With three listening sessions under his belt, Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) Superintendent Thomas Taylor said safety and academic performance are some of the most common concerns brought up by MCPS community members.
The first two listening sessions were held last week at Poolesville and Rockville high schools, another was held Monday at Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring and more sessions are planned for October and November. The listening sessions, open to those in the MCPS community, are part of Taylor’s entry plan to “build positive relationships with educators, leaders, students, parents [and] key stakeholders,” according to the entry plan website.
At Rockville, community members said safety concerns around vaping and bullying needed to be addressed, and also highlighted the difficulties in academics for students with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) and special education. At Poolesville, according to notes from the listening session, community members said they were worried students not receiving adequate attention and academics only focusing on testing.
While safety and academic performance came up at the third listening session Monday at Blair, students, parents and staff members also raised issues of transparency, accountability and culture with the school district. Several parents noted that navigating MCPS bureaucracy has been nearly impossible.
Melissa Guevara, a teacher at Blair and a parent of a second grader, has been involved in her student’s PTSA and said the group, in addition to the principal, has sent dozens of emails to try to resolve concerns such as a lack of sidewalks at the back of the school. Guevara said it took seven months and several follow up emails for the school to receive trash cans outside the school.
One parent said they’ve had to escalate issues with state complaints before getting a response from school officials. Others highlighted a lack of transparency at some schools and a closed-off culture with a lack of accountability.
Nikki Rosen, the former PTA president at Forest Knolls Elementary School in Silver Spring, said parents needed a clear path of escalation to address grievances at schools.
Taylor said he recognized there were problems within the district.
“There are some real significant challenges in terms of our culture,” Taylor said. “I think transparency is particularly important.”
Taylor said MCPS will make mistakes, but he hoped people were seeing changes in such things as communication and transparency. Taylor pointed to the district uploading data in Excel spreadsheets for people to use and putting listening sessions and feedback on the website.
“In any organization like a school, we have to be committed to shining a flashlight on the things that we’re not satisfied with and working together to make them better,” Taylor said.
While many highlighted issues with transparency, others noted issues with low academic standards in gifted programs and overcrowding in schools including Blair. Community members also pointed to bright spots within the district, such as dedicated teachers.
The next listening sessions are scheduled for Oct. 21 from 7 to 8 p.m. at Paint Branch High School in Burtonsville and Nov. 14 from 7 to 8 p.m., with the location to be determined.
