CALVERT COUNTY, Md. – Bus drivers in Calvert County are rallying behind teachers as negotiations continue between the Calvert County Public School District (CCPS) and the Calvert Education Association (CEA).
Leigh Cox is a teacher at Beach Elementary in Chesapeake Beach. She mentioned to bus driver Tom Alexander, that teachers were going to wear red on Wednesday, December 6th to show that they were united in their cause to get better wages and benefits.
“As soon as she told me this, I knew I had to get the Calvert County school bus drivers involved because the teachers supported us when we were in negotiations with the county two years ago. The teachers were behind us 100%. Teachers are one of the most important assets this county has,” says Alexander.
He sent out an email to the drivers about wearing red and got a tremendous response. He said the drivers were excited to do it.
In October 2021, about 140 school bus drivers in the county called out sick to protest their working conditions. Drivers, who work for contractors funded by the county, were upset because their pay increases had been small and their benefits were being cut. By November 1st, a new agreement was in place that included an hourly increase at all levels of experience and a guaranteed number of hours per day. Through those negotiations, teachers stood behind the drivers. Now the drivers want to do the same for the teachers.
On Wednesday, December 20th staff from across the county will be wearing blue in support of the Calvert Association of Educational Support Staff (CAESS) returning to the negotiations table. CAESS is the bargaining unit that represents the educational support professionals including nurses, instructional assistants, secretaries, tradespeople, and IT to name a few.
They are encouraging everyone to wear blue and post pictures on Facebook and tag the Calvert Education Association-CEA and Calvert Association of Educational Support -CAESS. Or you can email your photo to CAESS@mseanea.org.
CCPS is still in the early stages of collective bargaining/negotiations for a successor agreement between the Board of Education and the CEA.
The BOE has a meeting set for December 14th from 3:30 pm-5:30 pm at the Brooks Administration Building in Prince Frederick. You can watch the meeting live here. The BayNet will provide any updates that come out of this meeting.
Contact our news desk at news@thebaynet.com
This is great! UNION YES!
Kids are dumb as ever. They’re not learning nothing in school
Like you? “They not learning anything…” would be the proper way to say that.