Last month, the Harvard Business School published a case study on the benefits of MCBRE, the Montgomery County Business Roundtable for Education. MCPS took credit and published the press release on its website, even though the press release was generated by MCBRE's staff.
What is MCBRE and why should we care? Other than the annual Champions for Children dinner and Golf Classic, most folks don't know much about MCBRE or its funding. According to the press release and information reflected in the Board of Education minutes, MCBRE was formed by local businesses. Read further into the materials and you will note that although the businesses "founded" MCBRE, our own Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Jerry Weast, was really the driving force behind the organization. The start up ran into funding complications and was supported entirely by MCPS, operating as an affiliate within the MCPS Department of Family and Community Partnerships.
A search of the MCPS website reveals only fourteen mentions of MCBRE in Board of Education minutes, and nothing after 2004. Beginning with the 2004 -2005 school year, MCPS eliminated its support of MCBRE, forcing the organization to become disentangled from MCPS. As the executive director is quoted in the Harvard report, "It just didn't make sense that a 501c3 business roundtable organization was funded by MCPS contributions and run by MCPS employees."
Little about MCBRE made sense, and when this writer and others tried to find out more, we were not given the information requested - even though as a 501c3, certain documents and annual reports are supposed to be publicly available.
In 2006, the Montgomery County Council of PTAs asked to participate in some of the decision making sessions of the organization, as was envisioned in the initial plan for MCBRE, and was told that the decision was up to Dr. Weast.
MCBRE - The President met with Jane Kubasik, Executive Director of Montgomery County Business Roundtable for Education (MCBRE) re: Champions for Children dinner and our commitment for that night; possible financial help for our presidents and principals dinner and contacts at the Marriott Conference Center. MCBRE meets three times yearly and includes recommendations for MCPS, but MCCPTA doesn’t attend. Jane Kubasik said that it is up to Dr. Weast to allow MCCPTA to participate in the meetings. Minutes MCCPTA Board of Directors Meeting, August 3, 2006.From the Harvard Business School report, we, the taxpayers and constituents of public education in the county have a view into its activities, functions, and funding. The community now has a list of the selected school-business partnerships and initiatives supported by the business roundtable, and if your school is lucky enough to house one of these programs, you now can properly thank the local businesses that made this happen. We finally have a glimpse into its finances, although the "Statement of Activities" isn't quite the same information as usually found in an annual report.
So - thanks again to the Harvard Business School for finally letting the taxpayers of Montgomery County know about this organization.
Of course, if you want to read the report yourself, according to the press release, you must purchase a copy directly from HBR. Nothing is free in MCPS, not even information about our own school system. Better yet, go to MCBRE, and ask them for a copy of the report.
From the Harvard report:
ReplyDelete"With its selective invite-only criteria for new members, would MCBRE be able to continue to grow?"
Really? The MCBRE members are invite-only? That would include The Gazette Newspapers! How does The Gazette's participation in this "invite-only" MCPS organization influence their reporting on school system issues?
Amazing but not surprising that Weast would figure out yet another way to generate publicity for MCPS paid for by MCPS while making it look as if it were independent.
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