15-B Insider -- December 2002

CASH FOR KIDS UPDATE

Our 2002 Cash for Kids campaign "officially" ended November 12^th.. Although our campaign is over, we will continue to accept contributions throughout the remainder of the school year. If you haven’t given yet, please consider becoming involved. We must protect our schools, students, and ourselves by contributing whatever we can. Every dollar counts! CONGRATULATIONS to Christine Favor, Pine River ESP, who was awarded the grand prize of a weekend for two at the Grand Traverse Resort plus $125 in spending money, and to Lois Durham, Cadillac EA, who was awarded the $100 prize package consisting of a rolling duffle bag filled with gifts. Cash for Kids Captains Sue Maskill, Pine River EA, and Cathy Fedewa, Pine River ESP, each received an insulated lunch tote for raising the most money in their associations. Pam Bowers, Evart Transportation, and Sue Maskill, Pine River EA, each received a backpack with "goodies" for having the greatest percentage of their membership contributing to Cash for Kids. A special recognition framed certificate was also given to Cadillac EA, Pine River EA, and Pine River ESP as the only associations with 100% of their Executive Board contributing. Congratulations to all of you! The results of all of your hard work are:

Cash for Kids Campaign	9/1/99 – 6/11/01 (2-year cycle)	9/24/01 –6/11/02 (Last year)	9/1/02 –12/3/02 (This year)
Number of associations contributing	7 (out of 17)	14 (out of 17)	14 (out of 17)
Membership count	1095	1005	991
Total members contributing	92	168	202
% of membership contributing	8.4%	16.7%	20.4%
Total dollars received	$4,814	$4,999	$6,278

In the State House race, 56 of the 74 candidates that MEA recommended won, and in the State Senate race 19 of the 28 won – and we helped to elect the governor we had recommended. Thank you again to each of you who made a contribution this year. We are making a difference! However, our work is still cut out for us. A recent article in The Missaukee Sentinel states the Great Lakes Education Project placed fourth in PAC fund raising in 2002 with $1,094,000 – taking in nearly half of its contributions, $545,000, from Betsy and Dick DeVos. In comparison, the 157,000-member MEA was fifth with $1,066,000 (taking out a $300,000 loan to accomplish this). In reality, this means our 157,000 membership raised only $221,000 more than Betsy and Dick DeVos contributed!

TEACHER & ESP TAX BREAK REMINDER

For the 2002 and 2003 tax years, teachers and education support professionals (employed for at least 900 hours in a school year) can claim an above-the-line Federal tax deduction for the first $250 of "out-of-pocket" spending on student supplies. The above-the-line deduction is important because an eligible school employee does not have to itemize to qualify. The new deduction is included in the economic stimulus bill signed by the President on March 9^th.

BARGAINING UPDATE

Evart EA, McBain EA, and McBain ESP now have ratified contracts.

Evart Transportation and Evart ESP are unsettled for 2002-03.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

Dec 23– Jan 1	MEA Closed – Happy Holidays!
Jan 6-10	Roger is on vacation.
Jan 14	Coordinating Council Meeting – 7:07 p.m. – OPIE packets will be handed out.

MESSA NEWS

Revisions in the MESSA Super Care I health plan may take effect on February 1, 2003. School districts and local association presidents have been notified. These revisions are being made to accommodate advances in medical science, inadequate benefit maximums, and legislative or regulatory mandates. No premium increase is recommended at this time, and revisions, such as the dropping of some mandated second surgical opinions, may actually save money. Districts will have the option to opt-out of this February 1 implementation date.

As part of its ongoing commitment to provide outstanding personalized member service, MESSA is making individual and family-accumulated deductible information available to members on-line at www.messa.org. For security reasons, you must have a pre-approved username and password. You can apply on-line and MESSA will confirm your username and password by U.S. postal mail. Approval in this manner is required by law and usually takes less than one week.

Mail-order prescription service is being used more and more by members. For any "maintenance" prescriptions (something prescribed on a continuing basis), it will definitely save you money - and ordering refills can be done either by mail or 24 hours a day by phone from the convenience of your home. Prescriptions are usually delivered to your mailbox within a week of ordering. (Order forms and envelopes are available at your Uniserv office.) A new option of ordering on-line is now also available. Once your account is set up, in addition to ordering on line, you can access information on any or all of your prescriptions – refills remaining, prescription expiration dates, list of medications you are taking, etc. Give it a try – it’s a great benefit, and it saves you money!!

CHALLENGE & THE THREE R’S OF ‘REINVENTION’ - Secondary School Change

This is the title of a commentary in the November 27^th issue of Education Week. Being a former (28 year’s worth) secondary school teacher, I wanted to see what was on this author’s mind. The author, Tony Wagner, is also a former high school teacher, and is now connected with Harvard University’s graduate school of education. He asserts the skills needed for work, college, and active, informed citizenship are essentially the same, but they are often not the skills being taught in our schools. Employers and professors agree that except for "basic math skills" neither group is concerned about the proficiency of today’s graduates. They are concerned about the lack of study skills, communication skills, work habits, curiosity, and respect in many of today’s high school graduates. I suspect there are a few junior, middle and high school teachers who share some of these same concerns. Solutions are offered by Mr. Wagner as the Three R’s of Reinvention: Rigor, Relevance and Relationships. Mr. Wagner suggests that, perhaps, we should reinvent our schools above the elementary level. He seems to be suggesting that we are a little too content conscious. Rigor doesn’t mean more of the same, but instead mastery of core competencies. He suggests that we can better connect student interests with needed skills and the curriculum. Relevance - we all know what this should mean, and most teachers do work very hard to make their classes relevant. Relationships might mean showing more of a sincere interest in each of the 130 or so students that are under your direction each day. The author used focus groups, and found a persistent complaint about school from today’s adolescents is that "no one cares. Adults seem too busy to listen."

The good news is that employers and professors found the students fairly proficient. Mr. Wagner’s focus group accusation is pretty simplistic, and it doesn’t strike me as fair in most cases. It is my contention that our students know who cares – and most teachers do. Maybe they wish they could receive more individual attention. We are dealing with a balancing act, and, perhaps, more individual attention translates into less subject matter content. In my teaching days, I sometimes felt like someone working at McDonald’s during the lunch hour rush when things moved pretty quickly. Students sometimes wanted instant feedback, and that was not always possible. For example: The student that wanted his/her make-up test corrected immediately got my goat on occasion. The fact that I couldn’t deliver immediately did not mean that I didn’t care. I did make it a point to hand back papers the next day, and that took some late hours to accomplish. Nevertheless, this "no one cares" attitude might be the perception of some of our students – and maybe there is even more that you can do to eliminate this feeling. The employer and professor might also want to add patience to their list of skills that need to be worked on. I wonder how these employer and professor concerns will fit in with the MEAP expectations and the new federal "Adequate Yearly Progress" measurements. Final Note: It is apparent that I haven’t been in the classroom in a while, and I understand that make-up work is no longer a problem for today’s teachers.

Real joy comes not from ease or riches or from the praise of men, but from doing something for someone else.

Be a gracious receiver as well and do not deprive someone else of that real joy!

Happy Holidays!