Tuesday, July 14, 2015

#MCPS Needs New Supt to Counter Downward Trends, WashPost Asserts

The Editorial Board of the Washington Post calls out MCPS.

"...school board officials have had to face a new kind of music: the drumbeat of criticism levied against the county for poor exam performance among students, and now for widening racial and ethnic achievement gaps."


They're only half right.

We need a new superintendent, but we need one who will be HONEST with the public.

We need a superintendent who will focus on the EDUCATION of the students, instead of personal self-promotion.

We need a culture change among administrators.

We need to stop fighting special education families.

14 comments:

  1. The voters that go to the polls vote for the TEACHERS' PICKS for Board of Education. Work a poll or twenty and you will find out. Voters in this county love teachers and follow their lead on who to vote for in every election. So, who do voters pick? They vote for the teacher recommended APPLE BALLOT.

    A ballot designed to put forth the most incompetent, uncaring, unethical candidates that the Apple can find. Why? Because the actual decisions are MCPS are made BEHIND CLOSED DOORS WITHOUT Board of Education members in the room! That is a well documented fact. The Apple Ballot wants BOE members that do not understand the law, do not understand their responsibility and will simply sit at the table and do nothing. And, that's what the Apple Ballot gets.

    Meanwhile, the Union leaders are behind closed doors in the MCPS back room setting the budget, cutting their own staff, promoting as many people as possible to administrative positions and safeguarding expense accounts, travel, take home cars, and personal MCPS credit cards.
    But, you won't find the Post reporting on any of this.

    http://parentscoalitionmc.blogspot.com/2012/03/exclusive-mcps-secret-budget-meeting.html

    http://parentscoalitionmc.blogspot.com/2012/08/does-teachers-union-ignore-some-teachers.html

    From MCPS Bulletin:"The proposed FY 2011 budget was developed in full partnership with our three employee associations—MCAAP/MCBOA, MCEA and SEIU Local 500—and with the Montgomery County Council of PTAs (MCCPTA), who all share the goal of providing a world-class education to all MCPS students."
    “MCEA’s involvement in the budget process is key—it allows the educators of MCPS a direct means of influencing the formulation of the budget,” says Doug Prouty, president of MCEA. “This helps to ensure that resources are directed where they will be most beneficial for students, teachers, and those who support their work.”

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aren't there at least three members of the current board that weren't initially endorsed by the Apple Ballot? Not all voters in this county are as ignorant as you make them out to be, but sadly, two out of those three non-Apple Ballot members are as incompetent as they come...

      Delete
    2. No, there are only two non-apple candidates on the Board of Education at present.

      O'Neill, Docca, Durso, Barclay, and Kauffman are all Apple Ballot endorsed candidates. That's a majority of the Board of Education.

      Delete
    3. The first term that Phil Kauffman was elected to he was not endorsed by MCEA in the primary. It was only after the MCEA candidate did not advance past the primary did he pick up that endorsement for the General Election.

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    4. And he's the Apple Ballot pick. He's still their guy and he is part of the Apple Ballot majority on the Board of Education.

      Delete
  2. Doug Prouty cares about Doug Prouty. People are happy to see him go, in the end he didn't listen to dues paying members, he was too self absorbed.

    Students need a union that protects the interests of student learners. MCPS stop operating in the best interest of students long ago. There are too many power hungry egomaniacs worried about their private parking spaces, job titles, personal assistants, offices with windows, control, and prestige to concern themselves with what's in the best interest of students. Everyone knows who the ineffective leaders are - but no one cares. Students are 2nd class citizens in MCPS.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Does anyone know what school Doug Prouty is going to teach at now that his tenure as MCEA president is up?

      Delete
    2. Prouty, Mr. Douglas (Doug) G
      Richard Montgomery HS
      Classroom Teacher High
      301-610-8000
      Douglas_G_Prouty@mcpsmd.org

      Delete
    3. Prouty, Mr. Douglas (Doug) G
      Teacher, Central Office AD
      Office of the Chief Operating Officer
      301-294-6232

      Delete
  3. What Montgomery are they talking about?

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  4. the current BOE will select a new superintendent this year. The BOE needs to improve on the process that selected Superintendent Andrew Houlihan (2015) and Superintendent Freda Massie (1999). Each withdrew after a few days and before signing a contract. Perhaps follow the successful process used this year by Boston and Palm Beach for Superintendent (and MoCo County Council for an appointed council member in 2014): announce 3 finalists and have each hold a public forum. The benefits in transparency and validity more than offset the disadvantage of some candidates unwilling to apply a position using a transparent process. Sheldon fishman parent of 4 mcps grads

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  5. Someone needs to tell the confused bunch running the ship to find a course. What is the priority? How much bigger can the school improvement plans grow? Now we have three priorities:
    1. instructional focus
    2. equity focus
    3. social emotional focus

    Our staff development teacher tells us the administrative brains either add or change priorities every summer. We collect more meaningless subjective survey data, overreact to it, create a plan full of action steps we will never have time to complete, and then go on with our usual practice.

    This year we are running in bigger circles, no captain. This is the first time in all my years I can feel directly at the school level that there is a lack of leadership at the top level.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This is not the only ship running adrift in MoCo

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    2. re: 'someone needs to tell the confused bunch..." These are elected board members. The 'someone' are the voters. It is up to the voters.

      Delete

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