Sunday, August 28, 2011

When You Wish Upon A Starr

Washington Post, Sunday August 28, 2011

In their ongoing quest to eliminate academic achievement gaps, Montgomery County educators are seeking help from the Magic Kingdom.

It is not enough, they realized, to spend more on poor children or to promote college-level classes for all if school employees are not fully committed to the cause.

So Maryland’s largest school system sent a delegation to Disney’s complex in Orlando a few years ago for a lesson in motivating employees from a company that specializes in making dreams come true.

To read the complete article, CLICK HERE.

9 comments:

  1. Are you serious? We always knew the school system was very mousy - and now they have confirmed the fact! I thought we were under a budget crisis.

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  2. Anonymous, while all the county govt. Is under a travel freeze, MCPS is not a county agency; it is a quasi-state agency, i.e., it operates as a private business with no accountability. That is a shame for parents, children, and taxpayers who pay for this agency. That is why they can all go to Disneyworld, and that is why, just a few weeks ago, a group of Carver higher-ups all went Cambridge,, MA. No accountability.

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  3. Not that I agree with this whole Disney thing, but the article does state that the travel to Orlando occurred a few years ago. Maybe they went before the freeze. Good reporting (hello Washington Post) would provide a date, rather than a nebulous reference to a date.

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  4. It is a tragedy that, in a time of ever-increasing class sizes, paper shortages, ancient textbooks, and salary freezes with increased pension costs for the lowly teacher, MCPS would spend money on something so ridiculous. I'll bet MCPS employees would be very committed to the "cause" of smaller class sizes, less top-down mandates that don't help kids and more professional respect. They didn't need to go all the way to Disney.

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  5. @7:34 Before the "travel freeze?" What freeze? Oh, you mean the JOKE freeze? The fake one that Jerry Weast announced in 2009 to the County Council?

    http://parentscoalitionmc.blogspot.com/2010/04/mcps-travel-freeze-lifted.html

    Jerry Weast, always the kidder.

    Joshua Starr knows of no travel freeze. He's already traveled to Boston with MCPS admins for a fun week on taxpayers! We hear he likes steaks when he travels.

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  6. @Ireland - "MCPS" didn't spend the money on this trip, the Apple folks did. The Apple Ballot team is at the secret budget table and this is the type of spending that they support. Support - heck - they GO on the trips!

    http://parentscoalitionmc.blogspot.com/2011/02/6-in-denver-this-week-theres-always.html

    Look - there's Doug Prouty in NYC!

    http://parentscoalitionmc.blogspot.com/2011/02/6-in-denver-this-week-theres-always.html

    And here's where he ate the night before the event above. Ask him what he ordered, you paid for it!

    http://parentscoalitionmc.blogspot.com/2011/05/tofig-reveals-names-of-edwards-taxpayer.html

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  7. @Ireland - Oh, and ask Mr. Prouty where he spent the night before the announcement...let's see the hotel receipts for the group.

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  8. Pricing

    5–day programs
    Standard Pricing $5,795

    Disney Institute Alumni & their Guests
    Students/Teachers
    Non-profit employees
    Military/Government employees $5,295

    Disney Vacation Club member $5,195

    Pre–paid Registration packs of 5–100 for one organization For pricing, click here.
    Please Note: Guests arrive the day prior to the program starting and depart the day after the program ends due to the full schedule presented on each of the program days.

    What’s Included

    5 days of official Disney Institute training with two facilitators starting at 8:00 a.m. on the first day and ending at 5:00 p.m. on the fifth day
    Comprehensive reference materials
    Guided field experiences throughout the Walt Disney World® Resort
    Meetings with working leaders and employees (Cast Members)
    A participant list for future networking
    Daily breakfast and lunch buffet, refreshments
    One (1) 5–day Park Hopper® Pass**

    http://disneyinstitute.com/dates_and_pricing/program_pricing.aspx#threedayWDW

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  9. Thank you for telling us about Disney's park called Cover-up Land. The Deep Pockets roller coaster, the Limitless Credit carousel, and the ever-popular virtual experience called Faux Meetings are real fav's with the MCPS set.

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