Bargaining Conference

It is that time of year to pre-register for the Bargaining/PAC/PR conference in Detroit, Feb 5-7. In order to take advantage of the pre-registration reduced rate, you need to have your information postmarked by Dec. 15. For UBC members, remember that there is money set aside to reimburse your local for a portion of the conference costs. For registration information, contact our office or visit www.mea.org

I heard that session #202 is a great session. It is entitled "Is it Diamonds or Data?" There will be a sneak preview of this session for BIMEA bargainers in January. Contact Nancy, Ervin, or myself for more details...

What am I thankful for?

Here are some of the things that I am thankful for since moving to the Belding office last January...

--your members that provide positive, learning opportunities for all students
--the work that you and all local leaders do on behalf of the members
--working in the Belding office
--a successful election of our recommended candidates
--a presidential election that proves that all dreams can be realized
--good health and a growing family

I hope that you enjoy the time spent with family and friends over Thanksgiving break. Use this time to count all the blessings that you are thankful for as well.

MEA on Facebook

It looks like some of the ideas that we discussed at the coordinating council vision meeting was already being worked on by MEA. You can now find MEA at Facebook. Just search for Michigan Education Association. Just another way to get our members involved with MEA and your local association.

Rep. Calley Leg Council

Just got home from a Leg Council meeting with Rep. Brian Calley at the Corner Landing. For close to 2 hours we (about 10 people total) had a very good discussion with him. The topics ranged from the most recent election results to differentiated diploma endorsements/designations. About half way through the meeting, it finally dawned on me that his ideas around different endorsements for diplomas is another way to look at the dropout crisis facing our schools. It allowed for the opportunity to show that the recent dropout hearings that MEA helped to organize across the state has a connection to the ideas that our state rep has. At the end of the conversation, we asked him what message he would like us to share with our members. He wanted us to have our members get behind an issue that they feel is important...I think that he would like this to be the issue regarding differentiated diplomas that he has done some work on . However, he made this message clear....MEA is a powerful organization that can make things happen in Lansing. He pointed out victories of MEA recommended candidates, the impact of the dropout hearings, and how Lansing pays attention when MEA gets behind an issue. For me, this made me think about how MEA has the potential of taking issues at the grassroots level and using the power of our organization to make substantive changes in the educational process. Essentially, it is time for our members to get politically active. It is time to use the power and strength that MEA has in order to create the changes that we want to see.

On a final note, how important is it to become politically active? Rep. Calley made the comment that the campaign for 2010 state legislative seats has already started. That means the PAC dollars you contribute today will help to continue to elect those legislators that continue to do what is best for public education.

Reminders

This is a final reminder about early registration for the December 4-6 IPD conference in Dearborn. This is a great way for members to earn SB-CEUs. You can find registration forms at http://mea.org/conferences/ipd/index.html Follow the links to the Adobe registration handout. Tomorrow (Nov 14) is the last day to early register at the $200 rate. Fill those forms out and get it postmarked by the 14th to qualify for the early registration rate and group rates. There is an incentive that if 3 people sign up by tomorrow, the registration for the 4th person is free! Registration rate starting Nov 15 increases to $275. You can also register on site if you needed. If your local is a member of UBC, money has been put aside to help defray the cost of registration and additional conference costs. Don't let this opportunity for PD get away!

MEA victories!

Wow, what a result for MEA recommended candidates! As reported in MIRS this morning, 93 out of 103 MEA recommended candidates won their races. More amazing is that 71 out of 79 MEA recommended House candidates won. In our own backyard, Huckleberry fought off a strong, mean-spirited challenge from Ginster to win the 70th House seat. As you know, first time a Democrat has won this seat in over 75 years. A positive message of change resonated with the voters this year. Even as important, the efforts of the BIMEA coordinating council helped to get out the MEA vote for Huck!

While we celebrate our victories, we can not rest. It will be important that you and all of our members continuing talking with our state and national reps to let them know what the issues are that face public education. It is your efforts in this cause that will shape the legislative public education agenda. Set aside time to attend Lobby Day in February. Encourage your PAC contributors to attend the monthly Leg Councils that we have with Reps Calley and Huckleberry. Continue with the PAC contributions; these contributions will help you as you find education friendly candidates to run for your school board. In most of our districts, these will be the next races that we need to focus on so start recruiting candidates now!

I hope to see you and your RA delegate this weekend in Lansing for the Fall RA.

Get out the Vote!

Tomorrow is election day. Get out the vote by encouraging your members, family and friends to vote for the candidates that are "friends of public education". If you need information on MEA recommended candidates, please visit www.meavotes.org