At a recent community event , we asked participants to jot down what they
thought were the top concerns facing Prince George’s County Public Schools. They wrote their ideas on sticky notes and posted them anonymously on a poster board.
The answers we got are listed below. These are unedited and in no particular order.
Readers, what would you add to our list? Tell us in the comments section.
- Low rankings.
- Community detachment.
- Lack of link between school and jobs.
- Lack of community confidence in the schools.
- Some great specialty programs, but “comprehensive” students and regular neighborhood schools seem to be falling through cracks.
- Lack of youth and parent engagement to help students succeed or prepare them for their next steps.
- Parents have to struggle to get needed services for their kids.
- Lack of community schools.
- Poor communication between PGCPS and parents.
- Not enough teacher input when decisions are made.
- Poor communication between schools and families.
- No entrepreneur academy for vocation and alternative career youth.
- Abuse in public schools.
- No oversight or follow-up to abuse complaints.
- Teachers are overwhelmed/pulled in, a lot of directions/exhausted, etc.
- Lack of community schools.
- Too much standardized testing.
- What about the children?
- Seeking progressive education models.
- Full state funding for schol projects/programs
- Better engagement between the school district admin and BOE with the parent and private sector community.
- More transparency.
What do you think are the top concerns that PGCPS needs to address if we are to become a first-class school system?
Prince George's County Advocates for Better Schools 
We need less standardized testing. Students are constantly being tested. 10 hours of testing in the first 3 months for a first grader is beyond unreasonable.
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Art education: integrated art + regular art classes in which students can learn the basic principles of art and apply to so much else.
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Teachers need a better system to share the awesome materials they produce. It’s so hard having to watch them reinvent the wheel every time they want to present a creative lesson. Some teachers want exciting lessons, but may not have confidence in their creativity to create those lessons themselves.
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Standardized testing has me worried, but I guess even more so the reliance on technology for standardized testing. I’d like to see the county and state rely less on computerized testing until we can get reliable technology in all schools, and to make sure all students are capable and confident using the technology.
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Would like to know the status of the comprehensive system-wide performance audit of PGCPS that the county council voted to fund. Is it underway? When is the report expected?
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Good questions. According to a May Washington Post Article, the audit was supposed to get started over the summer. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/this-audit-could-answer-long-held-questions-about-pr-georges-schools/2015/05/22/12ed6ce4-ff0f-11e4-805c-c3f407e5a9e9_story.html?tid=hpModule_ba0d4c2a-86a2-11e2-9d71-f0feafdd1394&hpid=z12
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We also need healthier buildings. There is a third classroom that has a mold issue from dripping sinks. We have a multitude of teachers and students who can’t spend time in classrooms because of the environment.
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