“It’s absolutely horrifying that a purchase of the size was conducted in a closed session,” said Janis Sartucci of the Parents’ Coalition of Montgomery County.
7News obtained documents that show the acquisition of additional diesel buses was discussed at a Sept. 26 closed school board session...
Montgomery County school board approves $13.9M diesel bus purchase in closed session (wjla.com)
A Montgomery County Public Schools student allegedly assaulted a Northwest High School staff member by striking him in the head with a laptop Monday, according to police radio transmissions.
Around 11:53 a.m. Monday, police responded to the report of an assault at the school at 13501 Richter Farm Road in Germantown, according to the transmissions...
Student allegedly assaults staff member with laptop at Northwest High School | MoCo360
Magid, 34, of Burtonsville, was arrested in August following the March 23 death of a Washington, D.C. man from fentanyl toxicity. She is not charged in the man’s death.
She is charged with distribution of a controlled dangerous substance, which is a felony, as well as five other drug charges. A scheduling hearing is set for Oct. 18.
Magid was taken into custody without incident following a search of her home by Montgomery County Police and special agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement (DEA).
According to a previous police report, Montgomery County police detectives and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration specialists learned that the victim was in Montgomery County “in the days leading up to their death” and that a person identified as Sarah had been in contact with him.
Magid remains on leave from the school district, according to a spokesperson. She is listed in the staff director as unassigned in human resources and development.
https://www.mymcmedia.org/former-first-grade-teacher-indicted-on-felony-drug-charges/
Reminder the BOE Candidate Forum is this evening at 15 W. Gude Drive, Rockville, right off the Rockville Pike. Plenty of free parking. Sponsored by the League of Women Voters and other co-sponsors. Please attend. This is a critical election.
Come take a tour and attend a community meeting at Northwood/Woodward (11211 Old Georgetown) Wednesday, October 9, 2024, cafeteria. This is an opportunity to hear updates from @MCPS @mcpnews @cmkatestewart and more. You can pre-submit a question:https://t.co/Dhgi5ChlY9 pic.twitter.com/jrM1kSi5f9
— 2D Commander (@2dCommander) October 8, 2024
Parents are often looking for ways to keep their kids active. One said that’s been a challenge for her third grader at East Silver Spring Elementary School this schoolyear.
She said the school hasn’t had a playground since April.
“That leads to maybe more behavioral challenges in the classroom when they can’t get their wiggles out,” she said.
“My son comes back and says the worst part of the day is recess, which is pretty sad for a third grader,” Liz Osborn said.
Parents like Osborn even came out of pocket donating almost $200 worth of play equipment to the school. She said it shouldn’t have reached this point...
The school system had a virtual academy—the Montgomery Virtual Academy (MVA)—which was closed this year. According to MCPS, eliminating the academy was a decision made due to a lack of budget funding. The school board approved the operating budget with cutbacks in June.
According to MCPS, the new program is meant to provide synchronous and asynchronous virtual education for students who cannot attend school in-person for up to a year due to medical conditions. The application form has space to specify a physical or mental health condition. Applicants have to submit medical verification from a practitioner...
The Reign of the Yellow School Bus Is Over (strongtowns.org)
Remember The Washington Post's stories about the issues surrounding former MCPS principal Joel Beidleman?
There was this part of the coverage that discussed how former MCPS Director Eric Minus handled reports:
...The Post’s initial story disclosed that then-Director of School Support and Improvement Eric Minus, Beidleman’s boss, contacted Farquhar teachers about reports that Beidleman had called middle school students “hos and thots” (derogatory terms for supposedly promiscuous women) at two assemblies in 2018. When teachers tried to tell him about other misconduct, they said Minus waved them off and asked to stick to the question at hand...
A year later on LinkedIn:
Please note the report below is from a June 2018 document. The funding for this no bid, private school is not disclosed in the Board of Education's annual public Operating Budget document. June of 2018 is the most recent information the public has for the Board of Education's funding of this private school.
The image to the left shows a wing of Sligo Middle School in Silver Spring with the Saturday School awning permanently installed. The private school uses the Sligo Middle School address as their business address.
“What we’re looking at here is a failure at every level,” Janis Sartucci of the Parents’ Coalition of Montgomery County told 7News.
“What’s needed now is a dedicated inspector general for Montgomery County Public Schools,” she said.
7News requested an interview with MCPS Superintendent Dr. Thomas Taylor to find out what he’s doing to correct the problem.
MCPS Public Information Officer Liliana Lopez told us he wasn’t available...
...According to Karen He, a Chinese teacher at Montgomery County Public Schools, most of her students are not of Chinese heritage. However, when news spread about the possible cut to the Chinese language program, many Chinese families, whether their children were in the class or not, passionately discussed the issue and brought it to the attention of Montgomery County Public School Education Board members including Julie Yang, who is also Chinese American.
Yang took the issue seriously. She explained to the Chinese community that the entire world language program within Montgomery County Public Schools was affected, and the Chinese language program was not the only one impacted. The budget cuts were so severe that many programs beyond language, such as the Montgomery Virtual Academy, had to close. She clarified that this was not discrimination against the Chinese community...
...Yang brought the issue to the attention of the Montgomery County Public Schools central office and the chief of academic programs. She emphasized the importance of maintaining continuity in language programs and the challenges students would face if the Chinese language program were cut.
"They might need to switch to a different language, which wouldn't be as beneficial for their language development," Yang stated.
A few days into summer break, both Hallie Wells Middle School and Clarksburg Middle School informed their teachers and students that the Chinese language programs would be reinstated—again, without explaining. Neither principal responded to Yuan Media’s interview requests...
Please join the League of Women Voters and our co-sponsors at this in-person Board of Education Candidate Forum, Oct. 9, 7pm. The Board of Education is a critical part of our county government. They manage our $33.3 Billion budget and the education of approximately 160,000 students.
Then he remembered something that had bothered him back when he was a business officer for one of the school’s robotics teams: The school’s nonprofit foundation and main fundraising arm, the Canyon Crest Academy Foundation, was taking a bunch of money from his team.
The foundation kept 25 percent of every donation it collected on behalf of the robotics team. It did that for other student clubs, too, and it controlled the accounts of school-sponsored clubs, such as the robotics team, Kevin said.
Then, at the end of every fiscal year, it would take somewhere between 28 and 34 percent of the team’s revenue, Kevin said — the percentage varied year to year and wasn’t fully explained.
“I thought they were just super expensive — a rip-off,” Kevin said of the fees in an interview. “I just thought it was really wrong.”
Over the summer, he realized he still had access to the robotics team’s financial spreadsheets. So he began digging to find out where this fee money was going.
“What I found was, like, really shocking, and it just kept building up,” Kevin said...
Another MCPS Superintendent. [4 in 3 years + acting interim superintendent]
+
Another Superintendent entry plan/transition plan/transition team.
=
Minimal interest in Superintendent Thomas Taylor's Listening Session at Blair High School this week.
In response to the ABC7 news story on August 21, 2024, the Board of Education and MCPS quickly set up a "committee" to meet once a month to "discuss" the CESO report.
However, the CESO report actually had very specific recommendations and actions that MCPS was to take, some immediately. One of the recommendations was to put a plan in place to implement some of the CESO recommendations prior to the MCPS FY 2026 Operating Budget planning.
CESO believes that the planning for change should occur in time to support the FY2026 budget development cycle...[Deliverable #6 page 2]
The MCPS FY 2026 Operating Budget planning has already started, and submissions were due in September. The "committee" has only had a "meet and greet."
Why is a "committee" discussing the $168,380 CESO report and not the Montgomery County Board of Education?
Why did the Montgomery County Board of Education shelve this report for 8 months?
And who is on this "committee?" Are vendors on this "committee?"
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The meeting agenda is being uploaded to the Board’s website. To request a copy of the agenda or for additional information about this open meeting of the Board, please contact S. Spencer Dove, Administrative Officer, at piaopengov@oag.state.md.us, or call (410) 576-6560.
Note: this meeting was originally scheduled for Friday, September 20, 2024, at 1pm. However, because the Board did not reach a quorum, the meeting was not held and no business conducted.
The September 12, 2024, Board of Education Agenda showed the following purchase:
The Parents' Coalition has previously documented multiple GPS purchases by the Board of Education. There was no discussion of the September 12th purchase. The public has no idea why the Board of Education continually purchases GPS systems for school buses. Do they never work?
Is the 6th time the charm?
#Breaking 2-alarm fire at JoAnn Leleck Elementary School on the 700 block of Beacon Rd in Silver Spring, MD. The school was under construction. #MCFRS pic.twitter.com/V9S4uND7WT
— Allison Papson (@AllisonPapson) September 25, 2024
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Montgomery County Public Schools, MD: 4 CESO Deliverable 01.31.2024 by Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland on Scribd
