Cheryl Bost is the new president of Maryland’s largest union, the Maryland State Education Association (MSEA). Bost is an elementary school teacher from Baltimore County, where she was named teacher of the year in 2003 in part for her work to create a summer camp for her disadvantaged students. She served as president of the Teachers Association of Baltimore County from 2003-2011 and MSEA vice president from 2012-2018.

According to a press release:

Bost plans to kick-off her presidency with a video message, “Room 18”, to Maryland educators and public school advocates. In the video, Bost revisits her old classroom at Mars Estates Elementary School, a low-income public school in Essex, to tell the story of how she worked with her colleagues to lead successful strategies that closed the achievement gap, reduced suspensions, and improved parental and community engagement. She stresses that this success was only possible because educators led the change instead of the state coming in and taking over the school.

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Bost will build on the progress of former MSEA President Betty Weller, a Kent County science and English teacher who led the union to many successes in her six years as president including passing: the Protect Our Schools Act, legislation that prevented the privatization of low-performing public schools; the More Learning, Less Testing Act, which has eliminated more than 900 hours of unnecessary standardized testing; the Fix the Fund Act, which if approved by voters in November will increase education funding by $500 million a year; and important fixes to the failed rollout of the state’s Common Core learning standards.

Read the full press release for more information.