News

We're Voting YES for AFT!

Our local union, the Maryland School for the Deaf Faculty and Staff Association, Local 4828, believes we should have a union with Collective Bargaining Rights! Our Organizing Committee (the OC) has been collecting videos from MSD employees on why they agree that we all need collective bargaining rights for a fair and equitable workplace. See all of the videos on YouTube at aftmd.us/MSDVotesYes

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Over 200 colleagues present our Union Mission to the administration

On Monday morning, during staff day at Columbia campus, we, the MSD faculty and staff, delivered a letter to acting superintendents Jennifer Ortiz and Ann Miller. Two hundred plus colleagues gathered together near the lobby of Denton while a representative group of MSD workers met with administrators and presented our union mission statement. Click through to see photos and to read MORE

Stating our mission to the MSD Administration

Dear MSD Administration: We are writing this letter to declare that staff at Maryland School for the Deaf have come together to strengthen our union and to exercise our right to collective bargaining. After years of salary freezes and other challenges within our school, we believe that faculty and staff should have a greater voice in decisions at MSD. We believe in MSD and we hold deeply the values of equity and excellence in education that characterize our school’s mission. We believe... CLICK TO READ MORE

Activists Seek Full Funding for MSD from the State

The Faculty and staff for the Maryland School for the Deaf (MSDFSA Local 4828) are hard at work to get Governor Hogan to do what is right and fully fund the Maryland School for the Deaf. The school is one of the premier institutions serving students with unique capabilities and the faculty and staff of that institution are among the best and brightest in the nation. Unfortunately, resources have not always been shared with the institution and the faculty and staff have been using collective action to address the apparent neglect.

Click to watch video from the press conference.

Members took

Town Hall: Understanding Workers' Comp and COVID-19

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Understanding Workers' Comp
and Maryland Presumptive Language on COVID-19.

Tuesday, February 23, 2021
from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m.
via Zoom Webinar.

CLICK FOR

Maryland’s Unsung Heroes On The Front Line: Deborah Hill

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_original","fid":"68257","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image media-image-right","style":"width: 33%; border-width: 1px; border-style: solid; margin: 3px 2px; float: right;"}}]]Deborah Hill is a dedicated state employee having worked at the Maryland School for the Deaf, Columbia Campus for the past 29 years. She has worked in a number of varied positions during her time at the Howard County campus. Her work has placed her in the dormitory as a dorm counselor and a teacher aide where she served on the crisis intervention team. Her work in the campus community isn’t limited to just the dorm or the classroom as she also served as a union representative for four years. Currently, she is an elementary department secretary (clerical aide); she’s spent five years in this role.

CLICK TO READ

As the 2020 Maryland Legislative Session approaches, the unions of AFT-Maryland are working to ensure their agendas are front and center on the minds of legislators. The Maryland School for the Deaf Faculty and Staff Association (MSD) is one of the unions who have been active lately to ensure their members concerns are addressed by the General Assembly. The union is working on ensuring that its members are included on the career teacher career ladder that will be a part of the Blueprint for Maryland Schools (Kirwan Commission) legislation. MSD VP Jackie Gruers and a delegation of AFT-Maryland

Randi Weingarten and NYC teacher Tamara Simpson

Attacks on public education in America by extremists and culture-war peddling politicians have reached new heights (“lows” may be more apt), but they are not new. The difference today is that the attacks are intended not just to undermine public education but to destroy it.

Lobby Night in Annapolis

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_original","fid":"42452","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image media-image-right","style":"width: 25%; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px; float: right;"}}]]Join AFT-Maryland for
LOBBY NIGHT IN ANNAPOLIS
Monday, January 30th, 2017

Buses will depart from AFT-Maryland at 5:15 p.m.
4701 Mt. Hope Drive, Baltimore, MD 21215

Sandwiches & Soft drinks will be provided on the bus.

For more information and to RESERVE YOUR SEAT on the bus, contact Todd Reynolds (443)320-4719 or treynolds@aftmd.org.

IN ADDITION....

The 2016 AFT National Convention in Minneapolis, MN was one for the ages. Not only was it the 100th anniversary of the union, but there were a number of high profile elected officials and social justice activists that addressed the convention. The members even took to the streets themselves to put the rhetoric into action. The AFT-Maryland delegation was not only well represented but they also had a strong impact on the presentations and displays during the convention.

The convention kicked off with President Randi Weingarten’s state of the union address. Included in her remarks were a number