All seven past and current presidents of MEA Local 1 were on hand for a recent celebration of 41 years since the 1978 formation of the Multi Association Bargaining Organization (MABO) representing more than 5,000 educators in Macomb, Wayne, and St. Clair counties. Leaders, members, and staff from past and present crowded into the organization’s […]
The application to be on the state’s new redistricting commission is now open—you can apply through June 2020 to be a part of redrawing fairer district voting maps in Michigan. The commission is being formed by Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson after voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot measure to end gerrymandering of state voting maps […]
You are invited to participate in an Educator Workforce Solution Summit. Public Policy Associates, Inc. (PPA) is working with the Michigan Education Association, AFT Michigan, and the Middle Cities Education Association to give frontline educators like yourself a chance to share your opinions about policies that will help recruit and retain more educators. PPA is conducting […]
Something was missing from opening day in Grand Blanc Community Schools this year. For the first time in more than a half century, MEA member Vickie Weiss was not in attendance. In June she completed an astounding 55th year teaching elementary school in the district, and in August she passed away at the age of 79 […]
By Brenda Ortega MEA Voice Editor Pardon the cliché, but MEA member Mallory Rivard is living her dream—and not only because she’s on her way to compete in the Miss America pageant representing Michigan in December. “My dream has always been to be Miss Rivard,” she says. “It’s always to be a first-grade teacher. It’s […]
My View is a special series taking a ground-level look at big issues My preparation for a new school year follows a similar routine: buy new classroom supplies, organize and set-up the classroom, look over and revise lesson plans, and my favorite part—get to know my newest third graders. I can’t wait to meet the […]
MEA member Nicole Haney has been heart-broken by images of immigrant children in detention. The news has forced her to imagine being separated from her one-year-old son, Liam. A Waverly schools instructional coach, Haney found inspiration to act in her own front yard. Two years ago, she and husband Dustin bought a Lansing home previously […]
Matt Cottone, a sixth-grade World Studies teacher at Van Hoosen Middle School in Rochester, has been selected as a 2020 NEA Foundation Global Learning Fellow. As a fellow, Cottone will spend a year in a peer learning network of 44 educators from across the country building their comprehension of issues of global significance and their […]
It’s not about perfection, and it doesn’t move in a straight line. But it’s what we do as educators—always developing new ways to reach and teach our students. Given the freedom to try a different approach, we learn what works and what doesn’t and constantly hone our practice to prepare the kids we serve to […]
By Brenda Ortega MEA Voice Editor MEA member Robert Lurie feels a special connection to Anne Frank, the Jewish teenager whose diary became a classic of world literature after she perished in the Holocaust. Lurie’s father was a Jewish American soldier who fought in World War II to liberate Anne and others, and his 90-year-old […]
