Closing a strong, vibrant, academically successful school

Testimony to Montgomery County Board of Education
November 12, 2009

I have to believe that sitting here two consecutive nights listening to a litany of everything you’re doing wrong is like giving yourself a papercut and pouring lemon juice on it. This is brutal on my end, I can't imagine what it's like on yours.

I figure you are on the School Board for one of three reasons. Either you are Power Hungry, or you are Altruistic and have integrity, or you are simply a glutton for punishment. If you are here for the power trip, you haven’t and won’t hear a darn thing that has been said thus far. If you are here because you are noble and altruistic, then you have to consider the wishes of the people who’s money you take for the purpose of teaching their kids. And if you are here because you are a glutton for punishment, you should be having a ball right now.

*******Reject the proposed procedures to consolidate Monocacy and Poolesville. The timeline will not allow the Advisory Committee to fully investigate the impacts, nor will it give them adequate time to develop alternatives. A decision of this magnitude – closing down a strong, vibrant, academically successful school like Monocacy – and in the process – pushing children into a facility that is certain to become overcrowded in a few short years – is not a decision to be taken lightly.

The Monocacy and Poolesville communities are legally entitled to the opportunity to respond to this proposal without an artificially constrained schedule that short-circuits Due Process. Monocacy is an example of what MCPS should be striving to attain – not demolish. There is literally nothing undesirable about Monocacy and certainly no reason to consider closing it.

Why would you close down an academically thriving school that is at 86% capacity? It’s counterintuitive in a school system that is struggling to keep up with an ever-growing student population, with facilities that are stretched well beyond their desired capacities.

…Instead,… consider alternatives
• like opening enrollment, allowing interested parents to enroll their children from surrounding school districts.
• The Clarksburg cluster coordinator told you last night that they would fully support a liberal transfer policy to re-populate the Poolesville Cluster. Its that easy.
• Or you could re-instate the Spanish Emersion program that had increased Monocacy’s numbers just a few years ago.
• Or, Instead of spending $200,000.00 on a Consultant for the Promethean Boards, save it and choose to keep a school open. (By the way, I’ve seen the Promethean Boards. They are cool tools, but they sure as heck aren’t more important than saving a school.)

Use our resources more wisely. Prioritize differently. Closing Monocacy will only add to the inventory of overcrowded schools requiring further capital expenditures. Instead, find another way, and capitalize on this gem of a school that you already have.

Thank you.

Pamela Boe