April 2009

Psst! Pass it down....

Sue hands out the latest school gossip

In April, cherry blossoms drift through the sunshine, student minds warm and wander, and information starts to flow behind the teacher’s back. In the 1970s, I would fold a paper note up into a small square or triangle, and decorate the front with psychedelic Peter Max bubble letters drawn with fine-line markers. As the note passed from hand to hand below the desktops, everyone in the row could admire the artwork spelling out “Sandy” or “Paul.” Nowadays, I guess maybe students text on the sly instead. Anyway, in the sneaky spirit of spring, I pass you the current school gossip.

Psst! Takoma Park Elementary On the Move

The construction zone on Holly Avenue will begin even before school ends this year. The first dramatic change is scheduled to begin this month: the demolition of the Morgan Day Care building facing Philadelphia Ave. Also in April, nervous parents will get the bus schedules, describing how children in Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade will be picked up during the 2009-2010 school year and delivered to the Grosvenor “holding school” on the border of Bethesda and Kensington. “It’s been an easier process than I anticipated,” says PTA co-President Nina Garfield, mother of a current first-grader. “We’ve been working with the staff, the teachers, the parents, the county, in a really constructive way.” In May, there will be weekend tours of Grosvenor for incoming parents and students.

Frequently asked questions about the move are posted at http://www.tpespta.org/pages/grosvenor.html. Many parents remain concerned about the longer bus ride, since the holding school is half an hour away. Some students who have been walkers, however, are attracted by the idea of that big yellow bus so often depicted in children’s song and literature. Says Garfield, “My daughter is really looking forward to finally taking a school bus.”

Psst! Eastern students act up

Students arrived with hand-drawn signs and a saxophone to plead before the Board of Education on March 23rd to save the eight-period schedule at Eastern Middle School. One result of the shift to seven periods next year will be that humanities magnet students cannot take both foreign language and an arts elective such as band or orchestra. There are other middle schools (including the three Magnet Consortium schools) getting funding to support eight-period schedules. So one has to think Eastern parents are correct in interpreting the schedule change as an erosion of support for the magnet program. But magnet parents may have made a strategic error in not stressing how the eight-period schedule also benefits non-magnet students and creates social cohesion at the school. MCPS has countered with an offer to let Eastern students stay after school for an extra period of instruction three days per week. This will presumably not be a popular solution.

Psst! Wacky boundary options

The school system just released the official “boundary options” laying out the supposed choices for which students will go to which schools after the construction of the additions at Takoma Park Elementary and East Silver Spring Elementary are complete. All the options involve sending students from the overcrowded Sligo Creek Elementary to Takoma Park Elementary. Surprisingly, several options accomplish this by busing students from north of Sligo Creek Elementary, past that school, and down to Takoma Park schools. This seems ironic, considering that the assumption all along has been that the students in the easternmost part of Takoma Park, who have been bused past Takoma Park schools all these years to go to Sligo Creek, would finally be able to go to the much closer Takoma Park schools. Presumably, that’s the option that will be chosen. Apparently, the other options were put on the table, because, well, the system requires options--even when the result is essentially predetermined.

Psst! Hope for writing instruction?

Perhaps you missed the fact that MCPS staff presented an elaborate defense of the writing curriculum at the March 23rd Board of Education meeting. I almost missed it myself, since it was listed on the agenda under the vague title “Literacy Education.” In a memorandum on this topic to the Board on the morning of the meeting, Superintendent Jerry Weast admitted “we have more work to do to ensure continued improvements in student achievement, sustained implementation, and stakeholder buy-in.” That last point was made abundantly clear at the meeting, when various Board members pointed out that parent stakeholders remain unconvinced that the system is delivering adequate instruction in spelling, vocabulary-building, handwriting, grammar, essay composition, and the writing of research papers. To read Weast’s description of the writing program, go to http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/boe/meetings/agenda/2008-09/2009-0323/4.0%20Literacy%20Education%20Board%20Memo.pdf

Psst! School Board seat to open?

Will there be a midterm opening on the Board of Education? Board member Nancy Navarro is making a run for the County Council seat that opened up when Don Praisner died in office. The special primary election will be held this month, on April 21st. Navarro is attempting to follow in the footsteps of Valerie Ervin, who jumped from the school board to the County Council. Local County Councilmembers Ervin and George Leventhal have joined a long list of officials and organizations endorsing Navarro.

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