MCPS chromebooks’ short lifespans pose issues for students [FYI: In Maryland Public School Curriculum is FREE. Students do NOT pay for Textbooks.]

...It also saves time and money with students no longer having to pay for textbooks that aren’t fully used or might not be completely up-to-date...

 
...In addition, students have expressed positive views about Chromebook usage. “I personally believe the increased Chromebook usage has had a positive change, especially when writing essays and doing projects. It is much easier for me to type than write, and my hand doesn’t hurt when I’m done. It is also more efficient as I can type much faster than I can write,” Feuerstein said.

With an increased reliance on Chromebooks, however, comes several flaws that have been popping up locally and across the nation. A 2023 report from the U.S. Public Interest Research Group Education Fund found that the short lifespan of Chromebooks, compounded by a lack of support repair and a built-in end for software support, often leaves schools with failing devices that saddle districts with additional costs. 

Faltering Chromebooks have been a recurring issue for students at RM as well. “My old Chromebook had a bad battery life but I swapped it out. That Chromebook had heating issues and some of the keys and the chassis began to warp and it got hot enough to burn me,” sophomore Dinh Cao said.

“It annoys me that Chromebooks continue to be produced with these malfunctions and that these issues are not generally addressed by Google,” Feuerstein said...

MCPS chromebooks’ short lifespans pose issues for students – The Tide (thermtide.com)

Walter Johnson High School Charging Students $71 to Attend Free Public School Graduation. FYI: There are no fees to attend MCPS graduations.

The Maryland legislature and the Montgomery County Board of Education have not authorized the charging of any fees for attendance at MCPS graduations.  There are no legal senior dues or fees to attend Montgomery County Public Schools.  That fact becomes clear when a comparison of high schools shows that some MCPS high schools don't have any senior dues or graduation fees. 

As the Parents' Coalition has shown over the years, Kennedy High School students are charged the highest "senior dues." 

If any Montgomery County Board of Education members would like to explain why Kennedy High School students have been targeted for these illegal fees, we would be happy to post their explanation.

wj-senior-letter---class-of-2023.pdf (montgomeryschoolsmd.org)

The Pandemic Hasn’t Stopped This School District From Suing Parents Over Unpaid Textbook Fees

 When the pandemic started, several school districts in Indiana halted a long-standing practice: suing families for unpaid textbook fees. But one school district has filed nearly 300 lawsuits against parents, and others also have returned to court.

...Indiana is one of at least nine states that allow school districts to charge fees for required textbooks, according to the Education Commission of the States, a national education policy organization...

https://www.propublica.org/article/the-pandemic-hasnt-stopped-this-school-district-from-suing-parents-over-unpaid-textbook-fees

Exclusive: Board of Education Still Charging Students Illegal Curricular Fees Even While Students are at Home. Because Why Not Rip Off Students During a Pandemic!

We checked to see if the Montgomery County Board of Education was going to take this opportunity to provide a free public education for all Montgomery County Public School students, or if they were still going to charge students illegal curricular fees to attend public school classes.

We looked at just one school.  

Just one and we immediately saw that the Board of Education illegal practice of charging students fees to attend public school classes is continuing.  Even during a Global Pandemic where students are learning online from home, the Board of Education is happy to deny students their right to a free public education.  

The illegal curricular fees are clearly labeled as fees for "at home during virtual learning." 

The Maryland Attorney General's statement on these fees is reproduced, once again, below a sample of Board of Education "at home during virtual learning" illegal curricular fees from the MCPS website. 

KameenOAGLetter by Parents' Coalition of Montg...

Illegal Curricular Fees Persist in MCPS: Tell the MCPS Board of Ed: End Inequitable Chromebook Policy NOW!

 MCPS has added yet another barrier to Black and Brown students, furthering economic and racial inequity across Montgomery County during a global health pandemic and economic crisis.

Parents are now being told that our children, as young as 5 and 6 years old, don't have the right to a public education if we don't have the financial means to replace faulty technology provided by the school system in the richest county in Maryland.

According to MCPS, Students and their families are now financially responsible for any intentional or accidental damage of any Chromebook loaned out to our children:

https://www.change.org/p/tell-the-mcps-board-of-ed-end-inequitable-chromebook-policy-now?recruiter=1152400555&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=petition_dashboard&recruited_by_id=b70e6a40-0359-11eb-a649-3157ecf98923&use_react=false

Montgomery County needs to own up to its faux progressivism

 
In today’s volatile social climate, it seems like people worry more about being called racist than about racism itself. While the majority of society rightfully condemns overt acts of discrimination, implicit racism is a much more normalized part of our daily lives. Nobody is exempt from perpetuating this culture of casual racism, including those who may work the hardest to appear outwardly “woke” — the white progressive elite...

...As a result, white liberalism breeds a culture of implicit racism and performative wokeness.  

Growing up in Bethesda, Maryland, I’ve experienced this phenomenon firsthand...

...In addition, white people think simply claiming the label of “progressive” or “Democrat” is sufficient to show that they are not racist...

https://dbknews.com/2020/09/04/white-progressive-antiracist-montgomery-country/

Parents Face a Growing Barrage of Fees as Students Head Back to School

The cost of a free public education is on the rise, as a growing number of districts across the U.S. are charging students for registration, textbooks, the use of libraries and more.

Some students in the Benton-Carroll-Salem Local School District in Ohio this school year pay a $10 student-activity fee, $34 for chemicals and supplies for chemistry and $3 for an alert system with mass calling capabilities. Anatomy and physiology students pay $35 to help cover the cost of cat cadavers and other course materials. High-school students this...

https://www.wsj.com/articles/parents-face-a-growing-barrage-of-fees-as-students-head-back-to-school-11566639001

"Taxing the Ignorant" - ACLU Finally Steps Up to Defend MD Students' Right to a Free Public Edcuation

The Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, MD has repeatedly contacted the Maryland ACLU over the last 12 years to request assistance in eliminating illegal curricular fees in Montgomery County Public Schools.  The response from the ACLU was that they did not have the time to address this issue.  They believed the elected officials in Montgomery County would step up and do the right thing by our public school children. One ACLU representative termed illegal curricular fees charged by the Montgomery County Board of Education as:

"taxing the ignorant."

That implies that parents who know Maryland law will not pay illegal fees.  And that is exactly what has happened in Montgomery County.  Parents that know the law, don't pay the illegal curricular fees charged by MCPS.  Parents that are ignorant of the Maryland Constitution's guarantee of a free public education for all have been paying the illegal fees.  

Here is the lawsuit filed this week in Prince George's County regarding the fees the public school system charges for students to attend public school classes in the summer.

Rozon v. Prince Georges Cty... by on Scribd

Prince George’s County students challenge summer-school fees, fighting for free public education

When Laurie Tucker’s family moved during her son’s senior year of high school, she was sorry to hear the last two classes he needed weren’t offered at his new school during spring semester. Instead of graduating, he has to finish up in summer school.

An even worse surprise: The family will have to pay for those classes.

On Thursday, students sued the suburban Maryland school system where Tucker’s son attends class in a bid to lift summer-school fees.

Students shouldn’t be able to graduate only if they can afford to, said Tucker, whose son is one of the plaintiffs arguing the right to a free public education is guaranteed under the Maryland Constitution.

Tucker was shocked by the price for summer school in Prince George’s County: $225 per class, which will be a burden for her family. Her husband works as a driver delivering donations to nonprofit agencies, she said, to support their three children; she stopped working two years ago to care for their youngest child, who is 4 years old and has a disability.

Prince George’s schools spokeswoman Raven Hill said it is policy to not comment on pending litigation. But she confirmed the fees: $100 per half credit, with a $25 registration fee, for county students. Those who qualify for free- or reduced-price meals because of their families’ income levels are required to pay only half of those amounts.

Students from outside the county are charged more, $645 for a full credit plus the $25 registration fee. Hill said the fees are mainly to cover the cost of paying employees who don’t normally work over the summer...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2019/06/13/prince-georges-county-students-challenge-summer-school-fees-fighting-free-public-education/?utm_term=.0e2c402a5980

Mont. Co. Board of Ed. Keeps "Equity" Alive at Kennedy HS with Exorbitant $143.50 Mandatory Graduation Fee! "All means all" except at Kennedy High School in Silver Spring.

The "historic" Montgomery County Board of Education is keeping alive the male tradition of ripping off students in Silver Spring.  The all woman Board of Education has continued the illegal practice of allowing local high school principals to set ANY mandatory fee for seniors to attend their own FREE public high school graduation.  As in past years, Kennedy High School in Silver Spring tops the list of fees by charging seniors $143.50 to attend their own free public high school graduation.  If students don't pay, they can't attend their own graduation.

The great women "leaders" on the Board of Education are fine with this and sit back in their brand new leather swivel chairs and claim to be interested in equity.

But actions speak louder than words and this all women Board of Education is no different than the male dominated Boards of Education in the past.  This Board of Education is fine with students at Kennedy High School paying $143.50 to attend their own graduation while students at Poolesville High School pay $27.50.  

As a reminder, senior dues and graduation fees do not exist in Montgomery County or in Maryland. No such fees have ever been authorized by the Maryland legislature or the Montgomery County Board of Education.  The illegal graduation fees found in MCPS are set by the local principal and often include a slush fund for expenses not detailed in any publicly available documents.

Here is what 2019 MCPS Seniors are being forced to pay to attend their own MCPS free public school graduations.  If the fees were legal, they would be authorized by a governing body, in compliance with the Maryland Constitutions guarantee of a free public education, and uniform across all high schools.

Inside the Governor’s $438 Million ‘Go-Ahead’ for Schools

A look at the elements of the Governor’s fiscal 2020 capital budget proposal for public school construction.

The Governor’s 2020 capital budget includes a new program for school construction funding — the Building Opportunity Fund — and a pledge to provide $3.5 billion in five years to school construction.

School construction is a major element of county capital budgets, who partner with the state to provide Maryland’s students with superior learning environments.

The State provides capital funding for school construction through several grant programs. Most of these are grant programs established by legislation, however the Building Opportunity Fund represents a new initiative of this Administration.

Here is the breakdown of the $438 million total announced in the Governor’s budget propoal for FY 2020:..

https://conduitstreet.mdcounties.org/2019/01/22/inside-the-governors-438-million-go-ahead-for-schools/?fbclid=IwAR36x1z9QL58YfSXPcvHC6IGa8hAlsvw_kLBtwNPBuFaNRiRYJPyEaC9q34

ACLU joins students’ challenge to Prince George’s summer school tuition prices

The American Civil Liberties Union has joined four Prince George’s students’ challenge to a summer school tuition policy, arguing the costs are too burdensome for some families and inhibit students from graduating.

Debbie Jeon, legal director with ACLU of Maryland, said charging tuition for summer school violates state law requiring free public education. Many students enroll in the summer session to make up classes they didn’t complete or pass during the school year but are required for graduation, also known as “credit recovery.”

“Maryland’s Constitution promises all families a free public education for their children,” Jeon said. “If students are required by the school system to take core courses like English and math . . . to progress to the next grade and ultimately to graduate, the system can’t then impose high financial fees that make it impossible for some students to do so.”

Spokeswoman Raven Hill said the school system charged $455 per class in summer 2018, noting that nearly all Maryland districts charge for summer school. Hill did not respond to specific questions about the ACLU’s assertion that the policy violates state law.

Prince George’s students who qualify for free and reduced meal prices, a signifier of financial need, can have up to 25 percent of tuition for one class waived, district documents state.

The reduced tuition is still too costly for many families, said Grace Reusing, a Maryland public defender. The district, she said, “has the most expensive summer school program in the state, and they have the most inadequate waiver for low-income families.” In summer 2018, Montgomery County charged up to $300 per class for county residents and $340 for nonresidents.

Reusing said she sent letters to Prince George’s school district officials in March and May requesting the 134,000-student system waive four students’ summer tuition entirely. The waivers were denied June 27, days before summer school began, she said.

She appealed the decision and expects the Prince George’s Board of Education to rule on the appeal at an executive session during Tuesday’s board meeting.

“Prince George’s County Public Schools have priced summer school out of the reach of the students who need it the most,” Reusing said.

One of the students, Reusing said, is taking classes at an alternative school. Reusing has requested the district reimburse another student who paid for a less expensive online summer course.

The ACLU has promised to sue the school system over its summer school fees and waiver policy if the district refuses to waive the four students’ tuition.

“The ACLU will have no choice but to pursue litigation to address this serious constitutional violation undermining the rights of Prince George’s County students to a free public school education,” the letter read...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/aclu-joins-students-challenge-to-prince-georges-summer-school-tuition-prices/2018/10/21/f99a0748-d467-11e8-b2d2-f397227b43f0_story.html?utm_term=.0d48f890783c

Class action lawsuit: Charging Idaho students fees is unconstitutional (Same thing going on in Montgomery County Public Schools)

The complaint says school districts have been charging students unconstitutional fees, on the grounds of free public education and taking of private property.

BOISE -- A class action lawsuit was filed in federal court, urging Idaho school districts to stop charging students fees.

The suit lists every school district as defendants and every K-12 student and their parents or guardians as plaintiffs. The lawsuit claims their rights have been violated under the Idaho and U.S. Constitutions.

Former Idaho Supreme Court Justice Robert Huntley and attorney Jason Wood filed a class action complaint in late May, but it is not certified yet. The districts have been served, they say, and they are waiting for all of them to respond.

This class action complaint says school districts have been charging students unconstitutional fees, on the grounds of free public education and taking of private property.

"The hope of this lawsuit is if we get substantial judgment against these school districts, finally the school districts, patrons, the PTAs and parents and grandparents will come to the Legislature and say: Legislature, do your job," Robert Huntley said. "If we get a judgment against the school districts, I would think school districts would come to the Legislature and say 'pay up, reimburse us'."

The basic motivation of this lawsuit is this:

"The constitution provides that the Legislature shall provide free common public schools, which includes charter schools. And what's happened in Idaho is we've been underfunding very badly," Huntley told KTVB. "It's sophistry to say you're for education if you don't want to fund it."

https://www.ktvb.com/article/news/education/class-action-lawsuit-charging-idaho-students-fees-is-unconstitutional/277-573723828

MCPS Board of Education Denies Daly ES Students Free Public Education #poverty #FARMS #extortion #AppleBallot

 "...at Daly, some third-graders need help paying the $5 fee for the recorders they use in music class..."

It is 2017, but the Montgomery County Board of Education still refuses to abide by the Maryland Constitution and offer all public school students a free education.  

This recent article in Bethesda Magazine (link below) about Daly Elementary School in Germantown notes that the children are being required to pay a fee to participate in their music class.  That is an illegal fee and in violation of the Maryland Constitution's guarantee of a free public education for public school students.  

In Maryland, everything connected with the curriculum is to be provided to students for free.  One day, maybe progressive Montgomery County will follow the law.  

http://www.bethesdamagazine.com/Bethesda-Magazine/November-December-2017/Hope-Lives-Here/

Md. Comptroller Franchot questions Washington County Public Schools collections proposal

ANNAPOLIS — Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot weighed in Wednesday on the proposal by Washington County Public Schools to use a collection agency to recover some $45,000 in unpaid charges for student meals.

The topic came up as the Maryland Board of Public Works agreed to let the Washington County Commissioners dispose of the former Conococheague Elementary School.

Franchot used it as an opportunity to comment on a Herald-Mail Media article about the school system "considering a proposal to contract with a collection agency to go after parents whose children have negative balances in their school meal accounts."

"Being humiliated and harassed … by collectors are the last thing families who are experiencing financial hardship need," he said, "and I sincerely hope that the children are not being denied meals or going hungry in schools simply because their parents are not, or are unable to settle up their school meal debts."...

https://www.heraldmailmedia.com/news/annapolis/md-comptroller-franchot-questions-washington-county-public-schools-collections-proposal/article_a9a36403-a1b7-5caf-875b-436ad4271112.html

Civil War-era law used to sue Mississippi over school system

Four mothers are challenging Mississippi’s public education system, saying the state is violating a legal promise it made a century and a half ago to keep a “uniform system of free public schools.”

The lawsuit, filed by the Southern Poverty Law Center against the state’s top officials, is using a unique legal theory to challenge inequities in the system, saying Mississippi is failing to keep its promise, made as a condition to rejoin the Union after the Civil War.

But since then, Mississippi has broken that promise many times, starting with the adoption of the 1890 constitution, said Jody Owens, managing attorney in the center’s Jackson office. “The state’s education system is shamefully inequitable and anything but uniform.”...

http://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2017/05/23/lawsuit-mississippi-broke-its-promise-provide-uniform-education-all-students/338931001/

MCPS Does Not Report Class Fees to County Council #illegal #extortion #slushfund #appropriation #altfacts

Please ask a question: *

Where in the MCPS Operating budget is the money collected from curricular fees accounted for? Thank you.

Ms. Sartucci,

Thank you for the question regarding curricular fees.  Every school provides without charge the textbooks, supplementary readers, audio/visual aids, stationery, and materials of instruction necessary to teach the curriculum or needed by the students to demonstrate mastery of the curriculum through the MCPS Operating budget. The decision to charge curricular fees for designated courses is determined at the school level. An allowable maximum fee has been established for each designated course and must be specific to the course and cost of the item(s) (rounded to the nearest dollar for ease of accounting)—no overcharge may be assessed to paying students to offset the costs absorbed by the school for students who are unable to pay. Course related fees are collected by the school and deposited to the school’s Independent Activity Funds account.  These fees are not accounted for as part of the Operating Budget revenue since they are managed at the school level.  If you have any additional questions regarding course related fees, please contact Dr. Arronza M. LaBatt, Executive Director of School Support and Improvement at 301-279-3994 or via Arronza_M_LaBatt@mcpsmd.org

Nancy Austin
Budget Unit
Carver Educational Services Center
850 Hungerford Drive, Room 170
Rockville, MD  20850
Nancy_Austin@mcpsmd.org
301-279-3547

Mike Rowe, can you help? @mikeroweworks

"Many viable careers once aspired to are now seen as “vocational consolation prizes,” and many of the jobs this current administration has tried to “create” over the last four years are the same jobs that parents and teachers actively discourage kids from pursuing" ~Mike Rowe


Read what Mike Rowe has to say about vocational/technical education in our schools at the link below. 

Let's ask Mike Rowe to speak up for MCPS students. 

Today, the Montgomery County Board of Education STILL allows principals to charge ILLEGAL CURRICULAR FEES to MCPS students who take courses at Edison High School of Technology (our one local vo/tech high school).  

Fees for public school classes discourage and prohibit participation and send a strong message that these classes are to be avoided.

The fees do not go into the MCPS budget, are not publicly accounted for, and create a slush fund for the principal. The practice has been going on for over a decade and our public officials will not speak up about this illegal practice. 

We have it in writing from the Maryland Attorney General's office and the Maryland State Board of Education that our children are entitled to a FREE PUBLIC EDUCATION under the Maryland Constitution. Yet, the charging of illegal curricular fees continues in Montgomery County. 

Mike Rowe, can you help?

https://www.facebook.com/TheRealMikeRowe/posts/1330853343591472:0 


 

Participation jumped 31 percent; for children who attend high-poverty schools, it shot up almost 80 percent.

 ‘An incredible impact’: Poor kids are being priced out of youth sports. Here’s one solution.

...“Just doing this one small thing had an incredible impact for a lot of families,” said Berk, who published his findings this summer in the Journal of Park and Recreation Administration.

The fee — $50 today, but $40 during the study period in 2009 — was covered by a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant, so the change cost the city nothing. Now, having read the results of the study, Gaithersburg officials are considering making the waiver process permanent, which could increase costs for providing youth sports by at least several thousand dollars. There is also a risk of waiver fraud...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/an-incredible-impact-poor-kids-are-being-priced-out-of-youth-sports-heres-one-solution/2016/10/27/027fb7a0-97ce-11e6-bb29-bf2701dbe0a3_story.html

MCPS Bans Students from Graduation Ceremonies All the Time

If you owe MCPS or your local principal cash, whether the fee charged was legal or illegal, you do not get to attend graduation.  (For example, senior dues are an illegal fee. They are not authorized by the legislature or the Board of Education, but that does not stop principals from banning students from graduation if they do not pay up.)

No cash = no cap and gown = no ceremony