President’s Message

Hello TASPA family! I hope that each and every one of you are doing well during this extremely busy school year. As we seem to be tunneling out of the COVID era we now face the “Great Resignation” impact on the education profession. I can safely predict this will mean we will learn new strategies, acronyms, terms and processes along this new journey. We will add new skills to our already full resumes Although this new era adds stress to our current job, I know TASPA is here to help us evolve and be resilient.. I want to take time to celebrate our accomplishments from these past few years. Let us celebrate the fact that we survived a time when teachers and educators worked from home and some did not want to come back. We survived a time when we opened school buildings back up with unrealistic distancing restrictions. We were challenged by new medical restrictions and became experts of the CDC and TEA websites. We all became experts in mask wearing. We were mandated to avoid face to face contact and muscled through countless hours of webinars, Zoom meetings, Google meets, chats, and other virtual meetings/events. TASPA even hosted 4 very successful conferences virtually. I want to celebrate how these tough times brought the TASPA family closer together. As we transition back to the “normal” way of educating students across Texas we face new challenges. Teachers are feeling the gaps in student learning caused by the time away from the classroom. These gaps are causing stress among teachers and we are seeing many educators retire or resign in huge numbers and sadly some may never return to teaching. The increase of cost of living and teacher pay are topics that will be hot during the summer months. Although these challenges seem daunting, I feel relieved because I know we have teachers, paraprofessionals, auxiliary personnel and administrators whose mission it is to be sure every student in Texas receives an opportunity. As the state begins to make an effort to deal with teacher shortages, I know that TASPA staff and members will lead the charge in finding creative ways to fill these needs with limited resources. Let us continue to think together, share ideas, and collaborate about our issues to get ahead of the shortage. Let us continue to be TASPA strong! Lastly, I want to ask the TASPA family to stay informed and be active with the current legislative events. There are proposed Texas Bills that do not help public schools that are being supported by the representatives we elect. As leaders we are limited on publicly sharing political opinions, but we are not limited to encouraging employees to register and vote. Just imagine the difference educators could make if all 800,000 Texas school employees voted. Would schools receive the proper funding? Would our healthcare and retirement be fixed? Would students and teachers have all the resources needed? Let’s make our voices heard! After all, public education is the key to our future and democracy. After a few years of uncertainty, I feel I can say we are back! Continue to take care of yourselves and I look forward to sharing a handshake, hug, fist-bump or any other creative greeting with you at the TASPA Summer Conference.

Max Flores