Parents Coalition Annual School Fees Survey

Did you think MoCo students are constitutionally guaranteed a free education?  

Wrong again. Even with a new school superintendent, Joshua Starr, at its helm, Montgomery County Board of Education continues to approve certain educational fees.

Just in time for back to school on Monday, August 29, here is the annual back to school fees list for high school students.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/61899730/2011MCPSHighSchoolFees

New this year?  A list of fees approved for middle school students will be posted separately.

So what is a parent or guardian to do?  Ask for a waiver.  You don't need to demonstrate need, just ask.  According to Brian Edward's cover letter in the attachment, no child is denied an educational opportunity because fees are not submitted.

And if you do pay the fees, do so as a donation to the school, not because you feel bullied by the school system.

2011MCPSHighSchoolFees

Civic Fed Program/Panel: Sustainability: Definitions and Implementation

Please join the Montgomery County Civic Federation monthly meeting for our program on Sustainability: Definitions and Implementation. Find out what the County is doing and what the Federal Government is doing, and ask questions of your county officials.
Paula Bienenfeld
Education Committee Chair, Montgomery County Civic Federation

Monday, September 12, 2011
7:45 p.m.
County Council Building - 1st Floor Auditorium
100 Maryland Avenue
Rockville, Maryland

For directions go here.

Speakers:

Jennifer Bitting, Environmental Engineer, Conservation and Energy Branch, Environmental and Energy Division, Customs and Border Protection, Department of Homeland Security

Doug Weisburger, Senior Planner, Sustainability Programs, Montgomery County Department of the Environment

Eric Caufman, Senior Planner, Montgomery County Dept. of the Environment

Councilmember Roger Berliner, Chair, County Council Committee on Transportation, Infrastructure, Energy and Environment

RIP - Brickyard Middle School

This is from our friends at the Brickyard Neighborhood Coalition.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/62989993/Brickyard-Legal-Notice-Flyer#

The property at issue was a formerly dedicated school site. The Board of Education leased the property back to the county, and the county is now planning on developing the property.

Past history with other long term leases of developed school sites has been that once the property is developed, the cost of reclaiming the property is prohibitive. Think Berman High School.

The BOE and the County could have tried some creative uses for this property - but no, we need soccer fields instead of classrooms.

If your child is in a portable or an overcrowded school, think of this property that the Montgomery County School System decided it no longer needed.

Do we get value for our education dollars?

Its not a question of spending money, but spending money wisely.

Are we getting a good return on our precious MoCo tax dollars?

Here is an interesting perspective from today's New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/08/23/spending-too-much-time-and-money-on-education/spending-on-k-12-education-triples-and-results-slide

from the article:

There is a total disconnect of student job expectations, college curriculums, and the realities of today’s labor market.

Something to ponder during the next round of budget discussions. 

Guest Post - Wheaton/Edison Modernization

Subject: response to request for comment on wheaton-edison modernization

 

This a short comment on behalf of parents from Edison High School of Technology in support of Option A in the modernization feasibility study as drafted by Grimm and Parker. The stated deadline for comments was "by Aug. 19." It is customary for comments to be permitted by the end of a business day, so I ask that these comments be added to the record.

 

In addition to supporting Option A, we secondarily we request that the cell tower be removed in response to health concerns and in support of an appeal by the Parents Coalition questioning both the safety of such towers and the legality of the BOE's lease decisions. In the feasibility drawings it is now placed next to classrooms. In a related matter, we urge careful and deliberate reconsideration of the artificial turf planned for Wheaton.

Thirdly, we request that Dr. Starr's recommendation be released as soon as possible, and, in the event he chooses to support the combined school option, that this item be removed from the BOE's Sept. 13 meeting and be placed for consideration on a future agenda.

This would give the community time to respond to such a decision, which would go against community consensus and the recommendation of the feasibility committee, which cited no reasons to support a one-school building over two. In fact, the report found cost savings and significantly less disruption in the two school model.

Finally, no modernization decision should be considered by the BOE until ALL the educational specifications have been finalized and shared with the schools and the community. We still have no information regarding Edison programs, class sizes and dimensions or student enrollment capacity.

 

Please be assured that the community strongly supports two separate schools and has spoken with a united voice on this issue for a year. Any dearth of comments now no doubt is due in part to summer vacations.

I want to personally thank you, Dennis, for your work with us thus far. Going forward, we pledge to work, as we have the past year, in cooperation with MCPS, Dr. Starr and the BOE, but do expect transparency, opportunities for engagement and meaningful input, in addition to a full, open and honest decision-making process and implementation of the project as it moves ahead.

Sincerely,

Theresa Defino

Edison Parent

Another Day, Another $52K to Wireless Generation

Math Challenge: How much taxpayer money has the Board of Education funnelled to Wireless Generation over the last several years?

Wednesday, the Board of Education will vote to fork over another $52,000.

Slow Learners at the Board of Education Continue to Violate the Open Meetings Act

Looks as if the folks at Carver are at it again.

Despite Dr. Starr's public statements that he doesn't want to be compared to his predecessor, Dr. Jerry Weast, his actions speak louder than his words.

Just look at Wednesday's Board of Education agenda. 

Dr. Starr, in his own words, requests that the Board of Education conduct its meeting in secret, behind closed doors.

All this, despite numerous opinions by the Maryland Open Meetings Compliance Board, that the Board of Education conducts too many of its meetings in secret.

Everyone knows MCPS and the Board of Education has a problem.   Apparently, everyone except for Dr. Starr.

What's on the agenda that shouldn't be kept secret?

Dr. Starr's transition plan. 

The Board's discussion of the Open Meeting Act.

What else?  This writer isn't sure, because once a meeting is in closed session, we don't know anything more than what is on the agenda.

If you would like to have these agenda items removed from the closed session of the meeting, you have several options before Wednesday's meeting:
1.   Contact the Board Office and tell them to stop hiding in closed session.
2.  Call the County Council
3.  Contact the Open Meetings Compliance Board. 


http://www.scribd.com/fullscreen/62781987?access_key=key-2ncysfwhbsqfduv8jy1q

Baltimore Sun: MCPS teacher chooses 37 minute commute from Howard County

Generally, we don't write about the home purchase and commuting decisions of individual teachers, but this was published in the Baltimore Sun, so we're just passing on this news.

Area high school teacher buys 5 BD, 3 BA home in Clarksville, Maryland

On July 12, Russell Scott Hamilton sold his home at 14140 Brighton Dam Road in Clarksville, MD, to Lahouaria Berrabah. Berrabah bought the home for $578,000.

Lahouaria Berrabah is a teacher at Clarksburg High School in Montgomery County.

14140 Brighton Dam Road sits on 3.1 acres and has 1,774 sq ft of living space. The ranch-style home features 5 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. The one-story home was built in 2000 and aso features a two-sided fireplace, wrap-around porch and an attached, 2-car garage.

14140 Brighton Dam Road is located in the Gosman Property subdivision, which is in Howard County.

According to Google Maps, Ms. Berrabah will have a 22 mile commute that will take at least 37 minutes each way.

WTOP Breaking News: Mont. Co. superintendent: School budget should be open

Montgomery Co. superintendent: School budget should be open

"Our books should be open, it's taxpayer dollars," Starr says.
"I have a sacred trust with the taxpayers of Montgomery County. We have absolutely nothing to hide."

Commentary on the MCPS Math Work Group Report

Here is my review of the Math Work Group Report from November 2010. It is cited as a rationale for the new one-size-fits-all math curriculum being uncorked in MCPS elementary schools starting this Fall. Those of you wondering about, or struggling with, the new math curriculum may find this interesting. Report content is in bold; my comments are not.

Alan Stewart

Memorandum:

"During the past decade MCPS' mathematics program has both evolved and been strengthened. Institutional barriers limiting opportunity for African American and Hispanic students have been dismantled and expectations for all students have been raised."

No one can tell me what those barriers were and when they were dismantled. I think MCPS would make BIG proclamations about this; I do not recall seeing that.

Written Curriculum Recommendations:

This whole document is an extreme example of logorrhea. Is someone getting paid by the word? Fire the people who wrote this.
Adopt the Common Core State Standards because, well, they are common, and they are core, and they are state standards, and they are way better than what MCPS has now – enough said.

Implemented Curriculum Recommendations:

"Support the improvement of mathematics teaching through the development and use of an instructional practices rubric that includes but is not limited to fidelity of curriculum implementation, equitable practices, inquiry-based instruction, mathematics discourse, metacognitive strategies, and differentiation."

Hahahahaha, what? Translation?

"Monitor implementation of MCPS Regulation IHB-RA, School Academic Grouping Practices, which establishes standards for ongoing and flexible grouping and regrouping of students to provide instruction differentiated to meet the needs of all learners."

IHB-RA does not discuss differentiated instruction; it mandates flexible readiness grouping, which reduces the variation in student readiness and decreases the need for broad differentiation. MCPS has repeatedly told advocates of readiness grouping that this policy permits flexibility at the school level; that is; the principal and local school community determine grouping practices at each school. This recommendation does not appear consistent with IHB-RA as written or practiced. Is there a hidden agenda here?

Assessed Curriculum Recommendations:

Only CCSS is new here; if assessments are aligned with CCSS, they should align fairly well with state assessments. Otherwise – nothing to see here, move along.

Mathematics Targets and Acceleration Recommendations:

"Guiding the recommendations below is the belief that the MCPS mathematics program should be challenging and rigorous for all students and should be taught to mastery."

Belief? What happened to a "research-based approach" based on "years of research and scholarly publication"? Seriously?
Okay, no hidden agenda here. MCPS should decrease readiness grouping and increase age grouping. Only students who are really, really (yes really) ready for above grade level math get to learn new stuff. This is a triumph of pure ideology over classroom grouping practices that have worked quite well for students and teachers over many years. You gotta believe.
Again, we see that MCPS must monitor placement decisions. Who monitors? What will they look for? Will they know it when they see it? What will they do about it?

Teacher Preparation and Development Recommendations:

Nothing new, nothing to see here, move along.

Conclusion:

We spent a lot of time and money on a wordy document that merely rehashes well-meaning concerns over unequal results and offers up the pre-ordained recommendations that MCPS continue to increase age grouping and decrease readiness grouping. These changes will leave significant numbers of students bored and unchallenged, as we know that differentiation does not work in classrooms composed of students with widely varying mathematical readiness. It will leave teachers frustrated and unhappy that their students cannot learn and practice math concepts for which they have demonstrated readiness.

MCEA Plans to Force County Gov'ts. to Apply for MOE Waivers

Last year the Montgomery County Council made a decision not to request a Maintenance of Effort waiver. This allowed the County to hit the 'reset' button on per-pupil spending. As a reminder, the MCPS is not a county agency. It is a 'quasi-state agency.' The response from MCEA is below, proposed by Bonnie Cullison, state delegate (D-MCEA):

From the Gazette:
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Montgomery lawmaker seeks to protect education funding
Counties might be required to seek waivers from per-pupil spending requirements
by Andrew Ujifusa and Erin Cunningham, Staff Writers

A state lawmaker from Montgomery County wants to force the government entities that fund schools to apply for waivers from education spending requirements.

Had such a law been in place this year, the Montgomery County Council would not have been able to reduce school system funding as much as it did a move that reduced the base from which future budgets will be derived.

Del. Bonnie Cullison (D-Dist. 19) of Aspen Hill expects to introduce legislation next year that could require counties to apply for a waiver from Maryland’s “maintenance of effort” law for education spending if certain economic conditions are met. Her bill also would set a floor for just how low per-pupil spending by a county could be, based on a new formula.

and:


The state’s maintenance of effort law requires counties to spend at least as much per pupil on public schools as they did the previous year, in order to qualify for increases in state education funding aid.

However, counties can apply for a waiver from that requirement with the state Board of Education if they think they cannot meet that per-pupil amount.

This year, the County Council chose not to seek a waiver and make cuts to Montgomery County Public Schools from maintenance of effort levels. This decision allowed the council to set a new and lower per-pupil spending level that it believes will be easier to meet next year.

Instead of spending $1.497 billion on the school system, the maintenance of effort level for fiscal 2012 based on enrollment, the council spent $1.37 billion. That decision has resulted in a $26.3 million penalty in lost state aid to the school system for fiscal 2013.

Read more at The Gazette, here.

Va ACT scores outpace national averages | The Associated Press | Nation | Washington Examiner

Va ACT scores outpace national averages | The Associated Press | Nation | Washington Examiner

Got a Question for the New Superintendent?

Patch is sitting down with Joshua Starr tomorrow, and we want to hear your questions.

Big MCPS Math News

Here comes the Pearson-MCPS curriculum!

Principal Math Letter EIC

Save Rock Creek Hills Park!: How much time would you have put into this decision?

Save Rock Creek Hills Park!: How much time would you have put into this decisio...: Yesterday, the Parents' Coalition for Montgomery County shared an April 20th email from Mr. Jeffrey Bourne, Chief of the Division of Faci...

MCPS and Vulnerable Families

A tragedy recently occurred in Kensington, Maryland. Local media reported that Margaret Jensvold, a psychiatrist, murdered her son Benjamin (who was reportedly diagnosed with Apersger's Syndrome) and then committed suicide. Dr. Jensvold's ex-husband told the Gazette:

Benjamin had complained he was picked on and bullied at Hoover Middle School, but Montgomery County Public Schools would not cover the expense of sending Benjamin to Ivymount, something Barnhard said could have led to Jensvold’s breakdown.
“She was frustrated and devastated by what was happening with the school system and the rejection of the assistance that she needed to get Ben into Ivymount,” he said. “She couldn’t bear to see him face the pain and the torture and the torment that he received [at Hoover].”

An article in the Washington Post contained a similar, sad story:

Bob Baum, who represented Jensvold in her divorce, said his client was constantly fighting with the public school system over her son’s education.

“She had just this list of horror stories about how they would have IEP meetings and they wouldn’t invite her. If she would come to a meeting, they wouldn’t let her talk,” Baum said. “There’s probably nothing more frustrating in her life than dealing with Montgomery County public schools.”

************************
This tragedy has hit way too close to home for many reasons. Fifteen years ago, I saw Dr. Jensvold, who helped me manage the post-traumatic stress of our own dispute and due process hearing with MCPS over our son's placement. Luckily, back in 1995, we prevailed, and our son with autism was subsequently enrolled at Ivymount School, where he spent the next 14 years. But the stresses back in 1995 didn't have anything to do with the fact that our son had autism: it was a direct result of shitty treatment by the MCPS administrators who had never laid eyes on our child.

Instead of helping us, MCPS threw obstacles in our path, denied information to us, denied listed IEP services to our son, lied to us, lied to the hearing examiner, and finally admitted that they "knew at the time when they didn't have staff that they would not be able to provide the services" that our child needed.

The hellish treatment that MCPS put our family through, and has put other families through for the past 15 years has been the direct cause of my determination to be an advocate for other families embroiled in the same nightmare, and played a large part in both my husband's and my decision to run for Board of Education. I have known and represented too many families that MCPS has pushed to the breaking point, and can say with first hand knowledge that some of those families have been irretrievably broken. Families of children with severe disabilities are vulnerable, and you can't predict how they will react if they are kicked when they are down. Our family reacted by fighting back. Unfortunately Dr. Jensvold reacted in a tragic, tragic way.

During my 15 years of advocacy for special education families, I would have to say that the overwhelming majority of folks working in special education are kind, caring, and want to do the right thing. But the decisions aren't always made by people in special education, or even people who have first-hand knowledge of the child. The MCPS budget director, for example, has on multiple occasions stated that he views special education litigation against families as a deterrent to keep other families from requesting what their children need. And certainly long-timers remember when MCPS's senior attorney went to a national conference and mocked Montgomery County special education children and families.

It only takes a few mean-spirited people, or people more interested in getting the next promotion up the MCPS ladder than in serving disabled children, to cause damage to families that will take years to heal. Unfortunately, this Kensington family won't get that chance. Dr. Jensvold was ultimately responsible for her own actions, but let's not deny the role that this family's disputes with MCPS may have played.

Teacher-union thugs - The Frederick News-Post Online

Teacher-union thugs - The Frederick News-Post Online

...One of the union's top priorities includes passing legislation to make it impossible for counties to spend less on education than in a year prior -- regardless of the number of students enrolled and the economy...

Gazette: Montgomery lawmaker seeks to protect education funding

Counties might be required to seek waivers from per-pupil spending requirements

by Andrew Ujifusa And Erin Cunningham, Staff Writers

A state lawmaker from Montgomery County wants to force the government entities that fund schools to apply for waivers from education spending requirements...article continues here.

MCPS Misleads Board of Ed and Public in Site Selection report

The Parents' Coalition has obtained an April 20, 2011 e-mail (see image below) from the Montgomery County Department of Recreation to Montgomery County Public Schools' Director of Long Range Planning that contradicts the composition of the BCC Site Selection Advisory Committee (SSAC) as described in the report that now appears on the MCPS website.

The e-mail is from the Chief of the Division of Facilities and Capital Programs for the Montgomery County Department of Recreation, Jeffrey Bourne. 


In the e-mail Mr. Bourne tells MCPS to remove his name and the name of his Department from the list of site selection committee participants. 


Did MCPS comply with his request?

The April 20, 2011 e-mail from Mr. Bourne was explicit about what was to be removed from BOTH the text and Exhibit B of the March 8, 2011 report (link goes to original March 8th report). The report was apparently changed AFTER March 8, 2011 to remove Mr. Bourne's name from Exhibit B's list of names of members of the site selection advisory committee, but the report was NOT changed to remove a reference to the Department of Recreation from the list of participating agencies in the text of the report (Page 1). 


The fact that a MCPS report with a date of March 8th was revised after March 8th without indicating the date of the revision (e.g. by an errata sheet) raises questions in itself. 


The fact that the explicitly requested revision wasn't made to the text of the report when a revision was made to Exhibit B raises even more questions.

Relevant excerpts from report and e-mail:

Page 2 of the report dated March 8, 2011 states:

"The SSAC for Bethesda-Chevy Chase Middle School #2 met on December 14, 2010 and on January 25, 2011."

The April 20, 2011 email from Jeffrey Bourne states:

"For the record, neither I nor the Department of Recreation were a member of any Site Selection Committee for any MCPS project nor did we participate in any evaluation of any sites related to BCC MS #2. ...Prior to publication of this report (or in case of publication) remove any reference to the Department of Recreation or my participation in any Site Selection Committee activities other than to indicate that I was present at the announcement meeting in January, 2011."

The April 20, 2011 email from Mr. Bourne notes that:

"...the text of the report indicates that the Department of Recreation was a participating agency in the site selection process. ...In Exhibit B it lists my name as a member of this same committee." 

Page 1 of the report dated March 8, 2011 currently posted on the MCPS website (August 16, 2011) states:

"The SSAC was comprised of staff from the Montgomery County Office of Management and Budget, the Montgomery County Department of Transportation, the Montgomery County Department of General Services, the Montgomery County Department of Recreation..."

However, Exhibit B of the report dated March 8, 2011 currently posted on the MCPS website does not list Mr. Bourne's name as a member of the Site Selection Advisory Committee.

No free public education at lawless Sherwood High School

Get ready to open your wallet when school begins if you're a Sherwood High School student (or parent). Illegal curricular fees are "required financial obligations to SHS", according to an announcement on the Sherwood web site.

For those who don't remember -- or who weren't here a couple of years ago -- the Attorney General of Maryland has repeatedly stated that curricular fees are illegal under the Maryland constitution.





Sherwood HS Class Dues Fees Doc

More information about illegal curricular fees can be found here.