By Brenda Ortega MEA Voice Editor Retired MEA Lobbyist Christina Canfield used to get asked by members in her training sessions at conferences what was the hardest part of her job? Was it watching a vote in the Legislature go the wrong way — as when Republicans rammed through right-to-work laws in 2012? No, she […]
By Chandra Madafferi, President & CEO, Michigan Education Association As America turns 250, we should acknowledge the critical role public education has played in making our nation the global leader it is today, and why we as a country must recommit ourselves to strengthening every single school — so that every single student has a […]
By Brenda Ortega MEA Voice Editor Never as a journalist in metropolitan Kansas City, nor an assistant professor at a mid-size public university in Missouri, did MEA member Matt Bird-Meyer get a kiss from comedian and late-night talk host Stephen Colbert. Bird-Meyer notched that unbelievable experience after becoming a professor of journalism and humanities at […]
By Brenda Ortega MEA Voice Editor A compelling charcoal drawing titled “Eyedentity,” selected as Best in Show at this year’s 62nd MEA/MAEA Art Acquisitions Purchase Exhibition, was inspired by a Social Security application, says the Fraser art teacher who won the top award. MEA member Andrew Monroe said he created the artwork after filling out […]
By Erik Edoff, Senior Executive Director, Michigan Education Association Alert: Please take 90 seconds to contact your lawmakers today and urge them to focus on passing a budget that protects Michigan students and schools by the end of June. Follow this link. State leaders must set aside election-year politics and bring much-needed stability to our […]
Wendy Winston, a middle school math teacher in Grand Rapids Public Schools, has been named the winner of MEA’s 2026 Maurine Wyatt Feminist and Gender Equity Award. Winston’s lengthy and impressive resume includes advocating for students — including girls seeking futures in STEM — as chair of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s MI-STEM Advisory Council. She was […]
Retired Ann Arbor special education teacher Kathy Kosobud has been named the winner of MEA’s 2026 David McMahon Human Rights Award. Initially, Kosobud set out toward a career in theater design, but after college, she shifted to education and applied her manual arts skills in pre-vocational settings for children with disabilities, spending many years as […]
A longtime advocate for the rights and safety of LGBTQ+ students and educators, Carman-Ainsworth teacher Frank Burger has been named the first recipient of MEA’s new Gerry Crane Human and Civil Rights Award. A 28-year educator in the Flint-area Carman-Ainsworth Community Schools, Burger advises Carman-Ainsworth’s Prism Club, a place for LGBTQ students to come together […]
Clarkston Community Schools teacher Daniel Clason has received the 2026 MEA Educational Excellence Award for his instructional leadership and creativity as an eighth and ninth-grade history teacher at Clarkston Junior High School. A Michigan native who taught in Mississippi and Texas before coming to Clarkston in 2022, Clason embraces project-based learning, helping to run projects […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (May 20, 2026) Contact: Matt Hamilton • matthamilton@ejps.org • 616-916-6569 For 18 years, Shoe Club Nation lived in a single Michigan middle school classroom. This past school year, it lived in four. Today, founder Matt Hamilton announced that the program will expand to ten additional Michigan schools for the 2026-27 academic year, […]
