Opinion: MoCo education must be influenced by new groups of activists

MCPS needs a greater range of opinions and different mindsets to have true diversity in the system.

Letter to the Editor by Caleb Michaud, in Moco360. Full letter here.

2023 is clearly a year that MCPS would like to do over.  

For decades, MCPS has been successful at silently covering up scandals, providing publicly accepted justifications for shortcomings, and engineering a community image that easily deflected any form of critique. Until 2023, MCPS has been able to exist much like a 1920s mobster – in a way that was self-sustaining and self-beneficial and removed from any blame or repercussions. 

But 2023 has been different.  This year, a hole has punctured the dam of MCPS immunity.  Decades of mismanagement, broken promises, lost focus, and misused resources have begun to flow through the community. 

In addition to the continuation of subpar testing scores, the community has learned about the Vigna conviction, the Damascus settlement, the East Silver Spring settlement, embezzlement, the Biedleman promotion and the bias showed toward religious families that want to opt-out of sexually explicit material. 

Parents who previously might not have questioned the quality of an MCPS education are now wondering if the flaws on display are systemic.  Parents who previously had no doubts in the direction and leadership of the school system find themselves wondering if the leadership could be trusted to run a bake sale. 

As a result, there are new voices speaking up across the county.  This is refreshing if you believe that when new perspectives, voices previously not included, are added to the conversation that they strengthen the end result. However, this is incredibly scary if you are one of the voices that for years have been successful in silencing others, and you feel your power and influence slipping away.