MEA Spring RA Sends Message to DeVos
More than 400 delegates to the MEA Spring Representative Assembly voted unanimously to send a Vote of No Confidence to U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos from educators in her home state.
MEA Voice Magazine – April 2018
MEA Tools + Improving Finances = Better Contracts
By Brenda Ortega MEA Voice Editor Becky Schipper has served on the bargaining team for her Hudsonville Education Association in some capacity for 15 years, and during that time not much changed in the art of negotiating—until now. Schipper’s team piloted a sophisticated new online MEA bargaining tool for EA units that she says replaces…
New Seclusion and Restraint Law Creates Challenges
By Brenda Ortega MEA Voice Editor It’s an interesting juxtaposition to note that the K-12 school where MEA member Marvin Nordeen works as a psychologist is housed in what was once part of the Traverse City Regional Psychiatric Hospital. New Campus School—run by the Traverse Bay Area Intermediate School District (TBAISD)—is nestled on the edge…
MEA Launches Free College Benefit
MEA member Carolyn Rink always wanted to go to college, but marriage and four children—a job and bills—got in the way. Last month, Rink not only started college nearly 40 years after graduating high school, but she took the plunge with her adult daughter. The mother-daughter duo—both first-time college students—are taking advantage of a new…
Gretchen Whitmer Talks Life and Education
By Brenda Ortega MEA Voice Editor It was early in the morning, still dark outside, and Gretchen Whitmer had a certain magazine interview to get to. She didn’t want to wake her teenage daughter, Sherry, but she hoped to sing “Happy Birthday” to her 16-year-old. She did both—woke her and sang. Later she would “get…
Negaunee Teacher Creates Bridge Building Dynasty
MEA member Kevin Bell and three seniors from his Negaunee High School Computer-Aided Design (CAD) class will compete next month for the Upper Peninsula school’s ninth straight national title in a model bridge building contest that tests students’ design, engineering, and construction skills. The highly competitive TRAC Bridge Challenge now accepts six entries from more…
Teacher Lives the Dream he Sparks in Students
By Brenda Ortega MEA Voice Editor There is no teacher desk or chair in MEA member Colby Sharp’s fifth-grade classroom. If the 11-year veteran educator is not moving around the room, consulting with students about what they’re reading or creating, he sits on the classroom rug and brings the kids to him. Sharp is on…
Vape Device Invades Schools
It’s a dangerous trend sweeping school campuses nationwide that every parent and teacher should know about—‘Juuling.’ Most parents have no clue what it is, but your child likely knows. A Juul is a small, sleek vaping device that resembles a USB flash drive and charges when plugged into a laptop. The trend is so popular…