School custodians make significant contributions to public health. The national C.L.E.A.N. (Custodial Leaders for Environmental Advocacy Nationwide) awards program recognizes that fact and reward a school custodian who demonstrates outstanding leadership in the field of school cleanliness. The program is a joint initiative of the National Education Association, the NEA Health Information Network, and the Soap and Detergent Association. We encourage you to nominate a deserving custodian or group of custodians. Nominees must be current Association members. The application package and examples of past winners is available at www.neahin.org/cleanaward/. The deadline for returning the application is December 7, 2009.

Chesapeake's Rena Davis Wins 2010 VEA ESP of the Year Award

Rena Davis, a special education teacher assistant at Thurgood Marshall Elementary School in Chesapeake, has been named the Virginia Education Association's Education Support Professional (ESP) of the Year.

In her 26 years of service to the children of Chesapeake Public Schools (CPS), Davis (pictured at right with VEA President Kitty Boitnott) has become known for her warmth and compassion. "She is a truly caring and sincere individual," said Malia Huddle, president of the Chesapeake Education Association (CEA). "Her love is evident in the way she conducts herself in the classroom and through her daily interactions with anyone who crosses her path."

Davis has served CPS and CEA in a number of capacities over the years. She mentors new teachers and ESPs and is currently a member of the VEA Board of Directors and the CEA Political Action Committee and Lobby Team. She's also active for ESPs on the national level as a member of the National Education Association's ESP Caucus.

VEA ESP of the Year, 2011. Make your nomination by returning your materials to VEA by October 19, 2010. View and download the Guidelines and Data Sheet.

Before coming to Thurgood Marshall, Davis was also a teacher assistant at the city's Preschool Center and at Central Elementary School (now called Deep Creek Central).

In accepting her award at the VEA convention in Virginia Beach, Davis praised the cooperative spirit among all staff at Thurgood Marshall. "We are all a piece of the puzzle; success in our jobs truly involves teamwork," she said.

Check here for the latest news and announcements affecting ESP members and members-to-be.

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Nominate the 2011 VEA ESP of the Year. VEA encourages the submission of worthy nominees for the next VEA ESP of the Year. View and download the Guidelines and Data Sheet. Completed nomination materials must be received by VEA by October 19, 2010. For more on the ESP of the Year, click here.

King George Bus Drivers Organize. A new Driver Leadership Council created by bus drivers in King George has quickly established itself as a group that can get employee problems resolved. Find out how they did it.

A day without ESPs? An Association member in Indiana, Mary Neylon, gave it some thought and decided to produce a video showing what schools might be like without all the valuable support professionals doing their jobs. View the results here .

Take charge of your professional development. A variety of action tools were recently posted within the ESP area of the National Education Association web site (www.nea.org). Check out this page and you'll find lots of great ideas and tools for effective professional development programs that meet your needs. There are also related resources on the various trades.

VEA is proud to include many Education Support Professionals (ESP) among its membership of 60,000. ESP members of every job category join to enjoy the benefits of membership. As a member of VEA, you'll not only gain a voice on the job, you'll be entitled to money-saving insurance and other programs.

Check out the drop-down menu on the left for the latest news and announcements, training opportunities, and other items of interest.

Paying education support professionals (ESPs) a living wage "is not only an education issue, it's a moral issue, it's a civil rights issue, and it's a women's issue."

That call for economic justice, issued by Debbie Minnick, a teaching assistant from Ithaca, NY, was the theme echoed by both participants and presenters Saturday at the VEA's first Living Wage Conference.

The aim of the gathering was to equip ESPs around the state to launch campaigns for improved pay for public school employees such as teaching assistants, bus drivers, school secretaries, maintenance workers and food service workers. Many ESPs find it impossible to make ends meet on their school salaries, and find themselves working two or three jobs to survive.

"I live in West Virginia," says Brett Smeltzer, a school maintenance worker and a member of the Loudoun Education Association. "I can't afford to live in the county where I work. I'd like to see that change."

"It would mean so much just to have the financial support and benefits we deserve for all we do every day," says Betty Key, a school bus driver and member of the Augusta County Education Association.

Among the speakers at the conference were Joe Szakos, the executive director of the Virginia Organizing Project; Jerry Parham, a teaching assistant and bus driver in Sussex County who organized the Sussex Education Association's living wage campaign; and Minnick, who helped spearhead a living wage campaign in Ithaca, N.Y., that drew national attention.

"How many of you believe that someone working full-time should live in poverty?" asked Szakos. "It's not fair, it's not right—and it's affecting our kids."

Participants left with marching orders, and some nuts-and-bolts information on launching successful living wage campaigns. Among the skills they're now ready to put into practice are assessing their local Association's ability to sustain a campaign, building support both from fellow educators and the public, and working effectively with public officials.

Minnick urged attendees to overcome their hesitation about taking the issue of ESP pay public. "Don't be afraid," she says. "When people hear the truth, they'll support you."

For Dwayne Ross, a teaching assistant at the Virginia School for the Deaf, Blind and Multiple Handicapped in Hampton, the message hit home.

"Lots of people complain," he said. "I want to be the person who does something about it."

by Norma B. Bergey

The school nurse's job isn't what it used to be. Once, they were the people who checked students' heads for dreaded lice and dispensed bandages. No longer! The school health situation has changed tremendously in recent years. Today, the school clinic functions as a mini emergency room. A student walking into the clinic may have anything from a bloody cut suffered in physical education class to a headache that has him frightened because he's a brain cancer survivor. It's also not unusual for a student who is a diabetic to appear, acting confused, or a student with asthma to walk through the door, wheezing audibly. While all this may be happening, multiple children could arrive for their daily medications, along with a teacher returning from the bus ramp with a child who is crying frantically as a result of parent separation anxiety. A staff member with a severe headache might request that her blood pressure be checked. All of these and more are everyday occurrences in today's school health office clinic.

Professional school nurses care for a myriad of student medical needs, but their contributions don't stop there: Nurses also support student academic and social success. According to the National Association of School Nurses, school divisions with "adequate nursing coverage" have fewer absences, a decreased dropout rate and higher test scores.

School nurses reach out not only to students and staff, but often to the community, as well. They are, in some cases, the first and only health care provider that some students see. In addition to first aid and emergency care, some of the services many school nurses offer:

• Health education
• Health records maintenance
• Health surveillance and intervention
• Mental health appraisals
• Health and social service referrals and follow-ups
• Communicable disease surveillance and control
• CPR and first aid certification for staff
• Environmental and safety control
• Medication dispensing
• Screenings for scoliosis, dental, hearing and vision problems
• Sports physical screenings
• Health and nutrition counseling for students and staff
• Crisis intervention and child abuse reporting
• Medical referrals and Medicaid billing
• Employee wellness programs and specialized exercise programs for students.

Also, as members of consultation and child study teams, school nurses contribute important health/nursing assesments that may affect the student's educational process.

Over the last decade, more children with special health care needs have been mainstreamed into regular education classrooms as a result of federal laws that affect students with chronic health conditions. Mainstreaming can be a positive step for both students and teachers, but can also raise issues for the care of students with ongoing problems. About 15 to 18 percent of U.S. children have a chronic health condition, according to the University of Michigan Health System, and it's been estimated that 1 in every 20 students needs a prescription medication while at school. Problems can develop when school staff members who are not medically trained, such as teachers, teacher's aides and secretaries, are given the responsibility of dispensing medication or otherwise treating students with chronic health issues.

School nurses receive years of training in order to deal with both chronic and acute health issues and can assess, plan for, implement treatment of, and evaluate each student's health concern. It can simply be dangerous to have such steps taken by a staff member without the educational background to effectively do so. Yet in Virginia, this often happens. Parents and staff may mistakenly believe that a professional school nurse is in the school full-time to take care of their child. However, this may not be true since school nurses are not mandated in every public school in Virginia. There is no school-nurse-to-student ratio in the state's Standards of Quality for public schools, as there is for speech therapists and guidance counselors. As you might expect, the major issue is money. Unfortunately, it may take a tragedy to open the eyes of the public to the fact that non-nurse school workers are attempting to care for sick children.

Because more children are attending classes with chronic and acute health problems, it is clear that professional nurses should be an integral part of every school. There needs to be one school nurse in every building in order for school nurses, educators and parents to work hand-in-hand in order to support the success of all students. The children and teachers of Virginia deserve one school nurse in every building!

Bergey, a member of the Chesapeake Education Association and a school nurse at George W. Carver Intermediate School, is the immediate past president of the Virginia Association of School Nurses.

For a full rundown on ESP professional development, issues, resources and other information, be sure to check in with the NEA's ESP homepage.

Many support professionals cannot afford to live in the communities where they work, and many work two or three jobs to make ends meet. A Living Wage Campaign can be an effective way to bring the financial plight of ESPs to the attention of your community and gain support for improving ESP salaries.

Both VEA and NEA have grant programs that education support professionals can take advantage of in order to further their professional development, organize a project, or launch a campaign. For information on VEA Mini-Grants, click here. To learn about grants available through the NEA Foundation, click here.

NEA-member support professionals from around the U.S. will gather in Baltimore next March for the NEA's annual ESP Conference. The get-together will feature three days of training, learning, organizing and networking, and will be held at the Marriott Waterfront Hotel.

For some facts and figures about you and your fellow support professionals, click here.

VEA ESP members have formed a Yahoo! online group to share ideas, support each other, and just to stay in touch. To be a part of the gang, click here.