Campaign to Rally Educators, School Service Workers, Community, Families and Students to Win the Schools All Students Deserve.
Prince George’s County, MD: On Thursday, March 31st the Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools Prince George’s County (AROS PG) – a coalition including CASA, Progressive Maryland, Prince George’s County Change Makers, Poor People’s Campaign-Prince George’s, Prince George’s County Educators’ Association (PGCEA) and ACE-AFSCME Local 2250 – is finishing up their “Pandemic to Promise: Vote Your Dreams” Pickup Truck Tour whose purpose is to illustrate that “there is no daylight between” the needs and wishes of community members, students, parents, school bus drivers and faith leaders when it comes to creating quality schools. PGCEA is stepping up and making that unity real through their Bargaining for the Common Good campaign this Thursday, when they will introduce community proposals into their contract negotiations with the school district .
“We are involved in this work because our schools belong to all of us: the students who learn in them, the parents who support them, the educators and staff who work in them and the communities that they anchor,” said PGCEA President Donna Christy. “When we invest in our public schools we are investing in our community, our children and ultimately in the growth and improvement of Prince George’s County.”
Bargaining for the Common Good is a transparent method of open bargaining, where educators, parents, students and community allies have the opportunity to jointly voice concerns and solutions to school districts, working together to win the best educational conditions possible. It is being adopted around the country, most notably in Chicago, Los Angeles and now in Prince George’s County.
The “Vote Your Dreams” Tour is the culmination of a broader community engagement campaign of AROS-PG, who held a dozen listening sessions with parents, received hundreds of responses to a survey, and then used the data to create a report on the educational needs and wants of our community (PG Co AROS Recommendations for PGCEA BCG Platform).
Narrowing down those issues is the job of From Pandemic to Promise: Vote Your Dreams Pickup Truck Tour.
Our pickup truck has traveled for the past 12 days to schools, school bus lots, food distribution lines, churches, and community centers to ask our community to VOTE their Dreams! So far, about 500 community members have Voted their Dreams!
The final days of the tour will be this Wednesday, March 30th and Thursday, March 31st. See below for details. Then stay tuned for the RESULTS.
