10/06/05 - Silver Chips Online - Montgomery Blair High School

EDITORIALS
Board of Ed, don’t
break Connections
The Class of 2008 started this year riding an unprecedented wave
of success. Freshman GPA reached a 10-year high last year and according
to a December 2004 Silver Chips article, the freshman ineligibility
rate was cut in half compared to the year before.
In the same article, Kathi Yu, former PTSA vice-president of
academic achievement, attributed these successes largely to Connections,
a ninth-grade course that teaches skills needed for a smooth
transition to high school. At Blair, the class is offered to freshmen not
in the Magnet or Communication Arts Program.
The success of the course makes the Board of Education’s June decision
to drop the mandatory designation on all MCPS Connections
classes rather perplexing.
In a Jun. 30 memorandum to the principals of MCPS schools requiring
Connections classes for graduation, chief school performance
offi cer Donald H. Kress wrote that “while schools can strongly
encourage expected enrollment of all Grade 9 students in this course,
it cannot be a requirement.”
Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Social Organization of
Schools recommended last January that public high schools institute
Connections-style courses. This confi rms last year’s statistics: Connections
delivers results.
And while the option to drop Connections trivializes a successful
class, it may also facilitate the unintentional isolation of on-level and
less affl uent students from the rest of the Blair community.
Studies show that wealthier parents tend to become more involved
in and aware of the school lives of their children. According
to a 2003 survey by ChildTrends, an education think-tank, 90 percent
of well-to-do parents reported attending a PTSA meeting in the past
year, while only 79 percent of poorer parents did so. Wealthier parents
tend to be more aware of school policies and are more likely to
know about the option to drop Connections.
This contrast is amplifi ed at Blair, where students span the economic
spectrum. Over 21 percent of Blair students are on the Free
and Reduced Meals program according to MCPS, yet many students
are also drawn from Silver Spring’s prosperous areas. The fear is
that more affl uent parents may choose to opt their children out for
more challenging but perhaps less useful academic electives. Only
14 students have decided to opt out of Connections so far — a resounding
victory for the Connections team — but their cross-section
prompts some serious questions.
Of the 14 who have dropped the course so far, 13 are white and 13
are honors students, according to resource counselor Marcia Johnson.
Although this sample is not statistically signifi cant, it raises the
alarming possibility of an exodus of white and honors Blazers from
Connections, which would decimate one of the last remaining bonds
between racial and socioeconomic groups at Blair.
Proponents of the opt-out argue that honors students do not
need Connections because they already possess the skills it teaches.
While this may be true to some extent, Connections provides honors
students with something that high-level classes do not: an opportunity
to interact with elements of the diverse student population that
they would not otherwise have had contact with.
The Board of Education deserves praise for deeming Connections
“the cornerstone course” in an effort to transition middle-schoolers
into high school, but words amount to nothing without a requirement
steering students in the course’s direction.
Connections has been a great success, but dropping its mandatory
status will create more problems than it will solve. This is one
Pandora’s Box the Board of Education must close before it’s too late.
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October 6, 2005
silverCHIPS
Stop ignoring our special-ed students
Department deserves funds withheld by school system
Every year, barely one in three
special-education students passes
each of the three Maryland High
School Assessments (HSAs) now
required for graduation, according
to the Maryland Report Card web
site.
In contrast, close to threefourths
of on-level students pass.
Last year, instead of recognizing
that many special-education students
were going to fail to graduate
and increasing funding to prevent
this, MCPS policy-makers and
Superintendent Jerry Weast denied
the county’s Special Education
Department $5.4 million that was
allotted to it.
This denial would have been
misguided if passing the HSAs
was not a graduation requirement.
But at a time when unreasonable
testing standards are a reality for
all high-school students, MCPS’s
decision to deprive county Special
Education departments of muchneeded
money is simply callous.
Lost dollars
The $5.4 million fi gure is divided
into two categories: unexpected
additional special education
revenue and budgeted funds that
were not spent.
The fi rst includes $726,000 in additional
funding from the Regional
Institute for Children and Adolescents,
$523,000 of reimbursements
for private school tuition of specialeducation
students and $618,000
due to higher-than-expected
funding from the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act.
The second is comprised of $3.2
million MCPS budgeted but did
not spend on special-education students
who were referred to private
schools and $1.9 million budgeted
and not spent on replacing retiring
staff and covering for absent staff
members.
An additional $1.6 million spent
on contracting staff positions to
private companies puts the total
amount of funds that were allocated
to special education but not
spent at $5.4 million. This funding
debacle was detailed in June
14 and July 27 Board of Education
minutes.
Limited resources
The loss of this money was more
painful to other county schools
than to Blair, because according to
Principal Phillip Gainous, Blair’s
Special Education Department has
more resources than those of most
other schools.
Last year, a large and vocal
group of Blair parents and teachers,
including Gainous himself, lobbied
for and received extra funds to
address concerns about the lack of
special-education staff.
The county met their demands,
but, as Gainous said, the special
education funding “pot” is limited.
He and others were informed that
the “extra” money Blair struggled
to acquire came straight out of
other county high schools’ special
education departments. “If we
had that extra $5 million, we might
have not needed to rob Peter to pay
Paul,” he said.
Funding shortfalls
Jerry Weast and MCPS must
look for every opportunity to increase
special education funding in
order to prepare special-education
students for the HSAs instead of
denying the departments money.
This school year, according
to MCPS, the county’s special
education budget only increased
7.2 percent compared to a rise of
“Flat out
discrimination.”
-Blair special education
resource teacher
Lisa Davisson
13.2 percent the year before. Yet in
this year’s annual budget address,
Weast said that “improving special
education achievement continues
to be our priority.”
Adding $5.4 million to this
year’s budget would have demonstrated
how much of a concern
special education is to Weast and
MCPS, in addition to making the
budget increase a more respectable
9.1 percent.
Instead of distorting MCPS’s efforts
on behalf of special-education
students, Weast must admit that
MCPS denied the Special Education
Department much-needed
funding and commit to increasing
funding more next year.
Special-education students
require more money than other
students to learn the same material.
Special education resource teacher
Lisa Davisson emphasized that
many of her students are struggling
to read at even an elementary
school level.
Disabled students already have
enough diffi culty passing HSAs
for subjects in which they have
learning disabilities without trying
to understand material in a classroom
with a 20:1 student teacher
ratio, which Davisson says occurs
regularly in Blair special-education
classes.
These students urgently need
smaller class sizes so that teachers
can spend more time providing
individual attention. The county’s
special education departments
need more staff and technology to
enable students to achieve and to
prepare them to take the HSAs.
Davisson and Gainous are
having diffi culty comprehending
why HSAs are required for special
education students. Davisson
called HSAs “fl at out discrimination,”
and Gainous declared that
the Special Education Department
“absolutely should have extra
funding” to help prepare struggling
students for the HSAs.
Our responsibility
It is not MCPS’s fault that special-education
students must pass
the HSAs to graduate, but it is the
county’s responsibility to provide
the resources necessary to even
begin to solve the problem.
Instead, money has been allocated
to less urgent endeavors. Bob
Astrove, budget analyst and parent
of two MCPS special-education
students, found that $300,000 of the
allotted special education funds
may have gone to pay for palm pilots
for elementary school teachers
who wanted to have information
on their students close at hand.
It is our duty to make sure all
students, regardless of disability,
receive a quality education and the
tools necessary for success.
These are high-school students
who cannot read, write or do basic
arithmetic due to disabilities and
who could fail to graduate from
high school under the new HSA
requirement.
Such wasteful spending is an
affront to the county’s special-education
students. These resources
should go toward preparing our
students for the tests they need to
pass in order to graduate. These
resources cannot be withheld.
Our county’s disgraceful treatment
of special-education students
is an embarassing stain on our
school system’s stellar reputation.
Weast and MCPS must be committed
to helping special-education
students succeed, and realize that
we owe them the funding they are
due.