Paula Herbart Candidate for President Bio MEA President Herbart took office in 2017. A music teacher from Macomb County, Herbart served as local president, 6-E coordinating council chair and president of MEA/NEA Local 1 and was on the MEA and NEA Board of Directors. She has served as Vice-President/Mid-West Region on the National Council of […]
Click to view online. In this issue: Letter to Members: We are champions Member art teacher in Livonia wins top prize in MEA/MAEA Art Exhibition The Future is Now: The Sometimes Forgotten Benefit My View: Dear Past, Present and Future Educators In the wake of MSU shooting, loss, grief, anger and activism Small district, big […]
When MEA member Amy Rever-Oberle experienced a mishap on a field trip with 150 sixth-grade band students and 30 adult chaperones from Rochester Community Schools, she handled it, got everyone back to school early, and let administration know what happened. Over the next few days, the principal responded to a few parent questions, and life […]
By Glen Young Educators in northern Michigan are utilizing a national grant award to help develop curriculum to address topics of social justice and strengthen reading in local schools. “Building A More Perfect Union” funding is supporting 38 groups nationally in anticipation of the upcoming 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States, according […]
If you’ve been keeping up with developments at the state Capitol since January, you know some good things are happening and more is in the works. Democratic leaders in both chambers passed a rollback of the state’s unfair retirement tax, which Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed along with an expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit […]
As local bargaining teams head to negotiating tables this spring, MEA has new data showing in many places educator compensation has not kept pace with school funding increases, information which could be used to justify significant pay increases. Statewide trends show all school employees’ compensation as a share of total school district expenditures has fallen […]
THE STORY One year ago, a group of Oakland County teachers began negotiating a new contract. They had been underpaid for a long time. Their bargaining unit was not tightly organized. They had little union infrastructure or member involvement. Few members even knew what the contract said. Yet today those educators boast major contract wins […]
By Brenda Ortega MEA Voice Editor Things weren’t going according to plan at a recent meeting of the board of Brandywine Community Schools in Niles, where community opposition is growing as a new board majority has begun to enact an extreme political agenda targeting library books and teaching materials. Missing two of its seven members, […]
By Brenda Ortega MEA Voice Editor Like many other MEA members who are alumni of Michigan State University, Marissa Teslak returned to her beloved alma mater less than a week after the devastating mass shooting that killed three students and critically wounded five others. A behavioral consultant in Warren Consolidated Schools, Teslak and her 11-year-old […]
My first article back in August, titled “A Chance Encounter,” was a tribute to the love I hold for my mother and the teaching profession. This is my last article for the My View series, and upon much reflection I decided to write a love letter to honor all my educator colleagues. Anyone who knows […]
