The following public comment was given today to the
Maryland
State Board of Education
August
27, 2013
Public
School Students Should Be First Priority
of State Board of Education
1.
Montgomery County Public School students are still paying fees to
attend public school classes. This is the third time I have come
before you on these illegal fees. In 2010, the State Board of
Education did a survey of Maryland public schools to determine if
other Counties were charging students to attend public school
classes. What did you do with your survey results? You know this
illegal practice continues, yet you remain silent.
2.
Seven students were admitted to Montgomery County Public Schools one
and only public charter school without being part of the public
lottery process. You were given this information as part of your
evaluation of the Charter. Have you contacted the seven
families from the wait list that
were denied admission to this school to alert them of their right to
appeal the denial of admission? Have you done anything to protect the
right of these seven public school students to a fair and open public
lottery process?
3.
How
many teachers in public schools in Maryland are in classrooms with
restrictions on their ability to touch or interact with their
students?
Please do a county by county survey and make the results public.
Parents need to know if they are required to send their child to a
public school if the classroom teacher is restricted from tying a
shoelace, touching a child to show how to hold a pencil, or picking a
child up who has fallen down. Parents have the right to know if
their child's teacher is restricted from taking these basic actions.
Do we need regulations? Legislation?
What
needs to be done to make sure that no teachers are in classrooms with
children with these unconscionable
restrictions on their movements.
If a teacher has such restrictions, then promote them to
administration and get them out of the public school classrooms! NOW!
Clearly,
the State Board knew there was a serious problem when you signed off
on your September 2012 Opinion 12-34, Picca
v. Montgomery County Board of Education,
but did you take any action? Here's what you said in that 2012
Opinion:
September
25, 2012, Opinion from the Maryland State Board of Education in
the Picca
v. Montgomery County Board of Education matter
:
"...Recent
child sex abuse cases have shone a bright light in that dark corner.
We think that this case can shine a light on the abusive
conduct, albeit infrequent, of school staff toward children. We
ask local boards to review and put in place a policy addressing
teacher and staff conduct with students, and make it a part of the
message in staff training and meetings. We ask local boards to
inquire about the safeguards that are in place to assure that the
type of persistent conduct that occurred in this case does not occur
in their schools..."
Did
MCPS take any action after that Opinion was released?
It
appears that neither the State Board of Education, nor Montgomery
County Public Schools took any action after the September 2012
Opinion because it took HOMELAND
SECURITY
to remove this teacher from a MCPS classroom in February of 2013.
According
to court documents, school leaders placed restrictions on Joynes in
November 2011, after two complaints. Joynes
was told not to touch children, be alone with them, sit in the
cafeteria during lunch or stay on the playground during recess. His
classroom door was to remain open, and he was to use staff restrooms,
not those for students, documents say.
The
Washington Post, August 21, 2013 – Article attached.
4.
We need a Statewide ban on cell towers at elementary schools.
Parents and guardians need to focus on their children's education and
should not have to spend these important educational years battling
private interests who want to turn playgrounds into Hazardous
Materials compounds. It's time to protect playgrounds for public
school students!
Thank
you for the opportunity to give public comment.
Janis
Zink Sartucci
Parents'
Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland
