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 […]
Many people think of collective bargaining for salary, benefits and working conditions as the most essential benefit of union membership, but the solidarity created by belonging to a union family is at least as important. That solidarity was demonstrated recently through the work of both AEM (Aspiring Educators of Michigan) members and MiNE (Michigan New […]
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, […]
