Value Added Programs

The Illinois Principals Association is fortunate to partner with a variety of organizations who share in our common mission of advancing learning through effective educational leadership. Don’t hesitate to tap into these outstanding resources that will add value to you both personally and professionally.

The IPA has teamed up with Association Member Benefits Advisors (AMBA) to make member only benefits available to you. You will find many insurance related benefits available at special group rates along with numerous merchant discounts. Please take a moment to review all that is available to you.

Horace Mann’s Educator Advantage auto insurance program provides value-added features and benefits at no extra charge for educators. Plus, IPA members earn an additional discount in addition to Horace Mann’s special rates for educators. Find out more about The Horace Mann Companies at www.horacemann.com.

The BuyBoard National Purchasing Cooperative provides school districts with an opportunity to save time and money while purchasing the products they use every day. School districts can benefit from BuyBoard, which was developed to comply with state laws requiring government entities to make purchases from an approved list of vendors who have gone through a competitive bidding process. BuyBoard is supported by the Illinois Principals Association, Illinois Association of School Administrators, and the Illinois Association of School Boards. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to save precious dollars.

Curriculum Crafter’s is a curriculum and standards management platform. It also provides one of the largest repositories of fully vetted and tightly aligned K-12 curriculum in Math, Science, ELA and Social Studies.  Already have your own curriculum? No problem! With Curriculum Crafter you can easily import your curriculum and lesson plans into our integrated platform to take advantage of all the collaborative features and reporting. Curriculum Crafter’s strategy of integrating the entire educational workflow under one platform means teachers will spend less time on research, planning, reporting and building and more time on doing what they love to do…TEACH! Learn more.

The Ed Leaders Network (ELN) is grounded in the belief that educational leaders impact student performance. With this foundational belief at the ELN’s core, multiple state principal associations have partnered together to provide you high quality, on-demand professional development webinars to enhance your leadership growth. A dynamic professional networking community has also been created to allow you to interact with your peers and leadership experts from across the country. In short, the ELN’s mission is to provide you the professional development content and capacity building professional network you need to do what’s best for your students and learning community. Learn more at www.edleadersnetwork.org.

The SchoolGuard® app provides a panic button for teachers and staff by immediately alerting nearby law enforcement through the Hero911® rapid-response network while simultaneously calling 911 with the touch of a single button. There is a one-time only setup/activation fee of $1,000 per property (discounted with multiple properties within a district) and a monthly service fee thereafter of $99 per property which includes unlimited, approved users. Learn more at http://schoolguard.guard911.com/

The IPA will pay retired members’ dues for IRTA during the duration of the retired individuals’ membership with IPA. According to IPA Executive Director Jason Leahy, “The IPA is pleased to have the opportunity to provide this additional benefit to our retired members. The IPA has always viewed IRTA as a close partner. The joint membership offers both organizations the opportunity to strengthen our relationship particularly where pension related matters are concerned.” Please contact Lisa Thoele, IPA Membership Coordinator, at lisa@ilprincipals.org with questions. Visit http://www.irtaonline.org/ to learn more about the Illinois Retired Teachers Association.

Deans who become members of IPA will have their Illinois State Dean Association (ISDA) dues paid by IPA. Information about ISDA can be found at www.isda.us/.

NaviGate Prepared is a proven school safety emergency response system designed to assist and prepare school officials and first responders for crisis situations. The secure, cloud-based platform offers 911 dispatch centers and emergency personnel real-time Internet access of a school’s facility and safety information before, during and after a crisis. Developed by Lauren Innovations, NaviGate Prepared is SAFETY Act Designated as an anti-terrorism-level technology by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. For more information, visit www.NaviGatePrepared.com.

On January 1, 2010, the Illinois Principals Association unveiled its Online Model Student Handbook Service. This online service features over 65 required student handbook procedures and accompanying documents. The procedures are all attorney drafted and peer reviewed and are consistent with the Illinois Association of School Board’s school district policy service, or PRESS. All documents are in Word format and are easily downloadable for school use. Visit here for more information.

Use this tool to streamline purchasing processes to save time, money, and paperwork. Find out more by clicking here.

The IPA is partnering with Standard For Success, an online customizable teacher & employee evaluation system, that was created by Educators for Educators to help with the evaluation and management of employee evaluations. Its brand is built on high-quality customer support and helping to make evaluations Simple and Meaningful. Learn more.

The Interlocal Purchasing System, or TIPS, is a national purchasing cooperative that offers access to competitively procured purchasing contracts to its membership. TIPS is housed at and managed by the Region 8 Education Service Center located in Pittsburg, Texas.

Membership in a purchasing cooperative offers public education organizations access to competitively procured contracts with quality vendors; savings of time and financial resources necessary to fulfill bid requirements; assistance with purchasing process by qualified TIPS staff; and access to pricing based on a “national” high-profile contract. Learn more.