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By Chandra Madafferi, President and CEO, Michigan Education Association Educating Michigan’s students requires a team effort from everyone involved in public education, including the thousands of paraeducators across our state who are essential to making our hometown schools work. Yet paraeducators’ critical contributions to our children’s education — especially when it comes to helping students with learning or physical disabilities…

As the state’s largest school employee union, MEA members — who live and work in every Michigan county — have a long history of political engagement and helping friends of public education win elections. That’s why we’re proud to announce all the candidates who have earned the recommendation of MEA members through the union’s Screening & Recommendation process. The process,…

Michigan Senate Democrats passed legislation on Thursday to rein in skyrocketing health insurance costs for educators and other public employees. While the GOP-controlled House is unlikely to take up the bill, the Senate’s action makes it clear that educators’ fight for more affordable healthcare is not over — but it does hinge on the result of this November’s state elections.…

Instructor Chad Williams engages with participants during Plymouth-Canton’s Paraeducator Bootcamp. MEA member Aaron Bailey knows what it is like to be a brand-new paraprofessional in a classroom at the beginning of the school year. “When I first started, I had very little training, and I was lucky enough to get teachers who had 10 or 15 years of experience and could…

By Brenda Ortega MEA Voice Editor Michelle James In the 16 years since becoming a paraeducator in Fraser Public Schools, MEA member Michelle  James helped form a union, assisted in bargaining the group’s first contract, and held every position in her local — including her current role as president. But it wasn’t until a recent bout with cancer that James…

By Tanner Delpier, MEA Labor Economist This opinion piece appeared in Bridge Michigan on Aug. 24. Tanner Delpier holds a Ph.D. in education policy from Michigan State University and is the labor economist for the Michigan Education Association. I built my career studying public education in Michigan. Nothing scares me more for its future than vouchers. For 30 years, some Michigan…

Stories by Brenda Ortega, MEA Voice Editor Michigan Education Association Greta Brock MEA member Greta Brock comes from a family of educators and has spent 29 years working with special education students in Boyne City, where she is local union president. Nearing the end of her career, she wants newer educators to know the importance of elections. Brock is part…

Cleorah Scruggs-DeBose MEA-Retired member Dr. Cleorah Scruggs-DeBose has been promoting the importance of diversity in education since her early days as a Flint teacher in 1970 — and she’s certainly not stopping now. “The movement for justice is a life’s work, so I’m not done yet,” she says. Despite political attacks against diversity, equity and inclusion, Scruggs-DeBose continues her activism…

Nathan Fleshman By the time MEA member Nathan Fleshman began teaching in 2013, the “social contract” that he believed in growing up — ensuring educators could rely on stable pay, benefits and retirement — had been broken. Fortunately for Fleshman, a science teacher and union president in East Jordan, some of what was lost has been won back, giving him…

Christina Chatel In true librarian fashion, MEA member Christina Chatel had a nagging question and set about digging for an answer: “Where are the books written with the 13- to 15-year-old in mind?” As a middle school library media specialist in Troy, Chatel reads several dozen books a year and talks with hundreds of young people to learn their reading…