Thousands of Montana teachers will convene in Great Falls for the event

The annual Educator Conference is returning to Great Falls after a 22-year hiatus.
The conference will bring several thousand Montana K-12 teachers and school paraprofessionals to Great Falls. The conference will take place at CMR High School, October 15-16, 2020.
Every year, the Educator Conference allows Montana educators to get the continuing education they need to renew their teaching licenses. The conference lets educators meet and share effective teaching techniques with colleagues from around the state.
“We’re so excited that the conference is coming back to Great Falls,” said Shelli Lavinder-Schwalk, president of the Great Falls Education Association (GFEA). “We look forward to welcoming our fellow educators from across Montana.”
GFEA members will play a crucial role in the conference, Lavinder-Schwalk said. “A conference this size is a monumental undertaking, and local teachers volunteer hundreds of hours to make it a success.”
GFEA is an affiliate of MEA-MFT, Montana’s union for K-12 teachers and other public employees. MEA-MFT organizes and funds the conference each year, teaming up with 16 Montana curriculum groups to put on the conference.
Curriculum groups involved include math, science, and technology teachers, art teachers, language, civics, and social studies teachers, school counselors, and many others.
The Educator Conference is the largest professional development opportunity of its kind for K-12 teachers in the Pacific Northwest region. Each year, Montana teachers can choose from hundreds of workshops and keynote addresses on every education topic imaginable. 

Thirteen of your members spent their Saturday representing you at a special Representative Assembly on January 20, 2018. Eric Bush, Tom Cubbage, Stacey Cook Dobbyn, Jerry Ferderer, Bob Griffith, Gary Jenkins, Jolyn Johnson, Terri Jones, Pam Margaris, Alex Rosenleaf, Kari Rosenleaf, Amy Sterling and Cherie Stordahl drove or rode a yellow school bus to Helena and joined MEA-MFT and MPEA members to discuss, and then, vote on the proposed constitution which if approved would merge the two unions into one. 
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The body heard from President Feaver and Tom Schneider as well as Melissa Romano and Moffie Funk during the opening of the meeting. Eric Burke and Quint Nyman discussed the newly proposed constitution. After lunch was served the two delegations separated for a ratification vote. MEA-MFT members first heard from Morgan Smith, Shelli Lavinder Schwalk and Tammi Phillippi regarding how to effectively organize members. The time then came to vote on the constitution. Although the vote was not unanimous, the constitution was ratified by both delegations and a new union was formed.

Read the official press release here: www.mea-mft.org/Articles/its_official_mea-mft_mpea_are_merged.aspx

Teachers from across the state, including 35 Great Falls teachers, gathered at Heritage Hall to participate in two days of teacher led learning. 
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“Elevating and Celebrating Effective Teaching and Teachers was founded on two strongly held beliefs: nothing in education matters more than great teaching and nobody knows teaching like teachers. Designed “for teachers, by teachers,” ECET2 harnesses teachers’ passion for serving their students and their intellectual hunger to solve the challenges in their profession. It creates the connections and supports for teachers to become decision makers, innovators, and leaders — not just in their classrooms but also in their school, district, state, and even nationally"

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