E-Learning is Big Business

This week's Washington Business Journal has an article on the business end of 'E-Learning.'  Journal reporter Bill Flook writes of a "...heightened interest from venture capitalists (VC) in companies that develop educational software..." and, "As big, for-profit companies capture some of the billions of dollars that the nation spends each year on education, venture capitalists are showing a bigger appetite for e-learning deals."

Why?
According to Tony Florence, a partner at NEA, one of the biggest VC companies on the planet, "It's an area where things are really accelerating..." and, says Roger Novak, a general partner at Novak Biddle Venture Partners in Bethesda, "I think what you see there is continuing instability, or chaos, surrounding the whole education area...Anytime you have that, I think there is an opportunity to make money."

Here are a few of the for-profit E-learning companies in our area: Blackboard, Inc. (DC); K-12, Inc. (Herndon); Strayer University (Arlington); Intelliworks, Inc. (Bethesda); ePals (Herndon); Latimer Education, Inc. (DC); Regent Education, Inc. (Frederick); and Moodlerooms, Inc. (Baltimore).

No wonder MCPS is takin' it private!  Taxpayers, we are all VCs now!

Cabin John Middle School Approvals

The Wall, how did this happen?  Read the Planning Board staff reports below, from the public hearing on February 26, 2009.  Make sure to read the section on 'Steep Slopes' on page 4. 

And, don't forget to check out Attachment 4, where you can see the location reserved for 'Future Portables.'  Looks like MCPS is already planning for what I count as 6 portables.

Oh, and folks, as it is still morning, please, please wake up and smell the coffee!

Cabin John Middle School ModernizationPlanningBoard20090212_Itemnumber9

And here is the Preliminary Forest Conservation Plan:

Cabin John Middle School Preliminary Forest Conservation Plan_Planning Board_20090226