Mike Rowe: Lack of shop classes is why we’re $1.6T in student debt

"Dirty Jobs" host Mike Rowe told FOX Business' Stuart Varney students continue to choose the expensive career path when there’s excessive demand for blue-collar workers. According to Rowe, there are currently millions of jobs out there that do not require a college degree...

https://www.wdrb.com/news/national/mike-rowe-lack-of-shop-classes-is-why-we-re/article_aad28c1e-0226-11ea-9da4-970d2e87a9b6.html?fbclid=IwAR1L52Z0XWPAQiDPoakGkgSzzgwLFbgcencqZku0ztMf69epIrmWQzSSpVo

Guest Post: Superintendent's plan to bus FARMS students away from Seneca Valley's Vocational Programs

Upcounty MCPS parent comments:

The soon to be completed Seneca Valley High School expansion will have a fantastic array of Career and Technical Education programs which include automotive technology, health professions, child development, construction, cyber technology, hospitality and law enforcement.

These programs are the exact type of educational program which could benefit many FARMS students.

But in his Upcounty Boundary Study recommendation, the Superintendent is proposing to send FARMS students who live near Seneca Valley High School to Clarksburg High School. The Superintendent's plan sends FARMS students from Fox Chapel ES and Captain Daly ES to Clarksburg High School.

The question is why? The answer is FARMS rates. The Superintendent and Board of Education now have a singular focus on decreasing disparities in FARMS rates between schools. As the Superintendent stated in his report:

“ My goals in developing my recommendation were to minimize the FARMS disparities at both the high school and middle school levels.”

The answer may be, their goal is as much ideological as educational: to break up what they see as privileged schools, even though many of these schools are racially diverse, such as Rocky Hill Middle School.

…. [former Board of Education member] Jill Ortman-Fouse.....criticized the idea that "when you buy a house, you buy a school. ..." Jeannette Dixon added that "an easy commute to school" should not be a criteria for school assignment.

Board member Judith Docca explicitly called out the "W school" clusters, and said that busing of students must include those students from more affluent families....

Improving academic performance among students at high FARMS rates schools is an important objective, and the Board of Education is correct to be concerned about this issue.

The problem is how the Board of Education is going about trying to address this problem, the possible unintended consequences of their actions, and the complete lack of public hearings on their plan to decrease disparities in FARMS rates.

The Superintendent's boundary plan will not only harm FARMS students, it will also harm the Clarksburg students he wants to bus out of their community, and the five elementary schools he wants to split articulate to different middle and high schools.

After decades of pushing bachelor’s degrees, U.S. needs more tradespeople

Maybe the Montgomery County Board of Education should stop charging students class fees to attend Edison High School? 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

All throughout high school, they made it sound like going to college was our only option.” Derrick Roberson, who is training to become an electrician

FONTANA, Calif. — At a steel factory dwarfed by the adjacent Auto Club Speedway, Fernando Esparza is working toward his next promotion.

Esparza is a 46-year-old mechanic for Evolution Fresh, a subsidiary of Starbucks that makes juices and smoothies. He’s taking a class in industrial computing taught by a community college at a local manufacturing plant in the hope it will bump up his wages.

It’s a pretty safe bet. The skills being taught here are in high demand. That’s in part because so much effort has been put into encouraging high school graduates to go to college for academic degrees rather than for training in industrial and other trades that many fields like his face worker shortages.

Now California is spending $6 million on a campaign to revive the reputation of vocational education, and $200 million to improve the delivery of it...

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/education/decades-pushing-bachelors-degrees-u-s-needs-tradespeople?fbclid=IwAR3I1vV82x6Ms9HQe88bPc9G_ieQS7wvtKcixFH9SAsGV3MXIe0bCkCw32k

'Signing Day' recognizes high school seniors starting jobs, not college

The familiar high school rituals take place every spring. Athletes sign letters of intent to play for college programs as their coaches beam with pride, the photographs splashed across social media. Other high school seniors wave college acceptance letters as their names are announced at school assemblies.

But one school system in Virginia wanted to celebrate a different life-changing moment for the seniors who were starting careers right after graduation. In Henrico County, public school administrators held a ceremony in late March called "Career and Technical Letter-of-Intent Signing Day."

"This is a celebration of students who are entering the workforce or post-secondary training with a plan," said Mac Beaton, director of Henrico Schools’ Department of Career and Technical Education, in a Facebook post. "They’ve chosen to maximize their high school opportunities for career training and industry certifications, with an eye on becoming successful and financially secure much earlier in life."..

https://www.mnn.com/money/green-workplace/stories/signing-day-recognizes-high-school-seniors-starting-jobs-not-college?fbclid=IwAR3pGr4dg38F3id7nShBY-qrHyx-OaitmzVo7NpTGiR5_SR8a13Cx2N4FNg

Brookeville, Maryland (CNN)As a special education teacher, Richard Bienvenue worked with many troubled teenage boys.

  Is this the solution to 'throwaway kids'?

Brookeville, Maryland (CNN)As a special education teacher, Richard Bienvenue worked with many troubled teenage boys. For years, he observed the toll their surroundings took on them.

"The kids in my classes were from some pretty horrendous situations: dysfunction at homes, foster care, and abuse," said Bienvenue, who taught carpentry classes. "The tears you would see, the anguish they would go through, I saw a real need."

For more than two decades, Bienvenue has been helping struggling young men rebuild their lives. And he's using some unlikely tools: hammers and nails...

 

Examiner: Report: Montgomery County schools fail to track results of programs for at-risk students

Montgomery County school officials aren't evaluating whether their $25.7 million alternative-education programs for at-risk students actually help students graduate from high school or go to college, according to a report from the county's Office of Legislative Oversight.The school system is also excluding the students from career and technical education programs, even though they would benefit from these options the most, the report says.On Monday, the County Council's Education Committee plans to meet with staff from Montgomery County Public Schools and Montgomery College, along with other county officials to hash out these gaps...

 http://washingtonexaminer.com/local/education/2012/03/report-montgomery-county-schools-fail-track-results-programs-risk-students

MontCo needs more 'technical education,' says commission | Rachel Baye | Capital Land | Washington Examiner

MontCo needs more 'technical education,' says commission | Rachel Baye | Capital Land | Washington Examiner

Some Montgomery County youth say the county school system should offer more opportunities for "Career and Technology Education" and needs to advertise existing programs so people know they exist.
The youth — seven high-school and college students who sit on the county’s Commission on Children and Youth — inspired the commission to send a letter with the recommendations to Board of Education President Christopher Barclay and Superintendent Joshua Starr, according to commission Chair Vicki Stearn.
Non-college bound high-school students are often overlooked, explained Stearn. Programs that do offer opportunities for technical education — like that at Thomas Edison High School — are not well advertised.
“The young people felt most strongly about the marketing and advertising piece," said Stearn, explaining that the students said they didn't know technical-education programs existed despite having just come out of the school system...

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/education/2011/07/montco-needs-more-technical-education-says-commission#ixzz1RSl7XDWI

Weast: Current Edison High School Not Sustainable

Edison - Wheaton February 10, 2011

Edison HS Community & Staff: "We unequivocally reject the MCPS supplied-evaluation form because to use it would add a veneer of respectability that this Roundtable process in no way deserves."

Jan. 26, 2011 

To: Jerry Weast, superintendent and the Board of Education

From: Theresa Defino, Edison High School representative and parent 

I am writing as a member of the Edison-Wheaton Roundtable AdvisoryCommittee and conveying the opinions of Edison's community and staff.This document will substitute for the evaluation form and should beattached unaltered to the Roundtable Advisory Committee report.
We unequivocally reject the MCPS supplied-evaluation form because to use it would add a veneer of respectability that this Roundtable process in no way deserves.

The parents of Edison students are strongly opposed to all the approaches included in the Roundtable Report with the exception of Approach 1 A or 1C, which both call for Edison to be in a separate building and operate as a county-wide school that accepts students for half-day programs regardless of where they live. We also unconditionally support the addition of a magnet or other signature program to Wheaton that will address its needs.The missions of the two schools are differ significantly and to combine them would make it impossible for either to be successful...

edisonroundtableresponse

Edison HS: "Almost no participation from business community"

The Executive Director of the Independent Electrical Contractors (IEC) Chesapeake speaks out about MCPS' "round table" process for determining the fate of the Edison High School programs.  

...As the executive director of the Independent Electrical Contractors (IEC) Chesapeake, I know first hand the importance of continuously having a pool of trained and skilled electricians. Maryland’s electricians are aging and with the emergence of new energy sources such as solar and wind, Maryland must have schools like Edison to produce highly skilled electricians...

...I must express my disappointment with the meeting held on January 20, 2011 by the Edison High School of Technology and Wheaton High School Advisory Committee. Three members of IEC Chesapeake attended the meeting. The cumbersome process of writing down questions to be read by staff of Montgomery County Public Schools prevented a vigorous exchange of ideas. 

Another concern about this process was I would have been willing to participate throughout the process.  It seems as if there was almost no participation from the business community. It is the business community which employs individuals who receive their skills from schools like Edison...

IEC_Edison_Wheaton_Roundtable_ltr_012511

Site Options for Wheaton High School and Edison High School

Here is the informational packet for the Round table discussions on Wheaton High School and Edison High School future plans. The Informational Meeting to discuss these Options is January 11, 2011.

Meeting #3 Information-1

Gazette: Public meeting on fate of Wheaton, Thomas Edison high schools set for Jan. 11

So far, roundtable has discussed ways of merging two Montgomery County facilities

by Andrew Ujifusa | Staff Writer

The future of Wheaton High School and the Thomas Edison High School of Technology in Silver Spring will be discussed Tuesday night at a public meeting.

The agenda will include various approaches to integrating or combining the two schools, as developed by the Roundtable Advisory Committee for Montgomery County Public Schools assigned to study the issue. A presentation will be made, and the audience can ask questions...continues here.

UPDATE ON EDISON-WHEATON ROUNDTABLE, IMPT. MEETING TUESDAY

Flyer Wheaton Edison PIM


MCPS will hold its one and only informational meeting NEXT TUESDAY, January 11, 2011 from 7--9 p.m. at Wheaton High School, to discuss the fate of Thomas Edison High School of Technology and Wheaton and different "approaches" that "define the relationship" between them.

This is only opportunity to hear about possible "approaches" to combining the schools or keeping them separate. The purpose of the meeting is to gather community feedback, which will be incorporated into the a report given to the superintendent. The deadline for feedback is January 12, 2011.

According to MCPS, the approaches were developed by members of a Roundtable, which has met three times. The Roundtable has been criticized as being powerless and not representing all stakeholders. Parents and schools representatives from the entire county are not included, even though Edison is a county-wide school and its only career vocational school.

Please note that Edison ceases to exist except under approaches 1 & 2 and that many Roundtable members do not recall discussing making Wheaton into a "high-tech high school," yet it is presented as an approach the group "developed."

A "high-tech high school" is what MCPS was planning to do had it received a federal grant and what many Roundtable members believe will ultimately be the superintendent's recommendation.

The Roundtable report will not contain any recommendations; members are not allowed to vote on anything and the process was not designed to reach any consensus. It is simply a way for MCPS to say it sought community input.

Other dates are as follows:
1/18/11--Final roundtable meeting
1/22/11-- Roundtable advisory group report sent to superintendent and Board of Education
2/8/11 -- Superintendent makes recommendation to BOE for action
2/28/11 -- BOE holds work session to discuss superintendent recommendation
3/15/11 -- BOE public hearing
3/28/11 -- BOE action

Submitted by GUEST.

"Thomas Edison High School is a Jewel"

Public Comment presented to the MCPS Board of Education on November 11, 2010.

Good evening. I am Theresa Defino and I am here as a parent of two MCPS students, boy-girl twins actually. Both attend Richard Montgomery High School, and my son also attends Thomas Edison High School where he is currently learning about brake jobs in the morning auto-tech program before heading back to his home school. My oldest daughter graduated from RM in 2007 and is a senior at the Art Institute of Chicago. I thank you for holding this hearing and for giving me the opportunity to speak.

I'm here to talk about Thomas Edison, but before I do I want to briefly add my support for a proposed elementary school in Rockville. The severe overcrowding, particularly at Beall Elementary is not only affecting the current students, but the lack of capacity for future students has meant a halt to Beall's Grant II, an affordable housing development planned for the Beall Elementary area that many of us fought for years to see built. So thank you for investigating a new school.

Now, as I said, I'm here for Thomas Edison High School. We do not yet have a PTSA--we're working on that--but I'm sort of the stand-in secretary. I have a lot to say, and not a lot of time, so I apologize if I run long.

So I'll tell you our bottom line right away: We want Thomas Edison to continue as the county's dedicated career and technology education school, serving, as it does now, all MCPS students regardless of where they live and what home school they attend.

As I am sure you recall, MCSP applied for a federal grant that would have merged or consolidated Wheaton with Edison.

Among the many problems with the grant were that it was developed basically in secret with no input from Edison parents or staff and did not reflect current programs, and we all breathed a sigh of relief a when the grant was not received.

But now, we again have no idea what is going to happen with Edison because there is another mystery. In early 2009, MCPS staff established the Edison Programs/Facilities Project Team, which had a clear mission, deliverables and a time table. The team was to deal ONLY with Edison's current programs, and future needs, and it had many months to complete its work. Its charge was to "determine workforce demands, best practices, and student interests to revise or develop innovative Career Pathway Programs that attract students, especially those from underrepresented populations, and lead to credentials and high-wage careers in high-demand fields. The project team will identify changes to the high school educational specifications to reflect new or updated programs." 

Membership included representatives from Edison parents, teachers and staff, community business leaders and officials from Montgomery College. This Project Team's existence is briefly described in your CIP materials in Chapt. 4, under "other programs."

Yet after only a few months work, MCPS abruptly halted that team, which by that point had not produced any recommendations. It has never met since. What appears to have taken its place is a 35 to 50-person roundtable, of which I am a member, whose charge is to discuss the "relationship between Edison and Wheaton"--as if a merger like that envisioned in the grant is the very foundation for our work.

But where are the data to show that a merger would benefit, rather than harm, Edison? When did we have that discussion?

Working with an MCPS-paid facilitator, we are supposed to come up with "approaches" but no recommendations, and a summary of our work will go to Dr. Weast--but not to you. You will receive only his recommendation.

We roundtable members had our first of five, two-hour meetings Tuesday night. Remember we are addressing TWO schools. Let me emphasize the timeframe--we have 10 hours to complete all our work--even less, really, because our "approaches" are due at our next meeting-- compared to many months allotted to the now-dead Project Team.

By the way, to follow along with what we are supposed to be doing, you should request a copy of the binder we received. It lays out our charge and an extremely aggressive timeline.

We believe things are happening all out of order--or not happening at all. Architects have already been hired for a feasibility study, yet there are no educational specifications--and we have no idea who is going to develop those. That is not part of the nebulous charge of the powerless roundtable--which, as I've said, cannot even make recommendations. Will the building match the programs? Who knows?

Thomas Edison is a jewel. It is unique. For 27 year years it has educated thousands of MCPS students who have gone on to successful careers and onto college. In the 2009 school year alone, Thomas Edison students earned a total of 545 articulated college credits to Montgomery College -- at $171 per credit that comes out to about $93,195 in college tuition saved by attending this "under-enrolled" school. It also serves a large minority and special needs population as well.

We want to see Thomas Edison modernized. We want to see programs that reflect current needs and evolve to meet future needs, and a building that adapts as needs change. So please don't take it off the CIP but put aside this roundtable process and consider reconstituting the Project Team to review Edison ALONE.

And give parents, students and staff a real role in shaping its future.

Thank you.

Theresa Defino

MCPS Parent

Montgomery tries to 'desegregate' poor schools with magnets | Washington Examiner

Montgomery tries to 'desegregate' poor schools with magnets | Washington Examiner

A Montgomery County deputy superintendent told parents that its plan to turn poor-performing schools into magnet schools was drafted specifically to draw affluent, white students.

"The purpose of the grant is to attract white students, or higher socioeconomic students, into schools with high minority enrollment," Eric Lang, associate superintendent for curriculum and instruction, said at a meeting of the public school system's Special Education Advisory Committee.

Read more at the Washington Examiner.

Video: Council & Board at Lunch!

The following topics were covered by the Montgomery County Council and the Board of Education at their catered lunch on Tuesday, September 21, 2010. (Please turn up the volume so that you can hear over the shuffling of papers and consumption of food. This video was made by a member of the public attending this meeting. The Council and Board do not record this event and do not produce transcripts of this meeting.)

1. Opening of Schools at minute 1:00

2. Edison High School Plans 7:50

3. Fiscal Plan for County 30:30

4. State Pension Plans

5. Superintendent Search 1:02:06

6. Race to the Top (MCPS giving up $12 million in funding)  1:03:34


Please let the video load. There seems to be a little hesitation in the first few minutes, but then the video plays correctly. 



Montgomery County Council - Board of Education Lunch September 21, 2010 from WSB on Vimeo.

III. Highlights from the Grant Application, continued

Page 3:

"The full cost of implementing this project will be $3.3 million, excluding the capital investments that will be made to renovate and re-equip Wheaton High School in Fiscal Year (FY) 2013. MCPS will need approximately $3.3 million over the next 36 months to cover the costs of necessary equipment and materials, professional development, and supplies."

page 10-11:

"The decrease in overall enrollment and the increase in special education students with severe disabilities, ESOL students, and students performing at the basic level have required the schools to: offer more academic supports and changes to the academic schedule; reduce the number of sections of each course offered; and change the ways in which classroom spaces are used. To repurpose classroom space from high-end classes to support remedial classes, for example, a networking computer classroom had to be converted into an ESOL classroom. Classes formerly used for AP classes had to be turned into Special Education Life Skills classrooms and READ 180 classrooms."

*****************
As a special education advocate, I deeply resent the justification for the grant that MCPS is offering here: that students with disabilities who need the Fundamental Life Skills curriculum are somehow at fault for "taking up space" that would be otherwise used by AP students.