Education Service Center-Region 20

Region 20 is a great resource for educators and administrators trying to grow and develop. I have been to many workshops here in the last 3 years, and am always impressed by the professional development and their instructors. The staff at Region 20 is always friendly, whether you’re lost or are trying to charge your phone at the front desk. They even provide a nursing room for moms, which was a great help for me as a simultaneously new teacher and new mom in a brand new environment.
Don’t forget to stop at Café Twenty for a delicious Cinnamon Latte, breakfast tacos, or a fresh lunch!
My Unilocal rating system:
5 stars= Driving across town just for this!
4 stars= I would recommend visiting.
3 stars= Average, acceptable, positive.
2 stars= You might be able to drag me in.
1 star= I will definitely not be returning.

Region 20 service center is located in San Antonio. They are the service center which provides educational opportunities for :
Teachers
Counselors
Nurses
Administrators
Parents
Bus drivers
Day care workers
Social workers
Therapists and many other professionals who work in schools and other agencies.
Some programs offered are principal certification and alternative teacher certification.
Conferences usually provide continuing education hours (CEU’s).
The staff is very knowledgeable and courteous. The staff goes out of their way to provide up to date — evidence based research and learning opportunities. The center also offers classes/​conferences off– site.

Region 20 staff go above and beyond to help their teacher educator candidates succeed in their first year of teaching and earning their Standard Teaching Certificate.
Communication, however, needs to improve. Many times, candidates are uninformed unless they choose to be proactive, as I did.
Overall, though, this educational service center is effective and helpful!

Region 20 is an ideal conference space — here’s why:
First, I would assume that only education-​based organizations rent space, but I could be wrong. The front desk staff is VERY HELPFUL, so a quick phone call would answer that question.
SPACE: There are multiple spaces for conference sessions (at least in Building 6). Each has a technology setup that is simple to use, and in case you struggle, there are names and phone numbers on the podium for assistance. Everything is very clean. The only downside is that it is easy to hear through walls f the other room is playing any audio or if there is loud talk/​laughter.
PARKING: There is a lot of parking in the BACK. If you try the front, you’ll most likely have bad luck.
TIP: From 35 North: take exit 159B to the express road and use the turnaround to access Hines Street (immediate far right)

Just about anyone in the education field in a 50-​mile radius is familiar with and/​or has been to Region 20 for professional development of some kind. As mentioned in another review, the trainings offered here aren’t just for teachers but also for school nurses and coaches, support staff, administration, and occasionally even parents.
Even though R20 hosts it’s own professional development sessions, they also rent out their rooms to host your own, as SAISD has done on many occasions. This is especially helpful when you have a large number of anticipated attendees or several breakout sessions as a part of your professional development.
If you are hoping to be a certified teacher, R20 has a program for alternative certification that is one of the best I’ve seen for fully preparing knowledgable and capable educators that are ready for the classroom and supported throughout their internship year– the TOPPS program is gold!
In addition to PD, R20 has a teacher resource room (which may actually be closing, last I heard) complete with a mind-​blowing assortment of paper products to make bulletin boards, posters, science fair displays, and just about any other physical classroom product you can imagine.
Another service R20 offers is the Living Science department, located in the second building around the back. Using their website and your school campus information, you can request any number of science supplies, specimens, and organisms for your classroom or campus use, including weekly classroom pet visits by pairs of frogs and tarantulas or caged snakes, various plants for classroom terrariums or basic-​need experiments, and all varieties of small fish and aquatic plants/​animals as well as accompanying educational handouts and lesson preparation materials.
All of the staff I have worked with over the past four years have been nothing short of exeptional– they are always willing to go the extra mile or find an answer or additional information for a situation you may be dealing with, and are endlessly professional and friendly.
Only complaint is that PD courses are expensive if your school doesn’t pay for them– 3 days of SpEd training ran over $ 100/​day (normal prices for sessions TBH) and was essential to getting my SpEd certification.

This is the place to go for professional staff development in the education field. Staff development for teachers, school administrators, educational paraprofessionals, school nurses, PE coaches, school counselors, occupational and physical therapists, school IT staff, and school cafeteria staff is presented daily. Check the ESC-​20 website for more details about upcoming sessions.
They also have their meeting rooms for rent at a very reasonable price, which is great if you need to find a location for a business meeting. Each meeting room is equipped with a digital projector, a screen, whiteboards, a full presentation station equipped with a computer, a microphone (roving mics are available upon request), a document camera, a DVD player, and free WiFi. Other requests are also available upon request. They also have a café/​lunch counter which can cater your next breakfast or lunch meeting.
The third this I love about this place is that they are a Pearson/​VUE & Prometric testing center. Since I am currently going to school to obtain my Bachelor of Science in IT, I have gone here several times to take IT certification tests. The testing facility is comfortable, private lockers are provided to store your personal items (these are not allowed in the testing room), and the testing center staff are very kind and patient if you have last-​minute test anxiety and need to take a moment to calm down before a test.
I am very impressed by this facility and will continue to use this location when I need professional training or testing facilities.

This place has been around forever it seems and I love coming here to make posters and other displays because their resource room is super vast and super cheap. The conferences they have here range from (no joke the actual names) «Handwriting without tears» and «The marriage of Special Ed and Reading». Overall its the center for all the educators in the area to get resources for students and the place is pretty well run.