CLARKSBURG CLUSTER

Clarksburg High School                                                                                                    Clarksburg Elementary School

Rocky Hill Middle School (split articulated)                                                          Fox Chapel Elementary School

Neelsville Middle School (split articulated)                                                    Little Bennett Elementary School               

                                                                                                                                  Capt. James E. Daly Elementary School               

                                                                                                                               William B. Gibbs, Jr. Elementary School

Cedar Grove Elementary School (split articulated)

 

Good evening, and thank you Dr. Starr, President Barclay, and Members of the Board, for giving us this opportunity to provide input on the recommended CIP budget.  My name is Seenu Suvarna and I represent the Clarksburg Cluster this evening.

In continued recognition of our community’s growth, we would like to thank Dr. Starr for his recommendation that keeps the new Clarksburg Village Elementary School and Clarksburg High School addition on schedule.  These projects cannot come too soon, as Little Bennett is projected to be at 157% capacity that year, and Clarksburg High School at 117%.

Although we are relieved that these two projects have been kept on schedule, we are extremely displeased with the recommendation that the new Middle School be delayed a year.  Currently, with Rocky Hill Middle School at “only” 105% of capacity, we can see why Dr. Starr believes there is room for delay.  However, Rocky Hill is projected to be over 127% of capacity by 2015, and 135% in 2016, when the new school is now scheduled to open.  Our children cannot afford any further delays.

If the new middle school is delayed beyond 2016, there will be at least 300 more students than today.

If the new middle school is delayed beyond 2016, more than the current 8 portables will be needed, cannibalizing other instructional space.

If the new middle school is delayed beyond 2016, there will again have to be 4 or more lunch periods.

If the new middle school is delayed beyond 2016, the school will run out of gym lockers.

If the new middle school is delayed beyond 2016, the hallways between classes, the bus loop, and school assemblies will be way too crowded to ensure safety and security.

 

Clarksburg has defied local, state, and national housing trends before – what if it does so again?  2016 is our line in the sand… our children cannot afford any further delays.

If you will, I’d like you to imagine a typical Montgomery County commute, down I-270 from Germantown.  What would normally be a 30 minute drive to White Flint becomes a 1.5 hour headache because of an accident at Falls Road.  You narrowly avoid 2 fender benders of your own.  You didn’t fill up the car because you thought you had plenty of gas.  You finally get into the office in fumes.  Your boss is angry and you are frazzled.  How ready are you to start work?  How productive will you be?

This is the same stress our children experience every day, between every class, trying to get through the crowded halls in 5 minutes.  5 times a day – every day.  Often, they end up late to class and are stressed out – and then they are expected to recover and learn, before repeating the process all over for the next class.

DO WE NEED TO SUBJECT OUR CHILDREN TO UNNECCESSARY STRESS?

Two years ago, when the Board of Education visited the Clarksburg Cluster, some of you may remember the bus tour during which you were taken on a long loop of the Clarksburg schools and communities.  Even then, its population was exploding, and planned new schools and infrastructure couldn’t be built fast enough – and this was in a tough economy!  Today, construction continues at a fast pace, with new families and children of all ages moving in.

In 2000, Clarksburg had less than 2,400 residents.  Today, there are more than 14,000 residents – a 490% increase!

I would like to close by saying there is not one school or addition in Clarksburg that can be postponed if we are going to provide the best education possible for our children every day.  We want to work with the Board of Education to help fund these projects, but we need the Board to learn from past inaccuracies in the projected numbers and make the correct decision now.  The children of Clarksburg depend on it.

Thank you.

Daly ES General PTA Meeting
October 4, 2011
Present: AnneMichelle Johnson, President; Heather Watson, Vice President; Krista Stewart, Treasurer; Amy Burnham, Secretary; Nora Dietz, Principal; Penny German, Assistant Principal; Stacey Fearheiley, Staff Appreciation Chair; Tiki Baldwin Collins, Fundraising Chair; Sharlene Allen, Academic Enrichment/Cultural Arts Chair; Maria Martinez, Book Fair/Multicultural Chair; Laurin Goodman, Volunteer Coordinator Chair; Mike Rabinowitz, Market Day Chair; Makeda Richardson, Communications Chair; Cristina Avalos; Fily Aw; Corryn Bellamy; Snobie Davis; Virgine Degbe; John Finn; Suzzie Finn; Nakita Fowler; Lettina Guangal; Elvia Herrera; Emmanuel Jean-Philippe; Kadiatou Kamara; Mariama Kamara; Sandar Mejia; Ana Mendez; Pedro Mendez; Luis Morocho; Anne Marie Ndong; Karen Nettles; Jankey Niasse; Anthony Nwakibu; Monica Rabinowitz; Miriam Reyes; Sandra Pais; Sara Parks; Alicia Rivera; Maimouna Sarr; and Dnamika Somaweera.
The meeting was called to order at 7:07 p.m.
1. Welcome - The President welcomed everyone to the first meeting of the year. She introduced the Executive Board and the Committee Chairs.
2. Mrs. Dietz Report
• Mrs. Dietz has been ill the last couple of weeks, but she is recovering. The school year has gotten off to a busy start with the new curriculum for Kindergarten through Second Grade, the new technology, and the new staff. They have hired a new Kindergarten teacher and they are in the process of hiring an ESOL teacher.
• Daly has new Promethean boards. Staff are getting trained on how to use the boards and how to introduce technology in their lessons. For the teachers who did not receive Promethean boards, they have Elmos that they are receiving training on as well. Mrs. German has experience and knowledge of the new technology. She can make a presentation at the next PTA meeting.
• Walk to School Day is October 5. Daly was chosen to represent the County. Parents are encouraged to attend. The Superintendent, staff, students, and parents will walk from Clear Spring Park to school. There will be a presentation by the Superintendent, Mrs. Dietz, and other community leaders focusing on safety.
• Parent Conferences will be November 10 and 11.
• If you would like to contact Mrs. Dietz, you may send a note to her or call her.
3. Officer Reports
a. President - The Fun Run to support the cluster's schools is Saturday, October 15. The deadline for the raffle and to sponsor is Friday, October 14. Please make checks payable to Daly PTA. The sign-up sheets and more information will be posted on the PTA's blog and the yahoo group site.
b. Vice President
• There are currently 17 individual memberships, 18 family memberships, and 19 staff memberships. The membership fee can be waived.
• The PTA still needs co-chairs for Staff Appreciation, Cultural Arts, and Fundraising committees. Two delegates are also needed. The delegates represent the Daly PTA at the Montgomery County PTA meeting the fourth Tuesday of the month at the Carver Educational
Center. (Note: As of the writing of these minutes, only co-chairs for the Cultural Arts and Fundraising committees were still vacant.)
c. Treasurer - The budget was presented for a vote. A motion was made, seconded, and the budget was approved unanimously by the members.
d. Secretary - A report was not made by the Secretary.
4. Committee Reports
a. Staff Appreciation - The chair requested new committee members. There will not be meetings, but emails to discuss and plan events. If anyone has new ideas, please contact the chair.
b. Fundraising
• Spirit Nights are when local restaurants donate a portion of proceeds on a particular night based on customers mentioning they are with Daly. This year Spirit Nights will be every other month, but bigger events than last year. It was suggested that Spirit Nights be on Fridays to get more participation.
• Mrs. McCaffrey will be collecting and counting Box Tops.
• The Mixed Bags catalogue was sent home in the Wednesday folder. The first orders are due October 14. A second order will be due November 4.
• The committee will need help copying and distributing flyers.
• The PTA is also selling first aid kits for your home and auto at $9.50 each.
• Fundraising is important, so the PTA can host events for our students.
c. Cultural Arts/International Night - The chair is looking for committee members and new ideas. There will be one or two events throughout the year. The first will be International Night on October 28. A motion was made to start International Night at 7:00 p.m. The motion was seconded and approved unanimously by the members.
d. Book Fair
• The fall book fair is November 7-11 in the Media Center. Volunteers will be needed. There will be extended hours on November 10 and 11 during conferences.
• The fair will be opened up online during the fair and will be extended a week after the fair. In addition to buying books at the fair, books can be ordered online and they will be delivered to the school.
• Last year, there were $6000 in sales with $1200 profit.
• A suggestion was made to ask the teachers to make wish lists for their classes. Parents and students could buy books suggested by the teachers.
• A suggestion to repeat the One for Books program was made to raise money for students who cannot afford to buy books.
e. Volunteer Coordinator - The chair will be going to a mandatory training class offered by the County on October 19. There are opportunities to volunteer once or on an ongoing basis.
f. Market Day - Market Day is way the PTA fundraises. People can buy food online and pick-up the food once a month at Daly. There are weekly, monthly, and new customer specials. People should try it once to see the convenience and the quality to become repeat customers. Debt,
credit, and Independence cards are accepted. The chair will try to have some samples at the next PTA meeting.
g. Communications - The chair introduced her committee members and encouraged members to sign-up for the Yahoo group. Emails will be sent out to remind people about upcoming meetings and events.
5. Old Business - There was no old business discussed.
6. New Business
a. Captain Silly Bones - If you book Captain Silly Bones for a party and mention the Community Picnic, he will reduce the price by $50 and give you free goody bags.
b. Next Meeting - After discussion to possibly change the PTA meeting day, it was decided that the next PTA meeting will be Tuesday, November 1 at 7:00 p.m.
After a motion to adjourn was made and seconded, the members unanimously voted to adjourn at 8:25 p.m.
The meeting minutes are submitted by the Secretary on October 9, 2011.

 Please join us for our General PTA Meeting - Tuesday, October 4, 2011 at 7 pm 

PLEASE HELP US HELP YOUR CHILD! Get involved, join now and be a PTA Member.
~Membership is $10.00/Individual, $15.00/2 Adults or $25.00/ 2 Adults + Free admission to ALL PTA paid events.

Take advantage of our Early Bird Special!!!! Join before October 4, 2011 and receive a discounted membership:
~Discounted membership is $5.00/Individual, $7.50/2 Adults or $12.50/ 2 Adults + Free admission to ALL PTA paid events.

Membership payments can be made by cash or check (please make checks payable to Daly E.S. PTA)

Also, please consider volunteer from one or more of our PTA committees:

~Cultural Arts/Academic Enrichment Committee
~Communications Committee (Newsletter, Website, PTA Bulletin Board/Marquee, Yahoo Group)
~Fundraising Committee (Box Tops, Giant/Safeway, Spirit Night)
~Multicultural Committee (International Night)
~Staff Appreciation Committee
~Spelling Bee Committee
~Book Fair Committee

If you would like to receive more information, please contact the PTA President at dalyptaprez@yahoo.com.

If you would like to join the CaptJamesEDalyElemSchoolPTA Yahoo Group please send an email request to the Communications Committee at mpr_taurus21@yahoo.com.

WE NEED YOUR HELP!!  The stakes are way too high to not get involved.

On May 19, the Montgomery County Council will finalize the county budget for Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) and other county agencies.  The Clarksburg Cluster, comprised of the 9 schools in our area (Clarksburg HS, Rocky Hill MS, Neelsville MS, Clarksburg ES, Little Bennett ES, Gibbs ES, Daly ES, Cedar Grove ES, and Fox Chapel ES) testified to the Council on April 6 in support of fully funding MCPS to the Maintenance of Effort level.

We are a large cluster and really need to show the County Council that the education of our children and the services provided to them matters to us.  Remember, the Council determines the level of funding for the schools.  Please don't make the mistake of thinking someone else will do this.  We need you to send email to the County Executive and County Council members, urging them to fully fund MCPS to MOE levels.  A flood of emails will tell them we are watching, and will hold them accountable for their actions!

Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) has not received Maintenance of Effort (MOE) funding for the past two years, and our students are suffering.  MOE is still the law, and Montgomery County must obey the law, just as any citizen must follow the law.  Although we understand the challenging economic times, and the difficulty the Council may feel with funding to MOE, it shouldn't cause us to neglect our most vulnerable.  We must recognize that for our schools to remain top notch, full funding of our children's education is required.

Behind Public Safety (which is also underfunded), your number one responsibility as a government, to our citizens and our children, is Public Education.

Thank you all for your support!!  The stakes are way too high to not get involved.

Other Information for You

-------------------------------------------
What are the County Executive and Council members’ individual email addresses?

County ExecutiveIke Leggett - ocemail@montgomerycountymd.gov

CouncilmembersPhil Andrews - councilmember.andrews@montgomerycountymd.gov
Roger Berliner - councilmember.berliner@montgomerycountymd.gov 
Marc Elrich - councilmember.elrich@montgomerycountymd.gov
Valerie Ervin - councilmember.ervin@montgomerycountymd.gov 
Nancy Floreen - councilmember.floreen@montgomerycountymd.gov
George Lventhal - councilmember.leventhal@montgomerycountymd.gov
Nancy Navarro - councilmember.navarro@montgomerycountymd.gov
Craig Rice - councilmember.rice@montgomerycountymd.gov
Hans Riemer - councilmember.riemer@montgomerycountymd.gov
All Councilmembers - county.council@montgomerycountymd.gov

--------------------------------------
What are the consequences of failure to meet MOE funding level?
The way the state enforces its MOE requirement on local governments is it reduces state aid to school districts that do not meet MOE.  Specifically, it reduces state aid by the amount of increase in Thornton money over the previous year. Thus, for MCPS, if the County fails to fund the MCPS budget at the MOE level, the state could reduce state aid by about $22 - $30 million (depending on what happens in Annapolis the next couple days).  Cuts to the MCPS budget would thus be magnified. For the past two years, MCPS has been able to get a waiver of this penalty. It's not clear whether they would be able to go to that well again.
 

--------------------------------------
What do the different proposed funding levels mean in terms of possible MCPS program cuts?

The MOE level of funding as proposed by the Board of Education would provide for generally the same level of services (e.g., same class size standards, academic support teachers, maintenance staff, and other MCCPTA budget priority items) as in this year's budget; no cost of living increases for staff, but step increases and longevity pay; some cuts in central office staff and miscellaneous other savings like delaying bus replacements;  and a catch-up contribution of about $48 million of the required $55 million to staff retirement benefits fund ("OPEB").  The County Executive's proposed budget is $82.2 million less than what was proposed by the BOE. The County Council’s proposed budget as provided for in their Spending Affordability Guidelines is $123.7 million less than the County Executive's or almost $206 million less than the BOD request.

--------------------------------------
What is the size of the MCPS budget?

The Board of Education submitted a request to the County for a total level of spending for MCPS for FY2012 of $2.2057 billion in total funds from all sources (including state, federal, and other grants and enterprise funds).  Excluding private grants and enterprise funds, the "tax supported amount" from all sources is $2.069 billion, and the amount requested from the County's own, locally-generated revenues is $1.497 billion.

--------------------------------------
What is the County Executive's recommended funding for MCPS?

The County Executive's budget recommended that MCPS total funding  (that is, including revenues from local taxes and fees, as well as state and federal funding, enterprise funds) should be $2.123 billion; of which $1.987 billion is "tax-supported" from all levels of government, and $1.415 billion would come from the County's own, locally generated revenues.  Thus, the County Executive's recommended funding level for MCPS is $82.2 million less than what MCPS requested. Because MCPS's request was structured to a "maintenance of effort" level of funding, this is the same as saying the budget is $82.2 million less than the "maintenance of effort" level.

-------------------------------------------
Why are some calling it a "flat" budget and emphasizing that MCPS will receive the same amount as last year, yet others are characterizing the County Executive's proposed budget as $82 million in cuts?

Because MCPS enrollment is projected to increase by 3,000+ students, this proposed budget represents a cut in "per pupil" expenditures. This means a cut in services per student compared to last year. To the extent that MCPS faces any rising costs, either because of inflation or because of an increase in the portion of students needing enhanced instruction, the reduction in spending per pupil could actually represent a larger cut in terms of instruction offered to our kids.  Due to the state law called Maintenance of Effort, counties are required to fund their school systems based on a dollar amount per pupil.   Since Montgomery County expects those additional 3,000+ students in August 2011, the county is supposed to provide funding that takes the additional students into account.

-------------------------------------------
But why not try to do more with less?

3,000+ students will require teachers, bus drivers, para educators, etc.  And MCPS is seeing an increased need due to the increase in ESOL (English Language Learners), Special Education, and students needing Free and Reduced Price Meals.  Think of the influx of 3,000 new students as filling almost two high schools.  Staff and services are needed as a result.

-----------------------------------------
Is County Executive Ike Leggett proposing specific program cuts to the MCPS budget?

The County Executive is recommending a total amount of funding for MCPS.  He's basing his recommendation on a number of factors (to include the all-important economic reality our county is facing).  The Board of Education will be the final decision-maker on exactly which programs will be cut based on the amount of funding approved by the County Council.  It is perhaps more accurate to state that the County Executive has recommended a reduction in overall funding of the MCPS Operating Budget that was proposed by the Board of Education.

------------------------------------------
So what exactly will be cut?

That's unknown right now.  If the County Council accepts the County Executive's proposed $82 million reduction in the MCPS FY2012 Operating Budget, then the Board of Education will have to find $82 million in savings.  If the County Council decides to reduce the MCPS budget even more, well...then more savings will have to be found.  At present, the Superintendent has issued a list of Potential Budget Reductions.  That is probably the best idea we have of the potential cuts to our schools.  Realize that his "list" adds up to $45 million so another $37 million will have to be found to equal the $82 million.

------------------------------------------
So where will that $37 million come from if the Superintendent hasn't listed enough reductions on his "list"?

Well... that gets a bit tricky. We know that the MCPS budget currently has funds set aside to catch up "OPEB" (which funds retiree benefits), and that in the past it has reduced OPEB funding to make up for budget cuts. However, we can't continue to do this forever and maintain bond ratings.  Our teachers are still negotiating for their salaries and benefits.  While County Council members have pointed to changes in these formulas as a source of savings, the Board of Education will be making those decisions.

---------------------------------------
What about cuts in staffing?

In preparation and expectation of a reduced budget for next year, the Superintendent announced staffing allocations in early March to reflect those potential cuts.  The timing is driven by the timing of the teacher job market.  Basically, it's easier to bring staff back than it is to have to transfer or cut them after the county budget process is finalized in June.  As a result, schools are working on the assumption that class size will go up.  In addition and as outlined on the "list", Principals are planning on reductions in academic intervention teachers, staff development teachers, counselors, para educators, media assistants, and the list goes on....

--------------------------------------
I heard that MCPS is receiving more state aid than they expected.  If MCPS is receiving so much in state and federal dollars, why should the county have to contribute any additional amount to the MCPS budget?

MCPS is not receiving an unexpected $82 million in state aid - more like $38 million. Moreover, the Maintenance of Effort law was implemented many years ago for just that reason.  The State wished to invest in education but saw counties reducing their own contributions towards their school systems.  The Maintenance of Effort law ensures that counties keep education as a priority and don't simply reduce their obligation if and when the State provides additional funding in an effort to promote higher quality education. A couple more points:  MCPS will not be receiving as much federal aid as last year and the Governor's recommended budget is not a sure thing until the State Legislature approves it.

PTA elections will be held at the next PTA meeting, Tuesday, May 3rd, at 7:00 p.m. Please check PTA Executive Board and Committee for the position descriptions.

May 2nd-6th is Teacher Appreciation Week.  The PTA would like to ask all parents and guardians to take time to write personal thank-you notes to their children’s teachers. Parents, please also try to say "thanks" the next time you talk to their children’s teachers, or to send a quick e-mail expressing your gratitude.

Please come and join us for our next PTA meeting.

Date: April 5th 2011

Time: 7.00 pm to 8.30 pm

The Daly chorus will perform from 7.00 pm  to 7.30 pm

Business meeting from 730 - 830 pm to discuss proposals for improving the PTA for the 2011-2012 school year and also to prepare for PTA board elections in May.

All are welcome!!