teachers – Sandy Rosenberg

I’m running for reelection to the House of Delegates so that I can help make good public policy.

This week, I found some time between door knocking, community meetings, and candidate forums to get the process started on some issues.

The American Federation of Teachers took the lead in reinvigorating the poorest county in West Virginia. This model could be used for the community served by Pimlico Elementary Middle School, a 21st Century school that will be reopening this fall. Such an effort could be part of the redevelopment of the Pimlico Race Track and Park Heights communities now being studied by the Stadium Authority, the City, and the Maryland Jockey Club.

The link to the article where I learned about the West Virginia initiative is not yet available. I will share it when I get it.

There’s an app that allows people receiving food stamps to make smarter and healthier use of the program. Should we encourage its use in Maryland?

I’ve written an advocate to get her thoughts.

This past session, I introduced House Bill 1094, which will impose the same penalties for the sale of electronic cigarettes to minors that we impose for the illegal sale of tobacco products. HB 1094 was enacted.
At the federal level, the Food and Drug Administration began undercover sting operations this month targeting retailers of Juuls, smoking/vaping devices that resemble thumb drives, produce little plume, and are concealable – even in a classroom.
How should Maryland cut down on their use? I’ll talk to both school and health officials.

“First-year teachers are pretty much useless. To me, the ideal teacher is a third-year Teach for America teacher.”

The principal of a South Bronx public middle school, Ramon Gonzalez, said this in a New York Times magazine article this past spring.

I reread it this week for the Legislation course I co-teach at the University of Baltimore Law School.

After Monday’s class, I learned about a program that directly responds to Gonzalez’s concern.

The North Carolina Teaching Fellows Program pays the tuition of top high school graduates who attend a public college in the state. They must then teach in a public school for at least four years. Only Teach for America had better test results among 12 training programs.

Tuesday morning, I asked that a bill be drafted based upon this program – with one change Grants equal to the cost of tuition at College Park could be made to students attending a private college in the state or a post-secondary institution in any other state. We want these Marylanders to teach here as well.

Now begins the process of making the case for this idea on the merits and of finding a funding source.