Tag: PGCPS

Charter Schools, Specialty Programs, and the Issue of Equitable Access

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by Genevieve Demos Kelley

The lively discussion about equitable access to College Park Academy that took place during last month’s Board of Education meeting (beginning at 1:51:27 in the video) is must-watch TV—and not just for the moment when Board Chair Segun Eubanks told Edward Burroughs to “shut up and let the parliamentarian answer the question (at 1:54:50).”

Board Member Edward Burroughs (District 8) proposed amending the resolution granting a one-year extension to College Park Academy, a public charter school for students in grades six through nine which offers blended learning in partnership with the University of Maryland. Referring to the University of Maryland’s request that some slots be allotted to the children of University employees and to residents of College Park, Burroughs emphasized that all students, including “our most disadvantaged students,” should have access to the charter school, “not the select few, not those that come from the elite class in the county or in College Park.”

Burroughs’s amendment—which was adopted after a vote by the Board—adds the clause, “whereas the Board of Education wants to ensure equity and access for all students, regardless of socioeconomic status or zip code,” to the language of the resolution.

Contributing to the conversation surrounding equitable access, Board Member Jeana Jacobs (District 5) raised the question of whether children with special needs were being well-served at the school: “You do a review of our special needs population that’s there. There is some suggestion that they’re encouraged to home school or go to their neighborhood school.” (For Jacobs’s remarks, go to 2:06:20 in the video.)

What do the numbers say? Are “our most disadvantaged students” well-represented at College Park Academy? Data from the 2015 Maryland Report Card suggest that College Park Academy serves disproportionately few students needing special services, particularly when compared with the six closest neighboring middle schools (see map of area school locations here).

The table below shows the percentages of students who qualify for Free and Reduced Meals (FARMs), who have limited English proficiency (LEP), and who receive special education services, respectively, at the seven schools listed.

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Percentages of students qualifying for Free and Reduced Meals, with Limited English Proficiency, receiving special education. An asterisk (*)  is used to indicate fewer than ten students in a category1. Source: 2015 Maryland Report Card, “Students Receiving Special Services”

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Parent Calls for Improvement Plan Instead of $120k Survey

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Lori Morrow presented a version of this testimony during the public comment portion of the May 12th Board of Education Meeting. The views expressed are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Prince George’s County Advocates for Better Schools.

by Lori Morrow

A few weeks ago, I watched the April 28th Board of Education meeting at home and
was surprised to hear about a $120,000 survey to determine community
perceptions of PGCPS. I agree with comments made by some board members that
night: We already know many of the negative perceptions that persist from existing surveys.

IMG_0510A few months ago, I noticed each of the school pages on the PGCPS website includes a link to the 2013 School Climate Survey, as well as a note indicating the next biannual survey would be published in Fall 2015. I recall getting an email to fill out the survey last June, and know that my son participated in a survey this school year.

I’ve been attempting to get a copy of this climate survey report and, after more than two months and many emails, I was finally able to access a copy of the report this very morning from a helpful staff member in the Research and Evaluation Department. I was particularly interested in the report for my son’s middle school because of comments I regularly hear from him. While a quick comparison with the 2013 report does show some improvement for the school, a number of areas are rather disappointing.

For example:

  •  31% of Parents disagree with the statement that they are proud to send their
    child to this school
  • 31% of Parents do not believe that teachers will provide students individual
    attention if needed.
  • 44% of Students disagree with the statement that they feel safe in school.
  • 61% of Students do not believe that students respect the authority of
    teachers at this school.
  • 54% of Students do not feel like they are an important part of their school
    community.

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18 Ways to Be an Involved Parent

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IMG_6326As a parent of a child in Prince George’s County Public Schools, how can you become more involved in the school system? How can you make a difference, both in your neighborhood school and in the system at large? Members of Prince George’s County Advocates for Better Schools came up with this list of ideas:

1. Communicate regularly with your child’s teacher. Be sure to include specific expressions of gratitude and appreciation. Contact the teacher first, before going to the principal or supervisor, if you have concerns about what’s going on in the classroom. You may eventually need to work with your school’s guidance counselor or principal for additional assistance.

2. Get to know PGCPS’s new Ombudsman Office. The ombudsman serves as a neutral party to resolve school-related concerns. The ombudsman office should not be your first point of contact, however. Here is PGCPS’s official “Guide to Addressing Questions and Concerns.”

3. Participate in PGCPS’s online surveys and feedback forms. During the 2015-2016 school year, parent feedback was solicited on several topics, including the school systems’ operating budget, proposed new grading policies, and student safety, for example. Watch for these opportunities on the pgcps.org home page.

4. Sign up for email updates. Go here to sign up for email and text updates. Once you submit your email address, you will be given the option to subscribe to a variety of updates. Besides school closings and delays, you may choose announcements from Board of Education members, monthly newsletters from PGCPS, college and career information, lunch menus, and more.
5. Keep track of grades and assignments through SchoolMAX, and communicate with your child’s teacher if you have questions.

6. Get to know other parents and talk with them about their experiences and ideas. Whether they have found frustration or success as they have advocated for their children, you will learn from their stories, and you may be able to work together for a common cause. You might join one of several Facebook groups for PGCPS parents: PGCPS Education Forum, Parents and PGCPS, and PG Parents for Education are good options.

7. Know who your Board of Education representative is and communicate with them about issues that are important to you. (See this map if you’re not sure which Board District you are in.) Most BOE representatives hold forums, community meetings, or morning coffees at several points during the year. Try to attend one for your district. Even if you don’t have a specific concern to bring up, you’ll learn much by meeting the Board member who represents you and listening to what other parents have to say.

8.  Several times each year, PGCPS holds community meetings on various topics. Attending these meetings gives you a chance to talk to PGCPS officials, meet other parents, and give feedback about the school system.

9. If you really want to know more about how the Board of Education works, attend one of its monthly meetings, or watch online.

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Journey to Kindergarten, Part 4

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This is the fourth part of a series documenting the steps one family is taking to prepare for their son’s entrance into kindergarten next year. Read Part 1 here, Part 2 here, and Part 3 here.

by Gail Z.

IMG_6404In my last post, I told the story of my unreturned calls to our neighborhood school. I had wanted to tour the school but was unable to get in touch with anyone who could help. I was, however, able to make an appointment to visit the school on the other side of the neighborhood, the school where a number of children who “graduated” from my son’s preschool attend. We are hoping that this school—a TAG school—will be an option for us.

On the day of the visit, we were running a few minutes late. Though I called ahead to let the front office staff know, I was a little nervous. I thought, What if we can get into this school, but our tardiness hurts our chances? I quickly brushed that off and instead turned my thoughts to the questions I needed to ask about the school, the schedule, and our chances of getting in.

When we arrived, we were greeted by the school counselor, who would be our tour guide. I thought it was nice that they had a designated person to do this for parents interested in the school.

We walked through the halls, peeking into classrooms along the way. I thought to myself, These children are working and focused, but not stressed or overwhelmed. At one point, we passed students walking through the halls with their teacher. My former-teacher self praised them, in a whisper to my husband, “Look at how on-task they are!” I was giddy, both as a parent and as a former teacher. Maybe it was the sheer excitement of checking out a school for my first-born and imagining the possibilities he’d have there. They offer World Languages at this school, and notebook laptop computers. There’s also a computer lab available so that teachers can bring an entire class at a time! I was pleased. My husband and I were both pleased.

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Gardening at School: How We Made It Work

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by Ingrid Cowan Hass
IMG_6547A few years ago parents of the PTA at our neighborhood elementary school started talking about adding some landscaping to the school grounds. The principal liked the idea of a pollinator garden in front of the school. There was also an abandoned courtyard garden that had been started with a grant by a teacher who was no longer at the school. We wondered if that could be revived.

The project began with just a few parents weeding over a period of time. Then, last spring, we created two garden beds out of the mound of grass and weeds surrounding the flagpoles in front of the school. We communicated with the school building manager about our plans. His schedule didn’t allow him to do more than mow the grass, so he was thrilled to have the extra help. We met with the principal, talked about the placement, and got approval to put up cedar edging to hold the earth and mulch. I weeded the existing raised beds in the courtyard and collaborated with a teacher about planting some lettuce and kale with her classes. We uncovered strawberries that we replanted with new compost. With the extra care, the strawberries produced a bumper crop!

IMG_8235I started taking a small bucket and gloves to school every day and weeding during drop-off and pick-up for 10 minutes. This generated conversation, awareness, and new volunteers among the other parents. We asked for parents to bring in flowering perennials from their gardens to plant in the new bed. Some dads brought mulch in their trucks. We visited a few other schools that had gardens to learn about what they were doing.

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Journey to Kindergarten, Part 3

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This is the third part of a series documenting the steps one family is taking to prepare for their son’s entrance into kindergarten next year. Read Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

by Gail Z.

20160406_080252Since my last post, there have been some new developments in our family’s journey to kindergarten.

Back in early March, I made a call to our neighborhood school. Since, as far as I knew, this school did not schedule open houses or group tours for prospective parents, I wanted to set up an appointment to tour the school. I briefly explained to the secretary who answered the phone that I’d be registering my child for kindergarten and would like to come in for a visit. She didn’t sound at all surprised, which actually surprised me, and gave me the feeling that school visits (even to one’s neighborhood school) are a normal thing. She said the principal would call me back (which was also surprising—I would have direct access to the principal?), but that it might be a couple of days. “No problem,” I said. Having taught elementary school, I know how it is.

I figured I’d get a call back that next morning, but it didn’t happen. Each day that passed, I got excited about seeing my son’s potential school, and held out hope that I was somewhere on the principal’s priority list. But apparently, I wasn’t.

After a week had passed, I thought to myself, I’ll give it more time. But almost in the same moment, I thought, she’s not going to call me back.

So I decided to try again.

I spoke to a secretary—the same one, I’m pretty sure—and she said they had been very busy, and that state testing was in progress. In fact, that was the reason that I hadn’t heard anything. The secretary assured me that she would pass along my name and number again. The call ended with my saying, “I understand. Thank you.”

But something didn’t sit right with me when I hung up. I thought about it for a bit, and it occurred to me that maybe I could enroll my son at his neighborhood school (as required by PGCPS) and potentially submit a transfer request before the school year even begins in August. And if that transfer request is accepted, maybe I could send him to that other school— the same one that his classmates from preschool attend—if that’s what we choose.

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Elections 2016: Ahmed, Landis, Burroughs, and Hinton Prevail in Districts 5 and 8

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Residents of Prince George’s County Board of Education Districts 5 and 8 had the opportunity to vote for a school board candidate in the Maryland primary election on Tuesday. The two candidates with the most votes will go on to the general election in November.

Here are the Maryland State Board of Elections‘s unofficial results for the two school board races:

District 5:

*Raaheela Ahmed, 36.5%

*Cheryl Landis, 30.6%

Jeana Jacobs, 22.8%

Robert Johnson, 10.1%

District 8:

*Edward Burroughs, III, 59.9%

*Stephanie Hinton, 25.3%

Carlton C. Carter, 14.8%

(*) Candidates will appear on the ballot in the general election.

In all, there will be five school board races in the general election this November. Candidates from Board of Education Districts 1, 4, and 7 did not participate in the primary election, because there are only two candidates vying for each seat in those districts. See the candidate listing on the State Board of Elections site for the full list of candidates for each district.

School board seats in Districts 2, 3, 6, and 9 will be up for election in 2018. For a map of the Board of Education districts, click here.

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Join Effort to Keep School Board Elections Nonpartisan

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by Tommi Makila

The views expressed are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Prince George’s County Advocates for Better Schools.

By law, Maryland school boards are to be nonpartisan. With the reorganization of the Prince George’s County Public Schools governance structure in 2013, the Board of Education was stripped of much of its power. However, this takeover of the school system has not been enough for the political establishment. Our partisan elected officials are shamelessly meddling in the school board elections through their endorsements and slates, making these elections “nonpartisan” in name only.

Politicization of the school system and the school board is not in the best interest of our students. In a well-governed school system, decision-makers feel more accountable to voters than to the political establishment and its agenda. But party endorsements of school board candidates undermine this principle, shifting the balance of power away from the voter and toward the party establishment.

To combat this corrosive influence, a group of concerned citizens is launching an effort: the “Alliance for Nonpartisan School Board Elections.” Our goal is to educate residents about the issue and mobilize advocacy efforts. We call for political parties to keep school board elections nonpartisan by refraining from endorsing Board of Education candidates or putting them on party slates and sample ballots. As the first step for the Alliance, we have established a Facebook group as a way of connecting interested individuals with each other. If this is an issue you care about, please join the group! You can find it through this link or by searching for “Alliance for Nonpartisan School Board Elections” on Facebook.

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Q & A with K. Alexander Wallace, District 7 Board of Education Candidate

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img_0010_0This is part of a series of interviews with PGCPS Board of Education candidates. K. Alexander Wallace was appointed to the Board of Education in November 2015 and is one of two candidates from District 7 (see district map here) whose names will be on the ballot in the general election. Mr. Wallace answered questions generated by members of Prince George’s County Advocates for Better Schools. 

Prince George’s County Advocates for Better Schools does not endorse or oppose Board of Education candidates.

Tell us about your background and why you are running for the Board of Education.

In the spring of 2015, I went to the Board of Elections and filed for my candidacy to run for the District 7 seat on the Board of Education for Prince George’s County, a county that I was born and raised in. In November of 2015, the County Executive appointed me to represent District 7 and the County Council voted to affirm my confirmation, 9-0. I am proud to say that I currently represent District 7, a district where I was born and a district where I graduated.

I am running to remain on the Board of Education because I have the necessary experience it takes to fulfill the duties of a Board member. The Board is required to increase academic achievement, engage the families and communities, approve educational policies and procedures, and to oversee the nearly $2 billion budget. Throughout my nearly 15 years of combined education policy, community engagement, and grassroots advocacy experience, I have had the honor of working in the Maryland General Assembly and on Capitol Hill where I helped advocate for better educational polices and equitable funding and resources for children of color and children living in poverty – many of whom live in District 7.

I am a product of the county school system, K-12 (Patuxent Elementary, Gwynn Park Middle, Frederick Douglass High, Dr. Henry A. Wise, Jr. High). I furthered my education at Towson University (Undergraduate) and the University of Baltimore (Graduate) where I spent countless years working with the University System of Maryland, the Maryland Higher Education Commission, and the Maryland Youth Advisory Council to advocate for pathways to higher education for Maryland’s youth by making sure education was affordable, accessible, and of high quality.

What are your top three goals for PGCPS, and how do you plan to accomplish them if elected?

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Q & A with Stephanie Hinton, District 8 Board of Education Candidate

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20160227 Stephanie Hinton Portrait

Photo © David Sachs / Studio 20Seven Photography

This is part of a series of interviews with PGCPS Board of Education candidates. Stephanie Hinton is one of three candidates from District 8 (see district map here) whose names will be on the ballot in the April 26th primary election. Ms. Hinton answered questions generated by members of Prince George’s County Advocates for Better Schools. 

Prince George’s County Advocates for Better Schools does not endorse or oppose Board of Education candidates.

Tell us about your background and why you are running for the Board of Education.

I am an educator with over 20 years of experience. I currently teach 34 fifth graders in southern Prince George’s County. I am the coordinator for the STEAM Robotics after-school program, as well as, the science chairperson. I also work as a student-parent advocate, with a focus in special education. I have partnered with a local church to form an after-school tutoring program. I am an original member of the My Brother’s Keeper organization in Prince George’s County.

I decided to run for the Board of Education because of my Magnificent 34. My class had a spell of incidents occur in which I had to fight for them. At one point, it seemed as if something happened weekly. Then, there was a major issue and I had to write to Dr. Maxwell’s office to handle it. It was at that point, that someone suggested I run for the Board of Education, so that I could champion for the rest of the students in this county the way I do for my own students.

Every Prince Georgian deserves the best education this county has to offer. I want to bring that to the students of District 8, and the rest of the county as a whole.

What are your top three goals for PGCPS, and how do you plan to accomplish them if elected?

I created an 8 point path that I feel with assist with bringing equality to District 8. Although all are important, I feel that the following three should definitely be the focus for making District 8 great, along with all of Prince George’s County.

  • Reduce class sizes
  • Create a parent resource center in southern Prince George’s County
  • Institute an anonymous tip line for teachers

I believe the way to accomplish all of my points is through community action. The citizens of District 8, and the rest of the county, have to join together to ensure that our voices are heard. We have to advocate for our students, educators, and community as a whole. If parents have a student in a class of 34, they must make calls daily, and show up to meetings to discuss their displeasure. To travel up to an hour and a half to two hours for assistance is utterly ridiculous.

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