Learning: ESP On the Team
Bargaining Partnership

Support professionals and administrators in Illinois abide by a partnership clause that leaves everyone more time to focus on education.

Ten years ago, paraeducators, secretaries, and custodians in High School District 214, a large local in Chicago's northwest suburbs, were struggling for respect.

"We were seen as nothing more than little old ladies in tennis shoes," says Vickijo Almgreen, past president of the Education Support Professional Association (ESPA). "Administrators didn't think we were that important to the successful schools equation."

But since then, everything has changed.

"We started using interest-based bargaining in the mid-1990s, and it's completely turned our district around," says Almgreen, a technology assistant at Rolling Hills High School. "We're now considered important and valuable stakeholders, true partners in the education of our students."

Today, this partnership mentality is such an important part of the work that a partnership "clause" is bar-gained into the support professionals contract--even above payroll, insurance, and days off.

"It's second only to being recognized as an Association," says Almgreen. "It keeps us all focused on the real reason we're here--for the kids."

ESPA President Jan Trsar, who was hired to work as the secretary for the district's employee relations supervisor shortly after she became the Association president, says she and her supervisor have constant contact about Association issues.

"The fact that they hired the Association president to work for an administrator is huge," says Trsar. "But the whole idea revolves around a simple concept. The supervisor and I have a relationship that enables us to say, 'We might have a possible problem with the Association, let's work on it before it becomes an issue.'"

Through interest-based bargaining and the partnership focus, Almgreen says the days of long negotiations sessions and fighting are gone.

"We come to the table with respect for each other and a willing-ness to work through the process with open minds," she says. "If something seems to be going off course, all we have to do is point back to the partnership clause and remind ourselves that this is what we said we would do."

This focus has led to many outstanding benefits for the district's support personnel employees, includ-ing a $10,000 fund to reimburse members up to 75 percent of their college tuition and professional development costs.

Other benefits include paid holi-days in the double-digits, the ability to take a leave of absence after only two years of employment, and a self-run health insurance program overseen by a committee of support personnel and administrators.

The Association's leadership has also worked hand-in-hand with administrators to present workshops to other support professionals at the Illinois Education Association's state conference, and to administrators at national conferences.

"We talk about our history and what it took to get to this point," says Almgreen. "We stress that building a partnership is about developing relationships and respect for each other. And we let them know that it takes time and effort to do so."

Both Trsar and Almgreen agree that the relationship has also affected the students.

"They see our partnership and realize that we are working as a team for them," says Trsar.

Adds Almgreen: "We can concentrate on our jobs and the education of students instead of worrying about our contracts or relationships. Our students remain our number one priority."

While they are certainly pleased with their good benefits and the ability to work in such a fair environment, both leaders say it's the open-door policy and newfound respect that really make the difference.

"We are listened to and respected," says Trsar. "In the end, that's what anyone really wants."

--Dina S. Gómez

Partnership Points

• Partners share responsibility for common goals;
• Partners cooperate and collaborate to assure a positive relationship;
• Partners support each other as team members;
• Partners communicate with each other to assure that everyone is heard;
• Partners recognize and value each other's strengths; and
• Partners work to develop an environment that promotes trust.

Team player
Moose Move On in Alaska

Name:
Kate Carmody

Job Title:
Head custodian, Sears Elementary, Kenai, Alaska

What I Do in My Job:
I do what most custodians do: make sure the school's kept in good physical condition, clean and safe. We're a school of about 350 kids in kindergarten through second grade and we are a special needs school.

Sometimes I help out in the classroom. Last year, Mrs. Sorenson's students put together a huge storybook with drawings and brief stories about me and what I do. They called it "Hats Off to Ms. Kate."

First thing in the morning, I'm out in front of the school to make sure the kids get off the bus and into the building safely. I'm usually around in the lunchroom, and there's always a bunch of paperwork to be done.

Ours is a real community school, so I see the kids and their families outside the school. The students see me as part of the family; they come looking for me with things they need done. Before the holidays, one student brought in three nutcrackers for me to fix.

Beyond the Call:
One thing I have to do that's different from what most custodians do is chase off moose from the school playground several times a year.

Though there are about 5,000 people in Kenai, this is rural Alaska, so the animals are all around us, and some, like the moose just like to see what's going on around them. They'll jump six-foot fences to get to our playground. Most of the time, I can scare them off easily by waving a sign attached to a shovel.

Association Involvement:
I've been on the Executive Board of the Kenai Peninsula Educational Support Association for about the last ten years. Ours is one of the first ESP locals to be organized in Alaska.

Going the Extra Mile

The Lincoln Journal Star hailed Nebraska's Jim Rehm in a September 3 article that detailed Rehm's efforts to get Zeman Elementary School ready for the new school year.

Rehm, the head custodian, put in 100 hours in one week in an effort to get the school ready for opening day.

Zeman had been the focus of much school construction work last summer, including removal of asbestos, repair of a buckling classroom floor, and replacement of the gymnasium floor and the building's air-conditioning system. When the work got behind schedule, that meant 18-hour days for Rehm the week and weekend before school started, the Journal Star reported. Rehm was quick to point out that his only full-time helper, Jeff Picraux, teachers, paraprofessionals, and others also pitched in with the cleanup and preparation. "It was a team effort," Rehm told the Journal Star.

Many Christina Secretaries Association members are seeing more money in their paychecks thanks to a salary equity study the Delaware local conducted with the help of NEA Research.

Following the survey, which took two years to complete and analyze, more than 60 percent of school secretaries were upgraded, with salary increases ranging from $1,200 to $1,500 each. Two new secretarial job classfications were also added: executive secretary and program assistant. In addition, the local gained a few more bargaining unit members, as a result of the survey.

"It was time to correct inequities," explains CSA President Pat Downes. "Now we'll be enlisting the other DSEA secretarial locals in our legisatlive lobbying campaign to add secretarial positions and reduce workload."

By day, Shelley Lazurus is a media specialist in the Bloomfield Hills (Michigan) school district. By night, she's often writing, and her latest work--a biogography of hockey great Steve Yzerman--is climbing up the charts.

"It's really written for younger readers," notes Lazarus who says she got the idea Hockeytown Hero: The Steve Yzerman Story (published by Otter Books and available at Borders and Amazon.com) four years ago, when she was tutoring a group of boys, ages 9 to 13.

"They were all Detroit Red Wings fans, "she recalls, and they all wanted to know about Steve." Their interest peaked when Yzerman's Red Wings team won the Stanley Cup.

The book is selling well and helping a local charity, too. Part of the proceeds go to one of Yzerman's favorite charities, the Gift of Reading Program.

Resources

Music to Your Kids' Ears
ESP who work with young children may want to tap into a new program born of a collaboration between the people behind "Sesame Street" and the American Music Products Association.

The three-year effort called "Sesame Stree Music Works" aims at getting parents, educators, and and caregivers moving, singing, and making music. Evidence suggests that music making helps young children develop their brains and boosts performance in academic areas. There's a home video, a muscial activity guide, plus a Web site. All materials are free at www.sesamestreet.com.

Clean Air, Better Learning
Half of our nation's 115,000 schools have problems linked to indoor air quality, according to the Environ-mental Protection Agency. You'll find this out, and much more, if you take a look at the EPA's school Web site.

There's information on curricula to use, student performance, managing asthma, and trainings you can take advantage of. An IAQ Tools for Schools Kit covers virtually every aspect of indoor air quality. Checklists help you identify potential problems and what to do about them if you've already identified them. While you're at www.epa.gov/iaq/schools/, check out the schools that were named 2001 winners of the EPA's Excellence Awards, which recognize efforts to promote healthy school environments.