Cookie hand-out planned for education week
Nancy Horst - Special to the Gazette
Friday, November 13, 2009
Local businesses will help the Emporia Public Schools celebrate American Education Week next week. The theme is “Great Public Schools: A Basic Right and Our Responsibility.”
Representatives of the Emporia State Federal Credit Union, Country Mart and Emporia’s Radio Stations will help district staff deliver cookies to all employees Tuesday morning. The cookies will be provided by the credit union and Country Mart as a “thank you” to education personnel.
KVOE will assist with the deliveries and carry live broadcasts from each of the schools between 9 a.m. and noon. The credit union also will provide cash prizes for radio callers who correctly answer questions from seventh-grade state assessment questions during the week.
“Emporia State Federal Credit Union is honored to sponsor the AEW cookie project each year,” said ESFCU manager Angie Miller. “We truly value the hard work that each and every employee within the district dedicates to the children of Emporia.
“Every employee contributes in some way to the success of our children. I personally look forward to visiting the employees as they showcase their specific areas or schools. American Education Week is the perfect time to thank the employees of USD 253.”
Wednesday of American Education Week is set aside as Education Support Professionals (ESP) Day to honor the contributions of school support staff, who comprise 40 percent of the Emporia school district workforce. This includes paraeducators; custodians; and office, technology, maintenance, transportation and food service staff.
American Education Week was first observed in 1921 to raise public awareness of the importance of education. It was sponsored by the National Education Association and the American Legion because the organizations were concerned that 25 percent of the country's World War I draftees were illiterate and 29 percent were physically unfit. AEW is always celebrated the week before Thanksgiving.