By Brenda Ortega, MEA Voice Editor Michigan Education Association MEA member Leah Ramirez is sick and tired. Sick of conducting practice lock downs to prepare against potential violence with her kindergarten students in Northview Public Schools in Grand Rapids. Tired of trying to reassure them they are safe despite the grim reason behind the drills. […]
EAST LANSING — The Michigan Education Association and local educators Friday praised Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for signing legislation that provides much-needed financial relief to Oxford Community Schools in the aftermath of last fall’s tragic shooting at Oxford High School. House Bill 6012 provides Oxford with $9.8 million to help the district recover from the Nov. […]
Casting aside the actual challenges facing Michigan schools, Republican state legislators this week have focused on advancing divisive legislation meant to fire up their political base and drive a wedge between educators and parents. On Tuesday, the Senate Education and Career Readiness Committee passed House Bill 5097, which would restrict Michigan educators from teaching students […]
On Tuesday, the Michigan House of Representatives voted down House Bill 5859, which would have created a pseudo-voucher system to provide private tutoring programs for students, diverting taxpayer money away from public schools and into the pockets of private, for-profit vendors with little oversight. The bill, which was strongly opposed by MEA and other education […]
We all watched in horror the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary, where 26 people, including 20 first-graders — precious kids with their whole lives in front of them — were murdered in a hail of bullets. A few years later, we watched what happened at Stoneman Douglas High School: 14 children and three school staff, […]
Part 5 of our 5-part “Freedom to Read” series By Brenda Ortega, MEA Voice Editor Michigan Education Association Near the end of May two members of the Michigan State Board of Education proposed a resolution seeking to criminalize the work of teachers, librarians and administrators who allow students to read library books deemed “inappropriate” by […]
Last Thursday, after MEA helped increase pressure on lawmakers, the House and the Senate passed HB 6012, a supplemental budget appropriation for Oxford Community Schools in the aftermath of the tragic school shooting there on Nov. 30. The bill provides $9.8 million for Oxford to spend over two years, with funds allocated for: personnel, additional […]
Part 4 of our 5-part “Freedom to Read” series By Brenda Ortega, MEA Voice Editor Michigan Education Association MEA member Troy Hicks has always been aware of the dangers of censorship as a professor of English and education at Central Michigan University. But he remembers when his thoughts grew into concerns this year. A troubling […]
Dear MEA Family, There aren’t words to convey adequate emotions – heartbreak, rage, fear, frustration – after yesterday’s senseless shooting deaths of 19 children and 2 teachers in a Texas elementary school. After what happened just six months ago in Oxford, yesterday’s events are resurfacing many of the same feelings for all of us […]
Part 3 of our 5-part “Freedom to Read” series By Brenda Ortega, MEA Voice Editor Michigan Education Association MEA member Christine Beachler has felt especially valued this year in Lowell Area Schools, east of Grand Rapids, where her expertise and well-established library policies and procedures have served as a bulwark against a sudden burst of […]
