October 19, 2022

There is so much to learn at AESA's Annual Conference! 

October 21:

Early Bird deadline - sign up and save!

UPDATED HOTEL INFORMATION:

The AESA room block at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta Hotel is full. There are a number of hotels .1 miles from the conference venue. 

For your convenience, please find information about nearby hotels on the annual conference hotel webpage. Please note that AESA does not have room blocks at any of these hotels. 

Visit the conference website for details and registration.

AESA'S Business Partners Can Help!

The Ed-Fi Summit is an annual conference that connects state and local education leaders, ed-tech providers, educators, and technical experts who are using data to solve education’s most entrenched problems.

Held over 2.5 days, the Summit offers inspirational keynotes, informative breakout sessions, hands-on labs, and most importantly, plenty of opportunities for conversations.

If you are considering a data interoperability strategy for your organization, this conference is for you. You will learn how to implement Ed-Fi plus strategies for change management and increasing data literacy.

Use the code AESASUMMIT22 for a 25% discount for AESA members. And if you reach out to Lyria.Zeh@dell.org for more information about Ed-Fi, you will receive a FREE registration code!

Your vote in AESA's Executive Council primary is requested by October 31.

Primary ballots have been electronically sent (via Constant Contact on October 10, 2022) to the CEO of our member organizations from the Central Region. Once the slate is reduced to two people, there will be a national election to decide the next Central Region Executive Council member.

If you need assistance with the online ballot, contact Ann Fiene, AESA Executive Assistant.

Bill Decker,

Chief Administrator, Mississippi Bend AEA, Bettendorf, Iowa

Dr. Mark Klaisner,

Executive Director,

West40 ISC #2,

West Cook County, Illinois

John M. Searles, Superintendent, 

Midland County ESA

Midland, MI

Please review the candidate biographies here. 

The current AESA community platform will be turned off as of Monday, October 24.

We need to make way for our new platform - the AESA Forum - which will be part of a new members portal, launching in January.

To all our active community members, we thank you for your involvement and look forward to seeing you in the AESA Forum next January. 

Behind the scenes, AESA staff have saved resources from the AESA Community library. We cannot save discussion threads etc. If there is something you want to be sure to save, head on out to the Community before next Monday and save what you are interested in.

Thank you and we will share more news as it happens! -

Sincerely,

Your AESA Staff

Join a free webinar to learn more

Tuesday, October 25, 2022, 3 pm Eastern (2 pm Central; 1 pm Mountain; 12 noon Pacific; 11 am Alaska)

FEDERAL FUNDING OPPORTUNITY:

Now more than ever, school communities need a comprehensive safety and wellness program that includes a pathway to anonymously connect with assigned helpers i.e. (Family Engagement Coordinators, School Counselors, Social Workers, School Nurses, and others).

HELPme is designed to meet the needs of the school community by providing access & linkages to resources for basic needs, mental health, and family resilience while ensuring the privacy & dignity all people deserve. Over the past five years, we have managed 19 ESA/ESC State-rollout programs with solutions to help protect more than 2,600 schools and 950,000 students and staff.

REGISTER FOR THE WEBINAR TO LEARN MORE!

New LEA Mental Health Grants:

Apply By November 3!

Today, the U.S. Department of Education released Notices Inviting Applications for two grant programs to increase access to mental health services for students and young people, totaling $280 million, that were funded through the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA). AESA and AASA fought to have this funding included in BSCA and was instrumental in ensuring the $1 billion in funding over 5 years can be used to improve access to mental health personnel in schools.

School-Based Mental Health Services Grant Program

The SBMH grant program provides competitive grants to State educational agencies (SEAs), Local educational agencies (LEAs), and consortia of LEAs to increase the number of credentialed school-based mental health service providers delivering school-based mental health services to students in LEAs with demonstrated need. The grant provides $144 million each year for 5 years, with an average award size of $1,750,000, ranging from $500,000 to $3,000,000 per year. The Department anticipates making up to 150 awards. The next technical assistance webinar for prospective applicants will be presented on October 19th, 2022, at 4 pm prior to the application deadline of November 3. Webinar information is available here.  

Mental Health Service Professional Demonstration Grant Program

The MHSP Demonstration grant program provides competitive grants to support and demonstrate innovative partnerships to train school-based mental health services providers for employment in schools and LEAs. The grant program aims to address a challenge facing districts and schools across the country: an insufficient supply of school-based mental health professionals to meet the needs of students. The partnerships must include (1) one or more high-need LEA or a SEA on behalf of one or more high-need LEA; and (2) one or more eligible institutions of higher education (IHE). These grants make available $143 million a year for 5 years, with an average award size of $800,000, ranging from $400,000 to $1,200,000 per year. The Department anticipates making up to 250 awards. The next technical assistance webinar for prospective applicants will be presented on October 19th, 2022 at 3 p.m. prior to the application deadline of November 3rd. Webinar information will be available here.  

AESA