In a special episode, Aaron, Jeff, and Rachael celebrate the podcast’s one-year pod-aversary. They discuss key PSEA highlights from 2024, including success with a student teacher stipend, ongoing efforts to secure a pre-Act 9 retiree COLA, and plans to address ESP shortages with a dedicated Lobby Day in 2025. The team also shares their favorite memories from the year and looks ahead to new goals and more tapping into the collaborative spirit that drives PSEA’s mission forward.
In a special episode, Aaron, Jeff, and Rachael celebrate the podcast’s one-year pod-aversary. They discuss key PSEA highlights from 2024, including success with a student teacher stipend, ongoing efforts to secure a pre-Act 9 retiree COLA, and plans to address ESP shortages with a dedicated Lobby Day in 2025. The team also shares their favorite memories from the year and looks ahead to new goals and more tapping into the collaborative spirit that drives PSEA’s mission forward.
Do you have some feedback for us? Send an email to podcast@psea.org.
Learn more and watch for upcoming episodes at psea.org/podcast.
Voiceover:
Welcome to Duty-Free Lunch, the official podcast of the Pennsylvania State Education Association. Join us as we unpack the issues that matter most to you. From cutting-edge classroom strategies to thought-provoking policy discussions, if it impacts PSEA members, it's on the menu.
Aaron Chapin:
Hello, and welcome to Duty Free Lunch. I'm PSEA President, Aaron Chapin. I'm here with Vice President of PSEA, Jeff Ney.
Jeff Ney:
Hey, Happy New Year, Aaron.
Aaron Chapin:
Woo. And we're also here with PSEA Treasurer, Rachael West. Hello, Rachael.
Rachael West:
Hello, Aaron and Jeff.
Aaron Chapin:
Hi, Rachael. How are you doing today?
Rachael West:
See, look, I even addressed you. That's nice.
Aaron Chapin:
It's almost the new year. By the time you might be listening to this, it might already be the new year.
Jeff Ney:
It might be.
Aaron Chapin:
It might be. I can't believe that 2024 is over with.
Jeff Ney:
Unbelievable.
Aaron Chapin:
Yep. And 2025 has already begun. Where does the time go?
Rachael West:
Time flies when you're having fun.
Aaron Chapin:
That's right. It seems like just yesterday we started this little podcast. For those of you who weren't with us at PSEA's House of Delegates in December, which as we're recording, it was like three days ago. But I was reflecting with the delegates about all of our accomplishments last year. And I'll say, and it's not because it was my bright idea, but actually one of the best things I think we did last year, one of the best things, again, if you had to put in the top five, it's this podcast.
Jeff Ney:
A hundred percent agree. The feedback that we have gotten as we travel around the state, people learning things that they never knew existed in PSEA world.
Rachael West:
I was going to say, I have actually learned things that PSEA does because I listened to the podcast about them, even some of the ones I wasn't hosting.
Aaron Chapin:
That's right.
Jeff Ney:
Do you know how many we've done so far?
Aaron Chapin:
Well, I've got some special questions for you.
Jeff Ney:
Do you?
Aaron Chapin:
But don't wait, wait, wait.
Jeff Ney:
Okay.
Aaron Chapin:
Anyway, remember-
Jeff Ney:
Jumping ahead.
Aaron Chapin:
You are jumping ahead. It's hard to believe, though. It took us a few months of just of us getting together as a team, then a few months for our communications department to get this thing. Well, we had to get all the equipment and...
Jeff Ney:
I was going to say that exact same thing. I mean, we had a lot of energy, we had a lot of thoughts of what this was going to be, but then all of a sudden, our PSEA staff and communications really got behind it and they're like, "Wait a minute. We can really turn this into something great."
Aaron Chapin:
Well, and just so everybody knows, by the time you're listening to this, we've already hit the one-year mark. So it's our pod-aversary.
Jeff Ney:
How long have you been thinking about that one?
Aaron Chapin:
Actually just came, it didn't take long at all, but it is our pod-Aversary
Jeff Ney:
Rach, he was sitting on that one.
Aaron Chapin:
I was not. Look, we've come a long way. We're in this brand new studio. It's gorgeous. Remember we were back in the old closet?
Jeff Ney:
We were in the closet. We had to move boxes before we could record.
Aaron Chapin:
We had to turn the air conditioning off.
Jeff Ney:
Oh, we had to. Yeah, that's right.
Aaron Chapin:
That's right. So we've really come a long way. And Jeff, you asked a great question since you asked it and because it was written down. I'm going to ask you now. It's not written on your sheet, is it?
Jeff Ney:
No, it's not.
Aaron Chapin:
No, that's because there's two sets of scripts for today.
Jeff Ney:
Wow.
Aaron Chapin:
I know. Don't expect any special guests. Even though Jim's upstairs right now sitting there all by himself looking at transcripts. Nope, Jeff, do you know how many episodes we released last year?
Jeff Ney:
I'm going to go 28.
Aaron Chapin:
You cheated. You looked at my paper.
Jeff Ney:
I did not.
Aaron Chapin:
You cheated. You cheated you.
Jeff Ney:
How can I see?
Aaron Chapin:
I don't know. But if Rachael knows the answer to the next one, I know there's cheating going on. Rachael, how many individual guests did we have last year?
Jeff Ney:
Oh, that's a harder one. Okay, so there's 28 podcasts.
Rachael West:
Right.
Jeff Ney:
Come on, we're probably averaging 1.5.
Rachael West:
42.
Aaron Chapin:
See, you guys looked at my notes. You guys-
Jeff Ney:
We didn't.
Rachael West:
Is it really 42?
Jeff Ney:
We didn't it.
Aaron Chapin:
Yes. You cheated. Stop it. Communications. Was there cheating going on?
Jeff Ney:
That's the team right there.
Aaron Chapin:
Yeah. Cheating. The team right there.
Rachael West:
That is mathematical inferencing.
Jeff Ney:
You have two math teachers. This is what happens when a language arts-
Aaron Chapin:
This is what happens when you go back to my office for a quick beverage. And you cheated.
Jeff Ney:
We did not.
Aaron Chapin:
All right. Anyway, Jeff, since you looked at my notes.
Jeff Ney:
Yes.
Aaron Chapin:
Who was on the podcast the most last year?
Jeff Ney:
I think it was Dan Whitimer.
Aaron Chapin:
I like that you think it, even though you looked at my notes.
Jeff Ney:
I didn't look at your notes.
Aaron Chapin:
The app happens to be our most popular downloaded episode today.
Jeff Ney:
Oh really?
Aaron Chapin:
Yes. The first one is still the most popular.
Jeff Ney:
Huh?
Aaron Chapin:
They couldn't get enough of the first one, and then ever since it's just...
Rachael West:
Maybe they just keep going back to the first one because they love Dan so much.
Aaron Chapin:
Because they love Dan that much.
Jeff Ney:
They want to make sure he stays on top.
Aaron Chapin:
Dan loves himself too.
Jeff Ney:
He does.
Aaron Chapin:
All right, Rachael, before Thanksgiving, I got the number of downloads, and since you probably wrote it down already, how many downloads did we have by Thanksgiving?
Rachael West:
1,280.
Aaron Chapin:
That's a year line to cover yourself. 4,639.
Jeff Ney:
Wow. That's pretty good.
Aaron Chapin:
I know. So by the time you listen to this, we're at least six, 7,000.
Jeff Ney:
You think?
Aaron Chapin:
Well, we're catching on crazy.
Jeff Ney:
The fire. And it's not just Pennsylvania people.
Aaron Chapin:
I know. We're very popular in Maine.
Jeff Ney:
I hear Delaware really is coming on strong.
Aaron Chapin:
Yes.
Rachael West:
It can't be the shameless plugs we give everywhere we go.
Jeff Ney:
No, not at all.
Aaron Chapin:
All right, let's get serious. All right. Why? Because we've got a series of questions that need to be asked for today. So let's start off. Ready?
Jeff Ney:
I'm ready. I already have the answers.
Aaron Chapin:
I know you looked at my sheet. All right, so now that it's the new year, it's 2025. Election day 2024 is long over.
Jeff Ney:
Okay.
Aaron Chapin:
Thank goodness. So there are still some questions about what's going to be happening this year in regard to public schools and organized labor. Look, we've heard it from members. What's going to happen? I don't know. I don't know. I don't think any of us truly know, but one thing I know for certain is that I'm really excited about PSEA's new mission, vision, values and goals, which were passed at last weekend's House of Delegates.
Jeff Ney:
Yeah, it was fantastic.
Aaron Chapin:
Unanimously.
Jeff Ney:
Yes, it was.
Aaron Chapin:
It a pretty great moment. So I know we've been working on this since we started as officers. So Jeff, we're going to start with you. And it looks like Rachael, I'm looking at the sheet, your name was misspelled.
Rachael West:
That's all right. I'll live.
Aaron Chapin:
My goodness. Spell check.
Rachael West:
They don't know that on the podcast.
Aaron Chapin:
So I want to hear what are your thoughts on the blueprint as we're headed into this new year? And of course, these are good for the next seven to 10 years.
Jeff Ney:
Yeah, seven to 10 years. So here are my takeaways. Number one, as far as the process of the mission, vision, values, and goals, the one thing that I was so, so happy about is that we were able to take a hold of the member voices all across the state through number of different ways. Emails out to every single member of PSEA. We had in-person events, we had online events, we came to committee weekends, we just talked to everybody. And the second thing that I was super proud of is that it was a collaborative effort between multiple groups, our board directors, who were absolutely fantastic going through the wording of our MVVG, along with the oversight committee and our Diversity Equity Inclusion advisory council, taking a look to make sure that we were hitting the mark, making sure that every facet of our membership was represented.
Aaron Chapin:
What about you, Rachael?
Rachael West:
Well, obviously I should have spent the time collaborating with Jeff about what I was going to say instead of cheating on your papers, because I was going to say some of that, but one of the things that I found really fascinating as a math person was that time spent, when we sat down with the committees and the board of directors to really talk about the wordsmithing piece. I hadn't thought about how just changing one word here or there can make such a big difference.
And so I was really fascinated by that process and by listening to what so many different people in our association think are the important things. And I think it may seem like we spent a year and a half doing this, and I realized that as an officer of this association, it is our job to make sure that what we're doing is reflecting what our members have spent a year and a half telling us that they need and want from us.
Jeff Ney:
And I think it's really important for the listeners to know that the mission, vision, values and goals are not what the three officers wanted.
Aaron Chapin:
Not at all.
Jeff Ney:
Not that we disagree with anything that's in it, but these things are supposed to outlast all of us. These are things that look forward in the future. Where do we think PSEA is going to go? We do not just take a look at the current events, current news cycle and say, "Okay, and let's do this." It's kind of like playing checkers. We don't do that. We play chess. We look down the road to make sure that we are giving the members what they could potentially need down the line.
Aaron Chapin:
As I think back, it was a long 16 months to get to this part, and it is actually a year and a half because we had a lot of planning ahead of time. I think the thing that really amazed me was just that how different it was from when we used to do this in the past.
Jeff Ney:
He world cafes.
Aaron Chapin:
The world cafes, so we finally got it out there. Because you couldn't do it at the house. But it was much different because this was truly a collaborative effort between all of our members, all of our leaders, and all of our staff. And for the first time, I really thought this is something that really kind of sums up what our organization really wants moving forward. Everybody, and everybody had a chance. Every member, every staff person had an opportunity to say what they wanted. Now the writing of it came down to a few groups, but still even the approval of those words there afterwards. Members, it's all about the members, all about the staff. Everybody had a part in this.
Jeff Ney:
Every sentence that was crafted as part of the mission, vision, values and goals. We had all of the answers that we received that were categorized. Our research department did an outstanding job putting all of that stuff together and we looked at it every sentence.
Aaron Chapin:
Yeah, it was an amazing accomplishment. And again, it's not because we let, it truly was an organizational lift in a time where things were transitioning. And I'm just super proud of the work that everybody in this organization, in whatever capacity, they played a part. So let's go on to the next part.
Jeff Ney:
Go ahead. You read the next question.
Aaron Chapin:
I know, it says 28 episodes. This is why your wife doesn't talk to you. So when I think about the 28 episodes from last year, we placed a lot of emphasis on the student-teacher stipend. We had, I think, two or three episodes where we were talking about the student-teachers. So let's talk right now where we are right now, because as we head into '25, it's almost a new semester. Maybe by the time you're listening, the second semester's already started. Where are we going with this right now, Rachael?
Rachael West:
Well, I think that at this point, everybody probably recognizes that we didn't get enough funding to fund the number of student-teachers we have. And so that spring semester not every student-teacher is going to get the stipend,
Aaron Chapin:
Unfortunately.
Rachael West:
And so I think that that's the easiest jumping off point for us. Obviously, it's great that we got the funding that we got, but we would obviously really want every student-teacher to be able to receive those funds. And we also know that it was not all smooth sailing, getting those students that money. And I think that we can all learn a little bit about how this process happened and what we can do to make that a little bit smoother for our students moving forward.
Aaron Chapin:
Well, I think we're PSEA. We expect perfection sometimes. And that's not a bad thing, but obviously when you start a government program from scratch and in three months expect it to run it, it doesn't. But Jeff.
Jeff Ney:
But I'll tell you what, I'm going to give a huge shout out to our GR department, especially Kelly Thompson, because she did everything she could to make it as perfect as it possibly could have been. To try to have every single person, every single district sign on to this was, first of all, that was a difficult, and we're still, I don't know, a handful, less than five short to get everybody to sign on for it. But then to secure the funding because again, it wasn't PSEA that is handing out this money, it's PHEAA, it's the people across the street here in Harrisburg. And to get all of those people rolling in the same direction, it's not easy.
Aaron Chapin:
No. And we have a lot of groups working together right now. It's not just PSEA. We're working with PHEAA, we're working with Senator Vince Hughes. Shout out to Vince Hughes who played an instrumental role in getting this passed. But I think as we look forward to this, look, we're only a month away by the time everybody's listening to this, to the budget address by Governor Shapiro. And Rachael, what are we trying to make happen as we get this budget for next year?
Rachael West:
Obviously we will use the estimated numbers of student teachers that we have that should be active in the coming school year. And obviously there are obviously hoops they need to jump through, but use that number to try to ask for that high ask of the number of dollars that we need to fund every single student teacher and every single cooperating teacher.
Aaron Chapin:
And we can't forget about the cooperating teachers. $2,500 if you're with one of those that are getting the $10,000 or 15,000 if you're in-
Jeff Ney:
One of those high needs districts.
Aaron Chapin:
That's right. $2,500 for our cooperating teachers. It's what they deserve. And we've had cooperating teachers deserving this for decades. Decades.
Jeff Ney:
I mean, let's face it. I don't think any one of us would be here without somebody, a mentor like that leading us down the right path.
Aaron Chapin:
That's right. So that's what we're trying for this year. I look forward to the governor's budget address and seeing... I'm super grateful for what he has done and what he and Senator Vince Hughes and all the legislators that made this happen. I'm just, let's get some more money into this program because we've heard the stories from our student teachers, how it's been life-changing when that $10,000 appears in their account and the burden is so much easier.
Jeff Ney:
And we talk about the Grow your own programs, but we still have to get those people, those students to enter the education field. And this is a great way to get them to go into education.
Aaron Chapin:
So we're talking about the student teachers and another big part, and we had a couple of episodes over the 2024 year. When it comes to the COLA for our pre-Act 9 retirees. Again, this is the retirees, these are the people are educators and support professionals who retired prior to 2001. And we've been trying to get them a cost of living adjustment because times have changed. With that and inflation, their buying power is at like 20%. So we've come really close this year, Jeff.
Jeff Ney:
Yeah.
Aaron Chapin:
Where are we?
Jeff Ney:
We had it passed in the house, not once, but twice. But the Senate has yet to act on it to actually get it through. And every indication is that if it ends up on the governor's desk, he's going to sign it. So we'd need that one last push to try to get the Senate to take it up and to take a vote on it.
Aaron Chapin:
Bipartisan.
Rachael West:
Yes. My understanding is that if we can get it out of the committee in the Senate, once it gets to the Senate floor, we have enough bipartisan support for this bill that it could happen. We just have to get it out of committee so that it can actually be run and get to the governor's desk.
Aaron Chapin:
Unfortunately, I think we have to start this process all over again. We've got a new group of legislators coming in, but not worried about the house. We just got to get through the Senate.
Jeff Ney:
The good news is we still have a pro-public education house. We still have all of our friends that we counted on the last time. So they passed it twice. Hey, third time's a charm.
Aaron Chapin:
I feel like this is the year. Now, of course, I said it last year, but I feel like there's been so much momentum. We had two house votes where we had Democrats and Republicans voting in favor of this. I feel like the time has come.
Jeff Ney:
And who knows? Maybe what we can do is talk to the governor and make sure that it is at least mentioned in part of his budget.
Aaron Chapin:
All right, so we've talked about our student teachers, we talked about our retirees. Something we haven't talked enough about, it's our support professionals. We can't forget about the shortages that they're experiencing right now. And of course, this is having a detrimental problem on our schools. We need our support professionals. They are such an important force in our districts. So we're trying to fix these shortages. What are we going to be doing this year?
Rachael West:
Well, I think some of the things that we are doing are things we have kind of started talking about already. The $20 an hour, the living wage. That might not be $20 an hour in your area. It might be $25 an hour, but that living wage is going to be a way that we can attract and retain people in these ESP jobs. We definitely need to find a way to make this a more attractive position. And I think that the other thing is going to be just getting that message out there. And I think we have some things coming up.
Jeff Ney:
We do have something big coming up. We have dedicated March 25th as ESP Lobby day. Now this is something that PSEA has never done before. Usually our lobby days take place a little bit later on in the school year, but we are going to dedicate that day, March 25th, we were going to invite a bunch of ESPs to come into town. We're going to stand there on the capital steps and we are going to let everybody in that building know that our ESPs deserve that living wage of at least $20 an hour.
Aaron Chapin:
That's right. We're going to have them lobbying the legislators. The legislators are going to be in town that day in both the House and the Senate. They're going to be coming in and not only being out there on the steps, but going into the offices and saying, "This is why we need more money. You need to be paying us a living wage and more."
Jeff Ney:
Our ESP board members, the five members that sit on our PSEA board of directors, they have done nothing but advocate for the ESPs all across the state. So we hear what you're saying. And thanks to Aaron and his pushing, hey, we're going to make this thing happen.
Aaron Chapin:
So March 25th.
Jeff Ney:
March 25th.
Aaron Chapin:
2025.
Jeff Ney:
March on Harrisburg.
Aaron Chapin:
There'll be flyers, there'll be emails, social media. You'll be seeing a lot of publicity about this. So our ESP members, if that's something you think you can pull off, we'd love to have you in town. We want a huge crowd out there on the Capitol steps. We want to make this happen. We need to fix this problem just as much as we need to fix the other problems we've talked about today. So ready?
Jeff Ney:
I'm ready.
Aaron Chapin:
Pop quiz.
Jeff Ney:
Really already?
Rachael West:
Quiz time already.
Aaron Chapin:
And I'm going to ask the question again because I'm president. What memory sticks out most from 2024? Rachael, if you had to pick a memory.
Jeff Ney:
Just one?
Aaron Chapin:
Well, just one. You got to pick one. What memory sticks out from 2024?
Rachael West:
I'll do a memory that was actually more associated with some of our members. I had the opportunity to go to Harbor Creek, which is up near Erie. For those that don't know, because I didn't know. And they have a spectacular art show. One of our board members, Jan Pearson organizes it. She's the art teacher at two of the elementary schools there. And we got to go to one of her elementary schools and Jeff and I actually got to help run a little craft situation, and it was really fun. Arts and crafts is not typically my thing. Again, math teacher. But I had a really great time interacting with the younger kids and participating in that art show.
Jeff Ney:
Yeah, we made flowers.
Aaron Chapin:
I was there the year before.
Jeff Ney:
Oh, were you? Very nice.
Aaron Chapin:
What was yours?
Jeff Ney:
Well, it just so happens that my favorite event actually ha Rachael in it as well, and that was our inaugural night at the races at Gettysburg. So when we came into office, we realized that Gettysburg kind of needed a little bit of a refresh, and we had this great idea that was actually taken from a couple of the regions to have a night at the race. And it didn't go off exactly as planned, but with Rachael's help, we put it together and it came off very, very well. It came off so well, Rachael, that I think the president actually had to come onto stage and say to everybody, "Yeah, I had my doubts, but wow, it was a really good time."
Aaron Chapin:
I have a lot of doubts, but you're both incorrect about your favorite memories.
Jeff Ney:
Oh, really?
Rachael West:
What's your favorite memory, Aaron?
Jeff Ney:
You're going to tell us what our favorite memory was?
Aaron Chapin:
It's working with me.
Jeff Ney:
I asked if I could have two.
Rachael West:
You didn't ask me what my greatest joy was, Aaron. You asked me what my best memory was.
Jeff Ney:
Just like MVVG, words are important. You have to use the right words.
Aaron Chapin:
I will tell you that I really enjoyed the entire month of March because we traveled around the state reading to different classrooms.
Jeff Ney:
That was great.
Aaron Chapin:
We got into, what did I say? Over 20 districts.
Jeff Ney:
Yeah.
Aaron Chapin:
The three of us were barnstorming the state. We read to over 90 different classes. And each and every place I know that I went to, and I think you all kept sharing your feedback. Each and every class was super excited to have us. We got to see places that we've never ever been. And that to me, it was so much fun. Even though it was super hectic, it was a great experience hanging out with the kids, hanging out with all of our colleagues. I had a blast. And so if there's some of you out there that are interested, we're looking to get back out there in March of this year for Read Across America Month, because we make an entire month of it because a week is weak. We're doing it for an entire month. So you got to email us. You can email us at podcast@psa.org.
Jeff Ney:
Sure.
Aaron Chapin:
Or you can just text us.
Jeff Ney:
Put the subject line American Education Month.
Aaron Chapin:
But that for me, that was one of my favorite memories because it was just a really great time to get away from it all. We do have something different this week.
Jeff Ney:
Oh what's that?
Aaron Chapin:
It's extra credit.
Jeff Ney:
Oh my goodness.
Aaron Chapin:
I know because I'm a pop quiz-
Jeff Ney:
I needed it when I was in school.
Aaron Chapin:
Yeah, Jeff was not good on pop quizzes, so extra credit. So we're fortunate. We're very fortunate to lead this great union. Never forget it, but it is the greatest honor. What's one thing you're looking forward to accomplishing in 2025, Rachael?
Rachael West:
It's funny because it was almost like you teed this one up for me by bringing up Read Across America. But one of the things that I want to do is I want to visit at least five new districts that I didn't visit last year when I do my Read Across America this year because I want to get across to more places I haven't seen in our state.
Jeff Ney:
Wow, that's very nice. So I can't wait for, we have, actually, on the podcast, we told everybody that we are planning an early career educator conference. Now we're not a hundred percent sure what it's going to look like, but it is going to take place here in Harrisburg. So I'm very excited to get to the planning part of that. The conference itself will take place in early January of '26, so we have to make sure that we have all of that stuff in place because that is one area where I think we really still need to focus on. And that is talking with our early career educators.
Aaron Chapin:
Both of you, good answers. Still wrong.
Jeff Ney:
It's still wrong.
Aaron Chapin:
Working with me. That's the thing you're looking forward to the most. No?
Jeff Ney:
Again, it's what brings joy to our days.
Aaron Chapin:
Oh. But I think they're really good. I had not thought about either one of yours, so that's good.
Jeff Ney:
What'd you think of?
Aaron Chapin:
What did I think? I actually just want to, there's not one specific, because I enjoy each and every month and moment that we have. It is really building upon the memento. I think we've seen this year, there's a lot of positivity, there's a lot of unity. I'm looking on building upon that and seeing our association grow even more. I think we've grown tighter over the past year.
Jeff Ney:
I think it's great for the members who maybe not have seen the board of directors and the officers interact with each other. But Aaron, I think you're a hundred percent right. I think you've created a culture where even if we disagree, it is okay to disagree respectfully, because everybody's voice matters. So thank you very much.
Aaron Chapin:
You want to say that again?
Jeff Ney:
No. That's it. You get it once if you been listening, that's it.
Rachael West:
You get one compliment at a time.
Aaron Chapin:
Wow. I'm kind of speechless. Well, I was thinking about that. Unfortunately we are over time. I don't know when time ran out.
Jeff Ney:
Well, who does?
Aaron Chapin:
I don't know.
Jeff Ney:
That's okay. Hey, you know what? It's your podcast.
Aaron Chapin:
It is. And I think we were advocating for extra duty free lunch.
Jeff Ney:
Oh, we were advocating for duty free lunch.
Aaron Chapin:
Unfortunately, that is it for a time. We are well over. So if you are listening and you're like, "Wish they were done." Now we're just about done. On behalf of Jeff and Rachael, we really want to thank all of our listeners for tuning in throughout the entire 2024. It's been an honor just having you listen. If you missed any of the episodes, the great part of podcasts, they don't go anywhere. They're right there on the platform. Go back, check them out. If you're going on a road trip over the next couple months, going out, maybe you're taking up exercising in the new year, you need something to listen to. We are the ones.
Jeff Ney:
And it's like around 20 minutes. So I mean, that's a perfect time to,
Aaron Chapin:
That's a perfect workout.
Jeff Ney:
Well, to kickstart out a new workout.
Aaron Chapin:
My workouts are like an hour long. Well, it takes me a while to tie my shoes. Before we sign off, we really need to thank all of the staff that are behind the scenes that make this podcast work
First of all, our communications team. Our communications team, well, they're pretty good in the northeast. All right. I don't know about Oklahoma. They're pretty good down there. But we got to thank the communications team here. We got They are some of the best in the nation. Everywhere from, well, basically it's the three Daves.
Jeff Ney:
It is three Daves.
Aaron Chapin:
Dave, Dave and Dave. They've been very patient, but very excited as we've done all of this. So they're sitting in here with us and we don't shout them and out shout them out enough. And don't forget about Erica. She's filled in.
Jeff Ney:
I feel like Erica is almost like the producer. Whenever one of these guys falls down on the job or something, she swoops right in and takes over.
Aaron Chapin:
She does. Yes. And she gives the glare, gets these guys back on track. But everybody in our communications, not just the ones recording it, but who's promoted. We've got all that promoting that goes-
Jeff Ney:
Who's done the research?
Aaron Chapin:
I know. So they've done a great job. We also have to thank Trish Line. Because she's the manager of governance programs, otherwise known as the one who keeps us in line on the seventh floor.
Jeff Ney:
Good luck.
Aaron Chapin:
She's the one who's responsible for lining up guests, working with communications, working with us. She's bouncing back and forth. And if it wasn't for her, this wouldn't be happening either. So we've got a lot of people that make this podcast happen. It's not just all about me.
Jeff Ney:
Really.
Aaron Chapin:
I know it's not.
Rachael West:
Shocking.
Jeff Ney:
You know what guys. Record that one. I need that for a ringtone.
Aaron Chapin:
I like that ringtone. And as always, everybody, do you have some feedback? Maybe you have ideas for some podcasts.
Jeff Ney:
Oh, that'd be a good idea.
Aaron Chapin:
Yeah. Maybe you really do want advice from Jeff or Rachael. .
Jeff Ney:
Probably not.
Aaron Chapin:
Maybe the three Daves. You got to send it to podcast@psea.org. Happy New Year everybody. It's 2025. Let's make this the best year. I'm Aaron Chapin.
Jeff Ney:
And I'm Jeff Ney.
Rachael West:
And I'm Rachael West.
Aaron Chapin:
And you, for the last 28 episodes, have been listening to Duty Free Lunch. Bye for now.
Voiceover:
You've been listening to Duty Free Lunch with the Pennsylvania State Education Association. Visit psea.org/podcast to learn more, and don't forget to subscribe and share. Paid for by the Pennsylvania State Education Association.