"I just want to make sure you that you all think that the two turf fields are priority projects … more important than classrooms," Franchot said.
Kopp noted that "others have wondered offhand about the turf fields."
School system gets final go-ahead for turf fields
...“I think my first concern when I took over this team three years ago was [kids from] four schools that are in the same county but not necessarily know one another,” Slade said. “How are they going to gel? Are their school rivalries within the team?”
Luckily there have been no such issues, Slade said, but cohesion is a concern on a yearly basis.
What the coach hopes helps that issue is a fun and fair environment he creates for the team.
“Any person [from QO, Poolesville, Northwest, or Seneca Valley] that would like to play hockey can come out,” Slade said. “We take everyone, everyone plays regardless of skill.”
Among those players is a special needs student from QO, who Slade said “is very excited to play with us.”...
...The largest increases in homeless populations are notable for where they are occurring: in the suburban rings around cities. Anne Arundel County has seen a 231 percent increase in homeless students since 2005, Baltimore County a 140 percent increase and Howard County a 150 percent increase. The increase in Baltimore City, which still has the largest number of homeless students, was 75 percent...
...The board wants to "get everybody to focus on the fact that this is part of our educational mission" and that "we are clear that every kid counts," DeGraffenreidt said.
In addition to reducing suspensions, the board is proposing to eliminate expulsions except in the case of students who have a firearm.
Eight percent of students in the state were suspended last school year, DeGraffenreidt said, and half the suspensions were for nonviolent offenses, such as disrespect or defacing school property. Minority and special education students are far more likely to be suspended than their peers. Board members believe there is a link between the high suspension rate for those groups and low achievement.
"In disproportionate numbers, the very students who are lagging behind are those who are being suspended," DeGraffenreidt said...
"As the number of Montgomery students diagnosed with autism has increased by more than sixfold over the past decade, educators are grappling with the best ways to teach them and satisfy concerned parents.
Special education officials reported successes in educating the roughly 1,650 students on the autism spectrum last year, but admitted to the Montgomery County Council’s Education Committee on Monday that the way principals and teachers work with those students and their parents varies among schools, a problem that needed to be corrected.
A Westbrook Elementary School parent who addressed the committee, Julie Reiley, said she had encountered “great providers” for her child with autism, but also said she did not think schools consistently collaborated with parents in a positive way, and that the services originally promised in special education meetings were not always delivered, at least initially.
“Parents too often don’t feel like they’re being heard,” Reiley said."
For more than a decade now, Montgomery County Public Schools has issued a "Call to Action" annual report. The report origins go back to the early years of Superintendent Jerry Weast, who retired last year...Article continues at link: http://rockville.patch.com/blog_posts/a-fascinating-summary-of-mcps-failures
“I think sometimes the perception of the larger community out there is that we do a lot in secret or that we’re just waiting around to pounce on any ballparks we can take,” he said. “And that’s simply not true.”
Montgomery County Council member Craig L. Rice wants answers from the school board about why black male students are still lagging behind their peers when it comes to academic performance.
At a lunch meeting Tuesday between the council and board, Rice, who is black, asked why more has not been done to address the problem.
Board Vice President Christopher S. Barclay (D-Dist. 4) of Takoma Park, who is also black, responded by saying that he is focused on the black male graduation rate, which in 2010 was 73.6 percent, according to state data, compared to the school system’s overall 86.2 percent graduation rate. White males, by contrast, graduated at a 92.7 percent rate, but Hispanic males fared worst among male students at 69.1 percent.
Rice (D-Dist. 2) of Germantown appeared to brush this off and reiterated his concern by saying, “We’re not doing anything.”
Leggett's $4.21 billion capital improvement program proposal offers $1.36 billion to Montgomery County Public Schools, a 3 percent cut from two years ago
and 9 percent less than the $1.49 billion that Superintendent Joshua Starr requested.
Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/local/education/2012/01/leggett-plans-cut-school-construction-funding/2106481#ixzz1jm6gjLl4
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