Reply to Two Montgomery school board seats will have primaries as new candidates join race

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/schools/two-montgomery-school-board-seats-will-have-primaries-as-new-candidates-join-race/?fbclid=IwAR1q4IcKwXMD4ggMud0CIepTWT7uTJrNsH5yyZGQhBimY1Rr_5DWIJyLZhE

Ummm worst news ever.  Please, someone else run. We don’t want these two deciding mcps policy for the next couple of years. Dawn is tone deaf.  And Dawn don’t try and get this post removed like you usually do. As a candidate, you are now subject to public scrutiny. So heckling people at BOE meetings, wearing a MESH mask to BOE meetings (well before the mandate was lifted) in order to antagonize the BOE and those who were masked and picking on the SMOB are all things you will have to answer for. [/quote]

Do you know who is on the Apple ballot yet?[/quote]

For BOE, so far MCEA has endorsed only Julie Yang in the District 3 race.

[twitter]https://mobile.twitter.com/mceanea/status/1499837088912400386[/twitter][/quote]

She sounds great! Definitely has my vote.[/quote]

She is Apple ballot endorsed, which will get a major side eye from me. [/quote]

Apple ballot:
- Endorsed by teachers?  Check.  :thumbup: 
- Not an incumbent?  Check. :thumbup:

Good enough for me - Julie Yang it is!!!!  :thumbup: [/quote]

This is why the apple ballot is so powerful.  The problem is that the apple ballot is not about support from teachers, it’s about support from the union. The priority is not education, but political influence and leverage for collective bargaining.

Here’s a Post article explaining that candidates are supposed to make contributions to the union in exchange for the endorsement.  I’m pretty sure those contributions are not passed along to the individual teachers, much less applied to improving the educational experience in the classroom.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/montgomery-countys-perverse-politics/2014/02/01/98f099f2-8921-11e3-833c-33098f9e5267_story.html

Here’s an article talking about the negative impact that too much emphasis on union priorities can have. It’s great that teachers get higher salaries and better benefits, but at some point that means not hiring as many teachers, which means bigger class sizes and less support.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/montgomery-countys-wrong-education-priorities/2012/05/24/gJQA0wOBoU_story.html

Currently, the union holds the power, because when it comes time to vote, most people want to support the teachers and will vote the apple ballot rather than doing the hard work to see what the actual issues are and where the candidates stand on those issues.  So, the voters support the union (thinking they’re supporting teachers). The union supports the candidates that it feels will support them in contract negotiations (and of course contributing to the union is a way of demonstrating their good will).  The school board, once elected, makes sure the administration negotiates favorable terms with the union, and doesn’t interfere too much with the actual running of things, because after all, they’re doing such a great job - just ask them.  The administration gives the union what they want and keeps doing whatever it wants to otherwise.  Standardized test scores may be low.  They may have to cancel finals because too many students are failing the finals they’ve written for courses they’ve written. Colleges are recognizing that MCPS grades are inflated. Private tutoring is a booming industry. Even a curriculum audit shows what many parents have been saying all along, that their in-house curriculum is fundamentally deficient. Then the MCPS PR department (which I think is probably the only part of MCPS that functions effectively) tells everyone that MCPS is “one of the best school systems in the nation”.  Voters feel vindicated that they were right to cast that apple ballot. It’s all very cozy, and everybody’s happy, except maybe little Larlo/Larla who won’t have the skills they need to succeed academically and to be fully prepared to meet their  needs, let alone follow their dreams.

According to the state of Maryland, our percent proficiency for E/M/H students is:
Math - 52% / 42.5% / 56.2%
English Language Arts - 53% / 54.8% / 67.3%

https://reportcard.msde.maryland.gov/Graphs/#/ReportCards/ReportCardSchool/1/E/1/15/XXXX/2019

Think how hard it is to learn Algebra, if you’re one of the 48% who isn’t proficient in the fundamentals taught in elementary, or about absorbing complex texts in history, science, and of course literature, if you’re one of the 47% who isn’t proficient in English Language Arts.  How many of these kids are functionally illiterate?  These numbers include those whose parents teach them at home or take them to regular tutoring sessions.

[/quote]

Thanks - this was actually quite helpful. In past years, I remember seeing the apple ballots handed out at polling places, but I didn't fully understand how those endorsements were decided.

I have also been concerned about math/language proficiency, based on what I see with my own children, so I appreciate seeing the county wide numbers. I vaguely remember a news article about saturday school (virginia maybe?) to help with learning loss. But I haven't heard much about a similar approach or tutoring services for mcps students. Has anyone else? We are currently looking for local tutoring options or recommendations.[/quote]

Here’s a link about the MCPS Saturday school. My kids never went, so I don’t know anything about it.

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/mainstory/story/596315/Saturday-School/[/quote]

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