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Please join me in a night of fun, food, music and celebration.
Friday, November 3, 2006
Gilligan's Pier (Pier III)
Seafood & Chicken Buffet (mmm! crab balls and spiced shrimp)
6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
$25 per person in advance
$30 at the door
Smith Tucker Band performing 7:00 - 10:00 pm
For tickets please click on the link below and specify the quantity needed along with you mailing address and telephone number.
mailto:abell4edu@verizon.net
Yours in service,
Jennifer Abell
The letter below was submitted to the Maryland Independent and the Washington Post. as well as copied to me for posting.
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October 23, 2006
Dear Editor,
I believe Jennifer Abell, School Board Candidate, is completely misunderstood. People who don't know Jennifer accuse her of having a hidden agenda, being a religious freak, and serving on the board to meet her own needs. Well her own needs are a high quality education for the students (she has four enrolled in county schools), committed, caring and qualified staff (this is the only way to reach goal number one), top notch facilities with state of the art technology (being fiscally smart in order to make the best use of limited funds) and an appropriate learning environment (safety first!) that will enable all students to be successful and reach their potential.
Jennifer Abell is one of the hardest working, most conscientious members of the board, and, one of the best advocates for education in Charles County. She's not just talk. She is the one member who continually listens to all sides, researches the issues, and utilizes all resources available before making decisions. She's devout in her religion, but she NEVER pushes her religious beliefs on anyone else. She knows I'm Jewish, and we've discussed the differences in our religions, but she's made it quite clear that religion is best taught at home. She would never support distributing bibles in school nor would she support the teaching of creationism. I am very sure about this, and would not support her if this were not the case.
Jennifer doesn't have a hidden agenda. The agenda she has is outlined above. She believes the Board meetings should be televised, or held at a time that is convenient for parents, teachers and staff to attend ? because there is nothing to hide. She believes in teaching abstinence, but she?s also wise enough to know that more is needed in regards to sex education. She believes in academic rigor, increases in teacher salaries, and parents involved in their child?s education. Most importantly, she wants to help the schools succeed in leaving "no child left behind" but she also wants the schools to ensure that bright children are allowed to more forward.
Don't believe me? Clear up the misunderstanding by checking out her blog site at http://abell4edu.blogspot.com/. You?ll find out where she stands on all the issues. Thanks for your understanding.
Donna Liberman
La Plata
Lacrosse in Charles County? Yes it might finally happen. After numerous emails from students and parents requesting the sport to be added at the high school level, it might finally happen. Currently, the sport is played in our surrounding counties and Charles County students want to play too!
During the October Board meeting, Ms. Jan Johnson , Specialist in Athletics, gave an oral report regarding the status of lacrosse in Charles County. The good news is it looks as though there is enough support to have lacrosse in the county high schools. The bad news is it looks as though it won't be available until 2008-2009. As with everything involving government, it is a slow process. For those of you pulling for this to happen, stay diligent and you shall prevail.
The subject of year-round schooling has come up on several occasions at the candidate forums. I personally have not done a lot of research on the topic but find it very intriguing. From what I have read it seems to aid students in retention of information, provides the teachers with much needed respite to regroup, and is very economical for the system. I don't see how it would benefit us as far as the overcrowding issue because it would still be the same number of students.
The ideal hypothetical scenario I was envisioning would be three months of school Sept-Oct-Nov; 1 month off Dec; three months on Jan-Feb-Mar; 1 month off Apr; three months on May-Jun-Jul; 1 month off Aug. My rationale...the students are off 7-10 days in December any way and are in need of a break and families travel for the holidays; April break because students are off 7-10 days again during this month for spring break and families travel; and then August for families to participate in a summer vacation.
Of course this schedule would reek havoc on the summer sports schedule such as the summer swim league.
Again, I would never promote or support a change of this nature without thorough research, and public input/debate.
Please weigh-in Charles County and let me know what you are thinking.
At the October 10th meeting the BOE voted to surplus land back to the county to build police sub-stations. The land is at TSHS & Jenifer Elementary . Minutes will reflect in Nov. , Young voted against the motion, & I abstained. Young tried to make an amendment to the motion to delay the Jenifer transaction until we received more information (i.e., impact on soccer community and field size). I seconded the motion but it failed. Young & I were the only two voting yes to the amendment.
As Ms. Young predicted, when we were first informed of this "opportunity," the soccer community started roaring when they found out one of their practice fields was eliminated. These are high-use fields and are in constant use. Yes, we have PLAYING fields, but the powers that be don't like teams practicing on the "good" (playing) fields because then they won't be in proper shape for games. To my knowledge, Jenifer is not used for games. Some coaches have resorted to practicing at fields in PG County. How sad it is that we can't provide sufficient practice facilities for our own youth. How utterly inconvenient for parents who furiously drive home from work only to turn around & drive back up to PG County for their childs soccer practice.
The motion to surplus the land passedbut included a stipulation to retain a soccer field at the Jenifer site. Currently, there is 1 large field & 1 very small field.
The Board was first told that the commissioners approached us & wanted us to surplus these pieces of land to them. In exchange they would renovate the Adult Ed Bldg.
IAfter speaking with a couple of the commissioners we were told the need for substations was discussed publicly but, the commissioners did not approach the BOE; the BOE came to them & "offered up" the land. This was odd. First, the BOE never discussed approaching the commissioners to do this. Second, why would we or staff do that out of the blue? We were never told they were looking for sites for substations. It just wasn?t adding up. This was very conflicting information.
The commissioners said we offered up land first & CCPS staff says the commissioners approached us first. Hmm? Mr. Bailey says Cooper met with him & Richmond near the beginning of Oct. at one of their regularly scheduled meetings. (This may start a whole new thread about transparency issues. Mr Bailey has been asked before to provide the rest of the board with notes from his meetings with Cooper & Richmond so we could all be on the same page. His response, "There are no meetings, so there are no notes.") Hmmm.....
Bailey says Cooper brought up the issue during the regularly scheduled bimonthly meeting in Oct..
Why weren?t we told about that meeting & why weren?t we given information about the issue prior to our board meeting. Bailey says we should have received the information by e-mail and fax prior to the Board meeting. Our secretary says a memo was composed & was originally intended to be distributed 5 days prior to our meeting. After further discussion between Bailey & another staff member it was decided the information would not be sent. They determined the information would be distributed (for the first time) in executive session. We still didn?t receive the written information then either.
We were told this had to be rushed because a state agency must ultimately approve the transaction, & that agency meets at the end of Oct.. If we didn?t vote on it immediately the "deal" would be delayed 3 months.
Please let me know how you feel about removing our youths soccer fields in order to build police sub-stations.
The biggest problem facing our school system is meeting the demands of our rapidly growing county and the resulting overcrowding of our schools. The Board of Education cannot solve this problem by itself. We (the Board of Education, the Commissioners, the delegation, and the community) need to support aggressive pursuit of maximum local and state funding for construction of new schools, and work with the IAC to pursue changes to the state funding formula. Next, the BOE needs to work with the Commissioners on changing the APFO Allocations. In addition to all of the above, the BOE needs to look to alternative ways of funding the construction of new schools. For example, in Montgomery County they have had some developers build schools and lease the building back to the county for a set number of years and then the county owns the building (rent to own). Please let me know what you think.
Printed in the Maryland Independent on Wednesday October 11, 2006.
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Dear Editor,
I would like to respond to several letters to the editor that ran on October 6, 2006. Mr. Brady, on par with other EACC members, once again attempts to mislead readers and alleges a religious voting bloc of Abell, Young, Crawford, and Bailey. However, this science teacher does not provide the readers with any factual data to support his allegation. So, I've taken heed from my own advice and hit the homework books once again.
I have reviewed all minutes and public voting records from the time of my appointment in June of 2004, up to and including September, 19, 2006. I found 293 total votes over those 27 months. I will let the statistics speak for themselves, for they ring loud and clear over the din of the EACC's continual flow of misinformation.
As a board we have cast unanimous votes 117 times. This is a 40% agreement rate for a board that the EACC and the media have attempted to label and portray as divisive.
From 293 total votes, the alleged "religious voting bloc" of Bailey, Crawford, Abell, and Young voted together a whopping 16 times over the course of 27 months. Do the math, and it comes out to a 5% rate.
While doing my homework, the data also revealed two other interesting voting trends. The bloc of Crawford, Wade, Coggins, and Marshall voted together 16 times too, however that has been in the past 6 months alone. Over the same aforementioned 27-month period, Bailey, Wade, Crawford, and Marshall voted together 8 times. This information could lead one to conclude the "split" was never really along so called religious lines, but rather along gender lines.
Please feel free to contact me via e-mail at abell4edu@verizon.net and I will be happy to provide you with the hard, cold data.
In addition, I believe the public will have a difficult time choosing from among so many qualified candidates who are committed to the education of our children. I would be honored to serve with any of them. The candidates each have unique styles and opinions. So I urge you once again, to do your own homework, don't rely on "little apple ballots", or rumors and innuendos in the editorial section of the paper. Instead, choose a candidate whose style and opinions are best for you.
Jennifer Abell
I seem to be receiving a barrage of email regarding school uniforms. The Board has never discussed the possibility of uniforms, at least not during my tenure. I have done a little reading, just what has come across my desk, but haven't really dealved into a lot of research because it hasn't been on the radar screen. So let me know what you think. They're your children and your schools. I've listed a few links below to get you started on some of the materials I have read. If you know of any others, please post.
http://www.asbj.com/2006/08/0806ASBJkonheim.pdf#search=%22uniform%22
http://www.ed.gov/updates/uniforms.html
http://www.aasa.org/publications/content.cfm?ItemNumber=3870
http://eric.uoregon.edu/publications/roundup/Summer_2002.html
http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=403242
Contrary to the EACC propaganda, I voted for an increase in teacher pension and do support a substantial increase in salaries. Although the starting salary for teachers MAY be adequate, the subsequent increases are not high enough. I believe the Board should dealve into pay increases being based on performance not tenure. Teachers deserve to be compensated based on their effectiveness in the classroom. These teachers not only are teaching our future leaders of this country, but they have to constantly deal with and answer to parents and administration while adhering to all federal/state/county guidelines and deal with our children. It's a tough job and they deserve our support!
Dear Editor:
The EACC is at it again. I am writing this letter in response to an article on Wednesday, September 20, "EACC gets its way in board primary" and a letter to the editor on the same day from Ms. Meg McDonald, representative of the EACC, titled "Revolutionary results in the school board primary". For those readers unfamiliar with the EACC, it is ONE of our local teachers unions who is lead by a small but very vocal group of individuals who try to portray themselves as representing ALL the teachers of Charles County. Unfortunately, the information put out by the EACC leaders is frequently inaccurate with the intent of misleading the public and misrepresenting others and me on several issues.
Personally I despise the bantering back and forth in the newspaper between letter writers so as opposed to fabrication, innuendos, and down right slander, I would just like to clarify a few facts.
· I am a Christian and believe in God, he walks and guides me through my daily life. Does this mean I am trying to impose my religious beliefs in the public school system? NO
· Ms. McDonald refers to me as part of a radical right voting block. I strongly encourage all readers to review the minutes of the Board meetings http://www.ccboe.com/ . It it obvious the voting block is Collins Bailey, Donald Wade, Mark Crawford and Cecil Marshall.
· Ms. McDonald refers to the Board of Education "goals" released in 2004. Again, inaccurate information in hopes of misleading the public! We (the board) have never discussed the teaching of creationism, intelligent design, or the distribution of Bibles in schools. Were these topics written on a list as suggestions for future discussion items and submitted by one individual board member? Yes they were! Was it me? NO it was not! I wish the board member that wrote it would be man enough to stand up and admit it in public.
· The Board of Education in which I proudly serve has never discussed the banning of books. We have discussed books on the ?required? reading lists in response to a parental complaint but NO books have ever been banned!
· We, the Board, have never discussed the use of vouchers. Was this submitted by a board member as a possible discussion item on ways to decrease overcrowding? YES, but it was quickly out voted, and I voted against it.
· In March of 2006, Mr. Fisher, President of the EACC, announced to all staff at several schools (not just the EACC members) "Ms. Young and Ms. Abell voted against increasing the teacher's pension." This statement is blatantly untrue! I voted to increase the teacher's pensions! When I was made aware of the comments (contrary to EACC beliefs I do have teachers supporting me), I questioned Mr. Fisher who was adamant he was correct. After my insistence he reviewed the Board minutes and later called to apologize for he stood corrected. However, Mr. Fisher refused to send out a retraction to all staff informing them of his error.
· Did I oppose the interviewing of a new board member in public? YES, I did! We had over 40 applicants to interview and in an effort to be fair to all of them and not give any one person an advantage I opposed the interviews being conducted in public. However, I did suggest that the names be made public and the interviews be video taped and shown publicly at a later date via the CCPS Comcast station. I was not supported by a majority of my colleagues.
As for the candidates for Board of Education, you the public, have 13 to choose from. Some are very qualified and vying for the position with the best interest of our county?s students in the forefront. Others are not. The five incumbents have actual voting records that the public can easily access and review (http://www.ccboe.com/). Of the 13 candidates, three (Wise, Gesl, and Stover) have a conflict of interest; their personal family incomes and benefits are directly tied to the Board of Education. In addition, only one non-incumbent has taken the time to actually attend a Board meeting. Please, I urge you the voters, do your own homework and don?t rely on hearsay, the media, or ?little apple ballots?, when you make your decisions for the Board of Education. Our children, their education, and this county?s future is relying on you.
For further details regarding my beliefs, feel free to visit my blog at; http://abell4edu.blogspot.com/ or email me at abell4edu@verizon.net.
Thank you,
Jennifer Abell
Below you will read an "unedited" Letter to the Editor submitted to the Maryland Independent on Friday, September 22, 2006 by Ms. Margaret Young. She was kind enough to forward it to me for posting. I wonder if they will print and if they do will it be edited. hmmmmm.
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I am no longer a candidate for the school board race, but I would like to respond to two pieces that were printed in the September 20th edition of the Maryland Independent, ?The EACC gets its way in board primary? and Meg MacDonald?s letter to the editor. I would also like to encourage the voters of Charles County to do their own homework.
When EACC administrators, such as Meg MacDonald, have difficulty debating the merits of an issue they resort to purposefully misleading and confusing the general public and their own members as well. Like Chicken Little, they want people to believe the sky is falling. The Chicken Little League manipulates the truth so citizens think the EACC member?s accusations are the actions or statements of the Board or its individual members. Some examples of their tall tales are a religious voting bloc and board goals for teaching creationism, banning books, and distributing Bibles. The roorbacks of the Chicken Little League keep journalists employed, publishers in the black, and readers entertained, but it still doesn?t change what actually occurred.
One high profile example is creationism. A board discussion to include creationism as part of the science curriculum has never occurred during the eight years I?ve been on the board, yet I doubt the general public is aware of that fact. Yes, there was debate ad nauseam on the issue, but the Board was not debating the topic. While the Chicken Little League was out fanning the flames of phobia, the board spent many hours listening to opinions of those that responded to their frantic ?all-call.?
The debate took place in the media and during the public forum portion of our meetings. The agenda for public forum is set by the speakers, not the Board. It is a time for citizens to address the Board and for the Board to listen It is not a time for board members to weigh in on the debate or respond to a misguided speaker?s allegations or unfounded personal attacks. Board members only rendered their personal opinions on creationism when they were contacted by the media.
Yes, one member listed creationism and Bible distribution during a brainstorming session as topics for us to consider discussing in the future. And, granted, that member has met repeatedly with top ranking administrators to push that agenda for years, but it was always done without the Board?s knowledge, let alone Board consent or direction.
Previous Boards were accused of being a rubber stamp for the superintendent. This board has attempted to break that tradition and focus instead on accountability from the superintendent down to the classroom teacher ? that ruffles Chicken Little?s feathers.
It?s 2006, the EACC has an agenda, and that is why they are more than willing to do your homework for you. Their first and foremost responsibility is to improve the benefits and conditions of dues paying members ? not students, taxpayers, voters, or parents. They must ensure Wise, Gesl, and Stover are elected. All three have personal family incomes and benefits that are controlled to a very large extent by the Board. A conflict of interest? You bet! One vote short of a majority, they?re counting on Wade, a former teacher in another county, to round out that fourth vote. The chief negotiator for administration and his wife are both CCPS employees and therefore benefit directly from the negotiated outcome. Either students will suffer program cuts or taxpayers can look forward to a serious shakedown if these four EACC endorsed candidates are elected. And, heaven help any student or parent that attempts to appeal a school or administrative decision to a ?neutral? Board.
Don?t let the EACC or any other organization do your homework for you. Get your head out of opinion pieces and start looking at some primary documents like the actual voting records and minutes; they are available on line and they paint a very different picture. Surf the candidates? websites. Better yet, attend some of the meetings if your schedule allows. Yes, some housecleaning is in order. Still, there are several excellent school board candidates from which to choose ? ones that don?t have financial and personal conflicts of interest or a covert religious agenda. Contact them directly to get the facts and unedited opinions. The Chicken Little League has an agenda, and that?s exactly why they want to do your homework and fill in your ballot for you.
Margaret Young
Well the 2006 report is out. Charles County Public Schools (seniors only) average score on the SAT is 1537, which is above the state (1511) and national (1518) averages. The average score for the mathematics section is 515, the writing section is 510 and the critical reading portion is 512.
The percentage of seniors taking the SAT increased from 32.5% in 2005 to 34.4% in 2006.
Mr. Richmond and staff are doing a great job on keeping the scores above the state and national averages. This news is fantastic! We're remaining steady on the upward trend in scores and the percentage taking the SAT's.
On the down side, does anyone notice something that is really astounding. Or maybe it's just me...ONLY 34.4% OF OUR GRADUATING SENIORS ARE TAKING THE SAT!!
How do you the community feel about this? What can be done? Let me know your opinion and ideas.
In my March of Dimes capacity, I have the opportunity to work with the health department, hospital, social services, and local school system on the local FIMR board. We meet every month and review statistics, cases and deaths of infants and children in the county witht he primary goal of prevention. Unfortunately in this county, homelessness, lack of prenatal care, premature birth, sexually transmitted diseases, drug addiction and teen pregnancies is a growing problem affecting a healthy birth outcome. If all parents were responsible, diligent and had an open line of communication with their children where they could teach their children about sex, then their wouldn't be a need for it to be taught in the schools. Unfortunately, we do not live in that perfect world. We have students in our high schools that don't know how to tie their shoes or brush their teeth properly much less about hormones, sex, pregnancy, and STD's. We have girls starting their menses without a clue as to what is going on. With all that being said, the school system currently uses an opt-out method for sex education. Opt-out means the students will be in the class, which you might or might not get notice about, unless a parent sends a note saying they do not want them in the class. I support, would like to change, and tried to implement an Opt-In method. Opt-In means the students are not allowed in the class unless parents sign the permission slip. This keeps all parents fully informed, allows them to review the curriculum and those parents who have already discussed the issues with their children can make the decision for them to refrain from the class. When I brought this up I did not get a majority vote from my fellow members and the idea wasn't well received amongst staff. Let me know what you think.
I support an open and transparent Board of Education and while the current times for the school board meetings might be more convenient for Board members, I believe they need to be held in the late afternoon/evening hours as they were previously. Mr. Crawford made a motion for this change and was supported by members Wade, Marshall, and Bailey in January of this year. Ms. Young, Mr. Coggins, and myself did not vote in favor of this change. In addition, I have advocated for televised Board meetings for the past two years. I have served on a Board Communication Committee and an Interagency Communication Committee with the Charles County Government. Both committees recommendations were to televise the Board meetings. North Point is already equipped to televise these meetings and Comcast has given us a channel that we are in danger of losing if not utilized. Televising the meetings could be done with minimal costs but must have a majority vote of a Board that wishes to be transparent. In addition, the channel could be utilized for school events, student courses and staff training.
On another note, there has been a lot of controversy over the appointing of new Board members and whether this should be done in public. Please let me clarify my position. During the last appointing process where Mr. Coggins was selected, the Board was advised by their attorney, Mr. Eric Schwartz, to repeat the same process as previously used. The Board, voted by a majority to accept their attorney's recommendation. I believe the interviews could have been video taped and made available for public viewing after the announcement of the selected member. You see, we had 42 applicants who couldn't all be interviewed on the same day. For the interview process to take place in a public setting would have given the later applicants an unfair advantage over the first applicants. They would have been aware of the questioning and would have been able to prepare for their interviews. Some applicants would have had an unfair advantage and this is what I was against, not public transaprency as misrepresented by others.
The letter below was sent to the Maryland Independent on July 26, 2006.
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Teacher Union Backs New Faces to the Board
printed Weds. July 26, 2006
Dear Editor:
Writing letters to the Editor is not a desire I wish to fulfill mostly because, I do not wish to partake in any mud slinging involving the Charles County Board of Education. However, after being misquoted on numerous occasions and after reading the article printed in Wednesday's edition, I feel compelled to set a few matters straight.
I'll begin with the article; it is true the EACC conducted interviews of the Candidates filing to run for the Board of Education. Unfortunately, the first round was conducted while I was away on a family vacation. I notified Ms. Barbara Kennedy prior to my departure and was informed it wouldn't be a problem. She clearly stated a second round of interviews was scheduled, after the July 3rd filing deadline, and would contact me then. (The letter inviting us to participate in these interviews also stated the same) Upon the return from my vacation and on two other occasions thereafter, I tried contacting the EACC leaving messages for Ms. Kennedy requesting future interview dates. My calls were never returned.
As for the questionnaire, which was sent out with the letter, it is still in my possession. The initial intention was to bring it with me to the interview, as the letter clearly stated to do.
Am I surprised by the twist the EACC tried to portray in the article on Wednesday? Not in the least. You see, this is the second time I am aware of that the EACC has tried to sabotage my efforts as a board member. Earlier in the year, Mr. Fisher himself visited several schools and announced to all staff, (not just the EACC members) "Ms. Young and Ms. Abell voted against increasing the teacher's pension." This statement is blatantly untrue! I voted to increase the teacher's pensions! When I was later informed of these comments, and questioned Mr. Fisher personally, he was adamant the information was correct. I insisted he check the minutes from the meeting; Mr. Fisher later called and apologized as he stood corrected. He subsequently stated he would not send out a retraction to all staff informing them of his inaccuracy.
In addition to shed some light on and hopefully put an end to the political tactics of a small but vocal group of EACC members who frequently attempt to misrepresent me and others on several issues, I would like to set my record straight.
I am a Christian and believe in God, he walks and guides me through my daily life.
I DO NOT BELIEVE, PROMOTE OR SUPPORT...
The teaching of creationism as a science in public schools
The use of vouchers
The banning of books
The distribution of religious books in the schools
I DO BELIEVE, PROMOTE AND SUPPORT...
An increase in teacher's salaries & retention of highly qualified teachers
Parents actively involved in their child's education
An open and transparent Board of Education
A collaborative effort at the County and State levels to relieve overcrowding in the schools
Working collaboratively with the Superintendent and staff
If anyone has questions regarding my beliefs, feel free to visit my blog at; http://abell4edu.blogspot.com/ or email me at abell4edu@verizon.net.
Finally, did I in fact believe the EACC would endorse me as a candidate for the Board of Education? No, not based on their past history...after all, I'm not a registered Democrat!
Thank you,
Jennifer Abell
I am still undecided on whether I support block scheduling. I'm leaning more towards not supporting block scheduling based on mathematical data (provided at the end of this post) and personal research but will refrain from a final decision until after this school year. You see, my son is the guinea pig this year. He attends Milton Somers which went to block scheduling for this school year. For a boy who is organizationally handicapped to start with, this is already turning out to be a nightmare and more work for me. Hopefully it will get better and won't need reminders every night as to which books to pack in the book bag. As for the data I promised, I will give you the following excerpt from Margaret Young's website:
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Over the course of just one year students lose approximately 13.5 hours (16 school days) of instructional time. The cumulative effect over the middle school and high school career would be 94.5 hours of instruction PER SUBJECT! Here's why:
Schools are open 6.5 hours per day
Assume 30 minute lunches for both block and regular schedules
Regular scheduled schools have 7 periods; block schedules have 4 (therefore block scheduled schools are divided by 8 periods)
6.5 hours per day x 60 min. per hr. = 390 min. per school day
390 min. - 30 min. lunch = 360 min. left
REGULAR SCHEDULING
360 min. - 21 min. to change for 7 classes and lunch (3 min. @) = 339 min.
339 min. divided by 7 classes = 48 min. instruction per class
48 min. class x 180 days per year = 8640 min. (144 hrs.)
BLOCK SCHEDULING
360 min. - 12 min. to change for 4 classes and lunch (3 min @) = 348 min.
348 min. divided by 4 classes = 87 min. instruction per class
87 min. class x 90 (meets every other day) = 8730 min. (130.5 hrs.)
144 hrs. Regular - 130.5 hrs. Block = 13.5 hrs. difference (a.k.a. 16.875 Regular Schedule School Days)
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Of course this is only true for science, social studies, physical education, arts (band, choir, art, etc.), foreign language, and all other subjects that aren't math or English.
Okay, we are upping the hours for math and English but shortening the hours in all other subjects. I have to wonder if there is a method to the madness. Maybe this is just one more way to get a handle on all of the mandatory testing to ensure we (the system) make the grade.
The current visitation policy (Policy 1240) is listed below. Please provide feedback. Remember feedack both good and bad are welcome. However, let's be constructive...if there is something you don't like, provide an alternative. My ears are open!
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Parent Visitation/Observation
Parents are encouraged to come to their child?s school during normal operating hours. All visitors are asked to sign in at the main office and obtain a visitor?s badge to ensure the safety and security of students and staff.Parents may either visit the classroom at the teacher?s/school?s invitation or request to make a formal observation of a classroom. Making an appointment with the school at least two (2) days in advance of an observation is not only a courtesy and a requirement, but enables you to schedule the observation for the maximum benefit. Teachers cannot stop teaching to confer with parents who stop by without an appointment. Parents may schedule up to two (2) classroom observations of forty-five (45) minutes in duration each grading period. Staff will accompany visitors to the classroom. Siblings should not attend. Teachers will be happy to discuss the observation at a mutually convenient time. Parents are welcome to visit the cafeteria and eat lunch with their child.Principals retain the authority to deny access to the school for any individual who has or may disrupt or disturb the learning environment or who lacks a valid or legal purpose for entering the school. Our shared commitment and cooperation is essential for the safety of our students and staff.
To Anonymous & Curious,
This is in response to two posts under the subject (Role of the Board of Education) regarding Early dismissals, Half Days, Late Arrivals. I just wanted to post something brief to let you know that I hear you, I've read your comments, and I will be posting a reply soon. I'm doing a little research and obtaining some information before replying. So...stay tuned.
In regards to "Anonymous" post, "I'd like to see how the students did on the AP exams.It seems like more and more students take the exams, but are the scores getting higher, lower, or staying the same? I would think that a national or state-wide assessment is a better way to see how the students are doing in the county compared to other counties in the state."
I thought it was better to address this as an individual topic because the discussion could beome lengthy.
I've tried to insert the link (see bottom of post) to the most up to date data received by the Board from staff. Hopefully it will work. We have not yet received the data for the 05-06 school year. If you have additional questions, or the link does not work, please respond and I'll try again.
This post is in response to "Anonymous" under the title "Vote for Jennifer Abell" which I have asked for more clarity. (I would like to please urge everyone to at least use a username because all of the anonymous posts are getting really confusing. ) I thought it might be better to start another topic group, since this topic is of a more sensitive nature.
As for religion, I am religious, I am a Christian, and I love God. He is my companion and confidant and sustains me through my days.
I do not believe I have ever pushed or even tried to push my religious beliefs on anyone. I respect all religions, cultures, and people and knowing that everyone is different, also believe that religious teachings are best left for the family to decide. After all, these students are not just students of the Charles County Public School System, but they are first and foremost YOUR children.
I do believe there are certain values that can be enhanced, instilled and enforced in the school system. Sometimes people might betray these values as religious but they are simply values that are necessary to live in unison in a community. Such as, do not kill, lie, steal, or cheat. Respect one another and their property. Etc. I do not believe that anyone, no matter what religion (or following), culture, or upbringing you come from, would argue these values as unimportant in society.
I hope this posts clarified my position on religion in the schools.
