B-CC * Westland * Bethesda * Chevy Chase * North Chevy Chase * Rock Creek Forest * Rosemary Mils Somerset * Westbrook
January 20, 1999
Testimony before the Montgomery County Board of Education Operating Budget - Fiscal Year 2000
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the Superintendent's operating budget for FY 2000. Tonight we are testifying in cooperation with the Walter Johnson and Walt Whitman cluster schools; our tri-cluster will go on record to support Dr. Vance's proposed budget and initiatives for FY 2000.
We urge you to support the important initiatives that Dr. Vance has proposed and the acceleration of the initiatives which were implemented this school year.
In addition, in our cluster, we firmly support:
Reducing class size to pre-1995 levels. Our parents' perception is that MCPS has been chipping away at their children's education over the past dozen years. We would applaud the reduction in class sizes at all grade levels. While reducing the class sizes to pre-1995 levels will be helpful, reducing them to pre-recession levels would be more desirable. It is unrealistic to expect teachers and students to work to their full potentials in classes where there are over 24 students.
The elementary reading initiative. In the absence of all-day kindergarten, these reading teachers will not only teach young children to read at an appropriate age, but will also serve as yet another adult with whom the children can connect. With additional federal funding, Dr. Vance proposes to completely implement this initiative by the end of FY2000, a year earlier than expected. We are very pleased to see this occur.
Reducing class size for algebra students in the 9th grade. Our cluster parents urge you to reduce class size for all algebra students, whether they are in 7th, 8th, 9th or l0th grades. It is not logical to limit small class sizes in math to any one grade.
Special Education. Since the B-CC Cluster elementary schools will be implementing the home school delivery model for our special education students next year, we definitely see a need for an increased number of special education teachers so that we may successfully implement this program.
Small school positions. Since several of our smallest elementary schools now only have part- time counselors, we were pleased to note that Dr. Vance is proposing increased staffing for those schools in the form of additional, flexible positions. Additional elementary secretarial positions. Additional secretarial support at elementary schools would greatly benefit not only the communities but also the students. Additional duties are continually being added to the administrative secretaries' positions, so any additional support would be welcome. Additional staff would allow continuous office coverage in the summer. It also allows for someone to help with student health needs, since most schools do not have a full- time health aide.
Signature programs. Signature programs are becoming integral parts of County high schools and some middle schools. We are pleased with the success of B-CC's two-year-old International Baccalaureate program and look forward to continued funding as the program continues to attract students.
Staff training. Our students and parents find that teachers are missing a lot of class time to go to various county-sponsored training sessions. MCPS should provide time for staff training outside of classroom time. We suggest that staff be given the opportunity for summer and/or weekend training with appropriate compensation for their time. This would minimize the disruption to our children's classes.
Several other issues not addressed in the superintendent's budget are maintenance, academic time being sacrificed for sports, and additional support staff for schools undergoing modernization.
School maintenance. Schools are experiencing a shortage of maintenance workers, which contributes to the deterioration of our schools. As you know, B-CC High School will be at Northwood next year. Not only will our current maintenance workers take care of the daytime student population while at Northwood, but they will also be expected to clean up after the 1000-plus night students who attend the school every night. In order to keep the facility in functioning order, we ask that MCPS assign more maintenance workers to Northwood while it is being used by two student populations.
Academics vs. Transportation to athletic events. Did you know that our student athletes routinely miss two academic classes in order to play late afternoon games? MCPS transportation department says that there are not enough buses to transport these students after school and so must do so during school hours to have enough buses to take other students home after school. What typically happens is that, for example, if B-CC students are playing at Poolesville, the Poolesville HS bus would pick up the B-CC student athletes early enough to be back at Poolesville before the end of the high school day in order to make the usual rounds. The Board needs to prohibit routine early releases for sports. In theory nobody misses a class; in reality, our student athletes are, in essence, held hostage to the MCPS transportation department. We hope you agree that academics must come first and that MCPS must find a way to transport these students to other high schools for after-school games without disrupting their class time. For example, MCPS could arrange for teams to travel in coach-driven vans.
The MCPS transportation department has experienced large budget cuts in past years. These budget cuts have had a detrimental impact on bell times (within our cluster, schools begin between 7:25 and 9:25 am and end between 2:10 and 3:25 PM), school field trips (busses have to be back at school no later than 1:30 pm to begin afternoon rounds), and high school athletics, as outlined above. We suggest that the transportation operation be studied to find ways to correct these problems. If it is found that these problems are symptoms of a larger problem - the MCPS transportation budget - then any budget funding should be addressed not only by the Board, but by the County and the State.
Support staff for elementary principals during modernizations. As our cluster schools go through the modernization process, we see that our principals are taking on a second job - that of construction manager. In addition to their duties of the day-to-day running of a school, they are also expected to take on the rigorous additional duties of managing a school modernization. MCPS needs to look into providing an additional staff member on site for these elementary school principals, just as is done for the high schools undergoing modernization.
We think Dr. Vance and MCPS are on the right track in proposing smaller class sizes targeted to specific programs and in looking at modest initiatives such as administrative support which will directly affect all our students.
With these modifications, we will enthusiastically work with you in getting approval for this budget from the County Council.
Sincerely,
Carole Brand and Katie Rosenberg,
B-CC Cluster Coordinators