Adult Teams Say No to Artificial Turf

So - we ask again, what is so appealing about artificial turf?  Why, in times of budget shortfalls, does the Montgomery County Board of Education make the same mistake - installing artificial turf fields at Montgomery County High Schools - when adult teams say no?

Who says no to artificial turf?  Since December 1, 2015 - 

1.  United States  Womens National Soccer Team.  

From the article:

The United States women’s national soccer team took one look Saturday at the artificial turf field that was to be the playing surface for Sunday night’s friendly against Trinidad and Tobago and said, enough.. . . A year after they sued FIFA over artificial turf and five months after they won a Women’s World Cup title on it, the players drew a line in the Hawaiian sand.  ntinue reading the main story

They told reporters the field wasn’t good enough. They told U.S. Soccer officials they wouldn’t play on it. And U.S. Soccer, left with little choice, agreed. And that was that. No game.  

2.  Baltimore Ravens

From the article:

The Ravens are switching from artificial turf to natural grass at M&T Bank Stadium for the start of the 2016 season.
Team President Dick Cass announced the move Friday and the players and Head Coach John Harbaugh, who already knew the plans, are giving the move a big thumbs up.

“The players really wanted to play on grass and that was a key consideration. The coaches wanted to play on grass,” Cass said. 

3.  And its more than just the Ravens in the NFL!  According to the same article:

Division rivals Pittsburgh and Cleveland both have grass, as well as the two closest NFL teams to Baltimore, Washington and Philadelphia. Overall, 17 of the NFL’s 32 teams play their home games on grass, except for Green Bay’s hybrid field. 

What is up with MCPS and the MoCo Board of Education?  Money is tight, and even the adults who play on the fields prefer natural grass to recycled tires - oops, we mean artificial turf. 

Photo courtesy of Hope Solo, Goalkeeper for the US Womens National Soccer Team. 

Washington Post and Gazette fooled again by MCPS

Tofig admits that $25,000 stock trading fund never really existed at Gaithersburg High School

Stock Trading Room equipment mysteriously disappears

The MCPS announcement on November 26, 2006 was big news.   "Gaithersburg High School Celebrates Opening of First High School Stock Trading Room in Nation."  Funded by a $75,000 grant from the NASDAQ foundation, the school had received an electronic ticker board, a NASDAQ data board, and other equipment to support the Academy of Finance program.  This was a huge win for a school that had a high poverty rate, declining test scores and a seriously decaying building.

Adding even more excitement, MCPS claimed that "Students Have $25,000 Fund to Trade", donated by "a longtime supporter of the school system who wishes to remain anonymous."  And for good measure, according to the announcement, "the school will keep any profits in the account."

The Washington Post and The Gazette both picked up the story, devoting considerable coverage to the grand opening of the trading room.  

"The most intriguing part, financial educators say, is that students will invest real money," wrote Daniel de Vise of the Washington Post.  "You have to have real money involved in order to get the students to take it seriously," said Scott Hoover, adviser to the student investment club at Washington and Lee University. "If you can get the students to take it seriously, they can do wonders."

In the Gazette, reporter Jamie Ciavarra included a quote from Principal Darryl Williams:  "Any money the students make will go back to the school to fund additional programs, while the donor has agreed to absorb any losses."

It sounded almost too good to be true.   And in fact, it wasn't true, according to a letter obtained last week from MCPS Public Information Officer Dana Tofig.  The $25,000 "donation" never took place.  No investment profits have been contributed to the school.  The "real money" that was "needed to get the students take the program seriously" was as fictitious as the profits that were contributed to the school.  

Adding further insult to the integrity of the finance program at GHS, the electronic ticker board, the NASDAQ data board and other equipment obtained with the $75,000 NASDAQ grant have disappeared from the school.  

"No one knows what happened to it," said a GHS finance teacher at an onsite visit by a Parents' Coalition member. The only physical evidence that the NASDAQ-funded equipment ever existed are the screw holes in the wall where the large displays were mounted.  

As for evidence that the anonymous donation "never came to fruition" -- or even that there was an anonymous donor at all --  the Parents' Coalition has requested documentation showing that someone had planned to fund the trading account.   So far, however, MCPS has not come forth with anything, even with names redacted, that shows that anyone ever intended to create the stock trading fund.

(Photo of Superintendent Jerry Weast yucking it up on opening day is from The Gazette archives.)


   

MoCo Council Wants to Listen

Or so they say.

Join the fun tomorrow night, October 7, 2009 when the Montgomery County Council holds a town hall meeting concerning the Gaithersburg West Master Plan.

Will our schools and roads be able to handle the new development on the Belward Property?

Find out more.

http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/Apps/Council/PressRelease/PR_details.asp?PrID=5903


Montgomery County Council to Host Gaithersburg West/N. Potomac/ Darnestown Area Town Hall Meeting On Wednesday, Oct. 7

* Release ID: 09-131
* Release Date: 9/29/2009
* Contact: Neil H. Greenberger 240-777-7939 or Jean Arthur240-777-7934
* From: Council Office

Montgomery County Council to Host Gaithersburg West/N. Potomac/ Darnestown Area Town Hall Meeting On Wednesday, Oct. 7

Residents Invited to Express Their Views on Issues, Ask
Questions of Councilmembers at Universities at Shady Grove

ROCKVILLE, Md., September 29, 2009—The Montgomery County Council will continue its efforts to find out what issues most concern residents when it hosts a Town Hall Meeting for the Gaithersburg West/North Potomac/Darnestown area on Wednesday, Oct. 7. The meeting at the Universities at Shady Grove in Rockville will start at 8 p.m. A pre-meeting reception will begin at 7:30 p.m.

This will be the second Town Hall Meeting hosted by the Council in 2009. The Council is composed of President Phil Andrews, Vice President Roger Berliner and Councilmembers Marc Elrich, Valerie Ervin, Nancy Floreen, Mike Knapp, George Leventhal, Nancy Navarro and Duchy Trachtenberg. In 2008, the Council held Town Hall Meetings in downtown Silver Spring, Clarksburg, Bethesda and Burtonsville. Most meetings have attracted more than 200 residents.

The Universities at Shady Grove are located at 9630 Gudelsky Drive in Rockville. The Town Hall Meeting will be in Building No. 2.

The meeting will allow residents to let the Councilmembers know how they feel about specific issues and will allow them to ask questions of the Councilmembers in an organized, but informal, setting.

Topics expected to be of interest include the proposed Gaithersburg West Master Plan, the proposed Corridor Cities Transitway, schools, public safety, traffic, growth, the County budget, deer control and affordable housing and taxes.

“In many ways, our County is facing one of its most difficult periods in a very long time. We are all in this together and we want residents to tell us about their most important concerns as we approach making important decisions about growth in this area,” said Council President Andrews. “This Council has made a priority of having better direct communication with residents, and Town Hall Meetings have proven to be an excellent way to do just that. For the citizens, these meetings provide a forum where they can see their elected officials in a different format than a televised meeting or through a news release.”

The meeting will be taped for later broadcast on County Cable Montgomery (CCM—cable Channel 6 on Comcast and RCN, Channel 30 on Verizon). Susan Kenedy, a producer for the county station, will moderate the meeting.

For more information about the Town Hall Meeting or about the broadcast times, call 240-777-7931.

MCPS also stands for . . . Music Choral Programs Slashed

Another boutique program bites the dust - now its Music and Choral Programs Slashed by Dr. Weast and Co. Sorry, I just couldn't resist the irony.

Thanks to Kay Romero, MCCPTA President, and our activist friends in MCCPTA who are helping sort our the curricular fees issue, we now have insight into what curricular fees MCPS will request this September.

Big news - music and the arts have been slashed. No more fundraisers for oranges, cookies, magazines, concession stands, hot dogs, music videos, and the like because music festivals are now optional. Here is the language from the new MCPS Guidelines for curricular fees in high schools:

Please note the following for music students:

• A music festival is considered a field trip and students may be charged transportation and other associated fees but not in advance as a course fee.
• Students cannot be required to go to festivals.
• If a performance before an audience is needed to assess mastery, a concert should be held at the school.

What middle or high school music director wants to spend countless hours directing fundraisers for transportation to the county festivals? More class time for real instructional goals.

My kids middle school music director did not go willingly to the county festivals, now he can keep the kids home and only go to those festivals - Disney, Williamsburg, NY, etc, that he feels have greater benefit.

And - congrats to the high schools that can now tone down their fundraising efforts too. At least one high school that recently sent out a fundraising appeal because MCPS only provides $1000 of the $18,000 needed to run the program can now reassess its needs.

As many of us suspected all along, the value of these festivals was pretty negligible, after all, if participation had a true educational value, like the textbooks, MCPS would have found money in its budget to support participation by all students, not just the ones with the fatter checkbooks.