By Brenda Ortega MEA Voice Editor Surreal. Overwhelming. Indescribable. Talk to MEA members in Midland, Saginaw, and surrounding counties, and you’ll hear those words used repeatedly to try to convey the effects of a 500-year flood event in May which displaced thousands of people and cut a wide swath of destruction through the huge mid-Michigan […]
Last Friday’s virtual rally – viewed by thousands of people – reinforced the need for federal action to help schools prevent pandemic-driven budget cuts. Watch a new video with highlights from the rally, including supportive comments from U.S. Sen. Gary Peters – and be sure to contact your members of Congress to urge passage of the $175 […]
UPDATE: The State Senate passed SB 945 unanimously on Thursday, June 4. The bill now heads to the State House for their consideration. A bill to require incoming law enforcement officers to receive training on implicit bias, de-escalation techniques, and mental health screening has been introduced in the Michigan Legislature. MEA is supporting this legislation […]
One of the hardest things Nick Peruski has learned to do as a teacher in Huron Valley over the past decade is to let kids fail. Not letter-grade “F” fail. Peruski’s approach asks students in his high school business, multimedia, and web design classes to face challenges, develop and test solutions, and learn from what […]
EAST LANSING — The following statement can be attribute to MEA President Paula Herbart in response to the ongoing protests and racial unrest in our country: “The protests we have witnessed across our state and throughout the nation over the past several days should serve as a wake-up call for both police officers and citizens. […]
While so much about the near future remains uncertain, one thing could not be more clear: Going forward our schools and our students will need more support – not drastic funding cuts. To get the help our students need, it’s time to raise our voices together in a virtual rally this Friday at 5 p.m.! Without […]
If you’re interested in serving on Michigan’s new non-partisan redistricting commission, applications are due to the Secretary of State this coming Monday, June 1. Created by the passage of the Voters Not Politicians ballot measure in 2018, this commission will take over drawing legislative district maps for 2022, following the 2020 Census (if you haven’t already […]
Last year, MEA member Bill Boerman launched an ambitious greenhouse project at Holland Middle School because he knew it would pay big dividends in his STEM students’ learning about design, gardening, and nutrition. Now it’s led to a benefit he didn’t imagine: delivering fresh produce to a local food bank for people thrust into need […]
EAST LANSING — Through one art project, MEA member Julie Durocher has found a way to both alleviate stress for those quarantining at home and help homeless people in her community who lack safe shelter during the continuing COVID-19 pandemic. Durocher lined up visual artists in Jackson County — where she is a professional artist and elementary […]
