23 minute read
23—AWARDS & HONORS: The Mi-ESP of the Year is a cook who makes school like home. MEA VOICE
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Editor’s Notebook
In this together
My View
Examining Bias
What it’s Like Covid Vignettes
What it’s Like
First Person
Member Spotlight
Union values
12—COVID VIGNETTES: A limited series on what it’s like to be where you live and work. 16—ELECTION 2020: This analysis looks at where we stand, postelection and mid-pandemic.
Executive Director .................... Michael Shoudy Director of Public Affairs .................. Doug Pratt Editor ...............................................Brenda Ortega Staff Photographer ....................... Miriam Garcia Publications Specialist .............. Shantell Crispin
The MEA Voice ISSN 1077-4564 is an official publication of the Michigan Education Association, 1216 Kendale Blvd., East Lansing, MI 48823. Opinions stated in the MEA Voice do not necessarily reflect the official position of the MEA unless so identified. Published by Michigan Education Association, Box 2573, East Lansing, MI 48826-2573. Periodicals postage paid at East Lansing and additional mailing offices. Payment of the active membership fee entitles a member to receive the MEA Voice. Of each annual fee whether for active or affiliate membership, $12.93 is for a year’s subscription. Frequency of issue is October, December, February, April and August. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to the MEA Voice, Box 2573, East Lansing, MI 48826-2573 or via email at webmaster@mea.org. Allow at least three weeks for change of address to take effect. MEA Voice telephone: 517-332-6551 or 800-292-1934. Circulation this issue: 111,344 13—COVER STORY: Professionals in the Kalamazoo Behavior Specialists Association help connect students with the tools and resources to succeed. Now they’re doing it virtually. L-R KBSA officers Tiombe Bey-Woodson, Sarah Collins, Tia Whitley.
20—MEMBER BENEFITS: Virtual book studies have been timely, popular and effective. 23—AWARDS & HONORS: The
Mi-ESP of the Year is a cook who makes school like home.
Editor’s Notebook
The other day I was reading about mental health and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Nine months in, few of us can say we’ve escaped effects from the stress.
MEA member Karen Moore, president of the clerical unit in Grand Blanc, says that worry about herself or vulnerable loved ones contracting the coronavirus—with the threat it carries of possible death or long-term health effects—is always present.
Combined with ongoing national divisions over a contentious election, “It’s a lot,” said Moore, who’s worked at the district for nearly two decades, including 15 years as high school secretary.
Asked about her job, Moore starts by listing responsibilities and regular tasks—attendance, truancy and discipline; parent phone calls; tasks as assigned by the assistant principal; managing sick kids. Then she sums it up: “I’m like the mom.”
Moore (page 9) is one of several members who spoke with me for a limited series starting in this issue in which I ask union members and leaders to share what it’s like in the places where they live and work to continue advocating for safety while educating and caring for students.
MEA member Todd Bloch writes in first-person for the series (page 18) about why face-to-face learning feels unsustainable this year. In short: overwhelming workloads, staffing shortages, strangeness.
“Administrators—and I’m talking superintendents—should be walking the buildings, seeing what’s going on, making sure everything is flowing, and seeing the struggles that teachers are going through,” Bloch told me. “If they’re not walking the buildings with their staff, why not?”
No matter how districts are operating across the state, whether fully virtual, in-person, or a mix, educators are having to figure out new ways of reaching, engaging and educating students.
For the MEA member Kalamazoo behavior specialists featured on the cover of this issue, that has meant bringing the tools to students working from home. Kalamazoo Public Schools have been virtual from the start of this school year.
In their work, members of the Kalamazoo Behavior Specialists Association identify resources and strategies to help young people find success in their lives. “I love being able to be the bridge between the classroom and the family, to assist not only the child in the school but the parent in the home,” said Tia Whitley, KBSA president.
Read more about the group’s efforts to create 400 wellness toolkits for students to use in their homes, and be inspired by their “whole child” approach, because we are all in this together.
—Brenda Ortega, editor
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Percentage of Michigan’s
non-metropolitan areas with access to broadband internet. In metropolitan areas, that figure jumps to 79 percent. Michigan’s 20-point gap between metro and non-metro children’s access to high-speed internet compares to a 10-point difference nationally. In three different measures of digital access, Michigan ranks behind many other states: 28th in Internet access, 30th in computers, and 33rd in broadband, according to NEA’s Digital Equity report, released in October in collaboration with Public Policy Associates using 2018 U.S. Census data. The report’s findings point to the need for the U.S. Senate to fund investments in digital access.
QUOTABLES
Report on “Education Equity
in Michigan,” released on Sept. 30 by the Michigan Civil Rights Commission, which recommends a weighted funding formula to provide greater school resources in communities with more students who live in poverty, have special needs or are learning English.
Above and Beyond
Every spring, Aspiring Educators of Michigan State (AEMS) complete a service project at an area elementary school, but this year the experience had to mesh with new COVID-19 realities. “When the pandemic closed our (MSU) campus in March, we knew we had to change plans quickly,” said Brittany Perreault, AEMS president. The group had planned to paint classrooms and revamp a garden space at Mt. Hope STEAM School in Lansing, but all buildings in the ICYMI More than 70,000 essential workers have applied for the Futures for Frontliners program—a first-of- its-kind free community college tuition program for those who continued performing their frontline duties during the first wave of the pandemic last spring.
The deadline for applying is
Dec. 31. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer used discretionary dollars from federal CARES Act funding to launch the new program last summer, and applicants who qualify may begin their college studies as soon as January if they apply now. “I’m hopeful other states will follow our lead to create pathways to opportunity for people who’ve been on district have remained closed since March. Instead, gift baskets were assembled for the school’s teachers and delivered in November, filled with school supplies, personal protective equipment, classroom decorations and more. The AEMS executive board also held a socially distanced painting party to decorate a canvas for every teacher. “We have an appreciation for the work teachers do,” said Chloe VanSickle, AEMS vice president. “We wanted to do something to give to the teachers the frontlines doing their jobs so we can all stay safe,” Whitmer said in a keynote address at the MEA Higher Education Conference in October.
Futures for Frontliners offers Michigan adults without college degrees who provided essential services during the pandemic a tuition-free pathway to gaining an associate’s degree or two-year certificate from a community college. The funding is not only available to those in the medical field, but also essential workers in schools, manufacturing, nursing homes, grocery stores, sanitation, delivery, retail and more. Learn more at michigan.gov/ frontliners. who work so hard and constantly rise up to new challenges.” The aspiring educators say the annual service project helps them understand the importance of connecting with the community, developing relationships, and drawing on resources. “These are eye opening and rewarding experiences that I will remember for the rest of my career,” Perreault said. The project was funded with grants and support from MEA
and NEA.
QUOTABLES
“Local union leaders feel the risk of spreading COVID-19 in schools, and having the virus come into the school community from outside of school, is just too great. Therefore, the KCPC urges the local health department to at least push the pause button and have all school districts in Kalamazoo County shut down for the next couple of weeks.”
The Kalamazoo County
Presidents Council, in a mid-November open letter to health officials, school leaders and the news media. The council is made up of various union presidents from across the county, working together to raise awareness and press for safety steps as COVID-19 test positivity rates and deaths per million continued a steady climb.
UPCOMING EVENTS
FEBRUARY 1-6 MEA Winter Conference
VIRTUAL MEA’s 2021 Winter Conference will be a virtual event. Sessions will take place Monday through Thursday evenings from 6-8 p.m. and Saturday morning from 9 a.m.–1 p.m. Save the dates and join us!
Every day we face new challenges in our profession, at the bargaining table, in the political arena and in the classroom. The MEA Winter Conference offers training in knowledge, skills and strategies to equip us to protect public education today and in the future.
FEBRUARY 22—MARCH 11 Art Exhibition Entries
VIRTUAL This year artists can submit art entries online for the 57th Annual MEA/MAEA Art Acquisitions Purchase Exhibition, which also will be held virtually. Any member in good standing of MEA, MEA-Retired or MAEA is eligible to submit artwork. No entry fee is required.
The annual purchase exhibit provides an opportunity to showcase the artwork of our members and to acquire artwork to enhance MEA offices across the state. Go to mea.org/art for an entry form and information on how to submit a digital entry between Feb. 22-March 11.
MARCH 2 Read Across America
Nationwide Find high-quality digital resources for observing Read Across America virtually or socially distanced this year at nea.org/readacross. There you will also find a wealth of diverse book recommendations and activities for “Celebrating a Nation of Diverse Readers.”
MEA Releases Statewide Survey Results
On Nov. 17, MEA held a virtual press conference to release a statewide online survey of more than 4,700 educators which found a vast majority of educators are concerned about a full return to in-person learning as cases spike statewide.
The teleconference call with media garnered print and broadcast coverage of the survey’s results throughout Michigan and in other states.
“The health and safety of our public school students, educators and families has never been more important as we continue to see COVID-19 cases skyrocket across the state,” Herbart said. “This survey shows us Michigan’s public school employees are concerned about the safety of re-opening for full in-person learning, with their personal safety and that of their students and colleagues as their top priorities.
“With COVID-19 cases on the rise it has never been more important for our front-line educators to be involved in any decisions about a safe return to school,” she added. “We will bring the findings of our survey to policymakers and decision-makers so they understand what front-line educators are feeling and doing regarding this pandemic.”
Read more about the survey results at mea.org/ members-concerned-in-person-learning.
MEA Scholarships—Apply Now
The MEA Scholarship application is now open. Interested applicants can find it online at mea.org/mea-scholarship. The application deadline is Feb. 18, 2021. Questions can be directed to Barb Hitchcock at bhitchcock@mea.org or 517-333-6276.
To be eligible for the MEA Scholarship, applicants must be a dependent of an MEA member or MEA-Retired member in good standing. The criteria for awarding the scholarships include academic achievement, extra-curricular activities, and school and community service.
The MEA Scholarship Fund is financed through voluntary contributions of members, staff and friends of the Michigan Education Association. Since 1997, the MEA Scholarship Fund has provided more than $750,000 in scholarships.
Here to help: MESSA case management nurses
A diagnosis of a chronic condition or serious health
issue can feel overwhelming. For MESSA members, our case management nurses provide support and guidance during difficult times.
MESSA’s case management programs are available at no cost to members and their covered dependents. In each program, participants work directly with a MESSA case management nurse, who helps coordinate communication with health care providers, set health goals and make a plan for attaining them.
Diabetes Case Management
MESSA’s diabetes nurse educator, Rachelle Twichell, R.N., provides essential information, encouragement and guidance for individuals with Type 1, Type 2 or gestational diabetes to help reduce the risk of more serious complications.
“I do an assessment for each member I work with, and at the end of it we talk about goals,” Twichell says. “We get into a lot of education, and talk about how to manage diabetes, but I also provide a supportive environment. Usually people want to be heard, and want to talk through what’s going on.”
Cardiovascular Case Management
MESSA nurse educator Cathy Scott-Lynch, R.N., works with members with cardiovascular issues to reduce the risk of heart attack or stroke and to control high blood pressure. She provides education on understanding key numbers that affect cardiovascular health, as well as how to recognize complications.
For those who are recovering from a heart attack or stroke, Scott-Lynch can help them access specific benefits such as cardiac rehabilitation that can dramatically reduce the risk of another attack. She also helps develop a customized heart health action plan.
Asthma Case Management
Asthma nurse educator Susan Jahn, R.N., helps participants learn how to monitor asthma and understand triggers. Members learn how to obtain a written asthma plan from their doctor and implement the plan effectively.
Participants receive asthma education materials that help explain the chronic nature of asthma, guidelines for treatment and information about MESSA’s asthma benefits.
Medical Case Management
Members with serious illnesses or injuries get personal support from a registered nurse to ensure they access the right care at the right time.
MESSA nurses assist members in navigating the health care system, identifying local resources and serving as a liaison with medical teams as necessary.
“We have cases where members have cancer, or a member’s child has a new diagnosis of a brain tumor, or parents have a sick child and they don’t yet have a diagnosis,” says Heidi Berridge, manager of MESSA health care relations. “Our medical case management program is meant to guide members, hold their hand during a time when they need help more than ever, and to help them access all the benefits available through their MESSA plan.”
Learn more Asthma Case Management: messa.org/asthma Cardiovascular Case Management: messa.org/heart Diabetes Case Management: messa.org/diabetes Medical Case Management: messa.org/mcm Get started For asthma, cardiovascular or diabetes case management, call 800.336.0022, prompt 3. For Medical Case Management, call 800.441.4626.
Eyes Wide Shut
By Robyne Muray
In a recent professional
development that I attended in my district, the presenter discussed how our biases can distort our intentions and lead to inequity. I had a flashback of a time when I was an offender—when my unconscious bias directed my interaction with a student.
Many educators have been facing up to similar uncomfortable truths this year amid a societal reckoning around race and a global pandemic that has shone a spotlight on inequities. That’s why I wanted to address the subject in this series on teaching during the time of coronavirus.
A couple of the many requirements of being a teacher is to present best instructional practices and innovative ways of thinking. I have always believed that my instruction was driven by cultural responsiveness and the student voice.
Before the shutdown, I was tasked with teaching a seminar to English Language Learners at Lansing Eastern High School. It was very interesting getting to know the make-up of the building’s ELL student population. More than 40 languages were spoken by students from diverse parts of the world— including many Africans.
My first misconception was in believing I would automatically identify with African students because I was African-American. I believed that I could understand my students because I grew up in a country that considered me as the cultural other based upon the color of my skin, but of course that is an American Peculiar-Institution perspective. I did not know my students’ culture, customs or practices before their arrival into my classroom.
My bias appeared during a Socratic round when it was time to present probing questions. I called upon a student to respond. As he began to answer, I asked him, “Why are you not giving me eye contact when talking to me?” The young man glanced as if I had confused him. Of course, he stopped responding. When the bell rang, students left the room and I sat in my chair to review what took place. All I could think of was my cultural upbringing. My parents told me to always look someone in the eye when speaking: “Our ancestors could not, but you are not a slave; be proud of your being.”
The next day, I asked the young man to privately address what caused the disconnect between us. He told me about his cultural customs and practices. In his country you showed respect to your elders, and you did not look them in the eye because you were not on their level. I apologized and said that in my culture, eye contact was important as a subtle symbol of equality.
Afterward I pondered my own “blind spot” and the importance of anticipating circumstances in which our bias can skew behavior.
I put new systems in place in my classroom. The first was having a conversation with students about unconscious bias and asking them to please make me aware if I have offended or caused a breakdown in communication. In return, we made the conscious effort to learn about each other as individuals through the practice of collaboration for perspective.
As educators we have so much to think about in trying to do our jobs in these strange and difficult times. Simply taking attendance has become time-consuming and complex.
It’s challenging to attend to our biases when the workload is heavy and the students are literally more distanced from us, but it’s as important now—if not more so—for us to prioritize this work. Young people’s access to educational opportunity depends in part on our willingness to continue discovering and confronting our own shortcomings.
Does identity influence how we respond to students? Deconstructing my unconscious bias required me to expose myself and review my educational practices so my actions are aligned with my intention.
Robyne Muray is a Lansing high school teacher participating this year in the district’s Aspiring Leaders program. She was the 2018-19 Michigan Region 6 Teacher of the Year.
Karen Moore: secretary with a purpose
By Brenda Ortega MEA Voice Editor
One of Karen Moore’s proudest
accomplishments as Grand Blanc West High School secretary is the “zen room” she created a few years ago—outfitted with soft lights, gentle white noise, a lilac-scented diffuser, and coloring books, crayons, and puzzles.
It’s a testament to her powers that she convinced the building principal to give up his office to help her create the safe space for students who “need a minute.”
“It’s a calming place where kids know they can come if they need a place to breathe,” the MEA member said. “That’s just what you do. You take care of the kids. It’s my job.”
Today, however, the zen room sits unused, and taking care of the kids feels unsettling. Months into the global COVID-19 pandemic, Moore is the person tasked with isolating high school students who fall ill during the school day while parents are contacted to pick them up.
“I’m almost 60 years old, and I have a father who is almost 83, and it’s scary,” Moore said. “We’ve had training on how to protect ourselves. We have the gowns and the gloves and the masks—all of the PPE—but it is still very scary.”
The district’s two school nurses—“true heroes” in Moore’s eyes—worked with administration to develop safety protocols to try to prevent the spread of infection, she said. If a student presents to the office, Moore knows to direct them to an isolation room equipped with beds.
The room has a separate exit to the outdoors, and if she needs to enter for some reason, Moore will don a gown, face shield, gloves, and second mask. “We have tape on the floor that’s six feet away from the beds, so we know the safe distance to stand.”
This fall, the clerical staff endured rotating unpaid furloughs for a time, a strategy that avoided layoffs and prevented the loss of health care and other benefits—a move she helped to negotiate as president of the local clerical union.
She might have retired if she weren’t carrying health insurance for her family. Instead she buys disinfectant wipes and uses them daily: “First thing I do is wipe down surfaces—my phone, keyboard, pens, light fixtures, bathroom handles. Mentally it’s that extra layer of protection.”
Over the summer she coped by working on her backyard garden after her son decided to replace his planned wedding with an intimate gathering of five guests in the yard. Her husband also got her involved in running five-kilometer races in the area.
“I think you have to do something on purpose,” she said. “Whether you read or garden or cook, work
Karen Moore
on cars or run. Something that’s only for you. It’s not selfish; it’s self-preservation.”
Still she worries about what’s to come. When we spoke, only a fraction of high school students in Grand Blanc were coming for in-person learning. More are scheduled to return in January.
“You do what you have to do. You take the precautions, you go by the guidelines, and I pray for protection of the staff and students and administration and nurses. It’s my prayer every day.”
Karen Christian: COVID ICU survivor
MEA member Karen Christian
can recall a few moments of panic from her COVID-19 diagnosis in late September, starting with the shock of hearing a nurse on the phone saying the test was positive. That was on a Monday.
The president of United Teachers of Flint, Christian thought she’d been battling a sinus infection—head congestion—since the previous Monday. She worked in her building all week, although students were remote, only taking off Friday when a fever began. The cough arrived on Saturday.
Her first worries upon hearing the news were for others. Her family and co-workers. She retraced steps in her mind and tried to remember if she wore her mask at all times.
No one at school caught the coronavirus from her, nor did her 76-year-old mother, but Christian’s immediate family did come down with the airborne disease. Her 20-year-old daughter had mild symptoms, while her 15-year-old son and husband had more serious cases.
Her next moment of worry came two days after the positive test. Her husband took her to the Emergency Room for breathing difficulty but couldn’t come inside. “We know of people who’ve lost family members who never came out of the ER, so that was scary saying goodbye.”
Christian soon learned she was the sixth COVID patient to arrive in two hours that day. A vitals check revealed her blood oxygen level to be dangerously low at 82 percent; normal is 95-100.
She was placed on oxygen and spent three days in the emergency department before a bed opened in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), where she spent another six days. She received plasma from a COVID survivor. Doctors said she came within hours of being placed on a ventilator.
Those moments were not as scary, she says. Five years ago in the aftermath of the Flint Water Crisis, Christian was diagnosed with breast cancer, which she survived after surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. She knew to focus on healing, not fear.
“The nurses were optimistic when they came in my room, so that lifted my spirits, and my mom called every day and sent up massive chains of prayers everywhere. I relied on that.”
Now what frightens her is the fact that she doesn’t have any idea where she picked up the virus. “I do know when I went shopping a couple of times, there were people not wearing masks. Did I enter an aisle after they coughed or sneezed and just walk through it?”
Her takeaways from the experience are simple. Wear a mask. Wash hands. Sanitize after being out— before getting in the car or entering the house. “And if you get it, don’t assume later that you’re immune.
Karen Christian
There’s no science that proves that, so listen to the health experts.”
She hopes the public understands that school employees are doing their best under difficult circumstances to continue educating children while trying to avoid bringing the virus home to loved ones.
“As long as we do what we need to do to keep everyone safe and healthy, we’re moving in the right direction,” she said. “It’s when we start to make decisions because we’re tired of it being not normal that we get ourselves into trouble.”
Jacob Oaster: leader, teacher, innovator
MEA member Jacob Oaster is a mid-career vocal music teacher who knows how to manage a teaching load of 150 sixth through twelfth graders split into five different choirs, but 2020 has taken him back to a less certain time in his career.
“I’ve worked harder this year than I ever have,” Oaster said. “It doesn’t feel like my 16th year of teaching. Every day I’m a first year teacher all over again, who’s had to learn everything from scratch.”
“Innovation” has been the name of the game for Oaster in two roles he plays in Allegan County’s Hopkins Public Schools—both as choir teacher and union president.
As a local association leader, Oaster helped to work out the district’s hybrid plan with A-B cohorts of students in face-to-face learning alternating two days per week, with remote Wednesdays for all, and a fully virtual option staffed by Hopkins teachers at the secondary level.
The plan has meant he never sees more than 20 students at once in his in-person classes, which allows for physical distancing, which then permits him to conduct “short stints of singing” with masked students in a large, well-ventilated choir room.
To improve indoor air flow, Oaster got help from the district’s maintenance crew to build stands for box fans to reach windows and connect them to one power switch. He also sought donations of tall buckets that could be easily sanitized and used for student outdoor seating on nice days.
Because secondary-level teachers must teach both in-person and virtual students (asynchronously), as union president he pushed for in-house educators to be allowed to lead a nuts-and-bolts professional development day on how to use technology for remote teaching.
The Zoom training was led by a union colleague with staff in their classrooms testing strategies and Oaster roaming around to help on topics ranging from using a document camera with a recording device, publishing to Google Classroom, and troubleshooting microphone issues.
“We had teachers from age 22 to 65 learning how to do stuff for the very first time, and it was offered by our union,” Oaster said. “All but three said they had learned something immensely different than what they knew, and they were able to progress and feel some confidence.”
Along with MEA UniServ Director Christine Anderson, Oaster also negotiated an “outside the box” accommodation through the Americans with Disabilities Act for a member math teacher whose serious health condition makes him susceptible to the worst effects of COVID-19.
Jacob Oaster
In that case, the teacher was able to work from home and teach via live video feed, with the students in the classroom being monitored by a substitute teacher. “I believe he’s happy to have been granted this unique opportunity and to feel so supported by his union,” Oaster said.
“It’s a crazy different world, but we’re trying our absolute best as a union and as a staff to really make safety our number-one priority for everyone involved.”
