Education Support Professionals (ESP)
Educating Michigan’s students requires a team effort by everyone involved in public education, including the thousands of education support professional who are represented by MEA. School support staff – including paraprofessionals, secretaries, custodians, bus drivers and other transportation workers, food service employees, maintenance, skilled trades, and more – are an essential part of making public education work. Aside from their locals, MEA’s ESP members are represented by the ESP Caucus Board, which works to ensure the needs of school support staff are met by their union.
MI School Support Staff Bill of Rights
School support staff across Michigan are joining together as union members and using our strength in numbers to demand a MI School Support Staff Bill of Rights.
With our voices raised together, we can help ensure that school support staff throughout Michigan receive higher pay, affordable quality health care and more respect on the job.
Learn more and sign up to get involved. Because ONE job should be enough!
ESP News
Kind custodian, leader wins award
Laura Shattuck, a custodian at Grant Middle School in Newaygo County, received the Brunner Award for her union leadership and support she offers students and staff. Laura Shattuck has come to be known fondly as “Grandma” by some students at Grant Middle School in Newaygo County where she’s worked as a custodian for 28 years. The name has stuck…
Support staff unit holds monster-sized meeting
By Brenda Ortega MEA Voice Editor Monday’s event at Orchard View High School in Muskegon looked like a party, but it was the annual general membership meeting of a wall-to-wall support staff union representing custodians, office staff, paraeducators, maintenance employees, transportation workers, and food service staff. Goodies for giveaway lined the front of the community meeting room where dozens of…
Kalamazoo support staff challenge exclusion from ‘educator’ bonuses
By Brenda Ortega MEA Voice Editor MEA member Kevin Fannin doesn’t need accolades to know he’s doing incredible work with young people at Milwood Magnet School in Kalamazoo—the looks on kids’ faces when they see him, the smiles, the hugs, the high fives, hand shakes and fist bumps say it all. Kevin Fannin But as a longtime school employee serving…
School food service professionals deliver on state’s popular free school meals program
By Brenda Ortega MEA Voice Editor Delee Bruining says hard work and consistent team effort make it possible to feed 600 kids a day at Wyoming Junior High School. The professionals entrusted with delivering healthy, delicious food to hundreds of thousands of students in school cafeterias across Michigan say they’re serving more kids than ever as part of the state’s…
Paraeducator trains others on how to de-escalate behaviors
Paraeducator and Pontiac union leader Fred McFadden trained his counterparts in Oak Park at the beginning of this school year. The first time MEA member Fred McFadden attended Crisis Prevention Intervention (CPI) training 27 years ago, he was newly employed as a technician at an inpatient mental health facility in Auburn Hills, Havenwyck Hospital, and he didn’t believe the techniques…
Grosse Ile office clerical unit rebuilds, takes charge
Taking notes after the first bargaining session, (left to right) MEA’s Jimalatice Thomas‑Gilbert, Wendy Robledo‑Castillo, Nicole Litteral, Linda Cobb, Suzi Sanchez‑Honkala, Christina Cobb, Kelly Chessor. Just two years ago, the MEA unit representing 11 office clerical workers in Grosse Ile Township Schools consisted of one member. The group was working without a contract, and the unit faced decertification for low…
Nominations sought for ESP Caucus Board
Nominations are being accepted for several positions on the MEA ESP Caucus Executive Board. Open positions are as follows beginning Sept. 1, 2024: PRESIDENT: 1 Position — Sept. 1, 2024 to Aug. 31, 2027 VICE-PRESIDENT: 1 Position — Sept. 1, 2024 to Aug. 31, 2027 SECRETARY: 1 Position — Sept. 1, 2024 to Aug. 31, 2027 AT-LARGE: 4 Positions —…
NEA president’s school visits spotlight Michigan successes: ‘I will tell your stories everywhere I go’
By Brenda Ortega MEA Voice Editor NEA President Becky Pringle and MEA President Chandra Madafferi serve free breakfast to students at Dublin Elementary in Walled Lake, the first stop of a two-day, four-district tour. NEA President Becky Pringle visited four school districts in Michigan last week to see what change looks like when a governor and state Legislature prioritize public…
Special ed paraeducators share challenges and needs
MEA member Darrin Watkins has been a paraeducator in Pontiac for longer than he can remember – somewhere around 30 years – and he has a few ideas about how special education could be restructured and resourced to improve services and keep people in the field. Darrin Watkins of Pontiac of Reed City discusses whatparaeducators need to be successful and…
New MEA officers promise hopeful change: ‘We need to find joy again’
By Brenda Ortega MEA Voice Editor As Chandra Madafferi begins her tenure as president of MEA, anyone wondering what she will prioritize in the new role can look to her stewardship of the Local Presidents’ Academy (LPA) to understand what she values most in leadership. Systems thinking. Empathic listening. Transformative change. Chandra Madafferi A longtime teacher and union leader in…
Resources
FAQ about MEA’s ESP certification program
Leon A. Brunner Award nomination form
Guidelines for the Michigan Paraprofessional Portfolio Assessment
Instructional Paraprofessional ESP Certificate Program Guidance & Application
Michigan Paraprofessionals and NCLB
General ESP Certificate Program Guidance & Application
How to become a “Qualified” Paraprofessional under ESEA
ASK ME: Why Education Support Professionals Matter (video)
A Day without Education Support Professionals (video)