Author: demosgen

Sound Off: Best and Worst of PGCPS’s Website

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by Genevieve Demos Kelley

What are your favorite corners of the pgcps.org website? What do you find most frustrating? What links need to be updated? Tell us in the comments section below.

Just for fun, here is my personal “best and worst” list. The list reflects my own opinions and preferences and is not an official position of PGCABS.

Best:

  • Employee Directory. Not a list of employees, but a search bar that taps into an amazing data base. Type in the name of an employee and find his/her email, phone number, job location, official job title, and place in the PGCPS hierarchy (e.g. immediate supervisor).
  • Solicitations and Awards. Curious about which high school is getting a new barber and cosmetology classroom renovation, who’s doing the work, and how much it costs? This is the place to find answers about a wide range of contracts between PGCPS and outside firms. Major contracts awarded for things like construction and renovation, consulting services, equipment, and food purchases are listed here. (The answers, by the way, are Bladensburg HS, Rich Moe Enterprises, and about $521,000 initially, though the Board later voted to increase that amount.)

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Weekly News Roundup: Sex Abuse Conviction for Football Coach, School Lunch Brouhaha

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Former High Point High School football coach and special education teacher Andre Brown was convicted Friday of sexual abuse of a minor. He had been arrested in 2014 for having sex with a 17-year-old student in a locker room the previous fall. Brown is due to be sentenced in October and could face up to 25 years of imprisonment. (Washington Post)

Fox News reported that Prince George’s County students were complaining about moldy and undercooked food, tweeting photographs of disgusting school lunches. However, PGCPS responded, saying that those photographs were not taken in our school district. This was clear to food services staff, because the trays and food items pictured in the meals were not stocked by PGCPS. (Read or view the original story and the follow-up report on Fox News 5.) Several days after the Fox News story aired, PGCPS posted a positive video on its Facebook page about the cafeteria food served in county schools.

Bisnow’s article titled, “Why Prince George’s County is Just Getting Started,” is an effusively optimistic look at the county’s recent economic development and potential for future growth. For example, here’s one quote from County Executive Rushern Baker: “Think of Bethesda, Rockville, Columbia Heights. That’s how Largo is going to look.” (Bisnow)

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Party Endorsements Are Major Factor in Board Elections

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by Tommi Makila

How do you know which candidate is most likely to win a Prince George’s County Board of Education race? As with any election, there are many factors at play. Some aspects of the candidates and races may be too difficult to analyze objectively, such as the quality of the candidates’ ideas, campaign skills, and personal effort put into campaign activities. However, many important factors affecting the campaigns are quantifiable and easily compared.

In order to determine what factor has the greatest impact on the election results, I set out to analyze the 2014 BOE races in Prince George’s County. Based on my knowledge about our elections, I identified the following four factors as major potential contributing factors to a candidate’s success:

  • Incumbency
  • Fundraising
  • Democratic Party slate endorsement
  • Other endorsements (local media, county teachers union)

To refresh everyone’s memory, here are the general election results for the four BOE elections held in 2014:

Makila_BOE_table3
* Election winner

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Weekly News Roundup: Moldy Classrooms, Politics, National Merit Semifinalists

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Students were removed from eight classrooms at Samuel Chase Elementary School, so that mold could be remediated. Some parents had complained that mold was causing illness for their children (ABC 7). Samuel Chase Elementary had been in the news earlier this year when a parent complained that her daughter was suffering from allergic reactions caused by mold in the building (ABC 7).

Maryland Del. James Proctor died on Thursday, at age 79. Proctor had been with PGCPS for more than 30 years (as teacher, principal, and transportation supervisor), before becoming a lawmaker in the Maryland House of Delegates, representing Prince George’s County (Washington Post). Both County Council Chairman Franklin and County Executive Baker have issued statements of condolence (See here and here).  Proctor’s widow seeks to fill the seat (Associated Press via Washington Times).

Three Eleanor Roosevelt High School students have been named National Merit Semifinalists for 2016. The students are David Gardner, Clara Janzen and Vinaichandra Rachakonda. (PGCPS)

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Proposed Capital Improvement Program Includes New Schools, Renovations

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by Genevieve Demos Kelley
IMG_6326The proposed Fiscal Year 2017-2022 Capital Improvement Program (CIP) master list of projects comes with a hefty price tag. The six-year funding request is more than $2.4 billion, with $1.5 billion requested from the county and $0.9 billion requested from the state.

Here are just a few of the projects on the master list. (Estimated cost given is the total cost over the six-year period from FY 2017 through FY 2022):

  • A new International School at Langley Park (estimated cost: $34,071,762)
  • Two new Northern Area middle schools (estimated cost: $76,300,733 each)
  • A new high school in Planning Area 38, which includes Bladensburg, DuVal, Eleanor Roosevelt, High Point, Laurel, Northwestern, and Parkdale High Schools
    (estimated cost: $133,645,361)

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Weekly News Roundup: Errors in Bus Drop-offs, SAT Scores Declining, “Less Testing, More Learning” Campaign

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A seven-year-old student riding the bus was dropped off four miles from his home on Tuesday, according to his mother. This is just one of several troubling bus transportation incidents involving Prince George’s County students during the first week of school (NBC4 and WTOP). PGCPS later apologized for the error and released a video statement addressing concerns (NBC4).

Maryland SAT scores for graduating high school seniors have declined for the third year in a row. The average composite score for Maryland students (1552) is 28 points lower than the national average. ACT scores, on the other hand, increased for the third straight year. (Baltimore Sun)

The Maryland State Education Association has begun a campaign called, “Less Testing, More Learning” (MSEA). An MSEA-sponsored forum addressed concerns about the overuse of standardized testing in Maryland schools (Maryland Reporter).

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List of 72 Potential Cell Tower Locations at Prince George’s County Schools

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Prince George’s County Advocates for Better Schools takes no official position on the controversial issue of cell tower construction on school property. The purpose of this post is solely informational.

Screen Shot 2015-08-03 at 10.05.32 PM

Photo Credit: Theodora Scarato

The wireless tower developer Milestone Communications has an agreement with PGCPS that allows the company to build cell towers on school grounds in exchange for financial compensation. Below is the list of 72 Prince George’s County school sites approved for wireless towers. Information is gathered from Milestone Communications’s website.

Most of the locations are listed as “Rawland sites,” meaning that they are approved as possible future locations for wireless towers, but do not have an existing structure on site. For more information, go to Milestone Communications’s website to view the interactive map or download the list of sites.

Sites with Existing Structures

Carroll Middle School, New Carrollton
Flowers High School , Upper Marlboro
Green Valley Academy, Temple Hills
Kenmoor Middle School, Landover
Oxon Hill Middle School, Ft. Washington

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The Best Thing About the First Week of School . . .

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Ten Prince George’s County parents have shared with us something that a teacher, principal, or other staff member did to make the first day or week of school successful.

  • 100_3395crMy son’s teacher sent home a letter on the first day of school introducing herself and briefly telling us what to expect in the coming school year. The letter was full of warmth and enthusiasm, and I immediately felt that she was drawing me in as a participant in the class.
  • I was very happy our school organized a back-to-school event before the school year started. It is a great way to take care of some practical issues and ask questions before the often chaotic first day of school. I feel like everyone is more prepared for the year from day one.
  • My son attends a school for kids with severe disabilities that is very far from our neighborhood school. One of the children on his bus has a very hard time on the bus. The second day of the trip, I noticed the aide on his bus had brought a soft blanket with her to help the other girl feel more comfortable when she got on the bus. How sweet is that?
  • It’s so nice to walk into school in the morning and see all of the teachers at their classroom doors, smiling and greeting students! We appreciate the warm welcome.
  • My son’s second grade teacher put together a binder with tabs to keep all paperwork organized. It’s very straight forward. We also signed up for text messages from the teacher.
  • Our first day of school started off on a very positive note thanks to our children’s new bus driver. He greeted us and our children with a smile and seemed genuinely happy to be seeing children off to their first day of school. It set the tone for the rest of the day. Bus drivers are often seen as nothing more than chauffeurs, but a good bus driver can make a huge difference for kids. Continue reading →

Weekly News Roundup: State Superintendent Resigns, Comptroller Questions Contract with Pearson

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State Superintendent Resigns: Lillian Lowery announced on Friday that she is resigning from her job as Maryland schools superintendent. She will take a job as CEO of an education non-profit in Columbus, Ohio. Deputy Superintendent Jack Smith will complete her term, which ends next July. The twelve-member State Board of Education is responsible for hiring a new superintendent. (Baltimore Sun)

Teen Murder Suspect: Police have taken 17-year-old Chet Markland Jarrett, Jr. into custody and charged him with the murder of Jajuan McCrae (WTOP). McCrae, also 17, was a rising senior at DuVal High School. McCrae wanted to study business in college and was described by his aunt as “well-mannered, always happy” (Washington Post).

Cell Towers: Milestone Communications continues to construct cell towers on school grounds, and some parents are concerned about potential health risks. (Sentinel)

First Day of School:  English learners at Prince George’s County’s new International Schools are excited about the new opportunity (WUSA 9). CEO Kevin Maxwell talks about a smooth first day, but admits that bus schedules can sometimes be a problem at the beginning of the year. The increase in enrollment — now more than 129,000 students — is a good sign for the school system (WTOP). All schools were ready to open on the first day except Thomas Stone Elementary, which was closed due to a water main break (WJLA).

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Math, Reading, and Writing SAT Scores Listed by School

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by Genevieve Demos Kelley

How well did county students do on the 2014 SAT? In the table below, each PGCPS high school’s average (mean) SAT subscores in critical reading, mathematics, and writing are given below, along with the mean composite score. According to the 2014 Maryland Report Card, these are the mean scores for college bound seniors. The maximum score for each subtest (i.e. reading, math, writing) is 800, and the maximum composite score is 2400. Data for the 2015 SAT scores is not yet available. (Update: Find 2015 SAT scores here.)

SAT

Data source is the 2014 Maryland Report Card. Table by Amelia Colarco and Genevieve Kelley.

The Prince George’s County mean composite score of 1199 is significantly lower than the national average (1497) and Maryland state average (1439). Eleanor Roosevelt, which has a science and technology specialty program, was the only school whose average SAT score was higher than the Maryland or national average.

To put PGCPS’s SAT performance into perspective, it is useful to compare the county’s scores with those of other test-takers in the total group (i.e. students across the U.S. and Canada) of 2014 college-bound seniors.  The College Board has published a table with the 2014 percentile ranks for the reading, mathematics, and writing SAT subscores.

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