By Adam Pagnucco.
The Montgomery County Education Association (MCEA) has announced that it is planning a rally for safe schools outside MCPS headquarters on Tuesday. The rally will be a socially distanced car picket. MCEA’s press release is reprinted below.
*****
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, February 19, 2021
Media Contact: Kiwana Hall
khall@mceanea.org
Montgomery County Education Association to Rally in Demand of Safe and Equitable Reopening of Schools
ROCKVILLE, MD – Frontline Montgomery County educators will hold a socially-distanced, collective action outside Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) headquarters in the form of a car picket and rally. Members of Montgomery County Education Association (MCEA) are demanding that the MCPS Board of Education consider equitable solutions for the safe reopening of schools.
Who: Montgomery County educators and community members
What: Car picket and rally
When: Tuesday, February 23, 2021
Members, Parents, and Community Supporters arrive at 4:30 p.m.
Picket line and program begins at 5 p.m.
Where: MCPS headquarters at 850 Hungerford Drive, Rockville, Maryland 20850
Note: Montgomery County educators will be available for interviews at the demonstration, or by request in advance.
Why: MCPS approved a reopening plan that MCEA found requires “more space, more people, and more resources than are now available,” and has inadequate safety measures for students and educators. As a result, the association took a vote of no confidence in the plan.
MCEA members demand that MCPS adhere to CDC guidelines regarding the physical reopening of school buildings, implement a contact tracing and testing program, and provide all employees the opportunity to be fully vaccinated before a return to in-person instruction.
The system must also develop a building reopening plan for the adequate staffing of all instructional models, particularly those that directly serve Black and brown students, and students impacted by poverty, without diminishing access to staff and services that supplement required direct instruction.