To become competitive in our region and address the educator shortage, we must go beyond the educator compensation outlined in The Maryland Blueprint for the Future. 

Our salary scale must recruit and retain the best educators, keep healthcare costs reasonable while offering excellent benefits, and guarantee tuition and continuing education reimbursements to all who qualify.

Families and educators agree that smaller class sizes across Prince George’s County Public School system are a priority. Research has proven time and again that children learn better in classes that are not overcrowded. Staff workloads and related services ratios must allow intensive and meaningful interventions and support. Prince George’s County Public School system must address class sizes and ratios that negatively impact teaching and learning.

Our school day is overburdened by testing. Testing and other assessments can be beneficial when they provide helpful and timely data for educators, students, and families. Instructional time must be prioritized over testing. Student assessment and accountability must be based on authentic and meaningful student experiences.

Educators are best positioned to understand how their students learn, and they need the trust, academic freedom and respect to employ classroom strategies that accelerate student learning. Educators must be leaders in developing and implementing a curriculum designed to create a love of learning that will serve our students well beyond graduation. Appropriate training, meaningful professional development, and adequate preparation time are essential to successful curriculum and program implementation.

Educators want to spend more time planning their lessons and working with their students and less time on burdensome and unnecessary paperwork, documentation, and needless micromanagement. Educators need adequate preparation time and instructional support to prepare Prince George’s County students for college and careers. Unnecessary, duplicative, and time-consuming requirements and non-academic duties must be reduced so educators can focus their time and expertise on their students.

Many of our students bring a significant legacy of trauma and pain with them to school. We must create a school system that is responsive to their social and emotional needs through the expansion of restorative practices, trauma-informed instruction, social-emotional learning, and mental health support. Educators need tools, training, and support to respond immediately to behavioral disruption in the classroom and stay focused on student learning. Our community schools model requires all schools to have strong community involvement and provide essential services to students and families.

Educators and students thrive in safe and supportive learning environments. Too often, administrators intimidate staff weakening morale and driving educators to leave the system. Accountability must be improved to eliminate supervisors’ retaliatory and intimidating behavior. Our educators need the same commitment to customer service from central office and site-based administration that they are expected to provide students and families.