Did You Know?

To make meals fun and educational, Sedgwick Elementary Cook Rosemarie Kane (Sedgwick EA) plans several theme lunches each year. These include "author's day," when lunch relates to a story all the students know. Kane also helps arrange special lunches on Thanksgiving and Halloween and days when military veterans are invited to dine and share stories with students. Her favorite theme was "Indian day," when she researched and created a meal of Native American food for students. The kids are the most important part of my job," says Kane, who has been honored in the past as Maine Education Association's Support Professional of the Year for her work with children. She understands that access to healthy food is directly linked to student learning. "I just try to focus on them and interact with what's going on in their classrooms."

Y o u r A s s o c i a t i o n

Since 2005, the student population in Maine has decreased by 14,220 students, a seven percent loss, while the number of classroom teachers has dropped by 1,354 (8%), according to the Department of Education.

Chances are in previous jobs, outside of teaching, you have been an at-will employee, meaning you can be terminated without a reason at any time. As an Association member you are covered by a contract that typically has a “just cause” standard which protects you from arbitrary or unfair termination and other forms of inappropriate workplace discipline.

State law calls for a minimum salary of $30,000 for certified teachers for school years starting after June 30, 2007. In order to keep up with the cost of inflation, the minimum salary in the fiscal school year beginning July 1, 2014 would need to be $34,318.

99% of public school districts offer health insurance through the MEA Benefits Trust which the MEA fought to preserve because of its excellent benefits and competitive prices in comparison to other private carriers with less generous benefits and much higher cost sharing.

After a year-long fight, Gray/New Gloucester Support Staff successfully won an arbitration forcing the district to pay back-pay to a majority of employees who had a step inappropriately withheld. The district paid approximately $30,000 back to employees. {

The Increasing Importance of Food at School

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture:

Nearly 1 in every 4 children in Maine are hungry or at risk for hunger

1 in 3 children are overweight or obese in the United States and kids consume half their meals in schools

School meal standards have improved, including changes to portion sizes and offerings of both fruit and vegetables every week in addition to more whole grains, low-fat dairy products and less sodium and fat