Dr. Weast and Kojo

Today on The Politics Hour, Montgomery County Public Schools Superintendent Jerry Weast talked about the challenges of student assessment and the county's approach to teacher evaluation:

http://thekojonnamdishow.org/shows/2010-12-17/politics-hour

All videos from the Kojo Nnamdi Show are available on the KNS You Tube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/KojoNnamdiShow885



Its a radio broadcast, so we won't be able to tell whether or not Dr. Weast is crying on the inside - or the outside.

MCPS Math and the Monocacy Madness

Our friends in the Gifted and Talented Association have agonized about Montgomery County School Superintendent Dr. Weast and math for years, stating that MCPS math is shallow on teaching arithmetic concepts needed to prepare our children to take their place in society.

Here is another demonstration of Dr. Weast's failure in math.

Dr. Weast announced he plans to close Monocacy Elementary School at the end of this school year because of declining enrollment.  

Wait - don't we have over 400 portables next to schools across the county?   Three portables are currently sited at Monocacy.  Are we hearing that the school population is rising?

So why close Monocacy now?  According to Dr. Weast, this will save $1 million dollars.  How?  He doesn't say.  Won't the kids still need to be in a classroom somewhere in the county?  Won't the teachers and staff  be placed elsewhere and paid?  And school buses?  What about that new roof?  Don't forget, we still need to keep a vacant building heated, so the pipes don't freeze.

Sorry, but the capacity is needed elsewhere - down the road in Clarksburg, where Dr. Weast plans on building two new elementary schools.  And yes, MCPS can always add on to Poolesville, with more portables in the short term and an addition at an estimated cost of $14 million - oops, that's not in the current plan.

Are Dr. Weast's projections all that accurate?  You need to look no further than Matsunaga ES, an overcapacity school that was supposed to be relieved by the opening of Little Bennett.  Matsunaga still has portables - so what happened there?

And Wootton High School with its mega additions a few years back is still over capacity.  Wootton manages by running College Institute classes in cooperation with Montgomery College and sending a signficant portion of its kids out on internships, so they get the staffing allocations without having the kids in the building.   Don't forget the monster development called Science City coming to the Wootton cluster with no new schools on the table.

I would be remiss to not mention the White Flint buildup.  Again, more building without more school capacity.

Dr. Weast doesn't get the math or the big picture.  Saving $1 million dollars in operating budget costs by closing Monocacy and then spending $14 million in capital costs for an addition to Poolesville ES does not make sense.  Given the Balkanization of our county by individual clusters, the budget makes even less sense - robbing from Poolesville cluster to satisfy new MoCo residents in Clarskburg doesn't make sense,  especially when the rest of the county has unmet needs too.

Closing any school in MoCo doesn't make sense, especially when we can't accomodate the students we currently have without the extensive use of portable learning cottages.  Dr. Weast's proposal is more than foolish  - it is almost unconscionable to continue to look at the cluster model as individual units without even considering the movement of programs or boundaries.

To repeat the mantra from the elementary school teachers across the county, its time to reteach and relearn the budget math.

Helium Hands Highlight Board of Education Meeting on July 14

July 14, 2009, is a big day for the Montgomery County Board of Education. One of the items on the agenda concerns ratification of the purchase card contract with American Express.

This no cost contract is such a deal for MCPS that it can be on the consent agenda, because a discussion of the merits isn't necessary. Its all set forth in Dr. Weast's memo. Here is what our data driven Superintendent has to say, in his own words, about the past performance of the vendor:

Based on the company’s past performance and that American Express Corporate Services has agreed to the request for a special extension, I am recommending that the Board of Education extend the contract through September 2010.

That's it folks, no data on how many cards, how many employees get the cards, or what employees are allowed to charge. Even the contract is omitted from the package, so we can't see the interest rates or better yet, how much in the way of rebates come back to our school system by way of this really nifty contract.

But, does it really matter? This contract was brought before the BOE in 2000, 2003, and 2006 for approval - also on the consent agenda, and also without the contract or other documentation on performance, rebates, costs, or volume of cards used.

Each of these items have a note that says this procurement is at no cost to the school system. Do we really believe that? We must have a wonderful school system then, because our employees only charge what they should, approvals and reviews are done in a timely manner, and balances are always paid on time, so finance charges and potential misuse of the cards aren't an issue. Here is a snip from a 2009 audit by the Maryland General Assembly, Office of Legislative Audits:

MCPS needs to improve controls and policies governing the use of credit cards and travel. For example, new MCPS credit cards were sent directly to the employee who placed the card order with the bank rather than to an independent employee. Also, certain credit cards purchases were not logged nor subject to supervisory review.

Our Board of Education will likely continue to raise their collective helium hands and vote en masse to approve this contract again - after all, we're Montgomery County, who cares about the reports of the state auditors, we're superior performers, and supporting data - that's just for kids.

Guardianship - What Every MoCo Family Needs to Know

Thanks to Jerry Weast and the Montgomery County Public Schools for alerting parents of minor children and other adults to get out their wills and reassess their promises to family members. If you are a parent or adult in Montgomery County and have included in your family plans a request for some one to serve as a guardian for your children, or may have agreed to serve as a guardian for someone else's children in the event of a personal catastrophe, this applies to you.

Many of us have a clause in our wills appointing a guardian for our children, or have agreed to serve as a guardian for a relative or close friend's family in the event that the parents are unable to be there for the children.

Get out your wills, review them carefully, because a new twist in the process may impact whether your child or your relatives child can obtain a free public education in Montgomery County if they are residing with a court appointed guardian.

Here is a definition of "Guardianship:"

A legal relationship created by a court between a guardian and his ward--either a minor child or an incapacitated adult. The guardian has a legal right and duty to care for the ward. This may involve making personal decisions on his or her behalf, managing property or both.

An individual applies for a guardianship of a minor child by completing various forms
and submitting them to the county's Registrar of Wills. The court then issues
the actual order appointing the guardian.

What does this mean? Here is a link to the brochure from the Maryland State Bar Association concerning the basics of guardianship and a description of what happens in the event a guardian is needed:

How is a Guardian Appointed?

In all instances, a petition must be filed with the Circuit Court in the county where the alleged disabled person resides, is hospitalized or is located. The petition should state all reasons for the appointment of a guardian and whether the request is for guardianship of the ward’s person, property or both. Quite often, guardianships of person and property are sought in the same petition.

The petition should also provide the petitioner’s name, address and telephone number, date of birth and relationship to the ward. It must also include the ward’s name, address, gender, age, the name and address of the person with whom the ward resides and an alternate address for service of process if the ward resides with the petitioner. If a guardianship over property is sought, the petition should include a description of the ward’s assets. Also accompanying the petition must be:

-for a disabled ward, verified certificates from two physicians, describing the physical or mental disability that makes appointment of a guardian necessary (one of the medical statements must be dated within 21 days of filing for guardianship);

-a list of the ward’s potential heirs if he or she died without a will, existing guardians or government agencies acting as guardians and all other persons exercising some control over the ward, including their names, addresses, telephone numbers and the nature of their interest;

-the name and address of the ward’s attorney if he or she has one.

What Happens After the Petition is Filed?

After the petition is filed, the Court will sign an Order requiring the ward, his or her attorney, and any other interested person or agency to respond to the guardianship request within 20 days. The ward and any interested person or agency must be notified of the guardianship proceedings and his or her rights at the proceedings. The court
will appoint an attorney to represent the ward and may appoint an independent
investigator to look over the facts of the case and report written findings to the court. The court will also schedule a hearing or jury trial, where a judge or jury decides whether guardianship is appropriate and who should be appointed as the guardian.

Usually, the judge decides the validity of the guardianship petition . . .

What parents and potential guardians who intend to bring children to Montgomery County, or keep their children within the county, when they are no longer able to do so need to know is that a small clause will be inserted by judges into guardianship orders that reads:

. . . provided that such appointment shall not be considered a waiver of any tuition that may be assessed by the Montgomery County Public Schools, and provided further that such appointment shall not be used to determine any requested transfer within the Montgomery County Public School system.

Dr. Weast has insisted that judges insert this language limiting the scope of the guardianship into all judicial orders. This can have a devastating impact whether your child can continue to receive a free public education while living with a court appointed guardian.

Recently, when attempting to enroll students in MCPS, several guardians have been denied the ability to enroll their wards in MCPS schools without paying tuition. The rationale provided? See the related blog post concerning Jeff S. where Dr. Weast finds that there is "insufficient documentation of a crisis" to warrant granting Jeff S. a tuition waiver to enroll in MCPS.

This is every parents worse nightmare. In the event that something happens to you, your successor must document to MCPS a compelling crisis that meets Dr. Weast's standards before your chosen guardian can execute his/her responsibility for your child's education and obtain a tuition waiver in MCPS. No, our Dr. Weast won't take the judge's appointment of a legal guardian as a compelling need, he wants to have the last say. Parents - check your documents, and consider naming a relative or person who lives outside of Montgomery County if you want to guarantee a free public education. If you are unable to assume your parenting responsibilities for your child - that's enough of a crisis without having to pass this Weast test.

Thanks Dr. Weast for the alert! Who would have thought that the Superintendent of Schools has jurisdiction to limit guardianship appointments and that a guardian can no longer decide where to enroll a child in school?

But wait - isn't the appointment of a guardian already an indicator that the child/ward's parents are already in a crisis?

Today's Word of the Day is Australia

Remember Alexander in Judith Viorst's Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day?

That's what my day has been like, and after seeing this article from Bloomberg News, like Alexander, I too want to move to Australia.

Remember what happened to the Principal who ran a consulting business out of his school? MCPS called it a personnel matter and gave him a promotion so he could teach others.

Australia has it right. Bloomberg reports that one of their prime ministers resigned after letting a family member use government space for a private meeting, in violation of their ethics rules.

I am moving to Australia.

Thanks to the IECjournal for this tip.

And, as a nod to those who say this list doesn't offer enough praise, I'd like to thank Australia for getting it right. Can you share your expertise with Montgomery County Public Schools? We know they love to bring in consultants.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601081&sid=aPPicSOAGh0c&refer=australia#

Australian Minister Fitzgibbon Quits Over Code Breach (Update1)
By Gemma Daley

June 4 (Bloomberg) -- Australian Defense Minister Joel Fitzgibbon resigned after acknowledging that he violated the government’s code of conduct by allowing his brother to use his office for a business meeting.

Fitzgibbon, 47, is the first minister to quit since Prime Minister Kevin Rudd won an election in November 2007.

“I think Joel has done a first class job as minister,” Rudd told reporters in Canberra today. “But, we take seriously the standards of ministerial accountability.”

In a letter to Rudd, Fitzgibbon said he did not live up to the code of conduct over a meeting between his brother, Mark, Humana Inc. and Veterans Affairs Minister Warren Snowdon. Mark Fitzgibbon is chief executive of NIB Holdings Ltd., an Australian health insurer.

Joel Fitzgibbon also had to correct the parliamentary record this week over accepting accommodation from his brother to watch a rugby league match in Brisbane last year.

Fitzgibbon in March apologized for not previously disclosing gifts from Chinese business woman Helen Liu to parliament, including flights to China in 2002 and 2005 and a suit that he later returned. He also said he had exchanged birthday and Christmas presents with Liu, whom he described as a family friend.

A defense department investigation found there was no security breach in the relationship with Liu.

To contact the reporter on this story: Gemma Daley in Canberra at gdaley@bloomberg.net Last Updated: June 4, 2009 00:17 EDT

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