Kay Hansen - NEA ESP at Large Director

WEAC Leadership Team

Kay Hansen
ESP At Large Director
National Education Association

Kay Hansen has been dedicated to quality public schools for more than a quarter of a century. She was elected to the National Education Association (NEA) Board of Directors in 2006 as an Education Support Professional (ESP) at-large member, and recently re-elected to her second term at the 2009 NEA Representative Assembly in San Diego.

She is currently employed in the Denmark School District as a classroom para-professional working with special education students and for 23 years was as a para-professional in the elementary library media center. She also has experience in school food and custodial services. Hansen has been active in her church, volunteers for the Salvation Army, and is a former a Girl Scouts leader. She has also been involved with the Save One Student program and the Concerned Citizens for Youth group.

Hansen takes pride in the success of her school and the students it serves. She started a readers theater group of fifth-grade students as well as coordinating special events for National Library Week, which included guest readers First Lady Jessica Doyle, former Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC) President Stan Johnson and former NEA President Reg Weaver.

Nationally, she serves on the NEA Employee Advisory Committee and has served on the NEA’s State Media Advisory Group, UniServ Administrative Procedure Committee and as NEA Board liaison to the International Technology Education Association. She has served as member of the WEAC Board of Directors. Hansen is the co-chair of the WEAC Bargaining Goals Committee. She was formerly vice chair of WEAC’s ESP Committee.

She has been honored as the WEAC Education Support Professional of the Year, co-recipient of the Tenia Jenkins Activist Award, WEAC NEA RA New Delegate of Distinction and was the co-recipient of the WEAC Outreach Award. She was an NEA ESP of the Year nominee in 2006 and 2007. She is especially proud of the Building Unity Between EA and ESPs workshop that she and the president of the Denmark Education Association developed. She was also a trainer for the Emerging Voices workshop and other workshops for her UniServ. Hansen also trains with other NEA directors, both nationally and statewide, at the All for One and One for All unity workshop.

Hansen was instrumental in organizing the Denmark Education Support Professionals (DESP), and has served as president and secretary of her local. She is a co-chief negotiator and negotiations team member. She is a two-time recipient of a Paul Bierbrauer Certificate of Recognition. The DESP negotiations team, along with the Denmark Education Association negotiations team in their joint action, received the 2007 Paul Bierbrauer Award. She is currently a member of the Bayland Educators Board of Directors, for which she has held positions of vice president and secretary. She chairs the Bayland Legislative Committee and is a member of PAC committee, along with serving on other committees. She was the United Bayland Educators Building Corporation secretary and has trained various workshops for the Bayland/UNE Leadership Night.

Hansen has assisted with grassroots organizing with her UniServ and with the NEA in Colorado.

She holds a license through the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction Special Education Program and online certifications from the Para Educator Learning Network.

WEAC is a professional organization representing the public policy, labor and professional interests of its more than 98,000 members. Great schools benefit everyone, and WEAC’s mission is to support public education and the men and women who work in Wisconsin’s public schools.

Updated September 2009