 8th! Don't msis out! 

Video: Last Season's School Chef "Chopped" Highlights

Share Your Interactive Technology Idea to Win $1,000

The NEA Foundation and the Department of Education challenge you to propose a solution to how interactive technology and game-based learning help engage student learning. Up to 10 participants will receive $1,000. Submission deadline is March 5, 2012.
Click here for full contest details.

Healthier Lunches Coming to Schools

New standards for school meals were released on Wednesday, January 25, 2012 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture through legislation championed by First Lady Michelle Obama.

Remarks by the First Lady in School Lunch Standards Announcement

The First Lady acknowledges food service workers for all they do in behalf of students.

VIDEOS: ESP - It's More Than Just a Job, It's a Career

ESP members across the country speak out on what their work means to them. Listen to what Jossette Threatts of Delaware, Stacy Yanko of New Jersey, Karen Blackwood of Maryland, Lynn Witts of Montana, Joseph Almaguer of New Mexico, Stephone Avery of Arkansas, Debbie Solis of Colorado, Chris Bridges of North Carolina and Wende O'Brien of Massachusetts have to say.

NEW: NEA ESP Bullying Prevention Brief Series

Now available for download are 3 bullying briefs, the first in a series of briefs, based on findings from NEA's 2010 Nationwide Study of Bullying: Teachers and ESP Perspectives membership survey. These 4-page briefs provide practical tips on bully prevention and intervention.

For additional information on bullying prevention visit NEA's Bully Free: It Starts With Me page.

VIDEO: Education Support Professionals Talk School Modernization

Education Support Professionals are on the front lines in the fight for school modernization.

VIDEO: Our Students Deserve Better

NEA Vice President Lily Eskelsen visits a school in Reading, PA in desparate need of repair. This school represents just one of thousands of schools across the country in tremendous need of repair, remodeling, or replacement to provide a minimum environment for effective teaching and learning.

TAKE ACTION

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Tell Congress to Support the National Classified School Employee of the Year Award Act.


Save the dates

The 2012 NEA ESP Conference will be held March 9-11 at the Memphis Cook Convention Center. The host hotel will be the Marriott Memphis Downtown Hotel, Memphis, TN.

EDUCATION VOTES
Join the fight for collective bargaining rights! Stay connected with the latest attacks on education and Speak Up!

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Video

A Day Without Education Support Professionals (ESP)

A Day Without Education Support Professionals (ESP)
See for yourself how important every education support professional is to the daily lives of our students and our schools. This poignant video illustrates the value of our work on so many levels. It was produced by Indiana member Mary Neylon.


Dave Arnold: This school custodian and former Illinois Education Association ESP of the Year is a published poet. But most Association members know him best from the editorials -- Dave's View --