AFT-Maryland as well as the Baltimore Teachers Union, Local 340 are a part of the Baltimore Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools (AROS) and were involved in efforts to create the people’s education platform. The platform identified 14 different educational priorities parents, students, education professionals, and community members alike could vote for as their top issues. Some of the priorities people could choose were practical job and life skills, significant reduction in standardized testing, as well as more resource classes, field trips, and cultural experiences, just to name a few.
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Over the course of about two months, the Baltimore AROS set up informational tables at schools, farmers’ markets, and community events to gather community input for the priorities. Once the final tabulation of all community input is taken, Baltimore AROS will present the platform to the Maryland Gubernatorial candidates to secure each candidate’s support for the issues. The grassroots effort at community input demonstrates the commitment of AROS to democratic, community-driven priorities to education policy.
AFT-Maryland’s efforts were led by Community Engagement Director Jeffery Johnson and were supported by the entire state federation. Beyond just community outreach, this action was a service to members who are education professionals as the Baltimore AROS went directly to them, often at their place of work, to hear from members what their policy priorities were. The community response was strong with parents, educators, students, and community members all eager to chip in. For those who missed the mobile voting stations or who didn’t have time to vote on location, Baltimore AROS set up online voting. If you didn’t get the opportunity to weigh in on the priorities, click the link below and cast your vote.
https://aftmd.us/peoplesplatformeducation
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