July 2025 Newsletter

PESPA members!

I sincerely hope all of you are enjoying your well-deserved summer vacation! I know I certainly have been. My name is Jessy Nielsen, and I am the Communications Director for Provo PESPA. We have decided to have the PESPA newsletter sent out on the first of every month. Some months we may only have a brief update on the union, tips, and tricks to use your union benefits! This newsletter may be a little longer than normal, and I apologize in advance. Let's dive right into it. 

Union membership over the last year has increased about 145%. While acknowledging this increase, I have discovered while doing site visits that there are individuals who have signed the paperwork to become a member over the last couple of years, and yet they still are not members. There have been issues with some applications getting lost at the state level of the NEA. If you or someone you know has not received a union member number from provopespa@gmail.com over the last two months, this means you are not a member according to my list. If this is the case, I encourage you or people you may know to reach out to me at provopespa@gmail.com so we can fix this. Another increase I would like to highlight is that we had a 325% increase in PESPA members ratifying the negotiated agreement back in May! We did receive feedback that if you did not agree with the agreement or if you had questions, we did not give you a means to ask questions and for us to answer. I will make sure that you can ask questions and get answers before you vote.

I have been scheduling site visits each week with different schools to reach out to new and existing members. Give a chance for existing members to double-check their information and give new members a chance to ask questions/sign up! As part of my commitment to improving communications with you all, we will begin by posting on our social media channels you can find at provo-pespa.com. We have an X account, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. Beginning in July, we will be highlighting different benefits and how to access them, tips, and tricks in more detail. Beginning in September, I will be holding a monthly PESPA meeting where if you want to show up and see myself or another member of our board to ask questions, get help signing up for benefits, etc. We want us to be a resource for you! This monthly meeting will be at the same location unless otherwise told in advance and will be on the same day of the month. Times and dates will be announced in August for the entire school year with our first union meeting starting in September. This is not a mandatory meeting. Just another resource for you. We will also schedule our ratification meeting for May of 2026 and give you the exact day and time so if you want to attend, you can plan to attend. I will be broadcasting the ratification meeting so you can join remotely, ask questions via YouTube, and hear our answers live.

Here is the current Leadership of PESPA as follows. I apologize in advance for ruining some names. Anthony Lugo President, Lynell Moore Vice President, Debbie Larsen Secretary, Lisa Pulver Treasurer, Jessy Nielsen Communications, Nancy McGriff Board Member, Kristin Wabel Board Member, Leann Nutig Board Member. Our association representatives are as follows: Grant Brummer Child Nutrition, Jessy Nielsen Custodial, Amber Hundley Maintenance, Spencer Blumel Independence High, Debbie Walker Provo Peaks, Karolyn Davis Provo High, and finally Ashley McCraley Wasatch Elementary. We are currently working on getting representatives at each location to give you someone local you can talk to. AR’s will meet monthly with myself to go over concerns, etc., for each location. Give us a snapshot of where we are at. Believe it or not, we negotiate with Provo City School District all year long.

Finally! How do I access my benefits? You go to Neamb.com to create an account if you have not already. Your union member number should match up with the one I sent out to all of you. One major benefit that I feel you need to sign up for that you get just being a union member for no extra cost is the complimentary life insurance policy. This does not cost anything extra and has an up to $15,000 life insurance policy. See more details for this benefit at www.provo-pespa.com/discount-benefits. 

Because it is summer, I want to highlight the benefit of booking your next travel or vacation through the NEA website! I picked a random resort, Westgate Resort. I booked the same rooms for the same dates, etc. Booking through the Westgate Resort website, it would total $283.40 for a two-night stay September 1-3. Booking through the NEA and getting the member discount, it was a total of $222.18. That is a $61.22 difference. The final example I wanted to highlight before I let you go is who wants to go on a Disney Cruise?!? Booking the same stateroom for two adults for July 5 - July 10 to the Caribbean! Booking through Disney's main website, the total was $3132.46. Booking through the NEA and using the travel dollars, the total was $2998.46. That is a $134 savings. You can use your NEA travel dollars for everything except flights. You still get discounts, but you are not able to use your complimentary $500 NEA travel dollars for being a member. This dollar figure renews every year from when you joined the union. Keep in mind this does not roll over year to year. Use it or lose it.

I am excited for the new things we are doing in the union and with us improving communication with all of you! If you ever have a concern, please feel free to reach out to us so we can work together. Until next month, enjoy your well-deserved summer vacation!

Regards,

Jessy Nielsen

Communications for PESPA