Truancy Not on Weast's Radar

A new report out from the County Council's Office of Legislative Oversight titled, "Truancy in Montgomery County".

1.   Note that the following County report was not transmitted to Superintendent Jerry Weast for review (page 96), and the MCPS response (page 97) did not come from the Superintendent. Is the issue of truancy not on the Superintendent's "to do" list?    

2.    It is worth noting that this report is being released at the same time that MCPS is going to be removing the "loss of credit" sanction from a few high schools in the fall.

The "loss of credit" policy states that if a student has 5 unexcused absences the student loses credit for the class. If the "loss of credit" sanction is removed students will be able to have more unexcused absences and still receive credit for the class. That is, it will be possible for a student to skip classes but still receive a passing grade.

3.    The report recommends "Expand access to career and technology education paths and programs, including the Thomas Edison High School of Technology..." (Page 94). This is an interesting recommendation as some of the highest illegal curricular fees being charged to students are in the Edison program. For example, this year Edison students are being illegally charged $265 to enroll in a Cosmetology class and $62 to enroll in an Auto Body class.

The MCPS Board of Education and Superintendent Weast continue to charge students for access to their constitutionally guaranteed free public education, thereby erecting illegal barriers to an education.

Do our elected leaders think that the failure to provide students with their constitutionally guaranteed free public education promotes or deters from school attendance?

This report talks a lot about "feelings" but makes no mention of the illegal fees that students are being charged to attend Montgomery County Public Schools.

How "welcome" do students "feel" when they have to pay to attend public school classes?

Truancy in Montgomery County, Maryland