What is the Kennedy Cluster Project project? It is a behind closed doors expenditure of County dollars that has been going on for 5 years. By meeting behind closed doors the "committee" that runs this project has evaded any public accountability. The "committee" is made up of officials and representatives from different County agencies and the Board of Education. There have been no public meetings, no public minutes and no oversight of this "committee". How much has this "committee" been spending?
As part of today's discussion a 6 month old "confidential report" is being released to the public. See below.
Why has this report been held for 6 months? Why was this report not released PRIOR to the FY 2015 budget discussions? Why have the Board of Education and County Council been making budget decisions about this program with out access to this report?
Only in an election year does the public get a peek at what goes on behind the scenes in Montgomery County government and at the Board of Education. Here's today's look at what you have been missing for 5 years.
Amazing....so many discussions during this budget season had Councilmembers citing their lack of knowledge regarding any outcomes of the Kennedy Cluster program and opining that more studies are needed to determine the value of the Kennedy Cluster approach. All while approving the expansion up-county. Yet this report which appears to rest heavily on supportive anecdotal chronicles existed the whole time!!! Just amazing...just so disappointing how Council performs oversight.
ReplyDeleteBottom paragraph of page 19: "For the multi-agency team, the achievement gap is no longer merely a school problem. It is everyone's problem." I've always know (haven't we all?) that the achievement gap was an issue that we must all address - together - and that the best way to address it was to collaborate. But that means that MCPS MUST be transparent. You can't hide behind closed doors and/or pick and choose who to engage with among your stakeholders. This one is going to take all of us. If MCPS gave the county council transparent budgets, we could integrate county services AT EVERY SCHOOL, not just in the Kennedy Cluster. We could also work on closing the gap that exists for our special needs students. We could build our budgets from the ground up based on the needs of the children in partnership with the communities they serve. Closed doors and secrecy have been the status quo - and the gap hasn't moved. The children marched last week and everyone came. It would be nice to think that their advocacy could make a difference.
ReplyDeleteA long report summarizing information and offering anecdotal reports mainly to make a case that a multi disciplinary team approach allows agencies to cooperate better and offer additional services. This conclusion is not new!
ReplyDeleteoh pliss, pliss,pliss.....MCPS.can't put you fingers and cover tha sun..............PARENTS'....open the eyes
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