<President's Page>

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It’s time to start a new school year and I am looking forward to serving as your 2009-2010 MEPA President.

I will continue with the theme, “You are an Essential Piece”, and my logo will be a jigsaw puzzle piece. We all know it takes more than one puzzle piece to complete a picture. It takes members like you to complete the MEPA picture. MEPA would fall to pieces without you!

The TESA Summer Work Conference was held in Houston June 17-20. MEPA is very proud to announce that our superintendent, Dr. Linda Henrie, won the TESA Administrator of the Year Award. MEPA submitted her name with a letter highlighting her outstanding qualifications and her continued support of MEPA. The board, several committee members, Dr. Henrie’s secretaries and her husband, Mike Henrie were in attendance to see her accept the award. This is the highest award presented by TESA. A picture of her award is on our website under the Essential News section.

Our Kick-off meeting will be Tuesday, August 18, at the First Baptist Church Sunnyvale on Beltline Road. A map will be available on our MEPA homepage. Please make plans to attend. We will be offering a morning session which will begin at 8:15 a.m. and conclude with door prizes at 11:15 a.m. Refreshments will be served at 8:00 a.m.—8:15 a.m. Our afternoon session will begin at 12:45 p.m. and will conclude with door prizes at 3:45 p.m. Refreshments will be served at 12:30 p.m.—12:45 p.m. These times should allow every paraprofessional an opportunity to choose the session that best fits their schedules. Dr. Henrie will help us kick off our year with a motivational presentation.

Once again we will not have a traditional liaison meeting this year. Paula Hutchinson, 2nd VP Membership, will be speaking to the liaisons briefly at our Kick-off meeting and will have packets available for liaisons to pick up after the meeting. If you miss the meeting, your packet will be sent to your campus. This year, when you join MEPA, you will receive a pen and notepad with the MEPA theme on it. The pen and notepad will compliment the padfolio you received last year! We will have a membership table set up at the meeting where you can pay your dues and receive your pen and notepad.

The New Paraprofessional Orientation will be 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday, August 19 in the Board Room at the PDC. We encourage all new paras to attend. Someone from Payroll, Benefits Department, and Risk Management will be available to answer questions. New paras will receive their insurance packets at this meeting. New paras who do not attend will need to go by the Benefits office to pick up their insurance packet.

Our Hospitality Committee has several new committee members this year. They are eager to greet you at each meeting and assist you in signing in. They will be available, along with the board, to answer any questions.

I hope you have a wonderful school year. Please feel free to contact me or any board member with any concerns or questions you may have. I look forward to serving again as your MEPA President.

Remember…be an essential piece to MEPA.

Paula Lambright