The State Legislature returns to Lansing this week after Spring Break to a long “to do” list of important topics for public education. Federal COVID Relief and 2021-22 Education Budgets With COVID-19 cases on the rise, ensuring safety and student learning assistance are critical. The Legislature still has $841 million in federal COVID relief funding […]
When Ed Clements attends a dinner (or for now, a Zoom call) with other MEA members and their invited guest—a state representative or senator—he doesn’t expect the educators and politician will agree on everything. Sometimes they don’t agree on much. Yet the 22-year Bay City educator and current city commissioner keeps coming back for more of these […]
As MEA pursues fixes to problematic teacher evaluation reforms enacted in 2015, bargaining teams in some districts have had to contend with a legislative change from 2017 that seeks to add more weight to already high-stakes evaluation scores. At the state level, MEA’s bargaining wing has developed prototype contract language to knock down the threat, and many […]
Becky Lesh, a Waterford bus driver who serves as president of her MEA education support professional (ESP) local and vice-chair of the 7E Coordinating Council, has been named the 2021 Leon A. Brunner Award winner for her tireless work fighting privatization efforts and reversing cuts to positions and pay. In her five years as local […]
By Justine Galbraith In the timeless movie “Almost Famous,” main character William Miller loses his temper. “Who am I to you?” he shouts. “WHO AM I TO YOU?” He is yelling at a groupie – er, Band-Aid – with whom he had just spent the night, who was now tossing him her laundry on his […]
When he was a high school sophomore, MEA member Gary Mishica already had a collection of old cars and buggies to work on, so his parents shouldn’t have been surprised to find another vehicle when they returned to their Copper Country home from a (rare) vacation. They “flipped out” to see an orange 1942 Ford […]
Shana Barnum is known as a principal with “one foot in the classroom” since she taught K-6 for 20 years before becoming an administrator in Mason in 2017. From that vantage point, Barnum is worried by what she sees. She knows her staff is overtaxed and overstressed—just like educators across the state. Two early career […]
Stress and burnout for educators and students is at an all-time high during the pandemic, as everyone struggles with the ever-changing learning requirements brought on by COVID-19. But the shortage of educators (both teachers and support staff) was already at a crisis point before the virus changed our world last March – and the current […]
It’s not a surprise that registrations for this year’s virtual MEA Winter Conference were down by about one-third from normal times when our union’s biggest event of the year is held over three February days in Detroit. That makes it even more impressive that requests for State Continuing Education Clock Hours – SCECHs needed to […]
