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ELECTION 2020: U.S. Sen. Gary Peters has been a vocal critic of Betsy DeVos
Sen. Gary Peters deserves your support for re-election
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Those words from U.S. Sen. Gary Peters—during a May virtual rally for federal education funding to help avoid pandemic-driven cuts—encapsulate why he is MEA’s recommended candidate for Senate this fall. A graduate of public schools and the son of a Rochester educator, Peters has served Michigan in the State Legislature and the U.S. House and always been a steadfast supporter of public education. Throughout this pandemic, his work in the U.S. Senate has been focused on working across the aisle to get help for his state, including critical support for workers and students.
During his six years in the Senate, he’s also been a consistent opponent to fellow Michigander, U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, and her anti-public education agenda. Now online at MEAVotes.org, you can search for MEA recommended candidates in your area and apply for a ballot to Vote From Home—plus give money to public education. Peters voted against DeVos’ confirmation in 2017 and has been standing up to her ever since, including her lack of transparency on federal funding for failed charter schools. “Rather than giving students choices, each charter school that closed or failed to open meant that communities missed out on more than half a billion dollars in resources that could have benefitted neighborhood schools,” Peters said in 2019. “As Secretary of Education, I expect you to put students first and ensure that Michigan families’ hard-earned tax dollars are being used appropriately. But, your Department’s stunning lack of oversight of this charter school program has instead left students and their families worse off.” By contrast, Peters’ opponent, businessman and failed 2018 The recommended candidate search allows you to enter your address and find a listing of as recommended by MEA members serving on Screening & Recommending committees. These members interview
Senate candidate John James, has praised DeVos, saying she’s doing a “very, very good” job, according to JohnJamesRevealed.com, a site dedicated to sharing the truth about James and his record. The DeVos family has rewarded James for his support by spending nearly a million dollars to prop him up—making him one of their top candidates this cycle. Six members of the DeVos family were the only contributors of donations totaling $800,000 to the Better Future MI Fund which formed on Oct. 31 last year with a focus on unseating Peters, according to the super PAC’s
MEAVotes.org—One stop for all your Election 2020 needs
Find recommended candidates, get a ballot to Vote From Home, and give to PAC
MEA-PAC to help elect friends of pro-public education candidates, first campaign filing on Jan. 31. candidates regarding their positions on education and labor issues and vote locally to make recommendations. MEA’s full listing of recommended candidates is updated regularly at MEAVotes.org as local S&Rs
Control of Michigan Supreme Court in the balance this November
MEA recommends McCormack and Welch for election to the bench
For the first time in over a decade, the partisan divide on the Michigan Supreme Court hangs in the balance with an open seat up for election in November. Justice Stephen Markman, a Republican-nominated judge who’s been on the Court since 1999, is prevented from running for another term due to judicial age restrictions in the state Constitution. That means only one incumbent, Chief Justice Bridget Mary McCormack, will be on the ballot this fall.
While partisan rancor on the Court has been minimized since McCormack—a Democratic nominee—became chief justice in 2019, the rare open seat makes the Michigan Supreme Court a race to watch this fall. are finalized throughout the election season. Also on the site, you can get information to Vote From Home under new Michigan rules—an important option available to every Michigan voter who may not want to physically go to the polls during this pandemic. On MEAVotes.org, you can apply online to receive a ballot or Earlier this year, MEA’s Statewide Screening & Recommending Committee voted to recommend Chief Justice McCormack and Grand Rapids attorney Elizabeth Welch for election to the two seats up in November. McCormack has served on the Michigan Supreme Court since 2013. Prior to her time on the bench, she was a professor at the University of Michigan Law School, where she taught criminal law and legal ethics, and oversaw the school’s clinical programs. During her time on the Court, she has ruled on a variety of important cases for public education, including writing the opinion in favor of individual school districts’ ability to restrict the carry of guns in schools, and voting to return the 3 percent of school employees’ download an application to return to your local clerk. You can even register for email updates so you know when your application was received by your clerk, when a ballot is sent to you, and when your completed ballot is received by the clerk for counting on Election Day. And, as previously, MEAVotes.org is where MEA members can give salary unconstitutionally withheld in 2010-12.
Welch is an employment law attorney who has run her own practice the past 16 years helping employers understand and follow laws governing wages and hours, leave practices, employee contracts and negotiations, and more. She has been a staunch supporter of public education throughout her career, including seven years of service on the East Grand Rapids Board of Education and many years of helping parents to advocate for strong public schools for their students and communities.
The current balance of the court is four GOP-nominated justices vs. three Democratic. Two 8-year terms
are up for election every two years. online to help MEA-PAC and the NEA Fund elect friends of public education. Dues dollars cannot be contributed to candidates, so we rely on voluntary PAC contributions to ensure we continue the momentum from our 2018 election victories. At the site, you can make a one‑time contribution or sign up for recurring monthly contributions.
Another Reason Why Unions Matter: Safety
As president of the Grandville Education Association, Blake Mazurek knows that in normal times many members of his local union don’t notice what he and the leadership team do to bargain contracts, advocate for members, and navigate challenges. But everyone paid attention when he started working alongside administrators trying to hash out details for a safe return to learning this fall. Grandville is located in the suburbs of Grand Rapids, which has been a COVID-19 hotspot in the state. The questions around schooling during a global pandemic are numerous, complex and varied across regions and districts, and no solution is without drawbacks, Mazurek noted. “I want my members to know that everything I’m doing is because of them, and without their membership I can’t do what I’m doing,” he said. In July, Mazurek surveyed members, sent a report to administrators, and read a powerful statement to the school board—later posted to the union’s Facebook page—urging school leaders to follow the “guiding star” of scientific guidelines and expert health advice for plans being developed. “We are now called ‘Essential Workers,’ but I argue that we’ve ALWAYS been essential!” he read to the board. “It is incumbent upon us all to speak loud and clear with a voice of unmistakable conviction that our students and staff are not expendable.” In Michigan, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer offered school districts guidance in the form of requirements, strong recommendations, and general recommendations for safety and health protocols in the MI Safe Schools Return to Learning Roadmap. The governor’s plan was released in late June—a short time before President Donald Trump and U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos began indiscriminately threatening to withdraw federal funding to schools that do not reopen buildings
full-time for all students. At the same time, COVID-19 case numbers had begun an alarming surge in many parts of the country. MEA’s statewide survey of 15,000 members conducted in May revealed health and safety issues topped the list of educators’ worries. Nearly one-third of respondents said they were considering retiring early or leaving the profession because of safety concerns. The survey data was shared with news media, and based on the results MEA issued its priorities for schools’ potential reopening, including increased funding; expert-driven standards for preventing and responding to COVID-19 outbreaks; emphasis on students’ well-being over standardized test scores; and investments in safety supplies and technology. “If medical experts say it’s not safe for us to return to buildings to teach students face-to-face, then we can’t and we won’t,” said MEA President Paula Herbart in a video released last month. “If school districts are keeping you and your members out of the process, making decisions about returning to school that don’t include you, and are ignoring you at the bargaining table, then they’ll see us in court.”
Blake Mazurek
Collective bargaining is more important than ever, said Amy UrbanowskiNowak, president of the Birch Run Education Association in Saginaw County. Educators have been underfunded and disrespected for too long, and many are saying ‘Enough is enough,’ she added. “These are the times to get active in our union; these are the times to use our collective voices; these are the times to use the law to guide us through troubling times; these are the times to bond together and say, ‘What can we do to get over this hump and preserve this profession?’” Read the full story at mea.org/ safety-at-forefront.
Virtual Schools Seek Digital ‘Foot in Door’
Kathy Bommarito worries that a decision this spring by the Avondale School District where she is union president could represent a foot in the door for online school vendors seeking to displace educators in the classroom.
In May the Avondale School Board agreed to close Avondale Academy—named Michigan’s Alternative School of the Year in 2018—and replace it with a fully online virtual academy operated by an outside vendor starting this fall. “At the board meeting, the guy from the online company was presenting and he said, ‘Oh, we could educate your honor students. We could educate your career STEM students. We do this and this,’” Bommarito said. “That’s AEA positions he’s talking about.” In Avondale, as in many districts across the state, teachers at the alternative high school were not part of the Avondale Education Association before all seven were laid off following the board’s 5-2 vote approving a virtual school. Had they been a part of the union, those educators would have been able to rely on a process for layoff and recall that protected their rights, said Jake Louks, an MEA organizer who helps non-union K-12 and higher education school employees through the process of unionizing. Many AEA members showed support for their non-union colleagues at the academy by calling parents from the school to raise their voices, attending the virtual meeting, signing a petition to save the academy, and testifying before the board. Paul Sandy, one of the seven laid-off teachers, fought hard against the district’s move. Because research shows virtual schools are not as effective as a credentialed educator in a classroom, technology should be a supplement to education—not a method for disinvestment, he said. “Betsy DeVos and other edu-profiteers are foaming at the mouth thinking of how to use these solutions during this pandemic to cut costs on the most vulnerable students,” Sandy said. The global COVID-19 crisis has been used by vendors of online education resources as a huge marketing opportunity, despite there being little to no evidence of their effectiveness, according to a literature review by the Great Lakes Center for Education Research & Practice. Numerous studies have shown high turnover and dismal student achievement and graduation rates at virtual schools, yet blatant profiteering with little to no legislative oversight has been the norm, the Great Lakes Center found. “Tech entrepreneurs and venture capitalists have decided monetizing children’s education is good business,” the Center’s review found. For those reasons, the Utica Education Association got involved quickly at the first sign the district was exploring the possibility of using a poorly rated outside vendor to provide curriculum for online learning necessitated by the pandemic. After parents joined with the local union to express disapproval of the idea, the district and UEA leaders came to an agreement for Utica educators to create the virtual learning environment. “We are deeply grateful for the support we have received from our parent community and are excited about the opportunity to collaborate with Utica schools to do the best thing for Utica kids, and to be the best stewards of our children’s learning,” UEA President Liza Parkinson said. Not surprisingly, online schools operated by traditional public schools tend to have better results than those operated for profit, the Great Lakes Center found.
Legislative Watch
A series of Republican-sponsored “Return to Learn” bills which passed the state House contain a variety of concerning measures, including one that would run counter to collective bargaining law to allow outsourcing of instructional staff for any virtual classes. At press time, the GOP package had not passed the state Senate. For the latest information, stay tuned to www.mea.org and sign up to receive our legislative e-newsletter, Capitol Comments, at mea.org/signup.
Higher Ed Unions ‘Building a Bridge Over a Chasm’
In February, Martin McDonough became president of one of MEA’s largest local units—the Administrative Professional Association (APA) at Michigan State University. The next month, pandemic-related closures hit higher education in Michigan. Formerly a shop steward in the pipefitters union and vice-president of the APA, McDonough knew that in times of crisis people feel especially grateful for the union. “A lot of members appreciate that someone is there and listening, but most important is that somebody is asking.” How’s it going? What do you need? Can I help? McDonough worked to understand various viewpoints of 2,000 members in more than 150 job classifications, which helped when bargaining a recent letter of agreement to protect members’ rights during possible furloughs. The union also intervened when members expressed concern that new safety procedures weren’t being followed, for example. For weeks, the notifications on his phone were dinging all day long, he said, with members sharing concerns, questions, and gratitude. The way he sees it—a union during a crisis is like a team working together to build a bridge over a chasm that they all need to cross over safely. “I had a gentleman today, and he’s a member but he’s never stepped
Martin McDonough
forward before, and he said, ‘I’m thankful I have a union. Let me know where I can help.’ And I just wrote him back, ‘We will most certainly be getting you involved, because that’s what a union is all about.’”
Robin Shipkosky has been a math professor at Southwestern Michigan College in Dowagiac for 10 years, but when coronavirus spread caused her institution to switch to fully online learning, she didn’t know how things would play out. So many parts of the equation were unknown. The faculty union—which Shipkosky helped organize—had only existed at the college for five years. Bargaining the current contract lasted 18 months, went to fact-finding, and concluded just last November. Then a new president, Dr. Joe Odenwald, was appointed to start in January. As it turns out, Odenwald has worked closely with the association to solve problems, a welcome departure from the previous president who preferred top-down communication, Shipkosky said. “From day one, Joe has had numerous meetings with us and included leadership from our newly formed association in decision-making.” Meanwhile, faculty and students have stepped up to meet the challenges, with instructors adapting course delivery and assignments for a virtual environment and students reaching out for one-on-one digital tutoring and office hours as needed, Shipkosky said. “The attitude has been to say, ‘This is the situation we have. How are we going to be successful with what we’ve been given?’ And that comes within a paradigm shift we’ve seen from our new president, which says, ‘Administrators are here to support faculty.’” In addition, the contract approved in November after a long, contentious bargain includes a new clause requiring a payout based on years of service if jobs are eliminated. “The feeling from everybody I talk to is that it’s good to have a contract that spells out those details,” she added.
Higher Ed Unions ‘Building a Bridge Over a Chasm’
At Central Michigan University, faculty union leaders immediately began fielding questions about how the sudden shift to online teaching would affect evaluations and tenure, said Marcia Mackey, a professor in sports management and aquatics and a representative on the CMU faculty association’s board of directors.
“We were in meetings with administration addressing those things very quickly,” Mackey said. In particular, members were concerned about Student Opinion Surveys (SOS) being included in evaluations. The anonymous questionnaires filled out by students at the end of a course would not be a fair representation of an instructor’s skills since the shift from in-person to online teaching happened so quickly without preparation. “The administration agreed with the faculty association that this year we would make the SOS scores optional, so faculty could choose to put it in or not put it in.” Other members were concerned about completing requirements for tenure review within deadlines since access to research labs had been cut off by building closures. “At this campus we were fortunate to have people from both sides willing to talk and say, ‘We need to address this.’” Faculty members have gone out of their way to help students, Mackey said, helping them figure out access
Marcia Mackey
to books or internet, tutoring in off hours, and posting videos of class sessions so students with work obligations or poor internet access could catch up. “This has been disruptive for faculty and students, and everybody is trying their best,” she said. At Schoolcraft College in Livonia, the faculty association includes adjunct instructors, and the union leadership wanted to extend some extra help to those part-time employees when the pandemic hit, said Treasurer Michelle Randall, an accounting professor at the college. In addition to advocating for the college to provide instructors training and support for moving instruction online, the executive team decided to use $10,000 in savings for one-time grants to adjunct faculty. Another $1,000 was donated to a student emergency fund at the college. Any part-time faculty member in good standing was eligible, and 33 grants were ultimately issued at just more than $300 each. “We wanted to get it in their hands quickly and have it available to them to use how they needed to,” Randall said. “They could use it for food; they could use it for rent or transportation. They could use it for IT tools to teach online. Whatever they needed.”
Many thanks came in from adjuncts who often work multiple part-time jobs to make ends meet, Randall said. She quoted an emailed note from MEA member Tamara Wrone, who holds a PhD and teaches Biological Sciences: I appreciate the faculty forum looking out for us SC part-timers. Currently, I teach at three institutions to make ends meet. If I lose any one of their incomes in the near future, I will be financially crippled, so I very much appreciate this grant going directly to my emergency fund. “That kind of sums up the whole situation,” Randall said.
Harmed by Historic Flood, Helped by Union Family
Surreal. Overwhelming. Indescribable.
Talk to MEA members in Midland, Saginaw, and surrounding counties, and you’ll hear those words used repeatedly to try to convey the effects of a 500-year flood event in May which displaced thousands of people and cut a wide swath of destruction through the huge mid-Michigan river valley. They use those same words again to describe the help that arrived from their union and school families— roving work crews, meal deliveries, donations of supplies. “It’s indescribable because you just feel it in your heart,” said MEA member Jill Bischer, a speech and language pathologist in Midland schools who evacuated her home of 26 years shortly before floodwaters broke two area dams.
“You try to thank people, but words aren’t enough. Hugs aren’t enough.” The rushing waters thrashed heavy items—including large exercise equipment—from one end of the basement to another. Important mementos and personal items stored in bins, such as her 19-year-old son’s diploma, awards, cap and gown—“almost everything”—was lost. “We maybe saved a couple of things from down there, like 1%,” Bischer added. Crews of helpers—teacher colleagues and their spouses, among others—showed up with food and equipment, including large tents to set up for shade in the yard, to haul out belongings from other parts of the house that needed cleanup. “They just took over,” Bischer said. “They said, ‘You don’t worry about anything. We’re moving forward,’ and they were itching to get in.” A photography buff, Bischer had written off boxes of wet and muddy pictures as trash, but her helpers— knowing the importance of her hobby—dipped the prints in distilled water and laid them out on dozens of sheets spread on the lawn for drying things. Bischer is one of several dozen MEA members harmed by the flooding who have begun a long recovery process—many without flood insurance coverage to help with rebuilding. Nearly $20,000 in assistance has been distributed from donations that rolled into an MEA relief fund.
Suddenly, the COVID-19 pandemic took a backseat to more immediate concerns, said paraeducator Rhonda Sturgeon, president of the support staff union in Meridian Public Schools. The district is located in Sanford, a small community devastated by the collapse of Sanford dam. Besides handing out meals, Sturgeon also helped her teacher friend— MEA member Sarah Larges—develop an idea for selling a “Sanford strong” t-shirt to benefit the Meridian school district’s relief fund for families hurt by the flood. As a 20-year English teacher and longtime track coach in Sanford, Larges had many connections to get the word out. Still, she didn’t expect to sell close to 1,000 shirts in a few days. “Securing funds so my students’ basic needs are met—that’s my wheelhouse,” Larges said. “I’ve always been a major advocate when we do other programs at school, such as Christmastime or adopt-a-family, and I just really work to make sure those needs are met.
“That’s why I’m doing it. This money is going to benefit kids and families in my community. I love them, and I tell them I do. They know I love them.” The devastation that so many families in Sanford have endured led MEA member Jolynn Lippie to create a Facebook page to reunite people with a huge variety of items lost in the floods—from vehicles to furniture to photographs, and her story was featured on the local television station. Similarly, in nearby Swan Valley School District in Saginaw County, the local union has been finding and organizing donations of items for families in need after the floods, said Gina Wilson, president of the local education association. Efforts have also involved members helping members by cleaning out homes, donating money and
supplies, and housing colleagues who evacuated or lost homes. “We’ve had several members affected by the flood, and our community as a whole is experiencing a vast amount of devastation,” Wilson said. In Midland, where the high school was used as an emergency shelter, the local president received a call for help from the superintendent who was left shorthanded by a lack of Red Cross volunteers amid the pandemic. “I emailed my members and said, ‘Anybody that can come to Midland High to help, let’s go,’” Midland City EA President Mark Hackbarth said. “And then my wife and I went over there and did what we could all day. Most of the people there were elderly—evacuated from a senior living facility right on the river in downtown Midland.”
The next day and for days after, Hackbarth coordinated volunteers by setting up and monitoring a Google form where members could ask for help and another where members could offer donations and services.
Jerry Lombardo and Mark Hackbarth
One-quarter of the town was flooded and 30 members from his local suffered damage, Hackbarth said, “ranging from flooded basements, to basement walls collapsing, to losing a cottage that was on one of the lakes, to having a home condemned. It’s a big range in terms of what we’ve lost.” One of the houses where Hackbarth helped to tear out floors destroyed by floodwaters belonged to MEA member Tonya Lambert, a middle school English teacher who was making dinner when evacuation orders were announced for her area. She had 15 minutes to grab clothes and get out. Lambert lives in a quad-level home where three of the four floors were damaged by water. A neighbor kayaked into the area the next day and shared photos of the scene to Lambert’s shock. Then it was time to get to work, she said. “There were moments of tears, and moments of ‘We can do this,’ and then there were moments of ‘Well, this has to get done.’ Somehow you find energy you didn’t know you had.” Up to 20 teachers and spouses showed up over the next few days to haul out furniture and appliances, among other hard work, she said. “My union president actually tore up my beautiful cherry wood kitchen floor. My coworkers and their spouses—some I’d never met— were tearing up carpet, pulling out drywall. It was dirty, filthy, grueling, unpleasant work, and they did it for hours on end.” Indeed, the first half of 2020 has presented unprecedented challenges, and it’s good to have a union family in these times, said Jerry Lombardo, chair of the 12-B Coordinating Council, which includes Midland, Meridian, and several other districts. “It’s been amazing to see all the different ways that members are helping their colleagues,” said Lombardo, a middle school special education teacher. “I think that’s been the biggest thing about the union through all of this—it allows people to feel they’re not alone.”
