Congratulations!
We made it through another school year full of transformation due to COVID 19 and the heinous murder of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis. We also saw the governor veto the Blueprint for excellence. Your commitment to our students and families is invaluable to our County. As we move forward, we will continue to work with management on the reopening of our schools. We are aware of your concerns on reopening and we are focusing opening the schools we want to see with smaller class sizes, restorative practices, trauma informed instruction, social emotional learning, better staffing in related services, culturally relevant curriculum, more counselors, and the continued implementation of Community Schools. Why not open the schools the community wants? Please check your personal email as plans are being made for reopening and we want to keep you informed on how we win the schools we want to see when reopening occurs.
On June 16th we held a Zoom call with members featuring Keron Blair the Executive Director of the National Alliance to Reclaim our schools. PGCEA has been working locally with the Alliance to Reclaim our Schools Prince George’s along with the Prince George’s NAACP, CASA Maryland, and Progressive Maryland for two years. We must continue this work and engage more Community groups, churches, parent groups, and local leaders. If you are a member of homeowner’s association, church, community group or panhelic, please ask you group to sign on to be a part of the Alliance to Reform our Schools PG. Our website is
Alliancetoreclaimpg.org
. You can find our Guiding Principles, and a sign on letter on the website to take to your leader.
Thank you to the members who participated in Black Lives Matter activities this week. We chalked Blacck Lives Matter in front of the Wayne Curry Administration Building and volunteered and walked in the Juneteenth Black Lives Matter Walk from Glenarden Municipal Center to FEDX Field. Vice President Yvonne Baicich, Robin McNair, Joanne Lewis, Kayla Moore, Gaynell Corey-Bey, Margarite Matthews, Claudette Clark and others weathered the rain and volunteered to work the sign-up table, walk and work at check points. We are TEAMPGCEA! The Juneteenth March was sponsored by the Prince George’s Young Democrats with support from PGCEA.
Conditional teachers should continue to take classes as possible. There has been no extension from MSDE at this writing on coursework.
Virtual NEA Representative Assembly and Virtual MSEA Convention in October. If you were elected to be a delegate for the NEA Convention in Atlanta or the MSEA Convention in October both events will be virtual. The NEA Registration must be completed by the 24th for NEA if you are a delegate. MSEA will be later in September.
Social Justice Summer Series events will be announced next week. June 28.
Volunteers will be needed to assist with PEIP. Professional Employee Induction Program in August. We need to put together our PGCEA Swag bags. Each year we have lunch with the President in late July. This year we will limit the number of participants for social distancing..
Unit member summer pay will continue uninterrupted. Our contract is being honored in the budget process so negotiated contract will be funded for next year.
Stay tuned over the summer!
Theresa Mitchell Dudley
