As you can probably guess, I have absolutely zero sadness at the departure of Jerry Weast. Words cannot adequately capture the smarmy arrogance of the man. I had one final chance to catch him in action at the March 28 Board of Education meeting. An overflow crowd of parents representing various interests — including GTA’s [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Jerry Weast’
Buh-Bye Jerry Weast, Hello Joshua Starr
Posted in In the News, School, tagged board of education, education, Jerry Weast, joshua staff, maryland, MCPS, stamford on April 25, 2011 | 1 Comment »
What’s the Matter with Kansas?
Posted in education, Gifted, In the News, tagged acceleration, curriculum, differentiation, education, elementary school, Gifted, grade acceleration, identification, Jerry Weast, kansas, maryland, MCPS, standards-based on July 7, 2010 | 3 Comments »
Really, what’s up with those people in Kansas? There they go again, pushing some crazy-ass notion, out of step with the nation… Except, um, maybe this time they’re onto something. GT listservs are humming with the news that Kansas City, Missouri schools are experimenting with the elimination of grade levels, following on the heels of [...]
Let’s Talk About Choice
Posted in education, In the News, tagged charter school, education, elementary school, Jerry Weast, maryland, MCPS, School on June 19, 2010 | 4 Comments »
In the reportage following the rejection of the Global Garden Public Charter School, the comment that leapt out to me was one made by Superintendent Jerry Weast on the issue of “choice.” I wanted to be sure it was transmitted correctly, so I dug around to find his actual words. [Note: the MCPS website's Watch [...]
Milestones
Posted in education, Gifted, School, tagged acceleration, differentiation, education, elementary school, exceptionally gifted, Gifted, high school, humanities, Jay Mathews, Jerry Weast, maryland, MCPS, middle school, montgomery county, teacher, teen, verbally gifted on June 15, 2010 | 10 Comments »
The other day Husband Dear pointed out a blogging milestone that slipped my notice: sometime in the past month I exceeded 200,000 page views. Thanks to everyone who’s stopped by and who continues to read my musings. A milestone which most certainly did NOT escape attention took place this morning: For the very last time, [...]
Going Once, Going Twice
Posted in education, Gifted, In the News, School, tagged curriculum, education, elementary school, Gifted, Jerry Weast, maryland, MCPS on June 13, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Sold! To Pearson Education! This week brought the news that the school board has sold out MCPS’s elementary curriculum development (We’ll leave aside the fact that the press release was up even before the board voted on the deal. Ugh.) While MCPS minced no words on its wonderfulness, others, including Valerie Strauss of the Post [...]
The Budget Cuts Ahead
Posted in education, Gifted, School, tagged budget, differentiation, education, elementary school, Gifted, high school, Jerry Weast, maryland, MCPS, middle school, School on June 6, 2010 | 4 Comments »
And so the school year is ending with a whimper. On Tuesday the Board of Education will vote on the the FY2011 Operating Budget, working from proposed budget cuts put forth by the Superintendent. Chances are very good that Board will accept them. Here’s what’s very likely ahead: Class Size Increase - 1 additional student [...]
If Not Now, When?
Posted in education, Gifted, School, tagged charter school, education, Jerry Weast, maryland, MCPS, montgomery county, race to the top on June 6, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
The coming rejection of the Global Gardens Public Charter School and Crossway Community Charter School applications by the MCPS Board of Education is certainly disappointing, and it raises the question of whether the Board of Education will ever deem a charter school worthy enough for Montgomery County. Disappointing in that some of the substance of [...]
MCPS Charter Applications Denied
Posted in education, Gifted, Learning, School, tagged charter school, education, flow, fun, Jerry Weast, maryland, MCPS, montgomery county, school reform on June 3, 2010 | 1 Comment »
Evidently the two pending charter school applications in Montgomery County are being denied. My laugh out loud favorite quote from Jerry Weast’s memo: Panelists raised a number of concerns about the GGPCS applicant. In particular, there were significant concerns raised regarding the academic design proposed by the GGPCS applicants, including several foundational philosophical concerns. First, [...]