Spotlight on Racial and Social Justice, Safe Schools at 2021 RA

Delegates gathered virtually on October 15 for the 2021 Representative Assembly (RA) to help define MSEA’s agenda for the coming year and beyond. Discussion and debate made way for delegates to approve important additions and amendments to MSEA’s Bylaws and Resolutions.

MSEA President Cheryl Bost conducted the 2021 MSEA Representative Assembly virtually for the second year in a row due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The MSEA Board of Directors, informed and advised by the President’s Council on Safe, Healthy, and Supportive Teaching and Learning Environments, proposed several important amendments to MSEA’s Resolutions that were debated and approved by the 500+ delegates. The President’s Council is an MSEA member-led think tank where members’ training, first-hand experience, and professional expertise develops new ideas and policies based on best practices and pedological reforms. The council is charged with affirming and recommending MSEA-supported policies, regulations, and collective bargaining language aimed at creating and sustaining safe, healthy, and supportive working conditions for our members and learning environments for our students.

“I am proud of our leaders,” said MSEA President Cheryl Bost. “With input from our President’s Council, the board of directors and RA delegates took action to update our resolutions to make specific and firm commitments to our racial and social justice work and our fight for the social-emotional supports and staffing our students so desperately need.”

“With input from our President’s Council, the board of directors and RA delegates took action to update our resolutions to make specific and firm commitments to our racial and social justice work and our fight for the social-emotional supports and staffing our students so desperately need.”

“With input from our President’s Council, the board of directors and RA delegates took action to update our resolutions to make specific and firm commitments to our racial and social justice work and our fight for the social-emotional supports and staffing our students so desperately need.”

— Cheryl Bost, MSEA President

New Resolutions: Maintaining Safe Learning and Working Conditions

The President’s Council examined health and safety issues in schools which included discussions on discipline data, use of restorative approaches, examining member polling data on the use of school resource officers and school security, reviewing current laws and regulations, NEA resolutions, and more. Informed by this study, leaders approved a new resolution focused on safe schools for students, staff, and communities stating that:

Amended Resolution: Multicultural Education

The President’s Council also studied implicit bias and ways to address biases within our schools, communities, curriculum, educational programs, and opportunities. The resolution now includes MSEA’s commitment to:

Resolutions Focus on Fairness and Partnerships

Also approved were important additions to existing language in MSEA Resolutions that clarifies or expands the original.

Protecting ESPs: MSEA believes that when education support professionals are placed in positions outside of their assigned position:

Workload: Class size is a fundamental working condition for teachers. This encompasses, but is not limited to, elementary, secondary, virtual, hybrid, and in- person instructional models.

Dropout Prevention: MSEA advocates for students who are at high risk of dropping out. Delegates added students identifying as LGBTQ+ to low-income students, English language learners, the homeless, racial, and ethnic minorities, habitual truants, those with academic failure, and those in special education.

Supporting HBCUs: To increase the ranks of Black and Brown educators, MSEA supports partnerships with HBCUs to develop and support programming designed to build greater diversity in the education professions.

Protecting the Mentor-Mentee Relationship: MSEA believes that only qualified teachers with classroom experience in job alike content or grade level experience equal to the mentee position should supervise mentoring programs.

Bylaw Amendment: Supporting Early Career Educators

Bylaw Amendment: Supporting Early Career Educators MSEA committees are member-led, member-driven groups whose work is to promote MSEA progress for its members in leadership development, professional development and instruction, pro-public education legislation, and social and racial justice, and ensure the smooth functioning of MSEA policies and elections.

At the RA, delegates voted to move the successful Early Career Educator Task Force to committee status. Since approved by the 2019 RA delegates as a vehicle to reach out to educators in their first 10 years of experience, the task force has led work on recruitment and retention, created the Early Career Educator Conference, created a track at Summer Leadership Conference, and helped locals develop their own early career groups. This new standing committee will help MSEA develop dynamic strategies to recruit and retain a well-prepared, supported, and diverse educator workforce.

“Progress on these important issues is what the work of RA delegates is all about,” said Bost. “Now our job is to educate policymakers about what it takes to provide truly safe, healthy, and inclusive schools in every community.”

“Progress on these important issues is what the work of RA delegates is all about,” said Bost. “Now our job is to educate policymakers about what it takes to provide truly safe, healthy, and inclusive schools in every community.”

— MSEA President Cheryl Bost

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