Montgomery Blair’s students with limited English proficiency failed to meet federal No Child Left Behind expectations, putting it on a state list of high schools needing improvement for two consecutive years, according to data released by the county public schools Monday afternoon.
That classification frustrated Parent, Teachers and Students Association Vice President Robert Gillette, who said the school focused more of its attention on its non-native-English-speaking students last year because of concerns about their progress. Last year, Blair’s special education students failed to meet annual yearly progress standards, officials said.
“We haven’t had time to grasp this beyond the general,” Gillette said .
Because the school is not a Title I — or higher poverty — school, students are not considered eligible for transfer or for extra services, school district spokeswoman Kate Harrison said.
“It’s a challenge to bring these kids up to the standards that are required,” Harrison said of the students with limited English proficiency.
Harrison said it would be up to the school to address problems. How those shortcomings would be dealt with was not immediately clear Monday. Blair Principal Darryl Williams could not be reached Monday.
Gillette said the school has a mid-size group of students who don’t speak English as a first language and has as many as 20 teachers devoted to working with them.
In addition to Blair, four other Montgomery County high schools — Albert Einstein, Sherwood, Springbrook and Watkins Mill — were identified by the state as needing “local attention” this year.
Four high schools identified in need of local attention last year, Clarksburg, John F. Kennedy, Northwood and Wheaton, met federal benchmarks this year and were removed from that classification, school officials said.
