Week of 11-15-2021

Inside this issue

• Happy 100th American Education Week, PSEA!
• Meet Dee Scales, the 2021 ESP of the Year!
• Congratulations to Joe Welch on a magnificent two-year rein as PA Teacher of the Year
• Watch Dee Scales and Aaron Chapin on Pennsylvania Newsmakers
• PEARL & the Center for Professional Learning
• Member Benefits spotlight: Voluntary Vision Plan

This week marks NEA’s 100th annual American Education Week. We’ve spent this week celebrating you across our media channels. But I want to take a moment to thank you directly.

The past 20 months has demanded so much of you, and of everyone involved in the education of our kids. That means all of you as well as the parents, guardians, and community leaders who partner with you.

When it comes to educating the next generation of Pennsylvanians, we’re all in it together — and we all have a role to play.

Whether you’re a teacher, a support professional, school counselor, nurse, psychologist, or social worker, you are critical in keeping our schools open and functioning properly as you address the intellectual, nutritional, and mental health needs of students through this pandemic and beyond.

Thank you so much for everything you do and continue to do for your students and your school communities. This is a particularly challenging time in education. But thanks to you, we’ll get through it. Just like we always have. Just like we always will. Together.

There’s no better time than American Education Week to celebrate our hardworking ESP members. And none more deserving of recognition than Dee Scales, the 2021 Dolores McCracken PSEA Education Support Professional of the Year.

“I am honored to receive this recognition,” Scales said. “It means a lot because support professionals do a lot of work, not only within our schools but in our communities, as well. Many support professionals live in the communities where they work so they have a great rapport not just with students but with students’ families, too.”

Scales has worked as a paraprofessional in the Woodland Hills School District for the past 26 years, including working with special needs students in life skills, learning support, and emotional support classrooms. She currently works with students in an emotional support classroom in the Dickson Preparatory STEAM Academy.

Scales serves as president of PSEA’s Education Support Professionals Western Division and sits on PSEA’s Racial Justice and Equity Taskforce, PSEA’s Resolutions Committee, and PSEA’s Credentials and Elections Committee. She is a delegate to both PSEA’s House of Delegates and the National Education Association’s Representative Assembly.

Watch this PA Newsmakers clip of Dee Scales talking about the many different roles that PSEA ESP members perform to keep students safe and our schools running smoothly:

Congratulations to Joe Welch on a magnificent two-year rein as PA Teacher of the Year

With the PA Teacher of the Year selection process on hold this past year due to COVID-19, North Hills School District teacher Joe Welch carried over the title from the previous year. A new TOTY will be announced in December, and the PA Deptartment of Education is now accepting nominations for the 2023 school year. 

Welch, who teaches American History at North Hills Middle School, has been an amazing ambassador for the teaching profession since he was announced as the winner in Dec. 2019. And we wish him all the best going forward.

Watch Dee Scales and Aaron Chapin on Pennsylvania Newsmakers

Earlier this week, PSEA Vice President Aaron Chapin and 2021 ESP of the Year Dee Scales joined Terry Madonna on Pennsylvania Newsmakers to talk about key issues affecting education right now. You can watch the full clip by clicking on the thumbnail above. 

Find more than 50 courses you can take right now for Act 48 credit and Chapter 14 verification through PEARL, our new online learning hub!

PEARL

Here are just a few of the dozens of asynchronous courses you can enjoy right now on PEARL:

• Getting Started with Google Classroom
• Journaling to Promote Wellness
• FlipGrid: What is it and how do I use it in my practice?
• Rethinking Grading
• Managing Behaviors in Children with Autism and Developmental Disabilities
• Best Practices for Effective Distance Learning and Instruction with Introduction to Nearpod

Member Well-being

• Mindful Mondays
  
  • Dec. 6, 5-5:45 p.m.

The PSEA Voluntary Vision Plan offers low monthly payments, great frame and contact lenses allowances, exam coverage, fitting fee coverage for contact lenses, and offers the choice of 12-month or 24-month coverage. The plan is available to all PSEA members and eligible dependents to age 26. Enrollment opens the first of each month.

The 12-month plan highlights include a $250 frame allowance or $150 contact lenses allowance with monthly premiums of only $12 for single coverage, $24 for two party, and $35 for family coverage.

The 24-month plan highlights include a $250 frame allowance or $175 contact lenses allowance with monthly premiums of only $8 for single coverage, $16 for two party, and $23 for family coverage.

For more information on the vision program please visit https://pseahwf.org/voluntary_vision/ or call the PSEA Health & Welfare Fund at 800-944-7732 ext. 7024