By Sheila Caldwell, BSN, RN, CSN-NJ
You are well aware that I am “on loan” from my school district to work as a NEA Specialized Instructional Support Personnel (SISP) Fellow. I want you to dance along with me as I speak about events that took place during National Specialized Instructional Support Personnel Appreciation Week. This year marked the sixth year of the celebration. It took place April 25-29, 2022.
Early in the fellowship, I was invited to represent NEA as a member on the National Alliance of Specialized Instructional Support Personnel (NASISP). This alliance has representation from the various nationally based SISP organizations. You can see the list of member organizations by clicking here. This group of professionals are working tirelessly to ensure that SISPs are represented in educational arenas. If you recall, former President Barack Obama had negated the use of “pupil support personnel” and coined “Specialized Instructional Support Personnel” (SISP) in the December 2015 “Every Student Succeeds Act.” SISPs are defined on the top of page 299, but throughout the document SISPs are referenced.
My role on the alliance has been to add any thoughts, opinions, resources and references as they relate to SISPs as well as information directly from SISPs currently working in schools. Because I am a school nurse, my input has mainly been in the area of school nursing and school health.
As the planning for SISP Week drew nearer, I had the responsibility of obtaining messaging from NEA and the U.S. Department of Education (USDOE) as well as other tasks. If you saw videos of NEA President Becky Pringle and USDOE Secretary Cardona recognizing SISPs, I had a hand in making their videos happen. I provided the hyperlinks for you to view them. If you are reading this entry, you likely read my entry about my White House visit, where I met USDOE Secretary Cardona and spoke with him about SISP Week (click here).
Let me tell you about this year’s SISP Week and have you make sure to keep watch for 2023 SISP Week in April 2023. Be sure to keep watch on NASISP social media platforms or if you are a SISP and a member of one of the national member organizations to provide the actual list of events.
NASISP provided a SISP Week toolkit that you can view here. All public information was posted on the organization’s SISP Week webpage, but I am going to give you a quick overview of the two main events of the week that you can still participate in.
- A call to action to contact legislators to endorse the Growing, Recruiting, and Obtaining Workers in Specialized Instructional Support Personnel Services Act, or put more simply, the Grow SISPS Act. Click here to read the bill (HR-7219). As you can well imagine this is an important bill when we think of services that students need from these professionals, including the group of which I am a member, school nurses. The pandemic and other factors have truly shown the need for students to have access to SISPs. Click here to provide to reach out to your legislators.
- Virtual Hill Briefing: The Value of Specialized Instructional Support Personnel (SISP) in School Student Outcomes. Click here to view the one-hour presentation. This was an important conversation that I would encourage you to view. The title of the presentation speaks to the importance of knowing more about SISPs and student outcomes.
What I will add to this portion of the dance that I really didn’t mention—but that are taking place on almost a daily basis—are conversations and meetings with Congressional members, organizations and members of the public for the awareness and value of SISPs.
So, as I give some insight into my dance on the alliance, I hope that you will join the band along with those of us on the dance floor, who are speaking up for SISPs.
Sheila Caldwell is a certified school nurse in the Matawan Aberdeen Regional School District. She is on leave to participate in the SISP Fellowship described in this article. In addition to receiving numerous national and local awards, Caldwell has received the American Academy of Pediatrics-NJ Chapter School Health Advocate of Year (2016) and the 2021 National Association of School Nurses (NASN) Recognition Award for “continued support and unique contributions to NASN and school nursing.”
Caldwell can be reached at SCaldwell@nea.org.