Who is Melissa Greenstein?
My husband and I met and started dating in high school, and have been together ever since. I went to college to be a math educator, graduating from the State University of New York College at Cortland with a Bachelor’s of Science in Mathematics Education, and a Master’s of Science in Mathematics Education from the State University of New York at New Paltz. I taught for three years and four summers in Dutchess and Westchester counties before getting married and moving to join my active duty Navy husband. After a brief time living in Florida, we relocated to Washington state, where I taught in middle schools, a high school and a community college. From there, we were stationed in Japan, where our first daughter was born, and then we returned to the States where our youngest daughter was born.
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Education
As a former educator, I understand the innate challenges of teaching, but I also know that during the pandemic, teachers’ jobs have gotten even harder. Having to adjust to constantly changing COVID restrictions and schedules while still providing a quality education to all students pushed many educators to their limits. Additionally, the regular teaching obstacles such as large class sizes and excessive standardized testing prep didn’t disappear during the pandemic. If anything, COVID exacerbated and exposed many of the unfair challenges teachers face every day in the classroom.
As your state representative, I will:
- Fight for better teacher salaries- Teachers are undervalued and underpaid
- Advocate for smaller class sizes- I know how hard it is to effectively teach a class of 35 students
- Promote less standardized testing
- End book bans- We need to respect and trust teachers
- Work to reframe state standards and curriculum- We need to make it so that teachers aren’t so prescribed and have more flexibility to be the best teacher they can be
Healthcare
As the mother of a child with a life-threatening medical condition, I know too well the challenges everyday people face in navigating our broken healthcare system. Getting a straight answer about the costs of care is nearly impossible, and the prices of everything from epinephrine to insulin are nothing short of outrageous. Access to life-saving medication and comprehensive treatment is something that we all deserve - especially our children. And we shouldn’t have to deal with intentionally confusing policies and greedy companies to get it.
As your state representative, I will:
- Fight to enact Medicaid expansion in Missouri, because the majority of Missourians voted for it.
- Work to improve public access to emergency medications such as epinephrine and narcan, and to decrease the price of your prescriptions.
- Strive to improve access to mental healthcare and mental healthcare professionals across our state.
- Endeavor to increase access to social workers, especially through educational institutions.
- Protect the right of Missourians to make their own reproductive healthcare decisions, including abortion access, without burdensome government interference.
Voting Rights
In our country, one of the most powerful tools we possess is the right to have our voices heard through voting. I’ve driven hundreds of miles to exercise that right, and know that many of us have gone to even greater lengths to make our voices heard. However, extremist politicians know that a majority of their constituents do not agree with their beliefs and agendas. That’s why bad actors in our state and across the U.S. would sooner undo this fundamental right than lose power in a fair and accessible election. I say enough is enough.
As your state representative, I will:
- Work to make it easier to register to vote, and to better educate our students and citizens on how they can register to vote.
- Fight to make voting easier through early voting and accessible mail-in/absentee voting
- Fight back against intentionally suppressive ID laws that stop eligible voters from casting a ballot.
- Work to improve clarity in ballot measure proposals, so that regular people can understand what exactly they’re voting for or against.
Equality, always
Black lives matter. Members of the LGBTQ+ community, and anyone who identifies outside of the gender binary, are in a protected class and deserve to feel safe. Disabled people deserve to be seen and accommodated. People of all ages, backgrounds and faith traditions have a right to live their lives with dignity, and without fear of exclusion, suppression, or mistreatment. This district is for all of us.
As your representative I will:
- Identify racism for what it is, where it is, and work diligently to remove the barriers to success and civic participation that minorities face every day.
- Push for comprehensive criminal justice reform.
- Protect gay rights, including the right to gay marriage
- Fight for trans individuals to keep access to gender-affirming healthcare, and oppose laws that would keep trans children from playing sports with the gender they identify with.
- Work to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment.
- Advocate for disabled people and for a comprehensive approach to improving accessibility and accommodation across our state.
