In Education Vote, Politics Wins; Kids Lose.

If you've followed my blog over the past few months, you've read about the proposed budget in Montgomery County, Md., that would eliminate a proven program for preschoolers with disabilities, replacing it with a flawed, experimental program that was created without the involvement of parents or the county's partners who have successfully provided these services for 35 years.

Parents vocally expressed their opposition to this plan. Many pointed out that Superintendent Jerry Weast blatantly violated a Board of Education policy that new programs must be presented in time to be reviewed -- before showing up in a budget.

Today, the members of the Board of Education unanimously approved that budget.

Unanimously, they voted against a proven program that parents have relied on to give their children a chance to succeed.

Unanimously, they told parents of special-needs children that they do not value their opinions and experiences when making major changes to the services the county offers.

Unanimously, they told Dr. Weast that he can unilaterally create, change, or shut down any program he chooses -- and they will rubber stamp his decisions.

Unanimously, they threatened the future well-being of our county's youngest and most at-risk children.

UPDATE: I've created a Facebook group to encourage people to ask Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett to overturn this decision and preserve MPAC's services for children who need them. Before March 1, email him at ocemail@montgomerycountymd.gov or call his office at 240-777-2500 and urge him to overturn the realignment of preschool services and to preserve MPAC.

Parent: Dr. Weast Violated Board Policy. Will They Let Him Get Away With It?

On Tuesday, the Board of Education is scheduled to vote on the FY11 budget, which includes a proposal to dramatically change the way the county serves preschoolers with special needs. As the vote nears, more questions are being raised about the program and the way Superintendent Weast is trying to push it through, despite the objections of parents and special ed advocates. Here is a letter that a parent wrote to Patricia O'Neill, president of the board.

Dear Mrs. O’Neill:

Please fulfill your responsibility to establish effective board policies by rejecting the Superintendant’s transparent attempt to circumvent Policy AEB by mischaracterizing his plan to establish a new program as a “realignment” of funds. Policy AEB, entitled “Strategic Planning for Continuous Improvement,” clearly states:

The superintendant shall present to the Board any significant changes to the strategies and initiatives in the strategic plan, including establishing new programs, eliminating existing programs, or making major changes to programs in a manner that provides the Board an opportunity to offer suggestions on the proposed changes before the superintendant finalizes his/her recommended budget.

The superintendant has clearly violated Policy AEB by including his proposal to start a new special education preschool program in his recommended FY2011 Operating Budget once again denying the Board, parents and other stakeholders the opportunity to offer meaningful input before the budget is finalized. Even more egregious he has hired the first teacher for this program which is opening this month even before his budget recommendation has been approved.

The Board amended Policy AEB in May “to reflect the Board’s strong commitment to include staff members, students, parents, and other community members on the School Improvement Team for each school; reflect the alignment of the strategic planning process with budget preparation procedures; and to outline the opportunities for community input into the budget preparation process.” When the Board considered the revised policy, members noted that the proposal to eliminate the learning centers was introduced to the Board through the operating budget and stated that there needed to be discussion about programmatic decisions prior to the Superintendant’s delivery of the budget. The Board approved the amendments over the Superintendant’s objections. What was the point if he is going to ignore the policy and you refuse to enforce it?

At the budget working session on January 28, Mr. Durso asked how MCPS and the Board can overcome some credibility issues. Following and enforcing your own policies and procedures would be a good start.

With Budget Vote 2 Weeks Away, County Starts Staffing Unapproved, Undefined Program

Here's an interesting (and disappointing) development with the Montgomery County scheme to shift preschoolers with special needs to a new experimental program in public elementary schools. I call it a "scheme" because emerging details suggest that the public hearings, meetings with board members, and letters and phone calls from parents may not have really mattered -- because the county is moving forward with the implementation of this program BEFORE IT HAS BEEN APPROVED.

Yes, as we await the Board of Education's Feb. 9 vote on the FY2011 budget, which includes this proposed plan, the county has hired the first teacher for the program. She started working on Tuesday. That's according to a parent who talked directly to Felicia Piacente, the director of the Division of Prekindergarten Special Programs and Related Services.

Specifically, a parent spoke with Ms. Piacente about her child, who is scheduled to transition from Infants & Toddlers to special education preschool in March. As part of the transition process, the parents and the service coordinator from Infants & Toddlers visited several programs and determined that the Montgomery Primary Achievement Center (MPAC) was the appropriate placement. But before the IEP meeting, the parents learned of Superintendent Jerry Weast's plan to eliminate funding for MPAC. The parents are struggling to find any information they can about the new preschool program, but Ms. Piacente informed them that the program does not yet have a name, schedule, or classroom they can visit.

In addition, Ms. Piacente told this parent that the teacher for the new preschool class at Cashell Elementary School started on Tuesday. No paraprofessionals have been hired, and they won't be until the program has students. The teachers and pareprofessionals will receive no program-specific training.

Is anyone else outraged? Email BOE@mcpsmd.org if you value parent involvement, support appropriate education for all student, and expect transparency and honesty from your elected officials.

Politics vs. Progress: Will Board Rubber-Stamp Plan Threatening Special-Needs Preschoolers?

On Feb. 9, the Board of Education in Montgomery County, Md., will either 1) support proven educational programs for preschoolers with special needs or 2) give in to political pressure at these children's expense. One parent has submitted this compelling case to the Board. Will they listen?

Why You Should Vote NO on the Proposal to Realign Non-Public Preschool Tuition (P. 20 of budget proposal)

It will not improve LRE. The children currently placed at MPAC already have interaction with typically developing same age peers. Three of the newly-proposed Pre-K community-based classrooms do not have access to same age peers at all. The other three have access to same age peers who are at risk and may not be able to model age level skills.

It will undermine FAPE. In determining the least restrictive environment for an individual child, you must consider FAPE, which means children must receive services that are both developmentally sound and based on the individual needs of each child. Most young children with significant cognitive disabilities require intense, holistic, early-intervention in order to improve their outcomes. Placing these children in an unproven, public, pre-K program in an elementary school is not developmentally sound. Moreover, the proposed program is less intense and less holistic than the services MPAC currently provides. Unless MPAC is preserved as an option, the proposed initiative fails to consider the individual needs of each child.

Existing programs can address the needs. If the goal is to serve children with significant cognitive disabilities closer to home, MCPS should use work to make the existing PEP classes appropriate for more of these children. Any child for whom PEP is not appropriate should still have the opportunity to go to MPAC.

It will eliminate MPAC. The practical reality is that if MCPS realigns funding to create new, public, pre-K special education programs and stops funding placements at MPAC, MPAC will not be able to remain in operation. It will cease to exist – thus eliminating for certain children with severe cognitive disabilities an existing and proven educational option that meets their individual needs.

MPAC’s closure is not a “what if” scenario. Last year, MCPS unilaterally terminated its Collaborative Autism Pre-school Program (“CAPP”) with MPAC. Instead, it placed all eligible pre-K children with autism in MCPS’ public CAPP programs – many of which opened with instructors who had no prior experience teaching children with autism. Without students, MPAC had to shut down its CAPP program. There currently is no option available for children with autism ages 3-5 whose severity of needs requires the intensity of the CAPP program MPAC previously provided. If MCPS’ goal was to serve more pre-K children with autism by steering all eligible children into the public CAPP program, that goal was met. Sadly, however, it was achieved at the expense of certain autistic children who, because of severity of their needs, should have been placed in a CAPP program at MPAC.

Federal special education law requires MPAC to provide a continuum of alternative placements. When MCPS eliminates programs like MPAC, CAPP at MPAC, and the learning centers, it eliminates settings that some of its children need to make educational progress. Vote NO on the proposal to Realign Non-Public Preschool Tuition.

There's still time to express your opinion -- email BOE@mcpsmd.org and urge them to oppose this risky proposal.

Kentucky Schools: Pay No Attention to that Man Behind the Curtain

As reported by the Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County last week, Superintendent Jerry Weast was the keynote speaker this Saturday at the annual conference of the Kentucky School Boards Association. The meeting's website said Dr. Weast would discuss his "ambitious comprehensive reform effort" to meet the needs of all students. When I heard that, I was compelled to write a letter to the editor of the Louisville Courier-Journal. Since the paper didn't publish it, here it is. If you have friends in Kentucky, pass it along to them too.

To the Editor:

I found it interesting that the Kentucky School Boards Association invited Dr. Jerry Weast, superintendent of schools in Montgomery County, Md., to speak at its annual meeting in Louisville Jan. 22-24 about his efforts to "invest in preschool education for both public and private providers." At the same time he is preparing his remarks on this important topic, parents like me who are raising a child with special needs are actively opposing a plan by Dr. Weast that would effectively close down a proven preschool for children with severe disabilities who need early intervention.

Before Kentucky educators decide to follow Dr. Weast's lead in the area of special education, you should know that parents whose children would be affected oppose his plan nearly unanimously. At a recent hearing, all 23 parents who testified on this topic adamantly urged the Board of Education to overturn his proposal to abandon this successful program and move children to an experimental public program with no known education model, curriculum, or parent involvement. If parents and educators in Kentucky support the right of all children to receive an appropriate education, think twice before holding up Dr. Weast as a role model.

-Mark Miller

Preschool Targeted by "Ill-Prepared Proposal" Is County's "Best-Kept Secret"

In the second evening of hearings at the Montgomery County Board of Education on Jan. 20, Maria Dudish got a standing ovation for her emotional testimony. Please take the time to read this and then tell the Board why Dr. Weast's plan is a bad idea. Email boe@mcspmd.org

"My name is Maria Dudish, and I want to tell you the best kept secret of this whole budget process. The best kept secret I am referring to is the value that the school system gets for its money from the Montgomery Primary Achievement Center.

"With all of the cuts you will need to discuss and make during this budget year, you are very fortunate to have this cost-effective, time-tested, and outcome-driven program for our county’s youngest citizens with moderate to significant needs.

"I am the mother of Tara, age 26, who has intellectual disabilities and autism. She attended the MPAC program at the ages of 3 and 4. When Tara went into a MCPS kindergarten at age 5, because I had a social work background, I began working at MPAC as the family coordinator. That was over 20 years ago.

"With the many cuts you will need to make to many high-quality programs, do not dismantle this comprehensive Early Childhood Program, MPAC, that has given you so much value for over 35 years with experienced professionals like me.

"With the many cuts you will need to make, do not dismantle MPAC, a program that excels at serving families, a key component of a successful early intervention program.

"With the many cuts you will need to make, don’t dismantle a program, MPAC, that excels in communicating with our parents and gives them a head start, from the very beginning, at closing the achievement gap. Let me give you some statistics. Out of 75 families at our school, 44 percent qualify for Medicaid and 79 percent of our students are of minority status.

"With the many cuts you will need to make don’t dismantle a program, MPAC, that offers a variety of opportunities for preschool children to interact with their typical peers. MPAC has over 40 children without special needs at our Silver Spring site who play and learn with students from MPAC.

"Dr. Weast, do you know who we really are? On behalf of our families, our staff, and our students, we invite you and your early childhood administrators to come and visit us. Most of the administrators making the realignment proposal have never been to our school, and those that have, have not visited in the recent past.

"We have elected you, the members of the school board, to be good stewards of our taxes. We depend on you to use these funds wisely and in the best interests of all of our children. At a time when you are watching the costs of every program in the system, you have the responsibility to retain one of the best values MCPS has. We are efficient and we are effective. You have heard that from many of your satisfied constituents. Do the right fiscal thing. Yank this ill-prepared proposal. Be the watch-dog that we depend on you to be. Stop the realignment of 36 preschoolers -- and the transfer of non-public funds for this new initiative."

Testimony from Jan. 13 and Jan. 20 is now available on the Board of Education's website.

Even "Least Restrictive Environment" Advocates Oppose Weast's Preschool Plan

Montgomery County Superintendent Weast says his plan to move preschoolers from a proven program to an experimental public program is intended to meet children's needs in the "least restrictive environment." Not so fast, say the lead advocates for LRE in the county.

Testifying at a Board of Education hearing on Jan. 20, Ricki Sabia presented the views of the LRE Access Group of Montgomery County, a project of the Maryland Coalition for Inclusive Education, educators, parents. and citizens. On the issue of Dr. Weast's plan to move students from the Montgomery Primary Achivement Center, she said:

"Our final issue tonight is the decision to open six 'community-based' preschool programs. It has been said that this will improve LRE. What we have learned from the issues with the learning center phase-out is that decisions that are supposed to be based on LRE and improved outcomes can sometimes end up having the opposite effect for certain affected students. Some children from MPAC who are currently well served and have interaction with typically developing same-age peers are likely to end up in one of the three community-based classes that do not have access to same-age peers at all. The other three have access to same-age peers who are at risk and may not be able to model age-level skills.

"The decision to open yet another program designed for a particular disability label is contrary to the direction MCPS was advised to go more than 10 years ago when it commissioned the Classical Program Review. In that report, Dr. Mc Laughlin recommended against continuing its 'sort and place' model. Dr. McLaughlin also raised concerns about the community-based curriculum which can 'track kids into a separate system of placement, instruction, and accountability.'

"In order to serve children with significant cognitive disabilities closer to home, MCPS should use UDL and other strategies and resources to make the existing PEP classes appropriate for more of these children instead of creating a new place for them to go. Any children for whom that solution is not appropriate should still have the opportunity to go to MPAC."

Video Highlights: Testimony Against Plan to Displace Special-Needs Preschoolers

At the Jan. 13 Board of Education hearing on the proposed FY11 budget, 23 of 29 people who testified were parents and advocates opposed to the realignment of preschool services for children with special needs. Here's what a few parents said. (See previous posts for more information.)

Polly MacLaine Pont: "Universal approach will mean lower-functioning students will benefit less....Even the best programs go through learning curves, but we should not make our kids suffer from those curves."

Amy Kim: "Plan lacks experience and understanding. A critical time for our youngest learners."

Lyda Astrove: "A one-size-fits-all model will not work for children with disabilities....It is not too late to reverse this disastrous course that has been pushed on you by the superintendent. Listen to your teachers and parents, and bring back the full continuum of services for students with disabilities."


Bob Allnutt: "Concept of inclusion is popular and politically correct, but the fact is many children are incapable of learning in a typical environment."

Laura Schweitzer: "Elementary school setting is overwhelming and ineffective for 3-year-olds....I don't know where we would have turned if MPAC had not been an option for us."


Doris Lee: "The school board is trying out an experiment on the most vulnerable children. Students like my child can't afford a lost year as the county works out the kinks of a new startup, or even a few months. 3- and 4-year-olds will be lost in the shuffle."

What do you think? Let board members know by emailing boe@mcpsmd.org or call 301-279-3617.

Backlash Over Special-Needs Preschool Dominates Board of Education Hearing

Tonight was the first of two hearings at the Montgomery County Board of Education about the proposed "realignment" of preschool services for children with special needs. I've written a lot about this and have already shared my testimony (see post below), so now I want to share the perspectives of some other parents. For context, this was a very well-attended hearing on all aspects of the education budget. The standing-room-only group of parents, teachers, and students carried signs and passionately advocated for a variety of worthy issues -- including the opposition to proposed cuts to school bus transportation, library staff and services, middle school magnet programs, and gifted & talented programs.


But there is no question that parent opposition to the proposed special-needs preschool program dominated the evening. In order to comment on any issue, parents had to call on the morning of Dec. 23 to sign up, and the spots filled up fast. Of 29 people who testified, an amazing 23 were there to speak out against the preschool proposal. Not a single parent, board member, or anyone else defended the proposal. (The remaining six speakers addressed the other topics I mentioned above.)

Video speaks louder than written words, so I made sure to record some of the parents' testimony. The hearing was shown on local cable TV and webcast live on the Montgomery County Public Schools website, but the video is not yet available.

The hearings really opened my eyes to the many ways the Montgomery Primary Achievement Center has lived up to its name for the past 50 years -- helping so many children achieve to their highest potential. The parents, many of whom contrasted their experience with the public school system with the specialized services of MPAC, spoke passionately about how MPAC had given them hope and improved their children's lives. From parents whose children have been in the program for several months to parents whose children graduated from the program 20 years ago, all expressed their unqualified support for the program and its staff.

Many parents (politely) lashed out at the plan and the way it's been developed without the involvement of experts and parents. It was called "foolish, "hasty," "unwise," "experimental," and "risky." Attorney and parent Lauren Poper took it one step further, suggesting that the plan (and some of the county's past actions) may actually be illegal. "Federal special education law requires MCPS to provide a continuum of alternative placements," she said, "including instruction in regular classes, special classes, special schools, home instruction, and instruction in hospitals and institutions. When MCPS eliminates programs like MPAC...it eliminates settings that some of its students need to making educational progress."

She added that under federal law, "least restrictive environment" means children with disabilities "must be educated with children who are nondisabled to the extent that it is appropriate for the individual child. 'Appropriate' means that the education fits the child's special needs and allows the child to make educational progress. The law requires that this be an individual determination for each child. It is not legally permissible for MCPS to make a blanket decision to eliminate a program and predetermine the placement of all the current students in that program prior to their IEP meetings, as MCPS has done with the learning centers and CAPP at MPAC, and now plans to do with MPAC itself."

MPAC is a program Montgomery County should be proud to claim its own. For 35 years, the county has done a good job identifying and referring students who most need MPAC's intensive and specialized services. And that partnership has resulted in positive outcomes for those students and their families. The Board of Education can build on that success by opposing Dr. Weast's plan and continuing to support MPAC and other proven programs.

The Board of Education is still accepting public comments. You can send an email to boe@mcpsmd.org or call 301-279-3617.