At its December 16th meeting, the AFT-Maryland Legislative Committee identified three major areas on which it will focus during the 2014 Maryland legislative session. The committee agreed that the Maryland pension plan, workplace violence prevention, and the Correctional Officers Bill of Rights will be its primary areas of concentration.

Committee members and AFT-Maryland legislative advocates will monitor the pension contributions to state employee pension plan and advocate that the state contribute at least $300 million to the plan for the fiscal year.

Legislative activists also will promote

The American Federation of Teachers, in cooperation with the First Book program, announced that it has distributed 1 million books to teachers, low-income students, community and civic groups. Those books included 400,000 books distributed in the Baltimore area.

Christine Curry of the AFT Paraprofessionals and School Related Personnel Department and coordinator of the book distribution effort in Baltimore called the program, “a huge success.”

AFT-Maryland and Baltimore Teachers Union members and staff helped to sort and distribute over 400,000 books in Baltimore earlier this month.

National and local union leaders spent time on Nov. 1 in two Baltimore City public schools that are turning an AFT Innovation Fund grant into food for thought—and laying the groundwork for constructive implementation of the Common Core State Standards in the process.

Under a grant announced this summer, the Innovation Fund is supporting teams of upper elementary and middle school teachers at Lakeland and Violetville schools. These educators are working with outside partners to develop deep, interdisciplinary investigations with a STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) focus

AFT President Randi Weingarten will visit two Baltimore City public schools on Nov. 1, 2013 that are using an AFT Innovation Fund grant to develop project-based learning focused on the origins of students’ food, healthy food choices, sustainable urban farming and gardening. Joining Weingarten will be AFT Secretary-Treasurer Lorretta Johnson and Baltimore Teachers Union President Marietta English, who is also an AFT vice president.

The AFT Innovation Fund grant was awarded in July to the Baltimore Teachers Union, which in turn selected Lakeland and Violetville elementary/middle schools for the

AFT-Maryland President Marietta English will attend the Civil, Human, and Women’s Rights Conference in Los Angles, California, this week. Sponsored by the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the conference is being held October 3rd through October 6th.  The conference focuses on encouraging the Department of Labor and the Congress to create better policies for helping American families, extending the benefits of family and medical leave assistance, and promoting stronger and more effective family and medical leave benefits for women and working families.