Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP. I can understand the reasoning behind wanting more specialty schools, but I have some serious concerns with the transparency of the lottery. Why does it take so long between the lottery and the posting of the numbers? Shouldn't this all be computerized and instantaneous? Last year someone posted on here about how she had a great number to the French Immersion program and a not great number for Spanish and was placed in the Spanish program and lost her number for both French Immersion and Thomas Pullen. I've heard too many parents saying the system is rigged for me to feel comfortable putting more dollars into it until some of the transparency issues get fixed.

What does that mean, "lost" her number? Wouldn't the French Immersion program just be a lot more popular? If people feel they have been wronged, they need to make some noise so that problems can be fixed.

I read the thread from last year. Who knows what happened, but generally it sounds like the system they use for the lottery is not very sophisticated. It is not capable of ranking multiple choices. So if you apply to more than one and get selected to more than one, you are more or less randomly assigned to one of them, even if your preference was for the other.

Prince George's County Advocates for Better Schools (PGCABS) meeting: The meeting is Wednesday, April 13th at 7 pm at Kenmoor Middle School in the media center. PGCABS (www.pgcabs.org) is a group of parents, teachers, and community members dedicated to facilitating increased engagement and activism in the Prince George's County Public Schools

Anonymous wrote:OP. I can understand the reasoning behind wanting more specialty schools, but I have some serious concerns with the transparency of the lottery. Why does it take so long between the lottery and the posting of the numbers? Shouldn't this all be computerized and instantaneous? Last year someone posted on here about how she had a great number to the French Immersion program and a not great number for Spanish and was placed in the Spanish program and lost her number for both French Immersion and Thomas Pullen. I've heard too many parents saying the system is rigged for me to feel comfortable putting more dollars into it until some of the transparency issues get fixed.

What does that mean, "lost" her number? Wouldn't the French Immersion program just be a lot more popular? If people feel they have been wronged, they need to make some noise so that problems can be fixed.

OP. I can understand the reasoning behind wanting more specialty schools, but I have some serious concerns with the transparency of the lottery. Why does it take so long between the lottery and the posting of the numbers? Shouldn't this all be computerized and instantaneous? Last year someone posted on here about how she had a great number to the French Immersion program and a not great number for Spanish and was placed in the Spanish program and lost her number for both French Immersion and Thomas Pullen. I've heard too many parents saying the system is rigged for me to feel comfortable putting more dollars into it until some of the transparency issues get fixed.

Anonymous wrote:That is a great letter. Thanks for posting. Suggest you share it to listservs as well!

Thank you! I tried to incorporate all the different posters' comments, and keep the tone as polite and pleasant as I could. Please let me know if you use it and send it!

That is a great letter. Thanks for posting. Suggest you share it to listservs as well!

Anonymous wrote:The question I have is who is accountable for poor performance? What will happen if I contact my school board rep? Or local council member? How do we as parents help improve our schools?

We improve our schools by becoming active at our schools. Many, many schools in the area welcome community volunteers even if you do not have kids at the school. All you need is a $10 online background check and you can go work in the library, clean up trash in the playground, tutor students, help put up bulletin boards, write up grant applications, organize fundraisers, do a winter coat drive, gather school supplies, volunteer to speak at career day etc. (if you aren't going to come in contact with the kids you don't even need the background check). You could even volunteer to organize volunteers.

Our school's PTA has coordinated the process and it has been very successful. Teachers and administrators need help and there are so many talented people in PG county that if more people pitched in we could become one of the stars of the metro area.

Writing to board members is great but change isn't going to happen from above, it needs to start in the community.

OP here. Ok, I drafted something. It was not as easy as I thought it would be and took a long time!! Please feel free to use it and edit it as you see fit.


Dear _______,

My name is (___________________) and I am a parent living in Prince George’s County. Having heard about the county’s recent increase in revenue, I write to you today requesting that the Prince George’s County Public Schools set aside funds this year to further expand specialty programs. I support school CEO Maxwell’s recent expansion of these programs but believe even more should be done. Specialty programs provide some of the best opportunities for education in the county, and I am troubled that only a lucky few who win a “lottery” have these opportunities available to them. For example, this year the waitlist number for kindergarten entry to Dora Kennedy French Immersion school reached 410.

County Executive Baker and other county officials have made it clear that one of their primary goals is for Prince George’s County to attract middle class families back into its school system. Specialty programs allow parents who are dissatisfied with their neighborhood schools an opportunity to find an acceptable public option in the county. While I appreciate the incremental improvements in the school system in recent years, for many parents this is not enough. Specialty schools provide an existing, proven model to build on. Many parents who have the financial means and do not gain entry into a lottery program send their children to private schools or leave the County altogether. An expansion of the specialty schools programs encourages these parents to remain in the school system and remain engaged.

It is also critical that specialty programs be expanded for middle and high schools. The County’s middle and high schools suffer from a poor reputation in comparison with other school systems in the region. Older students are more aware of their academic interests and would benefit more from specialized programs tailored to interests such as STEM or languages.

Specialty programs also present an opportunity for the County to fill neighborhood schools that are currently under-enrolled and may be closed under the County’s “Master Plan.” Why not plan on incorporating specialty programs into some of these under-enrolled schools and give them a second chance to thrive? As enrollment increases more of these facilities will be needed.

I thank you for your time and hope that you will consider these suggestions as we try to give children in this county the education they deserve.

Sincerely,

The question I have is who is accountable for poor performance? What will happen if I contact my school board rep? Or local council member? How do we as parents help improve our schools?

Anonymous wrote:Also, you may not realize this, but they just expanded the specialty programs two years ago.

OP here. Well, I do know that. I also know they have some extra money this year. I also know that the waitlist for some of the specialty schools reached 400. 400!!!

What I would really like is for almost every school in the county to have some sort of "hook" like a specialty program to attract middle class parents. The issue is that middle class parents take their energy and time and kids and put them elsewhere. This lowers the quality of the public schools.

Also, you may not realize this, but they just expanded the specialty programs two years ago.

I agree about the need for more middle school and high school options, but rather than just increase the number of slots in specialty schools, I'd prefer the time spent on testing to decrease across all elementary schools, add in extra recess, PE, art, music and foreign language instruction. If I had to choose, I'd choose specialty for middle and high school levels when the kids have the ability to recognize if they are more interested in STEM, languages or IB.

I want to echo the posters that are advocating for better middle/high school options. Thought the specialty school process is difficult and annoying, there are some options, including neighborhood schools. We're going to be more stressed as our kids grow. We need options there instead of resigning ourselves to private schools.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I looked around. Here is the board of education calendar:

http://www.boarddocs.com/MABE/pgcps/Board.nsf/files/A8RNN759BD4E/$file/2015-2016%20Board%20Calendar%20-%20April%202016%20-%20August%202016.pdf

I do not know which of these meetings is most beneficial for parents to attend.

Here is a list of people to advocate to:
http://pgcabs.org/advocate/

If I were to write a form letter to CEO Maxwell and Board of Education members, would anyone else be interested in sending it along with me? Do you think it would be good to cross-post such a message on the PGParents and PGPolitics listserve?

Thanks for posting the calendar. Yes, if you draft an email/letter I'd be happy to send a version of it.

I appreciate those who are advocating a broad improvement to PG schools, but that is a large, long term effort that will require a lot of efforts to come together. What I like about advocating the specialty schools specifically is there is an existing proven model to build on - they don't need to create anything new, they just need more slots.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I looked around. Here is the board of education calendar:

http://www.boarddocs.com/MABE/pgcps/Board.nsf/files/A8RNN759BD4E/$file/2015-2016%20Board%20Calendar%20-%20April%202016%20-%20August%202016.pdf

I do not know which of these meetings is most beneficial for parents to attend.

Here is a list of people to advocate to:
http://pgcabs.org/advocate/

If I were to write a form letter to CEO Maxwell and Board of Education members, would anyone else be interested in sending it along with me? Do you think it would be good to cross-post such a message on the PGParents and PGPolitics listserve?

Step one: contact your local school board rep for your district also contact your at-large rep. Step two: never give up. Step three: you attract more flies with honey then with vinegar.