Education Minnesota awards honor outstanding member work
Each year, Education Minnesota presents several awards to members in recognition of their outstanding achievements. Presented at the annual Representative Convention, these awards include the Human Rights Award, the Peterson-Schaubach Outstanding Leadership Award and the We Are One Solidarity Award.
Human Rights Award
This award recognizes outstanding work to protect the human and civil rights of educators and students. Members can nominate either an individual or a local, but nominees must be active members of Education Minnesota to qualify.
Nominees should meet one or more of the following criteria:
- The nominee has contributed to the field of human rights, either through a special project, direct services or their life’s work and role.
- The nominee has inspired direct action in the cause of human and civil rights.
- The nominee has demonstrated a personal commitment to the promotion and protection of human and civil rights through curriculum and instruction.
- The nominee has initiated or engaged in activities that positively impact the educational, social, economic or political life of the community.
- The nominee has displayed creativity, determination and perseverance in achieving human and civil rights goals.
Learn about the 2024 Human Rights Award winner
Peterson-Schaubach Outstanding Leadership Award
This award is presented to an Education Minnesota leader who has made outstanding contributions to Education Minnesota or its locals through demonstration of Education Minnesota’s statements of principle.
Nominees for this award are submitted by members of the Education Minnesota Governing Board (excluding officers).
Learn about the 2024 Peterson-Schaubach Leadership Award winner.
We Are One Solidarity Award
This award is given out annually to an Education Minnesota local union or group of active members demonstrating outstanding or significant leadership in any of the following ways:
- Developing and implementing an organizing campaign.
- Expanding relationships with other unions and the AFL-CIO.
- Developing and implementing a member engagement campaign.
- Working collectively for the common good.
- Protecting or advocating for workers’ rights.
- Extending the benefits of a union by organizing the unorganized.
Any Education Minnesota member can nominate a local union or active member by submitting a nomination form to the Education Minnesota president.
Learn about the 2024 We Are One Solidarity Award winners.
The deadline for award submissions is Friday, January 31. More information and details on how to submit a nominee are available on our website under the “News & Events” section.
Education Minnesota Statements of Principle
- Commitment to members.
- Commitment to the profession.
- Commitment to the learners.
- Commitment to public education and the community.
- Commitment to the organization.
- Commitment to the labor movement.
- Commitment to racial equity and social justice.
2024 We Are One Solidarity Award winners: Education Minnesota – Hermantown
The winner of the 2024 We Are One Solidarity award is Education Minnesota – Hermantown, for their work mobilizing their members around negotiations. They learned that their district was sitting on $7 million in unallocated funds. They began sharing negotiation updates with their members, including the fact that the district had a significant sum of unspent money.
They also hosted informational pickets and, with the help of Education Minnesota organizing grants, created an organizing committee to help mobilize their members. As they communicated with members, they began making specific asks of members that played to those members’ strengths.
Because of this work, they increased their member attendance at school board meetings from 25% to over 40% and were able to get 70-80% participation in negotiation escalation tactics. And as a result, they negotiated a contract that significantly increased the district’s contribution to their health insurance premiums and included salary increases of 6% in 2023 and 3% in 2024.
2024 Human Rights Award winner: Zak Amin, Moorhead
Education Minnesota’s 2024 Human Rights Award winner is English as a second language teacher Zak Amin of Moorhead. Amin was recognized for his work creating a Kurdish heritage and culture class. In the Moorhead school district, Kurdish is the second-most common language, spoken in the homes of 239 families. Amin created the class after he noticed that there was a cultural divide between parents and children. “The parents were speaking Kurdish, but the children were speaking English. They understood each other, but there was a big gap,” Amin said.
Amin, who has worked as a liaison to Kurdish families, said that one of his goals is to help the parents become more Americanized while helping the kids develop a sense of pride in their Kurdish heritage so that the parents and children can bond. In addition to teaching Kurdish in Moorhead schools during the day, he teaches English to many of his students’ parents at night.
The community response to the class has been overwhelmingly positive. Students say it’s helped them connect with their culture and develop their identity. “I think it’s pretty cool, it gives us an opportunity to represent ourselves and embrace who we are,” said one Moorhead student. “Some of us weren’t born in Kurdistan—some of us were born here. This class gives us the opportunity to learn our history, language and culture.”
Zak Amin said his goal is to make Kurdish a world language one day. “Even if I cannot do it,” he said, “I would do my best to help whoever takes that responsibility.”
2024 Peterson-Schaubach Leadership Award winner: Tracy Detloff, New London-Spicer
Education Minnesota’s 2024 Peterson-Schaubach Leadership Award winner is Tracy Detloff, a special education teacher in New London-Spicer. She was recognized for her work helping fellow educators navigate student loan debt relief. The programs available for educators to receive debt relief have historically been difficult to navigate, due to ever-changing requirements.
After seeing a union brochure at her school about loan forgiveness programs, New London-Spicer special education teacher Tracy Detloff began the intense process of navigating the programs. After a few tries, she was approved, and her student debt was forgiven. She then realized that there were others in her district who may not know that they could benefit from the program, so she began leading workshops to present information about the loan forgiveness process to other members of her local and in the Central Lakes United Intermediate Organization. “An Education Minnesota staff person called me and asked me what I knew about these programs,” said Detloff. “They came to my work, and I gave them all the information on the different types of loan forgiveness for teachers in Minnesota. From there, Education Minnesota went on to create Degrees, Not Debt.” This nationally recognized program is one of Education Minnesota’s most popular programs and has helped many members receive student debt relief— vitally important, because Minnesota currently ranks fifth in the nation for student loan debt.
Detloff characterizes her leadership style as focusing on support and empowerment. “I think a good leader is a supporter of everybody,” Detloff said. “I used to always do things for people but now I realize somebody who is a good leader will show you how to do it for yourself.”
Because of her leadership on student loan debt relief, along with her leadership in Central Lakes United and in her local, Detloff received the 2024 Education Minnesota Peterson-Schaubach Leadership Award, which recognizes leaders for outstanding contributions to our organization, its locals and the core purpose of our union.
