Statement from the Montgomery County Jewish Educators Alliance Leadership on Antisemitic Graffitti at Four MCPS Schools

Antisemitic graffiti was smeared on five MCPS schools over the past few days. This statement is from the Montgomery County Jewish Educators Alliance (MCJEA) Leadership, August 19, 2024.

For the faculty and staff of MCPS, as in schools across the country, the first day of pre-service week should be a day full of excitement, promise, and potential. Sadly, MCJEA Leadership was horrified to hear that today's pre-service kickoff was marred by hateful, antisemitic, and anti-LGBTQ graffiti at four MCPS schools: Churchill HS, Wootton HS, Fallsmead ES, and Strathmore ES.

There is a time and place for respectful discourse about the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, October 7, and the ensuing war in Gaza. MCPS should strive to provide safe spaces for these conversations. Unfortunately, vandalism of this nature prevents us from achieving this goal. It sends a clear message to Jewish and Israeli staff and students: you are not safe and you are not welcome. Not as teachers, students, faculty, or families. The perpetrators of this act chose four MCPS schools known to have a significant number of Jewish students and staff. This was not an accident. It was a deliberate choice to target the Montgomery County Jewish community in its own backyard. This is a clear act of antisemitism.

Earlier this month, MCJEA leadership requested a meeting with Superintendent Dr. Thomas Taylor. We are pleased that Dr. Taylor agreed to meet with us, and tonight we sent him a message requesting an expedited meeting date. We look forward to collaborating with Dr. Taylor and his team to fight antisemitism within MCPS, and to ensure that students, families, and staff of all identities and backgrounds are protected, welcomed, and embraced. 

-MCJEA Leadership: Sheila Berlinger, Brenda Green, Rebecca Kotok, Ilyssa Weiss, Lisa Miller

If we told you once, we told you twice . . .

the Wootton Community does not want a cell tower.

This is the second time the Wootton community has told Dr. Doran that cell phone towers, cell phone compound, generators, and other accessories are not welcome.

Really, honestly, truly Dr. Doran, we don't want it.  How many times do we have to tell you?  We told you in 2004, and we are telling you again - NO.

Many of the parents in the audience tonight (remember, it was a COMMUNITY meeting) have young kids - in elementary and middle school, even preschool.  Some community members don't currently have ANY kids in Montgomery County Public Schools.  This was your chance to meet them, and you blew it.

You said this was an opportunity - what type of opportunity?  What is the community benefit?  Our cell service is fine.  Kids can't use cell phones in schools anyway - are we missing something?

For some reason, you mentioned the artificial turf field - that one you said you advocated for.  Great, another long term chemical hazard.  So - to a new parent or community member, your big accomplishments are that you advocate for an artificial turf field and see an opportunity in a cell tower?

Your job is education - not fundraising or making the cell phone companies richer.  The County Council just fully funded the MCPS budget - and you need more money to do what?

If you want to be a business person, go ahead.  But Wootton HS and its cluster schools need a principal who is an educational leader, not someone who looks for placing yet another chemical hazard in our neighborhood.

Here are some pictures from tonight's meeting.

Community Conversations

Lots of happenings here in MoCo this week - and right before the holidays too.

So - how is Josh Starr's vision of schools working for you?

Do you agree with his plan?

How do you feel about the choices coming your way?

Math, special ed, classroom size, building conditions, athletic fields?

Hey - how about those fancy whiteboards coming your way?

Do you want more technology, artificial turf, or something else?

Come out to Dr. Starr's community conversation tomorrow night at Richard Montgomery HS and let your voice be heard.

Remember, Dr. Starr may have a PhD, but he isn't a mindreader.  He will only know your priorities if you let him know.

Have fun, and see you at Richard Montgomery.

Community Conversations

Tune In at Wootton continues

The Tuned In Wootton HS BBYO event become more curious the closer we get to the event.

This blogger can't figure out what is happening, so I'll be sharing the information as it becomes available.

We know that the school did not apply for a waiver from the noise ordinance in the county.  "Its in the works," according to one source.  Really?  This needs to be filed a month in advance and the community needs to have some notice.

Here is the letter from the SGE and Jennifer Taylor, the SGE sponsor, inviting one group to join in the fun.

This raises another question - is Ms. Taylor getting paid from school system funds to run this event? 

Her contact information is at the bottom of the letter.  The letter says to contact her for more information.

So Ms. Taylor - here is my question - shouldn't a school sponsored civic engagement event play by the rules?  Or are you teaching civil disobedience, by flagrantly flouting the rules that apply outside of the Wootton HS protectorate?

So many questions, so little time.

Service and Advocacy Invitation

Wootton High School to "Pause" Curriculum

Thanks to an alert reader, we have the following information to add to the information on the rock concert that will take place on April 28, 2012 on the Wootton High School (grass) football field.  (Know that the next Capital Budget request from Wootton HS will be for a million dollar artificial turf because the grass field can't withstand the activity from a rock concert with 3,000 teens.)

Another tidbit from the TunedIn site: (http://www.tunedinmaryland.org/#!press|c19rs) "Monday, April 16th through Wednesday, April 18th ​Wootton High School will temporarily pause all ongoing curriculums and spend three consecutive days teaching about issues relative to the 2012 Presidential and Congressional elections.

How did they do that?

Are you interested in a concert with Third Eye Blind and Timelines?

Sorry, only Wootton students or those connected to a Wootton student can attend this concert.

In an unprecedented partnership, for the second time, Wootton and B'Nai Brith Youth Organization are joining forces to bring this concert to your backyard.

Bring your picnic blankets and camp out on Frost Hill.

Wait, isn't BBYO a faith based organization?

You've got that one right. Here is what the organizers had to say at the first concert in 2008:

The event apparently was unique in another respect as well, according to Ian Kandel, program director of BBYO's D.C. Council. He said it was probably the first partnership in U.S. history between a faith-based organization and a public high school. For that reason, organizers strove to avoid First Amendment problems, in part, by consulting with the organization Americans United for the Separation of Church and State.

Wootton was chosen because many of its student leaders are also active BBYO participants, according to Kandel, who said the concert reflected a major change in BBYO's outreach philosophy.

The 84-year-old organization . . . is expanding its horizons in an attempt to engage greater numbers of unaffiliated and marginally affiliated Jewish students.

One way of doing that, Kandel explained, is by melding students' core interests (such as social justice-related activities) with the pop-culture scene via the presentation of "exciting social events" in secular venues, such as Wootton.

Thursday's concert culminated a weeklong campaign at the high school aimed at raising students' political awareness and encouraging them to get involved in worthwhile causes in the nonprofit sector.

So - here are my questions.

1. How are the costs and profits divided between MCPS and BBYO?
2. Who holds the liability insurance for the event and is responsible for any damage to Wootton's athletic stadium?
3. Are the permits in order?
4. What about security?
5. Did Americans United for the Separation of Church and State sign off on the 2012 concert?
and most important
6. Will our own Josh Starr be in attendance with all the political hotshots planning to attend?

Students will be arriving at Wootton by shuttle bus that day, so there should be plenty of onsite parking for tailgaters.

Watch those speed cameras on Wootton Parkway and see you on April 28 at Frost Hill.

Inquiring minds want to know - how did they do that?
Wootton High School Online Store

buggy

Wootton Principal: Incident "shocked and concerned us all"

May 2011:  Letter from Wootton High School Principal Michael Doran to parents after students were hospitalized after a football practice. 

After School Conditioning

WAMU Denied Access to Wootton HS Meeting on Football Injuries

WAMU:  After Son's Ordeal, Parents Warn Others Of Overexertion

...Brian wasn't the only one at the session that experienced problems that day. Four other students were admitted to the hospital in varying stages of the muscular problem after the conditioning program that day, according to school officials.Wootton High School has responded. A letter to parents that Wootton High officials posted on the school's website in May notes "several young athletes ended up hospitalized" after attending the same session as Brian on May 4.The after-school program was suspended for several days, and school officials scheduled a meeting for June 7 to address parents' concerns. [WAMU was denied access to this meeting.]Principal Dr. Michael Doran says the exercise Brian had been doing has been eliminated from the conditioning program, and the program has been modified...

...In addition, one coach that had been involved with the conditioning is no longer coaching. "There's one coach who is no longer coaching," says Doran... 

News Channel 8: School: Sorry for Leaving Students in Heat for Hours

ROCKVILLE, Md. - Hundreds of students were left stuck in the hot sun for hours last Wednesday and now some parents in Montgomery County (web | news) are up-in-arms.  

EMS crews treated dozens for dehydration at Robert Frost Middle School in Rockville. wednesday night, parents looked for answers at a meeting at the school. 

Robert Frost Middle School Principal Dr. Joey Jones apologized to a crowd of concerned parents Wednesday night... 

..."My kid came home miserable, sunburned, dehydrated, starving," said parent Tasha Museles...

Full News Channel 8 story here. 

Fox 5: Frost Students Get Sick Waiting Outside in Heat During Bomb Scare

There's a little problem with the statements coming from MCPS on the issue of emergency preparedness. 

MCPS is a national model for Emergency Preparedness in large school systems. Other school systems are told to emulate MCPS and use the MCPS procedures for emergency planning, including establishing an off-site evacuation plan. Read the report here - see page 38 where MCPS is rated Best. 

Nothing about this situation should be a surprise to a principal, nor should there be any need for "lessons learned." This scenario should have already been planned for, and the plan was to be documented by the local school's On-Site Emergency Team (OSET).

Here is the Fox 5 report on the meeting Wednesday evening between Frost Middle School parents and the Principal. Was Superintendent Jerry Weast in attendance at this meeting? 

Blame the real villain

Post Now - The Breaking News Blog: Parents, school to meet over evacuation

Officials at a Rockville middle school have scheduled a meeting* with parents after two dozen students suffered heat-related illnesses when forced to evacuate during a bomb threat.

Robert Frost Middle School students spent more than two hours in the school's fields last Wednesday, a day when temperatures climbed into the upper 80s.

Emergency personnel treated the kids who felt dizzy or dehydrated on-site, giving them water and Gatorade, said Scott Graham, a spokesman for Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service. None were transported to a hospital...

 ...Any anger over the incident, Tofig said, should be directed on the real villain: The person who made the bomb threat. 

“Principals have to make a call very quickly about potential threats,” Tofig said. “[Principal Joey Jones] thought he was doing what was in the best interest of the students.”

*The Frost Middle School meeting is scheduled for June 2nd at 7PM in the Frost MS Media Center.  

"Left to broil and dehydrate"

Dear Dr. Weast,

I am the mother of a sixth grade student at Robert Frost Middle School. I am writing to express my outrage over the actions of Dr. Joey Jones, the Principal of Frost MS, and the entire school staff, for their inexcusable treatment of 1,300 students during the bomb threat on Wednesday. The fact that 24 children FAINTED while being forced to sit without water (while watching their teachers drink water) under the direct sun for almost three hours while an air-conditioned auditorium at Wootton High School sat empty a couple of hundred meters away is unprecedented; I cannot believe this actually happened in a Blue Ribbon School in MCPS.


The incompetence of the school staff is beyond comprehension. I am a Russian émigré and former teacher who is now a US citizen, and I do not have words to express my feelings on this matter. I do not know what information you have received through "official" channels, but it is essential that you follow up on this incident immediately. We got a voice mail from Principal Jones at 4:30 PM about what happened and a weakly worded follow up letter, but neither even began to address the situation. Mr. Jones and his staff demonstrated a complete inability to handle a situation of this magnitude and we have lost complete confidence in his ability to safeguard our children.

Everybody knows how important it is to practice sun protection… the children were in direct harsh sun at the most dangerous time of the day for sun protection for three hours getting extreme sun damage during a very hot, cloudless day, yet even when multiple children started to faint from extreme exposure and dehydration, the clueless staff did not take any actions.

Dehydration is a severe threat to health, especially for children, and my son has asthma, which exacerbated the situation. I am also shocked that the children were seated relatively close to the building; if there was a bomb threat, why weren't they moved to the lower field away from the building. The breakdown on Wednesday was complete at every level. Even the medical technicians treating the children did not recognize the urgency of the lack of water and shade.

Inexplicable. Words fail me for this failure. And where was Principal Jones during this time? My son did not see him at all outside. He just saw staff doing nothing and drinking beverages while not even letting kids stand up.

One kid accidentally had carried his lunch outside and when he tried to eat it, he was harshly reprimanded by the same staff person who was drinking comfortably earlier. Every outdoor event for children that I have attended such as field days puts a paramount importance on having abundant water suppliers; EVERYONE knows how important this is. Meanwhile, our kids were left to broil and dehydrate in the direct sun for no apparent reason except sheer incompetence.

Dr. Weast, I hope you will take the appropriate actions quickly and decisively before other parents and I go to the media; this endangerment and abuse of children is beyond the pale and cannot be excused with typical bureaucratic nonsense.

The Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland thanks this parent for forwarding this letter to us. This parent wishes to remain anonymous in this posting. For the reference of our readers, here is the Google Earth image showing Frost Middle School and Wootton High School. 

Frost Middle School - What Was Dr. Jones Thinking?

Remember last Wednesday, May 26, 2010, when the temperature reached over 90 degrees?


Its a day that many Frost Middle School students will remember too.

According to a letter sent home to parents by Joey Jones, the school principal since 2002, the school received a bomb threat at 11 am, evacuated the students to the nearby athletic fields, and reentered the building at 1:35 pm.  Students were left outside, because officials in charge thought there was not enough time to walk to the designated shelter-in-place location, Wootton High School.



BombThreatFollow-up5 27 10 %283%29[1]

For those of you unfamiliar with the geography of the Wootton Schools, the two schools are adjacent to each other.  And its all downhill from Frost to Wootton, as any family with a sled can tell you - its a great place to hang out when schools are closed due to snow.  Frost MS's established emergency evacuation plan, as shared with parents and the community, has Frost MS students evacuating to Wootton HS.


But not this time. 

For some reason, the students and staff were kept outside and not sent over to Wootton.

For some other unknown reason, the kids were left on the fields without access to water or bathrooms.   Twenty four students were treated for dehydration - two percent of the student population, not an insignificant number.


Maybe Dr. Jones has never walked between the two schools. 


Parents want to know.  Why were the students kept out in the heat, with no water, for over 2 hours? 

Someone in charge of the plan needs to rethink the plan, or else someone in charge of the plan needs to be replaced.   I'd suggest both.

And given the proximity of Frost and Wootton, and the conveniently located Giant where many Wootton families shop, other schools may want to examine their emergency evacuation plans too.

After all, if a school as green and as flush with resources both in physical and financial assets can't safely evacuate its premises, what guarantees do we have that other school emergency plans in Montgomery County Maryland public schools have plans that work when needed?

Weather May 26 2010

Wootton says No to Deaf Community

Superintendent Jerry Weast loves good publicity, and so in this week's MCPS Bulletin he highlights an American Sign Language program at Quince Orchard High School.

But when it comes to MCPS American Sign Language (ASL) students at Wootton High School, the signs are not so encouraging.

The letter below discusses the refusal of the Wootton High School administration to allow ASL students from the school to sign along with the chorus during their high school graduation. It isn't as if this is something new. ASL students accompanying graduation performances has been a part of Wootton High School graduations in the past, and is part of graduations at other MCPS high schools where ASL is taught. Below is a letter on this issue to the community from a parent.
Letter on ASL at Wootton Graduation


CODA = Children of Deaf Adults

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.

Greater Greater Washington blog on Push Poll

Hopkins lobbyist circulating "push poll" survey on Gaithersburg West

See previous Parents' Coalition Guest post for more on this issue as it relates to schools.

Trailer City - Coming Soon!

THE COUNTY COUNCIL PUBLIC HEARING ON THE
GAITHERSBURG WEST MASTER PLAN IS SCHEDULED FOR

SEPTEMBER 15, 2009 at 7:00 PM
(RATHER THAN THE PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED TIME OF 7:30 PM)

at 100 MARYLAND AVENUE, ROCKVILLE, MD
Please mark your calendars

The Master Plan, as proposed, would bring high-density, high-rise commercial development to our area along with six- and eight-lane highways and 10- to 12-lane multilevel highway interchanges to accommodate approximately 50,000 additional workers and residents.

We must attend the Public Hearing to show our Council members we are united in our opposition to the scale of the proposed plan. This is the most important meeting of the entire master plan process. The Council can approve the master plan or they can have it revised or re-written.
For additional information on the Gaithersburg West Master Plan, email addresses of our County Council members, or for directions and parking information for the Public Hearing, please see www.scale-it-back.com.

Thank you,
Donna Baron
Coordinator
The Gaithersburg - North Potomac - Rockville Coalition

Wootton Cluster - Trailer City?

The Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, MD is pleased to welcome Donna Baron of The Gaithersburg - North Potomac - Rockville Coalition as our guest writer today. MCPS had 516 classroom trailers in use for the 2008-09 school year with more on the way. Ms. Baron writes about another part of Montgomery County that will see more housing soon, without advance planning or funding for new schools to accommodate the incoming children. That means that more MCPS children will end up spending their school years outside in classroom trailers instead of in buildings. Classroom trailers mean walking to the main building to change classes or use the restroom (in inclement weather without coats), less security, mold and mildew issues, and safety issues.

*****

The Gaithersburg West Master Plan: How it will affect us

The Public Hearing with the County Council for the Gaithersburg West Master Plan is September 15th yet many people are still unaware of this master plan and how it will affect the entire county, particularly the residents west of I-270.

The Planning Board has proposed 20-million square feet of commercial space and 5,700 multifamily housing units in buildings up to 150 feet high in the area around Shady Grove Hospital and on Belward Farm which will be called the “Science City”. A website has been set up to disseminate information to the residents and to monitor the master plan. Please see the website, http://www.scale-it-back.com/ for a map of the “Science City”.

The county is using the 45-year old plans for the Corridor Cities Transitway (CCT) which will likely be a rapid-bus as justification for calling the “Science City” a “transit oriented development” which will allow them to rezone the area for much higher density, high-rise buildings and housing. This would add 50,000 people to our area as workers or residents.

However, the CCT will only carry about 15% of the additional 50,000 people so that leaves 85% or 43,000 people in their cars. In order to accommodate 43,000 extra cars, the county has proposed to widen some of the roads to six and eight lanes and to build five multilevel 10- and 12-lane highway interchanges in and around the Science City. For instance, a 12-lane highway interchange might be built at the corner of Muddy Branch Road and Great Seneca even though it will be in the middle of four residential neighborhoods and would result in the loss of homes and the reconfiguration of at least two of the neighborhoods. Also, there has been no accommodation for the people who live in the many subdivisions in the area with limited entrances onto secondary roads which will be jammed with traffic.

Another issue is the children from the 5,700 proposed housing units. Since the housing is not included in the staging requirements for the master plan, if the plan is approved, the housing could be build independently of the commercial development once the Public Service Training Academy (the fire tower area) is moved to Montgomery Village. Therefore, there is no assurance that any of the people in the housing will work in the Science City. At this point most of the children would attend the schools in the Wootton Cluster and many of the families may move to the Science City to enable their children to go the Wootton Cluster schools. However, Wootton is already over-crowded and the students have had classes in trailers for years. There is space for a high school on Crown Farm if that is developed and MCPS has said they would build an elementary school “if needed” but no firm commitments have been given.

If the master plan is approved by the County Council, Johns Hopkins Real Estate hopes to start building their high-rise commercial complex on Belward Farm for 15,000 people within three years. The county is pushing hard to get the Corridor Cities Transitway so they can proceed with the higher population density and high-rise buildings despite the potential problems. The construction in the Science City and on the roads would go on for at least the next twenty years.

The Public Hearing with the County Council is crucial because the Council can approve the master plan or they can revise it or re-write it. It is imperative that we all attend the Hearing in order to convey our opposition to the scale of the development proposed by this master plan. We have said throughout the process, we are supportive of biomedical development in the area but it must be in scale with our suburban community. For additional information on the Hearing and the email addresses for the Council members, please see the website.

You will also find additional information, maps, and photos and a “contact us” page to sign up for updates on the master plan process on the website. http://www.scale-it-back.com/

Thanks and best regards,

Donna Baron

The Gaithersburg - North Potomac - Rockville Coalition

Update: County Council Hearing September 15, 2009 at 7 PM

BOE Says Goodbye to Boutique at . . .

Wootton and Gaithersburg High Schools.

Recall the April 14 Board of Education meeting where Dr. Weast said he was getting rid of "boutique" programs at MCPS, and then the next meeting where he said it was only language programs?

Dr. Weast thinks we aren't paying attention.

In today's Gazette, its time to bid bye-bye to another boutique program - the College Institute at Wootton, Gaithersburg, Seneca Valley and Kennedy High School.

In next year's budget, Dr. Weast proposes to cut the funding for the MCPS coordinators who run the programs at the school.

Who is he fooling? Without staff to manage the programs, can we honestly believe that these programs will survive in more than name only?

Advice to College Institute parents - while the program may hobble along for a while, you only need to look to what is happening at Blair HS's Math, Science, and Computer Science Magnet. This program too has been suffering a slow death by cutting staff members.

And advice to the rest of the county? Its not just the magnet programs, or foreign language programs that are in jeopardy. Anything that meets the needs of less than the entire school population is obviously what Dr. Weast means when he says he is cutting boutique programs.