All Politics Is Local - Maryland
A Podcast to educate and inform a younger generation of voters beyond the ballot box about local civic matters in the state of Maryland and Prince George's County.
All Politics Is Local - Maryland
PGCPS in Crisis - Veteran Teachers' Salaries and Ouster of Former Superintendent Millard House, II
Listen in as Tamara discusses the teacher salary scale with Prince George's County Educators Association union member, Stephanny Powell, a teacher at Melwood Elementary School. Learn how you can engage and ask our Prince George's County Board of Education to be transparent with our tax dollars they are spending and how you can be an advocate for our educators, especially seasoned and veteran teachers.
Welcome back to another episode of All Politics Association with me, your host, Tamara. I have a good friend that I'm interviewing today, Miss Stephanie Powell. Now, I know Miss Powell because she and I both had children at Prince George's County Schools together, specifically John Hansen Montessori School, and we were both very active in our PTSA. Little did I know though, um, I don't think I knew at the time that she was also an educator in the school system. And I just knew her. We called ourselves the PTSA Warriors back in the day because if there was anything that the Montessori school needed or lacked, we were on it. We were at the school board meetings, we had the administrators to come in to our um school and said, hey, we need to protect the integrity of the Montessori program and curriculum. You guys are getting way too off-focus with all these tests, state-mandated tests and everything. And so we really advocated for a true and authentic Montessori curriculum and classrooms at the um pre-K level all the way up to eighth grade. So welcome, Miss Powell. Glad to have you on All Politics is local.
SPEAKER_00:I am so glad to be here with you today.
SPEAKER_02:Thank you, thank you, thank you. So we're gonna just jump uh right in. So besides being a Montessori mom, tell us a little bit more about yourself. Give us a little bit more bio for our listeners.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, absolutely. Thank you. I'm so glad to have you when you when you were sharing that. I was like, yeah, we did a lot. Not only did we do it for our ch for our children, but we also instilled that our children now become advocates. And so I have been in the um in the state of Maryland for 28 years. Um more specifically, I've been um in Clinton, Maryland, for about 21 years of those 28 years. I um graduated of um Howard University. I graduated with a pre-law degree, um, administration of justice. And then I came back, um, went back to New York. I'm originally from Jamaica by way of New York, went back into New York, came back to get my um master's in education. And so at the time when I was advocating um for our children, I was not working in Prince George's County, I was working in the District of Columbia Public School. And so I, yes, so I was an educator then, but many individuals didn't know because it was just really I wanted them to focus on, as you said, making sure that our children get what they need. And so been advocating for um for a while, been a part of the union um for a long time out of um Washington, DC, um, as well. Um, I am uh I'm a mom. I love to advocate for um for our children. I love public education. And um I I love to really make sure that not only our children are getting what is needed, but also our educators as well. So those are the things that I've been doing, been an elected um building rep for my school, been mentored to new teachers, been a delegate for um NEA and MSEA. And so that's just a little bit um, you know, of my background. And I've been an educator for over 32 years.
SPEAKER_02:We are both Howard University grads. H U, U. H U, don't you know? So glad to hear that. I don't think I knew that about you, um, that you were a Howard uh graduate as well. So um we know that the advocacy runs deep.
SPEAKER_03:Absolutely.
SPEAKER_02:You know, at the law school they called us uh we were told to be social engineers. And that's what really kind of led me into this whole life of public policy following civics and really using my law degree to be of benefit to the community to break down what the law actually says in layman's term and what it really means once it's implemented and and impacted and you know, try to break through that tra um that legal ease and bring transparency and accountability um for our government. Cause I I I think the only way that we can have a government that's of the people, by the people, and for the people is to have an educated electorate that you just and that's the whole purpose of this podcast. It's not just it's for you to move past being um going to the ballot box and s and voting and saying, I've done my constitutional duty, and then you just let the the legislators and those you elected in office, you know, continue to do whatever they want to do at will. And we see where our government is now in terms of the of our um federal government, but it trickles down also to our local government and school boards and and so forth. And so I think it's really important that we have these conversations um about local government as well, and that's why the podcast is is named All Politics is local, because what really matters at the end of the day is what's happening in your local school boards, what's happening in your county councils, city council meetings, all of those things affect you more directly and impact you more directly than even at the federal level. Yeah, things have changed at the federal level, so I can't say it's hasn't impacted us more directly. It certainly has. We've even um experienced it in our own household. Um, but so tell me how long you have actually been an educator in PGCPS, because you said you've been an educator for over 30 years. Yes. In PGCPS, how long have you been an educator?
SPEAKER_00:Um it's around 20. It's around 20 years.
SPEAKER_02:Yes. Okay. So now tell us about, and I had no idea until I started receiving your emails of late that PGC EA even had a black caucus. Uh because uh for those of you who are listening that may not live in in Maryland or specifically in Prince George's County, Prince George's County is a predominantly African American county in terms of population. And so most of the educators and administrators for that matter, and members of our school board are African American. So tell us about the PG CEA Black Caucus, kind of how it got started, what we actually needed. Go ahead.
SPEAKER_00:Absolutely. And so um I am a part of the NEA Black Caucus. So that is the National Education Association Black Caucus. And I recognize being in um in Prince George's County, and and as you stated, majority of our educators are, you know, predominantly black. And I realized that there was a missing piece where we did not have a caucus to address the needs of our black and brown students and educators. And so when I went to um the last um I went to the last NEA RA, that's the National Education Association um RA, we meet every once a year. Um, I connected with the Black Caucus, the NEA Black Caucus, which I'm a member of. And one of the action items that we wanted, I said it was important for us to be able to start a black caucus within our local. And so that was something that um that I took. And um, you know, I went to Baton Rouge, Louisiana. They had a conference there. I shared with them this was what I wanted to do. And um that, you know, and they gave me all, you know, all of the things that I needed to be able to move forward. And so fast forward in 2023, Prince George's County Education Association, that's my local, which I'm a part of, they um um added something to our um to our bylaws and to the policy where we could establish our own caucus. And so I was like, here we go. And so I was able to like, okay, this is one that is necessary and that's needed because of so many different issues that um our educators are going through, our students or black and brown students are are going through. And we wanted to make sure that we have a caucus that would support um these black and our black and brown students and and and educators alike. And so that's what we did. Um I fought, I went out, and as you said, our Howard, um, as an Howard graduate, it has been ensuing us how to advocate and how to get things moving. And so I went out and I, you know, got petitioned, I got um our members to sign, over a hundred members to sign saying that this was what we needed to see. And so fast forward, it is it is it is actually brand new because we're in like our second year. So we finally got our official push. We had to go against the grain to be able to get it. You know, we finally got got it um last year, um, the end of like last October. However, we were doing things before we um officially got our title. When we were in um Pennsylvania last year, there was a stripe. We actually came together and collected um um toiletry for the homeless. So those are some of the things that we wanted to do to be impactful to our community as well.
SPEAKER_02:Okay, absolutely. Okay, so this, okay, this, so this is new. I was like, Yes, this has been has this been around a long time? I come I'm just gonna be. No, it's about weird. Okay, okay. Very good, very good.
SPEAKER_00:And so I'm assuming your role in the caucus uh is there any like elected uh is the yes currently I I am the chair of the chair and the founder right now, and so we're putting things in place so that we the membership, what we did was the membership for this year and um was free, right? So we didn't charge anything. We just wanted the individuals, the members who are part of it to understand that they they're gonna have to do some fundraiser and they're gonna have to give back, right? Because we want to be able to, we actually gave out a scholarship um the last May to um in the in the tools of$500 um to the Prince George's County Education Foundation. So we wanna be um, you know, um purposeful and we wanna be able to make sure that we are um having an impact on our students and our educators.
SPEAKER_02:Okay, very good, very good. All right, so now I understand um how the Black Caucus started and and and everything, and and um thank you for sharing that because again, that was something that I did not know existed in this county. Um so one of the things that you have been sounding the alarm about is the teachers' unions contracts, and your emails have been very eye-opening, if you will, so very informative, but also very detailed. And so we want to just kind of keep it very simple here for our listeners. But what's the primary issue that you have been sounding the alarm about with the recent ratification of the teachers' union contract in Prince George's County Public Schools?
SPEAKER_00:Yes, so we have currently now about 9,000 members, and we have members that are master educators, expert educators, veteran um educators, and they are at the top of the salary scale. And so what we have been saying is that we want a fair contract for all 9,000 members. So currently what it is, what has happened, what has um been um negotiated um is that the the the two the newer teachers that are coming in, they get a 24% raise in three years. While the senior teachers, the teachers who are the veteran teachers, were only um they only negotiated a 9% um in well, it's not even an increase because we're getting 4% less than what we have been getting over the last three years. And so that's problematic, right? And so um I've been sharing with um with our members, um, we also had a contract that we never we did not see the details of the contract, right? And so until last week when they wanted us to vote on the contract. So a lot of information in the contract does not support the educator, does not protect um the educator. And I wanted educators to know that it's not only just the money, um, it is also the fact that we have not acquired any more additional um planning time. We've been talking, and the the teachers have such an uh overload on things that need to be done. And we have asked for that. We did not get that, we're not safer um in the school. If um if the teachers are attacked, we don't have a salt leaf, but the principal do. So there's a lot of different um diff different um components of the contract that is not beneficial to our educators.
SPEAKER_02:Okay, I I I get it, I get it. And that's unfortunate in terms of our veteran teachers, because we're always hearing about teacher shortage, um, not just nationwide, but specifically here in Prince George's County. And if the teachers are the veteran teachers are feeling like, well, actually, I'm not getting even a 9%, I'm really getting a 4% increase. Yet you're bringing in the newer teachers with a much higher increase. What is there, why is there a reason for me to to to stick around, you know, and then that adds to the shortage. So we see, you know, a lot of retirement of our veteran teachers who are the really good educators. And and I can kind of relate to this because um I don't know if you knew, Stephanie, that my um sister was an educator um in the um in Houston, well, actually the umble independent school district. And I used to always say to her, you should always stay in a classroom. I went to visit her in a classroom and she just had total command of her classroom. But her salary, I guess she also got to, you know, the high end of the salary. And the only thing you can do is bec go into administration. You can't keep a teacher in the classroom and pay them a higher salary, which I think they should do be simply because they are the veteran teachers, they have experience and exposure. And not everybody is meant to be an administrator or a boss. They need to be able to take that salary higher. You know, you know, in the United States, we can pay millions and millions of dollars for somebody to run, you know, run with the ball, bounce a ball, do this and that, but yet we're paying 20,000, 30, 40, 50,000 to educate uh the next generation of leaders in our country. And we don't understand why things are falling apart the the way they are. People are not educated, people are not being critical thinkers. Yes. That we know in the monastery w world that you train your children to be critical thinkers, not to take a test, but to be able to problem solve. And that's what we need in this country, problem solvers. So it's um I'm I'm saddened to hear that our veteran and seasoned educators are um not able to get the same amount of rate increase and raises that some of the younger and so forth, and and now it's I have a better understanding of why so many are leaving the profession. In addition to the fact of what you talked about, how the discipline is an issue. And if someone is attacked, you know, if it's a principal, they can get leave. But if it's an educator, they don't have that same, that same protection, that same ability to have a benefit to get leave and so forth. And so um, you know, I'm really praying for our educators, um, praying that we do the the right thing for and by them. And that's really a a job of the Prince George's County School Board. And we'll we'll talk about that a little later, but thanks. Thanks for outlining those three things that those issues are. So it's salary specifically for our veteran teachers. It's benefits for if um a teacher is assaulted, and it's more common, telling the listeners now, it's more common than you think it is that this happens. You you may see a a few videos go viral here, there or whatever, but it's absolutely more common. I don't know where these what these parents are doing or telling their students, their children about uh respecting authority and respecting adults, but it's got to change. And until it changes, we need to be on the side of our educators and our teachers and supporting them that this nonsense has to stop. Yes. And if it doesn't stop, you've got to give them benefits to help deal with the altercations and the issues. And and and you know, it's not it should be non-negotiable.
SPEAKER_03:I agree.
SPEAKER_02:Yep, yep, yep. So thank you for outlining um that. But it's easy to say what the problem is, and this is one thing that I always uh try to do. It's like it's easy to say what the problem is and complain about it. But my next question to you is what should educators be doing to actually resolve this issue? Now I know you are spotlighting and highlighting these issues with respect to the the the contract. And tell me before we talk about the resolutions, how long is the contract good for?
SPEAKER_00:So the contract is good for three years, so it's gonna run from 2020, um, 2025, 2026 to 20 um to 2028. So it is good for three years.
SPEAKER_02:Okay, okay. So because the contract is um good for three years, the fact that it's been ratified and it's in place, what can an educator do now to all to resolve this issue? Can they go back and say, hey, we want a new contract ratified? Can they tell the leadership can we want a new contract ratified? Um, do they have to wait for the three years? Obviously, you want to be proactive and get get ready to to make your demands to the school board and the administration, you know, in year maybe 2027, you know, maybe even starting as early as next year. But what can um the educators do now? Because I see, like I said, I see your emails, I see you educating them, talking about the different step increases and the and what have you. But what um what can we do now so that they're not caught unaware and vote on a contract that they really don't know the terms in? And how did that happen anyway? How do you vote on something that has not been shared with you, the details of which has not been shared with you? You've already started the school system and you just saw the contract last week. The specific details. What uh again, transparency, you know, I I don't even understand how that works.
SPEAKER_00:Yes. Yes, yes. And and that's where I am too, right? Because I've been asking for the contract. I've been asking for the language, I've been asking back and forth. When I say I've been asking, I've been sending email to the Prince George's County Um Education Association leadership, um, the President Donna Christie, the um executive director, um Yanni Um Easton. Just say we need to see the language, right? And so that never happened. Nothing that I asked for, we we we were given. We were given at one point in time, closer to the end, um, links that add and went to links. And so it was never anything. I actually got an email from the executive director, um Yan A. Easton, saying that, oh, um, they're gonna send out a cleaner version. So in actuality, I I've come I've coined it, it's in my email, that we've actually gotten a dirty version, right? As educators, we've gotten a dirty version. So we never received a contract that was the thing that kind of broke down and gave the comparison. So I what I got, I tried to go through it and kind of broke it down and was like, okay, this is we're not getting anything for this. We're not getting, so it was not a gain. It w it was not a gain in this particular contract. And so you ask a question about how did individual vote for the because they had um like someone would come and say vote for the contract. And so we you you shared earlier that we're not using our critical thinking skill anymore. We're not questioning anything anymore, right? We and so it's trickled down, right? Individuals are just being led, like, oh, do this, and no one is asking. And if you do ask that question, you kind of get, you know, kind of whitewashed, you kind of get, you know, um pushback, like, oh, you want to be silenced, you want to be suppressed. And so that's really where we are right now. Individuals don't necessarily want to align themselves with, as you said, transparency, as you said, you know, um being um fortright with the information. But as you said, it's ingrained. Um, we were taught from our um from our legacy, being a Howard Eye, that we, whenever we see things that are not that are not right, we have to speak up against it. Um, or then we become a part of this um if we don't speak up. And so um I I will continue to speak, I will continue to share the information. Now, in terms of it there's a part in the contract um in in the year 2027, um, 2026, that they um in the contract it is stated that if there's more money, they can come back to um to PGCPS um and ask for more. I'm hoping, and we're I'm gonna share that and make sure that our members are aware of that so that they can demand you stated this, you need to go back to the contract, go back to the negotiation table, especially for the people at the top. And we're not saying that the newer teachers that are coming in, they should not get 24%. But what we're saying is that everybody should get 24%. Um, you know, um, nowhere in history I went back and I looked, we have seen anything such as this. You don't give your entry individually, entry level individuals um more than you give in your senior. Um, you know, in it it just I'm I'm just dumbfounded. And so, but here we are now. And so you ask, I I love the question that you asked. I I I don't admire the problem. Uh, we want solution, right? And so those are some of the solutions that we gave, that they cut off the bottom, the bottom two steps, and we asked them to put it at the top. So now you would have we'll move from 21 to 22 and 23. And so we have given them solutions. And so we're hoping that that language where it says that, you know, if more we can go back to them with that language and say, this is what we're demanding, this is what we're asking for now.
SPEAKER_02:Okay. Well, we know that's gonna be an issue because one, the state, the state is uh facing some structural deficits and they're looking for ways to cut. And then I'm assuming with the blueprint, Maryland's blueprint for education, blueprint for success, um, a lot of uh the operational cost is now being pushed to the county. So things that um we need to support our teachers is being pushed to the county. Now, other jurisdictions, other counties in Maryland may not have this problem, but we know for sure in Prince George's County that we've had some budget um issues as well, and and it will continue over the next couple of cycles because we are losing some major um financial resources. For example, if the commanders uh move out in 2028, which there's nothing that says that they are gonna stay in Prince George's County, we're gonna, you know, lose the the funding that we get from the commanders and their stadium. Um we're, you know, losing some big employers uh in the area for our youth. Uh people talk about the closing of Six Flags and how it, you know, employed a lot of our youth. Um, but that um that amusement park also paid substantial commercial dollars into um the county's um budget and county treasury, I should say, and revenues. So any event um that's that's gonna be interesting, but I think I already know what the what the administration and what the school board is gonna say is we don't have any more money. Um we there's no more money and we're not gonna be able to go back and negotiate. But I do think a maybe a reasonable um a reasonable solution, and I'm just gonna offer this to you, and it just came to me off the top of my head, is if you can't do 24% across the board, maybe you do a smaller percentage to ever for everyone, but it's still across the board. Maybe it's fifteen percent, maybe it's ten percent. I don't know what that magic number is, but do make it equitable across the board because I do I do see that once our seasoned and our veteran teachers get a hold and truly understand what you've been advocating for, that they're gonna be like, well, you know, why should I stay in Prince George's public schools?
SPEAKER_03:Absolutely.
SPEAKER_02:And again, you you lose that that brain drain that you will get from not having uh um your educators, your veteran teachers, and and you know, and they become mentors to the younger teachers as well. So it you know, they become a resource to the younger teachers. I kinda I kinda laugh. We think about it, we laugh at um Abbott Elementary, the television show. But you see the mentorship that goes on uh between you know the two teachers, Miss, I'm forgetting the names of the characters uh the teachers right now, um Miss Janine and and the um Miss Howard, I think that's her her last name. But you know, she goes to Miss Howard all the time to ask for information and and you know you know that takes place. It has to take place in schools. And if we if our veteran teachers wake up to the fact that, hey, I'm not getting what I deserve here, and in fact, I'm actually getting less.
SPEAKER_03:Less.
SPEAKER_02:Yes because it's the contract says nine percent, but actually when you do the math have like you have done, it's a four percent rate. And so I really would hate to see that the uh educators wake up to that. And um I'm assuming the Prince George's County school system and the school board doesn't want them to wake up to that. But again, that's what we do on this this podcast. That's what I do in my emails, that's what you're doing in your emails, is to say, hey, this is what this really looks like. I've read I've read the contract, I've done the math, this is what this really means, and this is really how it impacts us, and you need to speak up and speak up for yourself and and so forth. But anyway, so my little resolution is is perhaps the the better solution is again make it equal across the board, but then it has to be a little bit less than 18%.
SPEAKER_00:I mean 18%, you know.
SPEAKER_02:Right, 18% right, right.
SPEAKER_00:Because the last three years, the last, and and that that's the reason why I was looking at that. The last three years, our contract, we had a 13% base on the base salary. We were able to get 13%. And so just in my mind, I'm like who negoti who negotiates something less. Less than what the educators has gotten. You know, I mean, that's to me, is just like, oh, wait a minute now, you know. So that was problematic for me. And then I was like, wait a minute. And then, as you said, you used the word equity, however, the and fairness, right? That was one of the tenets that um our educators would be getting high um, you know, fear, um, highly compensated because you know, we we are expert educators. That was not the case. And so that to me was very alarming. And money was being found for other things, and we're gonna talk about that as we go deeper. Because I was like, oh, they were able to find money over, you know, almost three million dollars, you know, for this quagmire. So, you know, help me out here.
SPEAKER_02:So right. Yep, yep, yep. Okay. Um, so I think I can't remember the number, but I know at least over the last month or so, I've been getting at least one, maybe two emails a week from you about this issue. So my question to you is though, how are your fellow educators responding um to this issue? Are they being awakened or do they understand? What kind of feedback are you getting back from your fellow educators?
SPEAKER_00:So they are waking up, right? They are on their understanding. And I I think because many of our educators, right, they elect um building reps from their buildings. So this is how the process is. So they elect the building reps from their building. Um even though we still have about 70% of the schools that do not have building reps, but um the 30% that is. About 70%.
SPEAKER_02:Oh my goodness. So 70% of the schools, the teachers in the schools are are not being represented and are left in the dark about the remote.
SPEAKER_00:They're not they're not being represented. They're not at all. And so that has always been one of my push, my members, so that they're aware. And um, and and I will kind of give you a little bit of um numbers in in just in a minute. But so um, so that's that that's a big issue, right? And so they elect their building reps, the ones who have building reps in there um in the building, and they come, we meet like once a month, and they are to bring the issues that are impacting the educators within the school. And so when I talk to the educators, you know, face to face, they're like, oh my, we didn't realize that this is what this is what is going on, because we elect these members so that they can advocate on behalf of us. And clearly that's not what's happening, especially the people who are at step 21. They are like, wait a minute, this is unfair. You know, we want to go back to the table. And so there was some pushback in that. However, as I said, the language and and it's a lot of, it's a lot of paperwork, right? And so you have to really do due diligence to say, okay, you know what, I am going to sieve through this to be able that, to be able to know that I am aware as to what is being offered for me. And so that is the problem that we're having. Many of the educators are not reading for one reason or the other. They're inundated with so many different um tasks as being a classroom teacher, the caseload, um, grading, learning synergy, all of these things. And so many of our educators are not necessarily diving through um and doing a deep dive to see what is being um advocating on their behalf. Thank God. I would implore them and I say to them, you know, come to a meeting, right? Come to a meeting. We meet like one um every fourth um Monday. Come and see who's advocating on your behalf, right? And ask the question as to what is going on. I don't believe this is not gonna hit them yet. Um, they don't realize when this contract is ratified, how it gave them nothing, how we lost. We did not gain nothing. I think right now, as the numbers came back, which is a little strange, but you know, the numbers came back in terms of the yes, it's a 51% with 4,600 uh 604 um four uh members voting for it. That's what it is said on the on the information that we receive. And then only 206 um educators um rejected it a little bit off, you know, but that's another story for another day. But uh now that they see it, um I think they're really just kind of like what we're dealing with now, right? Many individuals decide they casted a vote and they see what is happening in the country, right? And so it is kind of similar, mirror, mirror that um, you know, that kind of um trajectory. And so, as you said, we're gonna continue to advocate. We're gonna continue. I know you said that that money, but we're gonna say, you know, money was found in um, you know, I don't know where it was found, but money was found to be able to pay two superintendents um simultaneously. And so I'm gonna share that information with them. And we also want our that's why I wanted to do this, because we also want our um our community or residents to be able to know what's going on because their tax dollars are also um, you know, meddling with this. So it's it it doesn't, it's not just a teacher thing. It's as you say, it's all of us, you know, issue that this is impacting.
SPEAKER_02:Exactly. And yeah, um, I was I was just gonna say that even though we don't have we no longer have children that matriculate through the Prince George's County school system, our tax dollars go toward paying for the operating cost at at the school system. Every seven seventy cents on the dollar in property taxes, basically, um not just property taxes, but all of the budget really 70 percent of the uh goes to the Prince George County public schools, another, you know, ten, fifteen percent goes to the uh public safety for police and fire. And then, you know, we have a little bit left to try to run the rest of the county. So you let's segue because you mentioned yeah, you you you mentioned the the elephant in the room, which is PGC EA out of the blue came out and issued over the summer this no confidence vote in former superintendent um Miller House. And, you know, it just it splashed all over the news and was like, okay, where where did this come from? Why is this mad? Because if you look at it, um two of the issues that he was kind of hired to resolve and deal with was graduation rates, which went up to eighty. Yeah, which went up to eighty percent, including our English language learners, went up fifteen more per percent in terms of graduation rates, and then this whole school bus issues. Yes. Um and he had re you know, resolved that. Um not so much resolved it. I I know there's still a shortage of bus drivers, but in terms of picking the students up timely and getting them to school on time, the tracker that they're now talking about was actually instituted under under former superintendent house. So it's like, okay, well, the man's doing good, and it's only his second year, and he's already turning some things around and addressing what you have. Where did this vote of no confidence come from? So tell the tell our listeners um confidence in what? What exactly was it that they had no confidence had no confidence in? That's number one. And then we can kind of go into um this this whole resignation slash firing, coming to agreement for firing, and then all of a sudden finding over half a million dollars to pay him plus another half a million dollars to pay um an interim superintendent to um to come in and lead the school system. But explain to me what what confidence did PGCEA lack in former superintendent Millwood House?
SPEAKER_00:So lots of queries, right? And very, you know, very important queries. And so um, because we're asking the same question. We're, you know, we were blindsided. Um we knew that um superintendent, former superintendent House came in. He, as you said, he was hired to do particular things. And as the advocate that I am, I normally like to go to the horse's mouth. So I've gone to the bus drivers and I've asked them, you know, um, what are your thoughts on this? How do you see these new changes? How are they how have they been working? And they were like, it has been working fine, right? And so, as you said, he did not finish his second year when this came up. And so the problem that they taught, um, that they were saying that was connected to him, he inherited these things. And so it was not unique um to him. So that is a really good question that we're trying to find the answer. No, voter, no confidence in what what specific things that you were, you know, that they were talking about. And so that took, um, you know, I was, you know, very when I was there and I heard that, I was like, where's this coming from? It's a little bit, it's premature because he did not, he was not given the adequate time to be able to do all of these things that um, you know, you we we know the county is going, um, is having problems when we talk about vacancy. That's not unique to him, right? There's a teacher shortage around the country. And so uh as I said before, we we're we were dumbfounded um when that came up and um that vote of no confidence and and the way how it was orchestrated and the way how it was presented even to the media was um missing was a misinformation and it was inaccurate. And so it was stated in the media that was go uh go ahead.
SPEAKER_02:No, so so help me to understand. So, did they call a meeting of all the PGCEA members, or was this just the board, and the board made a decision and then kind of yeah, how did how did that actually happen?
SPEAKER_00:PGCA called a um, it was an emergency virtual meeting. Um, when I when I received the information, I thought that it was going to be about the contract because we were in the deadbeat of the contract. Okay. Um so I was like, okay, we're going in, we're gonna be discussing these numbers that you know PGC came back with. Because just just to um I just wanted to put this in there. When um PGCEA um initially started a contract, they were asking for 27%. So that was the original, and so And was that across the board? That was across the board.
SPEAKER_02:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:That was across the board. So it was 27% across the board for everybody. That was the original request um for everybody. And then PGCEA came back, PGCPS came back. And so I just wanted to make just to clarify that PGCEA, PGCPS came back, and they came back with about, I want to say 7%. It was two, um, I think 2.5, 2%, and then 2. So it was a total of um 7% that they asked when we came with 27%, they came with 7%. And so um, right, so you you can see how we came from 27% to 9%. Just still, you know, baffling to me. Right, still baffling to me. So I just wanted to put that in here. So we thought that that's what it was going to be about. And so that emergency meeting was for um the building reps. So, as was noted, that the building reps are elected by the members to come and re represent them. However, it was not, um, it was not all of the building reps, because as I said, it was virtual, many people didn't get it. And so that's when that came out. And we were kind of shocked like, where's this coming from? It was also mentioned that there was a survey that was given. Um, and I know many of the individuals, educators that I spoke to said that they did not do the survey. And so the they the survey was presented as just to get the temperature of where we are. And so apparently that survey was used to create the voter no confidence that we have never seen it. I've never seen the result of that particular survey. And so when we um when we were on the meeting, we heard that um many of the um the educators were suppressed, me included, to be able to, you know, kind of like we we shared our um our um dissatisf dissatisfaction and not being in agreement to it. And um it was kind of like very much orchestrated, right? Um there were information that was given. Oh, um we we were gonna look um stupid if we didn't go through it. They there was apparently the media was already contacted prior to the vote even happening. And so um, yeah, it was it just seems to me like we were being used as pawns. Um we were um there were as some abuse of power um in regards to this. And so when the information came out, it says 80% of the members uh voted for it, which was not accurate. That was um um that was that was a lie, if I could say that. Um it was not accurate. It was less than 60 members voted for um that. Wow. So yeah, so yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, and and I also saw that um, I think I saw in the news that the Principals Association did not, you know, it blindsided them as well. They were not, you know, they didn't obviously vote, have a vote of no confidence. And so it it was it was blindsided. So did have we ever found out why they wanted Superintendent House out of that position?
SPEAKER_00:Right. Um, so so um the the word on the street, he was not um he he he was gonna stand on principle. He was gonna stand on on integrity, right? And so there's a lot of things. Um, as I said before, you and I talk. We have had this, we're experienced where we have gone to the board meetings and we have testified. I have never seen any discourse um between the board and or the superintendent when I am attended. So I I am still trying to figure out what what was the reason um for that. At one point in time, we were hearing that it would have bought us, um, it potentially um bought us more um more money in terms of the negotiation. That's not true. We we see where we are right now. Right. And so I I am still kind of diving through, trying to, you know, do some investigative um um, you know, um sessions and and duty on that because I I still don't know. But we have heard that there he was gonna stand on principle and stand on business. There are things that, you know, they wanted to happen, and he was not going to move forward with some of those things.
SPEAKER_02:And they meaning the school board or the school board, meaning the meaning of the school board.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, we can see politics in play, right? We can see some political um action in in in play as well. And so that that's kind of like what we what we're hearing as we're you know doing some investigation. That's what we're called to do. And so we're doing some investigation to see um, you know, what what was the the the exact you know um tenets as to why um he was ousted in, you know.
SPEAKER_02:Okay, okay. And I have seen, and I'm gonna, we're gonna put in our uh sh um episode show notes. I saw an article on um in Maryland Matters, which talks about how politics um undermines Prince George's County public schools that was done back in June. I think this is right after uh the vote of no confidence and the um you know the supposed resignation settlement agreement to leave. So he was paid, Bill House was paid what tell me the amount of money he was paid to leave.
SPEAKER_00:So so if if I could interject this the same, I think his name um what I read the same article and I think it was done by Timothy Myers. I think that was the um and and he also gave a video um speech that was never aired at the um at the school board.
SPEAKER_02:And I think I saw that I think I saw that you posted that video, right? Okay. Yes, yes, yes.
SPEAKER_00:So no one who had any questions about it, and we're not saying, as we said, we're not saying um, you know, there's anything um in terms of um the new the the new interim superintendent um Dr. Joseph, we're not saying that there's anything bad at this junction. What we're saying is that the process was not followed um accurately. And so to touch to segue, if we're talking about being fiscally responsible, let's go back to the money, right? Right, we were talking about money. And so there is um we have a superintendent, a former superintendent who is not no longer with us, but we um Prince George's County Public School and taxpayers dollars have to pay him. And so we're looking at when we look at the package and the buyout in tunes of over$2 million, okay? Oh my goodness. And so, and then when we think about the new intern superintendent with his package and everything else, over half a million dollars. So we're talking about over$2.5 million, where it could have gone to pay the teachers at the top, who um 30 teachers at the top, teachers at the bottom, about 50. So we're just looking at where did that those funds come from, right? Very quickly. And so um, you know, those are some of the things that we are going to, you know, really being asking, um, you know, put to the, you know, put in the forefront and also to get our our community residents involved in it because they are very much impacted. And so those are some of the things that we decide that we are going to be doing at this time. Because as we said, many of our educators are leaving. I know some that left already because they're at step 20. They understand that we are not going past step 21. So what they did was they took their expertise and they went to other jurisdictions that they're getting much more money for, and they're able to move out of the, as you said, on that um career ladder as well. Um, we know that Prince George's County, we have um invested and we have really great educators here that are really about educating our children. And with their expertise, um, you know, they are in demand. And so we want that to be out there to the board because I will be um, you know, definitely um testifying and talking to them. I didn't get the opportunity to share my concerns um back in June. And so um, you know, and and it's very balanced, right? And so we want to make sure that the money you could find that money, we want to find that money for our wonderful, um, um, illustrious um educators that are educating our children in the classroom day in and day out.
SPEAKER_02:Exactly, exactly. Yep. So yeah, I'm always about being a good steward over the tax dollars that the residents and homeowners and other hardworking people pay into our system and make sure that we're using it wisely. And and if there was no real reason other than politics to push former superintendent house out, and yet we can find, you know, uh a a million and a half and almost two million for these new um for the new superintendents. Why can't we find the money to when we get ready to ratify the contract for our uh educators across the board, especially our seasoned and our veteran um educators? Because like you said, and we talked about earlier, we get that brain drain and they go take it somewhere else. And so that is really such a travesty. And I think one of the things that we need to do as a county and the residents needs to be up in arms about is accountability for the money that we're spending like this. Because, you know, we this is what our fourth superintendent in what like six less than six years or something like that.
SPEAKER_00:And we're paying them simultaneously. And so it's a pattern. And so when we're talking about when we're talking about our children, right? Consistency. Our children need consistency. So if we keep every every year, we're having a different superintendent to come in. We, you know, we have shortfalls and we have gaps, and we're seeing this now within the scores for our children as well.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yep. Okay. Um, I I understand. And so again, I'm always about solutions. It's easy to bring up the problems and you know, everybody can see the problems and complain, but who's gonna do the hard work to get it done? So my last two questions actually relate to one, what can parents do? And even if you're not if if your children are no longer in PGCPS like our children aren't, they're now adults, young adults, what can parents and residents do to support our educators here in PGCPS? Um, and then two, what can both the parents and the educators do to be more involved in the school system administration? Um, you know, it like I said, if especially if you're you don't have a child matriculating through the system, what can we do to say, hey, listen, this you're wasting our tax dollars here. You're wasting our tax dollars here. You have teachers leaving, you have veteran teachers leaving because they are are not being valued at the level that they know that they're worth because they have this expertise, because you know, they are seasoned, they have 20 plus years, they have whatever in the school system. What can we do to support you and then what can we do to be more involved in the administration? I don't want to just have a podcast and we complain about what's already been talked about in June. Let's try to find a solution. So help me there.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you so much for asking that question. All right, I appreciate you and that question. Um, there's a board meeting. As we there's a board meeting. I I want to say they they meet on Thursday. I need to give you the exact, um, the exact they meet on Thursday, but I want to tell you exactly when. So I need to find that so I'm able to tell you exactly when the board, Prince George's County Public School board meets. And that's really where you need to go. And even prior to that, call and sign up to speak. As members, I'm a resident, even though I'm an educator, I'm a resident, I'm a taxpayer of this county. And I love this county. You can lend your voice, right? And you can call your board members and let them know this is unacceptable. We want our educators, the seasoned educators, to get more than the 9%, right? So those are practical things that you are able to do. You vote.
SPEAKER_03:Right.
SPEAKER_00:You vote, you vote them in, and you can vote them out. And so those are some of the things, that's the power that we have as residents within this county. And get more informed. I do have, you know, at the teacher's lounge, I do make um do Zoom meetings and just send information out as well, so that our members, not only our educators, but also our community members, can be aware of what is going on and how they are able to adjust to give, um, lend their voice. But yes, calling your school board members to let them know this is unacceptable. My property tax is being, you know, I'm using, I'm giving property taxes, being it is high. I want it to be able to use for making sure that our educators are able to get the funds so that they can educate the children um, you know, within this wonderful district. And so that that is something that comes to mind. Um, another thing you ask about both the parents and teachers.
SPEAKER_02:Hold that, put a pen in that because I did look up the um upcoming board meeting. So the the the first uh, you know, after the school system has started back up, we're now back in school. There's a there's a lot of quote unquote work sessions and um uh um board meetings, but the first open business board meeting is not until Thursday. You're right, it's on Thursdays. Um it's Thursday, September the 25th from five um from 7 to 9 p.m. So you can go there to sign up to speak um on those issues. However, there's some prior to the end of the month, there's some additional meetings that may be worth your while. For example, um tomorrow um there is a Board of Education audit committee meeting. Audits are very good. I I like audits, and so um it there's um there's an audit committee meeting tomorrow starting at six o'clock. Um there is a parent community advisory council meeting um on Wednesday from seven to eight. So all this week there are um um some really good meetings. This next one is really good because it deals with um capital improvement plans. So if you want to see school build, school renovated on Thursday, September 4th from 6 to 8, it is a capital improvement public hearing. And so that that tells me that that is a hearing that's open to the public. And you can come in and say, our school needs this, that, the other, our school building needs to be torn down, and we need to have it part of that um P3 and get a new school. Um, you know, we need new air conditioning, we need whatever. Um, so that's what the um CIP budget is um for, and that's so that hearing is the first hearing. Capital improvement plan public hearing is this coming Thursday, the fourth. Um there's quite a bit of um other meetings, a disabilities issue advisory board meeting, there's an academic achievement committee meeting on the 15th of September. So I encourage everyone that's listening to just go to the website pgcps.org, um, select board of education, or actually it just says board. If you select board, there's a calendar, and you can go through that calendar to try to um sign up and register to attend those meetings and and bring those concerns that Ms. Powell is talking about being good steward over the tax dollars that we're paying, and not just property tax, because if even if you live in an apartment, you're paying income tax to the state and the county and you're and those funds are going into that general treasury that the county council is ultimately giving the money over to the school board to spend to help educate and run our school system. Um so there's quite there's quite a bit of um uh meetings coming up this this month just about um this week is starting tomorrow. There's a meeting every day except for Friday in the evening that you can tune into, you can register to speak, but the actual um board meeting that's business meeting that's open to the public is September the 30th, um starting at um again.
SPEAKER_00:Is the 30th or the 25th?
SPEAKER_02:Um I'm sorry, I'm sorry, the 25th, the 25th, starting at 7 p.m. They do have a 5 30 to 7 business meeting, but that's the closed session. So what closed session and and and closed sessions are not bad in the sense that sometimes they do deal with personnel issues, which obviously has to remain private. Um, I don't like closed sessions a lot of times because that's when Um, you know, when we saw the whole thing about um superintendent house, the news was there, and so they were, you know, recording the meetings and then they went into a closed session. And so the news reporters are chasing after the chair, and he's like, Well, you know, it's a personnel matter, so we can't disclose it and they close the door, and then all of a sudden, you know, we hear um that he's been let go, it's uh he he agreed to resign or what have you. And and you know, and I understand, again, personnel matters um uh should be private, especially when they involve whatever action that is going on. But when you're s potentially spending one point something million taxes to pay, to buy him out, right, to finish his contract out, pay him out, this, that, you owe an explanation to your taxpayers as to why you're doing this, just to say that PGCEA came out with a vote of no confidence, and we still don't know what that confidence was. I think I saw I did see something about I did see something about um salaries, but I had not heard prior to that vote of no confidence that the contract that there was a real big issue. Like you said, you went into the meeting as an educator and your build being your building, you know, we were gonna talk about the contract, and then all of a sudden they're talking about voting no confidence on the superintendent without going through the details of that. So something is amiss. And I'm not gonna say we're gonna be able to get to the heart of the matter on September 25th at the school board meeting. But what parents and what residents need to know is that we need to let our voices be heard. Yes. That this kind of uh wasteful spending of our money is one unacceptable and is the reason why you see the attrition of our teachers, our seasoned teachers going away. If you can find money to pay two superintendents simultaneously and finish up paying contracts for the others that have left in the last four to six years as well, you certainly can find money to pay across the board increases for all of our teachers and use the money wisely. And I think that's the message that we need to leave our listeners today, Ms. Powell. I think we need to leave them to say, hey, write your school board representatives, write um um the county administration, whether it's the uh county executive as well as the county council to say, hey, this is unacceptable, um especially since we know and it shows that the graduation rates were going up under former superintendent house. That was one of the issues that they complained about the prior transportation. And the transportation issue. And he had the tracker, so they're trying to say that the tracker system came as a result of our our current interim superintendent, which we know that's not true because the contract for that. I saw the the contract for that tracker system was well before um he came on. So we know that House was dealing with that transportation issue, even with the fact that we don't have still don't have enough school bus drivers. But though I know those were those were two issues.
SPEAKER_00:And and we have four, we have four. If I just if I just interject, we have four, I think, you know, really strong unions. And out of the four unions, you never have. You only took one. Right, you only took one. The other three are like, what is going on? So it wasn't like a bare imbalance, right? And so that to me it's like, uh, you know, so yeah, but but I like what you said. That is a good way, you know, to end and to say parents and community um um um members, you can come into the schools. Um, you can come and you can volunteer, just make sure that you get your fingerprinting. You can, you know, and and and that's how you can support us as well, um, you know, to be able to continue to have our voice um being heard and to support us as well.
SPEAKER_02:Right, right, right. Well, Miss Powell, um, this has been very enlightening. I'm gonna keep following all of your detailed emails. I I love how you do the math for us. You make it very simple, actually. It's a it's a lot of material to digest, but I'm hoping that the teachers that you are responding to and communicating with are taking the time to read it because you do do the heavy lifting in terms of doing the analysis and the critical thinking behind the numbers versus you know the different steps, and if you have a master's degree versus just having a bachelor's degree, you go into all of that great detail, and again, that's that Howard H U education.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, thank you. Thank you, because I learned from you. I learned from you. I want to say that. I I know we kind of work together, you know, on different things with our when our children was in school, but I really want to say I applaud the way how you have given transparency for years since I've been in this county. And so I appreciate you and I've learned very much a lot from you and keep doing what you know what you're doing. We need individuals like you within our um political sphere so that we can continue to get transparency, we can continue to get integrity and get what is necessary for our students, for our community um individuals as well. So thank you.
SPEAKER_02:All right, well, that's good, that's good. So parents and listeners, um, please share this episode with people you know, particularly those who have children in Prince George's County public schools. Um, but even if they don't and they are confused about, you know, this whole thing that happened in June and where um it goes, it doesn't have to stop and end there. The conversation needs to be take taking place of how to use our money and be good stewards over the tax dollars that we're having. And so you need to um come to the school board meetings, um, write, email, call, whatever you have to do, your school board representatives so that they can be accountable for the tax dollars that we're spending and really wasting that could have gone to the educators, that could have gone to um helping to bridge that gap between a 24% increase versus only a full nine, which really is only four percent increase. Um and as a result, we're losing our season, our good veteran teachers. So we want you to um share this information. We want you to take action. We just don't want you again to listen and hear the problem and say, let somebody else handle it. No, roll up your sleeves and and and and at least make a call. Making a call doesn't take much time um to register um your concern about that. If you can't make it, you know, send out an email. If you can sit on social media and make comments, you can make comments to your representatives as well. So I want to thank our guest today, Miss Stephanie Powell, educator at Millwood Elementary School, former PTSA warrior at John Hansen, but more importantly, that Howard Howard Grant that knows how to do the you know, that really knows how to um dig deep and get the detailed information. Um Stephanie, somebody wanted to, Ms. Powell, if someone wanted to um get the emails that you're sending out, I had not I had not forwarded on my listserv because it was so detailed. So I I felt like I felt like people would be overwhelmed with the type of information. I try to, you know, make again, I always try to take the legally stuff and the other stuff and make it so simple that people really understand. But if people wanted to um get more information, and particularly our educators, honestly, because I don't know what your reach is outside of your Melwood community and where you live here in Clinton, but what your reach is, um what's the best way for them to email you to say, hey, I'd I'd like to know more information?
SPEAKER_00:Certainly. And so do you I could give them, um we have two emails. Um I could give them the S Powell um one if you want me to share that with them. So that is S Powell, so S as in Sam, P as in Peter, O as in Onward, W as in water, E as in Echo, L as in Love, L as in Love, L as in Love, 422 at gmail.com.
SPEAKER_02:So S Powell, P-O-W-E-L-L, 3L 422 at gmail.com. If you have um want to find out a little bit more um from an educator's perspective, um to reach out to Miss Powell and she can kind of tell you, give you the whole background about the contract and what the contract looks like. And then she actually does the mathematical analysis on all of the different steps. If you're uh um first coming in with just a bachelor's degree versus having a master's and so forth in the number of years, she goes through all of that detail. So please contact Ms. Powell if you want more information. We will put on the show notes for this episode, the Prince George's County Council's, not County Council, sorry, school board's website with the board calendar information so that you can hear that. And then I'll also drop the I think the video that Ms. Powell was talking about from Mr. Myers, as well as a link to his article in Maryland Matters about the politics playing in Prince George's County schools and really um setting us back. You know, we keep having to start again, as Ms. Powell mentioned, with uh every time there's a new superintendent that comes in with their um direction. Mission County, you you start the process all over again. And we just need to stop that that that revolving door and get some stability for our students as well as for our teachers. So, Ms. Powell, thank you so much for your time. You are welcome. It was my pleasure. Thank you so much for joining us. And um we thank all the listeners for listening uh to All Politics is local with me, your host, Tamra Davis Brown. Please do uh share this podcast with uh all of your neighbors, friends, let them know um to get involved and that we need to move beyond the ballot box to action and holding our elected officials accountable and being transparent about what's going on in our local, federal, local, state, and federal elections. So thank you for joining us, Katie. We'll see you next time.
