SEIU 500 MontCo School Employees Celebrate Quality Award

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)

SEIU Local 500’s 8,500 bus drivers, maintenance workers, para-educators, and other dedicated school workers celebrated Montgomery County Public Schools’ (MCPS) recent win of a Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. MCPS was one of just seven winners of the national presidential award that recognizes innovation and leadership, and the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award cited "high levels of employee satisfaction" among the district's performance results. "I've often heard principals and parents remark on the fact that within MCPS every adult who interacted with a student in any way understands he or she has an opportunity to make a difference for that student, be it as a role model, a shoulder to lean on, an example of pride in good work, or simply a smiling face," said SEIU Local 500 President Merle Cuttitta in a Montgomery Gazette op-ed. - by Kate Thomas; the original version of this story originally appeared on the SEIU blog