Travel for 5 to Cincinnati

There's always room in the MCPS Operating Budget for travel! 


On May 23rd and 24th at least 5 people from MCPS (shown in tweet at left from Superintendent Starr) traveled to Cincinnati, Ohio for the 2012 Labor Management Conference.  The U.S. Department of Education was paying for travel and lodging for 3 representatives from a school district.  
Of course, MCPS sent 5.

Do we think they carpooled and slept at a budget motel?  No. 
In keeping with MCPS past practice local taxpayers would be footing the bill for airfare, limo to and from airports, meals, and luxury accommodations for the 2 extra travelers not covered by the Dept. of Education for at least 2 days and 2 nights.  


What's a few thousand dollars when classrooms are overcrowded and teachers are buying their own supplies? 

Starr: Week 2, Trip 1

What does a superintendent do the second week of a new gig? Why travel out of town, of course! 


Here's video of Superintendent Joshua Starr, at his very first Board of Education meeting for MCPS, announcing that the next week he will be traveling to Boston with the Board of Education President Christopher Barclay, unnamed "senior staff" and unnamed union leaders. 


How many attended and at what cost to taxpayers? 


Well we know that attendance at the Harvard Public Education Leadership Program event is pricey (tuition $4,600). But we don't know about food, lodging and transportation. 


Remember that Superintendent Starr sits on the board of one of these Harvard education projects. 


With this video the Parents' Coalition kicks off the Starr's Treks page to track the Superintendent's travels out of town. 

2008: Unions are permanent members of [MCPS] leadership team

Bringing Unions into Management: 

Montgomery County. Jerry Weast’s initial description of MCPS as a school system divided into two separate and unequal districts — a Red Zone of poverty, color and low achievement and a Green Zone of affluence and high achievement — led directly into “Our Call to Action,” which was designed to mobilize both the district and the community to embrace all students and ensure that achievement would not be predictable by race. This same call to move across boundaries and develop shared responsibility for all students went out to the three employee unions. Beginning as collaboration and building on the district’s earlier move to interest-based bargaining, it resulted in a restructured governance process. The three unions were invited to participate in the district’s capital and budget planning process. To ensure all voices were heard, the superintendent also invited administrators to form a fourth union to participate on equal footing with the others. Once the initial planning processes were completed, the heads of the teachers’ and administrators’ unions became permanent members of the district’s leadership team. The resulting decision-making structure has allowed MCPS to cross vertical
and horizontal boundaries within the organization, speak with a consistent voice and model a culture of shared responsibility.

Lessons Learned in Systemic District Reform, September 2008 (Page 25-26)

Union reps keep budget discussions from membership

Notes from a meeting of MCEA (Montgomery County Education Association) and SLMP (School Library Media Program): 

"Administrators have been advocating for flexibility in making many decisions for their buildings, including staffing decisions.  In this case, the decision to give elementary principals the flexibility to make cuts that included media specialist positions came approximately two weeks before that decision became public
knowledge.  Nothing was finalized at that time. Until decisions are final, they must remain confidential to minimize rumors and misinformation that can arise.
Therefore, MCEA representatives could not inform media specialists in advance."

Thus, Media Specialists had no opportunity to advocate for their positions before a final decision was made. That's how the MCPS Secret Budget Table works. Those select few at the table keep all budget discussions confidential to prevent any public discussions of decisions being made. 


Who's at the MCPS Secret Budget Table? Union reps, MCCPTA and MCPS staff is all we know. When does the group meet? No clue. Public minutes of meetings? None. Public input into budget discussions? Zero.


Final Notes April 7th MCEA SLMP

6 in Denver this week! There's always cash for travel!

Anyone want to add up how much it is costing to send 6 to Denver this week? The group included the Superintendent, union officials and the Board of Education President. 


And these are only the presenters. How many other MCPS attendees were there? There always has to be someone to handle coats and briefcases... 


Add in the fact that we lose the time and attention of these employees and this elected official here in Montgomery County.  This is the same Board of Education President who didn't have time for Public Comment at the February 8, 2011, Board of Education meeting.


What was the total cost of this excursion? A webinar couldn't have accomplished the same exchange of ideas and information without flying 6 people to Denver for a hotel stay of unknown length and cost? 

Labor-Management Collaboration Conference 

How can we transform the relationship between labor and management into a strong partnership for improving student learning? On February 15-16, school board presidents, superintendents, and union officials from 150 school districts came to Denver to develop answers.

Presenters, Panelists and District Attendees included: 

Christopher Barclay

President, Montgomery County Board of Education
A member of the school board since 2006, Chris currently serves as president and a member of the fiscal management and the policy committees. Last year, he was appointed by the governor to the Maryland Council for Educator Effectiveness. Chris has served in a number of volunteer leadership roles with the Montgomery County Council of PTAs.

Merle Cuttitta

President, SEIU Local 500, Montgomery County, Md.
Merle began working with Montgomery County Public Schools in 1972 as a paraeducator before leaving after five years to pursue a career in the private sector with a concentration on service industries. She returned to MCPS in 1991 and has served as the local union's president since 2001. She has been a member of SEIU's Executive Board since 2004.

Christopher Lloyd

Vice President, Montgomery County Education Association
Christopher is a National Board Certified teacher at Baker Middle School. In his leadership role with the teachers association, he works on program areas of school climate, on-boarding, and professional growth systems.

Rebecca Newman

President, Montgomery County Association of Administrators and Principals
Rebecca has been president of MCAAP for the past eight years. During that time, she has represented members in contract negotiations, in collaboration with Montgomery County Public Schools, and in building a partnership with both executive staff and other unions in the district. Prior to this position, she has served as a school principal.

Doug Prouty

President, Montgomery County Education Association
Before becoming president of NEA's local union in Montgomery County, Doug served as vice president, coordinator for the Teacher Professional Growth System for Montgomery County Public Schools, and was the English resource teacher at Walter Johnson High School in Bethesda, Md.

Jerry D. Weast, Ed.D.

Superintendent, Montgomery County Public Schools
Since 1999, Jerry has been superintendent of the 16th-largest district in the nation. Under his leadership, the district earned the U.S. Senate/Maryland Productivity Award in 2005 and the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in 2010, and was a 2010 finalist for the Broad Prize in Urban Education.

PTA Sponsors Union Rally

The following flyer is being distributed by PTA's in Montgomery County, Maryland. It shows the county wide PTA organization (MCCPTA) as a sponsor of a teachers union (MCEA), support personnel union (SEIU), and administrator union's (MCAASP) rally on April 6, 2010, at the Montgomery County Council building in Rockville, Maryland.

The flyer shows that it was authored by Tom Israel. Tom Israel is the Executive Director of the Montgomery County Education Association (MCEA).  The flyer lists school related services that will be eliminated if $137 million is cut from the proposed MCPS budget. Where did that list come from? When the Board of Education met earlier this week Superintendent Jerry Weast reported that no decisions had been made about what would be cut from the FY11 proposed MCPS Operating Budget. 

Weast told FOX5 that he: 

"promises to try to protect programs-- despite a budget $137 million less than what the Board of Education requested. He says the school system will work to  avoid furloughs."

Is it required that the cuts listed on the union/PTA flyer would happen if $137 million was cut from the MCPS proposed budget? No.

Could $137 million be cut from the MCPS proposed budget without impacting classrooms? Yes.

Is anyone looking closely at the MCPS budget and evaluating options in light of the dire financial situation our county finds itself in?

What could be trimmed without impacting the educational experience for our students?

Any suggestions?

April6flyer
Correction to flyer: Please note that the administrator's union is actually the Montgomery County
Association of Administrative and Supervisory Personnel (MCAASP).