988 people were right!

988 people signed a Petition to Save the Secondary Learning Centers in February of 2007. Those 988 people were opposed to the sudden, surprise announcement to close these special education programs in Montgomery County Public Schools.

Turns out, those 988 people had valid concerns.

The closing of the MCPS Secondary Learning Centers DID violate MCPS policy.
Read the State Board of Education decision here.

The closing of the MCPS Secondary Learning Centers DID evidence a lack of preparation. Read the MCPS report here.

Those 988 people are a problem! They did a better job of understanding MCPS Policy than the Board of Education, and a better job of understanding how important preparation is to a major program change in a school system. And so, the MCPS Board of Education went on a "retreat" on Friday, May 8, 2009, to discuss how to deal with those 988 people. From the "retreat" agenda:

How can “reframing the terms of engagement” with our community, including both our vocal critics and our “silent” constituents, help us to move from where we are now, to where we want to be, in a way that is aligned with (“stays true to”) our core values?

Don't expect to read the minutes from this "retreat" to find out how the Board answered this question. The two year Navarro Board of Education didn't put out minutes from retreats, and the Brandman Board of Education hasn't put out any from its first January retreat either.

Maybe instead of "reframing the terms of engagement" the Board of Education should just start listening to what parents and guardians are saying, and start discussing program changes in public, at the Board table, before the changes are made.
Petition Slc

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