MEA Voice Magazine - August 2022 Issue by MEAVoiceMag

FREEDOM TO READ UNDER THREAT page 14 MESSA PULLOUT INSIDE

HOW THESE EDUCATORS GOT RID OF STUDENT LOAN DEBT — AND MAYBE YOU CAN TOO August–September 2022 | Vol. 99 | Issue 5 | mea.org

LETTER TO MEMBERS

Where we stand on gun safety Let’s start with the good news. In June Congress passed the first significant gun legislation in three decades — changes that had been unthinkable just a few weeks earlier — thanks to intense public pressure after 19 fourth graders and two teachers were brutally murdered by a teenager with an AR‑15 in Uvalde, Texas. The bipartisan bill was signed by President Joe Biden on July 11 with Oxford Education Association President Jim Gibbons looking on along with his wife — MEA member Melissa Gibbons — and two of their daughters who were in Oxford High School when a teen gunman opened fire last Nov. 30, killing four students and injuring others. The new law includes critically important and popular features to begin to address America’s gun vio‑ lence epidemic, including expanded background checks for buyers under 21, providing funds to states to implement extreme risk protection measures, and increased funding for mental health services. No question: these changes repre‑ sent a good first step that will save lives, but we can’t stop there. Gun vio‑ lence represents a public health crisis that is the leading cause of death for our nation’s children and dispropor‑ tionately harms communities of color.

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We deserve comprehensive solutions to keep our schools and communities safe. Yet as policymakers refuse to prioritize innocent lives, the clock ticks down to the next tragedy. Simply unacceptable! Around the same time as Congress was cheering the passage of new gun restrictions, the ultra‑conservative new 6‑3 super‑majority on the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a 100‑year‑old New York law that placed limits on carrying concealed handguns outside the home. We refuse to be discouraged. Large majorities of MEA members surveyed strongly support a number of reasonable gun safety measures, from universal background checks, to secure firearm storage for gun owners, and stricter penalties for adults who allow minors to access guns. Support for those changes and greater mental health services at schools crosses demographic and party lines in our membership. MEA is committed to continuing our work in this area, starting with a Protect Our Schools Action Team of members, leaders and staff that is developing strategies to move forward. In addition, delegates to the NEA Representative Assembly (RA) last month approved a union response that includes a National Call to Action,

comprehensive advocacy‑building to keep the issue forefront and hold elected officials accountable, and development of resources around trauma‑informed practice and mental health that educators need to support students. The RA’s move came after a gunman fired on a July 4 parade in Highland Park — killing seven and wounding dozens — just north of where delegates were meeting in Chicago. Vice President Kamala Harris addressed the gathering and said the Illinois shooting came amid mourning for Uvalde. “This massacre was the most recent reminder, in Uvalde, of the risks that our children and our educators face every day. Teachers should not have to practice barricading a classroom. Teachers should not have to know how to treat a gunshot wound. Teachers should not be told that lives would have been saved if only you had a gun.” Learn more at mea.org/gunsafety, and stay tuned for more information in the coming weeks and months. We will not stop until educators can plan their lessons without also planning for classroom evacuation, not until every child can walk to school and learn in class safely.

Paula J. Herbart

Chandra A. Madafferi

Brett R. Smith

President

Vice President

Secretary‑Treasurer

TABLE OF CONTENTS

NEA President Becky Pringle (left) joined Oxford educators Lauren Rambo and Jim and Melissa Gibbons, with their two daughters Hannah and Sarah, for a ceremony at the White House as President Joe Biden signed gun legislation last month. Read more on pages 2 and 16‑17.

My View series, page 9. Battling book bans, page 14. 50‑year bus driver, page 23. More inside: Aspiring educator, page 7. ARP spending, page 13. Launch Michigan, page 18. Teacher of the Year, page 20. Teacher recruitment, page 22. MEA partnerships, page 24. Election 2022, page 26. Member spotlight, page 34. MESSA Pullout. On the cover: MEA members Nikoji Smith and Erika Carpenter of Southfield Public Schools had their student debt forgiven under a federal program. Read more, page 10.

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: 110,295.

MEA VOICE

NEWS & NOTES

Editor’s Notebook Four years ago in this space I wrote about my daughter Carmen, who had just finished her freshman year at Eastern Michigan University and spent her summer interning with the Gretchen Whitmer for Governor campaign. A lot has happened since then. Carmen earned bachelor and master of social work degrees from EMU and Michigan State University and started her first professional job, while Whitmer navigated difficult waters as governor with courage and conviction — proving to be a steadfast friend and advocate of public education through turbulent times. The governor has batted away bad policy proposals by the Legislature time and again while never giving up the fight for more resources and equity in education funding in Michigan. She has delivered historic budgets for public schools while ensuring our safety during unprecedented challenges. Back in 2018, newly awakened to the vagaries of politics, my daughter was following the call to action so powerfully laid out by speaker after speaker at the Women’s March in Washington, D.C., where we celebrated her 18th birthday the day after Donald Trump’s inauguration. We are the leaders we hope to find, those speakers said. We must save ourselves, so let’s do the work. Run for office, and volunteer to help elect good people to positions at every level from local to state and national.

Percentage of K‑12 educators who reported feeling burned out “very often” or “always” in a RAND Corporation survey (funded in part by NEA) released in mid‑June which found principals and teachers experiencing job‑related stress at a rate about twice that of the general working‑age public. Staffing shortages and supporting students’ academic learning were cited as culprits. The report urgently calls for district‑paid mental health services for school employees and added school staff to help address students’ academic and mental health needs.

As a young woman of Mexican heritage from a large extended family of educators, scientists and artists, Carmen turned her fears and anger into door knocking and phone banks for Whitmer. Somehow it seems like yesterday and forever ago, but one thing hasn’t changed in four years: Carmen and I remain as committed to re‑electing the governor for a second term as we were fighting for her to take office back then. “I’m proud that I worked to elect Gretchen Whitmer,” Carmen told me recently. “She cares, and she listens, and it always seems like she’s trying her best to do what’s right for the state and to make things better for marginalized people.” This time around in November — with newly drawn legislative maps and the entire state Legislature up for election — we hope to return Whitmer to office with a state House and Senate full of political leaders as determined to move Michigan forward as she is. We can’t neglect other races either — the Michigan Supreme Court, State Board of Education, and local school board races. (Read on pages 14‑15 about a rise in book bans nationwide and how folks on the ground are pushing back.) Follow candidate recommendations from your local and state MEA Screening and Recommendation committees, made up of union members from your area and statewide. Register to vote. Talk with friends and family about candidates you support. Volunteer with and donate to campaigns. (Read election coverage, starting on p. 26.) Now is the time to do the work that will make our voices heard. — Brenda Ortega, editor 4

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QUOTABLES “Michigan’s educators are dedicated to our students, and this framework is an important place to start providing them with the tools needed to change the course of our kids’ futures.” MEA President Paula Herbart, co‑chair of Launch Michigan, a broad coalition of education, labor, business, philanthropic and civic organizations dedicated to improving Michigan’s education system for all students, which released its Framework in June after four years of work. (Read more about the agreements reached by these unlikely partners on pages 18‑19.)

Education unions in Florida were raising major concerns ahead of two controversial laws set to take effect on July 1, which seek to control educators’ speech about sexual orientation, gender identity and race. In response to uncertainty about the so‑called “Don’t Say Gay” law, school district administrators in Florida were discussing new rules to bar elementary‑level educators from wearing rainbow‑colored clothing or lanyards, showing “safe space” stickers on school property, and keeping photos on display — or speaking — of same‑sex spouses in class. Two LGBTQ advocacy groups, along with parents, students and educators have filed suit against the law. Leaders from the Orange County Classroom Teachers Association also expressed fears that honest teaching of racial history and disparities in American society could be strictly controlled under a “Stop Woke” law championed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, which has also been challenged in federal court.

QUOTABLES Photos: Steve Zomberg

ABOVE AND BEYOND The past three years brought MEA member Elaine Zomberg so close to two special students in her class for cognitively impaired young people that the fourth‑year Grand Haven educator invited them to play important roles in her spring wedding. The COVID‑19 pandemic began during Zomberg’s first year running a CI classroom and her second year as a teacher. Last year as Zomberg planned her April wedding, she thought of Riley Jo Peltier as flower girl and Gabe Purdy as ring bearer, 13‑year‑old classmates who have been like sister and brother since their families met in the hospital after their births. “They were part of my first‑ever CI group of kids,” Zomberg said. “That whole group was awesome, but those two — especially when the pandemic hit and having to do virtual learning — I felt like I talked to their families all the time. I had them both as students for two years.” Zomberg visited the students’ homes to present goodie bags and invite them to be part of her special day. “Inclusion at its best,” said Liz Hubert, an MEA‑member high school guidance secretary in Eaton Rapids and grandmother to ring bearer Gabe, who has Down Syndrome and autism. “It was above and beyond and just so special.” Read the full story at mea.org/teacher‑involves‑students‑in‑wedding.

“The pandemic has been difficult on many people and, unfortunately, many kids were deeply affected. I feel having a ride to school is very important, and I knew I had to help any way I could to get these students to school.” MEA member Greg Ceithaml, an English teacher and soccer coach at Holland High School who got his commercial driver license in 2019 to ensure his teams had transportation to games and then took over a route last year to fill growing shortages. Driving every day he said he saw the bonds that form between drivers and children. (Read about the career of 50‑year bus driver and union leader Bob Hanchek on page 23.)

MEA VOICE

NEWS & NOTES

UPCOMING EVENTS September 5

Labor Day Statewide MEA and AFT Michigan members will come together at parades and events across the state to celebrate our solidarity.

October 21

Higher Education Conference MEA Headquarters, East Lansing The conference features sessions covering trends in online learning, intellectual property, higher education funding, member engagement, bargaining, and strategies to strengthen local associations.

March 2

Read Across America Nationwide Educators will be celebrating a nation of diverse readers. Visit nea.org/ readacross to find a calendar with monthly book recommendations for various grade levels plus quality lessons and activities for all year long.

Two U.S. Supreme Court rulings handed down in June have direct implications for public schools across the country. The first ruling, handed down on June 21 in Carson v. Makin, represents a radical departure by the new 6‑3 ultra‑conservative super majority on the court. The ruling favored those seeking public funds for students to attend religious schools that had been excluded from a Maine tuition program. The NEA filed a joint amicus brief with the Maine Education Association and others, arguing Maine’s school funding program is constitutional.

March 1‑3

“We are witnessing one of the most extreme Supreme Courts in modern history rewrite the most basic social commitments of our society — that publicly‑funded education should be free and open to all without discrimination is one of those commitments. Shamefully, today’s decision tosses aside that social commitment,” NEA President Becky Pringle said in a statement.

MEA Winter Conference

Michigan’s constitutional ban on public funding for private schools is legally different from this ruling, but is similarly being challenged in cases working through the federal courts.

Marriott Renaissance Center, Detroit At MEA’s biggest conference of the year, members and leaders network and attend training sessions in bargaining, organizing, member advocacy, political action, communications, classroom best practices, and more. As details are available, learn more and register for MEA conferences at mea.org/conferences.

U.S. Supreme Court Rulings Affect Public Education

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A second 6‑3 ruling a week later, in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, gave the OK to a football coach who conducted post‑game prayers with players at midfield in which some students said they felt pressured to participate. The NEA filed an amicus brief arguing the coach’s actions were not protected by the First Amendment. All students — regardless of their race, gender or religion — should feel safe and secure from sectarian religious coercion in public schools, Pringle said in a statement after the ruling. “The Constitution should protect public school students from being coerced into religious activity. The court’s decision here… ignores the real‑life pressure and coercion that students will feel when school officials stage public religious observances in class or at school events.”

MINE/AEM

THE FUTURE IS NOW

A True Grow‑Your‑Own Success Story Kristin Crane is a busy wife, mom of four, AEM member, and brand new teacher. She also exemplifies resilience and dedication to public education. She knows the difference that educators make for their students and communities every day.

Life circumstances prevented Crane from initially pursuing her degree right after high school. While it might have been easier to consider teaching a missed opportunity, she wanted to show her children that it’s never too late to follow a dream.

Crane has worked in Gibraltar School District as a paraprofessional and long‑term substitute teacher. Often teachers leave very simple plans for substitute teachers. This is especially true when the substitute shortage forces colleagues to cover classes for each other.

For Crane, teaching was a dream that began early and could not be ignored. When she was a child, her brother was diagnosed with ADHD. He was prescribed Ritalin which unfortunately triggered lifelong addiction issues. It was these events that made Crane realize she “wanted to change the system, all systems.”

For Crane, those plans were often asking students to read Scholastic magazine. It was during her many days as a substitute teacher that she realized she wanted the opportunity to make a bigger difference for students. She wanted a chance to teach. For many, the COVID pandemic was a time of loss. For Crane, it was a time of opportunity. Because colleges and universities were holding classes online, Crane was able to enroll in Wayne State University’s College of Education to pursue her teaching degree and certification. She leveraged her previously earned college credits to graduate with her Bachelor’s degree in May, 2022. She finished her student teaching at Weiss Elementary in Gibraltar and will begin her teaching career in the same district. Initially hoping to pursue a special education degree, Crane decided to expedite her path to teaching by pursuing a degree in elementary education and reserving her desire to teach special education until she can earn her Master’s degree.

For her, this includes systems associated with meeting the needs of students with special needs. It also includes the system that criminalizes rather than treats addiction, the nega‑ tive aspects of the foster care system, and the way students with depression or anxiety are supported in school and their communities. She knows first‑hand how overloaded systems, like those she finds in Wayne County, are unable to meet the challenges that so many of our students face.

A mother of four, Kristin Crane became a teacher after working as a paraeducator and long‑term substitute.

As Crane begins what she hopes to be a long teaching career, she is excited to model for her students and her children that we are more than our circumstances and that where there is a will, there is a way.

Connect with AEM: instagram.com/aspiringedofmichigan twitter.com/AspiringEdOfMI facebook.com/aspiringedofmichigan

Connect with MiNE: instagram.com/mineweducators twitter.com/mineweducators facebook.com/mineweducators soundcloud

MEA VOICE

Sweet Success Omada helps MESSA members, dependents make healthy changes

at Norway‑Vulcan Area Schools. “And I also knew that I wasn’t going to do it by myself.”

Last year, Gail Robert knew she had to make a health change. She was post‑menopausal, had osteoarthritis, a slow thyroid, a family history of heart issues and was overweight.

So last year, on a frigid January day, Robert checked her email and she saw an invitation from MESSA to join Omada, a free weight loss and diabetes prevention program offered to qualifying MESSA medical members and covered dependents. She joined right away.

“I was struggling to lose any weight at all and I knew if I was going to lose weight, I had to make a regular lifestyle change,” says Robert, a 62‑year‑old middle school teacher

“I am so happy I did,” says Robert, who dropped 31 pounds while on the program. “They have provided a lesson a week with excellent information about how to eat and

For more information about Omada, call MESSA’s Member Service Center at 800‑336‑0013, or to see if you qualify, go to messa.org/Omada to take the one‑minute screener. 8

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why I should eat that way to help my body work more efficiently.” The beauty of Omada is that it’s not your typical weight‑loss program. There’s no calorie counting, sticking to the latest diet trend, set meal plans, or extreme workouts. Instead, you make small, gradual changes to how you eat, sleep, move, and manage stress. Those small changes have added up to 1,186 pounds lost by MESSA members on Omada so far in just the first half of 2022. With Omada, you get a dedicated health coach to help you through the program. In addition to a coach, you also receive a free wireless “smart” scale, small‑group peer support, weekly online lessons and an interactive program. The program helps you make progress in baby steps. And before you know it, you’ll be making big strides toward a healthier version of yourself.

MY VIEW A SPECIAL SERIES TAKING A GROUND‑LEVEL LOOK AT BIG ISSUES

A Chance Encounter By Shana Saddler Michigan summers have a special place in my heart as a time for many educators to recharge their spirit and spend quality time with family and friends. Last summer I experienced one of the most frightening yet joyful times in my life — one that reminded me what it means to be an educator. I have served the state of Michigan for 23 years teaching Spanish, Language Arts, and AP at the high school level in Farmington Hills. Whether your number is 24, 15, 10, 5, or if this is your very first year as an educator, we chose this career to make a difference. Usually we do not get the oppor‑ tunity to see our impact until years later. I share the following very personal story, because as educators sometimes we need to be reminded of our influence.

In a state of shock, I finally blurted out, “Oh my God, I hope I was good to you.” Here was my mother’s life in the hands of one of my former students. Did he pass my class? Did we have a good relationship? Questions flooded my mind. Everyone in the room stopped to relish this sad yet joyous reunion between a former student and his teacher and now between a doctor and a daughter. The lead physician posed his own question: “No, was he good to you?” The former teacher wept, and her former student — now a cardiovas‑ cular doctor — hugged and consoled her. In the end, this team of doctors helped to save my mother’s life and allowed me the gift to continue enjoying her physical presence.

My mother, Juliet Saddler, was rushed to the Meijer Cardiovascular Center in Grand Rapids in the summer of 2021. I was alone with my mother when her team of seven cardiologists entered the room. I could imagine that she felt scared, so I held her hand.

Yes, exams, homework, essays are very important, but the true test in being an educator is helping our students to have happy and productive lives. Do the math: 30 students x 5 classes = 150 students x 2 semesters = 300 x 23 years = 6,900 students I’ve influenced.

From among the team of doctors, a voice said, “Hi, Mrs. Saddler! You probably don’t remember me, but you were my ninth‑grade English teacher.”

What is your number? What will be your number? Six thousand nine hundred lives matter.

Naturally with COVID a reality, I wore a mask on my face as did the entire medical staff. It took me a second to realize that I was speaking to a former student. My mom, in her sedated state, and the other six doctors remained silent observing this chance encounter.

Teaching might not feel like a noble profession every single day, but before our students show up ready for a new school year, look in the mirror and know the person staring back is an empowered educator who makes a difference in the lives of thousands. In the words of my former principal: take care of yourselves, our students, and each other.

This year, writing this column for MEA Voice, I hope to inspire my fellow colleagues and be that voice to remind you why you show up every day sowing new seeds for our collective future. The road will not be easy, but the path to greatness never has been. Our students are counting on us to be resolute in our mission that all young people possess the potential to have bright futures and one day pay it forward. Shana Saddler is a veteran Farmington Hills teacher. For comments or questions, reach her at shana.saddler@fpsk12.net.

MEA VOICE

COVER STORY

October Deadline Looms for Student Debt Forgiveness By Brenda Ortega MEA Voice Editor At one time several years ago MEA members Nikoji Smith and Erika Carpenter feared to call the federal office that manages student loans, despite the fact that both carried student loan debt they’d heard might eventually qualify for forgiveness. Avoidance seemed easier — their high debt amounts felt stressful, they didn’t know how to proceed or apply, and they weren’t sure the program was real. Finally Smith took the plunge and called at the urging of her husband’s co‑worker — a corrections officer — then encouraged her longtime friend to do the same.

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“I told Erika, ‘It’s legit, it’s legit. And it was easy — they were really nice,’” said Smith, a Title I teacher at MacArthur K‑8 University Academy in Southfield Public Schools. Once enrolled in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program (PSLF), the two were on track to have their loans forgiven by 2028. However, they received the shock of their lives in January when both got notice that all of their debts had been forgiven. Carpenter — who teaches fifth grade at MacArthur — saw it first and called her friend to check her informa‑ tion even though it was late at night. Smith got out of bed to look it up on her laptop. Sure enough: she had the same “paid in full” note on her account.

For Smith that amounted to $260,338.16, and Carpenter, $249,012.18. Between them more than half a million dollars in student debt disappeared, amounts built up pursuing bachelor and master degrees, student teaching without pay, and continuing education for recertification every five years — plus interest. “I was like, ‘I’m screen‑shotting everything because this has got to be a mistake!’” Carpenter said. “Me too — I needed proof I wasn’t dreaming!” agreed Smith. It was no dream or mistake. Thanks to lobbying by tens of thousands of NEA members, last fall the Biden administration announced a temporary waiver to some rules

COVER STORY

barring certain types of federal loans and payment plans from qualifying for PSLF. The waiver period ends on Oct. 31, 2022. For many — like Smith and Carpenter — the changes sped up forgiveness by months or years. For others, who had been previously turned down or who had never applied because they were in the “wrong” type of loan or repayment plan, the one‑year window has been a total game‑changer.

according to the Federal Student Aid Office (FSA). More than 1.3 million borrowers nationwide stand eligible to receive forgiveness under PSLF totaling $133 billion, according to FSA. The average outstanding balance of those borrowers is $99,500. “We’re doing lots of webinars, and they’re tremendously popular, but I’m concerned too many people still don’t understand what’s happening and not

‘It feels like winning the lottery’ “The waiver is causing the program to do what it originally was promised to do,” said MEA UniServ Director Jon Toppen, who leads trainings on PSLF for MEA members. “It was set up to give people forgiveness for federal student loan debt, and now people are actually getting it.” For applicants who sought PSLF under previous U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, the denial rate was as high as 98%. Congress enacted the program in 2007, so 2017 was the first year that people became eligible after working 10 years in public service while making student loan payments. Under DeVos the department refused to change rules for forgiveness which required borrowers to fit through a very narrow set of hoops. Now the program will accept more kinds of payments, including late payments and COVID‑19 forbearance; additional repayment plans; and more types of loans. Before U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona announced the temporary changes last October, fewer than 7,000 people had received loan forgiveness through PSLF. As of early June, that number had grown to 145,000, which includes people in service roles beyond education,

enough are taking advantage of this window of opportunity through Oct. 31 of this year,” said MEA UniServ Director Christine Anderson, who also runs trainings on how to apply. In Michigan, as of early June, 5,430 borrowers have had debts discharged under the waiver, totaling more than $290 million. Anderson’s best advice: educators with federal loan debt should apply for PSLF now — even if they don’t have 10 years of service — to get inside of the waiver’s window. Applying is not too complicated, trainings are available through MEA and NEA, and union members receive a free one‑year subscription to the NEA Student Debt Navigator by Savi, a premium online help service which includes access to student loan experts if one‑on‑one assistance is needed. “The big mistake that people are making right now is filing all of their paperwork with their loan provider, where it could get stuck in a pile under someone’s desk,” Anderson said. “Either go to the federal government directly, or use your union‑provided Savi navigator to make sure everything gets to the right place.” MEA member Sara Badiner worked with Anderson to apply for PSLF for

a third time after getting denied twice before the changes were announced last October. The first time she was denied because of her type of loan, the second time for her payment plan. “The third time was a charm for me, and this time around it was way easier,” said Badiner, a mid‑career computer science and English language arts teacher in Otsego. Not only did the remaining $10,000 of student loan debt get forgiven after 15 years of making payments, but Badiner suddenly received 24 small deposits to her bank account — each one an over‑payment being refunded — totaling $7,000 in rebates. “We were able to help get my son a car — he just turned 18,” she said. “It was amazing.” Research conducted by NEA in 2021 showed increasing effects of a growing student debt crisis among educators, including delaying major purchases, putting off starting families, and leaving the profession or not considering it in the first place. Indeed, back in Southfield, Erika Carpenter reported after getting her student loan debt wiped away she was able to secure a mortgage to buy a condo. “My credit was fine; it was just the student loans that were in the way of me living where I wanted to live, and that’s not right,” she said. “Teachers should not have all of these student loans, especially when we don’t get the income we deserve. We teach the world.” Her colleague, Nikoji Smith, agreed: “It all starts here in this classroom.” That’s why the two friends have been sharing the news that Public Service Loan Forgiveness is finally real. “We’ve had many conversations with others in our building,” Smith said. “Our colleagues are beginning to have their loans forgiven now. It feels like winning the lottery, but this is truly a blessing.” Learn more at mea.org/studentdebt — and don’t miss the Oct. 31 deadline! MEA VOICE

COVER STORY

FAQ: Public Service Loan Forgiveness WHO CAN QUALIFY FOR PSLF? To qualify for PSLF, you must be employed full‑time (30 hours or more per week) by a public service employer, which includes all public school districts and higher education institutions. Public service workers in the education community include: 4 Teachers and Education Support Professionals 4 Specialized/Certified Instructional Support Personnel 4 Higher Education Faculty, Including Adjunct/Contingent

HOW DO I KNOW IF I’M ELIGIBLE FOR FORGIVENESS? Until Oct. 31, 2022, the U.S. Department of Education is allowing borrowers to count qualifying payments toward loan forgiveness for any month’s payments made since Oct. 1, 2007, as long as borrowers made those payments while: 4 Working full‑time for a qualifying public service employer, AND 4 Being in repayment on any type of federal student loan. You do not have to be currently employed or working full‑time to receive loan forgiveness. If you have accrued 120 months of public service employment while your loans were in repayment since Oct. 1, 2007, you can qualify to have your debt canceled, regardless of which repayment plan you were in, and regardless of whether you actually made a payment for a given month, as long as your loan was not in a deferment or default. Each month of the COVID‑19 payment suspension does count toward PSLF.

WHAT SHOULD I DO NOW? By or before Oct. 31, 2022: 4 Visit studentaid.gov/pslf to use the Department of Education’s PSLF Help Tool to begin your application. 4 Submit the PSLF application/employment certification even if you have not yet made 120 qualifying payments or reached 10 years of service. 4 If you have a Direct Loan, have made 120 payments, and have applied for PSLF since Oct. 6, 2021, you should receive automatic forgiveness or updates about your payment count soon. 4 If you have a Direct Loan and have NOT applied for PSLF since Oct. 6, 2021, you need to apply for PSLF immediately, even if you haven’t reached 120 payments yet. 4 If you have a FFEL or Perkins loan, you must first consolidate into a Direct Loan, then apply for PSLF before the waiver period ends on Oct. 31, 2022.

WHERE CAN I GO FOR HELP? 4 The NEA Student Debt Navigator by Savi is an online navigator tool that NEA members can access free for one year. Sign up to receive personalized advice from student debt experts and gain access to Savi’s e‑filing function, which helps eliminate common mistakes. Find it at neamb.com/getnav. 4 Contact your local MEA field office to request help, or go to mea.org/studentdebt to learn more and look for/request a virtual training session. 4 Join a Facebook group that serves as a resource hub for anyone seeking help navigating PSLF at facebook.com/groups/pslfprogramsupport. 12

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STRENGTH IN UNION

Federal funds provide tutoring support Providing additional academic support for students recovering from the pandemic has become a key use of federal school rescue funds in local districts across Michigan. More than 200 school districts throughout the state signaled their intention to use federal COVID relief funding on tutoring in grant proposals submitted to the Michigan Department of Education last December. Now many neighborhood schools are following through with that promise. Anchor Bay Public Schools have used federal funds to add academic coaches, literacy tutors, and a dedi‑ cated literacy coach for each of their seven elementary schools to provide scaled support before, during and after school. “Having more hands on deck is great,” Anchor Bay EA President Jamie Pietron said. “We have a lot of catching up to do from the pandemic, so giving kids interventions right away is critical. I’m glad Anchor Bay has put these wheels in motion, and it definitely has helped our classroom teachers.” Various forms of academic sup‑ port have been explored by local schools, with expanded summer learning options a common choice. Plymouth‑Canton trained an addi‑ tional 130 employees to expand their summer tutoring program and continue it into next school year. “Expanding support and learning opportunities for students are exactly what we intended these funds to do when my colleagues and I voted to deliver them to local schools last year,” said state Rep. Matt Koleszar (D‑Plymouth), a former teacher and union leader in Airport Community Schools. “Continued increases in state funding in the coming years

will be crucial to maintaining these vital programs.” A January poll showed that Michiganders want their neighbor‑ hood schools to prioritize spending school rescue funds on expanding tutoring programs, with 82% of those polled saying that investing in tutoring is important — a higher rate than any other category of potential spending. District grant proposals submitted last December were soft outlines of potential spending and far from set‑in‑stone, so there is still an opportunity for school districts to update plans. “Anytime we have added support in the classroom, it changes the way we do our job,” West Ottawa EA President Theresann Pyrett said. “More hands to lift up our students makes for a lighter load.” Pyrett brought that message to Washington, D.C. when she met with U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona and senior White House officials in May to discuss the effectiveness of funding public schools through the American Rescue Plan. Read Pyrett’s report to MEA members about the visit at mea.org/ mi‑educator-talks-with‑edsecretary.

West Ottawa union leader Theresann Pyrett met with U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona to discuss school needs and priorities.

On average, school districts across Michigan received $4,100 per student in federal support. However, the exact figure varies significantly by district as the funds were allocated through a weighted formula, with higher‑need areas receiving additional support. As of March, statewide only 13.7% of federal rescue funds had been spent, providing opportunity for other school districts to craft plans that consider historically high needs among educa‑ tors and students alike and successes elsewhere. Local unions are required to have a say in those decisions.

Michigan schools can spend federal funds on staff salaries through April 2026 School districts may have until April 2026 to spend federal school rescue dollars, the U.S. Department of Education recently announced. To qualify for this extension, school districts must have a signed contract for the expenditure and an extension request approved by the Michigan Department of Education prior to Sept. 30, 2024. This extension will provide school districts with flexibility when using federal rescue funds to address staffing shortages, by allowing districts and local unions to negotiate fair compensation packages to attract and retain talented educators in a highly competitive labor market. MEA VOICE

MEA’s 5‑Part Series on Efforts to Stop Rising Book Bans By Brenda Ortega MEA Voice Editor Four years after wrapping up a distinguished teaching career, MEA‑Retired member Gayle Martin stepped up to the podium to speak at an April school board meeting in Rochester, where she has lived and taught for more than three decades. Martin had never publicly raised her voice so unreservedly on a topic of controversy, but she felt compelled to enter the arena after witnessing ongo‑ ing, angry calls by a vocal minority to ban certain books from school libraries in the Oakland County community she calls home. Focusing on passages and excerpts rather than whole works of literature, the critics have called the books “obscene” and accused educators of being “pedophiles” and “grooming” students amid contentious debate over the issue. Martin decided she could not sit by as the small but loud contingent returned to one board meeting after another, threatening Rochester stu‑ dents’ freedom to read literature from diverse viewpoints — just one flash point among a troubling rise in book challenges happening in Michigan and across the U.S. Over the past year the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom reported the highest number of book bans in the U.S. since the organization began tracking censorship in the 1990s.

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“This is an attack against our students and their First Amendment rights, against our educators, and against our public school system,” Martin told the board before launching into a powerful lesson on state and federal court precedents related to book challenges and school censorship. Martin carried the message with the heft of an accomplished English teacher, former department chair, and award‑winning high school newspaper advisor, concluding with a clear‑eyed assessment of her opponents’ false narratives. For one, the would‑be censors claim the issue is one of “parental rights,” but parents already have the right to opt their children out of reading any book — “even if it is assigned, which these are not,” she noted. “The second false narrative is that schools are trying to ‘indoctrinate’ students,” she testified. “But again — no one is making kids read these books, and indoctrination doesn’t hap‑ pen by osmosis. In fact, the first step to indoctrination isn’t providing access to ideas. It is eliminating access to ideas. “These false narratives imply — whether intentionally or not — that our educators are unprofessional or even criminal. They imply that our high school students are so lacking in critical thinking skills that they cannot make their own choices. Worst of all, they imply that any children who

Gayle Martin

may see themselves in these books are not welcome and not safe in our public schools. “That is not who we are,” she concluded in her narrative, “and our children deserve better.” This spring Martin joined with Emily Sommer, a former Rochester teaching colleague and fellow MEA‑Retired member, to formally organize supportive parents and other community members into a group known as Free to Read Rochester. Their inspiring story opens MEA’s 5‑Part FREEDOM TO READ series, our deep dive into disturbing trends toward book bans and the work being done to push back. Check out this preview of the series — then read it all at mea.org/freedomtoread.

Part 1 / Educators and Parents Battle Book Bans: ‘That is not who we are, and our children deserve better’ Two retired Rochester educators are taking on a small‑but‑vocal group that wants to restrict local students’ access to ideas. “I’m totally on board with parents speaking up for their own kids; they know their needs and values. But very clearly their values are not mine, and they don’t have the right to tell my son he can’t check out a book that they don’t like.” — MEA‑Retired member Emily Sommer of Rochester

Part 2 / Turmoil Over Book Bans Affects Educators: ‘This is the hill I’m willing to die on’ Educators from Greenville to Novi discuss their efforts to do right by students despite the exhaustion they feel after months of public clashes over books and other controversies, with some looking to leave the education field. “Teachers already have so many stressors, so when you add COVID and all of those issues and book banning on top, it’s a lot. I know a lot of people my age that are very serious about leaving the profession already because it’s too much for them.” — MEA member Madison Skupin, Novi teacher

Part 3 / Book challenges show need for policies to ‘uphold a constitutional promise’ At a time when free speech advocates are documenting an unparalleled, coordinated movement to ban books across the country, fewer certified school librarians exist in Michigan to develop and implement policies that ensure access to books is not restricted for all by a vocal few. “This has brought our profession into the limelight and made us more appreciated because the work we do is very, very important.” — MEA member Christine Beachler, Lowell media specialist

Part 4 / Reading, Writing, Literacy Leaders Raise Alarm over Book Bans Literacy organizations are joining forces and coordinating resources to involve more people in the effort to to oppose book bans and preserve intellectual freedom for students and educators. Most of the targeted books feature content related to race, gender and social justice. “The freedom to read is essential to our democracy.” — MEA member Troy Hicks, CMU professor and co‑creator of a joint statement from three Michigan organizations dedicated to reading and literacy

Part 5 / Freedom to Read Advocates, Please Stand Up: ‘We need positive voices in the conversation’ The enormous spike in book challenges has operated next to efforts by state lawmakers in many GOP‑controlled legislatures — including Michigan — to pass dangerous so‑called “gag orders” restricting educators’ ability to speak about certain subjects in K‑12 schools and higher education classrooms. “We must refuse to compromise here, especially when it means compromising or bargaining with hate.” — Michigan State Board of Education Vice President Pamela Pugh

STRENGTH IN UNION

Students Organize Marches Across U.S. MEA member Leah Ramirez is sick and tired. Sick of conducting practice lock downs to prepare against potential violence with her kindergarten students in Northview Public Schools in Grand Rapids. Tired of trying to reassure them they are safe despite the grim reason behind the drills. “The day after Uvalde, I was standing there as my students were entering the building, and I just got overwhelmed with emotion and started crying,” Ramirez said. “I had to hide from my kids, because I was watching them walk in and thinking, What would I do if this happened to us?” In June Ramirez and fellow MEA member and Northview literacy specialist Elizabeth Renato drove to Lansing to join hundreds of thousands of people across the country demon‑ strating for common‑sense gun laws to save lives. Renato said she didn’t want to send her own three children to school after watching news accounts of yet another mass shooting on May 24, this time in Uvalde, Texas, where an 18‑year‑old gunman massacred 19 fourth graders and two teachers with a legally purchased AR‑15. Coming to the March for Our Lives helped her connect with others and feel less helpless and hopeless, Renato said. “Coming here and hearing every‑ body speak was important just to know we’re not alone and that some‑ thing can be done if we stay together and keep fighting,” Renato said. Marches were held in more than 300 cities across the U.S., including Detroit, Ann Arbor, Traverse City, and Port Huron. More than 600 marchers showed up in Oxford, where four students were shot and killed by a classmate last November.

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The events nationwide were led by students. In Oxford one of the student organizers, Dylan Morris, told the crowd in his community, “We know thoughts and prayers are not enough.” Those young people have formed a nonprofit, No Future Without Today, to advocate for gun reform and mental health resources. Speakers at the march included Reina St. Juliana, whose 14‑year‑old sister Hana was one of those killed. “We should not have to be resilient

can do this, then I should be able to do this.” Gibbons and Oxford teacher and fellow MEA member Lauren Rambo stood with educators from Parkland, Newtown and Columbine behind NEA President Becky Pringle during her speech before a crowd of thousands stretching toward the Washington Monument. A highlight for both was meeting survivors of the Columbine shooting who continue to teach in the building

‘Enough is enough — we demand change’ after watching our friends die, and we should not have to be strong after our siblings are murdered,” she said. “We will not accept a country where bullet casings are found in hallways, where blood is on the walls and dead chil‑ dren’s bodies lay on school grounds.” For Melissa Gibbons, an Oxford English teacher who locked down with students in the high school during the Nov. 30 shooting as her daughters huddled in a different classroom, the determined leadership of young peo‑ ple on an issue that has felt intractable offers hope and energy to keep going. Gibbons traveled to Washington D.C. alongside an Oxford colleague and other educators who survived school shootings for the march on the National Mall with “amazing students” from across the country who are “wanting to take the power back,” Gibbons said. “If these kids who lost their classmates — who saw the destruction in the hallway — if they

where one of the earliest mass school shootings rocked the national con‑ science nearly a quarter century ago. “The Columbine survivors actually were freshmen at the school when the shooting happened, which was weirdly my exact age at that time too, and they have taken on the task of teaching at the high school,” Rambo said. “It was a powerful and humbling experience to meet them.” When the 13‑year veteran science teacher first heard about the horrific shooting in Uvalde, she and others in the community were thrust back into raw grief, which soon turned to anger at inaction that has allowed school shootings and mass murder to become routine in the U.S. “It galvanized me in a way,” she said. “Before Uvalde I couldn’t understand how the Parkland kids had the capac‑ ity to work outside of just surviving every day. Then Uvalde happened,

STRENGTH IN UNION

(Clockwise from top left) 1) Elizabeth Renato and Leah Ramirez 2) Gov. Whitmer with Lansing March co‑captains Neelu Jaberi and Berelian Karimian 3) Melissa Gibbons and Lauren Rambo (far right) with NEA President Becky Pringle (center) and other survivors; 4) Reina St. Juliana (in orange: photo courtesy of No Future Without Today).

and I was so angry. I understood that I had to do something to stop this from happening again, even if I don’t think I have the emotional energy. I do have the energy — I don’t have a choice.” In Michigan, numerous gun safety measures have been proposed, but Republican leaders in the GOP‑controlled state House and Senate have refused to take them up. That means advocates need to push harder, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer told the crowd of 300 assembled before the Capitol steps in Lansing.

“It is a long, grueling fight, and it can feel disheartening at times, but know this: the people who would rather do nothing — who would perpetuate the horrific status quo — they’re counting on us to be cynical. They’re counting on us to be exhausted. They’re count‑ ing on us to look away and not stay in this fight. We won’t look away, and we won’t give up!” Neelu Jaberi, co‑chapter leader of March for Our Lives Lansing, echoed those thoughts. She was seven years old when a gunman with a high‑capac‑ ity assault rifle slaughtered 28 children

and adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. “Now I stand here at 17 seeing a new generation of children dealing with the impacts of gun violence,” she said in her moving speech. “Four years ago we marched in response to Parkland. Now here we are again, marching in response to Uvalde and the countless mass shootings that have happened since then. “Enough is enough... We want change, we demand change, and we will continue to speak, to march, to use our voices until change happens.”

MEA VOICE

REINVENTION 4 RESOURCES 4 RESPONSIBILITY

Launch Michigan Framework connects school reinvention, resources and responsibility Launch Michigan — a broad coalition of education, labor, business, philanthropic and civic organizations dedicated to improving Michigan’s education system for all students — has released its Framework for transforming Michigan’s educational system to equip students for a world economy. The Framework is unique in its scope, ambition, and density. No other education transformation effort in recent memory goes so far to alter the experiences of students and educators alike. MEA has been a key partner in Launch Michigan since the coalition formed four years ago, working to build trust between unlikely partners, advocating for high‑quality research into the issues facing public edu‑ cation, and ensuring the voices of Michigan’s rank‑and‑file educators are part of any proposals to help our students succeed. “When it comes to boosting Michigan’s educational outcomes, there is absolutely no time to lose,” said MEA President and Launch Michigan co‑chair Paula Herbart. “Our priority is to ensure we start filling in the gaps we know exist,

so we can begin changing children’s lives and futures as quickly as possible. Michigan’s educators are dedicated to our students, and this framework is an important place to start providing them with the tools needed to change the course of our kids’ futures.”

the retention requirements from the third grade reading law.

Unlike one‑off reforms for public education proposed in the past, Launch Michigan’s Framework is centered on three interconnected pillars: reinvention, resources, and responsibility. Aside from buy‑in by a broad cross‑section of organizations, the strength of this approach is that it’s not a checklist of quick fixes, but rather a holistic view of how changes are needed in all three areas to truly transform public education in our state.

4 Resources: More than $3.5 billion in new education funding — the majority provided through new revenue — to increase both base per‑pupil allowances and weighted funding for students with greater needs, like special education and at‑risk (based on research by the School Finance Research Collaborative). The Framework includes measures to enhance compensation and staffing for the education profession, as well as an important caveat that any efforts to change the financing of retirement benefits must not harm the retirement security of current and retired school employees.

4 Reinvention: a new college and career readiness standard that ensures students are supported throughout their academic careers to meet high goals by high school and prepare them for post‑secondary learning and the workplace. This includes equitable access — no matter where a student is from — to multiple learning pathways like college credit bearing coursework and 21st century career and technical education programs. The Framework also includes removing

4 Responsibility: Across all levels of stakeholders — from elected leaders to the Michigan Department of Education to intermediate school districts to local schools — we need to align governance to focus on the standards we want to achieve. That includes a stronger, fully resourced MDE; a clearer, transparent rating system and interventions to support struggling schools; and a revamped teacher evaluation system that focuses on professional growth rather than standardized test scores.

Enjoy the MESSA Pullout section, and read more about Launch Michigan on p. 19 ÷ 18

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REINVENTION 4 RESOURCES 4 RESPONSIBILITY

Launch Michigan brought together unlikely allies Launch Michigan brought together a group of unlikely partners. The group formed in 2018, and it’s important to remember the agreement released in June is a framework and not a fully fleshed‑out plan, said MEA President Paula Herbart. “Now that we have broad consen‑ sus from partners, it’s time to start further developing the proposals Launch Michigan is discussing so they’re actionable and reflect the best thinking of educators, parents, the business community and everyone who has a stake in public education,” Herbart said. That process is already underway thanks to a review of the Framework by the National Center for Education and the Economy, a respected national research group that assisted with education transformation efforts in Massachusetts and Maryland. Their initial review found that the Framework had many good starting points, but that more devel‑ opment of details are needed in key areas — including specifics around the college and career readiness standard, interventions for struggling schools and efforts to strengthen the teaching profession. In particular, MEA is committed to ensuring these steps are taken without putting inappropriate emphasis on

standardized tests while maintain‑ ing collective bargaining rights of school employees. The next step is to broaden the conversation through development teams that will work to build out these important details. If you are interested in engaging in that process, let MEA know by emailing publicaffairs@mea.org. Coalition members agree that this development work must be done with urgency and include as many partners as possible to ensure we do right by Michigan’s students. “Until we act to create an edu‑ cational system that gives kids the knowledge and skills to succeed in an economy that’s increasingly advancing on a global scale, we will lag behind other states and nations and outsource the opportunities that should belong to our youngest resi‑ dents,” said Jeff Donofrio, President and CEO of Business Leaders for Michigan and Launch Michigan co‑chair. “To ensure future opportu‑ nities will exist for our kids, we have to invest in the educational system capable of producing them.” Brian Calley, Small Business Association of Michigan President and CEO and Launch Michigan co‑chair, summed up the sentiment saying, “Inaction is not an option here.

MEA President Paula Herbart co‑chairs the coalition, which brings together members from education, labor, business, philanthropic and civic oranizations to seek consensus on solutions for strengthening public education.

We will continue working together until true transformation becomes a reality for Michigan students.” Read about Launch Michigan’s work and proposals, the full Framework text, and NCEE’s review at LaunchMichigan.org/framework.

ÿ Read the full story of this agreement among unlikely allies starting on p. 18 MEA VOICE

AWARDS & HONORS

Escanaba Educator Named Michigan Teacher of the Year Although MEA member Nanette Hanson has achieved rarefied status as the newly crowned 2022‑23 Michigan Teacher of the Year (MTOY), the first grade teacher in Escanaba embodies the story of so many educators. Troubled by low self‑esteem grow‑ ing up in the small Upper Peninsula town of Gladstone, Hanson said in an interview it was caring teachers who “flipped the switch” to awaken her sense of accomplishment and belief in herself. “I just knew I wanted to be that person for somebody else,” she said of her reasons for joining the profession. “Every day is an opportunity for me to forge that relationship and be that light in someone else’s darkness.” Her middle school band and choir teacher — a man who was “bigger than life” and a “ball of light” — saw something in Hanson she didn’t yet see in herself, she said. “Even if you weren’t outstanding musically, he would find something about you and make you feel important.” Later a high school French teacher recognized Hanson — an A and B stu‑ dent — was capable of accomplishing great things. “It never dawned on me. I didn’t know that in my heart until they kind of saved me and put me on the right track.” Today at Lemmer Elementary School in Escanaba, Hanson pays it forward, using humor, individual attention, and inclusion to make school a safe place where youngsters feel heard, accepted and empowered. “I want them to leave first grade with the feeling ignited in their belly that they like coming to school and they love learning.”

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Every day begins with her wel‑ coming each student at the door with a high‑five, hug, knuckle bump or other custom greeting selected by the child. At the same time she finds something to notice about each one. “I’m saying ‘Good morning’ and ‘Hey, I love the way you’re following the rules in the hall’ or ‘I saw you help your friend’; ‘I love the bow in your hair’ — something that’s just letting them know I’m totally tuned into them.” Because the school has a high per‑ centage of students who qualify for free and reduced lunch, all children receive breakfast in class, a time Hanson calls “morning meeting.” Before the meal, the kids place a sticky note with their student number on a poster depicting different feeling faces.

“If they’re tired or hungry or sad, they can’t learn. I’ve got to find out what they need so we can get those basic needs met and move on from there.” Hanson models inclusive behavior so every student feels accepted. “In my classroom we open the door for lots of student talk where we’re all giv‑ ing our ideas, we’re all valued, we take turns. We have the discussion about respecting others for their differences.” Over 20 years Hanson has seen the power of love and acceptance, starting with at‑risk teens in an alternative high school and moving to other grades before she settled at first grade 16 years ago. Her Daily 3 in math each morning and Daily 5 in literacy after lunch rotate students through a mix of group

‘I want to be that light in someone’s darkness’ “They can show me — hey, I’m ready to learn, or I’m fidgety today or I’m feeling kind of sad.” Then while everyone is eating, she can pull individuals aside to check in, “and it’s a safe place for them to say, ‘I miss my mom,’ or ‘there was a lot of yelling at my house today,’ or ‘I forgot my socks,’ or whatever it is.” Social‑emotional learning is important work she does, Hanson said, recalling a different culture when she was growing up that told children struggling with big emotions to “Suck it up. Put a smile on.”

and individual instruction, practice, spiral lessons, and more practice. She takes cues from students for what interesting tangents to follow in their lessons, reading, discussions, projects and standards that need reteaching. She worries about lawmakers proposing bills that would require educators to post lesson plans, assign‑ ments, reading materials, tests and field trips a year in advance. “This is concerning to every teacher every‑ where,” she said, adding that some of the best learning last year happened when students followed their interests in project‑based discovery.

MEA member Nanette Hanson is the 2022‑23 Michigan Teacher of the Year. Pictured with her first graders and Escanaba Area Public Schools Superintendent Coby Fletcher at a surprise assembly in May.

“I could not submit a whole year’s worth of lessons because we cannot squash kids’ creativity. I should be able to spark the interest of kids in a way that’s exciting to them and lets them run their own learning in a way that’s meaningful,” she said. The focus after two years of the global pandemic should be on equity and mental health, delivering supports to strapped communities and families so children have equal opportunity to learn and ensuring everyone in the system — school employees and students alike — have access to mental health services. For the next year as MTOY, Hanson will serve as a voice for the state’s teachers, who she worries are exhausted and overwhelmed from “doing more and more with less and less, because we are caring and loving — teachers are doers. But we have our limits and people are burning out.” Educating the next generation is some of the most important work in

the world, so recruiting and retaining high‑quality, diverse educators is critical to the future, she said, arguing for better compensation overall and more programs to entice young peo‑ ple into the profession before college. “Let’s get kids in the classroom when they’re in high school for a little job shadowing and practicum work, so they can see that teaching is more than delivering a lesson. It’s about forging relationships, making kids feel safe, and embedding that feeling of I can do this — I have something to offer. “I think if high school students see that, they’ll say to themselves I want to be that for somebody else.” [See related story on p. 22.] Hanson does her part to build up the profession, serving in multiple leadership roles at the building and district level, according to Principal Paulette Wickham. She mentors two early career teachers in the district, always giving

of her time and attention but also noting how much she learns from beginning educators as well. “She has that mindset of a lifelong learner, improving her craft as she’s helping our new teachers develop theirs,” Wickham said. Amid the demands of the last two years, Hanson literally went the extra mile to ensure students had the equip‑ ment they needed — often driving long distances to homes where she helped kids, parents and grandparents to access and use technology. Kids describe Hanson as funny, loving, and kind, Wickham said, adding that some needed several hugs from her before walking out the door on their last day of school in June. “She’s there for everyone, and she’s willing to move mountains to make sure all of her kids have the same opportunities as everyone else. She’s almost like a second parent — her students know they are very well loved.”

MEA VOICE

MEMBERS AT WORK

More Districts Start Programs Enticing Students to Teach School districts are taking advantage of state grants, creating new high school courses, and developing partnerships with colleges and universities to address the educator shortage by exposing students to career opportunities in the profession before they reach college.

In March 2021, the state education department awarded 44 districts $10,000 grants to launch Explore pro‑ grams. Another round will be issued this year with the application opening in August for grants to be awarded next spring. Search “explore grant” at michigan.gov for the application.

The growth of courses and pro‑ grams for high schoolers reflects heightened concerns around far fewer young people pursuing edu‑ cation careers as active educators are leaving — and especially as a significant percentage of the state’s teaching force becomes eligible for full retirement over the next few years.

At East Kentwood High School, an Educators Rising class allows seniors to learn the basics of lesson planning, observe teachers at work, and visit college campuses to understand education degree programs, said MEA member Jasmine Ramahi, the eight‑year veteran who teaches it.

The state’s Future Proud Michigan Educator Explore program is part of the Michigan Department of Education’s efforts to grow and diver‑ sify the workforce. The Explore pro‑ gram offers guidelines for introductory coursework that can be a companion to existing career and technical education cadet teacher programs.

MEA member Jasmine Ramahi teaches an Educators Rising class at East Kentwood High School.

“All the talk of a teacher shortage motivates me to try to empower these students to go into education because we need good teachers,” Ramahi said. “People are looking for where they’re valued and where they can leave an impact, and teaching can be that answer to make you feel fulfilled.” Students learn many concepts taught in introductory college courses, and the district is seeking state accreditation to award college credits for the three‑year‑old class. From one of the most diverse high schools in the state, the class attracts students who know they want to be educators and others who need encouragement to see themselves in the role. Ramahi stresses that many kinds of educators are needed and all create their own ripple effects in the world. “This is a chance for us to maybe hire some of our awesome students down the road, so I approach the class with a positive attitude because I love my job and I want them to see me enjoying my day,” she said. The hope is that recruiting future educators who might not have con‑ sidered the career but have leadership

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aspirations will help to build out a future education workforce that better reflects the student population. About half of all U.S. students are non‑white, but 80% of teachers are white. In Holland, a new partnership with Hope College launches this fall — a tuition‑free Teacher Preparation Early College Program the district is calling a first‑of‑its‑kind in the region. Students who commit to a 13th year of high school will emerge with two years completed of a bachelor’s degree in education. “We have a diverse learner popu‑ lation at HHS with over 50% of our students being students of color,” said MEA member Sarah Le Febre, a 22‑year English teacher who will run the introductory Future Educator Course. “I am eager to be a part of a program that ‘grows our own.’” Students will be assigned a mentor teacher and will spend two days a week in a clinical placement in a classroom in the district. Le Febre says she hopes to inspire students to join the profession by showing them the “beautiful realities” of a teaching career — both the joys and difficulties. Le Febre admits her heart “skipped a beat” when her son — a recent college graduate — chose to pursue teaching in the footsteps of both of his parents. She was nervous for him knowing the mental, physical and emotional demands of the path, but she also felt immense pride in his decision, she said. “I will not sugar coat the demands of this profession, the absurd evalua‑ tion system, the ridiculous low pay for the hours spent, but I will forever be a cheerleader for anyone who sees this profession as more than a career, but a life’s mission,” Le Febre said.

AWARDS & HONORS

Fifty‑Year Bus Driver Wins Award, Reminisces on Career Over his 50 years of driving a school bus in North Central Area Schools in the western Upper Peninsula, MEA member Bob Hanchek says one day clearly stands out from all the rest.

retires this year at age 69. Speaking with a rich Yooper accent in which “other” becomes “udder,” he said when he started driving “every other farmer drove a bus” for some extra income and health benefits.

On Jan. 4, 2004, Hanchek made a stop on his afternoon route along U.S. 41. With red lights flashing and two of his 15 riders — the first‑ and second‑grade Mahoney boys — com‑ ing up the aisle to exit, he recognized a big and fast‑moving railroad repair truck was not stopping behind him.

When he heard the driver who once took him to school was retiring, he earned his license and took over the route he would keep for half a century: “On November first, I rode with that fellow to his house; he got off the bus, walked up the road, I jumped in the seat, and I’ve been going ever since.”

“I grabbed them boys out of the stairwell, shut the door, and threw the bus in gear,” he said. “It was a standard shift — a stick — and I moved the bus onto the shoulder. Faster than you can snap your fingers [the truck driver] went sliding 50 feet behind the bus. He woke up — he was daydreaming — and slammed on the brakes, and he slid right by me.”

Hanchek figures he’s driven three generations of families in the sprawl‑ ing rural region he knows by heart — every hole in the road, every trick to find a shortcut, every child and parent and grandparent. He knows phone numbers and would call on his flip phone instead of leaving a child at an empty house.

For his life‑saving actions that day Hanchek was honored by his district and named the Michigan Hero of the Year by the American Legion. More recently he shared the story in an acceptance speech after receiving MEA’s top honor for education support professionals, the 2022 Leon A. Brunner Award. “I’ll never forget that day,” he said of the near‑accident. “You get used to watching your mirrors on the bus, and over the years the traffic has gotten more heavy. There’s so much of a hurry to get where they’re going, and when they get there they don’t know why they got there so fast.” A lifelong dairy farmer on what is now a 1,000‑acre family farm he runs with his two sons, Hanchek began driving a bus in 1972 at age 19 — just one year after graduation — and

“And probably three‑quarters of parents have my cell number, and they called me, ‘Hey Bob — can you bring him over to Grandma’s house?’ I know every grandma. Or ‘Could you take him to my cousin or my sister or brother today?’ No problem, because I know where everybody lives.” He’s driven through numerous blizzards, but that doesn’t top his list of fears. “I’ll drive in a foot of snow all day long, but ice is scary,” he said. In addition to farming and driving, Hanchek has been a seed dealer since 1974 and served as the elected township clerk in Harris Township for 28 years. In planting season, his day often stretched from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. “When you’ve been busy all your life, how do you slow down?” he says. More than 20 years ago, he became president of his local support staff union, eventually joining the MEA

Bob Hanchek holds a special tribute from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer recognizing his 50 years of service as an Upper Peninsula school bus driver.

and MESSA boards of directors and becoming a delegate to the NEA Representative Assembly. He’s fought against school budget slashing that cut health care and retirement benefits, leading to widespread shortages of bus drivers and consolidation of routes. “Who wants that responsibility with no benefits and some buses trying to run two routes and fit it all in? I have your children on that bus.” It’s been a great career, he says. He’ll miss the kids, but he’s ready to take his new Harley trike down south with fiance and fellow MEA‑Retired member Michele Davis, also a former bus driver, and return in March for planting season. “Everybody always says and I’ve been saying for years, ‘When is when?’ And now I know it’s time to go at 50 years. That’s long enough.”

MEA VOICE

LEADERSHIP & LEARNING

MEA Partnerships Create Quality MEA member Jay Holtvluwer is 29 years into his career and still enjoys learning new ways to improve his practice. A mentor to “anybody who will listen,” the middle school engineering and social studies teacher last year joined a union‑sponsored program to strengthen his use of formative assessments. The Warren Consolidated Schools veteran became part of MEA’s Assessment Learning Institute, a series of learning opportunities and follow‑up conversations and support which ran through last school year, operated by the Michigan Assessment Consortium (MAC). The institute is just one example of various professional partnerships developed by MEA’s Center for Leadership & Learning over the past few years to offer our members the best learning opportunities and ongoing supports, including certificate renewal credits. “When this came along, I figured some of the practices and methods we learned and worked through together were things I could use and take back to my fellow teaching partners,” Holtvluwer said. “I say making these changes might involve pain up front, but in the long run it makes life easier.” The Assessment Learning Institute aims to help educators bring more balance to the classroom assessments they use to better “meet students where they are and move them forward,” said Ellen Vorenkamp, an assessment coordinator at Wayne RESA and board member of the MAC. Formative assessments are those daily snapshots of learning that help to inform the teacher of who students are and how they are understanding key skills and concepts — information that helps the teacher to react and 24

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respond to student needs in the moment, Vorenkamp said. Several dozen MEA members participated in the institute, which included sessions by renowned assessment consultant Jay McTighe, whose work focuses on helping educa‑ tors find different means for measur‑ ing valued learning goals which also promote learning in the process. Carrie Heaney, a math interven‑ tionist and instructional coach in Farmington Public Schools, said she participated in the institute as a refresher — to reinforce good practices she already used and add new ideas and philosophies to her tool belt. Assessing student learning should be more than end‑of‑unit type sum‑ mative tests and state standardized assessments that factor into teacher evaluations. Formative assessment is an essential tool for success but only if it’s seen as more than an item on a checklist that has to be done, Heaney says. “It’s really just about wondering what did I notice about where my students were at today? And how can I gather that information in a useful way so that I can target the instruction better for the kids the next day?” Heaney said. Another assessment‑related part‑ nership has brought MEA members into an initiative to help arts educators improve their practice. The Michigan Arts Education Instruction & Assessment project (MAEIA) began 10 years ago to create a bank of free resources for teachers of dance, theater, music and visual art. Available resources include hundreds of lesson plans and instructional resources, connections to social‑emo‑ tional learning, curriculum maps, and

MEA member Carrie Heaney joined MEA’s Assessment Learning Institute to take ideas back to her instructional coaching in Farmington.

performance assessments including sample exemplars. The Michigan Department of Education funded the MAEIA through the Michigan Assessment Collaborative to make arts assessment more authentically reflect the work and products of arts‑related endeav‑ ors, said Heather Vaughan‑Southard, a dance instructor and professional learning director at MAEIA. “These performance assessments are designed to be curriculum‑em‑ bedded — really, experientially embedded — to keep the kids moving, keep them making music, keep them creating,” Vaughan‑Southard said. MEA member Brenda Bressler, a middle school band and choir director and 24‑year teaching veteran, has been involved in the initiative since 2019, but she really dove in deeply to the MAEIA resources bank when COVID hit to get help with virtual teaching.

Supports MAEIA offers instructional and assessment materials for in‑person, remote and hybrid teaching. Find the bank at maeia‑artsednetwork.org. “I was able to teach a group of beginners — who are now going into eighth grade — how to play their instruments online, which will prob‑ ably go down as one of my greatest accomplishments,” Bressler said. For in‑person instruction, the bank offers a new way of thinking about lessons she’s done for years and different instructional approaches that she’s trying for the first time, Bressler said. As for assessment, the feedback on performance is how students learn and grow, she said. “One assessment in the bank that I use quite a bit asks students to select a piece of music to prepare for an audition, then prepare it and work with a classmate who serves as an adjudicator,” Bressler said, adding the students determine what adjudicators listen for — using musical vocabulary — and they build critical listening skills in the process. MEA’s work around assessment practices is meant to move partici‑ pants toward more student‑centered, instructionally‑relevant assessment and provide tools to share in depart‑ ments, buildings and districts, said

MEA UniServ Consultant Chad Williams, who has developed these and other partnerships. “This work is pushing back against the toxic testing culture, which is only concerned with measuring the consequences of good teaching, and moving us toward more valuable assessments that help educators to improve teaching and learning,” Williams said. On a larger scale, the professional partnerships and other offerings from the Center for Leadership & Learning reflect ongoing efforts to make MEA a hub for the best‑quality professional development to help members thrive, said MEA Vice President Chandra Madafferi, who has led the shift. “The union bargains wages and benefits so people choose to go into education, and once they’re in the door the MEA is growing services that will support them from aspiring to retiring,” Madafferi said.

MEA’s Center for Leadership & Learning has developed a number of external partnerships to help us deliver the highest quality professional development, networking and grant opportunities, and continuing education credits for our members. Check with your local field office for the latest offerings, go to cll.mea.org for more information, and watch for announcements of upcoming MEA webinars and conferences to get involved. 4 Michigan State University — Create for STEM Institute and NextGen Project‑Based Learning 4 Michigan Assessment Consortium 4 Michigan Arts Education Instruction & Assessment 4 Michigan Arts and Culture Council 4 Michigan Art Education Association 4 Michigan Music Education Association

Brenda Bressler of Huron Valley uses the Michigan Arts Education Instruction & Assessment bank of resources to enrich students’ learning.

4 The University of Michigan, School of Social Work

MEA VOICE 25

THE FUTURE OF PUBLIC EDUCATION GOV. GRETCHEN WHITMER IS A STAUNCH DEFENDER OF PUBLIC EDUCATION and treats educators as a true partner in ensuring students have the opportunities they need to succeed. In her first term, she’s proved this time and again by: 4 Advocating for back‑to‑back record‑breaking budgets that invest in our students, our schools and our profession, including funds to help address student mental health, the educator shortage, retirement funding and special education. 4 Vetoing countless partisan attacks on public education, including the DeVos‑backed voucher scheme to send public money to private schools. 4 Ensuring school employees continued to be paid during the pandemic and prioritizing us to receive the COVID‑19 vaccine.

Now, Gov. Whitmer needs our help. In November, we must re‑elect her — and elect other friends of public education at all levels of government.

To win in November, we need your help! Pro‑public education candidates like Gretchen Whitmer need your support to win on Nov. 8.

Get involved today!

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N IS ON THE NOV. 8 BALLOT ELECTION 2022 PRIORITIES RE‑ELECT THE TOP OF THE TICKET 4 Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II

JOIN THE FIGHT

4 Attorney General Dana Nessel 4 Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson

ELECT MORE ALLIES TO CONGRESS AND THE STATE LEGISLATURE! 4 New, fairer legislative maps provide us a chance to elect pro‑public education majorities in Congress, the state Senate and state House.

KEEP A FRIEND ON THE MICHIGAN SUPREME COURT AND ADD ANOTHER! 4 Re‑elect Justice Richard Bernstein

Visit MEAVotes.org to donate to MEA‑PAC, get information on Voting From Home, and find MEA recommended candidates in your area using our Online Voter Guide.

Go to GretchenWhitmer. com/take‑action and join the Educators for Whitmer coalition.

4 Elect Kyra Harris Bolden for Justice

ELECT FRIENDS OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS TO YOUR LOCAL SCHOOL BOARD! 4 Fighting back against divisive attacks at school board meetings means electing allies to the school board who can remain strong and support educators and students.

Volunteer with the ONE Campaign for Michigan by visiting mobilize.us/midems.

Latest on DeVos Voucher Scheme As of press time, the DeVos‑backed “Let MI Kids Learn” voucher scheme had not yet filed their signatures to put forward their citizens’ initiative. The measure would funnel public money to private schools through “scholarships” raised through budget‑draining tax credits for wealthy donors like DeVos and her allies. The campaign missed a June 1 deadline to make the November 2022 ballot — but their intention has never been for voters to have their say on this. Their plan is to have the Legislature approve the measure — without Gov. Whitmer being able to veto the scheme, as she previously did. MEA and our allies stand ready to fight this deceptive measure every step of the way, especially this fall when the Legislature considers the initiative once signatures are filed. For updates and more information about how you can help stop the latest DeVos voucher scheme, stay tuned to our “For MI Kids, For Our Schools” coalition website at ForMIKids.com. MEA VOICE

RECORD‑BREAKING EDUCATION BU FRIENDS OF PUBLIC ED MATTERS In the early hours of July 1, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and legislative leaders came to an agreement on School Aid and Higher Education budgets for the coming school year that continue to break records for funding opportunities for Michigan students and educators. With constant advocacy from Gov. Whitmer starting with her February budget proposal, the final budget spends a record $19.6 billion on PreK‑12 schools, $530 million on community colleges and $3.5 billion on universities, all without raising taxes.

“MEA praises Gov. Whitmer and legislative leaders for coming together for the sake of our kids, parents and educators and passing this historic investment in public education,” said MEA President Paula Herbart. “This budget agreement is a great step forward in helping to address the challenges facing our schools and giving every child an opportunity to succeed.” The priorities outlined in the budget show why electing friends of public education like Gov. Whitmer is so critical for students and educators alike.

TO WIN IN NOVEMBER, WE NEED YOUR HELP! GET INVOLVED TODAY! 28

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UDGET HIGHLIGHTS WHY ELECTING School Aid Budget

Higher Education

4 Foundation Allowance — $450 increase, bringing the per‑student funding to $9,150.

4 Operations — Up to a 5% ongoing increase for community college and university operations.

4 Special Education — $300 million increase to special education as part of a new formula, under which districts would get reimbursed 28.6 percent of their special education costs as they do now plus additional funding equal to 75 percent of the base per pupil foundation allowance.

4 Michigan Reconnect — $55 million for Gov. Whitmer’s program that provides free tuition to Michiganders 25 or older who have a high school diploma and want to pursue an associate’s or technical degree.

4 At Risk — $223 million more for economically disadvantaged students. 4 Educator Recruitment — $305 million for a Future Educators Fellowship, including $25 million for this year and $280 million over future years to provide up to $10,000 grants for students in teacher prep programs who commit to being teachers in Michigan after graduation. 4 Student Teacher Stipends — $50 million to providing up to $9,600 per semester to help with tuition, living expenses, childcare, or any other cost associated with student teaching. 4 “Grow Your Own” Programs — $175 million for districts to recruit and train prospective educators from the ranks of paraprofessionals and other support staff. 4 Retirement Investments — $1 billion additional for the Michigan Public Schools Employees Retirement System (MPSERS), plus another $425 million into a MPSERS retirement reserve fund, helping to pay down unfunded liabilities and secure the retirement system for current and future retirees. Mental Health — $150 million for districts to hire 4 additional staff; implement screening tools; provide school personnel with consultations with behavioral health clinicians; and other mental health services. In addition, dedicated funds for school based health centers, ISD mental health grants, and statewide training and screening programs. School Safety — $150 million for districts to 4 fund coordination with law enforcement; training on threat assessment, threat response, crisis communication, and responsible gun ownership; safety infrastructure; professional development for school resource officers; and other school safety services or products. Plus $25 million for matching funds for districts to hire more school resource officers.

4 Community College Training — Dedicated funding for community colleges to support summer education programs, boost adult enrollment, and provide short‑term skills training and certification programs. 4 Retirement — $300 million payment will be made to reduce certain annual retirement liabilities by nearly half, which allows participating universities to redirect these resources for other operational needs. 4 Scholarships — $250 million set aside to establish the new Postsecondary Scholarship Fund. Aside from the record funding — achieved without raising taxes — attempts by Republican lawmakers to include anti‑transgender student language in the budget was thwarted by Whitmer and her allies. This reinforces — along with her consistent vetos of divisive, partisan bills meant to divide our communities — the importance of having a friend of Michigan students and educators in the governor’s office. As part of the budget agreement, the governor and lawmakers left about $3.5 billion in school funding on the table to be earmarked later. MEA encouraged the Legislature to continue funding critical priorities with those funds. “We urge lawmakers to maintain the spirit of bipartisanship and work with the governor to use the remaining funds to tackle the most urgent needs facing local schools,” Herbart said. “We must solve the educator shortage and provide incentives to keep good educators on the job; we must address the mental health crisis facing our students; and we must direct extra support to the students who need it most — and we must do it now.”

For more budget details, visit mea.org/legislation. MEA VOICE

Beyond the Governor’s Race Key Statewide Races Highlight Public Ed Allies Gov. Whitmer isn’t the only champion for education on the ballot this November. Results in these other statewide races will be critical for students and educators alike.

Attorney General Dana Nessel

Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson

For the first time in decades, there’s an ally of public education in the Michigan Attorney General’s office — this fall we need to return Dana Nessel for another term.

Defending democracy in our state is essential — and no one has been more at the forefront of that fight than Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson.

Nessel’s work with MEA and NEA on addressing the school‑to‑prison pipeline and championing restorative justice practices has been a model for other states, including jointly writing a Detroit Free Press column on racial disparities in school discipline with NEA President Becky Pringle.

From successfully administering the 2020 election during a pandemic and then defending it against a litany of unsubstantiated and debunked challenges, Benson has proven that Michigan’s elections are both secure and accurate.

She has committed her office to doing everything possible in the wake of the tragic Oxford High School shooting to keep students and educators safe in our schools. And, without fail, Nessel keeps an open line of communication about the needs of public education between our attorney general and educators. Re‑electing Dana Nessel in November will continue all this important work.

She has fought efforts to restrict voting access pushed by Republican lawmakers over the past two years, remaining committed to ensuring everyone in Michigan can easily and securely cast their ballot so their voices are heard in our elections. Benson is committed to working with educators to help a new generation of Michigan voters learn about and participate in our democracy. We must return her to the Secretary of State’s office for a second term this fall.

Bernstein and Harris Bolden for Supreme Court From employee rights to gun safety and beyond, many critical issues wind up before the Michigan Supreme Court. It’s important that students and educators have their fair day in court. That’s why MEA is recommending the re‑election of Justice Richard Bernstein and the election of Kyra Harris Bolden to our state’s highest court. Bernstein has been a fair and impartial voice on the court for eight years, including siding with educators on the 3% case that returned millions of illegally withheld dollars back to MEA members in 2017, as well as ruling that schools can enact their own rules about gun‑free zones in their buildings in a 2018 decision. As both a state representative and a lawyer, Harris Bolden has a long record of supporting public education, educators and students. Electing her as the first Black woman to the bench will be an important step to ensuring the Michigan Supreme Court reflects the diversity of our state.

THIS NOVEMBER, WE MUST ELECT FRIENDS OF PUBLIC EDUCATION AT ALL LEVELS OF GOVERNMENT. 30

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Statewide Education Boards The State Board of Education has become a key battleground in the divisive partisan fights that attempt to pit parents against educators on issues from public health to curriculum to the freedom to read. One of the key voices for educators and students has been Board Vice President Pamela Pugh — re‑electing her this fall is critical, along with electing another passionate voice for educators, music education professor Mitchell Robinson. In addition, statewide elections are happening this fall for MEA recommended candidates for the three statewide university boards: Renee Knake Jefferson and Dennis Denno for the Michigan State University Board of Trustees; Michael Behm and Kathy White for the University of Michigan Board of Regents; and Marilyn Kelly and Danielle Atkinson for the Wayne State University Board of Governors.

From Congress to School Boards, Pro‑Education Candidates Need Our Support With new legislative maps drawn by Michigan’s Independent Citizen’s Redistricting Commission, Michigan has a great opportunity to elect pro‑public education majorities in Congress, the State Senate and the State House. Fairer maps have led to a broad set of competitive races all over the state. At the local level, school board races matter now more than ever, withboard meetings often serving as the flashpoints for partisan political attacks on educators, districts and board members alike. MEA and our local associations play a key role in supporting candidates who will put our students ahead of partisan politics in local school board discussions. But MEA can’t be successful in electing friends of public education without support from members like you. Visit MEAVotes.org to find local recommended candidates for these races — they need both your vote and your time as a volunteer. Decisions about which candidates to recommend are made by local MEA members participating in Screening & Recommendation committees. That work will continue throughout August and September. If you are interested in participating in S&R committees or getting involved in local Congressional, Legislative or School Board races, contact your local MEA UniServ office or MEA Public Affairs at publicaffairs@mea.org or 517‑337‑5508.

MEA VOICE

Put COVID‑19 Vaccine and booster on your back‑to‑school list Summer is a time to take a break and enjoy fun things like kayaking on a calm lake, swimming at your favorite beach or hanging out with friends at a barbeque. I hope this summer brings you many joys and pleasures. The start of school is just around the corner, considering all the telltale signs of sales for notebooks, pencils and more. This is the perfect time to put the COVID‑19 vaccine or booster on your to‑do list. By getting vaccinated or boosted at least two weeks out from the start of school, students, teachers and administrators can help protect others and themselves when doors open on the first day back. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that everyone ages 6 months and older get vaccinated against COVID‑19. In addition, everyone 5 years and

older should get a COVID‑19 booster if eligible. Remember, MESSA fully covers the cost of the COVID‑19 vaccine and booster for members and covered dependents. Members are not responsible for paying a deductible, copayment or coinsurance. To find a vaccine or booster provider, visit vaccines.gov or call 2‑1‑1. While you’re at it, don’t forget that MESSA also covers routine vaccines and immunizations including flu and pneumonia; tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis (Tdap); tetanus and diphtheria (Td); measles, mumps and rubella (MMR); and zoster (shingles). If you or your dependents are behind on any these, there’s no time like the present to get caught up. MESSA has you covered.

By Ross Wilson, MESSA Executive Director

Provocative Work Wins MEA/MAEA Art Exhibition

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MEA member Scott Buckmaster was shocked when his electronic mixed media creation with a “pointed” message won Best in Show at this year’s MEA/MAEA Art Acquisitions Purchase Exhibition. View a gallery of accepted works at mea.org/art.

Buckmaster’s winning art work has moving parts run by a series of electric motors attached to the back of a bingo‑like game board. A cartoon teacher’s arm points and head bobbles to traditional circus music, lending to the work’s satirical feel.

“It’s kind of a representation of a rough couple of years in teaching,” said Buckmaster, a working artist who lives in Cadillac and is retiring from teaching art in Pine River Area Schools. “I was trying to make a piece that would make you laugh to keep from crying.”

The work is a cry against stan‑ dardized testing which has “hijacked” education and harmed students and educators, he said. “It’s been disturbing to be on the inside and watching a lot of this occur — things like No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top that made everything about test scores.”

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MEMBER SPOTLIGHT

For MEA member Sandy Safford‑Groff, the last two years have been especially hard — both as an 18‑year English teacher in Cheboygan and a human being. Early in the pandemic Safford‑Groff lost her mother, Dale Safford — a retired school librarian in Iron River, the small Upper Peninsula town where she grew up loving books — soon after a cancer diagnosis. After care‑giving, the newly married educator was executor of her mother’s will in the disorienting early days of COVID. Then this past May, Safford‑Groff lost a close uncle, Sim Safford, also an educator. In between those two painful book‑ends, she transformed her teaching to virtual in a rural region with sketchy internet access for one whole school year, took a job bartending amid a second year of pandemic teaching, and found ways to keep doing what matters most — building community. She still copes with grief from her mother’s death in 2020 which got pushed off because of all she was facing at the time. “It comes in cycles that sometimes hit in bursts like a storm.” Last November she took a job working at a restaurant in Mackinaw City, 15 miles from home, for many reasons, including the one driving many educators out of the profession — stress from teaching amid a pandemic. “I think for most teachers it was the same — the loss of connections and relationships with kids was really hard when we had the big shutdown,” said Safford‑Groff, who has 12 family members on the Safford side who either are or once were teachers. Other reasons for the second job: she and her husband — married in August 2019 — own a house that needs some work, and she had

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stepped down from coaching high school track, though she still manages boys’ and girls’ cross country for what will be her ninth season coming up. Plus she’s a high‑energy extrovert who wanted a part‑time job with adult interaction that she could leave and not worry about later. “I love listening to people talk about vacations and their lives, and I love this area, I love the island,” Safford‑Groff said of working at The White Buffalo Bar and Grille up the street from the ferry dock for visitors to Mackinac Island. On the night we met for the first time, she wore Icy Hot balm on a foot she had tweaked that morning

during a faculty‑student dance‑freeze competition in a school pep assembly. The next day she admitted to crashing in bed as soon as she got home from that shift around 10:30 p.m. Named the 2015 Teacher of the Year by the Michigan Council of Teachers of English, Safford‑Groff learned to tend bar many years ago at another Mackinaw City hangout — the Dixie Saloon — using money she made to build a classroom library of more than 500 books to help her students find their love of reading. She’s the type of educator who enjoys bringing relevance to 1984 and showing the Power of One via The Crucible, the kind of teacher students bring their problems and thanks. She worries about staffing shortages and the future of the profession, so she mentors beginning teachers as she was once nurtured. “I think we should all be concerned, but I see lights in the darkness too,” she said. “I still see teachers joining the profession — great people who know it’s right for them and are trying to find their niche even though they know the job is intense.” Seeing students share stories at her uncle’s funeral in Wisconsin reinforced long‑held beliefs. He was known for his humor as a sports announcer and in school hallways, even with students not in his class. “It was phenomenal to see my uncle’s impact, and it made me even more so want to maintain connections with kids beyond just when they’re in my room, because that’s what it’s all about — building community is how they find goodness and what matters.”

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You deserve THE BEST

As a nonprofit founded and governed by public school employees, we at MESSA understand the challenges and stressors facing educators and school support staff — especially these days. Here’s what we’re providing to give you peace of mind: • Excellent mental health coverage for you and your dependents. • Complimentary access to MyStressTools to help you manage stress and anxiety. • Free worksite wellness programs to help improve your physical and mental health. Learn about these and other member-exclusive programs at messa.org or call us at 800-336-0013. We’re here to help.