For 20 months, I’ve been ending most messages with “Stay well”—and while I still do that, now I find myself adding “Hang in there”.
I hope you are “hanging in there”! Over the past weeks, nearly every conversation with other state association leaders and the leaders of other organizations has included the topic of how educators are exhausted and how the increasing educator workforce shortages are impacting everyone—educators and of course students. So, to you who are hanging in there, a huge thank you! And, if you have ideas for attracting qualified applicants to work in public education, and to encourage young people to join our professions, please share them! Meanwhile, even though we may be tired of hearing about ‘self-care’, please keep your well-being and that of your colleagues at the forefront.
Your Career
The third week in November is American Education Week—you can find information and resources here: https://www.nea.org/resource-library/american-education-week-november-15-19-2021 And let’s all be sure to recognize and celebrate the great work our support professionals do– ESP Day is Wednesday, November 17th!
Also, November is Native American Heritage Month. As have other state affiliates, MEA has begun our meetings with taking a few moments to acknowledge that wherever we are in our beautiful state, we are meeting on the traditional lands of the people of the Wabanaki Confederacy. Let’s all take time to learn more about the history, culture, and contributions of America’s First People. Here are some resources you may find useful to use with students: National Native American Heritage Month – For Teachers
Your Association
The MEA offers several grants and the deadline to apply for most of them is coming right up: December 10th. For information and to apply, go to: https://maineea.org/award-grants/
And while you’re there, check out the information about the many MEA Awards! The deadline for these is later on but the applications for two of them—the Award for Teaching Excellence and the Joan McGovern ESP Award—do take some time to complete, so please consider nominating a deserving colleague! This year especially we need to be recognizing the great work educators in Maine are doing!
The recent MEA Fall Conference on “Building Strong Locals” provided information on building power and organizing around an issue to make a difference. There are many ways for each of you to help build the capacity of your local association and also to be engaged in the work of the association at the state level! Talk with your local president and offer to help with membership, the newsletter, attending school board meetings, to name just a few ideas. Step up and ask to be appointed to an MEA committee, run to be a local delegate at the MEA Representative Assembly, attend MEA trainings and events! Want to be more involved to help move our Association forward? Let me know of your interest and share your ideas!
The NEA Minority Leadership Training/Women’s Leadership Training will be held on Feb. 25-27th this winter. Interested in attending? NEA is still working out the details but meanwhile MEA is looking to send a team of seven members. If you are interested in being selected for the team, fill out this form and return it to me no later than December 1st.
For those getting ready to retire, when you do, here is another reason to join MEA Retired and be sure to have access to the great work they do! The MEA-Retired Association has once again earned recognition by NEA-Retired for both their newsletter, The Clarion (first place two years in a row!) and for their website mearetired.org (first place three years in a row). Congratulations especially to editor Kay Grindall and webmaster Pam Partridge!
Your Support
Interested in seeking National Board certification? The MEA is again offering support for candidates—free to MEA members! The next session is this Saturday, November 6th. Here is the link to find out more and to register for the session: link As an NBCT myself, I assure you it is worth the time and effort, and the support provided by these sessions makes all the difference in your success!
Remember that MEA Benefits Trust offers plan participants many supports in addition to health insurance—be sure to check them out at https://meabt.org/
Of Interest
Another important day this month, maybe more important this year than ever before (given what is now being called the ‘rudeness epidemic’!) is World Kindness Day on November 13th. Maybe this is something we could recognize every day!
Reminders
We still hear of issues now and then about receiving emails from MEA. We want to be sure you are connected, and it is preferred that we send information to your personal (not school) email, but please be sure to check your spam/junk folder and maybe even the ‘promotions’ folder for some of you. Let us know if you have a new email address.
And be sure to download the MEA App if you haven’t done so yet! It’s the quickest way to stay connected and up to date! Here’s the info you’ll need to download the App: https://maineea.org/mea-app/
Some important information will come to local leaders next month regarding MEA elections. Be sure to check with your local association president and let them know if you are interested in running to be a delegate to the MEA Representative Assembly (May 21-22)—be sure that your local is represented at the RA! There will also be elections this spring for delegates to the NEA Representative Assembly, held July 2-6. There are vacancies for district delegates (funded by MEA) and locals, depending on size, may elect delegates as well, and receive some funding from MEA towards the cost. Your MEA Board Director would be glad to talk to you about stepping up and becoming a delegate! Any questions, just reach out.
The next MEA President’s Virtual Office Hour, for local presidents and vice presidents, will be Nov. 16th; watch for the message next week to register.
The next Conversation for MEA Members of Color will be Nov. 18th; if you aren’t receiving these invitations and should be getting them, please let us know so we can be sure we have the correct contact information for you.
We are watching for the release of OSHA’s Emergency Temporary Standard regarding ‘vaccinate or test’ and what Maine’s Board of Occupational Safety and Health will do for those in the public sector, so stay tuned; we will get information out to you as soon as we know the details.
Lastly, a reminder to ‘fall back’ this weekend and enjoy the ‘extra’ hour when we set our clocks back!
I’ll close with this—our thanks to our veterans as we take time next week on Veteran’s Day to recognize and appreciate their sacrifices, and this Thanksgiving, I’ll be thinking about how grateful I am for each and every one of you and the work you do with and for our students.
I hope you all have the chance to relax over the Thanksgiving break!
Hang in there, and please, stay well!
In Unity,
Grace
