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By Tanner Delpier, MEA Labor Economist This opinion piece appeared in Bridge Michigan on Aug. 24.  Delpier holds a Ph.D. in education policy from Michigan State University. 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…

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…

MEA member Amanda Walker and state Senator Chedrick Greene MEA member Amanda Walker first got to know newly elected state Sen. Chedrick Greene (D-Saginaw) before he was a candidate for the 35th-District seat in a special election in May. A teacher in Bay City, Walker and Greene — a fire captain in Saginaw — both participated in a one-year, multi-partisan…

By Brenda Ortega MEA Voice Editor “Teaching opened my eyes to how personal politics can be when you live it every single day.” - Amanda Walker When MEA member Amanda Walker took a lead role organizing Saginaw-Midland-Bay City educators to vote in a spring special election for a vacant state senate seat, the goal was to energize everyone — but…

MEA’s communications staff took home several national awards for writing, design and digital entries, competing against other large-state affiliates at the State Education Association Communicators conference in June. Campaigns: Digital Organizing — Award of Excellence / Michigan ESP Bill of Rights Video: Short Form — Award of Distinction / Michigan ESP Bill of Rights: “One Job Should Be Enough” Design: Graphic Element —…

In recent years, we’ve accomplished great things for our students and members — from free meals and increased school funding to restored labor rights and greater educator voice in policy. We’re proud of those gains, achieved on the heels of a dark time for public education and unions. (Read more about that recent history in this Voice issue.) Those victories…

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…