Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/725961
COMMUNIQUÉ A PUBLICATION OF THE IOWA STATE EDUCATION ASSOCIATION – SEPTEMBER 2016 – Vol. 54, No. 1 IN THIS ISSUE: OPINION Setting a better example Quiz answers Back to school tips 3 8-9 10-11 Set it... Set it... and forget it! and forget it! EFT AVAILABLE NOW! EFT AVAILABLE NOW! FOLLOW US ON: ESSA comes to Iowa see STEM on page 6 Get involved with ESSA through the ISEA The Iowa Department of Education's Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) stakeholder group will determine what programs, protocols and evaluations Iowa's educators, students and administrators will work under for years to come. This group, which held its first formal meeting on August 18, includes four seats for the Iowa State Education Association on the 26-member committee. Our representatives are ISEA President Tammy Wawro, ISEA Vice President Mike Beranek, Executive Director Mary Jane Cobb and Government Relations Specialist Melissa Peterson. The promise of ESSA is it removes authority from the federal government and allows states to make plans that suit their educational needs best. It is a great opportunity for the ISEA to promote a student- centered education program. In the next several months, the ISEA is going to reach out for your input on what you'd like to see implemented at the state level. The committee's work will encompass primary and secondary education, special education, school counselors, gifted and talented, assessments, curriculum and much more. The ISEA has members who work in each of these areas and we will need to hear from you in order to make Iowa's ESSA program the best possible. We will not get everything we push for. But with your help, we will be successful. Watch your email inbox and www.isea.org for opportunities to contribute. In the meantime, check out the National Education Association's primer on ESSA at www.nea.org/essabegins and make sure you sign into www.isea.org for members only information. Dozens of new educators and ISEA members from Iowa City work through new educator activities at the Iowa City School District Administration building. Schools across Iowa opened their doors to students, teachers and administrators for 2016-2017 in late August. Congratulations to the winners of the ISEA ESSA quiz which ran in the last issue of the ISEA Communique and online. They are: Ann Jorgensen, a special education teacher at Lou Henry Elementary and member of the Waterloo Education Association. Amy Jurrens, a professor of Communications at Northwest Iowa Community College and member of the Area IV Community College Education Association. Natalee Havel, a teacher at Westfield Elementary and member of the Linn-Mar Education Association. Northwest Iowa Community College professor and Iowa State Education Association member Amy Jurrens displays some of the ISEA gear she won for participating in the ISEA ESSA quiz. Three winners were chosen at random from all entries received by the August 1 deadline. ISEA members hone math, science and technology skills through the Iowa STEM program. There was too much flashing in Fort Madison this summer. And for the folks at Siemens Energy, that just wouldn't do. See, flashing, in the vernacular of those who make wind turbine components, is the excess epoxy that sticks to the blades when it comes out of its mold. Siemens would like to reduce that excess epoxy by 100 percent and do that as expediently as possible. Enter ISEA member Matt May. He's a vocational and technical Summer of STEM