To: Dr. Andrew Zuckerman, Chief Operating Officer and Montgomery County Public Schools
MCPS: Make Us Whole!
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The hard-working educators of MCEA rely on our paychecks in order to provide for our families. In January, MCPS erroneously and without warning, deducted a medical insurance “smokers” surcharge, creating a hardship for nearly 3000 employees. This surcharge, in some cases, was upwards of $230. This has harmed many of our colleagues and we need MCPS to take immediate action.
We the undersigned members of MCEA stand together to demand immediate refunds of all surcharges deducted for any impacted MCPS employee. Furthermore, we demand MCPS conduct an independent audit of the Wellness Program to assess current compliance with all state and federal laws. We expect MCPS to do right by us, just as we do right by our students each and every day.
Why is this important?
Dear Colleagues,
As educators, we seek to do what is right for the children entrusted to our care each and every day. We are there for them, with love, empathy, and a desire to see them succeed. We do this in ways seen and unseen, and we do it consistently.
That’s why we as MCEA Board members are deeply concerned about the events surrounding the tobacco attestation implementation. What has occurred over the past week has been very troubling, and we believe demonstrates a lack of empathy and understanding for educators, their time, and their pay. It is in stark contrast to the actions we take each and every day, for the benefit of this community’s children.
We seek to do the right thing and expect that each and every paycheck will accurately reflect the earnings of our wholehearted efforts. We depend on those earnings to support ourselves, our families, and our children, where each and every dollar we bring home matters. So when so many of us learned that we had been assessed a charge, after completing the attestation, we were shocked. And yet, in these days, we have gone about our work, doing the right thing for children, trusting that we will be made whole.
Some of us attested before a window was open, although we were never notified that we had completed the task too early to count. Others of us attested although a technical issue said we had not. As educators, we sought to do the right thing, with honorable intent and were met with the most unpleasant news of a paycheck less than we had earned.
The right thing to do here is to immediately return the deducted dollars to all of those impacted. The right thing is to demonstrate care and empathy for those who care for our children. And collectively, we expect the right thing will be done. Our strength comes in our collective voice, and we will now exercise that voice through this petition. In it, we will join one another and make clear to our employer that whether we were impacted or not, an injury to one is an injury to all.
We appreciate and honor the selfless work you do. We know that collectively we can right this injustice.
The MCEA Board of Directors
David Airozo
Valerie Coll
Brian Donlon
Justin Fauntroy
Henoch Hailu
Josh Halpren
Heather Hunter
Christopher Lloyd
Susan Loftus
Cindy Lotto
Jennifer Martin
Glenn Miller
Lauren Moskowitz
Phyllis Parks Robinson
Doug Prouty
Dionna Ricks
Java Robinson
Nikki Woodward