We’re Fighting for Safer Schools

We believe the preliminary Kirwan Commission recommendations are promising and will better support the social-emotional learning and health of our students. Here’s why:

· They provide the wrap-around services and mental health staffing we need in schools that serve communities with high concentrations of poverty where students are more likely to have experienced trauma. We hope this extends to the community school model that is so successful in Baltimore City.

· They ensure the kind of free and affordable high-quality pre-K programs shown to close the early achievement gaps that we know often persist throughout a child’s education and recommend expansion of Judy Centers and high-quality child care.

· They give struggling learners and students with disabilities the kind of support that will help them succeed by increasing the funding weight for students who receive special education services.

· They expand career pathways for high school students by making career and technology education available for all 11th and 12th graders, opening the doors for students to discover the skills and passions that can make school an engaging, motivating place for all.

We don’t just need more counselors, psychologists, and teachers — we need more support staff who can be there for students too. We’re fighting for the commission to recognize the need for an ESP living wage to recruit and retain support professionals who can afford to stay on the job serving students and schools and whose presence is so often stabilizing and reassuring.

“Support employees are the glue that holds our schools together,” said Weller. “We need them now more than ever.”

We believe students deserve — and communities should demand — a Maryland promise that delivers safe schools. “It comes down to staffing levels. It comes down to school safety measures and expanding social-emotional learning and support for our students,” said Weller. “And it comes down to increasing funding for our schools based on the recommendations of the Kirwan Commission so we can make it all happen.

“Our students are looking to us to take care of them. And they have every right to expect that we will.”