A prominent Michigan teacher has added his voice to the chorus of educators calling for the defeat of Senate Bills 713-715, the package of anti-strike legislation that MEA members across the state have been calling and writing their lawmakers to oppose.
Michigan's 2016 Teacher of the Year, Birmingham's Rick Joseph, wrote a letter to Sen. Phil Pavlov (R-St. Clair) encouraging a response to the Detroit Public Schools crisis that acknowledges the complexity of issues facing educators in Michigan today.
"As I travel around the state, from Escanaba to Ecorse, I always ask teachers to convey what works and what challenges they face as public educators in their schools," Joseph wrote in his letter.
"Increasingly, teachers feel under attack by state policies regarding professional evaluation, decreased compensation and funding inequities. In some communities, teachers feel completely voiceless."
MEA members are encouraged to continue contacting their senators and representatives in opposition to the bills. Some points to make when contacting your Senator:
We teach our kids to speak up when something's wrong. And we expect school employees to speak up when something's happening in schools that could endanger our kids. These bills punish teachers for speaking out about unsafe conditions in schools.
The bills would allow the actions of one school employee calling in sick to be considered a "strike."
The school's bargaining unit could be dissolved and prohibited from representing the unit for five years, whether or not it agreed to the "strike" and regardless of whether the school employee(s) involved in the action belong to the unit.
These bills are an extreme response to an isolated problem. And they punish the only people who have stood up for kids while relieving the responsible parties of any consequences: the five Emergency Managers.
We need teachers to speak up when our kids are in danger.
Call your legislators today and tell them to vote NO on Senate Bills 713,
714, and 715.
Taken from MEA Capitol Comments, 2/9/2016.
To read a Detroit Free Press story about these bills, go here: http://www.freep.com/story/news/politics/2016/02/02/bills-move-punish-teachers-districts-sick-outs/79689772/