"I think we've completely lost sight of common sense."

Gazette: House bill on student voting rights in limbo

Measure would expand power for school board member

by Marcus Moore and Sean R. Sedam | Staff Writers

...There are several reasons why the county's student school board members should not have expanded voting rights, said Sen. Rona E. Kramer (D-Dist. 14) of Olney.

Students rely on their teachers for grades, she said, so if student board members voted against a matter that affected teachers, their grades could be affected.

Another pressure could come from parents, Kramer said. If the student school board member goes to a friend's house, the parents could lean on the student to vote in favor of proposals that could help their neighborhood, she said.

"That's a lot of pressure on a student," Kramer said. "I think we've completely lost sight of common sense. These students are elected by 12-year-olds. We're going to allow a person not elected by the taxpayers to vote on a $2 billion budget?"

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In addition to the concerns expressed by Delegate Rona Kramer, there is the issue that the MCPS Student Member of the Board of Education is only elected from the group of students who have certain grade point averages and obtain the signature of their school principal. All MCPS high school students are not able to run for this position.  


And, the MCPS Student Board of Education member is "supervised" by an employee of Superintendent Jerry Weast creating a serious conflict of interest. That MCPS supervisor uses Operating Budget funds via a MCPS procurement card to buy perks for the student government officers.


The Student Member of the Board of Education is far from an independent voice for all MCPS students and more like an extension of the Superintendent. 


Board of Education members are supposed to be the body that oversees the Superintendent and the school system. Under the current election process and Superintendent's supervision of the position, the integrity of the Student Member of the Board of Education position as an independent voice for students has been seriously compromised.

In Education Vote, Politics Wins; Kids Lose.

From the Special Needs Truth '08 blog:

...Parents vocally expressed their opposition to this plan. Many pointed out that Superintendent Jerry Weast blatantly violated a Board of Education policy that new programs must be presented in time to be reviewed -- before showing up in a budget.

Today, the members of the Board of Education unanimously approved that budget.

Unanimously, they voted against a proven program that parents have relied on to give their children a chance to succeed.

Unanimously, they told parents of special-needs children that they do not value their opinions and experiences when making major changes to the services the county offers.

Unanimously, they told Dr. Weast that he can unilaterally create, change, or shut down any program he chooses -- and they will rubber stamp his decisions.

Unanimously, they threatened the future well-being of our county's youngest and most at-risk children.

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The Parents' Coalition learned that even before today's vote at least one teacher had been hired to teach in the new MCPS pre-school program and at least one child had already been assigned to the new pre-school program, even before it had been approved by the Board of Education.

It doesn't appear that the Board of Education vote today had any meaning whatsoever as the new MCPS pre-school program was already being set up and assigned students. The MPAC program's fate was sealed before today.

The Board of Education is not in charge of Montgomery County Public Schools.

Kauffman & Berthiaume Dissent in Favor of Students

Student member of the Board of Education Timothy Hwang votes along with Board members Brandman, O'Neill, Docca and Durso in deciding against students' contractual right to participate in scheduling decision at Eastern Middle School.

In a rare dissent, Board of Education members Phil Kauffman and Laura Berthiaume break from the Board majority and detail why they believe a decision of the Superintendent should be reversed. The decision stems from an appeal of a group of Eastern Middle School stakeholders requesting that the Superintendent reverse the decision to eliminate the 8 period day at Eastern.

There are two glaring problems with the majority opinion in this decision. First and foremost, the Board majority does not know whose decision they are reviewing. The Board is given the authority to review decisions of the Superintendent, but in this majority decision the Board states they are reviewing a decision of the Chief Operating Officer, Larry Bowers. Did the Board majority forget the school system is run by a Superintendent who is the final decisionmaker?

Second, the majority opinion spends an inordinate amount of text attempting to refute the dissent of Board member Laura Berthiaume. Was this text inserted after the Board had already written the majority decision from which Berthiaume dissents? A well reasonsed majority opinion should be able to stand on its own analysis. The majority opinion and both dissents are being reproduced for the public to review.

Here are two key paragraphs from Board member Berthiaume's dissent (page 24 of document below). 

The full text of the majority opinion, and Kauffman and Berthiaume dissents are below in Scribd format.

Eastern Middle School Appeal Decision

SMOB asks constituents: What do you want?

During his campaign, Student Member of the Board (SMOB) Tim Hwang used a Facebook discussion page to ask his constituents a simple question:  "What do you want?"  The discussion page is still up and students can continue to post their comments on the page.  (Update 3:55 p.m. 12/6/09:  The entire SMOB 2.0 Facebook page has disappeared from public view but continues to be accessible to people selected by the SMOB.)

What are the top issues for students, according to the replies on Hwang's page?  (Student names and faces have been obscured for privacy.)

Which of the issues that students listed above are being addressed by Hwang?  None, it appears.  So far, the only issue that has received attention by Hwang is a proposal for the SMOB to be able to vote on budgetary matters and boundary changes.

Why is the SMOB's main goal to give future SMOBs the ability to vote on budgetary and boundary matters, even though his constituents have clearly told him that bathrooms, open lunches, and lower parking permit fees are what really matter to them?

SMOB Endorses Illegal MCPS Practice

Here is a recent webposting from Tim Hwang, Student Member of the MoCo Public School Board of Education concerning a student poll on curricular fees.

 

http://mocosmob.blogspot.com/2009/12/curricular-fees-poll.html

My questions for Tim:

Are you in favor of the previous MCPS policy charging fees?

Do you realize that the prior MCPS policy charging curricular fees is illegal?  Do you also know that the "fees" did not always go for the purpose intended (eg, clothing for teachers at Richard Montgomery and Churchill high schools, and staff retreats at Blair HS)?

Did you know that fees were collected for books sold to students, but not used in classes?  I have a large selection from Blair HS and RM to show you.

You are aware that Dr. Weast doesn't spend the full amount allocated each year on textbooks and declares the amount surplus?  Dr. Weast even provided you and the other BOE members with a memo on the subject, and you approved the action.  In September 2009, the County Council approved of the BOE and Dr. Weast's finding that $4.6 million in MCPS Textbook & Instructional Funds for the 2008-09 school year were surplus and could be allocated to other MCPS needs.  

Seems as if you have several options if you are interested in actions that benefit the students:

1. Direct that MCPS spend more money on textbooks.

2.  See that moneys allocated to textbooks are really used on textbooks.

3. Work on legislation at the state level if you want ot allow curricular fees, since it's part of the state constitution to provide a free public education. 

So - what is your action plan while you are on the BOE?

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Friday, December 4, 2009

Curricular Fees Poll

As many you may have noticed, your schools have now stopped charging fees for school classes. Recently, MCPS has made strong attempts to eliminate curricular fees at the county-level. While this is true, the blunt of the effects will now be felt by the students of Montgomery County. At a recent December 3, 2009 SMOB 2.0 Policy Meeting, students spoke to the issues of curricular fees in schools and had a long discussion about its impacts. In general, students understood the need for a free, public education but also understood the opportunities that the curricular fees brought them. Many schools are now cutting back on supplemental labs, art supplies, music equipment, work books, and even assignment books which are now being considered "extra".

In cases such a foreign language, art, music, etc. where materials are needed, the elimination of these fees have forced MCPS, the county, and the state to cut back on the services to these program in these times of economic and budgetary crisis. One student at Montgomery Blair High School replied with an email stating, "The poorest students in MCPS [are] feeling the blunt of the consequences academically because [they] do not have the money or the resources to afford expensive tutors, prep books, and instruments rather than buying the subsidized cost of the materials in [their] schools".

Polling in MCPS Schools by our SMOB 2.0 Staff among high school students in MCPS shows that students have varying opinions on the issue. When asked the question: "Do you think the elimination of fees was detrimental to your academic learning?", county-wide (N=297), 58% of students were against the elimination of the fees, 31% of students were for the elimination of the fees, and 11% were ambivalent about the issue. Specifically at Red Zone high schools, the numbers (N=108) are at about 52% of students against, 30% support, and 18% ambivalent. However, there doesn't seem to be much passion behind this issue. For many students, the issue isn't about fees; rather its about getting every opportunity to learn, regardless of the cost - which is why many of their parents moved to this high cost of living area in the first place.

Despite all this, MCPS continues to be at the top of the country, as one of the best education systems in the nation as we can see in the recent increase in the number of passing AP Exams. So, are the fees good, are they bad? I'll leave that up to you.

Posted by Tim Hwang at 2:03 AM

BOE member creates conversational, public blog

An MCPS Board of Education member has lead the charge by the Board into the 21st century through creation of a conversational blog. BOE member Tim Hwang created the blog as part of his SMOB 2.0 initiative.

As far as can be determined, this is the first time that any MCPS BOE member has used the Internet to engage the public in open conversation.

The blog can be accessed at http://mocosmob.blogspot.com.

Update(12/05/09): The blog has been changed to allow only comments that are approved by the SMOB.

Silver Chips: Tim Hwang voted next Student Member of Board of Education

Silver Chips reports on the next student member of the MCPS Board of Education in an April 30, 2009 article here.

...Hwang plans to discuss solutions to school issues such as the open lunch policy, High School Assessment (HSA) graduation requirement and Loss of Credit (LC) policy through SMOB 2.0, a coalition of student representatives from across the county. "It's a chance for students to get involved and actively participate in SMOB policy," he said.

Hwang has proposed altering the current exam policy to allow students who receive an "A" on both quarter report cards to complete a cumulative project that will count as their semester exam grade. He also hopes to work with Maryland Association of Student Councils (MASC) President David Murray to petition for a waiver of the HSA graduation requirement for disadvantaged students...

...Yang also identified pressing student concerns that he hopes Hwang will address as the next SMOB. "One area I want to see Tim work with is student advocacy. Issues like student parking, iPods and cell phones and open lunch," he said. "I want to see Tim be a voice for students and get these problems fixed."

UPDATE: Richard Montgomery's Tide Online report on new SMOB.