Pioneer’s Finn named state’s education support professional employee of the year

Pioneer Academy school nurse/clinical aide Kerri Finn, who also serves as Carson Educational Support Association’s president, reported to the Carson City School Board this week education support professionals are facing increasing pressure to do more with less and asked trustees to consider the message with heart.

But just showing up to Tuesday’s board meeting at the Carson City Community Center, she was ready to rally with the Nevada State Education Association’s “Time for 20” buttons. Instead, she was surprised when NSEA President Dawn Etcheverry and her staff were there to honor her as Nevada’s statewide Education Support Professional Employee of the Year.

“I was completely surprised at the school board meeting,” Finn said. “Education Support Professionals keep our students healthy, safe, engaged, supported and challenged so that they can be academically successful. We have all witnessed firsthand the awesome impact these dedicated professionals have had on every student they encounter.”

Last year, she was selected from 25 site winners, including 11 teachers and 14 ESP employees selected from peers and administrators from different locations within the districts.

Each candidate completed a series of interview questions from a panel of judges. Finn then went on to represent the Carson City School District among the other 17 districts in Nevada, was selected and recognized Tuesday.

Finn will serve as an ambassador for ESPs in the Carson City School District and for the needs of students, families and other educators statewide. She also will represent Nevada as a nominee for the National Education Association’s Education Support Professional of the Year award.

She told the Appeal her focus this past semester, with the Nevada Legislature happening, has been on the Time for 20 campaign, the Respect Educators Act and Assembly Bill 222, which would change the credit for service for members of the Public Employees’ Retirement System.

“Without Education Support Professionals such as bus drivers, bus attendants, clinical aides, nurses, paraprofessionals, nutrition workers, custodians, IT workers, administrative assistants, librarians and building/grounds and maintenance workers, schools cannot operate properly, teachers cannot be the teachers they need to be and students cannot get the education they deserve,” Finn said.

She hopes legislators will consider the consequences to schools in Nevada without the placement of ESPs supporting basic classroom functions and safety if the funding isn’t provided for them. She also said it’s important to make sure to pay proper wages for the professionals filling the positions.

“Too many education support professionals earn below poverty-level wages and have to work two or even three jobs just to make ends meet,” Finn said. “It sadly speaks of the income levels when we have education support professionals living in their cars, weekly motel rentals or in campgrounds.”

Finn said she has spent time testifying before members at the Legislature on Assembly bills 194 and 285 and Senate Bill 251 as well as the Funding for K-12 hearing.

“Education Support Professionals are holding legislators accountable,” she said. “Accountability means taking some ownership of the issues we’ve heard during these accountability hearings and fixing them when you have the power. This Legislature is in the position to help remedy many of the heartbreaking stories we have heard, and Time For 20 is the way to do that.”