Lawmakers came together this month to pass an education budget that provides needed investments for students and educators. After months of delays and missed deadlines, the budget provides positive improvements for our schools in some areas while falling short in others. A $10,050 foundation grant. Continued student mental health support and free school meals. A…
For MEA member Sarah Ellis, making art is essential to being alive and human — like breathing. “For as long as we’ve been able to recognize that humans have existed, we’ve found art alongside them,” she says. In a time of deep societal divisions, Ellis wants art to be a source of hope and empowerment. […]
Within months of becoming an MEA member this year, Dylan Baade joined the bargaining team for his support staff unit at Oakland University and signed up to be a captain in the ESP Bill of Rights campaign. The reason is simple: Baade has worked in union and non-union settings, and union is better. “I’m always…
MEA member Carol Urban grew up in a military family and married her high school sweetheart who served 24 years in the U.S. Air Force, so she knows the special bond that connects spouses and families of active-duty service members. When her husband retired from the Air Force in 2021, she missed the tightly knit…
MEA member Laken London loves to solve puzzles, so she’s a go-to person in her department at Saginaw Valley State University when people have a problem they can’t figure out. London is a senior accounting clerk in Scholarships and Financial Aid at SVSU who earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting fraud investigation from Davenport University…
MEA member Katerina Tyner suffered more than physical injury after an emotionally dysregulated preschool student threw an object that fractured her ankle last May. “I didn’t even get to say goodbye to those students after being there for them every day,” she said. Unable to drive a car or climb steps, Tyner had to file…
MEA member Robin Moore wants to change perceptions about the need for every worker to have a thriving wage, good health care, and a secure retirement. “These things are not entitlements; they’re essential elements that people need to live a dignified life,” she says. “We have to take care of each other.” A 28-year support…
As a special education paraeducator in Kalamazoo Public Schools, MEA member Shona Espinoza serves as a lifeline for many kids but can’t afford the level of health care or housing she needs for herself and her son. Last year she moved home with her parents after a rent increase. Then her mother died, and her…
Stories by MEA Voice Editor Brenda Ortega MEA member Jeff Wilson sees the Michigan ESP Bill of Rights campaign as a message of hope in a sea of negative political discourse. The campaign unveiled this summer is part of a growing effort in states across the U.S. to elevate the voices of Education Support Professionals…
Click to view online. In this issue: LETTER TO MEMBERS: After budget, what is next NEWS & NOTES: ICYMI // Quotables // Above and Beyond // Featured Update AEM/MiNE: Ensuring all are included MEMBER VOICES: Hard history teaches if we listen IN THE NEWS: UTSF recognition at MSU part of a growing movement IN THE […]
