“One book, one pen, one child, and one TEACHER can change the world.”
~Malala Yousafzai

American Education Week

Today is the kick-off of American Education Week, which celebrates and honors the team of people who work with our students-everyone from the classroom teacher and the paraprofessional to the nurses and our secretaries…and countless others. This week we want to honor and thank everyone involved in the education of our students. YOU make sure our schools are a place of discovery. YOU ensure our students are safe, ready, and free to learn. YOU are amazing!

Our SEA and our SEEO members will be receiving a small token of thanks from the SEA this week. I can’t even begin to explain how grateful I am to work in a district of such caring educators who go above and beyond each day to foster a love of learning in our students!

The Village Tavern will be recognizing our District 54 employees throughout the entire month of November. Show your school ID and get 20% off your food order.

Riccardo’s will also be providing 30% discount during this American Education Week. Show your school ID here as well.

Mandatory Open Enrollment

Don’t forget, all employees must participate in the mandatory Open Enrollment process by this Thursday, November 15^th. All information was sent to you via an email from Nancy Rogers on November 1^st.

Important Dates in November:

November 15^th: Last day of Mandatory Open Enrollment (check your email from Nancy Rogers)

November 19^th: Report Card Comments/Grades Completed – 8 AM

November 19^th: SEA Building Representatives Meeting – 3:30-5:00 PM

November 20^th: Report Card Website Closed – 11:59 PM

November 21^st: Report Cards Posted Online

November 21^st-23^rd: No School – Thanksgiving Break

Upcoming Volunteer Opportunities:

January 16^th: Feed My Starving Children 6-7:30 PM – All District 54 employees and their families are welcome to attend. Click here to join. Or visit the Feed My Starving Children Website and enter join code: 76G1ZZ (flyer is attached for more information)

Save the Date:

January 18^th -19^th: SPARKS – An overnight retreat for any of our early career teachers put on my members of the SEA/SEEO…more info coming soon!

What fun national days are happening this week?

November 12^th: National Pizza with the Works Except Anchovies Day (that’s a mouthful) & Kickoff to American Education Week

November 13^th: World Kindness Day…what can and your students do today to show a little extra kindness?

November 14^th: National Education Support Professionals Day…thank one of our SEEO members for all they do to support your students and your schools!

November 15^th: National Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day

November 16^th: Substitute Educators Day…be sure to thank a sub in your building today!

“Every sunrise is an invitation to brighten someone’s day.”
~Richelle E. Goodrich

GO OUT AND VOTE

It’s nice to know that even though it’s a Monday, we get to take tomorrow off! Not only is this a student and staff non-attendance day, it’s Election Day. This means after today we will have a lot less political commercials and mailings to sort through, but it also means it’s the day we should be heading to the polls, unless you were an early voter like myself. Hope you find something to do to relax tomorrow (maybe not work on those report cards due later this month)!

IEA’s Online Learning Portal

There is not much in life that is FREE, but I can tell you IEA’s Online Learning Portal is FREE. What is it you ask? It is a way for you to complete professional development for FREE from the comfort of your own home. The Learning Portal is an ISBE approved provider of clock hours and some segments are as short as 15 minutes. How can you access this FREE staff development? Log-in to IEA’s Member’s Online Site by clicking here and then select the orange link to the Online Learning Portal. At the end of a session, you can print out a certificate as proof of completion.

Mandatory Open Enrollment

Last week all employees received an email from Nancy Rogers with information about this year’s Open Enrollment, which is mandatory for everyone to complete whether or not you are making changes to your benefits. If you are not making any changes, it will take less than a minute to click a couple boxes. If you are making changes due to Blue Advantage HMO no longer being an option and Single +1 being an option, here is the link to the Benefits Video. You are also welcome to attend the Benefits Fair this Thursday, November 8^th, from 2:30-5:00 PM in Rooms 103/104 at the PLC. All employees must participate in the enrollment process by November 15^th.

Out of the District

I will be out of the district this Thursday and Friday. If you need to talk with anyone from SEA those days, feel free to contact Vicki Mikos (vamikossea@gmail.com), our Vice-President, or Crystal Bush (crystal.bush@ieanea.org, 847-794-5204), our Uni-Serv Director.  Thank you!  Have a great week ahead!

Important Dates in November:

November 5^th: SEA Executive Board Meeting – 3:30-5:00 PM

November 6^th: No School – Go out and vote! Visit IEA’s website for a Voter’s Guide

November 9^th: End of First Trimester

November 15^th: Last day of Mandatory Open Enrollment (check your email from Nancy Rogers)

November 19^th: Report Card Comments/Grades Completed – 8 AM

November 19^th: SEA Building Representatives Meeting – 3:30-5:00 PM

November 20^th: Report Card Website Closed – 11:59 PM

November 21^st: Report Cards Posted Online

November 21^st-23^rd: No School – Thanksgiving Break

Upcoming Volunteer Opportunities:

January 16^th: Feed My Starving Children 6-7:30 PM – All District 54 employees and their families are welcome to attend. Click here to join. Or visit the Feed My Starving Children Website and enter join code: 76G1ZZ

Save the Date:

January 18^th -19^th: SPARKS – An overnight retreat for any of our early career teachers put on my members of the SEA/SEEO…more info coming soon!

Here are some ways to celebrate with family, friends, and co-workers:

November 5^th: Color the World Orange Day…perfect for District 54!

November 6^th: National Nachos Day…and it’s Taco Tuesday.

November 7^th: National Stress Awareness Day

November 8^th: National Cappuccino Day

November 9^th: National Scrapple Day…I had to look that one up too!

Lori Mobley

Schaumburg Education Association President

lorimobleysea@gmail.com

Cell: (847) 344-5249

Office @IKE: (847) 357-5450

www.sea54.org

“Use your smile to change this world. Don’t let the world change your smile.”

~Unknown

First Dues Deduction of the Year

Now that you have your paychecks you can confirm the following amounts were deducted. SEA members who are full-time employees should see $42.17 as the deduction for the next 18 paychecks. Part-time employees should see $22.53 as the deduction.

Report Cards

Last Friday, our report card window official opened for teachers to work on the comments and standard sections. If your administrator is not editing your report cards this year, be sure to take the time to have a colleague look over your comments. You will be able to start posting grades as of November 9^th.

IEA-RA Nomination Forms & Region 35 Council Reps

Nomination forms are now available for both the IEA-Representative Assembly and to be a Region 35 Council representative. This year’s IEA-RA will take place from April 11^th-13^th in Rosemont.   If you have never attended an RA it is something every member should do at least once for the experience and to help be the voice of our SEA members. Elected delegates to the convention will have their housing, parking, and meals paid for. We are able to send 15 delegates from SEA to the RA-this year. Your building reps have copies of these nomination forms, but I am including them as attachments to this email as well.

Additionally we have openings for our Region 35 Council, which includes representatives from both the SEA and SEEO. We currently have three open positions: one 2-year term and two 1-year terms. For more information about what our Region 35 Council does, contact our Chair, Kara Zielinski, or Vice-Chair, Adriana Caballero.

SEA Spirit Wear

You should have received your SEA spirit wear orders. If you do not receive it by the end of the day today, let me know. Thank you to Kelly O’Reilly and Dawn Czajka for sending those orders out for us. As to what days you can wear your spirit wear, aim for “Better Together Tuesdays” as the day. Here’s a challenge to you: I am looking to see who will be the first person or group to post a Tweet tomorrow with your new spirit wear and use the hashtags #SD54SEA and #BetterTogether.

Move your clocks back

One of the days we look forward to most each year happens this Sunday, November 4^th…Daylight Saving Time ends! We get an extra hour of sleep this weekend! I would remind you to move your clocks back on Saturday night, but almost everything nowadays automatically changes on its own. Enjoy that extra hour!

Enjoy having this Wednesday’s staff development off. Don’t splurge too much on your favorite candies, chocolates, and other fun Halloween treats! And remember not only do you have an extra hour of sleep this weekend, but next Tuesday is a student and staff non-attendance day!

Important Dates in October:

October 26^th: Report Card Window Open (Comments/Standards only)

October 31^st: Halloween – No Staff Development Today

Upcoming Volunteer Opportunities:

January 16^th: Feed My Starving Children 6-7:30 PM – All District 54 employees and their families are welcome to attend. Click here to join. Or visit the Feed My Starving Children Website and enter join code: 76G1ZZ

Don’t forget to mark your calendar for these fun national days:

October 29^th: National Cat Day

October 30^th: National Candy Corn Day

October 31^st: Not only is it Halloween, but it’s National Caramel Apple Day

November 1^st: National Cook for Your Pets Day – or – National Family Literacy Day

November 2^nd: National Jersey Friday…bring out your favorite sports team jersey

Lori Mobley

Schaumburg Education Association President

lorimobleysea@gmail.com

Cell: (847) 344-5249

Office @IKE: (847) 357-5450

www.sea54.org

“Good Teaching is more a giving of right questions, than a giving of right answers.” ~Josef Albers

SEA Dues

You received an email last week from the payroll departments stating union dues deductions will be starting with this week’s paycheck. Please be sure to look over your statement to make sure everything looks correct. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact the payroll department or myself.

Trauma-Informed Schools Training

Last week the SEA sent another team of teachers to IEA’s three-day Trauma-Informed Schools Training. Thank you to the following members who joined Vice-President Vicki Mikos and myself to attend this event: Katherine Plata, Chloe Nissen, Liz Umlauf, Deanne DiDomenico, and Denise Baker. I know these educators were excited to return to their buildings wearing a new trauma-informed set of lenses. We have close to 50 educators from SEA and SEEO who have participated in these trainings over the past few years. I’m going to share something Chloe shared with some of us the other day about her experience:

“I just finished the three-day ACEs training and it was LIFE CHANGING! The training completely shifted my mindset and I am so excited about becoming trauma informed…I highly recommend ANY training on ACEs/restorative practices/trauma-informed schools. The science is necessary to understand HOW to help students become more resilient.”

The good news is there is ACES 101 happening this Thursday night at the Palatine Illinois Education Association Office from 4:30-7:00 PM and we have a new team of educators attending. Click here to register. This is something our association strongly believes in and will continue to educate our members to meet the ever-changing needs of our students.

Shout out to Dooley School

At the recent Superintendent’s Communication Council Meeting, the rep from Dooley shared how last week they started their staff development out by sending a positive email to a student’s parent. I challenge you to do the same this week. Send out an encouraging note or email to a parent, colleague, or someone you know would appreciate a little inspiration this week.

Important Dates in October:

October 25^th: ACEs 101 – 4:30-7 PM Palatine-IEA; Click here to register.

October 26^th: Report Card Window Open (Comments/Standards only)

October 31^st: Halloween – No Staff Development Today

What can you do this week to celebrate the following national days?

October 22^nd: National Nut Day

October 23^rd: National TV Talk Show Host Day

October 24^th: National Bologna Day

October 25^th: National Greasy Foods Day…probably not good for our health!

October 26^th: National Pumpkin Day…time to start carving those jack-o-lanterns!

Lori Mobley

Schaumburg Education Association President

lorimobleysea@gmail.com

Cell: (847) 344-5249

Office @IKE: (847) 357-5450

www.sea54.org

“Optimism is a happiness magnet. If you stay positive, good things and good people will be drawn to you.”
~Mary Lou Retton

Building Rep Meeting

Today is our October Building rep meeting from 3:30-5:00 PM in the Board Room. You do not have to be a building rep to attend. All members are welcome. We will be collecting all Food Drive donations at this meeting. Forgot your donation? It is not too late! Give any donations to your building rep and I will arrange to pick them up sometime by the end of the month.

We will be approving the minutes from our September building rep meeting, which will then be posted on your SEA Boards in your buildings. Curious about what we discussed at our meetings? Your building reps will always have a copy of the agenda and will be taking their own notes to use at your “10-Minute” building level meetings. Please take the opportunity to attend the SEA meetings at your buildings to be best informed on what is going on with our associations at the local and state level.

Special Elections

If your building is having a special election, today is the day, so be sure to check in with your building reps to vote. Any of the members on the ballots in the special elections, join us for the building rep meeting today.

Stronger United – Red for Ed T-shirt Pre-Order

22 of our areas large local associations have joined together to create a “Stronger United” Red for Ed t-shirt. Each of the local’s logos are displayed on the back of the shirt, including SEA. We don’t know the exact cost right now, but it will range between $10-$14, and cost will be determined depending on how many people order. If you are wanting me to pre-order you a shirt, please email me your name, school, & t-shirt size by this Friday, October 19^th. Click here to find out more about NEA’s Red for Ed.

Volunteer Opportunities

We are looking for some of our SEA members to attend our SD54 Board Meetings throughout the year. Additionally, we are wanting to get more involved in our schools’ communities and have set up some dates to volunteer at the Community Closet at Addams Jr. High (Jan. 26^th, April 27^th, May 14^th). Click here for the link to sign up to volunteer with the SEA. Let me know if you have other volunteer opportunities throughout the year which could use some helping hands.

Election Day

In less than a month Election Day will be taking place. Check elections.il.gov for your polling place and early voting dates and times. For a list of IEA supported candidates, check out IEA’s website.

Membership Cards & Discounts

Your building representatives will be receiving your new membership cards for the 2018-2019 School Year at today’s Rep Meeting. Use these to your advantage for various discounts. Not sure what discounts are available to you as a member? Log-in to the Member Dashboard on IEA’s website and select “Discounts & Deals”. Or get the App “MY DEALS” from your device. The app is free to download, but requires a valid membership.
**If you changed buildings this year, your membership card will arrive a little late. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Don’t forget to follow the Schaumburg Education Association on Twitter and like us on Facebook.

Important Dates in October:

October 15^th: SEA Building Representatives Meeting 3:30

October 25^th: ACEs 101 – 4:30-7 PM Palatine-IEA; Click here to register.

Here are some fun national days this week:

October 15^th: National Cheese Curd Day

October 16^th: National Bosses Day

October 17^th: National Pasta Day…guess I know what I am making for dinner!

October 18^th: National Chocolate Cupcake Day

October 19^th: National Seafood Bisque Day

Lori Mobley

Schaumburg Education Association President

lorimobleysea@gmail.com

Cell: (847) 344-5249

Office @IKE: (847) 357-5450

www.sea54.org

You did it!  You got through the first round of conferences!  Hope you had some relaxation time over this past weekend and are ready for the week ahead.

Food Drive

At next week’s Building Representative Meeting, the SEA will be having a Food Drive.  If you would like to make a canned food or other non-perishable food, please bring these items to school to your building rep by Monday, October 15^th.  The SEA is not only making a financial donation to the new Community Closets and Food Pantries in our district, but we will be making this food donation as well. 

Fox and Hound Outing – This Wednesday

On Wednesday, we will have our first SEA Member gathering of the year at the Fox & Hound beginning at 3:30 PM.  Come relax, hangout with members across our district, and say hi to me, the one who sends you these emails every Monday morning!  Please email me if you are going to be attending so I can be sure to have just the right amount of space and appetizers for us.

Open Positions on the SEA Exec Board

Our Executive Board currently has two open positions.  We are looking for a Historian Chair who is responsible for organizing and recording historical data that is valuable as an addition to our SEA archives.   Additionally, we are looking for a Social Media Chair who will be responsible for creating, maintaining, and monitoring any and all social media approved by the Exec Board.  I have been currently updating our Facebook and Twitter accounts, but would love for our association to have an Instagram as well.  If you are at all interested, I have attached the list of appointments available and a few application questions.  Please respond by this Friday, October 12^th, if you are at all interested.

Follow Us on Social Media

Speaking of social media, if you haven’t already done so, please visit SEA’s FB page and like us or follow us on Twitter (@D54SEA).    One of the most visited places I am on just about daily is our SEA Website, especially to access our contract. Thank you to SEA’s Webmaster, Heidi Kay, for updating the website with my Monday Messages each week!

SCORE Grants

Next round of IEA’s SCORE Grant applications are due January 21, 2019.  The purpose of SCORE is to encourage early career members and their local associations to collaborate and create opportunities for community service projects or school projects.  For a list of previous winners and ideas, as well as this year’s application, click here.  

Lanyards Available

As a reminder, we are selling SEA lanyards for $5.  If you are interested in purchasing one, please sign-up with your building rep.  Please pay using cash or checks payable to the “Schaumburg Education Association”.  I will have lanyards at next week’s building rep meeting available for pick-up and delivery.

Enjoy your shortened week and hope to see you at Fox and the Hound on Wednesday!

Important Dates in October:

October 10^th: SEA Member Outing – “Meet the SEA Leadership” Fox & Hound (1416 N. Roselle Rd., Schaumburg) beginning at 3:30 PM or whenever you can get there!

October 11^th: Federal Student Loan Forgiveness Presentation, 5 PM Palatine-IEA

October 15^th: SEA Building Representatives Meeting 3:30

October 25^th: ACEs 101 – 4:30-7 PM Palatine-IEA; Click here to register.

Here are some fun national days this week:

October 8^th: Columbus Day – Relax and enjoy the day off!

October 9^th: National Moldy Cheese Day…I’m serious…it really is.

October 10^th: National Stop Bullying Day

October 11^th: National Sausage Pizza Day

October 12^th: National Savings Day…and we get paid today!

“Happiness is like jam…you can’t spread even a little without getting some on yourself.” ~Anonymous

Can you believe it is October already? I thoroughly enjoyed my September tour to all 28 District 54 schools. It was exciting to see even though our curriculum might be the same, each building is truly unique in its own way. From the programs that are offered, to the students and staff, to the building layouts, to the innovative teaching, we are very fortunate to be a part of this district. If I didn’t make it to your classroom, feel free to invite me anytime to see what great things are going on.

I do have one special visit planned this week to Jennifer Sword’s classroom at Muir. I get to do a read-aloud and help out with Guided Writing this Wednesday afternoon. Jennifer received a ‘gift of time’ from me, as she was randomly chosen for responding to one of my “Peak Moments” tweets. If you haven’t followed me yet, find the Schaumburg Education Association on Twitter @D54SEA or on Facebook (sea54.org).

Take a moment to think, would you drive without car insurance? If you own a home, you have home owner’s insurance, right? Your membership to the SEA, IEA, & NEA is basically your educator’s insurance.   As a member you are eligible for $1 million in employment liability insurance and eligible for $35,000 reimbursement for legal fees and costs if ever a case was brought against you. This is just one of the benefits for joining our association. I have attached a document states other privileges. Feel free to contact me with any questions you may have about what’s in it for you if you join.

Heard of the Employee Assistance Program that is offered to use through our benefits plan? EAPs help employees deal with situations that might negatively impact job performance, health and well-being. Short-term counselling and referral services are available. The 24/7 access phone number is 1-877-215-6614. This is a confidential service that is of no cost to you or your eligible family members. The flyer is attached.

With conferences this week, I wanted to send out the information regarding your hours. Certified staff work at least 12 hours, but enough to complete conferences. Elementary Fine Arts and PE (which does include LRTs), work their regular school hours on Thursday and 1.5 hours on Friday. At least one and one-half hours must be worked on Friday by all full-time employees, except all instructional assistants and registered nurses. Everyone must get a dinner break. This information, including information about SEEO members’ conference requirements was sent out to administration last week and is available on SharePoint.   The hours we work for Parent-Teacher conferences is not something in our contract, except language for PE and Fine Arts.

As you are busy preparing for conferences, be sure to think about the many positive attribute about your students and share them with families. Yes, we want to share goals the child has set for themselves, but take time to ask the parents what life-long goals they have for their children, as one of our schools is doing this year.   Show the families how much you value their child and some of the things you are promising them this year, especially to be a positive influence in their lives.

I know some people are not receiving this message as the Help Desk is trying to work through some of the name changes on this distribution list.  The Monday Messages are posted each week on our SEA website.   If you know someone who is not receiving any SEA correspondence, please let me know and I will check in with district.

Enjoy the long weekend ahead! You all deserve to find some relaxation time with family, pets, or other loved ones after the completion of conferences.

Important Dates in October:

October 1^st: SEA Executive Board Meeting

October 4^th/5^th: Parent/Teacher Conferences

October 8^th: No School – Columbus Day

October 10^th: SEA Member Outing – “Meet the SEA Leadership” Fox & Hound (1416 N. Roselle Rd., Schaumburg) beginning at 3:30 PM or whenever you can get there!  A flyer is attached.

October 11^th: Federal Student Loan Forgiveness Presentation, 5 PM Palatine-IEA

October 15^th: SEA Building Representatives Meeting 3:30

October 25^th: ACEs 101 – 4:30-7 PM Palatine-IEA; Click here for the registration link.

Here are some fun national days this week:

October 1^st: World Bullying Prevention Day

October 2^nd: National Name Your Car Day

October 3^rd: National Walk to School Day

October 4^th: National Taco Day

October 5^th: National Do Something Nice Day…what a great way to end the week!

Lori Mobley

Schaumburg Education Association President

lorimobleysea@gmail.com

Cell: (847) 344-5249

Office @IKE: (847) 357-5450

www.sea54.org