Reply to Is MCPS Superintendent Starr stupid?

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Reply to "Is MCPS Superintendent Starr stupid?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Can somebody tell me what they think Starr should be doing?  What policy should he be following and how should he be implementing it?  It seems like a tough job to try to balance everyone's needs in such a huge school district.  If what he's doing is wrong, what is the alternative and is it feasible and advisable?  I'm asking this without having an opinion of whether he's screwing up or not.  [/quote]

I don't believe he's stupid.  I do think he behaves in an arrogant way.  His "parent outreach" sessions are constructed more like lectures, with no real opportunity for people to speak out about things that they think are important, and he talks down to people.

I don't like his focus on social/emotional education -- it's a trendy, jargony approach, and it allows him to sidestep real concerns about curriculum, etc.

I don't think he truly understands or cares about the concerns of my particular cohort -- parents of high performing kids in the former "red zone."  He treats our concerns with contempt.  This is exacerbated by the fact that he chose to buy a house where his kids would attend the whitest, least diverse elementary school in the county.  I know people think this isn't a valid criticism but there are SO many other areas within MCPS with very high performing schools and a population that's more representative of the county as a whole.

I would like to see him:

-  provide real and substantive training to teachers who are expected to roll out curriculum 2.0
-  explain, not excuse, the issue with math test performance, and provide a road map for how to fix the problem
-  support and increase the availability of attractive programs in the "red zone" to retain high performing kids 
-  acknowledge that one size doesn't fit all and incorporate the latest research on ability grouping, instead of insisting that differentiation is appropriate or even possible in classrooms where ability levels may span six or seven grade levels
-  stop the ceaseless promoting of MCPS on the national stage, a practice which takes tens of thousands of dollars of taxpayer money to travel MCPS administrators to conferences around the country, and use that money to hire more classroom teachers and protect programs like music and art

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