The "More" Child

The MCCPTA just sent around the link to this YouTube video of Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley extolling the importance of arts education.

Meanwhile, those stalwart parents at Eastern Middle School have just notified parents of the status of their appeal to the MCPS Board of Education to reverse a schedule change that precludes students in the Humanities and Communication Arts Program from taking an arts elective. (For a refresher on the case, check here here here here here here here and here. Whew!)

We have two items to report and a decision to make.

The first item is that while the MCPS Board of Education (BOE) was
developing its detailed response (“Decision and Order”) on why they denied our appeal of the class reduction (schedule) decision, and before school started, we submitted a last ditch request for a stay of the decision to the Maryland State Board of Education (MSBE). MSBE denied the stay with a lengthy response from a law firm that nevertheless helps lay out how an appeal to MSBE could be framed if someone were to submit one.

The second item is that the Workgroup received its detailed response from the MCPS BOE. While five members of the BOE supported denial of our appeal, two others — Phil Kauffman and Laura Berthiaume — provided very detailed dissenting opinions (16 pages!) that bring up additional reasons beyond what we said as to why the decision and process were wrong. Various reports have described literal
shouting matches among Board members about this! These two Board members should be congratulated for their courage in standing up for what they believe and for the tremendous amount of time and effort they obviously put into defending our position. Please take a minute to thank them by contacting them directly.

Please also take some time to read these opinions. [Note:  link to document not available at this time.] While the Workgroup “has articulated a number of well-reasoned arguments in support of their position,” as Mr. Kauffman states, these dissenting opinions are truly amazing and go far beyond what our little group developed. Some of these arguments, including the violation of state regulations for some students regarding the need for a fine arts option, were not addressed by the majority opinion. [Emphasis added]

The decision that needs to be made is how to proceed from here. The two
board members’ opinions, plus the framework inherent within the opinion of MSBE noted above, have paved the way for a formal MSBE appeal. *But this appeal must be filed by November 13*….

–The EMS Schedule Decision Reversal Workgroup

Big, Big Kudos to BOE members Berthiaume and Phil Kaufman for listening to and valuing student input, for having the courage to offer dissenting opinions.  And good luck to the Workgroup as they decide their next steps.