Learning: ESP on the Team
ESP Learn to Plan Their Own Professional Development Is a Team Effort

Innovative programs and cooperative agreements help make sure that, when it comes to professional development, support staff aren't left on the sidelines.

"Professional development is one of the top three issues for ESP around the country," along with job security and safety, according to National Council for Educational Support Personnel President Karen Mahurin.

Mahurin, a school secretary in Kenai, Alaska, says that ESP jobs continue to change, and school districts expect ESP to change with them, but most districts are doing little to help. So ESP and their Associations are taking the lead.

The most successful professional development programs are based on cooperative relationships between NEA local affiliates and school districts and between ESP and teachers.

For instance, in Bothell, Washington, administrative receptionist Jeanette Marquandt, an ESP member on the NEA Board of Directors, explains that her district has always had staff development for ESP.

A few years ago, the North Shore Education Office Personnel Association, which represents office workers and paraeducators, negotiated a pact that gives an additional 42.75 paid hours each year (prorated for part-timers) for professional growth activities.

Hours can be used to attend courses and workshops or to participate in district committees and staff retreats. The hours are paid each month and are deducted from an employee's pay at the end of the year if they are not used.

In the Council Rock School District, Pennsylvania support staff in Bucks County this year organized their 6th Annual In-service Day, held on Election Day, a non-work day for school-year employees.

"It's a wonderful day," says Council Rock ESPA President Dolores McCracken.

The district funds the day's activities, and the entire program is planned by an ESP in-service committee. This year 75 percent of support staff attended, participating in workshops on such topics as computer use, stress management, building safety codes, and crisis preparedness.

This in-service day, sparked originally by an ESP initiative, was at first offered at the discretion of the school district, and ESP were not compensated for attending. But the day is now written into the ESP contract.

In the Washington Elementary School district in Phoenix, Arizona, the need for a better ESP staff development system kept coming up through the district's collaborative decision-making process. Among the challenges facing ESP: The District's 25,000 K-8 students speak 34 different primary languages, and half of all students receive free or reduced price lunch.

Teachers and ESP work closely together in the schools and within the Washington District Education Association. So when veteran teacher and Association activist Cheryl Carson was given a one-year position, developing a district-wide program of ESP staff development, ESP involvement was an essential part of her approach.

Carson's study team will spend this year developing a plan for implementation in the fall of 2000. Her best sources? NEA members.

Team Player
A Beautiful Relationship

Name: JoAnn Falk

Job Title: Now in a new position, I am a media clerk at Vineland Middle School, Pueblo, Colorado.

Experience: A classified employee for 22 years, I've always been very active in district affairs. I helped organize and lead the Association of Classified Employees in 1994, and I now serve as a member of the South Mesa Accountability Committee and co-founder and head of School District 70's Foundation Board. I also sit on the political action committee for the Colorado Education Association.

How I team up with my colleagues: I wanted to find a way to start and fund a beautification project that would involve all 15 schools in our district.

The first step was to survey each school to find out its specific needs. Based on the feedback from each school's accountability committee, the scope of the project grew to include both the planting of trees and flowerbeds and also the enhancement of school sports fields and running tracks.

Step two involved meeting with the Master Gardener's program, which is part of the state's agricultural extension service. After putting together an estimated budget and proposed project schedule, we held a meeting with County Commissioner John Klomp. He opted to expand the project to include many area parks and playgrounds.

We received county funds to implement the project, and we were even able to set up a cooperative arrangement between our own district maintenance workers and groundskeepers from the county to do the work.

The commissioner also put us in touch with the state's attorney, who is helping us work with other entities in the area of funding.

How I see the power of teamwork today: Teamwork is definitely the way to go. It's taken a lot hard work from a lot of different people and groups, but, in the end, we're getting the job done. Some students have even gotten involved in planting flowers at various sites.

Going the Extra Mile

"If you want something done," the saying goes, "ask a busy person."

In Paradise Valley, Arizona, one such person is Terrie Minnick, a media technician at Eagle Ridge Elementary who concurrently serves as secretary of the classified local and president of the state PTA.

"We're a union family," says Minnick, whose husband, Paul, is a member of the National Association of Letter Carriers. "When I first started working here, I just got involved."

As secretary of the Paradise Valley Support Education Association, Minnick is focused on gaining more dollars for education, salary increases, and professional growth opportunities for classified employees.

"Arizona ranks last in per pupil spending for education," she says. "We're short on teachers, and we can't even get substitutes we need in the classroom."

Minnick's two children were the impetus for active involvement in the Parent Teacher Association, an interest she followed from their elementary to high school years.

Now state president, Minnick leads the charge on health and safety issues, particularly legislation requiring children to be restrained when riding in the back of pick-up trucks.

Deanna Schulz, a paraeducator and playground supervisor, runs a school-wide mediation program in Coupeville, Washington, that uses peer mediators to settle playground conflicts. Schulz adapted a technique she learned during a conflict resolution training in 1994, and, with the backing of a counselor at Coupeville Elementary, has successfully implemented the program, now in its fifth year. The student mediators take 10 to 12 hours of training, before or after school. After the training, red-coated young mediators--armed with clipboards and active listening skills--help their classmates find solutions to common playground clashes.

"The kids patrol the playground looking for signs of kids being upset, angry, or sad," says Schulz. "They use language that gives complainants the power to choose, such as, 'I see you guys are having a problem. Would you like us to help you with that?'"

After 32 years on the road as a bus driver and member of the Guilderland, New York ESP Association, Linda Fischer is turning in her keys, but not before picking up a very special honor: "Best Bus Driver of the Year."

"I was absolutely flabbergasted when I heard the news," says Fischer, reflecting on her honor from the National Association for Pupil Transportation.

Fischer was chosen from thousands of candidates for her "spotless record and recommendations from students and colleagues."

Widely praised for her precision-timed schedule, Fischer begins her safety checks at 5:45 a.m. The day ends with her checking for lost possessions and drowsy children, who, she says, occasionally fall asleep and slide under seats.

Fischer's devotion to safety comes naturally. She's driven her own children and grandchildren to school.

"It'll be a bittersweet time for me," says Fischer of her upcoming June retirement. "But it's time to turn the keys over to the younger kids--some of them are kids I drove, too."

Resources

Help for Kids
Although auditory processing problems may affect as many as 1 in 20 children, Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD) is rarely considered as a possible cause for a child's problems in school, according to a recent article by Anne S. Robertson in Parent News. CAPD is not deafness, but resembles what is frequently called "auditory dyslexia" because the processing of neurological signals from the ear to the brain may not be fully developed.

Children struggling with auditory problems are frequently labeled "poor listeners" or are sometimes misdiagnosed with other learning or behavior problems such as attention deficit disorder (ADD).

Parent News is an online newsletter published by the National Parent Information Network (NPIN). The CAPD article can be found at http://npin.org/pnews/1999/pnew999/feat999.html. Contact NPIN at: ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Children's Research Center, 51 Gerty Drive, Champaign, IL 61820-7469, 217/333-1386; E-mail: ericeece@uiuc.edu.

Children's Books
"Eukee is a smart little elephant who likes to chase butterflies, blow bubbles, and do cartwheels. He always feels jumpy inside, however, and can never finish the march at school." Eukee the elephant has attention deficit disorder (ADD) in the children's book The Jumpy Jumpy Elephant, listed on the "Children's Books about Disabilities" page of the ERIC Clearinghouse on Disabilities and Gifted Children (ERIC EC) Web site, at http://ericec.org/. If you work with students who don't fit into the mainstream, be sure to visit this site where you'll find an extensive collection of resources on disabilities and gifted and talented issues.

Food Service Information
The "Foodservice.com" Web site is a source of up-to-date information on what's going on in the food service industry. A free, weekly E-mail newsletter delivers news highlights directly to your in-box and links to more extensive Web resources. The Food Safety section of the site provides basic information on kitchen hazards, a food safety discussion forum, and links to product recall, sanitation, and training information. This site also offers an E-mail discussion list, online bulletin boards and chat, classified ads, price information, industry news, and more.

The Red Book
Has a child ever gotten a nosebleed on your school bus? Do students scrape their knees on the playground at recess? Who cleans up after a pupil who "has an accident" during the school day? It's all in a day's work for ESP.

But did you know that the Hepatitis B virus can survive in dried blood on hard surfaces for at least a week? Today's educators also need to know how to protect themselves and their students from diseases that are transmitted by blood and body fluids.

The Red Book--Exposure to Blood on the Job: What School Employees Need to Know, a new booklet from NEA's Health Information Network, contains basic information that every school employee should know about dealing with the hazards of blood-borne diseases, including Hepatitis B and C and HIV. To order your free copy of The Red Book, call the Health Information Network at 800/718-8387, or use the on-line order form at http://www.neahin.org/7.html.