Parents' Coalition Receives Accolades

County Council member Marc Elrich presented the Gazette Award for Public Service to the Parents' Coalition (PC) at the annual Montgomery County Civic Federation Awards Banquet held May 15, 2009. Accepting the award was Bob Astrove, one of the co-founders of PC.

Additionally, Del. Brian Feldman (D-15), current Chair of the Maryland House Delegation, presented an official citation from the Maryland General Assembly congratulating The Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County

"... in recognition of their receipt of the Gazette Award and honoring their dedicated service on behalf of our community by advocating for the highest possible educational standards and achievements by the Montgomery County Public Schools."

The citation was signed by Senator Richard Madaleno Jr, and Delegate Brian Feldman

Other attendees included many delegates from Maryland Montgomery County Delegation, County Executive Ike Leggett and County Council members Phil Andrews, Marc Elrich, Duchy Trachtenberg, and Roger Berliner. Parents' Coalition members attending were honored to have Del. Al Carr (D-18), Del. Kirill Reznik (D-39), and Del. Anne Kaiser (D-14) sitting at our tables. PC members had encouraged letter writing and had testified in support of Del Carr's bill, HB 841, mandating the Board of Education to make available a searchable website listing MCPS purchases of $25,000 or more. The bill was signed by Gov. O'Malley on May 7.
Sadly, there was one very important person missing. An inspiration to PC, the venerable activist extraordinaire Wayne Goldstein, passed away on April 27.