News

STATEMENT FROM AFT-MARYLAND PRESIDENT MARIETTA ENGLISH
ON THE RECENT MASS SHOOTINGS IN TEXAS AND OHIO

Over the weekend, the nation once again witnessed violence in its worst form: mass shootings that took the lives of nearly 30 people in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio. These shootings are again abhorrent and represent the worst in human behavior. They demonstrate that too many Americans use violence as the language with which they communicate. While we are still waiting for a motive in the Dayton shooting, we know the violence in El Paso was motivated by white supremacist xenophobia and ethnic hatred. We also know the shooter was inspired by the words and behavior of our president. White supremacist violence has long haunted many Americans and has resulted in the death of too many black and brown people.

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In AFT President Randi Weingarten’s latest column in the New York Times, she writes that, despite President Trump’s claims that we have the “best economy ever,” his policies are harming working and middle-class Americans, many of whom are struggling just to get by. “Our political and economic systems are so weighted toward the wealthy that opportunity will only come through the power of collective action,” she writes, using “the surest vehicles to increase opportunity for ordinary Americans”—public education, labor unions and voting. Read the full column.

The 2019 cohort of teachers that made up the Baltimore Teachers Union Teacher Leaders Program displayed their work before an audience of peers and supporters at their closing exercise. The Teacher Leader program is funded by a grant from AFT.

Some of education’s biggest problems come with its littlest students. At a working breakfast for paraprofessionals in prekindergarten, early childhood and Head Start, members swapped strategies for solving problems. Their discussion came during the AFT PSRP conference last week in Las Vegas, where paras from all over the country zeroed in on professional development and adequate classroom coverage.