Category: Uncategorized
Meeting Space Requests
If your group/team would like to reserve meeting space at MEA Headquarters, please complete the form linked here. Please submit the completed form along with any questions you may have to Dominique Muse at dmuse@mea.org. You can also contact her by phone at (517) 337-5491. To ensure enough time for processing, please submit this form […]
Higher education budget increases coming in budget negotiations
In addition to positive budget proposals for PreK-12 schools, state budget proposals for community colleges and universities are strong as well for 2024-25. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s budget plan, that came out the beginning of February, calls for a 2.5% increase in funding for the state’s 15 public universities and 28 community colleges. Both the House […]
Legislative Calls to Action
Make quality health care more affordable for school employees Increasing health care costs are causing more and more talented educators to leave the profession. To help keep the best and brightest working in our kids’ schools and attract talented people into the education workforce, state lawmakers must fix PA 152, the 2011 state law that [...]
Construction Career Days event inspires students
More than 4,500 students from across Michigan gathered in Howell last week for two days of hands-on experience with tools, materials and heavy equipment as part of the 16th annual Michigan Construction Career Days event. The event, hosted at Operating Engineers Local 324’s training center in Howell, showcased to students from grades 7-12 the diverse […]
Kalamazoo support staff challenge exclusion from ‘educator’ bonuses
By Brenda Ortega MEA Voice Editor MEA member Kevin Fannin doesn’t need accolades to know he’s doing incredible work with young people at Milwood Magnet School in Kalamazoo—the looks on kids’ faces when they see him, the smiles, the hugs, the high fives, hand shakes and fist bumps say it all. But as a longtime […]
We need paid parental leave
By Shana Saddler While on maternity leave, I heard from a number of my colleagues with well wishes and congratulations: “I am so happy for you!” and “I am so proud of you.” However, the one that stood out most in the very forefront of my mind ended with the words, “I will see you […]
‘Blessed and lucky guy’ honored for excellence
MEA member Matt Hamilton believes his willingness to take risks spurs great teaching, so the fact it also generates occasional failures doesn’t stop him. “I’m just a regular teacher who’s trying new things, so it’s not perfect every day by any means,” he says. It was a leap of faith 16 years ago – just […]
Delta professor seeks change through history
MEA member Amy French disrupts students’ expectations in the history classes she leads at Delta College in Bay County’s University Center by asking at the outset: “So what am I teaching this semester?” French isn’t joking or trying to catch anyone napping with her day-one question. As head of Delta’s history department, French is acknowledging […]
Blind teacher and Paralympic athlete shows students anything is possible
MEA member John Kusku has faced extra challenges throughout his 39 years, but he learned a key philosophy from his mother who told him as a little boy: Goals might be harder for you to achieve, but you can still do anything you want. “That’s been kind of the mentality of my life,” Kusku says. […]