Stories by Brenda Ortega MEA Voice Editor MEA member Stefanie Sedlar was drawn to become an educator in two ways. She felt a strong desire to help at-risk kids find their way to success, and she believed a federal loan forgiveness program for teachers would help her “afford” to make less income than other college-educated […]
As we enter statewide standardized testing season, I find myself reflecting on this school year and the series of articles I have written about the Read by Grade Three Law. I think about the main point I wanted to make in sharing my experiences and concerns with the law. It’s this—that ultimately our voices need to be heard […]
Jeremy Frame has been a special education teacher in Farmington for 17 years. He recalls attending a new teacher orientation in 2003 with 80-100 new hires in which he only saw one other African-American man.“I remember those first few years, having issues and questions and nobody I could turn to and say, ‘Here’s my experience; […]
Cateisha Wardlaw is a paraeducator in Pontiac, working with high school students who have autism. She has worked in the district for 15 years; her dream is to be a preschool teacher. She has an associate’s degree in early childhood education, but she recently learned it would cost $50,000 to finish a bachelor’s degree and […]
Phu Trieu has taught middle school social studies in Mattawan for 16 years. He loves the profession while acknowledging it has ups and downs. He came to the United States as a baby after his mom fled Vietnam with him and his siblings and they lived for a time in a refugee camp in Thailand. […]
By Brenda Ortega MEA Voice Editor Growing up in a small farming community in west Michigan, MEA member Angela Pérez didn’t know what she would do with her life—but she wanted to do something. She was the first in her family to go to college when she started taking classes at Muskegon Community College. Pérez […]
MEA member Jeff Kass was a mid-career English teacher when his take-home pay began going down each year. Amid rising costs of living, the Ann Arbor educator—like others—took on second and third jobs, including one year moonlighting as a pizza delivery driver. With a former student serving as his manager, Kass worked a few shifts […]
By Brenda Ortega MEA Voice Editor Ask MEA Economist Ruth Beier about her youth, and you might get a wry joke with a deadpan delivery: “I describe my childhood as Lord of the Flies in the suburbs. It was a pack of kids and some Cap’n Crunch.” Truth is—she’s not kidding. On the precipice of […]
Reaching and teaching amid coronavirus school closures By Brenda Ortega MEA Voice Editor MEA member Sarah VanderMeer says her heart aches with missing her developmental kindergarteners from Brown Elementary School in Byron Center, so she checks in via FaceTime to see how they’re doing, setting up appointments through parents. Recently she spent half an hour […]
You can listen now as Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and members of her education policy staff join MEA, AFT Michigan, and AFSCME for a Teletown Hall following her Thursday announcement that schools will remain closed for the rest of this school year. Whitmer told thousands of union members assembled on the call: “I know this is hard, […]
