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Ohio's public schools serve 1.6 million children - 90 percent of students in the state! What happens in the classroom has impacts far beyond the walls of the K-12 school building or higher ed lecture hall. So, on behalf of the 120,000 members of the Ohio Education Association, we're taking a deeper dive into some of the many education issues facing our students, educators, and communities. Originally launched in 2021 as Education Matters, Public Education Matters is your source for insightful conversations with the people who shape the education landscape in Ohio. Have a topic you'd like to hear about on Public Education Matters? Email us at educationmatters@ohea.org
Intro - Various members and students speaking 0:08
Public Education Matters. Public Education Matters. Public Education Matters because every student matters. Education Matters. Public Education Matters because it is the foundation of our democracy. Public Education Matters because we are stronger when we speak in one voice. Public Education Matters. Public Education Matters. Public Education Matters, Public Education Matters. This is public Education Matters, brought to you by the Ohio Education Association.
Katie Olmsted 0:41
Thanks for joining us for this edition of Public Education Matters. I'm Katie Olmsted and I'm part of the communications team for the Ohio Education Association and the nearly 120,000 educators OEA represents statewide. Every day, it takes a winning team of educators to help Ohio's public school students succeed. And education support professionals - or ESPs - are an extremely important part of that team. These are the paraeducators, custodians, bus drivers, school secretaries, food service professionals, health service professionals, tech professionals, maintenance workers, security professionals, and so many others who play a vital role in students' lives inside and outside the classroom. They keep our schools running and our students safe, healthy, and ready to learn every single day. But too often, they're the unsung heroes of our public schools and support staff are not treated with the respect and dignity they deserve. One group of ESPs is working to change that. Joie Moore with the Pickerington Support Staff Association, Cheryl Williams with the Dublin Support Association, and Tammy LaPlante with the Ashtabula Association of School Employees all sat down together at the OEA ESP conference in the fall to use their united voices to lift up their profession and the important work their ESP colleagues do, to explain why union membership is so valuable for education support professionals, and to help shine a light on some of the challenges they're facing, both as ESPs and as leaders of ESP local associations. Listen to part of that conversation, starting with some of the thoughts shared by Joie Moore.
Joie Moore 2:45
ESPs are very important to our public education because our school doors would not open without us. Our students wouldn't get to school without us, our kids wouldn't eat, they wouldn't get their medicine. But the reason why I stay is I have been, I've worked at every level, I've worked from kindergarten to 12th grade. And I still have kids that graduated 10 years ago that still come back and call me, Mrs. Moore, Mama Moore, whatever. And one of the big impacts that we know as ESPs in my district that we make an impact on our kids is that seniors get to pick any staff member they want to hand them their diploma. And when students pick you to hand them that piece of paper, after their long 13 years of education, and to give them their first hug when they are walking across that stage, you know that you made a difference in that student's life. And that is one of the best feelings in the world.
Cheryl Williams 3:51
My name is Cheryl Williams. I'm an administrative secretary in Dublin City Schools and I love my job. I spent 16 and a half years in the private sector as an office manager and eventually the CFO of a corporation. And the owner decided one day to sell and I was out of a job. And my son was in fourth grade and my daughter was in college to become an educator, become a teacher herself, and I thought that I really wanted to get involved in public education. So I started my career in the kitchen. I worked my way into - because I wanted to do something different, I worked my way into a two three-hour jobs where I was a clinic aide in the morning and an office helper in the afternoon. And I realized real quickly that I could use my private sector skills in the public school setting. So I love being an elementary school secretary. I have a lot of responsibilities that go from securing substitutes for the building, to purchasing supplies, to the safety and security of everybody that comes into our building. I am the primary person who lets them in and answers the phone and helps the parents and navigates the way for the teachers. But the thing that I love the most, and the most important part, I think, that we play as education support professionals in a student's life is the relationships that we build. They know that we are the trusted adults. They can change grades and change teachers and change classes, but I'm still going to be sitting at that front desk when they come in third grade, fourth grade and fifth grade. I enjoy getting to see them grow and develop. Elementary is where it's at. In my world, that's where I like to be. But I really think that the relationships that we build with our students is really the most important piece that we bring to the puzzle.
Tammy LaPlante 5:44
I'm Tammy LaPlante. I'm a junior high custodian in Ashtabula Area City Schools. I moved to Ohio back in 2004. My job, you know, they didn't need me anymore. And I worked at a daycare for a little while, and they said, Oh, you have to have an early learning certificate. And I'm like, 'Okay, what am I supposed to do that? I work full time.' So I left there. Couldn't afford to go to school. So I started subbing out a custodian for Ashtabula schools. Within a year, I was hired full time. And I didn't realize how much I loved kids in the public school setting. And my favorite place is a junior high. And the interaction. Students need a clean learning environment. They need the doors to be secure, they need to feel safe. And this year, my job hours changed, so I don't get the interaction with the kids I used to. So I incorporated myself into the after school program. And I, they named my trash trolley the Great Grey Bandit, and I awarded them, so and I do puzzles and games, and they get to name the candy corn in the jar this week. And because they like to see me. They now got running down the hallway. Hi, Miss Tammy, how are you? What do you you know, we're glad you're here today. And it's just they know that I'm going to keep them safe, and that I'm there and a friendly smile and kind of, they're like my, my kids. And I need them as much as they need us. That's why I love public education.
Joie Moore 7:34
It seems like it's very universal about what our ESPs are going through in the state of Ohio right now. A big one is money. We're losing a lot of ESPs right now, because there is not enough money, number one to pay them, and then number two to get the enough support that they need to support their students and their staffs in their building. Another big thing is behaviors. Our students behavior since COVID. I don't know what's happening, you know, there's a lot of people getting hit, bit, punched, assaulted, verbally, mentally, physically, every day, it seems like this is a big thing that they were talking about. And this isn't just in like one part of the state, this is all over the state of Ohio.
Tammy LaPlante 8:17
And then you add the substitute shortages. They're just all over, you know, everybody's got 'em.
Cheryl Williams 8:24
The environment for education support professionals in Ohio has been bubbling for a while. And we are at a point now where we know, post COVID, we know our value of contributions and our school systems to help our students. And it's time that we get the respect that we deserve for the jobs that we do. I think it's important for us to continue to share the vital role that each of us play in educating the whole child.
Tammy LaPlante 8:53
And you figure, you putting up a good point. Buildings don't get cleaned, kids don't get to school, you know, they don't, they don't get their services. It's like the school systems don't run without us.
Joie Moore 9:04
They don't get their medicine. You know, when they come into the clinic, they wouldn't be able to get their, some of them, life saving medicines. Like if they have, if they're diabetic to get their insulin shots, an epi pen, you know, that kind of stuff. Because, you know, most of our our buildings don't have full time nurses anymore. They're all, you know, clinic aides. And could you imagine your principal answering their own phone every day?
Cheryl Williams 9:25
Oh, no, I'm a school secretary. You know, I'm in charge of the front door. And so every visitor that comes to our building,, whether they're there to see a teacher or a student or the administrator has to go through me first and I'm the person who has to bust them in and give them that security clearance to come into our building. So I'm very protective of our students, which I never thought would be a job of a secretary. Processing paperwork and ordering supplies and making sure that everybody's schedule is right and everything in the system is correct and just the day to day activities. I secure the substitutes for the building as well as process payroll for every employee. But it seems these days that security is one of my number one jobs.
Joie Moore 10:09
And I think there was a report. NEA said it was like 82% of all ESPs are in some way, or shape, part of the security programs within their districts or within their buildings. But if you sit there and think about it, I would say 100% of us because we're always on the lookout for what's going wrong. If something's not right. We're out on a playground with a student and there's a car that's driving by slowly, even if they're there to dump recycling, which they shouldn't be doing during the school day, we're the ones that are sitting there watching and making sure that our students, and then also our teachers, are safe within their buildings. And this is what we do on an everyday basis. And it's not something that we even think about. It's something that we unconsciously do every day.
Cheryl Williams 10:53
It's just what we do.
Tammy LaPlante 10:54
One of the things that the value of my membership has gotten for me has been the opportunities between the NEA ESPLI program, or just becoming a board of director. And it all started with an ask. And I was like 'What, me? Who me?' I was petrified. And now I don't have a problem asking another person to do that. I have a good friend and co worker that did her first presentation ever here. And I always tell her, speak from your heart because everything will come out. And it makes things really easy. And she told me at the end of her session today that 'my god, that was so easy.' I said 'you're hooked. She got the bug.'
Cheryl Williams 11:43
You've got the bug. And that's really where it starts, I think for most of us is that ask or that first experience where you feel valued and included. And we spend a lot of time in our buildings just being referred to as the classified staff, not the education support professionals that we are. So when we get together and we're all together as a group, it's empowering. The networking is amazing. The opportunities, like you said, Tammy, are just fantastic. But I think that when I talk to my members about the value of membership, I talk about the voice. And my predecessor, the president before me, always said you don't know what you don't know. And so until you get in those one on one conversations with people, and you start asking them the questions and the concerns and the issues that they have on an individual basis is when then we can address them. So I think that, for me the value of networking, or the value of membership for me is the people.
Joie Moore 12:46
Now I will say I guess I am a "newbie" to it because I've been married to a teacher for 23 years. So he actually was in Columbus Public Schools when we first got married. And I remember first time contract negotiations were really tense. And we all wore these T shirts saying working the rule, working the rule. And I was like, Okay, what is that for? He's like, Well, you know, this is what we're doing. I said, Oh, well, that makes it interesting. Because I was a hairstylist I was you know, I was my own employer. But then when I started working in education, we did not have a union for our support staff and the secretary at my building, she's like, hey, are meeting with OEA the Ohio Education Association. I go really? Are you guys starting the union? She goes, Yes. I go count me in. So I and I, you know, being married to my husband for as long as I have and then knowing that what the union has done for him, to me, that was a big part. And then when I get here, and then when at first I was like, Oh, I'm just support staff. Well, guess what? I am not "just" anymore, right? Because he invited me to a social gathering. And that is where I met this one. And this one is like well, you need to come here. And then now here I am, as I have worked with NEA, I have worked with OEA, I have worked with central OEA NEA on many different platforms, so that way we can make sure that our education support professionals get their voices heard, their needs heard, because if it wasn't for ESPs, our schools wouldn't even be open every day. Just imagine. Like if your whole support staff called out for one day, nobody could run their district without us. We are the most vital, important positions within our districts. And we all know that. We just need to make sure that everybody else knows it.
Cheryl Williams 14:41
When I started my first job in 2001 in public education, I started in the kitchen. And the school district that I was in, the classified staff, the education support professionals, were in a different association. And when I moved districts, the first ask was for membership, and I looked at the form and I was like, Are you kidding? We can be a part of OEA with the teachers that we work alongside every day? And it was like, Give me a pen. I'm ready right now.
Joie Moore 15:09
Yes, we have two OEA members in our household. So, and I thought my daughter was going to apply for a position. I said, first thing you did. She goes, I know, Mom, I'll fill out my union membership card. I said, All right, just checking.
Tammy LaPlante 15:21
Joie, me too. My husband is a retired band director
Joie Moore 15:27
So there you go.
Tammy LaPlante 15:28
So it's like, but, he was silent part. And then here, I come along in the first year, and I'm building rep and they didn't want the newbie, but nobody else wanted the job. And here we go. Now, you know, that started when I told him I was going to be a board of director and he said, not going to be home much. That's okay, you're doing what you love.
Joie Moore 15:52
There you go.
Cheryl Williams 15:53
As an ESP leader, the biggest challenge that I face is that I have a full time job. I am an administrative secretary in an elementary building. And so my day, my eight hours a day is spent at the desk. But on top of that, is that I have nine different career families represented over 25 buildings on three different shifts. And so one of the challenges for me as a leader is being able to have that one on one connection with each of my members, because of the, the, it's just really hard to get that accomplished during the school day. So I tried to make myself available through cell phone. And they know they can call my desk all day. And I have a really great relationship with my other executive board members. And so we work together. But the biggest challenge for me is actually being able to get to the worksites and see the members and be present in their workday.
Joie Moore 16:55
I will say as a leader of a local association, my biggest challenge was time, and I was financially able to cut my hours back. And I know that's not something that's possible for every leader. And I know that but and I'm very fortunate that that I was able to do that. But now I get to focus two hours of my time, every day, even if it and people don't understand that sometimes advocating for your members within your you know - we have 14 buildings in my district - answering emails, they don't understand that sometimes when you're just answering emails on the you're advocating for your members. I try to do building visits. And then I like to get to know what people do in each of their positions. Like, I have been known to show up with pizza for my second shifters, custodians, because they get the hard job of cleaning up after the end of the day after the students are gone. And so it's kind of - and then I get to know the members too, and hopefully get to understand, you know, what are some of the other things that you know, our local union, or our district union or our state OEA, what can we offer to them? And like, Okay, what is it are you struggling with? What can we help you with? That kind of stuff. So that is the biggest thing is just trying to get out and reach because we, in our local association, it's over, it's 350 is who I represent. And then getting that our district office, and our superintendents and our HR people, that they know what our members' worth really are. And that we are not just a number on a piece of paper, or we're not just somebody who answers the door, or answers the phone or you know, puts a BandAid on a boo boo. I think that is the biggest thing is that just advocating for what our jobs are and what we do every day as a local leader.
Tammy LaPlante 18:51
And some of the challenges that I have is the working second shift, I can get to the buildings and do that during the day, and try not to interfere with the workday too much so that management doesn't come down on us. But people don't want to be involved because they're afraid of what management is going to do. And then just then general questions. Or they have a problem and they want you to settle it right then. And even though they know the process, they don't want to wait for the process. They want that instant problem with an instant result.
Joie Moore 19:32
Well, and I think the other thing too, is that one thing that we also have to advocate to our members are for them to know their worth. You know, I used to hear all the time, 'I am just a custodian,' 'I am just a Parapro,' 'I am just a whatever.' Guess what. You are not just whatever. That whatever wouldn't have been done today if you weren't here. And don't tell me that, you know, we have our custodian at the building that I work out. And all of our little well elementary kids just want to go up and hug him because they love our custodian. They love all of our support staff. They love our ESPs. And they know they wouldn't have as fun days as they do if we weren't around. And they know that and our students know that. We just need to make sure that everybody else knows that as well.
Tammy LaPlante 20:20
Right. And, and I like to use a puzzle example, because your puzzle is not complete if there's one piece missing. And it doesn't matter whether it's, like you said, any one of the nine career families, because you know, maintenance, your kitchen, your secretaries, your parapros, I mean, we're all together.
Joie Moore 20:43
Could you imagine going through a day in this one-to-one world without a tech? If you should have a Wi Fi problem, right, or you needed your password reset for your Google account, and you didn't have your tech person there?
Cheryl Williams 20:55
We are the experts -
Joie Moore 20:56
- who by the way, is an ESP, just saying. Remember that, teachers. Your ESPs set your passwords.
Cheryl Williams 21:03
One of the ways that the Ohio Education Association is advocating for us, education support professionals, is through this new business items that we were able to get passed in May at the Representative Assembly. We through our exposure to national ESPs and national campaigns, whether it was a bill of rights campaign, or whether it was a respect campaign, we realized that that's something that we needed to bring back to Ohio. So the three of us have worked really hard to bring back that our our expertise from our training to share with all the other ESPs in Ohio. And we started with an educator voice Academy for ESPs. Being a delegate at the Representative Assembly, we had already heard that the teachers were advocating for legislation for a minimum wage entry level salary of $40,000. And when I first heard that, I was taken aback because I've been a school secretary now for 23 years, and I barely make $40,000 a year. And it's really hard for us to know our importance in the school day and then put a monetary amount to it. We love what we do. We love our students. We value our contributions on a daily basis. And it's really hard to put that into money when school funding in Ohio has been ruled unconstitutional, what nine times? And so we're constantly looking for our districts to respect us in that way. But there's a lot of other things that need to happen first, and the primary thing that we need to do and we have the commitment from OEA is to get out into the areas and travel the state and find out what affects not just Joie, Tammy, and myself, but all of the education support professionals in Ohio. So through this new business item, we are advocating that ESPs can be respected as equal members of OEA, that were more visible. This is a great step. I love that we're having our conference today. And that we're working towards elevating our careers and being visible and relevant. We need to increase our membership, and sharing our advocacy and bargaining ideas. And one of the sessions we attended today, we were sharing lots of things that came from our contracts. And folks were like, what? And so it's really great to be able to share ideas with each other. And that's one of our number one goals is to get out in front of ESPs, let them know that OEA values them as members of the association, and find out what their needs really are so we can address them.
Tammy LaPlante 23:54
Because my needs in Ashtabula is definitely different than Dublin, or even down in Cincinnati. So getting out in networking is valuable information to be able to help our ESPs.
Joie Moore 24:08
Right. And the other thing too is I think as we go out these listening tours, we can also sit there and I don't want to say advice, but because we have been in leadership some of us longer than others, but then that way we can give, "well in my experience this has worked for..." Because I think that is the biggest thing that is hard as an ESP is not finding a mentor but maybe just a confidant, a confidant or somebody that can help you on your union journey or your leadership journey or your whatever journey it is that you are doing within your profession. I think having that and knowing somebody and having that recognition and be like, 'Oh, I can email Joie or I can email Cheryl.' Because I will say that one for this one. I wouldn't be sitting in this chair talking to you guys today because it took an ask from Cheryl to ask me to go and do this and that. And I think, and because I had Cheryl, I want to say as a mentor, but then also as a friend, but so we've got this new business item, but then even on our district level when one great thing that central is coming, I think central OEA/NEA, is coming to help with this new business item is that we brought back the ESP advisory committee. So we have a committee now of 10 ESPs, that our job is to figure out what are the needs? And what is it that our Central members need as ESPs within our district. So there's one thing that we're doing. So we started some ESP conversations where we're getting on Zoom, and just doing that social networking, the professional networking and trying to figure out what's going on. And then also, you know, starting this conference back up, because it's been a long time coming, thanks, COVID. But, um, so that way, it's been nice.
Cheryl Williams 26:00
We all stand on the shoulders of others, right? And it's our turn to elevate the careers of education support professionals in the state of Ohio, and take this to the next level.
Katie Olmsted 26:13
Thanks again to Cheryl Williams, Tammy LaPlante, and Joie Moore for sharing their thoughts. In this conversation, they go on to talk about how NEA's support for their journeys as ESP leaders has strengthened their abilities as effective advocates, and they talk about why other ESPs need to answer that call to leadership. The full video of their entire conversation is available in the February/March edition of OEA's Ohio Schools magazine. Yep, you heard that right: Video in a magazine. Because Ohio Schools is going digital, at least for some editions. For more on why Ohio Schools is joining the digital age, and what you can expect when you head online to check out the magazine, let's hear from Ohio Schools editor Julie Newhall.
Katie Olmsted 27:08
Julie Newhall, editor extraordinaire, what can you tell me about the new digital Ohio Schools magazine?
Julie Newhall 27:16
Well, Katie, I'd like to start by thanking you for letting us have an opportunity to talk about Ohio Schools and what our plans are for our digital magazine. By way of background, I'd like to say that OEA's had an all-member publication since 1852, when the first Ohio Journal of Education was published by what was then the Ohio State Teachers Association. Its publication name was changed Ohio Schools in 1926. So we've been at this for a while. Beginning with its first volume, the magazine has informed, instructed, inspired, and and called readers to action for 172 years. So we have a lot of history. And we have a lot of interest in continuing that history for members today and members in the future. And to that end, we wanted to look at ways to be good stewards of members' dues dollars, and also find ways to inspire them to action and also to enhance their experience as readers and offer them an interactive content.
Katie Olmsted 28:20
I mean, I know there is, there are so many benefits to having these digital ones. You mentioned that interactive content. I mentioned that we're gonna have videos there. We're gonna have so much more than you can just put on the paper page. But that paper page is expensive to put out. And it has gotten so much more expensive over the last several years. Talking about the cost savings on this one cannot be understated.
Julie Newhall 28:47
You're absolutely right. Since the beginning of COVID in 2020, the cost to produce Ohio Schools and like publications has increased significantly, especially in terms of paper and postage. We've seen the cost of paper increase more than 100% in that amount of time. We've also seen postage rates increase to now $35,000 per issue of the magazine, which is substantial when you look at an overall budget, and we know that those costs, well, paper has leveled out a little bit, which is great news, the postal increases will continue to come twice a year. So it's not a small thing that looking at costs has weighed into our planning for a digital magazine, and will continue to be something we look at in the future so that we can make sure we're spending every dollar wisely.
Katie Olmsted 29:42
And this isn't the first time Ohio schools has been online anyway. This is a whole new format where we're really leveraging the capabilities of being online. But we've had an online version of the magazine for quite some time, yes?
Julie Newhall 29:55
We have. Starting in 1999, Ohio Schools went onto the OEA website. And ever since, we've had the current issue appearing on the website with each issue, as well as an archive of issues dating back to 2009.
Katie Olmsted 30:10
And for people who love the paper magazine, they don't have to fret, it's not going away. What is the plan for digital versus paper?
Julie Newhall 30:17
Okay, the plan, as it stands for 2024, is to produce two digital-only issues of Ohio Schools, but continue to print four issues of Ohio Schools. So for example, we're starting with the February/March issue, and that will be our digital-only magazine. And then our next digital-only issue will be the June/July issue. But members can expect to receive the other four issues of the magazine throughout the year in their mailbox at home in print form.
Katie Olmsted 30:47
How are you feeling about this transition?
Julie Newhall 30:50
I'm excited and nervous at the same time. I'm a diehard print person. I always have been. That's that's my first love. But I'm really excited about the possibilities of bringing new content to members that we have not been able to do before.
Katie Olmsted 31:06
And as a personal plug, we can also add some podcast content to the digital magazine. If you're listening to this, you already listen to our podcast, but I'm excited to be able to reach people who may not even know we have a podcast.
Julie Newhall 31:17
Yes, we look forward to including links to the podcast to video to other multimedia content with our members to reports from the representative assemblies that we've only been able to mention in the past in the print magazine. Now we can include a video link to Scott DiMauro's report, to an address from a teacher of the year. So that'll be really exciting. And then we go out in schools will be able to showcase video of our interviews with members and bring that to people in a whole different way. So look for an email to come out from President Scott DiMauro announcing the first digital magazine in February/March. And that email will include a link to reach that online, but it will also be available on the OEA website, and we look forward to your feedback and to finding new ways to bring you content.
Katie Olmsted 32:11
Julie Newhall, thank you.
Katie Olmsted 32:15
As always, we have links for everything we've talked about here in the show notes for this episode. And remember new episodes drop every other Thursday this season. Until next time, stay well. And remember in Ohio, Public Education Matters.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai