Edythe Crowe Award
Nominations will be taken in the coming months for the Edythe Crowe ESP of the Year Award, and should be submitted to the awards subcommittee via IEA headquarters in Boise. The award will be presented at the IEA’s annual meeting in the spring of 2015, and the Idaho winner becomes the IEA’s nominee for NEA ESP Award. Bobbie Steffensen was the 2014 honoree.
The annual ESP award is named for Edythe Crowe, who was instrumental in paving the way for education support professionals to become members of the IEA. She was a food program manager at Orchards Elementary School in Lewiston for more than 25 years.

Edythe Crowe
According to the selection guidelines, “the award shall be to a person or persons who have made a special and unique contribution to the cause of education over an extended period of time and particularly in the last year.” Award recipients have their names engraved on a plaque at the IEA headquarters and have annual dues paid on their behalf for the ensuing year.
The ESP ( Education Support Professionals ) Task Committee held their retreat at the end of July and discussed plans for the upcoming year.
- Be on the lookout for an email from Stacie Aspiazu-Johnson with a short survey attached—along with a chance to win a $25 gift card. The answers to these nine questions will guide the committee in crafting policy and making decisions during the coming months.
- The committee has set a goal to increase ESP membership by about 10% for the 2014-2015 school year. Quality members are the backbone of the organization, so the membership drive is a top priority.
- There are currently two openings on the ESP Committee. Applicants can be approved until the October board meeting, and interested members should contact ESP Committee Chair Stacie Aspiazu-Johnson or another committee member to apply. Region Representatives are the conduit to communicating with the ESP committee, and contact information for these hard-working people can be found below.
Chair: ESP-At-Large Stacie Aspiazu-Johnson Email: Stacieaspiazu@gmail.com
Region 1: Frances Galloway Email: francesgalloway54@gmail.com
Region 2: OPEN
Region 3: Sally Campbell Email: sjbcampbell@yahoo.com
Region 4: OPEN
Region 5: Bobbie Steffensen Email: bobbie@d55.k12.id.us
Region 6: Kim Bermensolo Email: mommakim@hotmail.com
Region 7: Nick Steinmetz Email: nsteinmetz@gmail.com
Region 8: Dave Lyman Email: dave.dbars@frontiernet.net
Region 9: Jill Wrem Email: jwrem1@q.com