Education Support Professionals (ESP)

By Brenda Ortega MEA Voice Editor Delee Bruining says hard work and consistent team effort make it possible to feed 600 kids a day at Wyoming Junior High School. The professionals entrusted with delivering healthy, delicious food to hundreds of thousands of students in school cafeterias across Michigan say they’re serving more kids than ever as part of the state’s…

Paraeducator and Pontiac union leader Fred McFadden trained his counterparts in Oak Park at the beginning of this school year. The first time MEA member Fred McFadden attended Crisis Prevention Intervention (CPI) training 27 years ago, he was newly employed as a technician at an inpatient mental health facility in Auburn Hills, Havenwyck Hospital, and he didn’t believe the techniques…

Taking notes after the first bargaining session, (left to right) MEA’s Jimalatice Thomas‑Gilbert, Wendy Robledo‑Castillo, Nicole Litteral, Linda Cobb, Suzi Sanchez‑Honkala, Christina Cobb, Kelly Chessor. Just two years ago, the MEA unit representing 11 office clerical workers in Grosse Ile Township Schools consisted of one member. The group was working without a contract, and the unit faced decertification for low…

Nominations are being accepted for several positions on the MEA ESP Caucus Executive Board. Open positions are as follows beginning Sept. 1, 2024: PRESIDENT: 1 Position — Sept. 1, 2024 to Aug. 31, 2027 VICE-PRESIDENT: 1 Position — Sept. 1, 2024 to Aug. 31, 2027 SECRETARY: 1 Position — Sept. 1, 2024 to Aug. 31, 2027 AT-LARGE: 4 Positions —…

By Brenda Ortega MEA Voice Editor NEA President Becky Pringle and MEA President Chandra Madafferi serve free breakfast to students at Dublin Elementary in Walled Lake, the first stop of a two-day, four-district tour. NEA President Becky Pringle visited four school districts in Michigan last week to see what change looks like when a governor and state Legislature prioritize public…

MEA member Darrin Watkins has been a paraeducator in Pontiac for longer than he can remember – somewhere around 30 years – and he has a few ideas about how special education could be restructured and resourced to improve services and keep people in the field. Darrin Watkins of Pontiac of Reed City discusses whatparaeducators need to be successful and…

By Brenda Ortega MEA Voice Editor As Chandra Madafferi begins her tenure as president of MEA, anyone wondering what she will prioritize in the new role can look to her stewardship of the Local Presidents’ Academy (LPA) to understand what she values most in leadership. Systems thinking. Empathic listening. Transformative change. Chandra Madafferi A longtime teacher and union leader in…

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's team convened a conversation in July with food service professionals and MEA members from across the state to begin discussing the logistics around the universal free school meal program included in the recent state education budget. Veteran food service professionals, who nurture deep bonds with students, voiced their excitement about ensuring no kid goes hungry in Michigan…

Her unit was on the verge of decertification from MEA a little over one year ago when Nikki Clear took over as president of her local union representing transportation employees, food service workers, paraeducators, and secretaries. Now she’s won MEA’s Leon A. Brunner Award. Nikki Clear, a bus driver and local union president in Stockbridge, is this year’s winner of…

Paraeducator and union president Jessica Davenport and son Xavier, 13, moved into a Habitat home in Kalkaska over the holidays. (Photo courtesy of Habitat for Humanity, Grand Traverse Region) In just over three years since she became co-president of her local support staff union in Kalkaska, Jessica Davenport has worked hard to rebuild membership numbers that had dropped low enough…