September 18, 2023

Hello Fellow Classified Employee's and guests.

Welcome to your new week!
MSCEA and MSEA Political Action Committee's for Education (PACE) for both educators locals have been working for the last weeks on asking questions of those valley citizens who want to step up and serve their neighbors as well as those that are currently serving with a focus on education. 
It has always been my hope that instead of basing our decisions on ideology and partisanship that we can simply focus on the people, past public records, current actions and will they support the people actually working in education.
As President of CEA, a Republican and an active political member of our community, that is often a fine line to walk. But the bottom line is, the majority of us, regardless of political affiliation, support the education of our students to become active, caring and responsible adult members of our community.
With that as our foundation we can build communication amongst ourselves, honest dialogue to discuss our differences and work for common sense solutions.
Unfortunately, we all know people on both sides of the issue that refuse to participate in that dialogue. That adherence to their own point of view takes precedence over everyone and everything else and thus cannot begin to understand that listening and debating each other is one of the great challenges and joys of being an American. 
So it is a sad day when the people we elect and those who want to be elected, decide they don’t need to participate in that dialogue with their constituents. Or instead of discussing issues they argue “process” to avoid the real discussions. All of us have seen this echo chamber building in our school board and it carried over into our interviews or lack thereof. 
There are currently 7 people running for Borough Assembly and 4 people running for School Board. We submitted questionnaires to each candidate’s email of record, twice. And 4 candidates responded. 
Only one incumbent responded. 
That incumbent was Ole Larson running for seat 6 of the School Board, and though the interview ended up not happening at least he responded. 
And there you are. CEA PACE has made their decisions. Do you really want to vote for someone who isn’t going to listen to you? To at least explain their decisions to you. To treat you like an adult rather than a Senior in high school trying to do the job he was elected to do. Just ignored at the podium waiting for an answer. The candidates we have chosen have a history of listening, debating, caring about the opinions of both sides of the aisle. And most of all they support education and the educators who do the work. 
MSCEA PACE committee has voted to support these candidates.
MSBSD School Board Seat 3: Sydney Zuyus 
MSBSD School Board Seat 6: Dianne Shibe
MatSu Borough Assembly Seat 6: Jackson Abney
https://join.nea.org/alaska/

Rick Morgan, President
Classified Employees’ Association
6177 E. Mountain Heather Rd Suite 6
Palmer, Alaska  99645-8442
Office (907) 373-0800 |  Cell (907) 355-6478

What are you waiting for??

Join CEA today!
Every voice is important and every education support professional (ESP) in our bargaining unit is needed. Whether you are a custodian, a paraprofessional, a nutrition service worker, clerical, or facility worker YOU will make a difference.  I hope you will consider standing united with your fellow ESP's in the Mat-Su!
​No other professional organization does more for Alaskan educators. With your support we can protect our profession today, and for the next generation of educators!
​​Join Now!
  We have a great partnership with Grand Canyon University! Below is our contact who lives in Anchorage, give her a call!

Hannah Meneses (is our IN STATE contact!)
University Development Counselor
Grand Canyon University
907-201-1965
hannah.meneses@gcu.ed