Anonymous
Post 03/03/2024 20:43     Subject: What could be up? Elementary School Changes for next year?

They absolutely said during the worksession they couldn't predict this happening, which is BS. They also said there is nothing they can do to get those schools back on the list. And they said the current approach is what the principals agreed on.
Anonymous
Post 03/03/2024 19:47     Subject: What could be up? Elementary School Changes for next year?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Honestly the MCPS staff sound incompetent. They are claiming that they need to rank schools by CEP and FARMS and "that's new". It's not clear what ranking "by CEP" means. From what I have read, there is no new federal restriction on collecting income data from families and using that to rank schools for Title 1. MCPS just didn't do it. They also claim they could not have predicted this happening and that is just stunning? Why couldn't you predict this??? It seems completely obvious. Lots of hemming and hawing about how this happens every year and how they don't want to take money from other schools and the principals decided. WTF. I feel bad for the BOE to to have to deal with these morons.


+1 on incompetent. They did not predict the Title I problem and thought it would just be easier on everyone not to push completion of the the FARMS forms.


Is it really a problem?


If fewer people qualified as poor, it might even be an indication that things are improving!


If they indicated the shift was intentional, and justified it based on the data, that would be fine. But instead they said, "We had no idea this would happen! There is nothing we can do and the principals all agreed!"


Where did they say this exactly?


They never said that. What they actually said was that schools move on and off of the Title I list every year, and they will work with the principals to come up with other ways to provide the level of staffing needed.


Which is basically BS because while some schools shift in and out of Title 1 status due to hovering around the cutoff, the schools that lost it this time where nowhere near the typical FARMs cutoff, and there's no way to "work with" principals to provide staffing needed when the critical funding is taken away.

They basically said "oh, it happens every year, you'll be fine." Which depends on one's definition of fine.
Anonymous
Post 03/03/2024 11:34     Subject: What could be up? Elementary School Changes for next year?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Honestly the MCPS staff sound incompetent. They are claiming that they need to rank schools by CEP and FARMS and "that's new". It's not clear what ranking "by CEP" means. From what I have read, there is no new federal restriction on collecting income data from families and using that to rank schools for Title 1. MCPS just didn't do it. They also claim they could not have predicted this happening and that is just stunning? Why couldn't you predict this??? It seems completely obvious. Lots of hemming and hawing about how this happens every year and how they don't want to take money from other schools and the principals decided. WTF. I feel bad for the BOE to to have to deal with these morons.


+1 on incompetent. They did not predict the Title I problem and thought it would just be easier on everyone not to push completion of the the FARMS forms.


Is it really a problem?


If fewer people qualified as poor, it might even be an indication that things are improving!


If they indicated the shift was intentional, and justified it based on the data, that would be fine. But instead they said, "We had no idea this would happen! There is nothing we can do and the principals all agreed!"


Where did they say this exactly?


They never said that. What they actually said was that schools move on and off of the Title I list every year, and they will work with the principals to come up with other ways to provide the level of staffing needed.
Anonymous
Post 03/03/2024 10:51     Subject: What could be up? Elementary School Changes for next year?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Honestly the MCPS staff sound incompetent. They are claiming that they need to rank schools by CEP and FARMS and "that's new". It's not clear what ranking "by CEP" means. From what I have read, there is no new federal restriction on collecting income data from families and using that to rank schools for Title 1. MCPS just didn't do it. They also claim they could not have predicted this happening and that is just stunning? Why couldn't you predict this??? It seems completely obvious. Lots of hemming and hawing about how this happens every year and how they don't want to take money from other schools and the principals decided. WTF. I feel bad for the BOE to to have to deal with these morons.


+1 on incompetent. They did not predict the Title I problem and thought it would just be easier on everyone not to push completion of the the FARMS forms.


Is it really a problem?


If fewer people qualified as poor, it might even be an indication that things are improving!


If they indicated the shift was intentional, and justified it based on the data, that would be fine. But instead they said, "We had no idea this would happen! There is nothing we can do and the principals all agreed!"


Where did they say this exactly?
Anonymous
Post 03/03/2024 10:51     Subject: What could be up? Elementary School Changes for next year?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Honestly the MCPS staff sound incompetent. They are claiming that they need to rank schools by CEP and FARMS and "that's new". It's not clear what ranking "by CEP" means. From what I have read, there is no new federal restriction on collecting income data from families and using that to rank schools for Title 1. MCPS just didn't do it. They also claim they could not have predicted this happening and that is just stunning? Why couldn't you predict this??? It seems completely obvious. Lots of hemming and hawing about how this happens every year and how they don't want to take money from other schools and the principals decided. WTF. I feel bad for the BOE to to have to deal with these morons.


+1 on incompetent. They did not predict the Title I problem and thought it would just be easier on everyone not to push completion of the the FARMS forms.


Is it really a problem?


If fewer people qualified as poor, it might even be an indication that things are improving!


Sounds like a step in the right direction then!
Anonymous
Post 03/03/2024 09:03     Subject: What could be up? Elementary School Changes for next year?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Honestly the MCPS staff sound incompetent. They are claiming that they need to rank schools by CEP and FARMS and "that's new". It's not clear what ranking "by CEP" means. From what I have read, there is no new federal restriction on collecting income data from families and using that to rank schools for Title 1. MCPS just didn't do it. They also claim they could not have predicted this happening and that is just stunning? Why couldn't you predict this??? It seems completely obvious. Lots of hemming and hawing about how this happens every year and how they don't want to take money from other schools and the principals decided. WTF. I feel bad for the BOE to to have to deal with these morons.


+1 on incompetent. They did not predict the Title I problem and thought it would just be easier on everyone not to push completion of the the FARMS forms.


Is it really a problem?


If fewer people qualified as poor, it might even be an indication that things are improving!


If they indicated the shift was intentional, and justified it based on the data, that would be fine. But instead they said, "We had no idea this would happen! There is nothing we can do and the principals all agreed!"


This is the chaos of MCPS. We need leadership that is on top of key issues.
Anonymous
Post 03/03/2024 08:10     Subject: What could be up? Elementary School Changes for next year?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Honestly the MCPS staff sound incompetent. They are claiming that they need to rank schools by CEP and FARMS and "that's new". It's not clear what ranking "by CEP" means. From what I have read, there is no new federal restriction on collecting income data from families and using that to rank schools for Title 1. MCPS just didn't do it. They also claim they could not have predicted this happening and that is just stunning? Why couldn't you predict this??? It seems completely obvious. Lots of hemming and hawing about how this happens every year and how they don't want to take money from other schools and the principals decided. WTF. I feel bad for the BOE to to have to deal with these morons.


+1 on incompetent. They did not predict the Title I problem and thought it would just be easier on everyone not to push completion of the the FARMS forms.


Is it really a problem?


If fewer people qualified as poor, it might even be an indication that things are improving!


If they indicated the shift was intentional, and justified it based on the data, that would be fine. But instead they said, "We had no idea this would happen! There is nothing we can do and the principals all agreed!"
Anonymous
Post 03/03/2024 06:44     Subject: Re:What could be up? Elementary School Changes for next year?

Banneker middle school is becoming Title I next year. The threshold for middle schools is 69.33% “economically disadvantaged,” but the letter I saw doesn’t indicate how that is measured.
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2024 23:29     Subject: What could be up? Elementary School Changes for next year?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I wonder if the CEP program is impacting this. Given that there is no need for families to complete the forms to receive meals, how do they actually know the FARMS rate? Both NHE and Oak View are CEP schools with all students receiving free meals. No one had to complete the forms.
https://www..org/news/quick-notes/2023-08/2023-08-issue/important-information-about-student-meals/


It definitely has. MCPS said not as many families filled out paperwork this year because of free breakfast and lunch from CEP.


Viers Mill is also a CEP school and lost Title I. The FARMs data had the school at about 75% FARMs, with 19 Title I schools at lower rates. But since those families didn't apply for SNAP, they don't count. MCPS knows the students are poor enough to need the support, they just don't care. And since the CEP feeds them, they can wash their hands of it.
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2024 17:21     Subject: What could be up? Elementary School Changes for next year?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Honestly the MCPS staff sound incompetent. They are claiming that they need to rank schools by CEP and FARMS and "that's new". It's not clear what ranking "by CEP" means. From what I have read, there is no new federal restriction on collecting income data from families and using that to rank schools for Title 1. MCPS just didn't do it. They also claim they could not have predicted this happening and that is just stunning? Why couldn't you predict this??? It seems completely obvious. Lots of hemming and hawing about how this happens every year and how they don't want to take money from other schools and the principals decided. WTF. I feel bad for the BOE to to have to deal with these morons.


+1 on incompetent. They did not predict the Title I problem and thought it would just be easier on everyone not to push completion of the the FARMS forms.


Is it really a problem?


If fewer people qualified as poor, it might even be an indication that things are improving!
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2024 17:18     Subject: What could be up? Elementary School Changes for next year?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Honestly the MCPS staff sound incompetent. They are claiming that they need to rank schools by CEP and FARMS and "that's new". It's not clear what ranking "by CEP" means. From what I have read, there is no new federal restriction on collecting income data from families and using that to rank schools for Title 1. MCPS just didn't do it. They also claim they could not have predicted this happening and that is just stunning? Why couldn't you predict this??? It seems completely obvious. Lots of hemming and hawing about how this happens every year and how they don't want to take money from other schools and the principals decided. WTF. I feel bad for the BOE to to have to deal with these morons.


+1 on incompetent. They did not predict the Title I problem and thought it would just be easier on everyone not to push completion of the the FARMS forms.


Is it really a problem?
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2024 17:06     Subject: What could be up? Elementary School Changes for next year?

Anonymous wrote:Honestly the MCPS staff sound incompetent. They are claiming that they need to rank schools by CEP and FARMS and "that's new". It's not clear what ranking "by CEP" means. From what I have read, there is no new federal restriction on collecting income data from families and using that to rank schools for Title 1. MCPS just didn't do it. They also claim they could not have predicted this happening and that is just stunning? Why couldn't you predict this??? It seems completely obvious. Lots of hemming and hawing about how this happens every year and how they don't want to take money from other schools and the principals decided. WTF. I feel bad for the BOE to to have to deal with these morons.


+1 on incompetent. They did not predict the Title I problem and thought it would just be easier on everyone not to push completion of the the FARMS forms.
Anonymous
Post 03/01/2024 14:48     Subject: What could be up? Elementary School Changes for next year?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I wonder if the CEP program is impacting this. Given that there is no need for families to complete the forms to receive meals, how do they actually know the FARMS rate? Both NHE and Oak View are CEP schools with all students receiving free meals. No one had to complete the forms.
https://www..org/news/quick-notes/2023-08/2023-08-issue/important-information-about-student-meals/


It definitely has. MCPS said not as many families filled out paperwork this year because of free breakfast and lunch from CEP.


Specifically because MCPS told them they didn't need to because of the CEP.
Anonymous
Post 03/01/2024 12:47     Subject: What could be up? Elementary School Changes for next year?

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if the CEP program is impacting this. Given that there is no need for families to complete the forms to receive meals, how do they actually know the FARMS rate? Both NHE and Oak View are CEP schools with all students receiving free meals. No one had to complete the forms.
https://www..org/news/quick-notes/2023-08/2023-08-issue/important-information-about-student-meals/


It definitely has. MCPS said not as many families filled out paperwork this year because of free breakfast and lunch from CEP.
Anonymous
Post 03/01/2024 12:44     Subject: What could be up? Elementary School Changes for next year?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:The word is out that the new Title 1 formula MCPS is using cuts Oakview from Title 1 funding. This is because the CES students are from more affluent families which lowers the percentage of FARMS students.

If you are from Oakview or are an advocate for education come to the meeting Wednesday night.


Seems like a reason to move the CES


Or perhaps make sure all families who qualify for SNAP benefits actually fill out the paperwork? Families were told they did not have to fill out FARMS this year because everyone was getting free breakfast and lunch. So less incentive to follow through.