Author: demosgen

Hogan to Withhold Extra Funding for High-Cost School Systems This Year; Baker Issues Reponse Statement

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From the Washington Post, reporter John Hicks, published May 14, 2015. For the complete story, go here.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan announced Thursday that he will withhold $68 million in funding for high-cost school systems this year, thwarting the wishes of Democratic legislators and top officials in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties.

The General Assembly passed a measure in April requiring the state to fully fund a program that sends extra money to the state’s costliest school systems.

Continue reading at the Washington Post.

Click here to read County Executive Rushern Baker’s statement in response to Governor Hogan’s decision to withhold the funds.

Online Poll Shows Little Support for Property Tax Increase

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by Genevieve Demos Kelley

County Council Member Mel Franklin (Democrat, District 9, Council Chair) has invited residents to take a one-question, online poll regarding the proposed 15.6% property tax increase to fund Prince George’s County Public Schools. As of 8:11 am this morning, 549 out of 630 respondants answered that they opposed the proposed property tax increase. Only 5.3% of 630 respondants stated that they support the property tax increase outright, with 7.4% indicating that they would be willing to consider a smaller increase

While these numbers are certainly suggestive, we should be cautious about interpreting the survey results as representative of the views of county residents. Opponents of the tax increase have promoted the poll through social media and email. Hence the group of 630 respondants is far from being a random sample of voters; it is a self-selected group that may not accurately represent the opinions of voters in Prince Goerge’s County.

Screen capture of poll results.

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The Post’s View: A Turnaround Plan for Prince George’s County

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From the Washington Post editorial board, published May 6, 2015.

For the complete editorial piece, go here.

EVER SINCE he announced his audacious turnaround plan for Prince George’s County’s public schools — with 125,000 students, one of the nation’s 25 biggest systems — County Executive Rushern L. Baker III (D), until now one of Maryland’s most popular local officials, has become a political punching bag.

Yet none of his critics — neither the unhinged ones, who suggest Mr. Baker has ulterior motives, nor the calmer ones, who worry that taxpayers cannot afford sharply higher property taxes to raise teacher salaries and standards — has proposed an alternative to put the county’s struggling schools on a level playing field with the regional competition. Nor has anyone disagreed that doing so is essential to the county’s children and its future.

Read the whole story at the Washington Post.

15 Minute Minimum Recess in PGCPS Is Shortest in the Area

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by Genevieve Demos Kelley

Some elementary school students in Prince George’s County have as little as 15 minutes of recess per day. PGCPS policy states that recess for students in kindergarten through fifth grade should be “no less than 15 minutes per day and for no more than 30 minutes per day.” (Middle school and high school students do not have recess.)

playground_6394.v01b.25percentIn a 2013 policy statement, the American Academy of Pediatrics has written about the “crucial role” of recess as an “essential, planned respite from rigorous cognitive tasks.”

The AAP does not recommend a specific number of minutes for daily recess. However, its recess policy statement notes that across the nation, “the length specified for recess ranges widely, from 20 to 60 minutes per day,” suggesting that a 15 minute recess is outside the norm.

Recess Policies of Nearby Districts

How does PGCPS’s recess policy for elementary schools compare with policies in nearby districts?

  • Montgomery County requires that recess for elementary school students be between 20 and 30 minutes.
  • Howard County elementary schools schedule a 30 minute recess into the school day.
  • Anne Arundel County Public Schools cites on its website the recommendation of the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) that recess be at least 20 minutes per day. (Read the full NASPE statement here.)
  • Fairfax County elementary schools recently increased their scheduled recess to 20 minutes per day, after the recent move to a full-day schedule on Mondays.
  • DC Public Schools allow for a minimum of 20 minutes of recess per day in elementary school.

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Teacher Arrested in Alleged Abuse of 9-Year-Old Student

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From the Washington Post, by reporter Lynh Bui, published May 6, 2015.

For the complete story, go here.

A Prince George’s County elementary school teacher was arrested Tuesday after police allege he kissed a 9-year-old student.

Erwin Magnaye, 39, of Laurel, was charged with sex abuse of a minor, second-degree assault and other sex offenses, police said.

The mother of a William Paca Elementary School student told authorities in February that her son said Magnaye “kissed him in a classroom and had also inappropriately touched him several times beginning in September of 2014,” police said in a statement.

Continue reading at the Washington Post.

Why You Should Consider Attending the May 7 or May 11 Board of Education Community Discussion

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BOE Invest in PGCPS Flyer

by Genevieve Demos Kelley

If you have questions and concerns about the Board of Education’s requested operating budget for FY 2016, consider attending either the May 7 or May 11 community discussion with the Board of Education. (For locations and more details, see the flyer.) I attended the first in the series of three meetings on April 27, and I was pleased with how worthwhile it turned out to be.

First, let me qualify my enthusiasm just a bit: Not every moment was a valuable use of my time. The meeting was in two parts. It started with at least 30 minutes of vague generalities about the school system’s core values and mission, and comments about the need for full funding of the FY2016 budget. The substantive information gleaned from this portion of the meeting could have been easily squeezed into five minutes. (Fortunately, I had brought my hard copy of the requested operating budget, so I had material to study when my attention waned.)

We heard about the CEO’s plans to spend the additional $91.7 million requested in the amended budget, but they were so vague that they were essentially meaningless. Here’s how he wants to spend the money:

  • Academic Excellence
  • High-performing workforce
  • Safe and Supportive Environments
  • Family and Community Engagement
  • Additional Priorities

See what I mean?

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Police Officer Found Guilty of Assaulting Student

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From the Washington Post, reported by the Associated Press, published May 4, 2015.For the complete story, go here.

UPPER MARLBORO, Md. — A Prince George’s County police officer has been found guilty of assaulting a student.

Authorities announced Monday that Police Officer First Class Charles Pickard was found guilty of second-degree assault, reckless endangerment and malfeasance.

The whole story at the Washington Post.

The Amended Requested FY2016 Budget: Where Are the Additional 91.7 Million Dollars Going?

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IMG_6355by Genevieve Demos Kelley

The Board of Education’s requested operating budget is $1.93 billion. That’s an increase of $135.7 million or 7.6% over the Fiscal Year 2015 approved operating budget. Moreover, this amended budget exceeds the CEO’s original proposed budget for FY2016 by $91.7 million. How will the additional $91.7 million be spent? The CEO has outlined four areas that will absorb the additional funding, should the requested budget be approved — Academic Excellence, High-Performing Workforce, Family and Community Engagement, Safe and Supportive Environments — plus an assortment of “additional priorities.” In a March 17, 2015 presentation to the County Council, those areas were broken down into subcategories with specific dollar amounts attached to each. Continue reading →

A Day in the Life of a PARCC Test Administrator

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How does a PARCC test session impact the school day? An hour-long test session can result in several hours of lost instructional time.

PARCC Day Blogpost 2For middle school students, the PARCC test consists of nine sessions, which vary in length. Though actual testing time lasts no more than 90 minutes per session, the impact on the day’s schedule is dramatic. One middle school teacher in Prince George’s County has painted a picture of a typical day of PARCC testing.

On the day described in this post, the teacher is assigned to proctor a room full of 8th graders who are taking a 60 minute PARCC session. Note that for each middle school grade level, this scenario is repeated on 27 different days — nine times for each grade level. (In a previous post, we published the testing schedule for the middle school described here.)

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PGCPS Parent Urges School System to Look for Ways to Save Money

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The following is a statement to be delivered by Tommi Makila at the Prince George’s County Council Budget Hearing on April 28, 2015. The views expressed are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the owner of this website, Prince George’s County Advocates for Better Schools.

Good evening,

My name is Tommi Makila. I live in Accokeek, and my son attends Prince George’s County Public Schools. I am a PTA activist and heavily involved in my son’s school.

First of all, I consider improving our schools a high priority. Thus, I want to commend the County Executive for making our schools a high priority. However, I have serious concerns about the school budget proposal.

I believe the goals and strategies outlined in the County Executive’s school budget proposal make sense and seem likely to strengthen the school system and improve its performance. However, what seems to be lacking in the proposal is any serious effort to seek savings to fund the new proposals. When you ask for a significant investment in certain areas – significant enough to warrant a 15% property tax increase – I believe you also have the responsibility to look for meaningful savings opportunities in other areas of the budget. Our goal should be to try to minimize, or even eliminate, the need for a property tax increase. Just like any other organization, we will need to prioritize issues.

InstructionalExpendituresChart

Graph Credit: Tom Dernoga

To substantiate my belief that there is room in the school budget to prioritize items without sacrificing our investment in the classroom, I want to point out a couple of facts about the school budget. Between FY2003 and FY2015, total school system expenditures have risen by 685 million. During the same time period, instructional salaries have only risen by 156 million1.

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