Week of 3-22-2021

Inside this issue

• Nearing 100 percent vaccination for school staff
• Have you gotten your vaccine? Tell us about it.
• Your experiences can help shape the future
• Celebrate Women’s History Month with another great PSEA leader
• PA House passes bill to address substitute teacher shortage
• Enter the PSEA T-shirt design contest!
• PSEA’s Center for Professional Learning schedule
• Member Benefits spotlight: Identity Theft Protection Plans

The school staff vaccination program continues to exceed expectations, with more than 100,000 school employees vaccinated in just over two weeks. It is now likely that all school staff members who want to receive the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine will get it in the next week or so.

PSEA joined with Gov. Tom Wolf and members of the bipartisan COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force to make this program happen – and we are thrilled that it’s going so well.

PSEA, I hope you will take advantage of this program and get vaccinated. If you still have questions about it, you can find the answers here.

Share your story with us on Facebook!

Your experiences can help shape the future

Your experiences meeting the challenges of teaching and serving students during the COVID-19 pandemic are so valuable. In fact, they can help shape public education in Pennsylvania for years to come.

You can share your experiences and successful classroom practices during a series of six, 1.5 hour listening sessions held between March 24 and April 13. The listening sessions will be hosted by Remake Learning, in partnership with KnowledgeWorks and the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

Register here for an upcoming session and share your experiences to help shape the future of public education.

Celebrate Women’s history month by remembering another great PSEA leader, former PSEA President Bertha Boyd.

Bertha was the Association’s president in 1960 and urged the General Assembly to increase school funding and lobbied for better teacher pay and tenure.

Recognizing the need to address the substitute teacher shortage, the state House of Representatives unanimously approved legislation to give schools more flexibility in hiring day-to-day substitutes. The bill, which now goes to the state Senate, is a significant step toward ensuring that schools have access to substitute teachers when they need them.

House Bill 412, sponsored by Rep. Barbara Gleim, would:

• Allow people with inactive certificates to serve as substitute teachers for up 180 days, rather than the current limit of 90 days;
• Allow substitutes with day-to-day permits to serve more easily in schools; and
• Extend the authorization for prospective educators enrolled in teacher preparation programs to serve as day-to-day substitute teachers.

Calling all creative thinkers in the PSEA family! We need you to help us imagine PSEA’s next member T-shirt.

Last year, PSEA-Retired member Kathy Bravin came up with a simple but powerful design that reflects why we are educators and support professionals. The “I Love Public Schools” T-shirts have been a big hit.

Now, it’s your turn to come up with PSEA’s next T-shirt design. What do you want to communicate about what it means to be an educator and a PSEA member?

PSEA’s Center for Professional Learning schedule

Learn at your speed on PSEA’s Center for Professional Learning:

Earn Act 48/Chapter 14 credit anytime, anywhere.

Webinars

• Maximizing Google Classroom for Remote Learning
  • March 30, 6-7:30 p.m.
• Occupational Therapy in the School Setting: Let’s Grow Fine Motor Skills Together!
  • April 8, 5-7 p.m.
• Leveling Up Seesaw
  • April 13, 6-7:30 p.m.
• Google Classroom (Advanced)
  • April 20, 6-7:30 p.m.
• EdTech Pedagogy in Early Childhood
  • April 27, 6-7:30 p.m.
• Screencasting: Loom, Screencastify, Google Meet
  • May 4, 6-7:30 p.m.
• Educator Evaluation in 2021 and Beyond
  • May 6, 2021, 5-6:30 p.m.
• Implicit Bias in Schools
  • May 20, 6-7:30 p.m.

Book Discussions

• Refugee - Alan Gratz
• April 7, 5-6 p.m.
• Race to Incarcerate: A Graphic Retelling - Sabrina Jones and Mac Mauer
• April 21, 5-6 p.m.
• Out of My Mind - Sharon Draper
• May 5, 5-6 p.m.
• Early Elementary LGTBQIA+ Book Collection
• May 12, 5-7 p.m.
• Late Elementary LGTBQIA+ Book Collection
• May 17, 5-7 p.m.
• New Kid - Jerry Craft
• May 19, 5-6 p.m.

Wellness Sessions

• Mindfulness for Members 2021-VII – This session includes mindful practices for preventing burnout.
• April 12, 5-6 p.m.
• Mindfulness for Members 2021-VIII – This session includes mindful practices for experiencing gratitude.
• April 26, 5-6 p.m.
• Mindfulness for Members 2021-IX – This session includes mindful practices for healthy minds.
• May 10, 5-6 p.m.
• Mindfulness for Members 2021-X – This session includes mindful practices for developing awareness.
• May 24, 5-6 p.m.
• Mindfulness for Members 2021-XI – This session includes mindful practices for experiencing calm, joy, gratitude, self-compassion, and resilience.
• June 7, 5-6 p.m.

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