ABC7 on Leggett and his Public School Land Grab

The land in question in this ABC7 news piece is PUBLIC SCHOOL LAND. It is not land up for grabs for hand off by politicians.  


This is not the first time that our county elected politicians have tried to move dedicated PUBLIC SCHOOL LAND to private entities for pennies.  


This is just another in a long line of attempts to hand off dedicated public school land to private interests for free or for a bargain basement price.  The County Executive's spokesperson failed to mention that in his comments to ABC7.  He also failed to mention public school children at all!  Dedicated public school land is for public school children for their educational needs.  


Public School Land is not for county politicians to play with, no matter where it is located in the county.  

Pearson's payment to MCPS reduced after trip to Australia

The Pearson-Weast Timeline has been updated to show that after Superintendent Jerry Weast took a Pearson Foundation sponsored trip to Australia, he returned to Montgomery County and quietly reduced the Pearson Education, Inc. contracted payment to MCPS by $3.25 million. 

Even Gazette didn't know Pearson deal had changed

In a previous post we released a document purported to be an "amendment" to the Board of Education-Pearson Education, Inc. contract of June 8, 2010.  That document showed that on November 4, 2010 the Pearson payment to MCPS had been cut from $4.5 million to $1.25 million.


But the beauty of doing things behind closed doors, without Board of Education approval, and without public disclosure is that no one ever realizes what is actually going on! Not even the media.


And so, on January 18, 2012, when the Gazette newspaper ran an article about Superintendent Jerry Weast taking a trip to Australia in the summer of 2010 courtesy of the Pearson Foundation, they repeated the $4.5 million payment figure as if it was fact. 


Now we know that after Superintendent Weast took the Pearson Foundation trip to Australia he came back and cut a new deal with Pearson Education, Inc. 

Exclusive: Weast cut $3.25 million from Pearson deal without Board vote

Why did Superintendent Weast do that? 
Because the cash was "no longer necessary". (See page Circle 5 of Council packet at link.)


Remember June 8, 2010 when the Montgomery County Board of Education voted to approve a surprise contract with Pearson Education, Inc. for the sale of MCPS curriculum?  That contract specified that Pearson would be paying $4.5 million in upfront curriculum development costs.  Remember how immediately after the Board voted to approve the Pearson contract they hired a whole team of high priced administrators to write the curriculum for Pearson Education, Inc.?


In May of 2011, this blog reported that it appeared that the terms of the Pearson deal had changed. We now have the documentation to show that the $4.5 million in development funds that were part of the June 8, 2010 contract were reduced to $1.25 million by Superintendent Jerry Weast on November 4, 2010.  


Below is the document that Superintendent Weast signed without a public Board of Education vote, that purports to "amend" the June 8, 2010 contract and reduce Pearson's development fund payment from $4.5 million to $1.25 million.  


Can a Superintendent simply "amend" a contract that has been approved by the Board of Education?  Where is the MCPS Press Release announcing this "exciting" change to the original contract? 


Didn't Superintendent Weast say that we needed the Pearson contract because "we are broke?" 


Here is the section of the Pearson-Montgomery County Board of Education contract that has been changed:

A. Contribution Toward Development Costs   

Subject to the Program Development Plan, Publisher shall contribute to the development costs by paying to MCPS the sum of $4,500,000 [$1,250,000]United States Dollars in the aggregate ("Development Funds"), and shall pay to MCPS, as the first installment of the Development Funds, the sum of $625,000 United States Dollars within thirty (30) days of the date hereof. The schedule of the payment of the remainder of the Development Funds shall be detailed in the Program Development Plan, and shall be payable in installments on a quarterly basis based on completion of specified milestones . As further detailed in the Program Development Plan, one-half of the aggregate Development Funds payable to MCPS shall be considered an advance on royalties (the "Advance") and recoupable by Publisher as set forth in Section 8E below.

Below is the letter from Superintendent Jerry Weast to the President of Pearson, Inc. purporting to reduce the Pearson payment to MCPS from $4.5 million to $1.25 million. 
Amended Pearson Contract

8 Civil Rights, Disability, Business, and Education Organizations Oppose House ESEA Proposal “The draft bill is not an update; it is a rollback” of ESEA

Washington, D.C. – Today, 38 organizations – representing a broad cross-section of civil rights, business, disability, and education organizations – publicly released a letter sent yesterday to House Education and Workforce Committee Chairman John Kline “firmly opposing” a proposal to rewrite Title I and other parts of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).  Many of these organizations also joined together in November 2011 in declining to support the Harkin-Enzi bill in the Senate.
The organizations oppose the draft Student Success Act because “it abandons accountability for the achievement and learning gains of subgroups of disadvantaged students who for generations have been harmed by low academic expectations. The draft also eliminates performance targets, removes parameters regarding the use of federal funds to help improve struggling schools, does not address key disparities in opportunity such as access to high-quality college preparatory curricula, restricts the federal government from protecting underprivileged students, and fails to advance the current movement toward college- and career-ready standards.”
The full letter and list of signers are below:
http://www.civilrights.org/press/2012/house-esea-proposal.html

ReelAbilities Film Festival Coming Up

A groundbreaking film festival presented for the first time in the Greater Washington area by the Washington DCJCC, JCC of Greater Washington and JCC of Northern Virginia

REELAbilities is dedicated to promoting awareness and appreciation of the lives, stories and artistic expressions of people with different disabilities from a variety of communities. Award-winning films are accompanied by discussion and other engaging programs, which bring together the community to explore, discuss and celebrate the diversity of our shared human experience.

Complete schedule, trailers and tickets here.

Update on Farquhar land 'swap' property

This past week I spoke with a staff member of the Montgomery County Planning Department to get an update on the Pulte property which may be the subject of the ‘land swap’ for construction of the new Farquhar Middle School. The Planning Department has received the plats for the development from the engineer for Pulte, the developers and owners of the property. Staff reviewed the plats and determined that the plats do comply with the Preliminary Plan and with the Site Plan. This is not a recordation of the plats; those have to be approved by the Director of the Department of Permitting Services (DPS). That process can take up to 3-4 weeks.

The Planning Board is scheduled to hear the staff report on Thursday, February 9th, 2012. The item is on the Consent Agenda, which means it will be part of a group of items the Planning Board will hear and vote on. Usually there is no discussion with Consent Agenda items.

The Planning Board agenda for February 9th is here. The staff report is also up on the Planning Board website, you can read it here.

Plastic Grass More Important Than Classrooms

Alcohol tax funds that were to benefit adults with developmental disabilities were diverted by the legislature to projects such as plastic football fields in Howard County.  

"I just want to make sure you that you all think that the two turf fields are priority projects … more important than classrooms," Franchot said.
Kopp noted that "others have wondered offhand about the turf fields."

School system gets final go-ahead for turf fields

Middle School Siting Could Pit MCPS Against Parks

Patch:  The two departments disagree on the use of open space.

Open Letter to Starr, County Council ED Committee

Dear Dr. Starr and Ms. Ervin:

At the County Council hearing on the OLO Autism report the other day, the conversation veered off into special education dispute resolution. Dr. Starr stated, repeating an earlier theme, that he doesn't want to hear anecdotes, but that he wants Data and Facts.

Unfortunately, the special education hearing decisions that are posted on the MSDE website are so heavily redacted (even school names are redacted) that it is impossible for advocates to know which schools and programs are even the subject of dispute.

Nevertheless, the current superintendent has responsiblity for the actions that have occurred since
he arrived on the scene in July. Dr. Starr's statement that there were "only" 120 dispute resolution requests last year doesn't include the 27 state complaints from FY 2011, which is the "poor man's" method of dispute resolution since MCPS embarked on its "scorched earth" special education dispute resolution
policy during the Weast years.

I look forward to the Council's upcoming discussion on special education dispute resolution. You may not realize that a budget review committee specifically looked at this issue many years ago, and found that MCPS utilized special education dispute resolution as a "cost containment" method. In addition, I will be happy to provide the Council with a copy of their "outside counsel" contract for special education legal services, which provides that outside counsel be paid $6,000 a day per day of litigation. Even in the Washington DC area, with its stable of high-priced lawyers, I do not know any other litigators that command $6,000 a day for working for a public, governmental entity.

Sincerely,

Lyda Astrove

QO Combines With 3 Schools to Form Unique Hockey Team

Patch:  Quince Orchard, Poolesville, Northwest, and Seneca Valley high schools combine to form the Northwest Hockey Club, a co-op team in the Maryland Scholastic Hockey League.

...“I think my first concern when I took over this team three years ago was [kids from] four schools that are in the same county but not necessarily know one another,” Slade said. “How are they going to gel? Are their school rivalries within the team?”
Luckily there have been no such issues, Slade said, but cohesion is a concern on a yearly basis.
What the coach hopes helps that issue is a fun and fair environment he creates for the team.
“Any person [from QO, Poolesville, Northwest, or Seneca Valley] that would like to play hockey can come out,” Slade said. “We take everyone, everyone plays regardless of skill.”
Among those players is a special needs student from QO, who Slade said “is very excited to play with us.”...

Why Starr Re-Started the BCC Middle School Site Selection

On November 2, 2011, Superintendent Joshua Starr recommended that the BCC Middle School Site Selection process be re-started. 


The Board of Education voted November 17, 2011 to accept Starr's recommendation. 


Therefore, on January 24, 2012, the Maryland State Board of Education declared the Appeal that had been filed concerning the BCC MS Site Selection process to be moot.


Case closed. Unfavorable opinion from State Board avoided.

Rock Creek Hills.or12-01

657 Homeless Students in Montgomery County

Thanks to The Baltimore Sun for investigating the number of homeless students in the state of Maryland and passing along the Montgomery County information to the Parents' Coalition.


In 2011, there were 657 students in Montgomery County that were classified as homeless.  


In 2005, there were 475 students in Montgomery County that were classified as homeless. 


In 2011, Montgomery County had the 6th highest number of homeless students in the state of Maryland out of 24 counties. At the top of the list was Prince George's County, then Baltimore City, Baltimore County, Wicomico County, Anne Arundel County and then Montgomery County.

State's student homeless population doubles

Baltimore Sun:  State's student homeless population doubles

...The largest increases in homeless populations are notable for where they are occurring: in the suburban rings around cities. Anne Arundel County has seen a 231 percent increase in homeless students since 2005, Baltimore County a 140 percent increase and Howard County a 150 percent increase. The increase in Baltimore City, which still has the largest number of homeless students, was 75 percent...

State wants to curb student suspensions

State wants to curb student suspensions

...The board wants to "get everybody to focus on the fact that this is part of our educational mission" and that "we are clear that every kid counts," DeGraffenreidt said. 

In addition to reducing suspensions, the board is proposing to eliminate expulsions except in the case of students who have a firearm.
Eight percent of students in the state were suspended last school year, DeGraffenreidt said, and half the suspensions were for nonviolent offenses, such as disrespect or defacing school property. Minority and special education students are far more likely to be suspended than their peers. Board members believe there is a link between the high suspension rate for those groups and low achievement.
"In disproportionate numbers, the very students who are lagging behind are those who are being suspended," DeGraffenreidt said...

ED Committee Reviews OLO Autism Report

GAZETTE: Tuesday January 24, 2012 by Andrew Ujifusa, Staff Writer

"As the number of Montgomery students diagnosed with autism has increased by more than sixfold over the past decade, educators are grappling with the best ways to teach them and satisfy concerned parents.

Special education officials reported successes in educating the roughly 1,650 students on the autism spectrum last year, but admitted to the Montgomery County Council’s Education Committee on Monday that the way principals and teachers work with those students and their parents varies among schools, a problem that needed to be corrected.

A Westbrook Elementary School parent who addressed the committee, Julie Reiley, said she had encountered “great providers” for her child with autism, but also said she did not think schools consistently collaborated with parents in a positive way, and that the services originally promised in special education meetings were not always delivered, at least initially.

“Parents too often don’t feel like they’re being heard,” Reiley said."

To read the complete Gazette article, click HERE.

Last Spring's Shell Game (or: Hiding Dollars from the County Council)

Finding 4: Council staff was not provided updated information regarding projected health benefit costs at the time the final Council decision on the MCPS appropriation was made.
Up to date information related to the estimated costs of health benefits was important to the BOE's and the Council's decisions regarding the funding required for the MCPS contribution for employee health benefits. We determined that, at the time Council made its decision regarding appropriations for MCPS, the Council staff had only the operating budget request documents explained above and the Monthly Financial Reports available for analysis. Information regarding the downwardly revised estimates of health benefits costs could not have been gleaned from the Monthly Financial Reports and was not available in any other document provided to Council staff prior to the time information was presented to the Council Education Committee for review and consideration or prior to May 26, 2011, when the Council voted on the MCPS appropriation.

Page 13, OIG report

Patch: A Fascinating Summary of MCPS Failures

For more than a decade now, Montgomery County Public Schools has issued a "Call to Action" annual report. The report origins go back to the early years of Superintendent Jerry Weast, who retired last year...

 Article continues at link:  http://rockville.patch.com/blog_posts/a-fascinating-summary-of-mcps-failures

Surprise! There's a cell tower in your backyard.

How do cell phone towers (telecommunications transmission facilities) spring up in Montgomery County without any notification to neighbors?  
This topic was the subject of the January 9, 2012, Montgomery County Civic Federation meeting.  
Below is the video of the presentation by the panel.  The three presenters were:


Dan Abeyta, FCC Assistant Chief
Susan Present, Citizen and Community Organizer, Hillandale, Silver Spring
Bob Hunnicutt, Tower Coordinator, Columbia Telecommunications (Consultant for Montgomery County)

2012 Montomgery County, MD - Wireless Facilities Process by Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland on Scribd

Durso: "...perception...is that we do a lot in secret..."

“I think sometimes the perception of the larger community out there is that we do a lot in secret or that we’re just waiting around to pounce on any ballparks we can take,” he said. “And that’s simply not true.”

Gazette:  Montgomery school system may offer groups more input on where to build