The Idaho Education Association will welcome its new Region 6 director in September and say a fond farewell to Peggy Park, who will retire August 31 after 20 years of service to the IEA. Peggy served in Regions 1 and 4 (North Idaho and the Magic Valley) before taking the Region 6 position in 2003.
Peggy’s retirement party will take place the evening of Wednesday, September 8, in Idaho Falls. IEA members who’d like to attend are asked to RSVP by Friday, August 27, to Region 6 Associate JoEll Warwick at (208) 524-7210 or (800) 244-7210 or via email. People who cannot attend but would like to send a written memory or photo to share at the party may email those by August 27, too, or send them to the IEA Region 6 office, 151 North Ridge Avenue, Suite 117, Idaho Falls, ID 83402.
Meanwhile, IEA Executive Director Robin Nettinga announced that John Whetzel will become Region 6 Director on September 1. John hails from Arizona where he has 14 years of experience in classroom teaching, member advocacy, and association leadership. He’ll bring a variety of local-level experiences to his new role in Idaho, including bargaining, advocacy, membership recruitment and retention, government relations, and political action.
In addition, John has served for the past three years as a member of the Arizona Education Association Advocacy Team. In that role, he worked with AEA staff and local leaders to implement advocacy directives from the state assembly, assisted in the creation of member advocacy reference materials, and helped deliver advocacy training to his association peers.
The IEA's Region 6 serves educators in the following districts: Bonneville, Butte County, Challis, Clark County, Firth, Fremont County, Idaho Falls, Jefferson County, Mackay, Madison, Ririe, Salmon, Shelley, South Lemhi, Sugar-Salem, Swan Valley, Teton County, and West Jefferson.
