Sunday, February 21, 2010

MCPS Cyber-Café saved from budget axe!

MCPS Board to save revolutionary Video Conferencing Center and Cyber-Café for Administrators from budget axe!
(But don't tell students, it's not for them.)

At the February 22, 2010, Board of Education meeting the Board will approve (it's already on the Consent Agenda) a lease of office space at
"$19.50 per square foot with escalations of 2.5% annually."
Odd, seems that lease information is missing a crucial detail, doesn't it?

How many square feet are being leased?  If you were a Board member wouldn't you want to know that basic piece of information before you approved the lease? Apparently, not.

But for readers of this blog, here is the answer: 14,000 square feet.

14,000 x $19.50 = $273,000 per year with 2.5% "escalations"

What is this space used for? 
It has 4 high tech labs, 2 ultramodern classrooms, a revolutionary video conferencing center and a Cyber-Café!
Wow. Think what students will get out of that facility!

But wait, it's not for students. Sorry, they are still in classroom trailers!

Just remember in this tight budget year that even though your students' classroom teacher may be cut, your students' bus transportation may be ended, or your school's media assistant may disappear, this "revolutionary" facility for administrators will be leased for another 5 years!

Here are the details on the space that is the subject of the Board action:


Click here for the webpage for the MCPS Center for Technology Innovation.

2 comments:

  1. Why do you have to make everything sound so negative? I have been to many trainings at CTIS that were valuable for my professional development. If you are going to have highly qualified teachers in your child's classroom, then they need hands-on experience learning to use new technology. CTIS provides this ongoing service for teachers, which impacts how well they teach your gifted and talented children..

    MCPS teacher

    ReplyDelete
  2. If you were a county teacher you would know that the county budget is in a crisis.

    You would know that you won't have any kids to teach if the magnet buses are cut. Put a happy spin on that.

    ReplyDelete

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