Read this article on our new Substack website:
https://parentscoalitionmd.substack.com/p/surprise-taylor-moving-495-buses
Wednesday, March 18, 2026
Tuesday, March 10, 2026
Pennsylvania schools will be required to teach cursive again starting in April
From Fox29 Philadelphia, reporter Isabel Soisson. To read the full story go here.
The new law, which was signed by Gov. Josh Shapiro in February, makes it so "instruction in cursive handwriting or joined italics" will be taught at the "appropriate grade levels."
Strong bipartisan support
What we know:
The law amends the state’s Public School Code of 1949 to add printing, joined italics and cursive handwriting to the required writing curriculum for all students.
The legislation received bipartisan support in the General Assembly, passing the House 195‑8 and the Senate 42‑5 before being signed by the governor.
The mandate officially goes into effect on April 12.
Cursive as 'a bridge'
What they're saying:
The bill was sponsored in the Pennsylvania Senate by Sen. Wayne Langerholic (R-Clearfield), who said in a statement issued last month that "by reintegrating cursive into the curriculum…we are investing in our students’ cognitive development, strengthening their legal preparedness and preserving their connection to historical literacy."
The House sponsor, Rep. Dane Watro (R‑Luzerne/Schuylkill), said proponents believe the skill supports fine motor development and access to historical documents written in script.
Friday, March 6, 2026
The Images shared with the MCPS Board of Education are WRONG.
Executive Summary
Recent presentations to the Montgomery County Board of Education utilized a specific data visualization to argue that housing growth has “decoupled” from student enrollment. This chart has been cited as a primary justification for consequential infrastructure decisions, including the proposed closure of Wootton High School. As a data science professional with nearly two decades of experience in time series analysis, I have audited this visualization and found it to be methodologically invalid. The presentation relies on mismatched axes, hidden baselines, and a known statistical anomaly to manufacture a divergence that does not exist in the raw data.
The Images shared with the BOE (WRONG)...
https://parentscoalitionmd.substack.com/p/the-images-shared-with-the-mcps-board
Wednesday, March 4, 2026
Montgomery County Schools to phase out gymnastics programs; program head responds--"At the very best it's a bait and switch at the very worse its a bold face lie,"
...7News spoke with Paula Shaibani, a gymnastics instructor at Bethesda Chevy Chase High School and who oversees sport across the seven schools. She told 7News that not only was the district's claims of waning numbers incorrect, but that she and the other coaches had been caught off guard by the decision.
She said MCPS leadership informed them of a potential vote by athletics directors but would give them another notice prior to the vote. She said the gymnastics coaches were also promised the opportunity for public comment periods.
"At the very best it's a bait and switch at the very worse its a bold face lie," Shaibani told 7News during a phone call.
It wasn't until a coach at another school was told by an Athletics Director about the vote that Shaibani said she even knew of the decision.
She added that only two gymnastic coaches were told of the decision in a formal statement and said they were given very few opportunities to talk with MCPS athletic leaders on how to keep the program...
Tuesday, March 3, 2026
MACo Resists Unfunded One-Size-Fits-All School Infrastructure Mandate
Monday, March 2, 2026
“I think this is just a bunch of bull,” said board Vice President Brenda Wolff after presenting a resolution, which failed, that would have given the school until December to solve the issues.
...In a contentious Thursday evening decision, the Montgomery County school board voted to close the county’s only charter school, MECCA Business Learning Institute (MBLI), at the end of this academic year if it doesn’t resolve ongoing issues — a decision that comes just nearly seven months after the school opened.
“I think this is just a bunch of bull,” said board Vice President Brenda Wolff after presenting a resolution, which failed, that would have given the school until December to solve the issues. “I’m very disappointed in some of this discussion because we don’t have all of our schools that are successful in our own system, and we don’t give them three months to improve.”
The board voted 5-2 to approve a resolution based on Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) Superintendent Thomas Taylor’s December recommendation to begin formal proceedings for revoking MBLI’s charter. The recommendation to revoke the charter earned 5 votes from board members Rita Montoya, Laura Stewart, Julie Yang, Karla Silvestre and Student Member of the Boa/rd Anuva Maloo...
Montgomery County Public Schools uses AI-supported tool to improve safety [FYI: No Contract]
"This has not been discussed at the Board of Education. This has not had any procurement process so once again, we see MCPS making a deal with a company behind closed doors," said Janis Sartucci of the Parents'Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland.
The Coalition filed a Maryland Public Information Act request to secure a copy of the contract between VOLT AI and MCPS.
"There's an agreement with a company that's going to effectively be able to watch students in hallways, and there's no documentation that's been made public," Sartucci said.
Sartucci showed 7News a letter she received from MCPS saying, "There are no contracts, invoices, receipts, or purchase orders from VOLT AI. The 30-day pilot program is a no-cost agreement."
She also told us at a meeting earlier this month, MCPS Chief Safety Officer Marcus Jones assured the school community that lawyers from both sides had thoroughly vetted the agreement between the school system and VOLT AI...
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