Skilled worker shortage leads to efforts to strengthen future workforce

June 30, 2021

MARQUETTE — In the next 15 years, 48% of skilled workers in Michigan will retire, and companies are already struggling to fill those openings, according to Norm Brady, the president of the Associated Builders and Contractors Western Michigan chapter. “The No. 1 topic that we hear from our members is that they’re having a hard time finding the help they need,” Brady said. Brady said the problem is a result of fewer young people coming into the job market. “In 2008 there were 127,000 high school graduates in the state. That number has declined every year since then,” he ...

Bridge to RECOGNITION

June 23, 2021

NEGAUNEE — National recognition has again come to Negaunee High School. The NHS bridge building teams have been named the top four teams in the United States following this spring’s national Trac Bridge Virtual Showcase, which was held virtually because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The ...

Education students claim inequities in internship program

June 23, 2021

LANSING — Are teacher preparation programs driving prospective educators away from the field? Teacher certification in the state fell 24% between 2013-2017, according to a 2020 survey for the Michigan Education Association. The study also found that more than one in 10 elementary and secondary educators plan to change careers in the next three years. Lack of respect, inadequate salaries and overly demanding workloads were cited as a few of the top forces driving them out of the field. Michigan State University students mirrored similar sentiments in a 2020 survey about the ...

‘A Big Read’

June 16, 2021

MARQUETTE — Peter White Public Library is one of 61 organizations nationwide selected to receive a 2021-2022 NEA Big Read grant. A grant of $20,000 will support a community reading program focusing on Joy Harjo’s “An American Sunrise” this fall. An initiative of the National ...

Schools across US brace for surge of kindergartners in fall

June 16, 2021

School districts across the United States are hiring additional teachers in anticipation of what will be one of the largest kindergarten classes ever as enrollment rebounds following the coronavirus pandemic. As they await the arrival next fall of students who sat out the current school ...

Confidence breeds COMFORT

June 9, 2021

MARQUETTE — Teachers can have a lot of BRIGHT ideas. Kyle Saari, a fifth-grade teacher at Negaunee Middle School, was featured on a recent statewide series about innovation in Michigan classrooms — the BRIGHT series — and making school a place where students want to be. “Educators ...