The Maryland Breastfeeding Coalition has honored Anne Arundel County Public Schools with a Breastfeeding-Friendly Workplace Award for its efforts to develop and implement inclusive policies and procedures that support breastfeeding through a conducive office environment and education of staff and families.
AACPS is the first school system in Maryland to develop a comprehensive policy regarding lactation, according to the Coalition.
AACPS’ policy on lactation accommodations, developed largely through the work of Senior Manager for Equal Employment Opportunity Compliance Asha Smith and Legislative and Policy Counsel Jeanette Ortiz, covers all employees and was adopted by the Board of Education on March 7, 2018. It requires administrators in all AACPS facilities to provide a reasonable break time for an employee to express breast milk in a place other than a bathroom that is shielded from view and free from intrusion from coworkers and the public.
Employees can request accommodations by notifying their supervisor.
“Our school system is a place where every child and every adult should feel at home,” Superintendent George Arlotto said. “Asha and Jeanette worked tirelessly to develop a comprehensive policy that is fully endorsed by our Board and me that aligns with our commitment to a supportive work environment and allows nursing mothers to continue working in their chosen profession content in the knowledge that they have our full support if they wish to continue nursing when they return to work.”
Since 2010, more than 120 businesses have received the Breastfeeding-Friendly Workplace Award from the Maryland and DC Breastfeeding Coalitions.