Recruitment and retention are at the heart of a new pilot program that will be rolled out this fall in Naperville School District 203. The initiative is geared specifically toward the disparate paraprofessionals represented through the Naperville Education Support Professionals Association (NESPA).
Several Naperville 203 staffers gave a glimpse into the new systems of support plan by way of a presentation at a board of education meeting Monday, June 2. The plan in motion includes the assignment of mentors at each building within the district.
Orientation, onboarding and ongoing professional learning
Lisa Xagas, assistant superintendent for strategy and engagement, said the new program has three key concepts that are designed to provide a soft landing for newly hired NESPA-represented staffers. She added that it also gives existing employees the tools necessary to grow and evolve in their roles.
Broadly speaking, the three plan pillars are as follows: orientation, onboarding, and ongoing professional learning.
“We believe it is the first internal comprehensive support system of its kind in the area, and we are excited to learn from the mentorship pilot this school year,” Xagas said.
The Naperville 203 employees filling more than three-dozen individual positions — from academic support paraprofessionals to technology support associates — are privy to the mentor-mentee arrangement that is under development.
“The rationale behind this system of support is deeply rooted in our commitment to being responsive to feedback and grounding our work in best practices for recruitment, retention, increased productivity and staff morale,” said Heather Klespitz, a special education assistant at Steeple Run Elementary School, who has played a role in developing the pilot program.
Kelly Scotti, a paraprofessional at Beebe Elementary School, has also been instrumental in developing the program. She said collaboration is at the heart of the initiative.
“It is designed to build the skill sets of new and returning education support professionals to generate effective employees who positively impact the district’s environment,” Scotti said.
Program the result of NESPA employee feedback
A number of issues — including employee morale — were raised during the last round of negotiations on NESPA’s current union contract, which was approved late last year for a three-year term.
Superintendent Dan Bridges said Naperville 203 has taken the concerns raised in the last round of contract negotiations to heart and has been making morale-boosting a front-and-center priority.
“This is a great example of work that has come out of our initiative around morale,” Bridges said. “We’ve listened to our staff about areas where we can work on morale.”
According to information shared at the meeting, the NESPA support program has an initial budget of $15,000 for mentor stipends and hourly wages for mentees to work with mentors. The line item is included in Naperville 203’s 2025-26 school year budget, which is under review and slated for adoption Monday, June 16.
D203 Board of Education overwhelmingly supportive of proposal
At the June 2 meeting, numerous board of education members lauded the Naperville 203 staffers for the program proposal.
“You had me at ‘hello’ on this one,” School Board President Charles Cush said. “I think it’s an excellent program. It’s very responsive to the feedback we’ve received.”
The staff presenters indicated they plan to scale the mentor-mentee program and expand it after the initial phase, which was a concept Cush enthusiastically supported as he weighed in on the plans in motion.
“We should be thinking about how we make this bigger, faster,” Cush said. “It sounds like the need is way bigger than the capacity right now.”
New board member Holly Blastic also gave a ringing endorsement of the program, noting it provides the same parity to the working adults as it does the students the district serves in providing the tools necessary for success.
“I heard feedback on this before I even joined the board,” Blastic said of hearing about employee morale while out on the campaign trail this spring.
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