Anonymous wrote:

Article from Southern Md. News (www.somdnews.com) dated Friday, March 14, 2014.

“Dr. Smith has created a major hole in the Calvert County community by his manipulation of weak minded board of education members back in 2010 that allowed him and his top staff to give him the ability to cash in leave and also have the school system pay his 403B and health benefits for life.”

And, BTW, when he relocated to MCPS, the system paid for his move. Then Smith found that his new digs were too small for his family. So, he moved again. And the system paid for that move too. He’s also brought along, as staff and consultants, some former staffers from his old jobs, at some pretty hefty salaries.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/potential-conflict-of-interest-derails-curriculum-rollout-in-md-school-system/2018/05/25/d28c96c2-5e9f-11e8-9ee3-49d6d4814c4c_story.html?utm_term=.1e96b4f5ab8c

WP’s article on the Discovery issue

No. Titling this a “potential conflict of interest” instead of a conflict of interest is the first clue that this article is a soft marshallow instead of dispassionate reporting. How Discovery or Lang or Fliakas can claim that all this just caught them by surprise (oh my!) and that as soon as they “realized” they rushed to report it is flatly unbelievable. If you are involved in public procurement, you just don’t go around marketing yourself to private vendors and then get religion the day you get a job offer. You just don’t do that and call it ethical. Lang may be a very personable guy, but this isn’t ethical behavior. There are plenty of personable and friendly people who lack ethical judgement. Dixon is right. There should be some very clear laws about this in MCPS.

MCPS already has very well-defined conflict of interest rules. The very first part of these rules says, very specifically, that employees are supposed to know these rules! For these two veteran staffers to suggest that they were somehow unaware of the ethical thin ice on which they were treading is simply, and literally, unbelievable.

Besides being recused from the now-delayed bidding process, did these guys face ANY consequences for their costly “mistake”? The story doesn’t answer that. In fact, the story mentions nothing about an actual investigation into this and the elected school board is AWOL. MCPS eats up about half of the county budget. It’s time for an independent Inspector General to have some oversight. Clearly, MCPS can’t police itself and the BOE either doesn’t care or lacks the capacity to really ride herd. I’m also starting to get a sinking feeling about Smith. He may be in way over his head and he doesn’t exactly have a squeaky clean history from his previous superintendent job.

Could you please post a quote or link?
Also, what do you mean about Smith’s history? Pulling the RFP seemed like a tough but honest call, although I do worry that Central Office seems to be trying rather hard to protect Discovery Ed.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We were at the franklin, WI district before and all they did was tweak the English and math class and WI chose the ACT common core test (not Parcc). Kid still had gym 3x a week, art 2x and and hour each of five subjects (math, reading, science, SS, English/word work). MCPS jacked up at her math and reading class hours and cut others.

PE and art were once a week each at MCPS before Maryland's Common Core standards/PARCC testing and MCPS's Curriculum 2.0, too.

I’d be curious when the 90 minute blocks of math, reading, and English began. That is a long time even if moving stations.

It's terrible, IMO! I volunteer a ton, mostly during the reading block, and it's crazy to expect five and six year olds to 'work independently' for 40 (or more) minutes. That's what ends up happening, since the teacher is working at the back table with one reading group at a time. I think that's why they are so dependent on Chromebooks even in grades K-2, because that's one of the few stations where the kids keep quiet.

What school?

I get the impression a good number of ESs do this. Unless you get really lucky, and find the rare ES that does not use this model.

My kids go to school in Silver Spring, and my sister's kids go to school in Rockville. Also, have friends at schools in Potomac, and they all use this model. I'm not sure how else it would be possible to teach five different reading groups. They have to keep the other 4 reading groups busy while the teacher works with one.

So, the kids do get about 15-20 minutes or direct instruction time with the teacher during that block, but the rest of the time is 'independent' work.

isn't Rockville, Potomac and Silver Spring all the same MCPS school district? THey have to do it.

What do they do in DCPS or Arlington, or Massachusetts?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We were at the franklin, WI district before and all they did was tweak the English and math class and WI chose the ACT common core test (not Parcc). Kid still had gym 3x a week, art 2x and and hour each of five subjects (math, reading, science, SS, English/word work). MCPS jacked up at her math and reading class hours and cut others.

PE and art were once a week each at MCPS before Maryland's Common Core standards/PARCC testing and MCPS's Curriculum 2.0, too.

I’d be curious when the 90 minute blocks of math, reading, and English began. That is a long time even if moving stations.

It's terrible, IMO! I volunteer a ton, mostly during the reading block, and it's crazy to expect five and six year olds to 'work independently' for 40 (or more) minutes. That's what ends up happening, since the teacher is working at the back table with one reading group at a time. I think that's why they are so dependent on Chromebooks even in grades K-2, because that's one of the few stations where the kids keep quiet.

What school?

I get the impression a good number of ESs do this. Unless you get really lucky, and find the rare ES that does not use this model.

My kids go to school in Silver Spring, and my sister's kids go to school in Rockville. Also, have friends at schools in Potomac, and they all use this model. I'm not sure how else it would be possible to teach five different reading groups. They have to keep the other 4 reading groups busy while the teacher works with one.

So, the kids do get about 15-20 minutes or direct instruction time with the teacher during that block, but the rest of the time is 'independent' work.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We were at the franklin, WI district before and all they did was tweak the English and math class and WI chose the ACT common core test (not Parcc). Kid still had gym 3x a week, art 2x and and hour each of five subjects (math, reading, science, SS, English/word work). MCPS jacked up at her math and reading class hours and cut others.

PE and art were once a week each at MCPS before Maryland's Common Core standards/PARCC testing and MCPS's Curriculum 2.0, too.

I’d be curious when the 90 minute blocks of math, reading, and English began. That is a long time even if moving stations.

When did this start? When did it go from 50 minutes to 90 minutes each? That really adds up. Was it for Common Core or way back to bolster No Child Left Behind. Polar opposite of most K-5s where kids need to move and change it up every hour. Many schools utilize the "walk to science or music or art" to get gets refocusing and ready for next subject.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We were at the franklin, WI district before and all they did was tweak the English and math class and WI chose the ACT common core test (not Parcc). Kid still had gym 3x a week, art 2x and and hour each of five subjects (math, reading, science, SS, English/word work). MCPS jacked up at her math and reading class hours and cut others.

PE and art were once a week each at MCPS before Maryland's Common Core standards/PARCC testing and MCPS's Curriculum 2.0, too.

I’d be curious when the 90 minute blocks of math, reading, and English began. That is a long time even if moving stations.

It's terrible, IMO! I volunteer a ton, mostly during the reading block, and it's crazy to expect five and six year olds to 'work independently' for 40 (or more) minutes. That's what ends up happening, since the teacher is working at the back table with one reading group at a time. I think that's why they are so dependent on Chromebooks even in grades K-2, because that's one of the few stations where the kids keep quiet.

What school?

I get the impression a good number of ESs do this. Unless you get really lucky, and find the rare ES that does not use this model.

My kids go to school in Silver Spring, and my sister's kids go to school in Rockville. Also, have friends at schools in Potomac, and they all use this model. I'm not sure how else it would be possible to teach five different reading groups. They have to keep the other 4 reading groups busy while the teacher works with one.

So, the kids do get about 15-20 minutes or direct instruction time with the teacher during that block, but the rest of the time is 'independent' work.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We were at the franklin, WI district before and all they did was tweak the English and math class and WI chose the ACT common core test (not Parcc). Kid still had gym 3x a week, art 2x and and hour each of five subjects (math, reading, science, SS, English/word work). MCPS jacked up at her math and reading class hours and cut others.

PE and art were once a week each at MCPS before Maryland's Common Core standards/PARCC testing and MCPS's Curriculum 2.0, too.

I’d be curious when the 90 minute blocks of math, reading, and English began. That is a long time even if moving stations.

It's terrible, IMO! I volunteer a ton, mostly during the reading block, and it's crazy to expect five and six year olds to 'work independently' for 40 (or more) minutes. That's what ends up happening, since the teacher is working at the back table with one reading group at a time. I think that's why they are so dependent on Chromebooks even in grades K-2, because that's one of the few stations where the kids keep quiet.

What school?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We were at the franklin, WI district before and all they did was tweak the English and math class and WI chose the ACT common core test (not Parcc). Kid still had gym 3x a week, art 2x and and hour each of five subjects (math, reading, science, SS, English/word work). MCPS jacked up at her math and reading class hours and cut others.

PE and art were once a week each at MCPS before Maryland's Common Core standards/PARCC testing and MCPS's Curriculum 2.0, too.

I’d be curious when the 90 minute blocks of math, reading, and English began. That is a long time even if moving stations.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We were at the franklin, WI district before and all they did was tweak the English and math class and WI chose the ACT common core test (not Parcc). Kid still had gym 3x a week, art 2x and and hour each of five subjects (math, reading, science, SS, English/word work). MCPS jacked up at her math and reading class hours and cut others.

PE and art were once a week each at MCPS before Maryland's Common Core standards/PARCC testing and MCPS's Curriculum 2.0, too.

I’d be curious when the 90 minute blocks of math, reading, and English began. That is a long time even if moving stations.

It's terrible, IMO! I volunteer a ton, mostly during the reading block, and it's crazy to expect five and six year olds to 'work independently' for 40 (or more) minutes. That's what ends up happening, since the teacher is working at the back table with one reading group at a time. I think that's why they are so dependent on Chromebooks even in grades K-2, because that's one of the few stations where the kids keep quiet.

What school?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We were at the franklin, WI district before and all they did was tweak the English and math class and WI chose the ACT common core test (not Parcc). Kid still had gym 3x a week, art 2x and and hour each of five subjects (math, reading, science, SS, English/word work). MCPS jacked up at her math and reading class hours and cut others.

PE and art were once a week each at MCPS before Maryland's Common Core standards/PARCC testing and MCPS's Curriculum 2.0, too.

I’d be curious when the 90 minute blocks of math, reading, and English began. That is a long time even if moving stations.

It's terrible, IMO! I volunteer a ton, mostly during the reading block, and it's crazy to expect five and six year olds to 'work independently' for 40 (or more) minutes. That's what ends up happening, since the teacher is working at the back table with one reading group at a time. I think that's why they are so dependent on Chromebooks even in grades K-2, because that's one of the few stations where the kids keep quiet.

Anonymous wrote:I agree with the PP. Can anyone shed light on why MCPS would want to cast Discovery Ed in such a positive light?

Anonymous wrote:I agree with the PP. Can anyone shed light on why MCPS would want to cast Discovery Ed in such a positive light?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/potential-conflict-of-interest-derails-curriculum-rollout-in-md-school-system/2018/05/25/d28c96c2-5e9f-11e8-9ee3-49d6d4814c4c_story.html?utm_term=.1e96b4f5ab8c

WP’s article on the Discovery issue

No. Titling this a “potential conflict of interest” instead of a conflict of interest is the first clue that this article is a soft marshallow instead of dispassionate reporting. How Discovery or Lang or Fliakas can claim that all this just caught them by surprise (oh my!) and that as soon as they “realized” they rushed to report it is flatly unbelievable. If you are involved in public procurement, you just don’t go around marketing yourself to private vendors and then get religion the day you get a job offer. You just don’t do that and call it ethical. Lang may be a very personable guy, but this isn’t ethical behavior. There are plenty of personable and friendly people who lack ethical judgement. Dixon is right. There should be some very clear laws about this in MCPS.

MCPS already has very well-defined conflict of interest rules. The very first part of these rules says, very specifically, that employees are supposed to know these rules! For these two veteran staffers to suggest that they were somehow unaware of the ethical thin ice on which they were treading is simply, and literally, unbelievable.

Besides being recused from the now-delayed bidding process, did these guys face ANY consequences for their costly “mistake”? The story doesn’t answer that. In fact, the story mentions nothing about an actual investigation into this and the elected school board is AWOL. MCPS eats up about half of the county budget. It’s time for an independent Inspector General to have some oversight. Clearly, MCPS can’t police itself and the BOE either doesn’t care or lacks the capacity to really ride herd. I’m also starting to get a sinking feeling about Smith. He may be in way over his head and he doesn’t exactly have a squeaky clean history from his previous superintendent job.