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Education Minnesota expects federal vaccine mandates to affect most Minnesota schools, but questions remain

Education Minnesota reacted Friday to President Joe Biden’s sweeping plan to increase the number of vaccinated Americans and counter the threat of the COVID-19 delta variant, a plan which includes new vaccine mandates for American educators. 

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Minnesota students return to classrooms as districts receive historic new investments in public education

Nearly all Minnesota students are back in their classrooms this week as school districts continue to receive historic investments in public education from the federal and state governments, including a $29 million in new funding to ensure that enrollment losses related to the pandemic last year don’t harm students this fall.

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Nominations open for the 2021-22 ESP of the Year

Nominations are open until Sept. 26 for the next Education Minnesota Education Support Professional of the Year.  The program honors exemplary professional and union work by an Education Minnesota member in any ESP job category, including paraprofessional/education assistant, secretarial/clerical, custodial, food service, maintenance and trades, transportation, groundskeeping, security, technology services, health services and others.  All…

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MEA conference will be hybrid this year

Members can attend this year’s MEA conference either in-person on Thursday, Oct. 21, at the Saint Paul RiverCentre or log on to watch select sessions virtually.   The 2021 MEA conference lineup includes about 70 in-person workshops, focusing on racial equity in education, student and educator mental health, classroom strategies and much more. About a dozen…

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Professional development opportunities

Professional development National social studies conference in Minneapolis  The National Council for the Social Studies will hold its 101st annual conference in Minneapolis, Nov. 19-21. The conference will include 400-plus workshops, featuring the latest in social studies and geography education. There will also be more than 75 exhibits highlighting the latest social studies products and…

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Supreme Court upholds student’s off-campus speech rights

When 14-year-old Brandi Levy was not selected for the 2017 Mahanoy Area High School varsity cheerleading team, she vented her frustration on every modern teen’s venue of choice: social media. From a convenience store, Levy expressed her dismay with a Snapchat photo of her flipping off the camera. Along with the photo was the caption,…

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Two new charter schools unionize with Education Minnesota

Two new charter schools unionize with Education Minnesota  The teachers and staff at Hiawatha Academies, a Minneapolis charter school network, and Great River School, a St. Paul charter school, both voted to unionize with Education Minnesota this June.   Both schools’ bargaining units will include teachers and most non-management school staff.  Great River and Hiawatha become…

Bloomington paras take contract fight public
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Bloomington paras take contract fight public

The Bloomington Federation of Paraprofessionals’ contract has been unsettled for more than two years. And after working during a pandemic, many of whom were on site providing essential child care from the start, the local union decided to take its negotiations fight public.  “Our members have gone through a lot,” said Bill Schwandt, the local union president….

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A loan forgiveness success story

Michelle Lieder, an elementary school physical education teacher in South Washington County, recently got a surprise in her bank account as student loan payments she had made for the last two years were returned to her as she completed the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.  “I felt like I won the lottery,” Lieder said. “The…