Bringing Back Baltimore Campaign Kick Off

The AFT-Maryland, in conjunction with Federation members BTU, CUB, and a host of community and municipal partners, kicked off the Bringing Back Baltimore campaign at Margaret Brent Elementary School in Central Baltimore. The campaign is an effort to bring students back into Baltimore City Public Schools. State funding is tied to enrollment, and the decline in enrollment in Baltimore City Public Schools has led to drastic budget cuts across the school system. This program trains teachers and paraprofessionals to go into the community canvassing and door-knocking to encourage families to bring their young people back to Baltimore City Public Schools.  

AFT-Maryland President Marietta English opened the event with a moment of silence for Baltimore city students who have been recent victims of violence. Several other dignitaries were on hand to kick off the campaign, including Mayor Catherine Pugh, AFT President Randi Weingarten, Councilmembers Mary Pat Clarke & John Bullock, Baltimore City Public Schools CEO Dr. Sonia Santelises, and City Union of Baltimore President Antoinette Ryan-Johnson. AFT Secretary-Treasurer Dr. Lorretta Johnson offered remarks thanking the host of community partners that were helping to go into neighborhoods to get students back into Baltimore City Schools. She also jokingly reminisced about old truancy officers that used to make sure students were in school. President Weingarten cited some of the wonderful programs and schools in Baltimore including Dunbar High School that the returning students could come back to.

Rev. Alvin Hathaway, pastor of Union Baptist Church, mentioned how excited the faith community was to join in the efforts to bring back Baltimore. He noted the 50 years of Head Start that have been ongoing at his church. In a fitting gesture he exclaimed that it was time to “take off your clerical garb and put on your worker garb” while putting on the Bringing Back Baltimore t-shirt.

First Book and an East Baltimore McDonald’s were also present as partners. First Book has already donated more than 250,000 books to the Baltimore Teachers Union in an effort to increase literacy in Baltimore. McDonald’s (on Broadway in East Baltimore) will be having family reading nights during the summer where young people and their families can come in for food and a book on select nights throughout the summer. The reading nights will be June 30th and July 21st.

For more photos from the event, visit our Facebook page.

2017-06-19