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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 4, 2000

News Release

New Jerseyite Richard Malizia Addresses NEA Convention

Named NEA's Education Support Employee of the Year, Malizia Challenges Delegates to "Go the Extra Mile"

Chicago, IL - The National Education Association's (NEA) outstanding education support employee of 2000, Richard Malizia, told delegates gathered here for the Association's 138th Annual Meeting that his success was due to "hard work and a love of children."

Malizia, who was recognized by the Association with a $10,000 award, began working in the New Jersey public schools as a custodian more than 25 years ago. Today he is known as an outstanding public school attendance coordinator, labor representative, and community leader in Union City, NJ.

NEA President Bob Chase praised Malizia's efforts to reach at-risk kids through his work as an attendance officer. "His compassion, creativity, and hard work are examples for us all."

Working with child study professionals, school psychologists, social workers, counselors, teachers and other attendance officers, Malizia helped to create "Support Services" teams that develop tailored responses to individual young people in distress.

Due in part to these efforts, Union City has achieved one of the best student attendance records of any district in New Jersey. In the 1998-99 school year, the student attendance rate was more than 96 percent.

The NEA's nearly 300,000 Educational Support Personnel (ESP) members work behind the scenes in schools in every state, running administrative offices, driving school buses, tutoring students, providing technical support, operating food service programs, and generally serving as special friends to children in their communities.

NEA's Annual Meeting continues through Thursday, July 6, at the McCormick Center. More than 9,000 delegates are in attendance.

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The National Education Association is the nation’s largest professional employee organization, representing more than 2.7 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support personnel, school administrators, retired educators, and students preparing to become teachers.