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Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS)
Montgomery County board of education fraud on students and parents
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AngryTeacher
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And where might these links be? on the Parents' Coalition blog?
I find it funny that you would support a member of the council who ". . . owes $4,746.21 to Maryland in unpaid taxes, interest and fees between 2007 and 2009." (Gazette) People seem to forget that teachers are taxpayers, too. Furthermore, many have spouses who have lost jobs. So I can't quite understand how we've suddenly become the enemy. Make us out to be villains and there will be no one left to teach your children. not a threat - a fact
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Anonymous
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Angry Teacher / union mouthpiece -
Don't confuse all the issues. BOE has some explaining to do. Trust is at stake. This has nothing to do with being anti-teacher. There are other transparency issues too around selecting a superintendent, school site selection, and promethean board spending. We are reaching a tipping point. Maybe the apple ballot is starting to loose it's appeal. As for teachers, MOCO totally supports teachers as they are the highest paid in the area, including Fairfax. My guess is that this will continue even with more health care costs paid by teachers. I don't hear anyone saying let's bring our teachers down to the bottom of the distribution. MoCo will always pay teachers more than most counties in this area/country. By the way, most of us feel underpaid relative to the CEO/Lawyer/Wall Street Trader types. Why should teachers be immune from the economy unlike other hardworking professions. |
Anonymous
Who do you trust then? From what I've seen, you don't trust ANYONE in politics or education. Is there anyone in MCPS you DO trust? No, MCPS teachers are not the highest paid in the area. DC teachers are. You really think teachers are immune to this economy? Where's your evidence of that, or is it just personal opinion? It's hard to tell which is which in your posts. I know a teacher that has to sell his home right now because his wife can't work because of medical issues, and he doesn't make enough as a teacher to pay their mortgage. They have been using up their retirement money (from previous jobs) to pay their mortgage. With the paltry teacher retirement he will get, he will most likely have to work long after normal retirement age. Another teacher took a pay cut of half his salary, and reduced benefits, to become a teacher. I know another teacher that has had to start a second job to be able to afford to send her kids to college. I know others that have said they will have to work this summer and have a second job in the fall just to make up for the pay cuts they have gotten. Oh, and teachers will have to be paying more taxes in the county too because of the tax increases. And don't forget, anyone teachers don't get any kind of pay raise, it's essentially a pay cut because of inflation. Teachers immune to this economy? Nope, sorry. |
Anonymous
Evidence? We're waiting Janis... |
Anonymous
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NP here - without a dog in the race (unless you count my children in MCPS) - Even I am concerned about this latest imbroglio. I doubt seriously we know the whole story. It smacks of politics on both sides - MCPS for not being totally upfront with ALL the City Council about the potential cost savings in health care (probably in an effort for hard bargaining, but they had to know how this was going to look later on down the line, and if they didn't - that's just dumb and tone-deaf), and the City Council (most especially Ervin, if it's true she did know, and I don't think that's made up, but, there's no "proof" right now). I would like to know whether this "found money" is going to go towards education or to make up for cuts to health benefits that were cut by the City Council has an effort in cost-savings so that the $$ could go to education.
Right now, I feel like both sides are LYING. And that doesn't make me feel good about the direction of this county - even though I LOVE the schools and teachers for my children, LOVE my neighborhood, LOVE the amenities (and the Libraries - the libraries are wonderful), LOVE the parks. I DON"T LIKE THE POLITICS. Act like LOCAL politicians. I expect National Politicians to play these types of games. I don't expect it of my local politicians. Local politicians should be the ones I can count on to have the best interests of the County's residents and do what's best - not what's most politically expedient. And I don't see that happening right now. |
Anonymous
OP here - I posted the article here to have a discussion on DCUM, I have a learnt a lot from the discussion. Certainly that there seems to be a lot that goes on behind the scenes of the $2B business called MCPS where the shareholders have little or no visibility. Agree with the PP and I too don't like these politics, but where there is a lot of money, there is going to be a lot of politics if the leadership is weak. So in essence we have weak leadership. This will have to change and education given the priority. |
AngryTeacher
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First of all, let me inform you that “union mouthpiece” is not a slam. WE ARE THE UNION. I pay my dues so that my school representative can share OUR views at meetings. Sadly, we’ve been disappointed by slimy politicians, such as Ervin, who have used teachers and students to climb. (One of my own students years ago worked on her campaign b/c Ervin had preached about equity across the board. Ha – laughable!) So we’re at fault for having faith in politicians who claim they have an educational platform?
Furthermore, your use of “transparency” is interesting, as it’s THE buzzword on the PC blog. I’m sick of Sartucci and her crew preaching about these “secret meetings” and relentlessly biting down on the purchases of these Prometheans. They are fabulous tools to use in the classroom. (Do the research yourself to see how they can transform bland lessons into interactive assignments.) Sadly, the non-educators - who haven’t a clue as to what works best in the classroom - are the ones blaming these boards for our economic downfall. The bottom line is this: If education is NOT a priority, then end your argument. Although you claim you’re not “bring[ing] teachers down,” your rhetoric is demoralizing. Most people with our level of education (I have three degrees, and this is my second profession.) make more money. And while we don’t enter this profession thinking we’ll make it rich, one of the financial benefits is a nice retirement/healthcare plan. Now THAT’S slowly dissolving. Statistically, school systems hire more people on average than county governments do. So in order to keep and attract the best, healthcare is a priority for us. Again – Play the blame game and you’ll force good teachers out of the profession. Just last week I found out that two more young teachers were leaving for good – both in special education.
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AngryTeacher
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My classes were often way over the cap – either b/c guidance placed them in my classes or students chose to rearrange their schedules. So keep in mind that you won’t be able to micromanage your child’s life forever.
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Anonymous
| So what will the PTA going to do for our children now? Where is PTA advocacy? There is all this money that can be used to reverse some of the cuts to special education for example. I am waiting.... |
Anonymous
Are you a MCPS parent? If so, then YOU ARE the PTA. Our school's PTA, meaning the parents, have been advocating all year long, writing letters, having meetings with leaders locally and in Annapolis. What are you doing, or are you expecting someone else to do it for you? |
Anonymous
| Why didn't Barclay testify publically about the newly found surplus? Either orally or in writing? He had ample opportunity to do so at the open public hearings (there were at least 3 if I remember correctly), any of the committee worksessions, or the Council worksession. What was there to hide, if not from the Council, then from the public? |
Anonymous
Email him and find out. There are email links on the MCPS site. |
Anonymous
PP poster here. Note that this previous post was my first post. You seem to be linking me with other posts. Having said that ..... 1. Generally agree that it is hard to trust elected officials. I think they will act in their own interests, which is fine, but they will try to obfuscate the issue to hide their true intentions. That is why transparency is key. For this post, I am focused on the BOE, though. That said, I do trust my kid's MCPS teachers. I think they are very professional. 2. DC is the highest paid, you say. Ok, I will give you that then. The point was that MCPS pays it's teachers well. Even with budget cuts, MCPS is fairing way better than other school systems around the country and other MoCo departments. I am pretty sure that the avg MCPS salary is higher than FCPS. You can't say that because I am fed up with the BOE, that I am anti-education. i am ok with MCPS teachers making more than other counties, but I have my limits too. 3. I didn't say teachers were immune from the economy. Quite the contrary. I said we all are impacted. I think the teacher's union is acting like they shouldn't suffer as much as everyone else. Again, they can act in their own interests, but they should not act insulted or surprised if the rest of the population has a different view about how taxes should be raised and spent. You should note that Fed govt employees aren't getting raises either. I work for a private firm and haven't gotten a raise in awhile and I could be laid off at any time. Also, I am sorry about the situations you describe. I do want to point out it is fairly well known that teachers don't make as much as other professions. I am not saying that is right or wrong, but I don't think the earning potential of teachers should come as a surprise to those entering the profession. |
Anonymous
You have to ask? MCPS has already said it's NOT going to go to saving some of the aides or other classroom-impacting cuts they were planning to make. It's of course going to make sure that the relatively minor increase in health benefit costs to teachers won't go through. MCPS has acted in horrendously bad faith here. |
Anonymous
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Again, PP here. You should be proud for being in the Union. I have no problem with Unions. The operative word is mouthpiece. Being a mouthpiece is fine too, but to me it implies that you not responding to or considering alternative view points that advance the debate. You are just taking an advocacy position that I don't think considers all sides.
Meanwhile, why is my take on transparency interesting? Are you against transparency? I personally am fed up with the lack of transparency, not just in MCPS, but in the country. This is about more than Parents Coalition. This is about democracy. It may not be efficient, but it is how we should operate as a society. Lack of transparency get's scientific research killed because it goes against the ruling party view (see Bush and climate research); lack of transparency allows this country to torture in secret and thus put our active troops at risk, encourage even more terrorism, and ruin our moral standing as a country; lack of transparency allows the financial and other large industries capture their regulators and transfer risk to the federal government through bailouts. In short, lack of transparency leads to bad decisions that benefit a few at the expense of the many. As a mouthpiece, you don't really address my issue on transparency. And I get that the CC probably has transparency issues too, but it is the BOE that I am worried about now. So instead of talking about transparency, you just talk about how Promethean boards are great. I am open to hearing how great they are. Sell me on them. I am sure they would be supported as an investment if you could show that they improve teacher production (allowing fewer teachers=more cost savings) or improved outcomes (higher test scores). Unfortunately, I don't see it being sold to the public. Instead I see overcrowded classrooms and complaints that we don't have any money in the school budget. Aside from promethean boards, I list other examples to show a lack of transparency, so take your pick. Finally, I am sorry my rhetoric is demoralizing to you, but your rhetoric is equally demoralizing to me as a parent and taxpayer. I think my kids have great teachers. I think MoCo has great teachers. I support having MoCo with among the highest compensated teachers of comparative school districts. I don't think anyone wants to change this. I don't know all the details of teacher comp, but I sense that this budget crisis is not going to get fully solved through tax increases/cuts to other non-MCPS programs to fully fund teacher comp. That leaves either some scaling back of benefits or some layoffs or a combination. This is not just happening in MCPS. This is happening in many industries and many other local governments. It is not going to change. The view of life before the financial crisis needs to be reexamined. You have to recognize that we are all scaling back, so raising taxes just passes the problem to someone else. Healthcare too is a national issue. We all face healthcare issues unless we can fix the national system we have in place. Complaining to the people who pay your salary is not going to help. As for teachers leaving, I know many good teachers who have left the profession over the years. It happens. Teaching is not for everyone and teachers are not paid well for all the great work they do. I do wish we could pay teachers more, but it is not going to happen in this economy. Finally, let me say this about the BOE. I think there are no alternative voices on that body. We need less apple ballot and more diversity. The union should have a place at the table, but so should other stakeholders. MCPS needs better oversight.
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