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Whether it鈥檚 been an educational challenge, praise for student achievement or even questionable state legislation, Cheryl Bost has usually had a few words to say about it.
But Bost, an elementary school educator for 35 years who has served since August 2018 as president of the Maryland State Education Association, won鈥檛 be heard from so much come this August. That鈥檚 because she will retire from the education profession after July 31.
鈥淚 love teaching. I love my union work. I love being an advocate and speaking up for all the students and educators. It鈥檚 been fun,鈥� Bost said in an interview Tuesday.
But stepping back doesn鈥檛 mean stepping away: On Tuesday morning, Bost could be seen in聽 a聽聽with Prince George鈥檚 County Executive Angela Alsobrooks (D), endorsing Alsobrooks in her race for U.S. Senate against former Gov. Larry Hogan (R) in November.
In an interview later in the day, Bost recalled that Hogan called the teacher鈥檚 union 鈥溾�� during his time as governor, when he vetoed the Blueprint for Maryland鈥檚 Future legislation in 2020. The legislature聽聽the following year.
鈥淟arry Hogan, as governor, never worked with educators. He never met with the union. He vetoed the Blueprint,鈥� Bost said. 鈥淚f it was about public education, Larry Hogan was opposed to it in all shapes and forms.鈥�
Her comments hours after a state Board of Education meeting in downtown Baltimore, where Bost has been advocating for teachers at least once a month. The topic Tuesday was an update on聽聽(CCR) standards, one of the priorities in the Blueprint for Maryland鈥檚 Future education reform plan.
Although Bost said she supports the state鈥檚 college and career readiness goals, she noted that some of them were set prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
She summarized how proposed additional CCR resources, such as smaller class sizes, school counselors meeting with families and having an 鈥渁ll hands-on deck is great. It is not reality.鈥�
In terms of school counselors, Bost said that while the American School Counselor Association says Maryland public schools have an average of 319 students for every one counselor, 鈥淚 can tell you in some of the high schools with 2,000 students, that鈥檚 closer to 500 or 600 students per counselor,鈥� she said. 鈥淪o, those things are still impacting implementation.鈥�
Before Bost finished her testimony at Tuesday鈥檚 board meeting, she introduced Paul Lemle and Nikki Woodward, who will begin their tenures Aug. 1 with the state teacher鈥檚 union as president and vice president, respectively.
Lemle is a national board-certified teacher who teaches social studies at Reservoir High School in Howard County. Woodward is a 25-year educator in Montgomery County who is the teacher鈥檚 union鈥檚 vice president in that jurisdiction.
As for Bost, she plans to take a vacation out of state and just relax.
鈥淚鈥檓 taking a couple of months to do nothing and see what the next adventure might bring,鈥� she said.
