The "More" Child

The quote,  “Laws are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made” (commonly attributed to Otto von Bismarck) could equally apply to GT policy making in MCPS.

But one can’t look away, even though it’s been a gnarly week.  On Thursday evening the AEI Advisory Committee was slated to meet once again (they’ve been this for over 18 months (!)) to continue working on an “overview” of proposed revisions to Policy IOA – Gifted and Talented Instruction, last amended in 1995.  This group is drafting a revision for the Board of Education (BOE) to review and adopt.  To recap, the central issues being wrestled over are:

• Should Policy IOA pertain to gifted and talented education–or to all students’ education?
• Should GT students be served by a separate GT curriculum–or by optional curriculum extensions?
• Should the policy preserve homogeneous grouping as a required instructional practice–or disfavor it?
• Should the policy continue GT identification–or end it?

And oh the drama!  In the past week the effort of an Asian-American parent to be seated at the AEI Advisory Committee table has played out over various listservs.  Asian-Americans have had a representative to the AEI Advisory Committee, but evidently she hasn’t attended meetings for some time.  This new parent, feeling it vital that this stakeholder group be part of any discussion of GT policy, put himself forward as a replacement and got the support of the Asian-American Parents Advisory Committee.  But not so fast.  MCPS was less than happy that a very vocal critic, who’s been asking hard questions publicly in rather flamboyant fashion, might have an official role.  Long story short, MCPS made its reservations known, lots of Asian-American parents came to the Thursday evening meeting, and the vocal parent was pressured to step aside.  Whew!

But while all that drama was happening outside of the room, the sausage-making ground on inside it (pun intended).  Point by tedious–but crucial–point, the Advisory Council went through statements of principles.  Unclear to the observer was exactly where this language was coming from.  Up on the SmartBoard a point would be projected for consideration, the group would be given three minutes to consider it, words were changed/struck through/proposed/tweaked/deleted/discussed and finally there was a call for “thumbs up or thumbs down” on whether in the broadest terms people could support the spirit of the item or not.  A numbing process.

Among those at the table: MCCPTA.  It has two representatives, one of them the Chair of the MCCPTA Gifted Child Committee.  Subsequent to a series of meetings in late 2008, MCCPTA issued a “Proposed Resolution on Accelerated and Enriched Instruction” (background on the MCCPTA website).  This resolution will be introduced at the February 24th MCCPTA Delegates meeting, and voted on at the March 24th Delegates meeting.

Also present:  two representatives of the Gifted and Talented Association of Montgomery County.  GTA and MCCPTA have also been wrangling in cyberspace for some time.  Many close observers of GT issues in the county believe that MCCPTA is ready to sell out GT education with its weak resolution and lackluster  communication.  So in defense of a robust GT policy, GTA (which has doggedly attended every meeting and reported the results as it sees them) has stepped into the breach and drafted a modified MCCPTA resolution–turning it into a much more forceful mandate for GT education.  What’s more, GTA  is now urging PTA GT Liaisons to have their schools vote in favor of the modified language and then introduce the amended MCCPTA resolution at the Delegates meeting.

So where is this all heading? Last week, the Policy Committee of the Board of Education (BOE) agreed to put revisions to Policy IOA on their 2009 work plan.  At the same time, they also agreed to look at both Policy IOA and Regulation IOA simultaneously.  Why is this so important?  Yes, the revisions to Policy IOA, after they have been tentatively approved by the BOE, will be presented to the public for comments and feedback, prior to final passage by the BOE.  (By then the horse will have already fled the barn….)  However revisions to Regulation IOA are not submitted to the public for commentary.  They are at the sole discretion of the Superintendent.

Read that again.

The actual REGULATIONS — the “meat” dictating GT practices in the county will be at the discretion of the Superintendent and beyond the reach of parent input.  As one parent has written, “… At the end of the day, I see a very slippery slope in revisions to a gifted and talented education policy that no longer specifically calls out the gifted and talented…. Gut the policy now, and the regulatory specifics will go the way of MCPS budgets.  Frozen and/or cut.”

That’s why all this wrangling over the Policy is so fierce.  That’s why, even though it’s confusing and boring, this is so important.  It’s the last opportunity to in any meaningful way influence what will become the substance of GT policy for the coming decade.