Education
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Black and Brown families, address your inequities with the teachers’ union, not the superintendent
Read more: Black and Brown families, address your inequities with the teachers’ union, not the superintendentAn October piece in MoCo 360 had a headline “MCPS’s Black and brown community presses [MCPS Superintendent Thomas] Taylor on educational inequities.” At this meeting, concerned parents were looking for solutions to the festering student performance allegedly attributable to race. According to the article, one parent asked if MCPS would allow students to switch schools…
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MCEA Tax Filing
Read more: MCEA Tax FilingJust because we were curious, we decided to take a peek at the MCEA tax filing for 2023. Part VII of the form 990 covers the Compensation of Officers, Directors, Trustees, Key Employees, Highest Compensated Employees, and Independent Contractors. Section A lists Officers, Directors, Trustees, Key Employees, and Highest Compensated Employees. In the filing MCEA…
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Board of Education Predictions
Read more: Board of Education PredictionsIt’s often said that the best predictor of future performance is past performance. What does that mean for the board of education? Apple ballot endorsed candidates have shown feckless, fearful, and obedient behavior in office. Time after time, member after member. From fear of making an independent decision during the pandemic to the whiplash of…
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MCPS Says There is Still a “Critical Shortage” of Speech Pathologists in Discussion Between Longview Elementary Community / Parents, MCPS Office of Special Education
Read more: MCPS Says There is Still a “Critical Shortage” of Speech Pathologists in Discussion Between Longview Elementary Community / Parents, MCPS Office of Special EducationBack in April, 2023, the local NBC4 / Washington DC affiliate published an I-Team exclusive on the state of special education in area county schools. Overall, what the I-Team discovered was that the state of special education in and around Washington, DC was not in a good place for parents, students, or over-worked school staff…
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With Stewart, Ortman-Fouse, and Mink, it’s about control; With Diaz, it’s about compassion
Read more: With Stewart, Ortman-Fouse, and Mink, it’s about control; With Diaz, it’s about compassionPhotojournalism is an amazing feature of the modern age. Starting with the Civil War, American photojournalists have been capturing events military and civilian, lives wealthy and poor. They have been implanting into our collective consciousness jolting perspectives and immortalizing key moments. Here are two iconic photographs I curated from My Modern Net. Migrant field worker…
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Lynn Harris wants to bus kids away from local schools
Read more: Lynn Harris wants to bus kids away from local schoolsThe elephant in the room that has not been discussed this Board of Education election season is MCPS upcoming mega boundary study. Starting in January MCPS will begin a boundary study which includes 19 high schools and 31 middle schools. This represents 2/3’s of the County’s high schools and their feeder middle schools. This is,…
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How optimistic can we be for school reform with “Term Limits” Boss Stein?
Read more: How optimistic can we be for school reform with “Term Limits” Boss Stein?In a video clip appearing on Montgomery County Media, incoming president of the Montgomery County Education Association (teachers’ union) David Stein delineated his responsibilities. I need to be the public face of the union…I need to be the person who is talking to MCPS, overseeing our bargaining processes, talking to our members, supervising the staff…
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Implementing Pre-K in Montgomery County
Read more: Implementing Pre-K in Montgomery CountyEarly child care is a remarkable industry, with entrepreneurs, providers, and customers from every demographic participating in the market. Some pre-K providers offer upscale facilities, others work out of their homes, and others work in their customers’ homes. Churches offer pre-K programs out of a sense of mission or as a way to utilize a…
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School Vouchers Are Already Here!
Read more: School Vouchers Are Already Here!I’ve written at least nine posts about the need for school vouchers, and I’m convinced that at some point they will become a reality—even in progressive Montgomery County where Superintendent Monifa McKnight and teachers’ union president Judith Martin very likely turned MCPS into a safe space for sexual predators. For our newer readers, here’s a…
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Parents, it’s time to declare our independence from union control of schools
Read more: Parents, it’s time to declare our independence from union control of schoolsIndependence requires courage, conviction, and a clear vision. In a letter to his wife on July 3, 1776, John Adams wrote: “Through all the gloom, I can see the rays of light and glory; I can see that the end is more than worth all the means, and that posterity will triumph.” Just as our…