2020 Washington Education Association - Education Support Professional (ESP) of the Year - Steven Alvarez
 Congratulations to Steven Alvarez, 2020 Washington Education Association --Education Support Professional (ESP) of the Year! The ESP of the year is an honor sponsored each year by WEA's Action Coordinating Team (ACT) made up of ESP Leaders from across the state who conduct a rigorous application process to select the ESP of the Year.
Steven started in SPS 13 years ago working in the Science Materials Center and then transitioned to his current position serving as a SPED IA at Wedgewood Elementary for the past 11 years. He is currently working towards a Master's in Teaching at Western Washington University.
Steven is a committed and longstanding member of SEA. He has served as a staunch advocate of mentoring, coaching and supporting many of school district employees. He was chosen and assigned as a mentor for fellow employees who were on Plans of Improvement in order to maintain their employment. In a high percentage of those he mentored he was able to successfully help them achieve their goals to improve their work performance and keep their jobs.
He fiercely advocated during the 2018-19 Collective Bargaining negotiations to ensure that mentoring and onboarding programs and enhancements were established for new employees as well as any other employees who desired more support without being on an Improvement Plan. He joined with other SEA ESPs to develop and apply for a National Education Association Mentoring Grant to support mentoring efforts in SPS.
Steven's colleagues at Wedgewood consistently speak of his commitment to serving children and the school community with a sincere heart and deep desire for excellence in all his efforts.
Congratulations Steven Alvarez 2020 WEA ESP of the Year on a job well done!
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SPED Taskforce Update
The special education taskforce had our first virtual taskforce meeting on March 26. The taskforce began working to develop a structure to help support educators through the school closures. The questions of "how to" teach students with special needs virtually and through packets was discussed. We know specially designed instruction (SDI) is impossible to do virtually and through packets with some students. We asked several educators who teach students with similar needs and the ESAs to meet in Learning Teams virtually to brainstorm ideas on the "How to."
SEA SPED taskforce members facilitated the Learning Team meetings. The next step to building support for the educators in each building is to pull together Support Teams. These will be teams of 10-15 educators who teach and support students with similar needs to meeting virtually, the teams decide how often. The Support Teams will collaborate, brainstorm, and support each other. The work from these teams, the ideas, strategies, resources, etc., will be posted on a Schoology group for everyone to access. The teams decide the agenda of the meetings, the teams are to build community to support each other. These teams will also help to communicate with central office sped admin and will receive information of the ever-changing mandates from OSPI. The Special Education Department will be sending out a communication about the Support Teams, they are not mandatory, they are to support educators in this time of school closures.
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 In Memoriam - Carol Jean Reed, PhD
SEA President 1985-1987; SEA Vice President 1982-1984
Carol Jean Reed, PhD, died April 15, 2020 at age 82 of complications related to Parkinson's. She held leadership positions in the Seattle Education Association as Vice President and then as the union's first female President since it was recognized as a union and she was part of a cadre within SEA that trained women to develop their leadership skills.
In 1985 she led what was, at the time, one of the nation's most successful teacher strikes because the union's ask was not for teacher salary increases, it was for hiring more teachers and reducing class size. Carol went on to work in the Seattle school district leadership, eventually retiring and becoming an adjunct professor in the Seattle area. The family is requesting in lieu of flowers, donations be made in Carol Reed's name to the Seattle Public Schools Education Equity Fund. More information on the amazing work and life of Carol Reed is accessible here.
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SEA Full Force Fridays
SEA is working on building our organizing efforts to leverage the power of our 6,000+ members in supporting our community members most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. We're looking at an ongoing targeted effort focused on "Full Force Fridays" where we will share opportunities for members to engage in meaningful action to support our Seattle community through collective action, donations, and support.
Our first call to action for Full Force Fridays will be this Friday, April 24. Keep your eye out for communication from SEA on the details! In the meantime, if you're interested in getting more involved in Full Force Fridays and helping us move this effort forward, please enter you contact information here:
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 New SEA UniServ Director Cecilia Mena
SEA welcomes the newest member of the staff team, UniServ Director Cecilia Mena. Ceci brings over 10 years' experience working for various unions and representing both public and private sector members in grocery, retail, government and healthcare. She most recently worked for King County Labor Relations as a Labor Strategist focusing on strengthening the relationship between Unions and Management. Please help us welcome Ceci to our SEA Team.
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