MCPS for kids not in magnet or GT programs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:re: Sligo Creek playground facility - the Sligo Creek PTA has plenty of fundraising muscle. And playground upgrades typically fall to the PTA if they go above and beyond the standard equipment. Nothing will change the fact that the school site is what it is - an old high school building. But the inside of the building still shines (even without the added $ that some PTAs elsewhere choose to raise). So what has the Sligo Creek PTA been doing to improve the playground facility?

I agree with this. If you want a better playground, the PTA needs to start fundraising. Personally, I don't see anything wrong with having PTAs put money into playground equipment. I am surprised they've been allowed to work on bathrooms, but playground equipment seems like the perfect use of PTA money. Especially at a school like Sligo with 2 schools within a school-every kid will benefit.

http://www.csesef.org/

The Foundation was created by CSES parents in 2001 as a means to assist the school with ongoing financial needs. Over the years, money raised has supported the school in many different ways, including the implementation of a technology program, upgrades to bathroom facilities, and, most recently, enhancements and supplements to the basic renovation plan for the new school building, which opened in August, 2010. In addition to providing support for the technology program and the new building/grounds, the Foundation also plans to focus on professional development and student programs in upcoming years.
As we approach the 10-year anniversary of the Foundation's inception, we realize how instrumental the Foundation has been in creating a topnotch educational environment in which our children can learn and grow. The accomplishments of the Foundation are a direct result of the dedication and support provided by the CSES community, and we want to thank everyone for their continued commitment.

I am all for PTA support of a given school, but this goes way, way beyond that, and exacerbates the existing inequities that prevail in MCPS. Why should a wealthy school be permitted to fundraise for these things that are supposed to be provided by the County? Bathroom upgrade? Seriously?

Contrast that with the Sligo Creek Prison Yard.

As various PPs have said above, this is a county-based school system, and part of the point of a that is to ensure a wide distribution of resources to the whole population in equal shares. Clearly, this is not happening.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So much unhappiness at Sligo Creek - with a large part attributed to the principal. Having had kids at the school I know that a) it is a complicated place due to its three distinct programs (academy, high-functioning autism, immersion) and b) the principal is just not up to the task, neither adequately supports or maintains high expectations for staff, and does not respond constructively to legitimate parent concerns.

Please tell me that those with kids at the school are voicing their concerns to the community supt. to whom the principal reports??[/quote

Sligo Creek Elementary parents have no monopoly on unhappiness. There is much unhappiness with Potomac Elementary. The current Principal has few supporters. She is not supportive of her teachers or of any program except her ill-fated arts program. The MCPS community supervisor or superintendent basically tricked the parent community into accepting her as principal by indicating that she had the support of the teachers that she met with during the interview process. The teachers denied that they had supported her. She is an ambitious nightmare. She spins statistics to make her school look better than last place in the Churchill cluster. Don't even get started on the condition of the building. The thing is falling down around their ears and is such a hideous eyesore. The kids were not allowed to play tag at on the playground. Some kid fell off the jungle gym so she ripped all that "dangerous" play equipment out. When the school finally got a bike rack she placed it so out of the way that no kid would bother parking there bike there. When asked why it couldn't go in a more conveniently located spot she said and I quote " I really don't want them riding their bikes." "It's too dangerous." Just like it's too dangerous to go outside for recess when it's wet or cold. There is so much more but I'm tired now. Doesn't Sligo Creek Elementary have a science lab? I know one of those schools over there does. I just hope the teachers/admin make good use of it. Sorry about the vent. But I do feel better.

[Anonymous]

CSES - the school that raised $147K for terrazzo tiles? Yikes. If you follow the link to the foundation site, the students pictured on are the least diverse group of kids imaginable. Perhaps they would like to "adopt" a school in the red zone as others have done at the middle and high school levels (Pyle Foundation comes to mind) to share the wealth?

[Anonymous]

You're referencing information on a foundation, which is a separate legal entity from a PTA. PTAs are subject to national rules on fundraising and spending and are supposed to spend the money they fundraise in the current year. A foundation can do more fundraising and can be a way to hold on to money for a longer period so that it could be spent on a bigger purchase, like playground equipment. MoCo doesn't seem to have firm rules on what foundations can buy for schools, other than that they cannot hire people to make up for positions that are eliminated. Other counties/cities in the US do allow PTAs or foundations to bring in instructional aids, extra music teachers, etc. with their own money. Personally, I do not believe in telling people that they cannot spend money on their child's school if that's what they want to do with it. It's not a zero sum game. If the Sligo playground is terrible, you need to talk with your elected BOE member, the at large members, your county council rep, etc. and see if you can't get some money to improve the property built into next year's budget. You should also talk about what specific improvements you want to see. You can't lobby these entities effectively by tossing out complaints. You're going to need to be specific about what needs to be fixed. If Carderock parents are organized and can raise all this money then it shouldn't anger you-it doesn't impact you negatively. But, sure, if one school has a substandard playground, let's ensure that they're all substandard. Now do we all feel better?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You're referencing information on a foundation, which is a separate legal entity from a PTA. PTAs are subject to national rules on fundraising and spending and are supposed to spend the money they fundraise in the current year. A foundation can do more fundraising and can be a way to hold on to money for a longer period so that it could be spent on a bigger purchase, like playground equipment. MoCo doesn't seem to have firm rules on what foundations can buy for schools, other than that they cannot hire people to make up for positions that are eliminated. Other counties/cities in the US do allow PTAs or foundations to bring in instructional aids, extra music teachers, etc. with their own money. Personally, I do not believe in telling people that they cannot spend money on their child's school if that's what they want to do with it. It's not a zero sum game. If the Sligo playground is terrible, you need to talk with your elected BOE member, the at large members, your county council rep, etc. and see if you can't get some money to improve the property built into next year's budget. You should also talk about what specific improvements you want to see. You can't lobby these entities effectively by tossing out complaints. You're going to need to be specific about what needs to be fixed. If Carderock parents are organized and can raise all this money then it shouldn't anger you-it doesn't impact you negatively. But, sure, if one school has a substandard playground, let's ensure that they're all substandard. Now do we all feel better?

Not the Sligo Creek poster - It's been awhile since I had kids in school but I thought MoCo had rules about how much a foundation could spend. I also thought that a green zone school had give a certain percentage of what it raised to a school in the red zone. Not sure where I heard that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:CSES - the school that raised $147K for terrazzo tiles? Yikes. If you follow the link to the foundation site, the students pictured on are the least diverse group of kids imaginable. Perhaps they would like to "adopt" a school in the red zone as others have done at the middle and high school levels (Pyle Foundation comes to mind) to share the wealth?

Or better yet, any funds raised should go into a common pool to support the entire county-based school system. Carderock ES is not, after all, a private school, functioning independently of MCPS. At least, not in theory.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:CSES - the school that raised $147K for terrazzo tiles? Yikes. If you follow the link to the foundation site, the students pictured on are the least diverse group of kids imaginable. Perhaps they would like to "adopt" a school in the red zone as others have done at the middle and high school levels (Pyle Foundation comes to mind) to share the wealth?

Or better yet, any funds raised should go into a common pool to support the entire county-based school system. Carderock ES is not, after all, a private school, functioning independently of MCPS. At least, not in theory.

The point has been made on this thread that many Silver Spring residents have as much high HHI as residents on the west side of the county. Therefore, why don't you take some of your high HHI and put it toward your own foundation, that you start at your own school, and raise your own money for your own school? Why do you expect that everybody is supposed to provide you with a handout? MCPS provides some playground equipment. If you want more, you can buy it. If Carderock or Pyle want to share the wealth, that's fantastic. But we're not living under communism here, poster. Furthermore, there is a county wide foundation already that people can and do contribute to and which can be accessed to buy some of the extras, like teacher training and music programs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You're referencing information on a foundation, which is a separate legal entity from a PTA. PTAs are subject to national rules on fundraising and spending and are supposed to spend the money they fundraise in the current year. A foundation can do more fundraising and can be a way to hold on to money for a longer period so that it could be spent on a bigger purchase, like playground equipment. 1. MoCo doesn't seem to have firm rules on what foundations can buy for schools, other than that they cannot hire people to make up for positions that are eliminated. Other counties/cities in the US do allow PTAs or foundations to bring in instructional aids, extra music teachers, etc. with their own money. 2. Personally, I do not believe in telling people that they cannot spend money on their child's school if that's what they want to do with it. It's not a zero sum game. 3. If the Sligo playground is terrible, you need to talk with your elected BOE member, the at large members, your county council rep, etc. and see if you can't get some money to improve the property built into next year's budget. You should also talk about what specific improvements you want to see. You can't lobby these entities effectively by tossing out complaints. You're going to need to be specific about what needs to be fixed. 4. If Carderock parents are organized and can raise all this money then it shouldn't anger you-it doesn't impact you negatively. But, sure, 5. if one school has a substandard playground, let's ensure that they're all substandard. Now do we all feel better?

1. Apparently not.

2. It's not your child's school. It is a county school. The point of a county-based system is to distribute the resources equitably, regardless of SES and HHI in a given zone.

3. Playground, in next year's budget? Surely you jest.

4. Carderock parents are not just organized; they are affluent. They are entitled to spend their money on their children however they want. Regarding the county-owned and county-run school, however, see #2 above.

5. No one in this thread suggested that substandard playgrounds should be available for all. I believe the PPs are saying that whatever is made available as a school basic at one end of the county (whether by MCPS or by a Foundation) should be made throughout MCPS.

RE your last sentence, you sound like Marie Antoinette.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The point has been made on this thread that many Silver Spring residents have as much high HHI as residents on the west side of the county. Therefore, why don't you take some of your high HHI and put it toward your own foundation, that you start at your own school, and raise your own money for your own school? Why do you expect that everybody is supposed to provide you with a handout? MCPS provides some playground equipment. If you want more, you can buy it. If Carderock or Pyle want to share the wealth, that's fantastic. But we're not living under communism here, poster. Furthermore, there is a county wide foundation already that people can and do contribute to and which can be accessed to buy some of the extras, like teacher training and music programs.

Not the PP you're responding to.

But the point has also been made that lots of low SES are mixed in with the high SES on the eastern side. So the average[b] income is lower than on the west side of the county. Is that hard really so hard to understand?

Or did you understand this fact but thought you could argue your way out of it with spurious references to "handouts" and "communism"?

[Anonymous]

Playground equipment is already provided by MCPS. If you want more, go buy it. RE: Sligo Creek, they don't even have a high FARMS rate. They should just get busy fundraising like other schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Playground equipment is already provided by MCPS. If you want more, go buy it. RE: Sligo Creek, they don't even have a high FARMS rate. They should just get busy fundraising like other schools.

You must have missed the posts explaining that the average income (despite some high SES households) is lower in the eastern part of the county than in the western part? And that high income households are not the majority. So that you're asking a handful of families to buy this equipment?

[Anonymous]

"it may not be possible to make them equivalent to west county schools where the average HHI is higher and the PTAs are richer. "

Of course you can make them more equivalent - it's called busing. Many people are all up in arms about a NC system doing away with exactly such an approach that was quite successful in evening out more the SES differences in a large school system. But people pretend that it's "impossible" everywhere else to actually address the fundamental challenge that many schools such as those in the eastern portion face, which is a high concentration of low SES kids while there are very high concentrations of high SES kids only a few miles away in the western portion of the county. Even those out a bit through busing would do worlds of good since the demands on any one teacher/school from high concentrations of low SES students would not be as great.

I'm putting that in the "it'll never happen" category though. It's all well and fine to tolerate some extra money being poured into eastern schools, but to actually tolerate "diluting" the SES disparities throughout the county a bit - heresy!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"it may not be possible to make them equivalent to west county schools where the average HHI is higher and the PTAs are richer. "

Of course you can make them more equivalent - it's called busing. Many people are all up in arms about a NC system doing away with exactly such an approach that was quite successful in evening out more the SES differences in a large school system. But people pretend that it's "impossible" everywhere else to actually address the fundamental challenge that many schools such as those in the eastern portion face, which is a high concentration of low SES kids while there are very high concentrations of high SES kids only a few miles away in the western portion of the county. Even those out a bit through busing would do worlds of good since the demands on any one teacher/school from high concentrations of low SES students would not be as great.

I'm putting that in the "it'll never happen" category though. It's all well and fine to tolerate some extra money being poured into eastern schools, but to actually tolerate "diluting" the SES disparities throughout the county a bit - heresy!

The county does do some bussing to even out SES. The Rosemary Hills/North Chevy Chase arrangement is one example. Magnet programs are supposed to work that way, but in reality they bus high SES kids to their own private program within low SES schools. The better way to handle this is through housing policy, requiring that developers create apartments, condos, townhouses along with single family homes whenever they develop or redevelop property. Montgomery County has a housing program called MPDU-you can get on a list to qualify to purchase low income housing within middle class or upper middle class neighborhoods. That has definitely shown success. Putting kids on long bus rides would be politically unpopular-bussing doesn't work well where the rides would be any further than a few miles.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - you guys are proving my fears about MCPS - it is all a game to get your child into one or another specialized programs. It seems a good general education is not available.

Our home middle school is NOT generally thought to be a good one - so I guess I'll keep my son where he is in a K- 8 private school. I'm sometimes fairly underimpressed by what we get for the hefty tuition payment we make, but at least he is getting smaller classes and a focus on a broad well rounded general education.

I actually don't think that this is true of MCPS in general, but here in the eastern part of MoCo, I do think it's often true. DH and I spend a lot of time and energy strategizing to get our kids into this or that magnet program, because in our view this affords them a better education. My sister, who lives in Bethesda, doesn't have to do this.

It annoys me because the point of a county-based school system is to share the wealth/spread the resources. But, it is what it is.

I'm not following. Greater government resources are put into east county schools because that's where the Title I and Focus schools are found. So there's more Federal and local money flowing there. However, it may not be possible to make them equivalent to west county schools where the average HHI is higher and the PTAs are richer. It's just too much to make up for.

Common misconception. Greater funds go into ELEMENTARY schools, not middle or high schools. Title I and Focus Schools only refer to elementary schools.