Marlboro Pike, Forestville MD:
During the speeches for a Board seat with the PGCEA, candidate Suzanne Windsor ruffled some feathers when she directly addressed the Union’s need for greater action on behalf of its members. She pointed out the disparity between the number of times PGCEA was a plaintiff on behalf of its members versus the number of times PGCEA was a defendant for failure to represent it’s members. She also mentioned and produced documentation of a “cheat sheet” that Prince George’s County Public Schools (PGCPS) Human Resources developed to assist with getting a teacher fired or retired. This candidate is boldly fighting for greater accountability and stands for reform of the entire Prince George’s County Public School District.
To transform the county, teachers and other educators need to stand up for what is right and refuse to let the politicians manage their careers and the innocent children suffer. If Prince George’s County Educators can take ownership of their District, problems such as the ones experienced recently with children being sexually molested will be a thing of the past. Teachers and other Educators interested in public service need to run for public offices to help change the county from within. In the fight against poverty and injustice, local leaders need the tools and power to demand and deliver greater accountability.
As the world works to eradicate extreme poverty by 2030 including here in Prince George’s County, corruption remains a significant challenge to that goal in many ays. This is because corruption not only steals the precious resources that could create jobs, improve health care, build better schools or build infrastructure, but also erodes trust in public institutions and chills private investment. And though corruption has been a primary concern for both donor community and developing countries around the world, likewise, here in Prince George’s County we haven’t made much progress in several ways.
That’s not for lack of trying, however. The problem is that too many administrators within the county and practitioners hold an antiquated view of corruption — and it’s holding back the fight to improve accountability and good governance including making the Unions such as PGCEA accountable. If we are going to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals in the future, what we need now is not more of the same, but a willingness to try new and better approaches to fighting corruption including electing new leaders with better record for engaging the truth to power.
We are all guilty of getting stuck into a routine on a daily basis. Routines that are not so healthy for us but we keep doing it because it’s comfortable. Then we sit and wonder why we can’t get into shape, keep attracting the same type of person, or experiencing the same life lessons over and over. Well, it’s because you keep doing the same thing! Therefore getting the same results.
Here is the speech which rattled the PGCEA Union and made the Uniserve reps angry.
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