Viers Mill ES students protest Title I change
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Anonymous
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Did anyone see this?
https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/elementary-schoolers-protest-loss-of-title-1-funding-in-silver-spring/3573760/ Fourth and fifth graders planned a student walkout to protest the loss of Title I. |
Anonymous
| Oh yes, I'm sure those fourth and fifth graders planned it... |
Anonymous
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Good for them. The whole thing is the result of shocking mismanagement and lack of forward planning by MCPS. Absolutely jaw-dropping lack of perspective or understanding of the situation for low-income families.
Some of these schools are losing $400K a year that was going to help the most at-risk students. I'm stunned that MCPS didn't recalibrate when the results came out, and I'm sorry that these children have to take action to make the district take notice. |
Anonymous
| Good for them! |
Anonymous
| This is really sad that kids have to protest. Most of these kid have no idea they are a Title 1 school and shouldn’t. They should t have to protest. They should just be worried about school. Not where the money or lack there of of coming from. |
Anonymous
| Isn't Title 1 a federal program? What kind of input does MCPS have? I assume you qualify or not. Did the rules change? |
Anonymous
The threshold moves each year, so it's not that unusual for some schools to move off the list and others to move on the list. Four schools moved off and six schools moved on. |
Anonymous
The MCPS rules changed. https://moco360.media/2024/03/05/parents-at-two-silver-spring-elementary-schools-urge-mcps-to-make-up-for-upcoming-loss-of-federal-aid/ Title I status can change from year to year due to changes in poverty levels at schools, school officials said. However, changes in status for the coming school year came into effect after MCPS began participating in a federal free meals program during the current school year. The Community Eligibility Provision program provides free breakfast and lunch for all students in schools and districts in low-income areas. This school year, 58 schools are participating in the program, with the majority being elementary schools including Oak View. The district’s participation in this program is a “win” for the school district and its students receiving free breakfast and lunch at school, Chief Operating Officer Brian Hull told the school board at its Feb. 22 meeting. However, it altered how the district calculates school poverty rates and therefore resulted in the change of Title 1 status for the four elementary schools, causing concern among parents, teachers and principals. |
Anonymous
| Did that school lose title 1 status around 2017, too? |
Anonymous
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I’m a teacher there and it was fully planned by a Girl Scout troop- not parents.
The issue is that they lost Title 1 status due to the changing MCPS calculation strategy and not due to any change in poverty levels at the school. Parents were told that there was no need to fill out forms, so they didn’t. We also have huge numbers of undocumented students whose parents don’t qualify for food stamps, even though they’re well below the poverty line. If MCPS had disclosed their changing method earlier in the year, Viers Mill and the other impacted schools could have had a chance to collect forms- or at least have a chance to work with MCPS on a better strategy to transition to the new calculation strategy. |
Anonymous
I mean, I get that adults often use kids as pawns and props for their own beliefs but for this type of thing, why is it hard to believe the kids planned it? Kids in 4-5th grade are 10-12 years old. I think that's a ripe age to want to jump in and do something. And if they knew that the change of funding meant some of their teachers weren't coming back next year, seems like that's motivation for them to want to fight back somehow. Seems more like staff would be more likely to discourage it, since it was probably a big hassle for them. I see some adults in the video but they look like they're just standing back and supervising, so probably teachers? Were parents allowed on the property? I think it was probably a great lesson in civics for the kids. People don't give kids enough credit these days. When they're clueless and don't care about the world, they're lazy and entitled. When they try to speak up (about an issue directly affecting them!) they're labeled as brainwashed or troublemakers. |
Anonymous
Yes, they got a new principal around that time who wasn't as aggressive in getting families to return the free lunch forms, and so the school dipped below the threshold, likely due to eligible families not returning the forms. Since then, the actually free lunch percentage has gone up considerably. My kids went there around that time and I think it was as high as like 65% when I was a parent there. Looking at their data now, they're up to 75% eligible for free meals. |
Anonymous
| Parents should be ashamed of themselves for using the children like this! |
Anonymous
| How about a protest against importing poverty? |
Anonymous
| They should protest illegals flooding their classrooms! |