Education Association of St. Mary’s County President Anna Laughlin
Leonardtown, MD — Teachers in every school in St. Mary’s County are sticking to the Back to Basics initiative announced before school started by the Education Association of St. Mary’s County (EASMC) and the Collective Education Association of St. Mary’s County (CEASMC). The action was taken in protest to lack of additional monies for employees in the budget and cuts to paraprofessionals that took effect July 1.
Anna Laughlin, EASMC president, told the Bay Net that principals in all the schools are either cooperating or not hindering the effort. Laughlin explained that the Back to Basics action is not the same as Work to Rule. Under Work to Rule teachers don’t bring anything to or from school and just work the required hours. “We are not doing that,” Laughlin explained, because she said that could impact what happens in the classroom.
Instead the Back to Basics, she said, “delivers quality instruction while saying no to the extras.” Those extras include volunteering for Extra Pay for Extra Duty, purchasing supplies and equipment for students, and extracurricular activities. Teachers, on the other hand, can meet after school on matters affecting the classroom, such as curriculum department meetings.
Laughlin says the association has left it up to the teachers to decide what to do. She is not sure what percentage of the teachers are doing something. She said some teachers need the extra pay to make ends meet, but may decide not to do other things.
When the Back to Basics announcement was made in early August, there was a question about whether the teachers would assign homework. Laughlin said while some teachers aren’t assigning conventional homework that requires them to grade the work outside the normal school hours; they are assigning work other ways, including continuing reading assignments and math work that is available on line for parents to access and assist their children.
Laughlin is concerned that the Back to Basics hasn’t generated much parent reaction. She wonders if the action isn’t causing enough pain to shake things up. But she is seeing some impact in the extracurricular and club activities which could lead to parental unrest. Some clubs were cancelled even before school started because of the budget and others are impacted by not having teachers volunteer for them.
During the public comment section of the October 8th school board meeting, Laughlin said every teacher was being asked to talk to at least two people in the community every week to explain why the teachers are doing the Back to Basics and enlist their support for future funding. She told the school board that the percentage of the county budget devoted to schools has declined from 51 percent to 37 percent.
Meanwhile, Laughlin told the school board, the budget reductions are causing increased class sizes, with in some cases now at 30 to 1.
Also the budget cuts have impacted materials of instruction, she said, and there’s pressure on the teachers to pay for what is needed out of their own pockets. “Teachers are no going to do that anymore,” she insisted.
Laughlin said she has heard some teachers say that the Back to Basics has given them more time for their own families and their own children. She said some teachers have relayed that their children have noted the extra time that is being spent with them and have told their parents they are much nicer people because of it.
Laughlin laid the blame for the action squarely at the feet of the county commissioners and school board. “Back to Basics is a choice made by public officials. That is wrong for the children. That is wrong for the community,” she said.