Verjeana Jacobs, chair of the Prince George’s County Board of Education, released the following public service announcement in the hopes of getting community support and input in the search for the next superintendent of schools.
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Outgoing PGCPS Deputy Superintendent Bonita Coleman-Potter
Dr. Bonita Coleman Potter who serves as the Deputy Superintendent for the Prince George’s County Public Schools will step down from her role later this month. She has been tapped as the new chief executive of the Ocean Springs School District in Ocean Springs, Mississippi.
The change in post will be a change in pace for the second in command of Maryland’s second largest school district. Prince George’s County has 123,000 students, that is about fifteen times larger than the entire 18,000 people in the entire Ocean Springs town. Prince George’s County graduated 8,000 seniors this year, Ocean Springs graduated 375. Despite the change, according to the Ocean Springs School Board President she wants to return home. Coleman-Potter is a Mississippi native who taught middle school in Clinton, Mississippi and after that served as deputy superintendent of instruction for four years in the Jackson Public School District, and was a college professor at Tugaloo and Jackson State.
This proves the second time was the charm for Potter. Last June Potter was named a finalist to replace the Atlanta City Public Schools superintendent who retired after a testing scandal took over her tenure. The board there decided against selecting a new leader and named an interim for the year.
Dr. Coleman Potter is expected to return to Mississippi over the next few weeks to find a place to live, but doesn’t take the helm of the system full-time until July 1st. The Deputy Superintendent has held her position since Dr. Hite named her to the post in 2009.
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With the special session of the Maryland General Assembly days away, the chiefs of Baltimore City, Prince George’s County, and Montgomery County public schools have joined together to fight for a restoration of school funding. In a letter released today, the three superintendents urge the state leaders to remember their investments and restore cuts to public education.
The Prince George’s County Public Schools took it a step further unveiling a feature on their website urging community members to pressure the legislature to restore the cuts. The feature allows citizens use the PGCPS website and lobby their legislators and the governor. To view the page yourself go to http://www1.pgcps.org/budget/13.aspx
Press Release and Letter from PGCPS about combined efforts with BCPS and MCPS.
Superintendents of Baltimore City, Prince George’s County and MCPS Send Joint Letter to State Leaders
May 7, 2012For Immediate ReleaseThe leaders of three of the largest school districts in Maryland sent a joint letter today to the Governor and the leaders of the State Senate and the State House of Delegates urging them to fully restore funding for public education during the special session of the General Assembly, which begins on May 14. The General Assembly failed to come to a budget agreement during its regular session, which ended last month, leading to the passage of a so-called “doomsday budget,” that would cut funding for schools and other services by more than $500 million. The letter stresses the importance of Geographic Cost of Education Index (GCEI) funds and other state education funding, and outlines the impact that such cuts could have for the three districts and the state, as a whole.
The letter is signed Dr. Andrés A. Alonso, CEO of Baltimore City Public Schools, Dr. William R. Hite, Jr., superintendent of Prince George’s County Public Schools, and Dr. Joshua P. Starr, superintendent of Montgomery County Public Schools. It is addressed to Governor Martin J. O’Malley, President of the Senate Thomas V. Mike Miller, Jr. and Speaker of the House of Delegates Michael E. Busch.
The text of the letter is below. A copy of the letter can be found here.
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Dear Governor O’Malley, Senate President Miller and Speaker Busch:
We are writing to share our collective concern about the devastating impact the so-called “doomsday” budget would have on our three school systems and Maryland’s hard-earned standing as being “first in education.” As you prepare to gather for a special session of the General Assembly on May 14, we urge you to fully restore the Geographic Cost of Education Index (GCEI) and other formula funding for public education.
Our districts, combined, educate more than one-third of Maryland’s students and, within that, nearly two-thirds of the African American and Hispanic students in the state and more than half of the students who qualify for free and reduced-price meals. The elimination of $93 million in GCEI funding would disproportionately harm our students, our ability to continue to narrow achievement gaps for those students who are minorities and poor, and student performance for the state as a whole.
Under the state’s Thornton formula in the past five years, our districts have received a majority of GCEI dollars that the state distributes to create equity in funding across jurisdictions. The GCEI offsets funding in districts where the cost of living—and, by extension, the cost of educating children—is higher. During those same five years, our three districts combined have shown significant student achievement gains—gains that have improved the educational and life prospects of tens of thousands of children and gone a long way to moving us toward financial and educational equity for our kids. These gains have also contributed heavily to Maryland’s continued status as having the best public education system in the country.
For instance, Maryland is rightfully proud of its position as a national leader in Advanced Placement participation and performance. Since 2007, the number of AP exams taken by Maryland students has increased 35 percent. Our three districts, combined, have accounted for about half of the state’s AP growth, having increased the number of AP exams taken by more than 40 percent since 2007.
And the GCEI funding has been critical to making this success happen; most importantly, it has been essential to our ability to deliver the education our students need and deserve. The elimination of the GCEI would be a huge setback in the gains our students have made. Collectively, our three districts would sustain 73 percent of what would be a $128.8 million cut to public education.
If we are to ensure that our students graduate from high school prepared for the workforce of the 21st century, and if we are to grow the pool of workers trained to enter the fast-emerging STEM professions in our state, then we cannot retreat on education funding. If we are to make good on our commitment to educating children equitably, regardless of their geographic location, we must maintain, and even increase, our investment in education. As our state’s leader-, you have demonstrated your commitment to education time and again. We ask you to maintain that commitment to our students during the special session.
Sincerely,
Andrés A. Alonso, Ed.D.
CEO, Baltimore City Public SchoolsWilliam R. Hite, Jr., Ed.D.
Superintendent, Prince George’s County Public SchoolsJoshua P. Starr, Ed.D.
Superintendent, Montgomery County Public Schools
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One the setbacks to the General Assembly not reaching a deal on the revenue package (taxes) that will fund the spending plan is the cuts to public education. This week students at the University of Maryland, who face the possibility of a 10% increase in tuition, plan to take to the public square at College Park in protest demanding Governor Martin O’Malley call a special session to address the unfinished business. In addition PGCPS Superintendent Hite also is sounding the alarm.
In a statement posted to his blog and emailed to community stakeholders, Hite writes: ” Because the General Assembly session ended without the approval of the Fiscal Year 2013 budget submitted by Governor Martin O’Malley, our school system is now faced with an additional $51 million in cuts. Needless to say, this would have a substantial impact on our students, teachers, staff and schools.” A member of the Prince George’s County House Delegation to the House of Delegates called Dr. Hite’s estimate “conservative” and warned the cuts could be far more than that. The superintendent also wrote that he and the members of the board have already written to the governor, senate president, and speaker of the house to request they reconvene to solve the problem and encouraged citizens to do the same.
Here are the details of the University of Maryland event:
Rally on the Mall- Prevent 10% Tuition Increases!
Thursday, April 19th @3:00PM
These cuts will mean that more of the burden will fall on students next year and there will likely be at least ten percent tuition increases for the incoming fall semester.
Now, is the time for action! Governor O’Malley still has the option to call a special session to raise the revenues to offset the cuts to the university. We will rally on the mall (in front of Testudo) and urge legislators in Annapolis to get their act together and protect higher education.
Balancing the budget on the backs of students is not acceptable. We need to have a special session, so that students that are struggling to get by will not be unduly burdened by petty politics.
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Sherine Taylor, a candidate for the PGCPS School Board in the 5th District, is the latest to respond to allegations of administrators suppressing student dissent at Northwestern High School—
Good evening
Sherine Taylor, candidate for School Board in 5th District. Really, I mean come on now police, locking down the school, using police to block exits and holding student’s leaders in custody. My goal as candidate for School Board 5th District will be to continue to support our students and see to it that they have the means, and tools needed to get the best education humanly possible.
Thank you
Sherine Taylor, District 5 Candidate
www.electtaylor.com
–
Sherine Taylor
People for Taylor
Candidate for School Board 5
Micah Watson, a candidate for the PGCPS School Board in the 4th District, is the latest to respond to allegations of administrators suppressing student dissent at Northwestern High School— This statement has been published unedited.Thank you for letting me know about this incident. I was not aware of it, and have not heard from any other sources about it. It speaks to my greatest frustration with PGCPS, and one of my main reasons for running: lack of communication with the stakeholders of our public school system. That means families, parents, teachers and students. I would not support the administration reviewing students’ tweets without probable cause, and would not support taking any action against anyone based on a tweet except to prevent harm or potential harm to a person or property, bullying, or some other serious consequence. I will read the petition before deciding whether to sign it, and I want to know more about this.
Best regards,
Micah Watson, District 4 Candidate, cell 240-603-9366.
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I completely support the actions of the Principal of Northwestern High School. The principal is responsible for the safety of all students and staff. He must maintain an environment conducive to learning. If he had not intervened to stop the protest by up to 300 students, and a student had been injured or arrested, I would demand he be held accountable.
To Whom It May Concern,
This is actually one of the first times I have been contacted regarding this matter. First off, as a board member, I know for a fact that I should neither respond to or comment on this issue, and that I will subsequently be disdained for doing so. However, I continue to remind myself that I was elected to the Board not by the Board, and that if I ignore the needs of students for whatever reason or because of whatever bureaucracy I have failed to fulfill the duties I was elected by my peers to complete. While I understand the authority and purpose of the school’s administration and its actions, I think the right to protest is essential to avoid tyranny. I, of course, have to hear both sides of the story, but think that sometimes extreme measures are necessary to prove a point and bring needed attention. If there is any further discussion or appeal on this topic, I know that I face the risk of now having to recuse myself, but such is simply what comes with the territory. I plan to attend and hear from students at the upcoming student forum, and eagerly await any more contact. My duty is to serve and represent the students so if anyone has any further questions, comments, concerns, or suggestions I can be contacted at this email address, 240-472-3160, or via my twitter account, @KeeptheFaithJ. I thank you for contacting me, and hope to hear from students soon.
Educationally yours,
Remember earlier when we blogged about a recent student planned uprising that was crushed by Dr. Hite and other Prince George’s County Public School Officials? Well that suppression has been making a lot of headlines lately all across the country.
After it was first featured on The Black Star Project and then here on our blog, the news just took off. Today the AFL-CIO Metro DC Council featured the story to their email list of thousands of union members and supporters. They also featured it on their website. The Midwest Peace and Justice Caucus of the National Education Association (America’s largest teacher’s union) also featured the story on their blog. Here in Maryland, the progressive blog Maryland Juice (arguably one of the states most popular progressive blogs) also ran the story.
Now student leaders are turning up the pressure with a newly launched Change.org petition (sign it today at http://tinyurl.com/pgcpsstudents) demanding the suspensions of their leaders be lifted and wiped from their records.
Fighting for your rights is a key American principal. The right to petition your government through peaceful assembly is a value that this nation was founded on. So we plan to ask, how do the candidates running for the Board of Education feel about this issue? Do they think students should be given the right to petition their government, the Board of Education and school officials, or should they just shut up and learn about the rights nobody expects them to exercise? We’re sending an email to them all and will let you know what we hear back.
By the way where are the Prince George’s County Young Democrats? The Student Board Member what does she think? We will be asking them too.
What do you think? Tell us your opinion and if you support the students go to http://tinyurl.com/pgcpsstudents and add your voice to their voice.
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