Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1067015
X 10 Winter 2018 | wyoea.edu Green River EA President Lisa Robison Supporting Public Education by Joe Clingenpeel Lisa Robison, Green River Education Association President, has a goal to inform educators and the community about the new federal law, Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). Essentially, ESSA fl ipped the script on No Child Left Behind (NCLB) by putting much more control of local education into the hands of those who know their students: the educators, the parents, and even the students themselves. In order to accomplish this goal, Lisa was instrumental in obtaining a $7,500 50/50 ESSA Initiative Grant (50 grants for 50 States) from the National Education Association (NEA). Because ESSA requires administrators, educators, community members, and community stakeholders to work together, Lisa devised a plan to bring all these entities together in several phases. Phase one for Lisa was to enlist the aid and support of Sweetwater County School District #2's administrators. She brought her idea to the SCSD#2's superintendent and proposed that GREA and the District work together in bringing this initiative to the District and the community. SCSD#2's superintendent saw the importance of this initiative and agreed to work with Lisa and GREA in order to bring awareness about ESSA to the entire community. Lisa's vision for this fi rst phase was to bring in a National Education Association expert regarding ESSA in order to provide training for the district. Enter Bianca Singh, Senior Policy Analyst, for NEA Education Policy and Practice. Lisa requested that Bianca provide training for two days. Day one's training was a 'train the trainers' day so that district employees, one administrator and one GREA member, could provide follow on training for the district and for community members. Day two involved a district-wide introduction to ESSA for teachers during a professional development day. Phase two of Lisa's plan is to provide training in each of the individual school buildings throughout the year to bring implementation strategies regarding ESSA to teachers, education support professionals and the community members. The administrators and GREA members who participated in the "train the trainers" presentation. So what the community members with children will (instead of to) be able to attend, Lisa had a wonderful idea to involve the Green River High School National Honor Society students. These NHS students are raising funds for a community dog park and Lisa has asked that they provide babysitting services at each of the trainings in exchange for a donation for their project. In addition, food will be provided at each of the individual training sessions. The fi nal phase of the initiative is to ensure that all the strategies learned in the individual community school building trainings are put into place so that the community is working together to do what is best for the students. The education of our students has not been successful with a cookie cutter approach; each community, school and student are unique. Who better to determine what is best for the schools than the community? Lisa Robison