In: 2024 Elections, BOE, Boundary Study, Budget, CEOs, Elections, Hate / Bias Incidents, MCPS, Phones, Safety, School Funding, Special Education, SROs, Virtual Academy

October 23, 2024 We sent the following questionnaire to all 6 BOE finalist candidates and will be posting each of them individually (in the order received) as well as a comparison between them on another page. These are the responses by Laura Stewart who is running for District 4 (everyoneContinue Reading

In: BOE, Budget, Class Sizes, County Council, Grades, IB and AP Classes, Local Government, MCPS, MCPS Enrollment, Overcrowding, School Funding, Special Education

As part of the approval of the 2025 FY MCPS Operating Budget, there was a new item in the annual operating budget that requires reporting of class sizes which reads: “MCPS will provide to the Council a report on actual class sizes in the 2024-2025 school year. This report willContinue Reading

In: 2024 Elections, BOE, Boundary Study, Budget, CEOs, Elections, English Learners, Grades, Hate / Bias Incidents, MCPS, Phones, Safety, School Funding, Special Education, SROs, Virtual Academy

October 17, 2024 We sent the following questionnaire to all 6 BOE finalist candidates and will be posting each of them individually (in the order received) as well as a comparison between them on another page. These are the responses by Natalie Zimmerman who is running for District 2 (everyoneContinue Reading

In: 2024 Elections, BOE, Boundary Study, CEOs, Grades, Hate / Bias Incidents, MCPS, Phones, Safety, School Funding, Special Education, SROs, Virtual Academy

October 17, 2024 We sent the following questionnaire to all 6 BOE finalist candidates and will be posting each of them individually (in the order received) as well as a comparison between them on another page. These are the responses by Lynne Harris who is running for At-Large (everyone inContinue Reading

In: BOE, Boundary Study, CEOs, Drugs and Alcohol, Grades, Incident Response, MCPS, Phones, Safety, School Funding, Special Education, SROs, Virtual Academy

October 14, 2024 We sent the following questionnaire to all 6 BOE finalist candidates and will be posting each of them individually (in the order received) as well as a comparison between them on another page. These are the responses by Rita Montoya who is running for At-Large (everyone inContinue Reading

In: BOE, Boundary Study, CEOs, Drugs and Alcohol, Hate / Bias Incidents, Incident Response, MCPS, Phones, Safety, School Funding, Special Education, SROs, Virtual Academy

October 14, 2024 We sent the following questionnaire to all 6 BOE finalist candidates and will be posting each of them individually (in the order received) as well as a comparison between them on another page. These are the responses by Brenda Diaz who is running for District 2 (everyoneContinue Reading

In: BOE, Community Feedback, County Council, Education & Culture, Government, Local Government, MCPS, Montgomery County Police Department, Policing, Public Funding, Public Safety, Safety, School Funding, Special Education, Transportation

April 8th, 2024 – This testimony was given to the County Council on the FY2025 operating budget Hello my name is Jason Makstein and I run the blog Moderately MOCO but today I am testifying as a community advocate about various items in the operating budgets. My focus will beContinue Reading

In: Community Feedback, Community Reports, Incident Response, Maryland, MCPS, Opinion, Restorative Justice, Safety, Special Education

February 26, 2024 – Opinion submitted by an MCPS elementary school special education teacher of 10 years Once upon a time, in the summer before we returned from COVID, the county pushed a new initiative. Rooted in peaceful ideals, restorative justice (RJ) was sold as a panacea for hate andContinue Reading

In: BOE, Courts, Government, Local Government, Maryland, MCPS, Special Education

By Laura Vaughan As the Maryland legislative session heats up, sparks are flying over bills introduced in both the House of Delegates and the Senate that could have a major impact on special education in the state. Tensions are high as the Maryland State Education Association and school districts findContinue Reading