By Brenda Ortega MEA Voice Editor When MEA member Bob Thomson goes to a conference to present data from his “place-based” teaching approach in Alpena Community Schools, educators in attendance tend to doubt they could follow in his footsteps. “If all I do is share the size of this, what it looks like and all the partners […]
Why I wanted to participate: My mother was a bus driver. My aunt’s a teacher. My grandmother’s a bus driver. They were all part of unions, so I’m from a union family. I believe in the strength in numbers, and I believe in advocacy. When I was a first-year teacher, I had some issues where the Minority Affairs Committee came in and helped me by […]
We have a big problem in Michigan schools, folks, and it has nothing to do with test scores or differentiated instruction. It has everything to do with treating teachers like professionals and human beings. Most recently, this came to the forefront for me as a union president assisting an employee who had requested additional time to express […]
Three MEA members who launched an innovative “Incubator” class last year at Novi High School achieved their “moon shot” this week—they paid it forward by donating $5,000 in profits from product sales to help start a similar class at Dearborn’s Fordson High School. Macy’s matched their gift. Novi’s incubator class is all about students taking […]
Six members who signed up for MEA’s new Staples discount program this summer were randomly drawn to win a “classroom refresh” featuring $250 in 3M products: Betsy Spray-Comstock, teacher, Atherton Amanda Feyen, teacher, Manistee Erin Michalak, teacher, Clawson Heather Skulan, teacher, Wakefield-Marenisco Katherine Sibalwa, teacher, Byron Center April Switzenberg, paraeducator, Mason Winner Amanda Feyen (pictured) […]
By Carolyn Moss and Brandon Everest Workers in Traverse City often hear the saying “a view of the bay is half the pay.” On behalf of everyone who experiences the impact, we beg to differ. Employees in Traverse City scorn the notion that location is an excuse for poor pay and poorer working conditions, and […]
The MEA Scholarship application is now open. Interested applicants can find it online at mea.org/mea-scholarship. The application deadline is Feb. 20, 2020. Questions can be directed to Barb Hitchcock at bhitchcock@mea.org or 517-333-6276. To be eligible for the MEA Scholarship, applicants must be a dependent of an MEA member or MEA-Retired member in good standing. […]
By Paul Helder MEA Retirement Consultant Are you eligible for retirement benefits you were not aware of? That is a possibility if you were a student who worked part-time at a Michigan community college before July 1, 2014. The problem is this: The state doesn’t have information to identify and notify those people. Instead, eligible […]
Terri Spencer clocks in to her custodial job at Clarkston High School at 9:30 a.m. By 1:00, the union president has helped clean three lunch periods and mop up at the end. Then room cleaning begins. How many classrooms do you clean? After 2:00 I’m responsible for 19 rooms, the girls and boys bathrooms, and […]
Something was missing from opening day in Grand Blanc Community Schools this year. For the first time in more than a half century, MEA member Vickie Weiss was not in attendance. In June she completed an astounding 55th year teaching elementary school in the district, and in August she passed away at the age of 79 […]
