Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland
Dedicated to improving responsiveness and performance of Montgomery County Public Schools
Sunday, May 10, 2026
Saturday, May 2, 2026
How YouTube Took Over the American Classroom
Parents find their kids captive to the video streaming site on their school-issued devices; for one, it was 13,000 YouTube videos in three months
AMY WARREN’S “mom siren” went off when her seventh-grader in Wichita, Kan., seemed to know too much about Fortnite, a battling-and-shooting videogame he is barred from playing.
When Warren signed into his school Google account, she was aghast: Her son Ben had accessed more than 13,000 YouTube videos during school hours from December 2024 through February 2025, according to viewing data she provided the Journal.
His feed was rife with inappropriate content. Videos glorifying gun culture, asking about silencers on Nerf guns, “head shots” where children realistically portray being killed, a video with sexually explicit jokes about neighbors sleeping together.
YouTube had served up “shorts”—video after video that it algorithmically determined that he might like.
“It made me cry,” Warren said. “All of a sudden it’s this kind of gun slop, by no fault of his own. ” She later ran for school board and won in November, eager to galvanize change.
And:
When Warren asked about blocking YouTube altogether from student devices last spring, she heard back that teachers depended on it for parts of lesson plans.
Wichita Public Schools is “working to restrict open YouTube browsing,” a spokeswoman said, after learning over time that the platform’s own “restricted” content-filtering mode “isn’t sufficient for the way algorithms and short-form content have evolved.”
In Ben Warren’s science class, nearly all educational content has been on the iPad: instead of live science experiments, the teacher showed a YouTube video. “Everything is a simulated experience,” the now-eighth grader says. “I would rather use paper and pencil. It’s easier to focus.”
And:
THE YOUTUBE OVERLOAD runs counter to what is clear in several scientific studies: Learning analog is better than digital.
Neuroscientist Tzipi Horowitz-Kraus, who has co-written several studies on screen use and child brain development, said introducing digital tools too early to children may prevent basic neural networks related to executive functions and language abilities from building. Her research has shown that screen-based learning can interfere with children’s attention. “You know how to push buttons really fast but don’t have the attention level to focus on your teacher,” said Horowitz-Kraus, head of the educational neuroimaging group at Technion, an Israeli university.
Jared Cooney Horvath, a neuroscientist and educator who recently testified before Congress, found in an analysis that as states switched over to digital testing between 2011 and 2019, national test scores for reading and math slid in the ensuing years through 2024, even excluding the pandemic year test. This “digital lock-in” forced more screen time and distraction into the classroom, he theorizes.
Friday, April 10, 2026
Large Water Main Break Forces Road Closures, School Dismissal: Police
From Patch, reporter Gaby Arancibia. To read the full story go here.
From Friday April 9, 2026
ROCKVILLE, MD — A massive water main break has forced the closure of multiple roadways in Rockville and prompted an early school dismissal.
The Montgomery County Police Department said Friday that the water main break was traced to the 2100 block of Wootton Parkway.
The Thomas S. Wootton High School is located at 2100 Wootton Parkway.
Wednesday, March 18, 2026
Tuesday, March 10, 2026
Pennsylvania schools will be required to teach cursive again starting in April
From Fox29 Philadelphia, reporter Isabel Soisson. To read the full story go here.
The new law, which was signed by Gov. Josh Shapiro in February, makes it so "instruction in cursive handwriting or joined italics" will be taught at the "appropriate grade levels."
Strong bipartisan support
What we know:
The law amends the state’s Public School Code of 1949 to add printing, joined italics and cursive handwriting to the required writing curriculum for all students.
The legislation received bipartisan support in the General Assembly, passing the House 195‑8 and the Senate 42‑5 before being signed by the governor.
The mandate officially goes into effect on April 12.
Cursive as 'a bridge'
What they're saying:
The bill was sponsored in the Pennsylvania Senate by Sen. Wayne Langerholic (R-Clearfield), who said in a statement issued last month that "by reintegrating cursive into the curriculum…we are investing in our students’ cognitive development, strengthening their legal preparedness and preserving their connection to historical literacy."
The House sponsor, Rep. Dane Watro (R‑Luzerne/Schuylkill), said proponents believe the skill supports fine motor development and access to historical documents written in script.
Friday, March 6, 2026
The Images shared with the MCPS Board of Education are WRONG.
Executive Summary
Recent presentations to the Montgomery County Board of Education utilized a specific data visualization to argue that housing growth has “decoupled” from student enrollment. This chart has been cited as a primary justification for consequential infrastructure decisions, including the proposed closure of Wootton High School. As a data science professional with nearly two decades of experience in time series analysis, I have audited this visualization and found it to be methodologically invalid. The presentation relies on mismatched axes, hidden baselines, and a known statistical anomaly to manufacture a divergence that does not exist in the raw data.
The Images shared with the BOE (WRONG)...
https://parentscoalitionmd.substack.com/p/the-images-shared-with-the-mcps-board
Wednesday, March 4, 2026
Montgomery County Schools to phase out gymnastics programs; program head responds--"At the very best it's a bait and switch at the very worse its a bold face lie,"
...7News spoke with Paula Shaibani, a gymnastics instructor at Bethesda Chevy Chase High School and who oversees sport across the seven schools. She told 7News that not only was the district's claims of waning numbers incorrect, but that she and the other coaches had been caught off guard by the decision.
She said MCPS leadership informed them of a potential vote by athletics directors but would give them another notice prior to the vote. She said the gymnastics coaches were also promised the opportunity for public comment periods.
"At the very best it's a bait and switch at the very worse its a bold face lie," Shaibani told 7News during a phone call.
It wasn't until a coach at another school was told by an Athletics Director about the vote that Shaibani said she even knew of the decision.
She added that only two gymnastic coaches were told of the decision in a formal statement and said they were given very few opportunities to talk with MCPS athletic leaders on how to keep the program...
Tuesday, March 3, 2026
MACo Resists Unfunded One-Size-Fits-All School Infrastructure Mandate
...While well-intentioned, this bill would place a costly mandate on county governments to carry out new state policies to create sidewalks and crosswalks as alternative routes for all public-school students. MACo does not raise policy objections to the bill’s goal of ensuring safe routes for students – county concerns are merely practical and cost-driven...
Monday, March 2, 2026
“I think this is just a bunch of bull,” said board Vice President Brenda Wolff after presenting a resolution, which failed, that would have given the school until December to solve the issues.
...In a contentious Thursday evening decision, the Montgomery County school board voted to close the county’s only charter school, MECCA Business Learning Institute (MBLI), at the end of this academic year if it doesn’t resolve ongoing issues — a decision that comes just nearly seven months after the school opened.
“I think this is just a bunch of bull,” said board Vice President Brenda Wolff after presenting a resolution, which failed, that would have given the school until December to solve the issues. “I’m very disappointed in some of this discussion because we don’t have all of our schools that are successful in our own system, and we don’t give them three months to improve.”
The board voted 5-2 to approve a resolution based on Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) Superintendent Thomas Taylor’s December recommendation to begin formal proceedings for revoking MBLI’s charter. The recommendation to revoke the charter earned 5 votes from board members Rita Montoya, Laura Stewart, Julie Yang, Karla Silvestre and Student Member of the Boa/rd Anuva Maloo...
Montgomery County Public Schools uses AI-supported tool to improve safety [FYI: No Contract]
...A local parents' group wants to see the contract between the Bethesda-based company and MCPS.
"This has not been discussed at the Board of Education. This has not had any procurement process so once again, we see MCPS making a deal with a company behind closed doors," said Janis Sartucci of the Parents'Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland.
The Coalition filed a Maryland Public Information Act request to secure a copy of the contract between VOLT AI and MCPS.
"There's an agreement with a company that's going to effectively be able to watch students in hallways, and there's no documentation that's been made public," Sartucci said.
Sartucci showed 7News a letter she received from MCPS saying, "There are no contracts, invoices, receipts, or purchase orders from VOLT AI. The 30-day pilot program is a no-cost agreement."
She also told us at a meeting earlier this month, MCPS Chief Safety Officer Marcus Jones assured the school community that lawyers from both sides had thoroughly vetted the agreement between the school system and VOLT AI...
Thursday, February 26, 2026
It's Girl Scout Cookie Season! Support the Girl Scouts
Once again, we're reprinting this article, which we first published on March 3, 2012. Because it's always time to celebrate Girl Scouts.
Girl Scout Cookies are now available, and the Girl Scouts have a nifty app to show us where to buy our cookies this year. To find your local girl scout cookies, go here.
1 cup butter
Cream butter and the cup of sugar; add well-beaten eggs, then milk, vanilla, flour, salt, and baking powder. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Roll dough, cut into trefoil shapes, and sprinkle sugar on top, if desired. Bake in a quick oven (375°) for approximately 8 to 10 minutes or until the edges begin to brown. Makes six- to seven-dozen cookies.

Tuesday, February 24, 2026
MCPS Speech-Language Pathologist: "A student who can communicate, even without words, is a student who can learn, belong, and be safe."
xMINDS: Major Cuts to MCPS Autism Services - Autism Unit Reduced by half
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Thursday, February 19, 2026
MCPS was Stopped from Moving Seven Locks ES to another site. IG Exposed MCPS Fib about Cost Data.
In 2006, MCPS was stopped by the Montgomery County Council from moving Seven Locks Elementary School to another site after a scathing report was released by the Montgomery County Inspector General. The IG found that MCPS had fibbed about construction costs.
A few weeks after the IG's report was released the County Council defunded the project and Seven Locks Elementary School was not moved.
The superintendent's plan had been to hand the existing site over to developers.
Here's the timeline of what happened:
FEBRUARY, 2006: Montgomery County Inspector General Thomas Dagley releases a 25-page report that faults MCPS for providing misleading and inflated cost data about renovating Seven Locks Elementary and failing to provide the board and council with information about two less costly options on the site. The report also states that MCPS misrepresented community sentiment in reports to the board and council. In response, Councilmember Howard Denis (R-1) says he’ll introduce a CIP amendment to halt plans to build on Kendale and instead build a new school on the current Seven Locks site...
https://www.connectionnewspapers.com/news/2006/feb/14/seven-locks-controversy-timeline/
The Montgomery County Council affirmed March 28 that it will not fund the construction of an elementary school on Kendale Road in Potomac — an outcome that was nearly inconceivable three months ago...
https://www.connectionnewspapers.com/news/2006/mar/28/if-not-kendale-then-what/
2/18/26: MCPS Director of Security at BCC High School on VOLT AI Pilot
Notes from the PTSA meeting held at BCC High School on February 18, 2026.
The topic of the meeting was the surprise announcement of a pilot of the VOLT AI system. MCPS Director of Security Marcus Jones was the only speaker on this topic. No representatives from VOLT AI spoke.
Director Jones said that MCPS was approached and offered a no cost, 30 day trial of the VOLT AI product.
The 30 day pilot will be at three schools: Seneca Valley HS because it is the largest high school in the state of Maryland, BCC High School because it is urban, and Magruder High School because it is suburban. They asked the principals if they would participate. The pilot will begin March 2nd.
Director Jones said this is the "evaluation phase." There will be weekly reports and a final report. MCPS schools already have cameras. The VOLT AI system will only be on 30 cameras per school. Each school has about 200 cameras. Currently, existing MCPS cameras are not monitored.
A question was asked about what data MCPS currently has on incidents at schools and if that data would be used to compare to to the data generated from the VOLT AI pilot. Director Jones said there isn't any data and you can't know what will happen in a school any given week. There are no plans to evaluate data and no metrics for evaluating the system were stated.
The agreement to do this pilot was reviewed by MCPS legal counsel.
Director Jones said that nothing is off the table with regard to school security.
Once installed, MCPS will run tests to see how VOLT AI responds. They will set up test scenarios and see response. A human at VOLT AI will receive the alerts, review the video and contact MCPS. A question was asked about where the VOLT AI human was located, the answer was USA.
VOLT AI will retain the video for 30 days and then it will be deleted.
Director Jones said he can not speak to the cost of VOLT AI. He said he is not the decision maker. The decision maker are the elected officials. Even though VOLT AI is from Bethesda, they won't be given preference.
Director Jones will not tell principals how to use the information from VOLT AI.
Friday, February 13, 2026
Statement on Behalf of the Black United Front of Montgomery County Re: Wootton High School
The fact is that despite the condolences offered by the County Council, this is just a cover of the continued anti-Blackness that permeates the county. For 250 years since the county’s establishment, it has been very apparent that Black people are the permanent underclass and as the permanent underclass, they feel that they can do whatever they want to us. It is a bitter irony that for a County that is celebrating its 250 years with the theme of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion that the Black community continues to be excluded and denigrated. Despite the passage of the Racial Equity and Social Justice Act in 2019, the Council wants to act like they haven’t passed it. We demand that the council makes a stronger commitment to enforce the laws and rules already in statute and county policy.
This was totally preventable! Especially since the mother reported that she had been trying to remove her son from Wootton due to the ongoing bullying that they have been dealing with. Anyone who is familiar with MCPS will tell you that the bullying is at an astronomical level with the Board of Education and MCPS in particular stepping in line defending bullies. On top of which, the anti-Blackness in the bullying adds additional trauma to students. This is not surprising but still disgusting because despite recommendations from activist-organizers on developing Black cultural curriculum, mental health centers and designating young Black boys as a protective class, there has been silence or in some cases hostilities in creating programs specifically for Black students yet the same bodies will create programs for every other group.
The Black United Front demands accountability not only from the School Board, but the County Council and the County Executive who has firmly denied and allowed this incident to happen. Blood is on their hands. We demand that the County Council, the School Board apologize for their failure to act on behalf of Black youth. We demand investments in Black youth that include a Black cultural curriculum, true restorative justice, and wraparound mental health services. We also demand an immediate emergency council meeting to deal with the crisis among Black youth especially since the increase of homicides in the county disproportionately affect Black boys and men.
Uhuru
The Black United Front Of Moco:
Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition
Racial Justice NOW!
UNIA-ACL
Cameroon American Council
Friends of the Congo
EPIC of Moco









