“What works” is not a cute slogan but a specific set of criteria for what is reliable evidence on which to implement a new policy such as county wide implementation of Artificial Turf

Testimony of Sheldon Fishman

Before the Montgomery County Board of Education

November 12, 2015

Good evening, members of the Board of Education and Superintendent Bowers.  My name is Sheldon Fishman.  I am a member of the ​​​Safe Healthy Playing Fields Coalition (http://www.safehealthyplayingfields.org/ ) and the Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County...

...I appreciate the opportunity to offer a suggestion for using capital funds to improve MCPS sports fields.  The primary objective is to get more playing time from existing land.  To achieve this objective, the Superintendent has recommended “putting a stake in the ground” and committing to convert every high school football field to an Artificial Turf field.

I urge you to investigate the assumptions in that approach and I offer a suggestion on how to investigate those assumptions.  Right after a heavy rain storm, a brand new Artificial Turf field is more playable than current MCPS grass fields.   That leads to the assumption that the only way to get more playing time is convert all grass fields to Artificial Turf.    It is assumed that after six inches of rain, you could never have a soccer tournament on a grass field in Montgomery County.  But that assumption is wrong.  

In October 2013, “the vast majority of the Discovery Cup youth tournament went ahead as scheduled on eight of the facility’s natural-grass fields despite more than six inches of rain in some areas.

“We played on [Fields] 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 14, 17 and [synthetic]turf [Fields] 18, 19, 20,” said SoccerPlex executive director Trish Heffelfinger ….

“It is remarkable in view of the amount of rain, 5.85 [inches] in five days…. Not only did we have a significant accumulation of rain but we also had no drying. It was cloudy, cool and continued to drizzle or mist the entire weekend.”

 [source: http://www.soccerwire.com/news/weathering-the-storms-how-md-soccerplex-stayed-open-last-weekend-amid-six-inches-of-rain/ ]

I urge you to investigate the assumptions underlying Artificial Turf.   Experts disagree if Artificial Turf is the most cost effective way to increase playing time and some experts ever question if Artificial Turf even provides the most playing time.  My suggestion is:

Please make an evidence-based decision built on a pilot comparing an Artificial Turf field with a state of the art real turf field, a sand capped grass field.

My understanding is none of MCPS fields currently is a sand capped grass field with drainage.  It would be prudent to consult with available experts who have already created and maintain durable grass fields.

I think you have a fiduciary obligation to investigate the cost assumptions of the AT policy since three top-line natural fields can be installed for price of one synthetic artificial turf field in Montgomery County.

The US Department of Education urges you to implement “what works”.  “What works” 1. is not a cute slogan but a specific set of criteria for what is reliable evidence on which to implement a new policy such as county wide implementation of Artificial Turf fields at every high school.  In this case, there is not reliable evidence that an Artificial Turf field provides more playing time than a sand capped grass field. 

1. Criteria for evidence based policy, “What works” : http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/DocumentSum.aspx?sid=19

Confidential Search for New Montgomery County Schools Chief Sparks Debate

Most parents and other residents of Montgomery County will not know who has been selected to run the county’s public school system—the largest in the state—until the Board of Education announces who it has hired. 
That wasn’t the case with recent schools superintendent searches conducted in Boston and Palm Beach, Florida, where finalists were introduced to the public before local school boards made their decisions...
...Jeannette Dixon, a recently retired county educator who spent 12 years as the principal of Paint Branch High School in Burtonsville, said openness is the best course when choosing a new superintendent.
“If you don't want people to know that you are applying for the job, something has to be wrong. People who do an outstanding job generally ask their employer to give them a reference and they will seek their support,” Dixon said.
The school board hopes to have a new superintendent on board by July 1, when acting superintendent Larry Bowers is planning to retire. School board President Patricia O’Neill has appointed a group of community representatives to help the board vet finalists, but participants are sworn to secrecy. Members of the group were drawn from a variety of organizations in the county, including the NAACP, the Universities at Shady Grove and the Montgomery County Recreation Department.
Sheldon Fishman, a former PTA president who is aligned with the local watchdog group Parents Coalition, said he understands both perspectives on keeping the selection process confidential, but ultimately believes the community and superintendent would benefit from public exposure to the finalists.
“The argument for confidentiality and secrecy is not unreasonable. It is a question of balance, pros and cons. Obviously, there are some candidates who currently have other jobs who will not apply for a job at MCPS if it is not confidential,” he said. “The benefits of transparency are that the new superintendent will start out, in particular if the three finalists have been revealed, without having to win the support of the community. The community will have participated, at least to some degree.”...

 http://www.bethesdamagazine.com/Bethesda-Beat/2015/Confidential-Search-for-New-Montgomery-County-Schools-Chief-Sparks-Debate/

Instead of a puff of white smoke, announce the superintendent finalists.

The Montgomery County Board of Education could demonstrate that it does give "a rat's patootie about what we think" if instead of a puff of white smoke, it announced the superintendent finalists and even provided a public forum for all the stakeholders to hear the finalists.

Hazard, Young and Attea (the no bid search firm selected by BOE President Patricia O'Neill) used such a process for selecting the new superintendent for Boston Public Schools and described that process at the public hearing last week at Walter Johnson High School in Bethesda.

I encourage everyone to attend the Tuesday March 10, 2015 Public Forum, to ask about hearing from the superintendent finalists before the final selection - and to advocate for Gifted and Talented education in the local schools.

For your convenience, here is a link to a recent Boston Globe story describing that Hazard-Boston Public Schools superintendent search:
http://www.bostonglobe.com/ metro/2015/03/01/boston-final- candidates-for-superintendent/ KMSVLigUArPkTeIt5TUqgO/story. html

While there are very good reasons for a confidential (secret) selection process, I think the following considerations carry the day to choose to reveal the finalists and perhaps even invite them to a public forum: 
1. The selected superintendent will start day one building on unfiltered, transparent access from everyone. 
2. The Board of Education will demonstrate transparency and cooperation based on genuine trust of the stakeholders 
3. MCPS will avoid the Hazard-Board of Education mistake of 1999 (where the BOE's first announcement was the selection of Dr. Massie who then was forced to withdraw within days of that announcement) 
4. The BOE will be transparent like the Montgomery County Council selection process was  following a recent resignation.
 
Sheldon Fishman
Founding Member of Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, MD
Parent of 4 MCPS Graduates