To ESY or Not to ESY? That is the question!

What is ESY you ask?  It is Extended School Year.  As many of you prepare to start working ESY, you may be wondering why did I sign up for this?! Or…you may be asking, why didn't I sign up to work it?!  Here are some thoughts to motivate you whichever answer you have decided to go with!

Have I worked ESY?!  YES!  I have worked in the following scenarios over the years:

• Contract work through an agency to take on new cases just for the summer.  I was able to make my own schedule, select which cases I wanted and select which areas I wanted to drive to and how far.
• Work for a 12 month school year program: by working in this school/environment, I was signed up contractually to work the full year.  It was nice to not  have to worry about what I was doing for the summer or where I would work, it just happened!  I also didn't have to learn a new caseload, make a new schedule, or meet new coworkers.
• Sign up to cover a caseload for someone who did not want to work the 12 month program: this was way fun!  The whole staff was basically a summer-only staff.  We were all “new” together and had fun learning from each other.  It was fun to do something different for the summer than I would normally do during the year and work with a different age group.
• Work for another district's ESY program: many districts have trouble convincing their own SLPs to work the ESY, so they were seeking SLPs from the outside.  I had fun learning how another district worked!
• Work for my district's ESY program:  I got to see all of the district's students that were receiving ESY as well as my own students.  I had fun meeting faculty members from around my district.  I always love to learn from others!  It was nice being in my own district, in my own office, with my own materials at hand.  But it was still a laid back environment and different than the usual 10 months.