Tag: Frederick County Board of Education

Let’s shrink that government! Wait, let me first issue this sweeping State mandate!

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And you too local school boards!!! Boardwalk Fries needs some more moolah!
And you too local school boards!!! Boardwalk Fries needs some more moolah!

We know y’all heard by now about Governor Hogan’s Executive Order mandating that schools will now start after Labor Day and must be done by June 15th. Curiously there was nothing within this Executive Order that would help school systems achieve this, like perhaps, eliminating some of the testing requirements or lowering the number of mandatory school days. Therefore, something is going to have to go. And it looks as though that something will be Spring Break.  Baltimore County school superintendent had this to say:

Baltimore County schools Superintendent Dallas Dance said his school system would have to reduce spring break to Good Friday and the Monday after Easter to fit the required 180 days into the calendar between Labor Day and June 15.

We’ve seen people on Twitter comment how this is a summer tax for working families who now will have to find more camps and child care. Not to mention the summer slide that so many kids experience.  What we find all so interesting is that this decision was not done through the legislature, had no public comment opportunities and seems to be antithetical to the way a “less government is better” politician would behave.

Don’t get us wrong though, we Yokel moms do not want to lose our summer break. But we also do not want to lose our Spring and Winter ones either. One of the Yokel younguns even said today, ” I can’t make it through the year without my breaks.”  We also remembered how Frederick almost burned down the Board of Ed when they took Fair Day off the calendar. The hard truth is, however, if schools are required to come up with 180 days on a longer summer schedule  something is gonna get chopped!

Lots of people support this because they didn’t go to school until after Labor Day when they were kids. Well, school has changed since the good old days and we happen to think it is really bad policy to make decisions based on nostalgia. We are also super skeptical that people are going to use that time to stuff their faces with Boardwalk Fries. When this same exact subject came up in legislative hearings, school board members testified against it.  Every community should have the freedom to create their school calendar around their needs and wants. If Governor Hogan really wanted to help local school boards out he could: a) Better fund the schools b) Ease up on State testing requirements and c) study the research about how really long breaks hurt lower income kids. Every district needs to design their calendar based on the needs and wants of their community. We’ll leave you with these words from State Senator Mike Miller:

Maryland Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert) criticized Hogan for not collaborating with the General Assembly, calling the governor’s action “extraordinary and legally questionable,” and saying he should have proposed the change as legislation.“It would have required hard work on the part of the Governor, and mostly likely compromise working with education experts and local officials around the state to reach agreement on how the goal could best be accomplished without harming students’ educational attainment,” Miller said.

“Making a press show about this issue over a year in advance while holding hands with the state tax collector appears like political gamesmanship.”

Can you imagine if Jan did something like this? Curious to see how Billy and Kirby are going to react when it’s their buddy making sweeping mandates.

 

Can’t teachers just live off their job perks?

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Poor, sweet naive owlets.
Poor, sweet naive owlets.

In a surprise to absolutely no one with a hearty sense of logic, the FNP ran a story today entitled:

Low salary rankings a sticking point for Frederick County teachers

In our previous reports we’ve talked about this FACT.  We also expressed our outrage when BoE candidate Cindy Rose stated that salaries weren’t an issue. Look people, teachers are professionals, college educated and trained. Many go on to get Master’s degrees as well.  They plan day in and day out how to best help our children acquire essential skills, behave and function as part of a larger group. They invest their emotional, physical and mental resources into shaping our future. But you know what? They’ve gotta eat, raise a family and prepare for their own  futures. So if another county or another profession gives them the pay and security that they so richly deserve, what do you think is going to be the end result?  It’s not enough to say we have a cool town or that the personal satisfaction of teaching should be enough. There aren’t many jobs in which you are required to get a four year degree, take licensing tests and within ten years acquire a Master’s degree and still get paid so poorly. If you still think teachers don’t matter, that their job could be replaced by a computer, start reading here and here. We implore the BoE to reconsider their decision to take money away from salaries, for if we don’t have the talent we don’t have anything.

Special education (or, why don’t words have meaning?)

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In an incredibly frustrating move this past week, the Maryland State Board of Education rejected the possibility of opting out of standardized PARCC testing for Maryland students. Including special education students.
Now, the Yokels have made no secret that we don’t think Cindy Rose’s candidacy is anything special in itself. Over testing of students and onerous curriculum restrictions that impede teachers’ efficacy in their classrooms are concerns shared by absolutely all of the school board candidates running for election in 2016, even if Rose is much angrier and more aggressive in the tone she takes. This issue simply does not make her special enough to stand out from the pack –at least not in any positive light.
That said, just as we criticized her willingness to paint the special education students with a broad brush that could prevent their achievement, this criticism is equally true of the state board’s position. There appears to be absolutely no reason for it, according to the FNP’s editorial from April 30, 2016.

But looking at the statistics of students aged 6 to 21 served under IDEA, it appears unlikely that offering the opt-out option to the parents of severely mentally impaired students would threaten federal funding. According to the Maryland Board of Education’s own Fact Book for 2013-2014, which contains enrollment statistics, 102,578 students were in special education out of a total population of 866,169. Of those, 30,876 were classified with specific learning disabilities — about 3.6 percent of the total school population; 8,095 were classified as having developmental delays. While the fact book doesn’t outline specific details of how many severely mentally disabled students are served statewide, it’s hard to imagine they comprise more than a fraction of that 3.6 percent, and that not testing them would come close to violating that federally required 95 percent.

Special education and IEPs (individualized education programs) are antithetical to standardization. Individualized is not standardized. They are opposites. Why on Earth would you take a child receiving highly individualized services, and then try to make them function in a standardized situation? It defies reason. Wasting the time it takes to administer tests simply so they can check the “done” box when you are working with a student whose learning objectives have nothing whatsoever to do with the test is the very definition of absurdity.
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We do wish that Mrs. Rose would take up her issue with the Maryland State Board of Education. They appear to need someone to come along and rattle their cage, and she seems like just the lady for a bull-in-the-china-shop sort of task. Maybe she can teach them a thing or two about the meanings of words (but lets keep the four letter ones she likes so much out of it). If she comes back to town with some educational experience to put on her resume, that might have a great outcome for everyone invested in Frederick County Public Schools.

You don’t get to gloat unless you go out and vote!

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Do it!
Do it!

If you haven’t taken advantage of Maryland’s early voting, then makes sure you get off your butt and vote today. You need to choose your party’s Presidential candidate, Senator, Congressperson and delegates to the party convention. And let us not forget our own local school board race. Please pick three from this slate of wonderful, qualified candidates:

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What’s that you say? You thought there were 8 candidates. Well, yes, but you can read about the 8th one here. Lots of good reasons to steer clear of that one. Do your civic and yokel duty and exercise that right that our ancestors have paid for with their blood, sweat and tears.