Fall RA Delegates to elect new NEA director
Delegates to the MEA Fall Representative Assembly on Nov. 11 will choose a new member to the NEA Board of Directors in a special election.
The new director will fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Ric Hogerheide of the Westwood Heights EA whose NEA Board term expires Aug. 31, 2008. Hogerheide resigned when he became an MEA UniServ director this summer.
Katherine Murphy of the Van Buren EA is the lone remaining candidate for the position. Another announced candidate, Christopher Korbel of the Traverse Bay Area ISD EA, withdrew his candidacy in late August.
Other nominations for the NEA director
position can be made from the
floor at the Fall RA.
Murphy’s candidate statement follows.
Statements are limited to 350
words, plus biographical information.
Candidate Statement
Katherine Murphy grew up in Detroit
and graduated from Cass Technical
High School. She has a B.S. degree from
Eastern Michigan University in medical
technology along with certification
from the American Society of Clinical
Pathologists. Her teaching certification
also is from EMU. Murphy attended
Michigan State for her M.S. She presently
teaches biology and chemistry at
Belleville High School in the Van Buren
School District. She is active in community
affairs and has had and continues to
have, involvement in many activities that
have benefitted both students and their
parents. Murphy has been involved with
union activities since the beginning of
her teaching career and currently serves
as an MEA director. For the past three
years, she also has served as an alternate
NEA director.
Public education is under attack both in Michigan and across the country. Words like privatization, ESEA (referred to as No Child Left Behind), and high-stakes testing are becoming common in our vocabulary.
These words focus on the challenges
educators face every day. School employees
are caught in a web of higher
demands, less funding, and infringement
on our right to collectively bargain our
members’ concerns.
Here in Michigan, MEA has been proactive as well as reactive to these challenges. We have actively, and successfully, advocated in the courthouse and the state house, to ensure that our members are protected against laws that affect both our members and our students negatively.
But Michigan advocacy is not always enough. We need NEA. More and more, laws that impact state education originate at the national level.
Michigan NEA directors must protect the rights of all educators, both EA and ESP, while ensuring that Michigan employees of public education receive the special consideration they deserve. As an NEA director, I will strive to safeguard our rights to maintain collective bargaining, fund and reform ESEA, fight against aggressive testing, work against privatization, and fight to win the professional respect we deserve.
I have had the opportunity to serve as an acting NEA director. As such, I have learned first-hand the duties and obligations of this position. While in Washington, I set up appointments in legislative offices and lobbied for several issues that had direct ramifications for educators here in Michigan. I feel the experience gained as an alternate NEA director over the past three years will serve to enhance my success as your director. I am dedicated to representing you, our Michigan members, to the best of my ability. I ask for your support and your vote in order to be your voice in Washington.