Spring RA
Katherine Murphy, For NEA director
Katherine Murphy grew up in Detroit and graduated from Cass Technical High
School. She has a B.S. from Eastern Michigan University in medical technology
along with certification from the American Society of Clinical Pathologists. Her
teaching certification is also from EMU. Having now established a tradition
of “the green and white,” she attended Michigan State for her M.S. (For those
“others” of you, her youngest daughter is a “Wolverine.”) Murphy teaches
chemistry at Belleville High School in the Van Buren School District. She is
a wife, mother and grandmother. Community has always been important to
her, and she has maintained a community and church involvement that has
benefited both students and their parents. Murphy has been involved with
union activities since the beginning of her teaching career and presently serves
on the MEA Board and as interim NEA director.
As an interim NEA director since November 2006, I have had the opportunity to represent Michigan teachers and support staff in issues that threaten to change the face of education.
More than ever, we must stand together to ensure that these changes are in the best interest of our students and our members.
In the past few years, we have been dealing with privatization, collective bargaining rights, and, of course, ESEA. Recently, we have watched health care become a major bargaining chip.
Through it all, NEA and MEA have worked diligently against those that would undermine our rights. As a director, I have proudly worked with the other directors and our legislators to change the minds of those without a clear understanding of the role of teachers and support staff in the lives of our children.
As an NEA director, one of my duties is to help our legislators assimilate information on how laws they enact will affect our schools, our members and our students. In order to do this, we build bridges of trust and respect with our people in Congress and their legislative aides.
I have done this over the past years both as an alternate and interim director. I will continue to build on this trust as I continue to serve our members. I will work to maintain communication between our members and those in Washington and to be a conduit for their dialogue.
We have many obstacles in our path over the next months and years. The role of unions in this country has changed because of forces outside our sphere of influence. We have seen laws passed that have shaken the foundation of our public schools.
In order to keep the gains made through bargaining and sacrifice, we must understand the ramifications of our choices. I hope to have your support in this election.