Pinellas Education Support Personnel Assoc - President Pam D'Almeida's Message 2008

Welcome back family. I want to begin by saying thank you for electing me as the new President of PESPA. I have had an exciting summer and want to share some of it with you. I started off my summer with a new President’s training in Washington, D.C. ending in Tallahassee. What a whirlwind session on leadership. My knowledge of leadership has increased tremendously. Judy Kavourgias, PESPA Board member and I attended the AFT Convention in Chicago on July 10-14. We, the 3,000+ delegates, elected a new AFT President, Randi Weingarten, as well as Antonia Cortese as Secretary Treasurer. We also elected Loretta Johnson (Baltimore’s PSRP) as Executive Vice President. As the end of the year last year drew to a close, because of the budget shortfall, no contract was passed. We need to focus on the upcoming school board races and elect friends of education. We need to rally around these candidates that PCTA-PESPA PAC endorsed and elect them into office. They need to hear our educational concerns and issues. Delegates had a chance to see Barack Obama televised live from Montana at our NEA convention. He spoke on educational issues and knows how important public schools are in America. He knows that the vouchers are hurting public schools. We will talk more about political issues at the Representative school on Saturday, August 16. We have invited our endorsed candidates for a “meet and greet” reception at the conclusion of our day. Please come meet them and voice your concerns. Support staff matters. I look forward to meeting and greeting you at the Rep school and visiting your schools. Don’t forget to call and schedule your school visit, and also to invite me to spend a day in your shoes.

Welcome Back!