As your new MEA officers, we are proud to represent Michigan’s educators, as we work together to continue to advocate for the educational tools all students need and the professional support all school employees deserve. And now more than ever, we believe that our hard work and dedication over the past ten years have been […]
Three secretaries and a band director in Rochester found some closure in bringing complaints and publicly testifying against a school board trustee whose social media post and television news appearances sparked a deluge of vile, threatening phone calls to Hart Middle School. With the help of their union, the educators bravely shared their experiences in […]
MEA member J. Blake Johnson received MEA’s Distinguished Servant of Public Education Award for the Cardinal Solutions program he founded at Saginaw Valley State University (SVSU) in 2013, which allows students to do design and other work for local nonprofits and businesses before graduation. ____________________________________________________________________ What art and design work did you do before becoming […]
MEA member Darrin Watkins has been a paraeducator in Pontiac for longer than he can remember – somewhere around 30 years – and he has a few ideas about how special education could be restructured and resourced to improve services and keep people in the field. Watkins was among 30 special education paras from across […]
‘The pendulum is finally swinging back’ Last year Angie Pullen began her fourth term as president of a local unit of paraeducators and administrative assistants in Cadillac and saw the fruition of 10 years of effort in the form of a powerful new contract. For the first time, Pullen’s bargaining team joined forces with the […]
By Brenda Ortega MEA Voice Editor As Chandra Madafferi begins her tenure as president of MEA, anyone wondering what she will prioritize in the new role can look to her stewardship of the Local Presidents’ Academy (LPA) to understand what she values most in leadership. Systems thinking. Empathic listening. Transformative change. A longtime teacher and […]
MEA member Ronald Smith could have been a science professor at a big, prestigious four-year university, but he chose to spend his 50-year career teaching students at Kellogg Community College in Battle Creek – and that has made all the difference, he says. Smith retired from his post teaching physical sciences last spring and in […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
