Schaumburg Education Association

Hello SEA!

Hope you enjoyed the big game (or the commercials & half-time).  Our favorite teams may not have been playing, but at MacArthur, we had some proud teachers excited to cheer on a former student of ours, #81 on the Seahawks, Eric Saubert, who now has a Super Bowl ring!

In the February 9^th Edition of the Monday Message, you will find an invitation to attend the 2026 SEA/SEEO General Meeting on Monday, April 13^th.  RSVP here if you would like to attend.  This free event is open to all members of the SEA and SEEO. Heavy appetizers will be served and a cash bar will be available.

Your building reps may have pushed out communication last week in regards to the Transfer Fair.  This will be open to all tenured and non-tenured educators to attend.  Some of our non-tenured members received an email last week saying they weren’t able to attend, but I have worked to get this reversed per contract language.  If you lost the link to put your name on the transfer fair list, you can apply here by March 15.

Sending you positive vibes for the week and the long weekend ahead!

Good morning, SEA! 

We made it through another long January and may finally reach some above freezing temps this week. 

Here is the February 2^nd edition of the Monday Message.

In this week’s message, you will find the link to last week’s Building Rep Meeting slides.   Also, Wednesday is the last week to place your Candy Gram orders supporting the District 54 Education Foundation.  To pay for your Candy Gram be sure to make a donation directly to the District 54 Education Foundation.

If you participated in this morning’s walk-in, be sure to send some photos my way.

Good morning, SEA!

Hope you were able to enjoy the day off on Friday thanks to Mother Nature!

Here is the link to the January 26^th Monday Message.

After school today is the SEA January Building Rep Meeting from 3:30-5:00 PM in the PLC.  As always, all members are welcome to attend.  Superintendent DuRoss will stop by to briefly talk about the staffing plan for 2026-2027. Additionally, we will have a special presentation from Adriana Caballero (RAC) on IEA’s monthly ‘walk-ins’ as part of their May Day Strong Movement which advocates for public education, union solidarity, and addresses issues like teacher pension reform.  The next Walk-In is scheduled for next Monday, February 2.  I ask for all of our SEA and SEEO members to wear their “Solidarity” t-shirts.

Attached to this email you will find the Region 35 Election Notice for our March 30^th electronic election. We are now accepting nomination forms for the following:  

• NEA-RA Delegate
• Region 35 Chair
• Region 35 Vice-Chair
• Region 35 Ethnic Minority Representative
• Region 35 Ethnic Minority Rep Alternate
• Region 35 Early Career Representative
• Region 35 Early Career Rep Alternate 

You can still submit your Candy Gram request as part of our fundraiser for the D54 Education Foundation.  In just one week, we have over 150 candy gram orders already!

Looking forward to our building rep meeting after school today.  See you there!

Good morning, SEA!

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day! 

Here is the link to the January 19^th Monday Message.

Tomorrow is the last day to register for our Region 35 SPARKS conference on January 30-31.  We still have a few openings left and we would love to have you join us for our annual event.  It is open to all SEA and SEEO members.  Register here to attend SPARKS 2026.

Other information you will find in this week’s Monday Message:

• Resources for MLK Jr. Day and the National Day of Racial Healing
• CANDY GRAMS are back – Fundraiser for the D54 Education Foundation
• 2026 SEA Awards Nominations are now open
• Significance of February 1 and our SEA Contract
• IEA Legal Update |  February 26^th
• 2026 Jason Eliasek Scholarship

Our January Building Rep meeting is next Monday, January 26^th at 3:30 PM in the PLC. Looking forward to seeing our building reps then! 

And to those of us who are Bears fans, it was a great season…and sad it had to end the way it did last night.  Definitely will need more than just today for the heart to settle down.

Take care everyone!

Good morning, SEA!

Here is the January 12^th Edition of the Monday Message.

We are opening up registration for Region 35’s SPARKS Conference on January 30-31 to all SEA and SEEO members.  You do not have to be an early career teacher to attend.  If you have never attended SPARKS before, I highly encourage you to sign up to join us.  We will be having a special presenter Saturday afternoon, Hanifah Ross, who will be presenting on Peace Circles, a restorative justice strategy for our classrooms. More information about our event will be sent out later today to all SEA and SEEO Members.  Register here bit.ly/SPARKS2026 by January 20^th.

Looking forward to meeting with SEA’s Exec Board today after school.  Have a great week, SEA, and enjoy your MLK Jr. Weekend right around the corner.

Welcome back and Happy New Year 2026, SEA!

Hard to believe we have made it into January 2026! Hope you had a great winter break and time off.  

Here is the link to the January 5^th Edition of the Monday Message.

Highlights from this week’s edition:

• Slides from the December Building Rep meeting
• Legal Update at the Palatine IEA Office – February 26 | Register here
• IEA Community of Care Conversations – January 14 | Register here
• Jason Eliasek Scholarship available now to apply for
• SPARKS 2026 – free overnight event for our early career members | Register here by January 17

Wishing you a successful second half of this school year!

Hello SEA!

We made it to our last week before winter break.  Very excited for all the time off we have that is right around the corner!

Here is the link to the December 15^th Edition of the Monday Message.

After school today is our monthly Building Rep Meeting in the PLC from 3:30 – 5:00 PM.  All members are welcome to attend.  We will have a special presentation on educator/para relationships that Kathy Jesuit and I will be leading out together.

Building reps, remember to bring your food pantry donations to the meeting today.  If anyone wants to still contribute, you can give your donations to the SEEO reps in your building to bring the items to their SEEO Building Rep Meeting tomorrow after school.  I thank both of our memberships for supporting our District 54 Food Pantries!

Don’t forget our SEA/SEEO Sip and Paint Event happening this Thursday after school at 3:30 PM in the Nerge Art Room (Room 209).  Here is the link to sign-up and join us for some hot cocoa and a simple winter scene painting.

Also, it’s not too late to get registered for our 2026 SPARKS Conference (January 30-31) open to all of our early career members within their first ten years in education.  We would love to have you join us.  Bring a friend from your building!  Here is the link to register.

One last thing, the 2026 Jason Eliasek Scholarship is now available for children of SEA or SEEO members who are high school seniors or current full or part-time college student students pursuing an undergraduate degree in the area of public service (public education, physical therapy, social work, nursing, law enforcement, firefighting, EMTs, and library sciences). The application with all of the directions are attached.  Any questions about the scholarship go to our Scholarship Chair, Danni Koscielak (Fox): dkfoxunion@sd54.org

Wishing everyone a wonderful break and happy holidays!

Good morning, SEA!

Just two more weeks left until winter break, but who’s counting?    You should receive a link to vote in our Region 35 Election today around 6 AM.  If you have any questions about your ballot or do not receive that email, please reach out to Kelly O’Reilly at kellyoreilly@sd54.org or x.2105.  As elections chair, Kelly is the only one that can help you.

Here is the link to the December 8^th Edition of the Monday Message.

You will find out information about our SEA/SEEO District 54 Food Pantry Drive that starts today and ends next Tuesday, December 16^th.   Your SEA and SEEO Building reps will bring your donations to our rep meetings next Monday (SEA) or Tuesday (SEEO).  Our food drive is running in conjunction with the IEA Feeds Illinois Statewide Food Drive.  Local associations across the state are organizing events in order to make sure no student goes hungry this winter.  The items we collect are items that you will find on the District 54 Food Pantries’ Amazon Wishlist. 

Please be sure to stick to the brands and items on the food pantry shopping list:

Campbell’s Chicken Noodle Soup

Kraft Mac & Cheese

Quaker Oatmeal

Campbell’s Spaghettio’s

Nutrigrain Bars

Golden Grahams

Cinnamon Toast Crunch

Cheerios

Top Ramen Chicken Soup

Colgate Toothpaste

Lady Speed Stick Deodorant

Degree Deodorant

Huggies baby wipes

The Monday Message also includes invitations for our members to attend a Sip and Paint Event on Thursday, December 18^th and Region 35’s SPARKS Conference on January 30-31 geared towards our early career members.  We would love for you to attend!

The SEA is also going to start recognizing our building reps each week.  Let’s see which amazing building rep is featured this week!

Hello SEA!  Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and enjoyed the time off!

Here is the December 1^st edition of the Monday Message.

December 1^st is one of five IEA Walk-in’s being scheduled across the state of Illinois on December 1, February 2, March 2, April 1, and May 1.  If you are wearing your new SEA/SEEO solidarity shirt and participated in IEA’s Walk-in with other members of the SEA and SEEO this morning, please text your photos to me: 847-344-5249. To find out more about the walk-ins, check out IEA’s May Day Strong – United We Win website.

Please mark your calendars for a few other upcoming SEA/Region 35 events:

• December 3: Sips N’ Snacks with the SEA Listening Session, 3:30-5:15 PM, Fox and Hound – stop in anytime!
• December 18: Sip and Paint, Nerge Art Room (209), 3:30 PM
• January 30-31: SPARKS Overnight Conference for SEA/SEEO’s Early Career Members (10 years or less)

Stay warm and have a great week everyone!

Happy American Education Week, SEA!

I am looking forward to celebrating with the SEA/SEEO after school today at our Member Appreciation Event from 5-8 PM in the PLC.    Let’s see who comes dressed in their favorite decade!  We will have a 50/50 drawing at today’s event as well.  Didn’t RSVP?  Come join us anyway, as there is always more than enough food!

But before our kickoff to America Education Week event, we do have our monthly SEA Building Rep Meeting from 3:30-5:00 PM which all of our members are invited to attend as well.

Here is the link to the November 17^th Monday Message. 

It’s not too late to make your cash or check donation to the District 54 Food Pantries.  Please see you SEA Building Reps who have been taking up the collections for us.  We will be adding this to our annual $1 per member donation at this week’s Partnership Breakfast.  Can we work together to increase the donation to an average of $2 per member?   Reps, remember to bring these envelopes to our meeting today.

Don’t forget, nominations for December’s SEA/Region 35 election are due today at 4 PM.