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 […]
by Brenda Ortega MEA Voice Editor (Part 1 of our five-part series on how anti-LGBTQ political attacks are harming educators and students) Michael Woods has been a teacher in Florida for 30 years, but a new state law left him uncertain of what he could and could not say to students when he returned this […]
It won’t be easy for MEA member Becky Lesh to retire at the end of this summer from the Waterford district where she’s lived for 27 years and worked for two decades. But she finds consolation in wins that her education support professionals unit has secured under her leadership. In her five years as local president, […]
Stories by Brenda Ortega MEA Voice Editor MEA member Ryan Ridenour has never known a teacher evaluation system other than the one used in Michigan since 2015. Still the world history and psychology teacher, in his sixth year at West Bloomfield, has found key problems with the state’s method for scoring, rating, and ranking educators. “I […]
When Ed Clements attends a dinner (or for now, a Zoom call) with other MEA members and their invited guest—a state representative or senator—he doesn’t expect the educators and politician will agree on everything. Sometimes they don’t agree on much. Yet the 22-year Bay City educator and current city commissioner keeps coming back for more of these […]
Because she’s 75, retired educator Pam Kellar was able to get a COVID-19 vaccine quickly. Yet she still spent weeks on the phone and internet scheduling appointments for others. Kellar, president of the MEA-Retired chapter in Warren, helped both active and retired educators from the area get vaccinated. The former elementary school teacher navigated three hospital systems […]
