AFSA Adds Howard County Public School Administrators to Its Membership

Business Wire, Nov 18, 2002

Business Editors/Educational Writers

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 18, 2002

The American Federation of School Administrators (AFSA), AFL-CIO, a national education labor organization representing public school principals, administrators, and supervisors announced today that school-based administrators and instructional facilitators of the Howard County Administrators Association have joined AFSA.

The group of 180 public school principals, assistant principals, and instructional facilitators voted resoundingly in favor of affiliation with AFSA last week. Today, AFSA's General Executive Board approved the affiliation. The Howard County Administrators Association (HCAA) will now also be known as AFSA Local 36. HCAA members are employed throughout the county's 66 elementary, middle, and secondary schools.

"Howard County Public Schools is a quality system in which all staff work collaboratively to create the most effective educational program for our students. We are proud to be members of the team that leads our school system," stated Stephen Zagami, President of HCAA, and Principal of Jeffers Hill Elementary School in Columbia, Maryland. "Formerly, school-based administrators and instructional facilitators were affiliated with a teachers' association. We chose to affiliate with AFSA because of its resources and focus on school administration. AFSA is in the best position to help represent the interests and perspectives of school administrators."

"Our members and the public education community in general are facing unprecedented challenges in education today. When you combine the new, more stringent education standards mandated by the No Child Left Behind Act with the fiscal crises our cities and states are facing, the goals become more difficult to achieve. More and more public school educators are choosing to organize and join an established, effective education union like AFSA to help them meet these challenges," said Dr. Joe L. Greene, National President of AFSA. "We are proud to welcome the educators of the Howard County Administrators Association to our growing union."

AFSA's membership has grown approximately 13 percent over the last five years. AFSA is the only national education organization providing labor, professional, and occupational services to public school principals and administrators. AFSA has been an advocate for quality public school education for over 25 years, and is the voice for nearly 20,000 public education professionals throughout the United States and U.S. Virgin Islands. AFSA's Web site is located at www.admin.org.