MSEA Convention
Attend the Event

2025 ESP Conference

At ESP Bill of Rights—Building a Movement, Not Just a Moment you will discuss current topics with colleagues and learn from MSEA members. Topics will include the ESP Bill of Rights campaign, ESP employment rights, career advancement, and racial, social, and economic justice.

Agenda

Get the overview of our agenda for the conference.

Overview

8:00 a.m. Registration
8:45 a.m. – 9:45 a.m. Welcome and Keynote
9:55a.m. – 10:55 a.m. Session I
11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Session II
12:00 p.m. – 12:55 p.m. Lunch
1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. Session III
2:10 p.m. – 3:10 p.m. Session IV
3:10 p.m. – 3:25 p.m. Break
3:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. Call to Action

A continental breakfast and lunch will be provided.


Questions: Contact Sean McKillop at [email protected] or Chelsea Akibo-Betts at [email protected].

Keynote Speaker

Meet our keynote speaker.

Pete Dominick

Podcaster, Stand-up Comic, Speaker, News Commentator, and Host

Pete Dominick

He/Him

Pete Dominick is a podcaster, stand-up comic, speaker, news commentator, host, journo activist, moderator, professional speaking consultant, husband, and proud father of two daughters.

He began his career as a stand-up comic making a name for himself and earning respect in the major leagues of stand-up – the NYC comedy scene – where he became a regular at all the best clubs.

Pete was selected for the very coveted gig as the warmup comic, first for Jon Stewart and The Daily Show, and then The Colbert Report on Comedy Central, where he worked for most of its run. CNN hired him in as their man on the street which led to him becoming a regular panel commentator, eventually taking the host role of his own CNN show “What the Week.”

For almost 12 years, Pete was the host of a daily three-hour live radio show on SIRIUSXM, “Stand Up with Pete Dominick”. The show welcomed 3-4 expert guests on a broad range of issues and ideas and cultivated a following of similarly curious and passionate people who wanted to learn, laugh, and grow together.

This format eventually led Pete to start his own, independent daily podcast where he hosts two brilliant guests per day, along-side a comprehensive 20-30 minute news segment. He books, hosts, edits, and produces the entire podcast from his home in New York state. The podcast rivals any daily news podcast from major media companies. Pete loves creating his own content while speaking on a wide range of issues, performing stand up, and doing his best to continue learn how to make the world a better place.

You can listen to Pete’s podcast here.

Workshops

Saturday, February 22

8:45 am

Welcome and Keynote

Bridgeroom

Welcome

9:55 am

Session I

Breakout Room: A100

How to Advance in Your Career

Breakout Room: A303

10 Ways to Supercharge Your Member Communications

Breakout Room: A307

How to Activate the Members in Your Worksite Through Building Mapping

11:00 am

Session II

Breakout Room: A100

Building the Movement through ESP Leadership and Organizing Mentoring Program

Breakout Room: A303

Public Speaking: How to Get More People to See Things the Way You Do and Help Spread Your Message

Breakout Room: A304

We've Got Us! Leveraging the ESP Bill of Rights to Advance Racial, Social, and Economic Justice

Breakout Room: A307

ESP Employment Rights

1:00 pm

Session III

Breakout Room: A100

How to Turn the Bill of Rights into Local Wins

Breakout Room: A303

Labor Relations and Resolving Issues

Breakout Room: A304

Trauma and De-Escalation

Breakout Room: A307

MSEA ESP Bargaining Goals: The Path to a Winning Contract (DOUBLE SESSION)

2:10 pm

Session IV

Breakout Room: A100

Unleashing the Power of Educational Support Professionals: Summer Organizing Explained

Breakout Room: A303

Coping With Difficult Personalities – Survival Strategies

Breakout Room: A304

Organizing and Advocacy: A Look at the History of NEA and MSEA

3:10 pm

Break

3:30 pm

Program Close

Bridgeroom

Call to Action

Welcome


Welcome to the 2025 ESP Conference!

Presenters

MSEA ESP Committee Co-Chairs

Cindy Porter and Stacy Tayman

How to Advance in Your Career


This workshop will offer tips on writing great resumes and cover letters, how to reflect unique skills that will make future employers want to hire or promote you, and practical advice to help you feel more confident during your interview.

Presenters

MSEA UniServ Director

John Carnahan

Executive Assistant/MSEA Center for Legal Affairs

Jana Rossetto-Kennedy

10 Ways to Supercharge Your Member Communications


Unsure how to best use your local’s social media? Wish that your newsletters packed more punch? Need to make sure your local communications are making an impact? Then come to this training to learn how to strengthen your local communications. We’ll cover topics like improving member-focused communications, effectively using social media, utilizing a Race Class Narrative, and more.

Presenters

MSEA Assistant Executive Director/Center for Public Affairs

Adam Mendelson

How to Activate the Members in Your Worksite Through Building Mapping


Does it feel like the members and potential members in your worksite are disconnected? It’s time for some Building Mapping. Mapping is the process of assessing your co-workers’ interest in organizing and strengthening their connections to our union. This session will give you the tools to activate your worksite. Solidarity is power, and building mapping is a concrete tool you’ll both learn and begin to do in this workshop to maximize your solidarity!

Building the Movement through ESP Leadership and Organizing Mentoring Program


Learn from Massachusetts ESP leaders how they developed a statewide ESP Leadership Mentoring Program focusing on organizing, leadership development, capacity building, and mobilizing ESPs in a manner that is rooted in the power of the rank-and-file. “For ESPs by ESPs”

Presenters

Massachusetts Teachers Association ESP Committee Chair

Joni Cederholm

Core Team Leader Massachusetts Teachers Association ESP Leadership Mentoring Program

Amy Morin

2024 Massachusetts Teachers Association ESP of the Year

Karen Torres

Massachusetts Teachers Association ESP Organizer

Sonia Fortin

Public Speaking: How to Get More People to See Things the Way You Do and Help Spread Your Message


The best people to communicate the issues facing support staff are support staff members! Too often ESPs are overlooked, but that changes when we use our collective voice to tell our stories. This session will review the best techniques to use when speaking publicly about issues such as the ESP Bill of Rights to school boards, county executives, parents, and other possible community allies.

Presenters

MSEA Public Affairs Specialist

Patti Mullins

We've Got Us! Leveraging the ESP Bill of Rights to Advance Racial, Social, and Economic Justice


Economic Justice is a cornerstone of the global fight for racial and social justice. This session will explore how MSEA’s ESP Bill of Rights Campaign connects to the broader struggle for racial, social, and economic justice (RSEJ). Participants will gain insights into the campaign’s goals and strategies and learn how ALL members – not just ESPs – can use it as a powerful tool to organize and mobilize for meaningful change.

Presenters

MSEA Organizational Specialist

Tina Dove

MSEA ESP Summer Organizer

Julia Nixon

ESP Employment Rights


Join the MSEA legal department for an informational session about your employment rights. Topics include your first amendment rights, resolving student issues, and grievance procedures. Bring your questions!

Presenters

MSEA Center for Legal Affairs

Jamie Sapia

How to Turn the Bill of Rights into Local Wins


The ESP Bill of Rights movement isn’t only for state affiliate initiatives, but also a toll to support your local contract campaigns so you can win better salaries and working conditions for ESP in your district. This session will feature a case study outlining how the Howard County Education Association utilized the Bill of Rights to organize their members to win higher salaries and better working conditions for the ESP members in their school system.

Presenters

MSEA UniServ Director

Kira Schuman

MSEA ESP Year-Round Organizer

Holly Crawford

ESP- MSEA Board of Director At-Large

Sonia D’Urbano

Labor Relations and Resolving Issues


Almost every union has a process to regularly meet with HR to discuss employee concerns and questions. Sometimes these meetings work well, and sometimes they don’t. In this session we will review how to best utilize this process to address the issues and concerns of our members.

Presenters

MSEA Organizer, Political and Legislative Affairs

Dan Chambers

Trauma and De-Escalation


This workshop provides practical, next day skills for identifying, assessing, and de-escalating problematic student behavior while giving a basis for understanding that behavior through the lens of trauma and social-emotional learning.

Presenters

MSEA Organizational Development Specialist

Evan West

MSEA ESP Bargaining Goals: The Path to a Winning Contract (DOUBLE SESSION)


Using the MSEA ESP bargaining goals, how can ESPs get language and salary increases that reflect the Bill of Rights. Using your actual contract, learn how to write proposals for the bargaining table that will result in contract wins. This is a double session.

Presenters

Harford County Education Association Vice-President

Cindy Poper

MSEA UniServ Director

Elizabeth Jones

MSEA UniServ Director

Allison Heintz

Unleashing the Power of Educational Support Professionals: Summer Organizing Explained


In this session we will explore effective strategies for engaging one-on-one conversations at the door, focusing on the ESP Bill of Rights, and learn best practices for impactful dialogues, including the Affirm Answer Redirect approach as well as how to assess the conversations.

Presenters

MSEA ESP Summer Organizing Coach

Rachel Hautmann

MSEA ESP Year-Round Organizer

Stacey Albrecht

Coping With Difficult Personalities – Survival Strategies


There are several recognized categories of “difficult personalities”. This training offers practical and realistic techniques to help cope and communicate with a variety of such individuals more successfully. A sense of humor is a pre-requisite for this workshop.

Presenters

ESPBC Board of Directors

Veronica Henderson

Organizing and Advocacy: A Look at the History of NEA and MSEA


Our movement for great public schools and the rights of educators began in 1857 in Philadelphia. Since then, we have grown to over 3 million members. In this session you’ll learn more about NEA’s legacy as a labor union and civil rights organization. History is not only a review of the past, but also an explanation of the present.

Presenters

MSEA UniServ Director

Carlos Mellott

MSEA ESP Year-Round Organizer

Lacoe Alltop

Call to Action


Presenters

MSEA President

Paul Lemle

Location

Conference Venue

The Maritime Conference Center
692 Maritime Blvd, Linthicum Heights, MD 21090

Acknowledgements

This conference and other ESP events like it are proudly brought to you by your ESP Committee:

Cindy Porter Co-chair; Carroll Association of School Employees

Stacy Tayman Co-chair; Calvert Association of Educational Support Staff

Martin Diggs, ACE-AFSME Local 2250

Sonia D’Urbano Howard County Education Association

Thomas Gunn Cecil Education Support Personnel Association

Will Johnson Teachers Association of Anne Arundel County

Pandora Jones Education Support Professionals of Baltimore County

Cathy Lahr Washington County Educational Support Personnel

Craig Mitchell Wicomico County Education Association

Sharon Gross Howard, Wicomico County Education Association

Cindy Poper Harford County Education Association

Samuel Walters Howard County Education Association

Rachel Hautmann, Calvert Association of Educational Support Staff

Back to Top