Stand with UAW workers in Charlotte

MaryBe McMillan, president of the North Carolina State AFL-CIO, announced last week that the local chapter of UAW in Charlotte, with roughly 100 members, is on strike against General Motors. They are maintaining a picket line 24 hours a day, seven days a week, at the GM plant, 10815 Quality Drive, Charlotte (near the South Carolina border).

The Charlotte Observer published a report this morning on factors that led to the strike, now stretching into its fourth week.

CMAE President Lawrence Brinson encouraged CMAE members to stand with our union brothers and sisters in UAW, and to visit the strike line to show solidarity, whether for a few minutes or a few hours. Educators in South Carolina have already been scheduling visits.

Our friends appreciate snacks and drinks as well; while on strike, they collect about 20 percent of their normal wages in strike benefits. They intend to maintain the line until GM and UAW reach agreement.

For more information on the strike, visit www.aflcionc.org or call 919-833-6678.

CMAE invites members to bring issues, concerns to light for discussion with district superintendents

CMAE Vice President Margueritta Brown will represent CMAE members at the October 23 meeting of the Superintendent-Teacher Advisory Council (STAC). STAC meetings are designed to allow for discussion of issues of concern with CMS Superintendent Earnest Winston. CMAE President Lawrence Brinson will also attend the STAC meeting in his capacity as the High School Representative from the Northwest Learning Community’s Advisory Council.

Members who would like to bring issues to light for discussion, or to ask question of concern, are invited to use the “Contact CMAE” portal in the right-hand column of the CMAE Bulletin to communicate those topics with CMAE officers. When sharing issues or questions, be as specific as you feel prudent.

Leslie Neilsen: “There’s power in numbers, and our voices and actions matter!”

I grew up in Needham, Massachusetts, a small town outside Boston. My career goal was always to be a teacher, despite my friends’ and family’s many protests.

My studies began at the University of Vermont but life took me in a different direction, and I left to begin working in the restaurant business. I worked hard and became part of management. My role as a training manager fed temporarily my desire to teach but I knew, in the long run, I wanted to teach kids in a classroom.

Then an opportunity came to finish my studies at Boston College while working full-time as a dining hall manager, and I jumped at it, taking American Studies. Two professors -- Father James Weiss, who taught theology, and Professor David Quigley, who taught history -- reinforced my desire to be in the classroom. Because Professor Quigley made history especially interesting, I took several of his courses, which set me on my path to teaching social studies. I graduated in 2005, but the pull of teaching was so strong that I returned for a master’s degree in secondary social studies.

Educators are urged to complete the "ESSA" checklist

CMAE President Lawrence Brinson urges educators in Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools to open and complete a checklist survey to identify school needs addressed in the Every Student Succeeds Act, the federal law that replaced No Child Left Behind.

The checklist can be completed online, and its results will be used by CMAE to create an action plan and seek resources to meet pressing needs.

A Letter from CMAE President Lawrence Brinson

Dear CMAE Member,

September has been a busy month at the Charlotte Mecklenburg Association of Educators, and it followed a very busy summer. As we come to the end of our first full month of this school year, I’d like to take a “moment of personal privilege” to offer you an introduction.

Thanks to the support of voters in the spring election, for which I was and am extremely grateful, I became president of CMAE on July 1. On that date, I was already serving you as a delegate to the National Education Association Representative Assembly in Houston, Texas. That was followed immediately by the NCAE Summer Leaders Conference, the Instructional Leaders Institute, and the CMS Symposium. Between these events, I worked at our local office in Charlotte, and was called upon to attend meetings at state headquarters in Raleigh.

Just like you, I returned to full-time work in the classroom in August. But I’ve maintained a rigorous schedule of services to CMAE, working at the office and throughout the district, after school each day, and on most weekends.

CMAE introduces the "CMAE Bulletin"

Welcome.

In an effort to enhance communication with and between CMAE, educators, and parents in Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, the leadership team at CMAE has established a new online presence: the CMAE Bulletin.

The key message that we want you to find here is this: CMAE, and the CMAE Bulletin, belongs to its members. It's meant to give you news, information, and resources that you'll find useful and timely. It's designed to allow you to share its content with your friends, colleagues, co-workers, whether by email or through your own social media platforms.

And we hope you'll take every opportunity to use it for communicating with us the important developments in your own career and worksite, the questions to which you need answers, and your suggestions for making it -- and all of our work -- better and more valuable to you.

We've spent the past few weeks developing the structure and content of our Bulletin, and we're pleased to bring it to your attention now.

Introducing: CMAE Vice President Margueritta Brown

I am a native of Davidson, North Carolina. Before integration, I attended Ada Jenkins School in Davidson until third grade. After sixth grade at Davidson Elementary, I continued at Alexander Middle School and graduated from North Mecklenburg High School in Huntersville. I began collegiate studies in Elementary Education at Livingstone College in Salisbury and, being adventurous after college, pursued teaching positions and taught third grade in Harlem, New York, and Baltimore, Maryland.

Currently, I am in my 32nd year as a Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools educator. During those 32 years, I taught all subjects in grades three and five, and for three years I was a facilitator at Hornets Nest Elementary. For the past five years, I've taught third grade, and I love it!

CMAE President Lawrence Brinson previews the first Association Representative meeting of 2019-20

CMAE President Lawrence Brinson urges educators to help eligible students register to vote

Of all the rights and privileges that define citizenship in America, none may be more important than the right to vote. But, just as in the case of every right, it's only valuable when it's exercised.

Almost every year, an election is scheduled for municipal, state, or federal offices. Just this month, citizens in the eastern half of North Carolina went to the polls to vote in two special Congressional elections.

In every election and election year, we hear candidates and office-holders explain all the reasons why that year's election is "the most important election in history." Certainly, all of them may be right, every time, since every election is important. People who are elected to serve in public office, at every level of government, hold and use tremendous authority to make changes that affect all of us.

Commissioner discusses referendum impacts with CMAE President Lawrence Brinson

CMAE President Lawrence Brinson met on Monday with Mecklenburg County Commissioner Susan B. Harden, whose district includes CMAE headquarters at 4523 Park Road, and Katherine Mooring, Senior Vice President for Community Investment of the Arts and Science Council of Charlotte. Harden and Mooring shared information on the referendum on funding for public education, parks and greenways, and arts and culture in Mecklenburg County. CMAE's leadership team will discuss impacts of the referendum this week.

New and returning Association Representatives in NCAE District 3 receive training in Charlotte

New and returning educators comprise the 2019-2020 class of CMAE Association Representatives

 

Tonya Pointer, Cotswold Elementary reading specialist, introduces herself

CMAE President Lawrence Brinson welcomed a team of elected leaders and staff specialists from NCAE and NEA to Charlotte on September 7 to assist in training more than 80 new and returning Association Representatives in the school districts that comprise NCAE's District 3.

Introducing: CMAE Secretary Lakisha Mills

I am from Salisbury, North Carolina, and was raised in East Spencer and Spencer. After graduating from North Rowan High School, I was an undecided major at North Carolina State University, taking classes to become a computer engineer. But C++ and Physics weren't strengths for me, so I transferred my studies to the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and completed undergraduate studies in Elementary Education. Since graduating from UNC-Charlotte, I have been teaching for sixteen years at the same school, Devonshire Elementary School: three years of first grade, and thirteen years of kindergarten.

CMAE President Lawrence Brinson thanks members

CMAE Government Relations Committee plans candidate interviews, Legislative Reception

CMAE's Government Relations Committee, including (from left) Linda Ingle, Anetha Perkins, Randolph Frierson, and CMAE President Lawrence Brinson, met on Thursday to discuss plans for interviewing candidates for municipal offices in Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, and for its annual Legislative Reception.

Committee Chairman Frierson expects to announce details of the committee's decisions soon.

CMAE sets Instructional Professional Development Academy dates

As part of its commitment to develop instructional leaders in school communities throughout the district, CMAE will sponsor opportunities for instructional professional development on seven dates during the 2019-20 school year. Modules will focus on college- and career-ready standards as a platform for Instructional Leadership Institute (ILI) graduates, members, and potential members to continue their leadership journeys.

All members are invited to participate, but seating is limited. Those interested in attending should register by calling CMAE at 980-370-1015.

Dates and modules will be offered as follows: