As with other roles in education these days, school psychologists in Michigan are in short supply. MEA member Joe Sbar—the current Michigan School Psychologist of the Year—says not enough college students are entering the profession to replace those retiring. “We have an exposure problem,” Sbar said. “It’s a great job, but people don’t know what […]
If a student comes to school nurse Phyllis Yoder with a stomachache three days out of the week, the MEA member will consider a number of causes. Perhaps the child is hungry because of food insecurity in his life. Possibly a medical condition is at the root of the problem. Or maybe there’s a behavioral […]
For MEA member Andrew Stewart, half of his four-year career as a school social worker has been altered by COVID. He’s seen a lot of change and upheaval, and he’s learned some crucial lessons alongside his colleagues at Lincoln Park Public Schools. The number-one takeaway Stewart has applied this year following last year’s remote and […]
In the best of times, school counselors play many roles that serve the mental health, academic, and career advising needs of the entire student population of a building. In not-so-great times, like now, it’s tough to meet the immediate demands of one counselor’s caseload. Today in Michigan one school counselor exists for every 670 students. […]
Schools in Michigan are looking to hire hundreds of mental health professionals to address a huge explosion of need from young people in the pandemic—part of a $240 million initiative signed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in this year’s state school aid budget. Even before the global health crisis—which has killed close to 900,000 Americans and […]
By Brenda Ortega, MEA Voice Editor Michigan Education Association MEA member Jake Trotter says he’s the type of person who likes having structure to his days teaching mostly upper-level world history classes and the second-year history course in the Diploma Programme (DP) at Oxford High School, an International Baccalaureate (IB) School. Trotter’s sense of order […]
By Brenda Ortega, MEA Voice Editor Michigan Education Association It was late on Monday, January 10, the night before Oxford High School students and staff would come back together in a school setting for the first time since a horrific shooting six weeks earlier that killed four students and injured seven, including a teacher. Oxford Education […]
By Brenda Ortega, MEA Voice Editor Michigan Education Association The words are displayed everywhere in the Oxford community, waving in makeshift yard signs, scrolling on digital displays along major thoroughfares, written on signs lining windows and sidewalks downtown: Oxford Strong. But what does it mean? Dr. Jim Henry, a nationally recognized expert on the effects of trauma, […]
Ted DeChane, PhD, is a physical therapist in Mt. Clemens who works with about 30 children a year who have physical and health impairments. Now the 31-year-old is coping with a chronic health problem—Long COVID—but continues working and fundraising for a new playground for his students. What is your role in the school district? I […]
School bands, orchestras and choirs around the country recorded performances of the Oxford fight song as a show of support after the tragedy. More than 80 videos were posted in the span of two weeks during December that showed bands, orchestras and choirs from Michigan to New York, North Carolina, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and more performing […]
