...“What we discovered is that a lot of kids were actually thriving in this environment and our son is one of them," said Courtney Evans, the mother of a fourth grader in Montgomery Virtual Academy...
Showing posts with label baldrige. Show all posts
Showing posts with label baldrige. Show all posts
Friday, May 31, 2024
Virtual learning program on the chopping block in Montgomery County due to budget cuts
...“What we discovered is that a lot of kids were actually thriving in this environment and our son is one of them," said Courtney Evans, the mother of a fourth grader in Montgomery Virtual Academy...
Thursday, May 30, 2024
MCPS Administrator Closes a School without Vote of Board of Education #notTransparent #lies
Because why not? Why should MCPS administrators respect the elected Board of Education? Why should they respect State law on the closure of schools?
Why should anyone in MCPS follow the Baldridge processes that have been written into Board policies?
Why should parents believe anything that comes from MCPS in a Community Message?
On Friday, May 24, 2024, MCPS sent out a Community Message that stated:
"Final decisions will not be made until the Board approves the budget on June 11."
And today (May 30th) a MCPS administrator sent out this letter:
"...decision has been made to close the Montgomery Virtual Academy..."
Friday, March 13, 2020
MCPS has a Pandemic Flu Plan. Where is it?
Anyone have a copy of this plan?
It was mentioned in the MCPS 2010 Baldrige Application.
Pandemic Flu Planning
MCPS has worked with Montgomery County government agencies including the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to develop a comprehensive plan that is aligned with the MCPS Pandemic Flu Response Plan (PFRP) (AOS). Many aspects of this plan were put to the test with an outbreak of the H1N1 virus during the 2008–2009 school year. In fact, the county health department closed down Rockville High School for three days, due to a confirmed case of the Swine Flu (H1N1 virus) and high absenteeism. PFRP served as a guide to implementing protocols for communicating to schools and communities and collaborating with DHHS, state, and federal government agencies...
https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/info/baldrige/docs/BaldrigeApplication.pdf
It was mentioned in the MCPS 2010 Baldrige Application.
Pandemic Flu Planning
MCPS has worked with Montgomery County government agencies including the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to develop a comprehensive plan that is aligned with the MCPS Pandemic Flu Response Plan (PFRP) (AOS). Many aspects of this plan were put to the test with an outbreak of the H1N1 virus during the 2008–2009 school year. In fact, the county health department closed down Rockville High School for three days, due to a confirmed case of the Swine Flu (H1N1 virus) and high absenteeism. PFRP served as a guide to implementing protocols for communicating to schools and communities and collaborating with DHHS, state, and federal government agencies...
https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/info/baldrige/docs/BaldrigeApplication.pdf
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Administrators Party while Students Pay
The picture on the MCPS Twitter feed shows 15 MCPS people at the event. There could be more, we don't know.
What we do know is that to just attend the dinner this evening was $150 per person . $150 x 15 = $2,250)
If the people in the picture also are attending the 3 day conference their fees could total around $15,000. (Let's hope no one was staying at the hotel overnight, but that is not an impossibility.)
What we do know is that to just attend the dinner this evening was $150 per person . $150 x 15 = $2,250)
If the people in the picture also are attending the 3 day conference their fees could total around $15,000. (Let's hope no one was staying at the hotel overnight, but that is not an impossibility.)
This is how the Board of Education chooses to spend your tax dollars.
Meanwhile, parents of students in the MCPS Learning for Independence program report that they are told to send in money (cash) to their children's classes to pay for curriculum related activities. (In Maryland, if it is curriculum related a school system cannot charge a fee.)
Next time a MCPS administrator tells you that MCPS can't afford something for your child's education, remind them that it's a choice and that the BOE has chosen perks, award ceremonies, and dinners over classrooms and the needs of children.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Writing Crisis
Community Forum, October 15, 2009
Montgomery County Public Schools, Board of Education
Good evening. My name is Sue Katz Miller. I am a parent, a former teacher, a schools columnist, and a former PTA President.
I came before you a year ago to address the crisis in writing instruction. I urge you to reread that testimony. While I appreciate that MCPS officials took time to listen to my suggestions and to explain how they are trying to improve writing instruction, many parents and teachers continue to see this as the greatest academic weakness in our system. Many of us, both parents and teachers, were dismayed that the Seven Keys to College Readiness did not mention writing-a huge missed opportunity. Remedial writing classes are the most common form of remediation faced by college freshmen. I wrote to you last spring to ask for the reasoning behind this omission in the Seven Keys, and received no response from the Board or MCPS.
MCPS maintains that more writing instruction will result naturally as we push more students to take AP tests. I suggested to an MCPS AP administrator that focusing on writing might help improve AP test scores. I was shocked when the administrator responded that good writing is not necessary to score well on an AP test--that it's more a matter of memorizing content.
The writing crisis is just one symptom of everything that has been pushed aside in the relentless pursuit of raising reading and math scores under NCLB. Social studies, science, arts, experiential learning on field trips, crucial kindergarten playtime, all have suffered. And creativity in the classroom, allowing teachers to communicate their passions and ignite passion in students, has suffered greatly.
NCLB may have been necessary to bring accountability to teaching the basics of math and reading to all children. But the pendulum has swung way, way too far. This is supposed to be a world class school system: we have enormous resources and the best possible staff. If we cannot push back, if we allow NCLB to so deform our curriculum that students no longer have time to write plays or research papers, to learn geography or study pond water, to learn grammar or vocabulary or spelling, to sing rounds or plant gardens or work in clay, then we cannot be surprised when we see kids dropping out of high school, when we see families opting out of the school system, and when we see wonderful teachers leaving the profession.
I was recently asked by a relatively savvy parent if there is some way we could get a parent representative onto the school board. I was taken aback. I explained that I'm pretty sure that every BOE member is or has been an MCPS parent. But is the Board representing the parent perspective? The Baldridge Prize committee pointed to lack of stakeholder input as a weakness in MCPS. The only annual MCPS parent survey does not even address curriculum. If it did, you would hear a mandate from parent stakeholders calling for more writing, social studies, science, arts and experiential learning. Thank you.
Montgomery County Public Schools, Board of Education
Good evening. My name is Sue Katz Miller. I am a parent, a former teacher, a schools columnist, and a former PTA President.
I came before you a year ago to address the crisis in writing instruction. I urge you to reread that testimony. While I appreciate that MCPS officials took time to listen to my suggestions and to explain how they are trying to improve writing instruction, many parents and teachers continue to see this as the greatest academic weakness in our system. Many of us, both parents and teachers, were dismayed that the Seven Keys to College Readiness did not mention writing-a huge missed opportunity. Remedial writing classes are the most common form of remediation faced by college freshmen. I wrote to you last spring to ask for the reasoning behind this omission in the Seven Keys, and received no response from the Board or MCPS.
MCPS maintains that more writing instruction will result naturally as we push more students to take AP tests. I suggested to an MCPS AP administrator that focusing on writing might help improve AP test scores. I was shocked when the administrator responded that good writing is not necessary to score well on an AP test--that it's more a matter of memorizing content.
The writing crisis is just one symptom of everything that has been pushed aside in the relentless pursuit of raising reading and math scores under NCLB. Social studies, science, arts, experiential learning on field trips, crucial kindergarten playtime, all have suffered. And creativity in the classroom, allowing teachers to communicate their passions and ignite passion in students, has suffered greatly.
NCLB may have been necessary to bring accountability to teaching the basics of math and reading to all children. But the pendulum has swung way, way too far. This is supposed to be a world class school system: we have enormous resources and the best possible staff. If we cannot push back, if we allow NCLB to so deform our curriculum that students no longer have time to write plays or research papers, to learn geography or study pond water, to learn grammar or vocabulary or spelling, to sing rounds or plant gardens or work in clay, then we cannot be surprised when we see kids dropping out of high school, when we see families opting out of the school system, and when we see wonderful teachers leaving the profession.
I was recently asked by a relatively savvy parent if there is some way we could get a parent representative onto the school board. I was taken aback. I explained that I'm pretty sure that every BOE member is or has been an MCPS parent. But is the Board representing the parent perspective? The Baldridge Prize committee pointed to lack of stakeholder input as a weakness in MCPS. The only annual MCPS parent survey does not even address curriculum. If it did, you would hear a mandate from parent stakeholders calling for more writing, social studies, science, arts and experiential learning. Thank you.
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