Tag: PGCPS

PGCPS to Host Four PARCC Nights for Parents

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With the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) test window opening on April 18th and closing on May 31st, many teachers are beginning to prepare their students. These computer-based assessments, introduced in the spring of 2015, are Maryland’s new accountability program and are designed to measure college and career readiness. Beginning in third grade, students in elementary, middle, and high school will take both Mathematics and English Language Arts (ELA) sections of the PARCC. Prince George’s County Public Schools (PGCPS) will involve parents in these preparations by hosting four parent nights in the upcoming weeks.

Each event will feature an address from a representative of the Maryland State Department of Education. PGCPS staff will explain the PARCC assessment, the student score reports, and current preparations happening in classrooms. This information will be followed by breakout sessions including topics pertaining to parents of Pre-K through high schools students as well as English Language Leaners and special education students.

Registration in advance is strongly encouraged. Parents may register here. (Language interpretation services will be provided in Spanish but registration is required for ASL or any other language.)

Locations and dates are as follows:

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Journey to Kindergarten, Part 2

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This is the second 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.

by Gail Z.

20151020_153233I was wrong.

In my last post, I explained that I thought that we could pretty much choose where to send our son for kindergarten next year, within the Prince George’s County Public School system. 

Not quite.

I got clarity from my friend who had been through this process. You must first register your child at their neighborhood school. Once your child is enrolled and assigned a student ID, you may then submit a transfer request.

We’re not interested in an immersion program or charter school at the moment (but could be–more on that later). So we’re planning to send him to our neighborhood school. But we want to check it out first.

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Every Comment from the Feb. 9 Budget Hearing

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by Genevieve Demos Kelley

The Prince George’s County Board of Education held its third and final hearing Tuesday on the fiscal year 2017 operating budget. The hearing was well attended, and many of the speakers and audience members arrived on a bus chartered by Casa de Maryland in Langley Park. Video coverage of the meeting will be posted on PGCPS’s Youtube channel.

Board Chair Segun Eubanks reminded participants that comments would be limited to three minutes per person. He also noted that the Board is scheduled to adopt the budget at the February 25th Board meeting, after which it will be sent to County Executive Rushern Baker.

Fifteen people spoke at the hearing. Their comments are recapped below:

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Elementary School Volunteer Charged with Child Pornography

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From the Washington Post, published February 8, 2016, by reporters Lynh Bui and Donna St. George. Go here for the full story.

An elementary school volunteer and youth choir director faces charges in Prince George’s County after allegedly making pornographic videos involving children, communicating with many of the victims through an anonymous messaging app popular among teens.

Deonte Carraway, 22, of Glenarden, Md., is charged with 10 counts of felony child pornography and related sex charges in connection with 40 recordings involving at least 10 children ranging from 9 to 13 years old, charging documents state.

Continue reading at the Washington Post.

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UPDATE: From WJLA (ABC 7), published February 10, 2016, by Brad Bell. Go here for the full story.

PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY, Md. — A lawsuit has been filed in the case of Deonte Carraway, the school employee from Judge Sylvania Woods who was charged with making child porn. The principal of the school is also named as a defendant.

The lawsuit, filed by Joseph, Greenwald & Laake, P.A., on behalf of a 9-year-old and the child’s guardian (referred to as John Doe and Jane Doe), alleges that Michelle Williams, the principal at Judge Sylvania Woods Elementary School, “took no action” despite concerns being raised about Carraway by parents and teachers.

Continue reading at WJLA.

Session Materials Available from Budget Q & A

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by Tommi Makila

The budget question and answer session organized by Prince George’s County Advocates for Better Schools on February 4th was a success. Despite the need to reschedule the event due to the snowstorm, the meeting was well attended.

The agenda for the meeting was straightforward. PGCPS Budget and Management Services Director John Pfister provided an overview of the budget, followed by a lively and informative question and answer session. Among the many topics discussed were special education funding, student based budgeting, technology expenditures, philanthropic donations to the school system, building maintenance, professional development, and the proposed parent university. Mr. Pfister and his staff also had prepared answers to previously submitted questions by PGCABS members.

Residents are encouraged to provide input on the CEO’s proposed budget. See this recent blog post for information about the February 9th public hearing and other ways to make your opinion heard.

Mr. Pfister’s presentation and other handouts from the Q&A event are helpful resources for those interested in the budget:

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Speak up About the Budget

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by Lori Morrow
 

100_3401The Prince George’s County Public Schools budget cycle began this past fall, with CEO Kevin Maxwell requesting public input in crafting the proposed Annual Operating Budget for fiscal year 2017. In a school system with nearly 129,000 students in 209 schools, the public submitted only 53 responses.

We all know that parents have opinions. We hear them at PTA meetings, school events, on social media, or from our friends and neighbors. However, sharing opinions with our friends is not enough. We must participate in the process. This year, the CEO is requesting an increase of $182.2Million over last year’s budget to support academic excellence, build a high-performing work force, and expand high-demand programs. After years of tight budgets, these are things our schools need to continue improving.

Getting involved may sound daunting and time-consuming, but it doesn’t have to be:

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Writing Across the Curriculum: One Math Teacher’s Experience

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In December, the Washington Post published an article describing the new literacy program in Prince George’s County Public Schools that requires teachers of all subjects to teach literacy skills in the classroom. One middle school math teacher has shared with us her experience with the new program. She has asked to remain anonymous.

Last fall, I learned that my students would be required to complete a literacy assignment as part of the new county-wide literacy initiative. Previously, our focus had been on the Formative Assessment for Maryland Educators (FAME) tasks. These tasks combine math and literacy skills by having students solve real-life problems and explain their thinking. With the new program, in addition to completing the FAME tasks, students would write five-paragraph essays.

During a subsequent school-wide professional development meeting, I learned that each department across our school would be completing the same writing task, which mirrors the SAT essay. Social studies would complete the assignment in October, science in November, math in December, creative arts, health, and physical education in January, and language arts and world languages in March. The goal is for each department to conduct the same activity with the students to see if there is marked improvement in student reading and writing across content areas.

Every prompt is nearly identical. The basic task takes the form, “Write an essay in which you explain how the author builds an argument to persuade his audience that [insert author’s claim here].”

Here is the one used for my class:

writingPrompt

With each prompt is an essay for students to read and analyze.  For math students across the county in December, Grade 6 and 7 students read an excerpt from Math Doesn’t Suck, a book written by Danica McKellar and Grade 8 students read the article “Teaching Kids Why Math Matters” by Cindy Donaldson in order to complete the analysis of an argument writing prompts.

We are told to have the students complete this assignment in ten steps.

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Mary Kingston Roche is New Board of Education Member

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Hyattsville resident Mary Kingston Roche was sworn in Thursday as the newest member of the Prince George’s County Board of Education. Ms. Roche was appointed by County Executive Baker to fill the At-Large position vacated last summer by Dr. Daniel Kaufman.

Ms. Roche is Director of Public Policy for the Institute for Educational Leadership’s (IEL) Coalition for Community Schools. Community schools bring a wide range of services and supports to public schools, aiming to be both academic institutions and hubs of the community.

Read more about community schools on IEL’s Frequently Asked Questions page.

Read more on IEL’s website about Ms. Roche’s background experience and her role as advocate for community schools.

Read County Executive Baker’s news release.

Maryland Legislative Session: Healthier Food for Schools

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Healthy School Food Maryland is a statewide coalition lobbying for better cafeteria meals for Maryland schoolchildren. Coalition coordinator Lindsey Parsons recently met with Prince George’s County Advocates for Better Schools to talk about legislative goals for the current session. The coalition is working to pass two bills in the 2016 Maryland state legislative session:

  • The Sensible Sugar in Schools Act (SB 65, HB 528) will require school districts to work toward lowering sugar in meals to levels within the guidelines set by the American Heart Association.
  • The School Food Transparency Act (HB 109) will require schools to list à la carte items and snack foods on breakfast and lunch menus. Parents and teachers often find that kids spend their money on sugary snacks, instead of eating the protein and vegetables served at lunch. (Bonus: This bill is sponsored by Delegate Diana Fennell (D-47), who represents parts of Prince George’s County.)

You  can find more details, including bill drafts and fact sheets, on the Healthy School Food Maryland website.

If you support these legislative goals, there are several ways to get involved:

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Why I Left PGCPS and Learned to Love Home Schooling

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by Katy C.

homeschoolLast August, I withdrew my son from Prince George’s County Public Schools and began to home school him. This was a big step on many levels, impacting not only the environment of my child’s day-to-day life, but also my expectations for his future, our goals for his learning, and the financial security of my family. So why did I do this? From my perspective I had very little choice; it has turned out to be a very good decision.

My son’s elementary school treated him as a behavior problem that could not be solved. His behavior became more of a problem the more he struggled with his environment. He spent most of every day struggling with feeling overwhelmed. The school viewed him as extremely defiant and disorderly, but in fact he felt unsafe, overwhelmed, and incapable of learning. The message that he received from school is that he was a failure at learning and conforming. He became angry; his teachers became frustrated.

My son entered kindergarten in PGCPS with a recent diagnosis of a neurological processing issue. Although I brought the issue to the teacher’s attention before the first day of school, I waited until the end of kindergarten for a 504 plan.

The next year, things went downhill in terms of his behavior and learning. The school conducted a battery of tests, with some prompting from me subsequent to external visits to multiple doctors. The testing returned a wide variety of issues, including learning disabilities, sensory issues, processing problems, ADHD, and giftedness. After all of this, my son received an IEP in the last week of April his first grade year. He began to receive some supports for reading and behavior.

Great! Right?

I had some objections to the school’s approach, and I was told, “Don’t worry, let us try this. If it doesn’t work then we will adjust it.” So I trusted the school. I waited. When I got the notice for the next IEP meeting, the stated purpose was to review progress. That sounded right to me.

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