By Brenda Ortega MEA Voice Editor MEA member Holly Hereau teaches science in a suburban Detroit setting, but she grew up in the wild. The 15-year veteran of South Redford School District fondly recalls a childhood in the Upper Peninsula’s Escanaba area playing outside with her friends—mostly in the woods, discovering nature by following her […]
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 […]
First-year educator Stephanie Connell briefly paused and held her head in her hands to contain the overwhelm she felt while shopping in the New Teacher Store at Rochester Community Schools a few days before school started this year. The high school English teacher and new MEA member could take what she wanted from a room […]
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 […]
Click to view online. In this issue: Above and Beyond: Nicole Haney Do You Have a Claim on this Money? MEA Scholarship Opens Inequality Brings Union Gains This is MiNE – Early career educators band together to strengthen colleagues and union New Rochester Teachers Shop Free Supply Store My View: Two–My Third-Grade Questions Call Her […]
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 […]
Early career educators band together to strengthen colleagues and the union By Brenda Ortega MEA Voice Editor For fourth-year educator Danielle Werner, the stress of phoning parents about their child’s misbehavior or lackluster effort is one of the hardest parts of being a new teacher. “In general, I still don’t even like calling to order […]
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer averted a government shutdown on Monday by signing a state budget sent to her on the eve of a fiscal-year deadline, but she used her veto pen to press Republican leaders in the state House and Senate to return to the negotiating table. Whitmer described the Legislature’s budget as “fatally flawed” in […]
EAST LANSING —The following can be attributed to MEA President Paula Herbart regarding the education budget signed into law by Gov. Whitmer, along with her line-item vetoes “Aside from the pet projects and vendor contracts Gov. Whitmer line-item vetoed, there are meaningful education programs and initiatives that were also cut. Those are tough choices to […]
Updated Oct. 1, 2019 After revisions negotiated in the State House, the House and Senate passed the 2019-20 School Aid Budget (HB 4242) and sent it to the Governor’s desk on Thursday, Sept. 19. The Legislature’s budget called for a total of $15.23 billion in preK-12 spending. This is a 2.7% fund increase over FY […]
