I am writing this month’s message as the snow is still falling across most of the state, turning the world into a beautiful winter wonderland (well, beautiful at least to those of us who love this time of year!). But the photo I want to keep in my mind as the legislative session gets underway next month is this one:
I took this photo, showing flags at half mast at our state capitol building, when I attended a rally for gun safety shortly after October 25th. I know many are continuing to cope with the aftermath of that tragedy. It seems each day we become aware of yet another way this has impacted us. There have been conversations about ways to move forward to reduce the possibility of anything like it happening again, and the conversations will continue, especially with those who will be returning to the state house in a few weeks. If you are interested in being a part of a group of educators to talk about ways MEA members can advocate for gun safety, please contact me at gleavitt@maineea.org.
Meanwhile, please read on for information on lots of good stuff!
MEA AND NEA EVENTS, RESOURCES, AND AN UPDATE
UPDATE on the Government Pension Offset/Windfall Elimination Provision from NEA: “The push to repeal the government Pension Offset (GPO) and Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) gained momentum at a Nov. 20 field hearing in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, convened by the House Ways and Means Committee…In a statement released after the hearing, lead sponsors Reps. Garret Graves (R-LA) and Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) noted that H.R. 82 ‘has broad bipartisan support among 300 lawmakers in the U.S. House—far more than the majority necessary for the bill to pass.’ They urged the committee to send the bill to the floor for a vote.” You can read the comments submitted by NEA here. Here is the list of the members of the U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means: Full Committee – House Committee on Ways and Means .
In Maine, there were some great outcomes in municipal elections this past month when our local associations and members got involved. A BIG thank you to those who helped with these efforts and an even BIGGER thank you to those members who are serving in these positions! While the next round of local elections isn’t for a while, it is not too soon to start considering who might be pro-public education candidates—maybe you?
Just got this: Teaching Wabanaki Studies and Decolonization–an online workshop tomorrow, December 7th, at 4:00, thanks to University of Maine, Augusta and partners. Register here.
The MEA Board of Directors will be meeting this coming weekend. If there is anything you want your Director to share at the meeting, please be sure to connect with them. Don’t know who your Board Director is? You can find the information here: https://maineea.org/board-of-directors/
Applications for MEA Grants—Human, Civil Rights and Social Justice, Instruction and Professional Development, and Leroy Lambert Political Action—are due December 8th! Information is on the MEA website: https://maineea.org/award-grants/
The MEA webinar,Employment 101 with MEA General Counsel Ben Grant, will be December 13th at 6:00 p.m. Watch for the email to register that will be sent tomorrow.
If you have not yet taken a look at all the programs available to you through MEA Benefits Trust, it’s time you check this out: https://meabt.org/wellness-programs Especially important is all the help you can get through the Member Assistance Program (MAP): https://meabt.org/wellness-programs/member-assistance-program There is a lot there that I’m sure will be of use to many!
Upcoming NEA Webinars for Educational Support Professionals:
- ESP Community Conversations: Self-care for ESPs—TONIGHT at 7:00 p.m. Register here.
- ESP Mentoring in Oregon-Thursday, December 7, 2023–7:00 p.m. ESP Mentoring in Oregon · NEA ESP Quality (mobilize.us)
- ESP Rights and Respect: How to Build a Strategic Campaign—Thursday, December 14-7:00 p.m. ESP Rights and Respect: How to Build a Strategic Campaign | NEA
Check this out! New from NEA: a webpage with lots of resources on Climate & Environmental Justice | NEA and a stack of six climate and environmental justice micro-credentials: CategoryDetail (certificationbank.com)
If you have students who will be graduating this year, please remind them of the Clyde Russell Scholarships. Information is here: https://clyderussellscholarshipfund.org/ ALSO, thank you to those who have signed up to read the applications on February 17th! We could use a few more members to help with this worthwhile task. If you are interested, please sign up here to be a reader. You will find the experience truly rewarding!
And if you haven’t recently checked out all that is available to members from NEA Member Benefits, I urge you to take a few minutes to do that! https://www.neamb.com/
Heads up! The MEA contest, Read Across Maine, will take place during the month of March. All Maine public school students, in all grades, are encouraged to participate in MEA’s Read Across Maine reading contest. Each participating classroom sets a collective reading goal for the duration of the contest (the month of March). This goal should reflect the number of books, pages, sight words, or reading hours the class aims to complete. These goals should coincide with the reading level of the class/student. Educators will receive access to a map where they can track the books read, pages completed, words, or hours spent reading by their classroom.
OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST
MEA-Retired offers the Sheehan Grant for a member enrolled in a graduate program in the humanities. Deadline to apply is February 1st: https://mearetired.org/sheehan-honor-grant
Attached is the cover letter sent in to NEA, stating that MEA will continue with our current “3-1(g) plan” (our plan to have ethnic minority representation in our delegation at the NEA Representative Assembly that is in line with the proportion of Maine’s population that is racially diverse according to the most recent census). Any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask!
REMINDERS
If you recently received an MEA survey from NEA, please be sure to respond asap—the survey will close tomorrow (Thursday, December 7th).
Local presidents have received information about the many upcoming elections—those conducted by MEA and others by the local association. If you are interested in being a candidate, be sure to speak with your local president. There is information on the MEA website: https://maineea.org/mea-elections/. Any questions, let me know!
If you are planning to retire some time in the next few years, you may want to attend the MEA-Retiredpre-retirement seminar for members held on zoom: Pre-Retirement Seminars – Maine Education Association (maineea.org)
The deadline to nominate a member for the NCHE/NEA Higher Educator of the Year Award is Feb. 5th. nche-higher-educator-of-the-year-award-application-22-23final.pdf (nea.org)
Nomination forms for the many MEA Awards are on the MEA website https://maineea.org/award-grants/ and are due March 9th. Let’s be sure we are recognizing the many educators and community members who are worthy of these awards!
If you are interested in participating in the 2024-2025 Maine Teacher Residency (google.com), be sure to sign up to receive information about this great program that is helping to address the educator shortage.
This month’s MEA President’s Virtual Office Hour for local presidents and vice presidents is next Tuesday, December 12th. Local association Presidents and Vice Presidents should have received the invitation with the link to register. If not, please let me know!
I know that many of our locals often engage in projects at this time of year to help their communities, such as ‘adopting’ a family in need of some holiday cheer, or raising donations for a community charity. Please let us know what your local association is doing—we would like to recognize and share all the good work members do–in addition to the work you do with students!
Lastly, with 2024 coming right at us, I will continue to ask members to consider making a donation to the MEA Fund in Support of Public Educationhttps://maineea.org/mea-fund/ and the NEA Fund for Children and Public Educationhttps://www.neafund.org/Donate# . These are the voluntary member contributions used to support public education friendly candidates. Please consider making a recurring contribution. Your support will help us be sure to have legislators and representatives who support public education and will make decisions that are good for our students and for educators.
With that, I’ll close and wish you all a restful break later this month, with lots of time with family and friends—and time for yourself, too!
Here’s to a great New Year for us all!
In Unity,
Grace Leavitt, President
Maine Education Association
