"April Fool's" from Eastern Middle School Workgroup

From: EMS Schedule Decision Reversal Workgroup <emsscheduledecisionreversal@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Apr 2, 2009 at 11:53 PM
Subject: Schedule Decision Reversal Workgroup Newsbrief No. 4

From the 80+ Members of the EMS Schedule Decision Reversal Workgroup (http://groups.google.com/group/ems-schedule-decision-reversal):

~ NEWS FLASH! Delayed from Wed., APRIL FOOLS DAY -- MCPS acknowledges mistakes and reverses schedule decision! MCPS administrators acknowledged that they did not follow proper procedure and instead excluded meaningful input from the parents and students, reversed advances in the design of the magnet program and its desegregation goals, and obfuscated the process, decision, and recourse mechanisms. Parents and students responded by promising to fight for better pay for teachers. More on this story later. (Okay, BAD APRIL FOOLS JOKE, but we need to keep a little humor in this otherwise dismal situation! ...and who knows, maybe this is a little prophetic...?)

~ The Current Reality -- Formal Complaint Task Force Moves to Next Phase. Grim faced but determined members of the Formal Complaint Task Force met this week to plan the next phase of the formal complaint process (which is described at http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/info/complaints.shtm). The first step in this phase was completed today -- a letter following up on this Workgroup's Complaint Form 270-8 (which was submitted on March 17) was presented to the EMS Principal requesting receipt of her written decision so that we may proceed to the next step, which is review by the MCPS Chief Operating Officer.

~ Eastern praised for its success at reducing socioeconomic isolation. One of the arguments for maintaining the 8 period block and its extra elective, and which does not appear to have been considered during the decision process, was for the better mixing that occurs between zone and magnet kids and families. Former students, parents, and teachers are reported to have noted a noticeable improvement when EMS went to 8 periods (if you are one of them, we'd like to hear from you!). EMS was so successful in fact, it was praised as a model school in this regard during creation of the magnet consortium schools, which have maintained their 8 period block schedules -- see http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/boe/Meetings/agenda/2003-04/2004-0309/grant.pdf for more.

~ North Bethesda Middle School continues exploring schedule change by reaching out to former parents and students. NBMS recently sent a request to former NBMS parents and students now at the zone high school, Walter Johnson, asking what they thought about the schedule they had. Thus, NBMS is reaching out not only to current parents and students, but to former parents and students. Also, NBMS appears to be operating under notion that there is plenty of time to explore options, pilot test, etc. and still make the change before fall.

~ Survey results announced. The survey of parents and students was announced yesterday. Full survey results, along with all free response answers (and they worth reading!), can be accessed at http://www.surveymonkey.com/sr.aspx?sm=4IolRNsT37zmpXyu0711_2fAbcGSrbud5VBfb8b_2f8Wvbg_3d

Note: Anyone who wants to participate in the effort to retain the 8 period block schedule -- or at least get a fair deal on a schedule change -- should consider joining this group, http://groups.google.com/group/ems-schedule-decision-reversal. Email traffic can be heavy at times, but feel free to chose the digest option, or unsubscribe, at any time. Input or questions are always welcome!