By Chanda Madafferi, President and CEO, Michigan Education Association In neighborhood schools across our state, educators and students are starting another school year full of excitement, optimism and possibilities. Teachers and school support staff have been hard at work for weeks, finalizing lesson plans, setting up classrooms, stocking supplies, shelving library books, and putting little […]
MEA member Aaron Bailey knows what it is like to be a brand-new paraprofessional in a classroom at the beginning of the school year. “When I first started, I had very little training, and I was lucky enough to get teachers who had 10 or 15 years of experience and could take the time to […]
By Brenda Ortega MEA Voice Editor In the 16 years since becoming a paraeducator in Fraser Public Schools, MEA member Michelle James helped form a union, assisted in bargaining the group’s first contract, and held every position in her local — including her current role as president. But it wasn’t until a recent bout with […]
By Tanner Delpier, MEA Labor Economist This opinion piece appeared in Bridge Michigan on Aug. 24. I built my career studying public education in Michigan. Nothing scares me more for its future than vouchers. For 30 years, some Michigan lawmakers have pushed the agenda of school choice and privatization, including allowing unlimited charter schools to divert […]
Stories by Brenda Ortega, MEA Voice Editor Michigan Education Association MEA member Greta Brock comes from a family of educators and has spent 29 years working with special education students in Boyne City, where she is local union president. Nearing the end of her career, she wants newer educators to know the importance of elections. […]
MEA-Retired member Dr. Cleorah Scruggs-DeBose has been promoting the importance of diversity in education since her early days as a Flint teacher in 1970 — and she’s certainly not stopping now. “The movement for justice is a life’s work, so I’m not done yet,” she says. Despite political attacks against diversity, equity and inclusion, Scruggs-DeBose […]
At 34, MEA member Clara Martinez has an eclectic resume: Dance director, social worker, union activist, Lansing City councilwoman. Her story counters cynicism: “I think of politics as an invitation for you to be part of the conversation,” she says. Martinez was drawn to teach dance at a public high school by her parents — […]
By the time MEA member Nathan Fleshman began teaching in 2013, the “social contract” that he believed in growing up — ensuring educators could rely on stable pay, benefits and retirement — had been broken. Fortunately for Fleshman, a science teacher and union president in East Jordan, some of what was lost has been won […]
Just nine years into a second career as a technology teacher in Pontiac, Candice Ridley is union president and senior staffer in her building. Anti-educator policies drove out veterans. Data shows Michigan also experienced a nation-leading 70% plunge in the number of aspiring educators enrolling in teacher preparation programs during Gov. Rick Snyder’s reign — […]
As a 27-year history teacher, Ryan Furkas knows the importance of documenting the past while those who lived it are still around to tell the story. Now that his daughter is becoming a teacher, Furkas feels urgency to share what life was like before Gov. Rick Snyder and how he destabilized the system. Otherwise, newer […]
