By Dan Reed,Friday, September 6, 6:16 PM
Washington Post Local Opinions, ONLINE HERE.
Highlights!
A Montgomery County school board member once told me, “There are no bad schools in Montgomery County.” This is sort of true, but so stellar a reputation often distracts people from the real problems Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) faces, such as a persistent achievement gap, de facto segregation by class and race and suggestions of middle-class flight. To tackle these difficult problems, families, community leaders and school administrators need to face a hard truth: MCPS just isn’t so great anymore.
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Starr also has to consider changing the way school assignments are made in the Northeast and Downcounty consortia, which have failed at reducing segregation and middle-class flight.
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It’s true that 85 percent of school-age children in Montgomery County attend MCPS. But that’s like saying that most people choose Pepco as their energy provider. Many families, including mine, don’t have other options, but that doesn’t mean they’re satisfied with what they’re getting. MCPS needs to make a case for itself, and it starts by admitting that serious problems exist and that solutions need to be found.
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Likewise, families in MCPS cannot take for granted that Starr and the Board of Education will act in their best interest.
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To read the whole opinion piece online in the Post, CLICK HERE.
By 7:45 am Sun, Sept 8, 101 comments at Dan Reed's op ed in WP.
ReplyDeleteHurry and read before Wash Post removes and suspends any further comment. Per WP policy of "seldom is heard, a disparaging word" about MCPS.
I am very concerned with Mr. Reed’s history of supporting developer agendas, who choose their bottom lines over the essential infrastructure needed to support continued growth. These policies create an environment of more gridlock in our schools (larger class size), more gridlock on our roads and higher taxes. It seems quite disingenuous that Mr. Reed would attempt a dig at our beleaguered school system, when he supports and endorses policies that only make the situation worse.
ReplyDeleteIt is ironic that Mr. Reed, who is paid by real estate developers, is suddenly so interested in the quality of MCPS. It is because of the unmanaged, sky-is-the-limit development that he supports, that our schools are overcrowded and will continue to be that way for some time into the future. Further, the amount of money developers are required to pay for the school facilities and operation required by the new populations in their developments comes nowhere near to covering real costs. That is left up to the taxpayers. The Post is complicit here. How is it that Mr. Reed gets column space for his opinions when over the years "journalists" at MCPS and informed citizens have no space to cover MCPS?
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