Furloughed parents are jumping into thorny school debates

...Hougham — a furloughed federal employee — wasn’t used to having so many hours to herself while her two kids were in school.

But, less than a week into the shutdown, Montgomery County Public Schools gave her a way to spend the unexpected free time.

District officials unveiled new campus boundary maps in early October, practically at the same time that many parents were sent home from their jobs at nearby federal agencies.

The proposal ignited ardent debate, with some furloughed parents quick to rally in opposition. During hours they would’ve normally spent drafting government reports or prepping for briefings, these federal workers instead circulated petitions and created an advocacy toolkit via Google Docs...

...“Every single current proposal protects the boundaries of the most affluent high schools while pushing severe disruption and instability onto East County families,” Hougham, a Silver Spring resident, told the school board Oct. 16...

...The boundary maps were the first reveal that shocked some furloughed parents into action. Next came the proposal to close Silver Spring International Middle School.

“That really escalated things,” Hougham said...

https://www.thebanner.com/education/k-12-schools/furloughed-parents-are-jumping-into-thorny-school-debates-D6LIMFQZ4BAAHA5N6GNSJXPFEA/?schk=YES&rchk=YES&edition=montgomery&utm_source=The+Banner&utm_campaign=ff25dfb371-NL_MCD_20251103_0600&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-ff25dfb371-617456822&mc_cid=ff25dfb371#comments-header

Breaking: @MontCoExec Marc Elrich Turning 3 Public School Sites over to Developers: Paint Branch, Magruder and Kennedy Clusters to Lose 30.41 ACRES of Public School Land #OvercrowdingMCPS

Montgomery County Public School Sites Being Given Away for Housing Development:   

GREENCASTLE JHS

Tax ID:  16‐05‐03129480

Parcel: P:P765

Tax Grid:  KR52

Acres:  16.4271

3300 BRIGGS CHANEY RD

SILVER SPRING

MCPS Cluster: PAINT BRANCH (NEC)

Deed:  13885/643

Date:  1/24/1996

EMORY LANE ES

Tax ID:  16‐08‐00702253

Parcel:  P:P585

Tax Grid:  HS33

Acres:  4.3700

EMORY LN

ROCKVILLE

MCPS Cluster:  MAGRUDER

Deed:  08978/241

9/5/1989 

EMORY LANE ES

Tax ID:  16‐08‐00702300

Parcel:  P:P547

Tax Grid: HS33

Acres:  4.0500

EMORY LN

ROCKVILLE

Cluster: MAGRUDER

Deed:  08978/241

9/5/1989

FOXHALL ES

Tax Id: 16‐13‐00954593

Parcel P:P790

Tax Grid:HR61

Acres:  8.2451

LAYHILL RD

GLENMONT

KENNEDY (DCC)

Deed:  04699/301

Date:  10/7/1975 

FOXHALL ES

Tax Id:  16‐13‐01390021

Parcel:  OL:A

Tax Grid:  HR61

Acres:  0.1428

BRIGGS RD

GLENMONT

KENNEDY (DCC)

Deed:  04699/295

Date:  10/7/1975

Blair adds four new portables - 3,375 students for Fall 2019. Parents have to Buy Promethean Boards for Trailers.

In 2017, Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) added four portables to Blair. Due to the school's increasing student population in the 2019-20 school year, the MCPS Department of Facilities Management is introducing more portables adjacent to the current portables.

According to Principal Renay Johnson, approximately 200 more students will be attending Blair next year compared to the 2018-19 school year when Blair enrolled over 3,200 students. "Right now in the scheduling system, there's 3,375 [students], but you know what happens when school opens: people enroll," Johnson said.

It is likely that the student body will continue to grow, because more people are choosing to come to Blair. "Blair is a choice school...

...Due to limited funds, the new portables may not be equipped with Promethean boards. "Unfortunately, high school portables don't come with [Promethean boards]," Johnson said. "The ones that do have them, I've had to purchase using school funds. I don't know if we'll have enough school funds to get enough Promethean boards, because we have other priorities."..

https://silverchips.mbhs.edu/content/blair-adds-four-new-portables-31958/

Proposed Boundary Changes, Overcrowding and Planning Recommendations Released

Interim Superintendent's Recommendations

• Supplement A-Interim Superintendent's Recommendation for Clarksburg/Damascus Middle School Boundaries
• Supplement B- Interim Superintendent's Recommendation to Address Elementary School Overutilization in the Lower Portion of the Downcounty Consortium
• Supplement C-Interim Superintendent's Recommendation for a Tri-Cluster Roundtable Discussion Group for the Gaithersburg, Col. Zadok Magruder, and Thomas S. Wootton Clusters
• Supplement D- Interim Superintendent's Recommendation for a Walter Johnson Cluster Roundtable Discussion Group
• Supplement E-Interim Superintendent's Recommendation to Address the Rachel Carson Elementary School Overutilization

MCPS Asks for Bids for Consultant to Review MCPS Choice and Other Special Programs

http://www.marylandbids.com/bid-opportunities/2014/10/28/5942836-External-Consultants-to-Review-MCPS-Choice--Other-Special-Programs.html

May 12 Civic Fed Program: With Eyes Open: The OLO Report on Montgomery County Public High Schools

All,

Please come to our May Montgomery County Civic Federation meeting, which will be a discussion of the Office of Legislative Oversight (OLO) report on MCPS high schools.

Program: With Eyes Open: The OLO Report on Montgomery County Public High Schools

Speakers:         Elaine Bonner-Tompkins, author of the OLO Report

                        Richard D. Kahlenberg, Senior Fellow, The Century Foundation

                        Honorable Hans Riemer, County Councilmember (D-At-large)               

DATE: Monday, May 12

TIME: Meeting begins at 7:45 pm, Program at ~8:10 pm

LOCATION: Montgomery County Council Office Building, 100 Maryland Ave., Rockville.  A few blocks from the Rockville metro stop, parking in garage behind (south of) the building.  We encourage you to take public transit.

We look forward to seeing you for an interesting discussion and Q&A.  The report is here:

Please pass this on to any neighborhood or school listservs, or interested friends and neighbors.

Thanks,

Paula Bienenfeld

First Vice President, Montgomery County Civic Federation

@MCCivicFed

www.montgomerycivic.org

MCPS Fundraiser - School Supplies

Here is an interesting news tidbit sent to me from a PTSA listserve.

Apparently, MCPS is doing its own fundraising to help provide school supplies to MCPS.

If you are sorry that you missed this opportunity, I am quite sure that MCPS will be planning other opportunities for you to contribute.



***********************************************



Dear Community Member:

Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) is pleased to announce that we have
partnered with Borders at White Flint Mall for its Benefits Day on August 7,
2010.

Using the attached voucher for your purchases will ensure that part of
the proceeds earned that day will be donated to our MCPS Educational
Foundation. These funds are earmarked for the MCPS Back-to-School Fair
backpack and school supplies drive to help our students start the new school
year with the school supplies they need.

Our ASK MCPS staff will be at White Flint Mall in the Center Court on August
7, 2010, from 10:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. to answer questions and to receive
donations of backpacks and school supplies. We also will be collecting these
donations at the Department of Family and Community Partnerships, 850
Hungerford Drive, Room 50, Rockville, Maryland 20850, until August 13, 2010.
For further information, please call our office at 301-279-3100 or visit our
website:http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/familycommunity/fair/
.
Thank you for your support of our students' education and the programs
within Montgomery County Public Schools.
Sincerely,

Eric A. Davis
Director
Department of Family and Community Partnerships

Teachers Cut, Consultants Kept!

In a memo to employees last week, MCPS Superintendent Jerry Weast outlined the cutbacks to classroom teaching staff for the upcoming year, complete with his plans for a class size increase.

But buried in the Answers to Budget Questions, we learn that Jerry Weast proposes to spend $2.4 million dollars on "consultants" during FY 2011: an increase of over $100,000 from the year before!

Some of the funds for "consultants," which could be going to pay for classroom teaching positions, are listed below:

$196,950: Facilitators for school groups and teams, outside consultants to provide professional development to school staff, consultants to run first aid classes and other courses where specific certification is required, AmeriCorps services, adjudicators for instrumental music festivals and choral music festivals, and consultants to work with drama groups.

$38,820: Downcounty Consortium: Contract professional speakers to train and inform teachers of current educational trends. Contract professionals to assist teachers with various academy activities. (...)DCCAPS Office: school assignment lottery process.

$6,600: North East Consortium schools: Contract professionals for audio-visual, sound, and lighting support and a professional to educate Health Education Students about HIV/Aids ($600). DCCAPS: lottery process ($6000)

$10,400: School Based AEI: Funds for Destination Imagination program

$6,922: School Based CTE: Signature Schools: To contract professional speakers to train and inform teachers of current educational trends. Contract professionals to assist teachers with various academy activities and funding for students to participate in Orientation Program at UMCP.

$5,070: Summer School Program: Professional musicians and clerical support for local programs.

$10,000: Div. Early Childhood: Consultants deliver parent outrach workshops in Kennedy Cluster to support achievement of young children. Distribute PAL kits and train parents to use kits. Provide Literacy Learning Party (10 session parent classes) for at risk children from birth through 5 ($3600). (...) Consultant for professional development activities for staff to support continuous improvement such as grant development, Study Circles for Diversity, and strategic planning ($3,075). Speaker/consultant for Early Childhood Conference-MCPS expert panel discussion $2,000.
Next: More Consultants!

The Crystal Ball or What Happens to Closed Schools

 Do you wonder what happens after Dr. Weast and his crew surplus a school site?

Its not really about the enrollment.  That was the cry when MCPS closed numerous downcounty schools in the early 1980s.  As a result of that lack of oversight, schools in Silver Spring and Wheaton are currently overcrowded, with the Board of Education reopening several schools, including Arcola, Roscoe Nix, and Sargeant Shriver. 

The school sites never truly leave the MCPS list of real property. 

Starting with page 13 of the 2008 document, you will see what public entity owns the property.  Some properties are leased, some are reopened, and some morph into something else.  Once land has another use, its impossible to reclaim for public school uses. 

Examples?  Look at page 15.

Have you heard of Bradley Middle School?  Probably not, and its not likely that you ever will.  Bradley MS's property was surplused in a closed Board of Education meeting, and SOLD by the county council to a developer.  Its now the home of Victory Housing, a senior living community.  Four Corners ES was also sold and developed into housing.  Lake Normandy ES became the Potomac Community Center, Georgetown Hill became a private school, so did Tuckerman ES.  Glen Hills ES is a park.  Great Falls ES and Potomac HS now have private homes on their sites, and Olney HS has plans for development.

But - here is a secret that Dr. Weast doesn't know yet - our kids are still in portable learning cottages - or trailers, as they are affectionately known in the real world.   Is that acceptable?

Wake up Poolesville, and ask - can your community afford to have one of its schools closed?  What caused the sudden shift in enrollment projections that prompted Dr. Weast to recommend closing the school?

DCC Community Superintendent moving to Nevada

The Community Superintendent for the Downcounty Consortium, Heath Morrison has accepted a job in Nevada. Read about his move here and here.
Heath Morrison on MCPS, transcript here.

Heath Morrison expense reports obtained by Parents' Coalition:
Community Superintendent (See pages 9-14)