33 minute read
MEA VOICE
4 Editor’s Notebook Educator voices
7 AEM/MiNE Introductions
Advertisement
9 My View
Looking Ahead
10 Issues & Advocacy American Rescue
26 MEA Elections NEA Board
On the cover: Veteran educator Tavia Redmond has never experienced a challenge like pandemic teaching in Romulus this year. Read more on pages 18-19.
Executive Director .................... Michael Shoudy Director of Public Affairs .................. Doug Pratt Editor ...............................................Brenda Ortega Staff Photographer ....................... Miriam Garcia Publications Specialist .............. Shantell Crispin
The MEA Voice ISSN 1077-4564 is an official publication of the Michigan Education Association, 1216 Kendale Blvd., East Lansing, MI 48823. Opinions stated in the MEA Voice do not necessarily reflect the official position of the MEA unless so identified. Published by Michigan Education Association, Box 2573, East Lansing, MI 48826-2573. Periodicals postage paid at East Lansing and additional mailing offices. Payment of the active membership fee entitles a member to receive the MEA Voice. Of each annual fee whether for active or affiliate membership, $12.93 is for a year’s subscription. Frequency of issue is October, December, February, April and August. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to the MEA Voice, Box 2573, East Lansing, MI 48826-2573 or via email at webmaster@mea.org. Allow at least three weeks for change of address to take effect. MEA Voice telephone: 517-332-6551 or 800-292-1934. Circulation this issue: 111,363 11-17—ISSUES & ADVOCACY: MEA members have been pushing for evaluation system fixes. 21—COVID VIGNETTES: A first-year teacher tells his story to make others feel less alone.
18-25—COVID VIGNETTES: Among several stories in part three of this series, meet a bus driver and military veteran who crocheted a different stuffed animal for every one of her 31 riders.
26—STRENGTH IN UNION: Aspiring educators are standing together on an important issue. 34—MEMBERS AT WORK: An
English teacher branches out into computer science classes.
Editor’s Notebook
Because she’s been teaching for 28 years, Tavia Redmond—featured on the cover of this issue—offers many informed opinions and defining questions on education issues. Here are a few: Retaining third graders? Let classroom teachers, administrators, and parents make those tough calls—not a test score, she says. Intervene earlier. In fact, instead of punitive measures after the fact, how about funding developmental solutions—such as universal highquality preschool? Statewide standardized testing during a pandemic? “So we’re going to bus in students who are home to be tested, when we know the test scores are not going to look good? Why would you add that stress? What are we gaining? It makes absolutely no sense.”
Evaluating educators amid shifting schedules and modes of
operation? “What are we evaluating? We just keep getting more and more thrown at us every day. Do they understand we’re in a pandemic?” Read Redmond’s story of what her job teaching third graders has been like this school year on pages 18-19. And she’s not the only MEA member pressing policymakers to listen to folks on the frontlines. Starting on page 11 in this issue, in a package of three articles, MEA members discuss issues with the GOP’s restructuring of educator evaluations over the past decade: Read about efforts to get legislative solutions to evaluation changes that are driving people out of the profession. Get a look at how MEA members and leaders in the Saginaw-Bay
County region hold legislative councils with local politicians to get their voices heard.
And find out how bargaining teams have successfully pushed back against a legislative change in 2017 that wants to add even more weight to high-stakes educator evaluations. A group of Aspiring Educators of Michigan (AEM)—MEA’s preprofessional wing—also are raising their voices about a longstanding barrier to becoming an educator. At a time of national teacher shortages, these young people are questioning the accessibility and equity of fifth-year internships for educator certification. This year of the pandemic has brought many sudden changes. Challenges have deepened, and tensions have worsened. No easy solutions exist, yet educators from every job classification at every level of the system have met the difficulties with courage, innovation, and leadership. I’ve been inspired by the spirit of educators since childhood, but I’ve never wept, and cheered, and struggled with hearing their powerful stories as much as in the past year. We are stronger together—so please, don’t let the fatigue tell you otherwise or prevent you from speaking up. —Brenda Ortega, editor
$842 M
Amount, in millions, of COVID-19 relief dollars for Michigan schools being held hostage by state Republicans without regard for safety amid a pandemic. Read more on page 10 about education funding amid the greatest global public health threat in a century.
QUOTABLES
Fathiya Mohamed, an MEA member and secondyear second-grade teacher in Kentwood, after a presentation by best-selling author Dr. Beverly Tatum at MEA’s Winter Conference in February. The conference—held free and virtually this year—featured a Speaker Series spotlighting authors and figures in the national conversation around race, equity, and inclusion. Tatum is the author of Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? And Other Conversations About Race.
Early Enrollment offer for first-time MEA members until Aug. 31, 2021: Share this issue with a friend, or send them to mea.org/join.
ICYMI
School employees who have never been a member of their current local union are eligible for the Early Enrollment program from April 1-August 31, which offers the benefits of membership with no dues required until the start of the next membership year. If you know a new hire or early career educator who’s unsure about becoming a member, share this issue of the magazine and encourage them to join a professional organization of more than 120,000 education employees with the power to make a difference in public schools. Last year 1,000 new educators joined their professional union during Early Enrollment and stayed to enjoy all of the benefits of belonging. Prospective members can learn more about the benefits of membership and sign up at mea.org/join.
Above and Beyond
Because she’s 75, retired educator Pam Kellar was able to get a COVID-19 vaccine quickly. Yet she still spent weeks on the phone and internet scheduling appointments for others. Kellar, president of the MEA-Retired chapter in Warren, helped both active and retired educators from the area get vaccinated. The former elementary school teacher navigated three hospital systems and the Macomb County Health Department to snag appointments for educators who didn’t have time to check online sites every 15 minutes or hold on the phone for hours. “I’m retired, and I don’t have anything to do, so I don’t mind listening to elevator music for two hours if it means more teachers can get vaccinated.” The stress of the past year has made it hard to sleep, often waking her early. “One morning I woke up at 4:10, and I was able to schedule seven teachers.” The quest became a competition between her and the vice president of the Warren Education Association, Lisa Sikoski. “Except for my neighbors, everyone I’ve made an appointment for has been a union member,” Kellar said.
Pam Kellar
QUOTABLES
Brittany Perreault, president of Aspiring Educators of Michigan (AEM) speaking about the role of MEA’s pre-professional wing. Meet a member of AEM on page 20 who tells her story of student teaching in the pandemic, and check out page 7—a new recurring feature with the latest news about aspiring and early career educators.
UPCOMING EVENTS
April 23-24 MEA Representative Assembly
VIRTUAL MEA’s highest governing body will meet virtually for the Representative Assembly (RA) to consider the organization’s policy matters for the coming year. Delegates are elected from locals around the state.
May 4 Teacher Day/School Family Day
Nationwide/Statewide Each year schools and communities observe Teacher Day/School Family Day during National Teacher Appreciation Week to recognize the contributions all school employees make in our communities and society.
July 1-3 NEA Representative Assembly
VIRTUAL The NEA RA, consisting of 8,000 delegates across the U.S., adopts the strategic plan and budget, resolutions, the Legislative Program, and other policies of the association.
July 27-29 MEA Summer Conference
VIRTUAL Sessions at this MEA Conference help association leaders and members be informed and engaged on topics that include organizing, advocacy, political action, professional development, legal issues, and communications. For more information, go to mea.org/conferences. Editor’s Note—The information below regarding nominations for the ESP Caucus board is rerunning from the February-March issue of the Voice. One correction and a date change are noted below.
Nominations sought for ESP Caucus Board
Nominations are being accepted for several positions on the MEA ESP Caucus Executive Board. Open positions are as follows beginning September 1, 2021 (unless otherwise noted):
PRESIDENT:
1 Position—September 1, 2021 to August 31, 2024
VICE-PRESIDENT:
1 Position—September 1, 2021 to August 31, 2024
SECRETARY:
1 Position—September 1, 2021 to August 31, 2024
AT-LARGE:
1 Position—Immediate to August 31, 2021 3 Positions—September 1, 2021 to August 31, 2024
DIRECTOR BY CLASSIFICATION CUSTODIAL:
1 Position—Immediate to August 31, 2022
MAINTENANCE:
1 Position—Immediate to August 31, 2022
HIGHER EDUCATION:
1 Position—September 1, 2021 to August 31, 2024
OFFICE PERSONNEL:
1 Position—September 1, 2021 to August 31, 2024
PARAPROFESSIONAL:
1 Position—September 1, 2021 to August 31, 2024 Elections to the ESP Caucus Executive Board will take place during the virtual MEA Spring Representative Assembly on April 23-24, 2021. Information needed for each candidate includes: name, present occupation, home address, home and work telephone numbers, home e-mail address, school district, name of nominee’s local ESP association and written consent of the candidate running for office. Candidates and nominators must be members in good standing of MEA/NEA. Nominations will be accepted from the floor at the virtual MEA/ESP Caucus meeting on Thursday, April 22, 2021, which begins at 6 p.m. Candidates will be given up to three minutes to address delegates.
The Future is Now
In this new recurring Voice feature, Aspiring Educators of Michigan (AEM) and MEA’s early career educator group—Michigan New Educators (MiNE)—team up to talk public education. Plus: Get a closer look at two members on pages 18-19, and learn about an AEM-led empowerment movement on pages 26-27.
AEM is MEA’s pre-professional arm with campus chapters and a state Board of Directors.
Four core values:
Educator Quality Community Engagement Political Action Social Justice
Meet the State Leaders
Brittany Perreault, President, attends Michigan State University Molly Carlin, Vice President, attends Michigan State University Kate Singer, Secretary/Treasurer, attends Central Michigan University
What’s Next:
Interview Boot Camp (May, 2021) designed to help members land their dream job
MiNE is a group offering support and networking for early career educators.
Our focus:
Empowerment
Engagement
Efficacy
Meet the State Leaders
(via 6-word memoir—find the assignment at sixwordmemoirs.com). Anthony Barnes: “Educator, not a job, a Lifestyle.” Kalamazoo Public Schools
Brittney Maczala: “Never stop exploring, learning, and growing.” Monroe Public Schools
Colin Campbell: “Where do we go from here?” Royal Oak Schools Danielle Baranowski: “Blessed beyond measure; adventure, love, growth.” Bay City Public Schools Jaycob Yang: “Teaching students to live their truth.” Utica Community Schools John Lennon: “Teacher, hiker, writer, educating for justice.” Public Schools of Petoskey First Year Teacher Workshop (August, 2021) helps members prepare for the first days of school Leadership Training Day (August, 2021) chapter leadership training Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Symposium (fall, 2021)
Connect with AEM
instagram.com/aspiringedofmichigan/ twitter.com/AspiringEdOfMI facebook.com/aspiringedofmichigan
Jordan Baines: “Preparing today’s children for tomorrow’s opportunities.” Huron Valley Schools Skye Kapinus: “Wonder, discovery, growth; shaping the future.” Lansing School District Amanda Henderson: “German speaker, always trying, always learning.” Rochester Community Schools
What’s Next
Early Career Educator Networking Virtual Event (May, 2021) Book Studies: new books coming this summer
Connect with MiNE
instagram.com/mineweducators twitter.com/mineweducators facebook.com/mineweducators soundcloud
MESSA, Meijer and the Detroit Lions recently co-sponsored a COVID-19 vaccination event exclusively for preK-12 school employees at Ford Field in Detroit. More than 2,000 teachers and education support professionals from Southeast Michigan received a vaccine. The event was open to all preK-12 teachers and education support professionals in the area, regardless of whether they had MESSA coverage. (Photos courtesy of Meijer Inc.)
MESSA and Meijer join forces to get school staff vaccinated
MESSA is teaming up with Meijer to help more preK-12 teachers and support staff get the COVID-19 vaccine at their local Meijer pharmacy, as quickly as supplies become available.
“We at MESSA have immense respect for the hardworking MEA members who take care of our kids and our schools, regardless of which health coverage they may have,” MESSA Executive Director Ross Wilson said. “We want to show our appreciation to school employees, and helping them get vaccinated is the most impactful thing we can do at this moment in time.
“Together, we will defeat this virus.”
Register for the vaccine today:
Text SCHOOL to 75049 to register for the COVID-19 vaccine at your local Meijer pharmacy. Learn more by visiting messa.org/meijer-vaccine.
How to register
Getting registered is quick and easy: Text SCHOOL to 75049 or register online for a free Meijer account by visiting clinic.meijer.com. Follow the instructions, and you’ll be registered in just a couple of minutes.
Even if you already have a Meijer account, you should still register by texting SCHOOL to 75049. This will ensure you are identified as a preK-12 school employee as vaccines continue to become available.
Next steps
Once you have registered with your local Meijer pharmacy, you will receive a text notification from Meijer when vaccine appointments are available. Just follow the instructions to set up an appointment at a time and pharmacy that is convenient for you.
Public school teachers and support staff have gone above and beyond throughout this pandemic, and we at MESSA want to thank you for everything you do to ensure our kids keep learning and growing. This is just one way for us to show our appreciation as we all work together to defeat this virus and move forward.
Questions about registering?
If you have any questions about registering with Meijer to get a COVID-19 vaccine, please contact your local Meijer pharmacy or visit clinic.meijer.com.
For additional details, including some frequently asked questions, visit messa.org/meijer-vaccine.
Eclipsing Restoration with New Growth
By Robyne Muray
The COVID-19 pandemic has proven to be an event of catastrophic proportion. Its aftermath can be seen in the breakdown of economic, health and political structures that navigate society. However, in terms of scholastic instruction, communities across the nation have gained a greater appreciation of the importance of public school systems.
As parents have grappled with the balance of working from home while actively participating in their child’s education due to school closures, there has been a reckoning of how essential face-to-face instruction is for academic rigor and social-emotional development of the whole child.
Coupled with ongoing struggles and turmoil surrounding issues of race, privilege, equity, and inclusion in America, the pandemic has created opportunities for positive change in our education landscape even as it has wreaked a wide path of destruction.
What could Arise
Many districts are taking this time of general upheaval as an opportunity to improve their educational philosophies to address equity through professional development and courageous conversations. That means expanding access to collaborative teams that represent all stakeholders, building and supporting culturally responsive learning communities, and expanding professional development opportunities to provide best practice instructional support, all while preparing for the return to onsite.
During a nebulous period of stress and challenge at the height of the pandemic, many districts throughout the state also have worked diligently to meet the challenges of a virtual instructional platform. Educators produced creative ways to deliver content to students and provide parental supports. That learning does not recede with the pandemic. It is a hard-won new tool in educators’ toolbox which can benefit students going forward.
New Beginnings
My first article in this series ran last fall and featured a poetic piece I wrote called “I am from” which focused on my early struggle to understand the pandemic’s ultimate effects and significance. I think it is fitting in this last article of the series to end with a piece of expression about my aspirations for public education.
A strong educational system has resources to keep its structure in shape, but an educational system of strength kneels in reflection to keep its foundation in shape.
A strong educational system is not afraid, but an educational system of strength shows courage in the midst of fear.
A strong educational system is not easily shaken, but an educational system of strength remains open to alternative conceptions.
A strong educational system can walk alone, but an educational system of strength knows it takes multiple footprints to reach the goal.
A strong educational system is strong enough for the academic journey, but an educational system of strength becomes stronger in the journey.
Conclusion
Writing this series has been an amazing opportunity to reflect during a life-changing moment in history. As an educator on this journey, I’ve learned the hope of public education remains intact. What also holds true is my belief in the ability of public schools and educators to renew and reinvent themselves to meet the needs of our children and provide them with the tools of success. Robyne Muray is a Lansing teacher and MEA member participating this year in the district’s Aspiring Leaders program. She was the 2018-19 Michigan Region 6 Teacher of the Year.
Savoring a Win for the People
Last month Congress passed
the American Rescue Plan, President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus package to provide critical funding for public schools, create and support jobs, cut child poverty in half, make health care more affordable, and put this pandemic behind us.
The passage of the historic economic relief package is proof that when we show up and make our voices heard, we shape the future for ourselves and our children.
That message will be important to remember as state budget season begins this spring. Michigan faces numerous pressing needs competing for attention and funding while Republican party leaders have so far this year taken a decidedly partisan approach to the pandemic.
As of press time for this issue, GOP leaders in the state Legislature continued to withhold $840 million in federal pandemic funds from last December—in a clumsy scheme to force Whitmer to sign away executive authority to shut down school buildings or athletics in a public health crisis.
The Legislature allocated $650 million of Michigan’s $1.7 billion share of December’s federal COVID relief money without additional strings. The funding is meant to supply schools with needed tools,
Thanks to the American Rescue Plan Michigan will receive $4,865,700,000
for public K-12 & higher ed schools
supplies and equipment to ensure safety amid the pandemic.
Our children deserve better than to be used as pawns in a cynical ploy to score cheap political points, and MEA members have shared that message with lawmakers in responding to our call to action.
Stay informed about the latest MEA advocacy, and get involved! Go to mea.org/signup to sign up to receive MEA’s Capitol Comments newsletter, and be the first to know what’s happening in Lansing and how you can help.
Meanwhile, K-12 districts and higher education institutions in Michigan are set to receive nearly $4.9 billion from the American Rescue Plan to begin recovery efforts in the wake of the worst global public health crisis in a century. Public schools and colleges and universities can use the money to: hire more teachers, paras, custodians, nurses and counselors implement safety protocols and acquire PPE improve ventilation and HVAC systems help students deal with trauma and learning recovery put devices and internet access into the hands of students locked out of online learning feed hungry students and assist homeless students
Your advocacy matters—and our success makes a difference for American families, students, educators, schools and communities. Savor the victory, and stay tuned.
Push is On for Changes to Evaluation System
Stories by Brenda Ortega MEA Voice Editor
MEA member Ryan Ridenour
has never known a teacher evaluation system other than the one used in Michigan since 2015. Still the world history and psychology teacher, in his sixth year at West Bloomfield, has found key problems with the state’s method for scoring, rating, and ranking educators.
“I know the modern education system is obsessed with data analysis, but data is only useful if it’s valid,” Ridenour said. “I kind of roll my eyes when I see people refer to student growth data as objective, because if you’re an educator you know that’s not true.”
In rating educators based on students’ test scores, “There’s a lot of subjectivity,” he said—from choosing a data collection method, to setting the proficiency bar, to determining what counts as “adequate” growth and how much value the teacher added to the equation.
States across the political spectrum are backing away from requirements for documenting student growth as part of teachers’ evaluation scores out of concerns about accuracy and intensifying pressures to teach to the test— which discourages deeper learning and critical thinking.
Two bills in the Michigan Legislature would reduce or eliminate the use of standardized assessments and student test scores in teacher evaluations. Without legislative action, the student growth portion increases from 25 to 40% this spring—a change delayed over the past two years.
Sen. Ken Horn (R-Frankenmuth) has introduced Senate Bill 56 to drop the student growth piece altogether in recognition of the diverse strengths, learning styles, and needs of students which educators must work to address every day.
“When we use a cookie-cutter approach and a one-size-fits-all approach to testing and evaluating, that does the kids no favors and it certainly is no good way to evaluate a teacher,” Horn said in an interview.
In the other legislative chamber, House Bill 4032 would permanently return the percentage of an educator’s evaluation that is tied to student growth measures to 25%.
“What we’re looking at now in negotiations with some of our stakeholders—educators, administrators, lawmakers—is bumping it back to 25% but eliminating M-STEP as a mandatory portion, allowing districts some flexibility in what tests they use,” Horn said in late February—and negotiations continued as of press time.
A former Saginaw County commissioner and restaurateur, Horn described the M-STEP—which replaced the MEAP as Michigan’s statewide assessment after the adoption of Common Core State Standards—as a “flawed tool” for assessing the work that happens in classrooms.
“What we need to do is take a holistic look at this system and say from the ground up, is this the right way to evaluate teachers?” Horn said.
For MEA member Ed Clements— who coordinates the Work-Based Learning program at Bay City Central High School—the biggest problem with the evaluation system, including student growth metrics, is its punitive nature.
With the elimination of teacher tenure at the outset of GOP-led evaluation reform in 2011, scores from teacher evaluations rank and sort individuals for layoff and recall—a high-stakes approach at odds with the growth and development focus built into state-approved observation tools.
“With this point system, there’s no longer teamwork,” said Clements, who also serves as a Bay City commissioner. “There’s no longer colleagues and camaraderie. It’s everybody for themselves, survival of the fittest. I have to worry if I help someone, they might score a point higher than me, and if we’re seeing layoffs—I could be the one.”
Educators have decried evaluation changes made over the last decade as yet another factor driving teacher shortages in Michigan. In surveys, interviews, conference work sessions, and contacts with lawmakers, MEA members have called for legislative fixes to the issues.
Educators are fleeing the profession in part because of dwindling respect evidenced by an evaluation process that takes tens of hours to complete, requires them to amass mountains of data to prove they’re doing their jobs, and produces ratings that do not accurately reflect their effectiveness, said Birch Run Education Association President Amy Urbanowski-Nowak.
“Teachers leave because they’re tired of focusing on what they’re doing wrong,” she said. “They’re leaving for professions that value what they’re doing right.”
That has been the case for MEA member Jennifer Hockstra, a math and science teacher who started her 11th year of teaching in Montcalm County last fall but took a leave of absence in November from the stress, shrinking pay and benefits, and rising expectations.
She described the evaluation system as “soul crushing” and said she does not know if she will return to the classroom despite her status in two high-shortage subject areas. She has taken a remote job as a vaccine scheduler at a health system where her take-home pay is higher and she pays lower health care premiums.
“I can tell you I’m a great math teacher,” Hockstra said. “Intrinsic motivation is my thing. I will do my best every single time just because. But it’s unfair for me to be graded on things that are totally outside of my control.”
In addition to reducing the weight of student test scores in educator evaluations, MEA has been advocating for the following improvements:
Eliminate the “highly effective” category and rename
“minimally effective” to include three summative categories with the lowest designated as
“emerging” or “developing” Prohibit any caps on the number of individuals in a school district who can fall under the highest category Prohibit any ranking based on score differentials within a summative category Create a system of due process for educators to dispute an evaluation, as called for in the 2013 statecommissioned report by the
Michigan Council for Educator
Effectiveness
Similar changes were proposed in the past two years by an education stakeholder work group—comprised of superintendents, school board lawyers, and staff from MEA and the Michigan Department of Education
Ryan Ridenour Amy Urbanowski-Nowak
(MDE)—discussing ways to improve the system.
“Then the pandemic hit and everything got put on hold,” said MEA UniServ Director Tammy Daenzer, who served on the workgroup and leads an MEA staff cadre that provides training to union locals on the evaluation law’s requirements. “Now we’re bringing it back around again.”
With decisions up in the air around this year’s testing requirements and how they will relate to evaluations based on the disruption of the health crisis, focus also must remain on systemic problems that predated the pandemic—and will stretch beyond if left unaddressed.
At this early career point, West Bloomfield’s Ridenour says he would like to see change. While he enjoys the part of his evaluation where a skilled administrator gives him developmental feedback based on observation, the emphasis on test scores is not good for educators or students.
“If you ask teachers what learning needs to be targeted, what are the problems and where are the struggles, they already know,” Ridenour added. “That’s a big part of the job. They don’t need standardized test data to tell them.”
Sen. Horn agreed but acknowledged much work that is needed to convince his GOP colleagues that “it’s not necessarily our role to dig that deep into the classroom. It breaks the bond between teachers and students, and we should be strengthening those, not breaking them.”
ADD YOUR VOICE
MEA is urging members to contact their representatives and senators about the student growth bills already introduced, as well as other priorities for improvement in the evaluation system. In addition to long-term fixes that are needed—given pressures related to the pandemic—educators and their districts need immediate flexibility this year to streamline evaluations to not waste precious time on burdensome paperwork and process. While evaluations can be an important tool for providing constructive feedback to educators, the reality of the current teaching environment needs to be acknowledged. Should evaluations be deemed unnecessary at the local level, there should be flexibility to bypass them this school year. Go to www.mea.org/legislation for the latest calls to action based on what’s happening at the Capitol when this edition of the magazine arrives in homes.
Legislative Councils: a case study in lobbying
When Ed Clements attends a dinner (or for now, a Zoom call) with other MEA members and their invited guest—a state representative or senator—he doesn’t expect the educators and politician will agree on everything. Sometimes they don’t agree on much.
Yet the 22-year Bay City educator and current city commissioner keeps coming back for more of these events known as legislative councils.
“I’ve been involved on the political side of things almost my whole career, because I realized right from the get-go that every policy is derived from legislation. So it’s important that members be active to help craft the legislation that ultimately affects their job.”
Clements is one of many MEA members and leaders who have attended get-togethers with— among others—Sen. Ken Horn (R-Frankenmuth) over the past few years, relaying realities on the ground that have played out, or could result, when policy ideas become law.
In time, Horn became convinced from listening to the stories of educators that issues needed to be addressed with the state’s teacher evaluation system, which was overhauled starting in 2011 to weaken tenure protections and institute a high-stakes rating system for educators.
“Teachers create a bond with their students,” Horn said in an interview. “They know from one end of the classroom to the other where these kids are in their learning process, and every single one of these kids is wired differently, soaks up information differently. Yet they’re all geared toward the same standardized test.”
Horn has introduced one bill addressing a time-sensitive concern—this spring’s scheduled increase in the portion of educators’ evaluations tied to student test scores from 25 to 40%. Horn’s bill would drop that figure to zero. A separate bill in the House would keep it at 25%.
The proposed legislation is one of several MEA priorities to improve a system many members view as punitive, demoralizing, and a significant factor in the widening gulf between the number of educators needed to staff classrooms and those entering or staying in the profession.
Having the chance to look a policymaker in the eye and explain an educator’s point of view is “invaluable, even if they don’t agree with you,” says MEA member Chris Bowen, an elementary art teacher in Carrollton, who added he enjoys attending legislative councils.
“When we have the opportunity to sit down with legislators and have open conversation—not debate, dialogue—sometimes we’ve had a little bit of a breakthrough in terms of understanding our side better,” Bowen said. “That’s been the case with Sen. Horn.”
The dinners—now Zoom calls— last for a maximum of one hour, and the key is to make a direct link between legislation and students’ day-to-day learning. “We’re not there to make anyone uncomfortable,” Bowen said. “And sometimes some good comes out of it. Maybe our voices get carried into some of those closed rooms in Lansing.”
The meetings are not limited to teachers. Deb Rickert, vice president of her support staff union at Saginaw Valley State University, has started attending legislative councils. With 27 years on the job, she only recently rose to leadership in the unit representing seven job categories, including custodial, skilled trades, and secretarial.
An office coordinator for academic support programs, Rickert said she decided to get more active in the union after becoming dismayed by national politics in the last few years.
The cutting of some support staff positions at SVSU last fall, despite the addition of federal relief money amid the pandemic, reinforced the importance of joining K-12
Ed Clements Chris Bowen
educators at legislative council meetings, she said.
Rickert wanted to ensure both higher education and education support professionals were represented in discussions. “We have so much to say, but we don’t often say it. People don’t like getting out of their comfort zone, but it’s really important.”
Sitting down for extended conversation, and returning to do it again, helps lawmakers put a face with a name that’s normally only attached to constituent emails or phone messages, said Amy UrbanowskiNowak, president of the Birch Run Education Association.
“If you can establish a face-to-face relationship, then it’s helpful when you have to call on the phone or send an email when something is happening,” she said. “I also spoke with Sen. Horn directly at the Capitol when changes were occurring with our retirement and our pension.”
Not every battle will be won, but it feels hopeful to have a policymaker listen as Horn has done, Urbanowski-Nowak said. “He truly does take in what we say, and that’s what should happen. Educators are on the front line and doing the work, so it’s important for us to be heard.”
To that end, as with MEA staff around the state, UniServ Director Tammy Daenzer organizes various gatherings of members from her Saginaw-Bay County region and their representatives and senators— both Democrat and Republican— on a near monthly basis.
When the legislator is listening and educators are speaking about their schools, classrooms and lives, “I rarely need to speak,” she said. “I provide dinner, and they have the conversation.”
Even when the talk isn’t going in the desired direction, it’s important to stay respectful and productive, Bay City’s Clements said.
“You have to keep the end goal in mind—to make improvements to policies that will help a greater number of people than just yourself,” he said. “Take a deep breath and know you’re probably not going to change a mind in one conversation. You’ve got to build a relationship, and it takes time.”
Clements said he learned the ropes from great mentors, and he’s hoping to pay it forward. “We’re trying to bring in some newer members to mentor them as well, because I’m going to be gone in several years, and we need people to fill in behind.”
Interested in Getting Involved?
If you and other members in your area are interested in holding legislative councils with your state legislators, contact your local MEA field office for information. MEA lobbyists are also available to help facilitate startup of new groups.
‘Nonsensical’ Pay Threat Tied to Evaluations Needs Fix
As MEA pursues fixes to problematic teacher evaluation reforms enacted in 2015, bargaining teams in some districts have had to contend with a legislative change from 2017 that seeks to add more weight to already high-stakes evaluation scores.
At the state level, MEA’s bargaining wing has developed prototype contract language to knock down the threat, and many local teams have fought it off where administration has tried to unleash it.
Still, the change represents a “slippery slope” that bargainers across the state need to prepare against facing at the negotiating table. And the language of the law represents another area that needs remedy at the Legislature.
At issue is a section added four years ago to the School Aid Act, which is the law passed each year to distribute state funding to schools. The section, 164h, requires school districts to adopt a mechanism tying “significant” teacher pay to performance, also known as merit pay.
The change in law is clearly in conflict with—and trumped by—Michigan’s Public Employment Relations Act (PERA), which governs collective bargaining, says MEA Bargaining Consultant Craig Culver. PERA explicitly prohibits performance-based pay as a bargaining subject, while educators’ wages is a mandatory subject of negotiation.
“Merit pay is a strictly prohibited subject of bargaining, so to say you can’t enter into a collective bargaining agreement without merit pay— when performance-based pay is prohibited—it really is nonsensical,” Culver said.
Section 164h attaches a 5% state funding penalty to districts that fail to comply, a significant fine that MEA believes is rendered unenforceable by the inherent conflict in the law, which was even acknowledged by Gov. Rick Snyder as he first signed the bill with the change.
Now some administrators have attempted to use the law to intimidate bargaining teams into adding contract language denying an annual step increase if an educator’s evaluation score does not meet a minimum.
MEA’s advice: Just say no. That’s what a bargaining team did in Coopersville—after first taking to the membership a supposed bottom-line administration proposal tying steps to evaluations. The idea was shot down in a near unanimous vote.
“That was in May of 2019, and we did not settle the contract until October of that year,” said chief negotiator Talisha Bailey, now serving in her sixth year in the role. “We decided we’d been taken advantage of for too long. From that moment on, I would call it a world war.”
As backdrop, Coopersville offered one of the lowest teacher salaries in Ottawa County at the time, said MEA UniServ Director Krista Abbott. Educators were leaving for better pay and working conditions in neighboring districts at a rate of 25% over the past several years, she said.
“The salary issue, coupled with the district’s position on tying steps to evaluation based on 164h, created a righteousness in the membership,” Abbott said.
Crisis activities began with getting the message out, coordinating members to wear matching colors and show up to sit or speak at school board meetings. Signs with the chosen theme, “A quality future starts now,” were placed all over the city, Bailey said.
“We could not keep up with people that wanted signs—we couldn’t order them quickly enough. It was phenomenal, the energy you get from that and knowing you’re doing the right thing.”
The Coopersville EA had help at every step of the way from the MultiAssociation Bargaining Organization (MABO) in Ottawa County, which is a partnership of local unions in the region that share resources and support each other in crisis.
The Ottawa County MABO reviews member contracts before
Talisha Bailey Amy Cahalan
a tentative agreement can be ratified, and the organization has drawn a line in the sand when it comes to tying pay to evaluations, said Amy Cahalan, union president in Grand Haven and MABO chair.
Tying evaluation scores to high stakes—pay, layoffs, recalls—as the state has done calls the system’s reliability into question.
“When you have administrators using a tool to evaluate teachers professionally, and it’s tied to a significant amount of money, it’s a slippery slope to that becoming a cost control method,” Cahalan said. “People are the biggest cost that a school district has, and professional staff is probably 60% or more of the budget.”
Cahalan, a 34-year veteran middle school science teacher, also coordinates Grand Haven’s new teacher mentoring program. More than 20 years ago, she began training in professional growth models for educators that focused on mentoring and progression, she said.
“Part of the problem (with the evaluation system) is the subjectivity. The state is asking us to use these growth model evaluation tools, and then also requiring districts to make a decision about the efficacy of a teacher. It’s not what they were designed for, so the points make no sense and they’re not consistent across districts.”
Teachers’ pay should not be subject to the whims of an administrator’s point scoring, MEA’s Culver said. “You ought to be able to know, per your contract, what your ability will be to meet your financial needs from year to year.”
In Coopersville, nearly six months of holding out against tying steps to ratings paid off. The idea was dropped, and the association approved a three-year contract with a 2.5% increase and steps each year—one of the highest the county had seen in recent years, according to Abbott. In addition, the superintendent announced his retirement and the association helped to elect a new school board president.
“We never knew we had that much community support,” Bailey said.
A Solution for the Bargaining Table
MEA has developed prototype language for bargaining teams to counter administration proposals to tie salary to evaluation scores if it comes up at the negotiating table. The solution keeps mention of merit pay out of the contract except to say it is subject to school board policy, said MEABargaining Consultant Craig Culver. Shifting merit pay considerations to board policy prevents scores and ratings from being tied to step advancement—that is controlled by the contract. “And in that case, what most boards have done is provide some sort of performance bonus at the end of the year for an effective rating,” Culver said. If this is an issue in your area, be sure to work with your MEA UniServ director to get the prototype language and other support.
