Guilty - MCPS Teacher Pleads to Porn Charge - Won't "See Streets" Says Prosecutor

Today, in Baltimore County Circuit Court, MCPS music teacher Lawrence Joynes pleaded guilty to one count of child pornography.  The plea deal allowed Mr. Joynes to be sentenced today to time served.  Mr. Joynes will also be required to register as a sex offender.  That registration will be in place for 15 years, unless Mr. Joynes seeks to have that time reduced to 10 years.

Mr. Joynes has been held in the Baltimore County jail on $1 million bond since his arrest in February of 2013.

Immediately following the Baltimore County Circuit Court proceeding, Mr. Joynes was handcuffed and shackled and taken out of the courtroom by deputies for transport to Montgomery County for processing on additional charges stemming from allegations of interactions with MCPS students.

The Parents' Coalition previously obtained a copy of the Baltimore County charges.  Those charges can be viewed at this link.

Forum on Public Education - Feb 12th - 7 PM

Montgomery County Executive

Candidates Forum on

Public Education

Wednesday February 12, 2014

7:00 – 8:30 pm

Richard Montgomery High School

Rockville Maryland

Questions will be presented by

a panel of student journalists and MCPS educators.

Feds urged to better track sex abuse in schools

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/feds-urged-to-better-track-sex-abuse-in-schools/2014/01/30/f4f93c78-896b-11e3-a760-a86415d0944d_story.html

Education Official Argues Against Maryland School Assessment Cancellation « CBS DC

Education Official Argues Against Maryland School Assessment Cancellation « CBS DC

MCPS teachers blame students

Many Montgomery County teachers blame student study habits for the high failure rates on math exams, according to a survey that also revealed educators’ concerns about grading policies that make it possible to fail a final exam but still pass a course.
As county schools officials continue to delve into the causes of students failing some math finals at a rate of more than 50 percent, teachers say that many students choose to skimp on exam preparation and don’t know how to prepare for a test that covers material that spans several months...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/many-teachers-blame-students-study-habits-for-montgomery-county-math-failures/2014/02/05/7151419c-7f82-11e3-9556-4a4bf7bcbd84_story.html?wprss=rss_education

Watkins Mill HS gets bill in Annapolis to fund stadium renovation

Typically, the Board of Education takes care of BOE property through the MCPS Capital Budget.  But, this year we see Delegates and Senators proposing legislation to specifically fund the renovation of one particular high school stadium.
What does this mean?  Does it mean that if the BOE doesn't take care of school property the State legislature will step in to fund renovations outside of the MCPS Capital Budget?  Are there any more of these bills in Annapolis? 

  2014 Watkins Mill High School Bond Bill by Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland

MC Inspector General Gets It Wrong. Competitive Bids Do Lower Cost.

Here's what the Montgomery County Inspector General said in his Report on MCPS' no bid purchase of 4,600 Promethean Boards:

"We found no evidence to indicate that MCPS might have been able to obtain better pricing by using a different contract vehicle and conducting a secondary competition."

Too bad the IG didn't look to other Maryland public school systems.  If he had he would have found that competitive bids on interactive white board purchases do lower costs.

• St. Mary's County Public Schools was able to reduce their cost and save $33,000 through a competitive bidding process for interactive white boards.

• Cecil County Public Schools found that competitive bids lowered their per unit cost by $312 per set.  If MCPS could have saved just $312 per Promethean board set that would have saved $1,435,200 in MCPS Capital Budget funds.

  Cecil County Smart Boards Memo by Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland

Cecil County Public Schools - Board of Education minutes:

Bids
Interactive White Boards – Award Change
During their November 10, 2008, meeting the Board accepted a bid to buy approximately 100 SMART Boards. Mr. Shaffer explained that once a bid is accepted, the scope of the purpose is reviewed with the vendor. It was identified that the vendor who was awarded the bid on November 10 misunderstood the scope of the project. ...
.... Upon the recommendation of the Superintendent, Mr. Piner made a motion that was seconded by Ms. Kammerer and the Board of Education unanimously agreed to withdraw the award for the SMART Technologies Interactive White Boards from Advanced Computer Concepts and change the award to AVI-SPL of Lanham, Maryland for a unit cost of $1,703 and in the total amount of $170,300. (Mr. Pearson voted in the affirmative.)
...
Respectfully Submitted,
Henry A. Shaffer
Interim Superintendent of Schools
Secretary

Public Discussion of MCPS Operating Budget - Feb 5th at 7 PM

Join us for an open, public discussion of the MCPS Operating Budget for FY 2015 on Wednesday, Feburary 5, 2014 at the Rockville Memorial Library. 

If you can, please volunteer to lead the discussion of one budget chapter. To volunteer sign up here for the Second Annual Budgetpalooza! 

DATE: 2/5/2014 (Wed 7:00PM - 9:00PM)

LOCATION: Rockville Memorial Library

Suggestion for analysis:

A suggestion for the analysis of each chapter: devise a format that could be used by all presenters, e.g.,

-  FY 2015 proposed FTEs and dollars
-  Personnel compensation $ and all other $
-  FY 2014 actual FTEs and dollars (or trends for last 5 years)
-  Explanation of increases/decreases
-  Performance measures (if any)
-  Highlight any major concerns
Possible comparison with Fairfax County schools budget.

Additional Notes;

This year we will have a projector that can accept thumb drives.

Proposed FY15 Budget is here: http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/budget/FY2015/superintendent/
Scroll down for individual chapters.


Appendix A: 2014-2015 Operational Calendar

Appendix B:

Administrative & Supervisory Salary Schedule

Business and Operations Administrators Salary Schedule

Teacher and Other Professional Salary Schedule
Supporting Services Hourly Rate Schedule

Appendix C: State Budget Category Summaries (Categories 1-81)

Appendix D: K-12 Budget Staffing Guidelines

Appendix E: Special Education Staffing Plan and Budget Guidelines

Appendix F: Non-Operating Budget Positions

Appendix G: Reconciliation of Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) and Operating Budget for FY 2013 Actual Expenditures

Thanks all!  See you Wednesday!

Revised Operating Budget Answers from MCPS to the Board of Education

Previously, we posted a searchable copy of MCPS Budget Questions and Answers that were supplied to the Board of Education on January 23, 2014.

That document was Revised by MCPS staff and a new Q&A document was made public.  We have converted that document into a searchable PDF for your convenience.

Here's the Revised Questions and Answers from MCPS as supplied to the Board of Education on January 24, 1014.

  Budget Answers 012414_df by Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland

New Hampshire Estates Elem. School Teacher Trial

Lawrence Joynes

This hearing will take place in Baltimore County.  This is the first of 3 upcoming trials involving this MCPS elementary school music teacher.

Event Type:	Plea HearingNotice Date:
Event Date:	02/06/2014Event Time:02:00 PM
Result:	Result Date:

---

Charge and Disposition Information

(Each Charge is listed separately. The disposition is listed below the Charge)

Charge No:

1CJIS Code:1 1756Statute Code:CR.11.208

Charge Description:

Possess Child Pornography

Offense Date From:	02/27/2013To:
Arrest Tracking No:	11-0001-19765-5Citation:
Charge Amend No:	0Sentence Version:0Charge Class:M

Disposition

Plea:	Plea Date:
Disposition:	Disposition Date:

Montgomery student disciplinary decisions to include more discretion

Montgomery County school administrators will be able to use their discretion when it comes to deciding appropriate disciplinary action against students involved in major offenses after the state school board’s adoption Tuesday of new regulations.
In addition, the regulations call long-term suspensions and expulsions as “last resort options,” and outline the actions required of schools to help suspended students receive certain services, according to the state board’s proposed regulation.
Montgomery County Public Schools — along with other Maryland school districts — have until the beginning of next school year to update their policies...

 http://www.gazette.net/article/20140131/NEWS/140209999/1144/montgomery-student-disciplinary-decisions-to-include-more-discretion&template=gazette

"a way to marginalize a ton of kids" .@mcpssuper

This quote is also from The Washington Post article and worthy of it's own blog posting.

...But Barbara Marinak, an associate professor of education at Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, Md., who studies student motivation, questioned the celebration.
“You’re creating a caste system that could easily result in bullying and victimization, which is what we’re trying to prevent, especially in middle school,” Marinak said. She added, “We’ve got 30 years of research that says extrinsic rewards do little to nothing to nurture any kind of intrinsic motivation.”
The best motivators for students are relationships with teachers, leaders, peers and mentors, Marinak said. An event such as the Eastern dance is “a way to marginalize a ton of kids,” she said...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/top-grades-open-the-door-to-school-dance-in-montgomery/2014/02/03/3bb75640-89df-11e3-916e-e01534b1e132_story.html 

MCPS Student with Learning Disabilities Excluded from School Dance .@mcpssuper Please Explain!

Students who earned straight A’s at Eastern Middle School in Silver Spring have been invited to a school dance Tuesday, a celebration that starts during the final period of the school day and includes a DJ, free pizza and a game room.
Students with B’s and C’s may join in later, when classes are over and pizza is no longer served. Students with lower grades are not invited at all.

Eastern’s “Academic Achieve­ment Celebration” is not an entirely new idea in education: Schools commonly reward student success. But the idea of a middle-school party that sets students apart by letter grades — leaving out 306 of the school’s 865 students, or 35 percent of the student body — has raised questions at Eastern and beyond...

...“The students that don’t get to go end up feeling bad,” said parent Karen Hanlon, whose daughter has learning disabilities and was not invited to the party. Hanlon said the dance “separates the students into groups” in a school already divided between a highly competitive magnet program and the students who come from the immediate neighborhood...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/top-grades-open-the-door-to-school-dance-in-montgomery/2014/02/03/3bb75640-89df-11e3-916e-e01534b1e132_story.html 

BOE to meet in Closed Session on Tuesday, Feb. 4th

Public? None of your business.

The Board of Education will meet for 2 hours to discuss collective bargaining negotiations.  That doesn't concern the public, right?

All Montgomery council members co-sponsor Andrews bill for public campaign funding

...They were joined by representatives of Common Cause Maryland, ACLU of Maryland, Progressive Maryland, Progressive Neighbors and the Sierra Club.
They all pressed the same basic point: that in a political system awash in special interest cash, small donors need an opportunity to exert more influence...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/all-montgomery-council-members-co-sponsor-andrews-bill-for-public-campaign-funding/2014/02/03/54ac69c6-8cfd-11e3-95dd-36ff657a4dae_story.html?wpisrc=nl_buzz

Video: Watch MCPS Middle School Flooding

See post on the Old Blair auditorium that has been left to rot. 
The auditorium is in the same building as the flooding you see in the video above. 

Let it Rot!! MCPS Wasted School Space - 14 years and counting!!

County Executive Ike Leggett has deleted funding for the reconstruction of the Old Blair Auditorium from his proposed Capital Improvements Program (CIP) budget. The construction funds had been planned for FY16 and FY17, but have been moved to "beyond 6 years".

This public school building continues to mold and decay while still in use by MCPS students at Silver Spring International Middle School and Sligo Creek Elementary School.  When Blair High School moved to it's new location at Four Corners, the old Blair building was subdivided into two schools.  However one part of the old building was unused and left to rot.  This space could be classrooms, an auditorium, or offices.  It could be used for any use that MCPS desired.  Instead, the building has been left to decay for 14 years.

This is how Montgomery County Public Schools treats public school space.  Yet, MCPS wants new public school construction money from the State of Maryland.  These pictures show how MCPS utilizes the public school space that the State has already funded.  

Red circle shows location of rotting MCPS building at Wayne Avenue in Silver Spring.

“It’s outrageous and bullying behavior.”

Editorial Board, Published: February 1 

ANYONE WITH a passing familiarity with politics understands that interest groups support and contribute to candidates as a means of advancing their agendas. As far as we know, the only place in the United States where that arrangement has been turned on its head is Montgomery County, where one particular lobby — the local teachers union — wields such outsize influence that politicians shower it with money in return for its support.
Under this ethically perverse setup, state and local elected officials essentially outsource their campaigns — mailings, fliers, even polling — to a single lobbying group. The result is that, once in office, they are beholden to the union and incapable of balancing their support for teachers against potentially competing interests...

 http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/montgomery-countys-perverse-politics/2014/02/01/98f099f2-8921-11e3-833c-33098f9e5267_story.html

What would you do after a winning football season?

So, those of you in MoCo sports land - how do you reward a winning coach?

What if the coach had a winning season?  On a brand new athletic field?  For a team that was traditionally at the bottom of the field, from the point of athletic ability?

If you are Michael Doran, principal of Wootton HS, you fire the coach.

Really?  Your team narrowly misses the opportunity to go to the playoffs, and the reward is ?

FIRE THE COACH.

Something is wrong here, but this writer has been saying that for several years.

We thought the school was terrific.  Dr. Doran orchestrated a concert during 2012 that all but ensured his school would get a replacement athletic field, until he had to move the concert on to the pavement. But he still got his artificial turf.

SO - what really happened, Dr. Doran?  And, by the way, how did you come up with the money to cover the concert and pay the school's portion of the fundraising effort for the turf field?  Financials would be nice, but do the brainiacs at Wootton know how to account for funds?

Inquiring minds have a lot of questions.

See the story from the Washington Post here.

Fox: I'd prefer grass. It saves our players' legs. But if need be, we'll go indoors or on their synthetic surface."

What's this? The Super Bowl coaches would prefer that their players practice on natural grass?  

...But Carroll echoed Fox's sentiments in saying he'd prefer to work his players on natural grass, if possible, and practice outdoors to prepare to play in the cold Sunday...

 http://espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs/2013/story/_/id/10357094/super-bowl-xlviii-snowy-practice-fields-concern-john-fox-pete-carroll