In my school building, I often stop to admire a picturesque mural of a black ship in a blue ocean and to recall the wise words of President Franklin D. Roosevelt: “Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors.” In difficult times, it’s important to remember that we grow into leadership roles. As educators, our ability […]
From school safety and student mental health to curriculum flexibility and overhauling how public education is paid for in Michigan, there is a long list of pro-education policies that the Legislature and Gov. Whitmer need to address over the long term. MEA’s legislative agenda for the coming years is set by the MEA Legislation Commission, […]
By now we’ve all heard much conversation about what it means that voters in the last election handed Democrats control of the Michigan Legislature with a Democratic governor at the helm for the first time in 40 years. Less has been written about another result that has never happened before: Educators now chair the most […]
Bryan Schuerman plays two roles that put him in the spotlight: Family Consumer Sciences teacher in Grosse Pointe and weekend meteorologist at WDIV-TV in Detroit. How did you end up pursuing two demanding careers? In about 2012, I was working Monday through Friday nights doing the 7 and 11 p.m. newscast in Hagerstown, Maryland. I […]
In just over three years since she became co-president of her local support staff union in Kalkaska, Jessica Davenport has worked hard to rebuild membership numbers that had dropped low enough to put her unit on the cusp of being disbanded. She faced bigger-than-normal challenges not long after getting started when the global pandemic made […]
A few years ago MEA member Sarah Garrett set her hopes on nominating longtime Battle Creek Public Schools secretary Bernadette Gordier for an NEA award — believing her friend deserved national recognition for tremendous service to the school district and community. However, Gordier would soon pass away at the age of 74, in January 2021, […]
By Brenda Ortega MEA Voice Editor Several years into her career as an occupational therapist in Warren Woods Public Schools, MEA member Michele Morgan realized why her high school students didn’t always make an easy or successful transition from school to work. It wasn’t a lack of technical skills holding them back — she had […]
Just over four years ago, Dayna Polehanki and Matt Koleszar were working as classroom teachers — facing firsthand the challenges that decades of under-funding and misguided policy presented for public education. Today, they not only serve in the Michigan Legislature, but have been named the new chairs of the Senate and House Education Committees under […]
By Brenda Ortega MEA Voice Editor Sen. Dayna Polehanki called it “our first victory for public education” resulting from the Democratic trifecta voters put in place with last November’s election — which is the first time in 40 years the party has controlled the state House, Senate and governor’s office. Shortly before the new Legislature […]
◼ Continue historic investments in early childhood through higher education — including increases to both base funding and equity needs to meet different student needs (from special education and poverty to transportation and program availability for rural schools). ◼ Encourage school districts and higher education employers to invest funding increases in employee recruitment and retention efforts. ◼ […]
