Suburban Maryland schools are asking families for patience this week as students return to schools with stalled reforms, skimpy budgets and surplus students.
In Montgomery County, some of the traditionally highest-performing schools, like Bethesda’s Walt Whitman High School, are working to juggle an unexpected influx of students from private schools, said school board member Pat O’Neill.
“Every year brings a new issue or concern,” O’Neill said. “This year, it’s about staffing.” The 10-year board member explained that a tighter reserve budget and more students may result in larger class sizes, at least until enrollment figures settle at the end of September.
The tighter economic times have slowed reform at the middle school level in both Montgomery and Prince George’s County, where experts have argued a revamped format is the schools system’s most critical issue. Reams of research over the past 10 years have pointed to middle school as students’ “make it or break it” years.
In Montgomery, five of 38 middle schools fell short in 2008 of meeting the standards of No Child Left Behind for at least one subgroup of students, such as racial groups or students with special needs. Even so, the 2009 budget necessitated scaling back a long-anticipated expansion of reforms such as magnet programs and more technology in instruction.
Though worrisome to officials in Montgomery, Prince George’s middle school statistics are far worse. Only four of 27 middle schools had no problems meeting the law’s standards. Sixteen missed the mark, meaning not even the higher performers could carry the schools’ weight under the law.
While Prince George’s Superintendent John Deasy has earned a reputation as an effective reformer in his two years at the helm, a shortage of money is slowing his stride.
Deasy “is not afraid to upset the apple cart, but it’s all finance-based,” said school board member Donna Hathaway Beck. “You’re only able to do as much as you can afford,” adding that the schools chief is working to find grants from foundations and the federal government.
At the local level, many parents are less focused on the districtwide budget, but worry about their own schools’ teacher cuts and perennial concern for parental involvement.
“More people are involved in elementary PTAs, but at the middle school they have the attitude ‘My kid is old enough,’ ” said Christine Hinojosa, PTA treasurer at Hyattsville Middle School. “But really, at the middle and high school level, you need even more parents.”
Middle schools not up to par
Middle schools often are school districts’ Achilles’ heels. In Montgomery, five are in need of improvement under the federal No Child Left Behind law. In Prince George’s, 23 are in need, leaving only four with all-around acceptable performance.
Montgomery County middle schools that scored poorly in at least one category under the law:
Francis Scott Key Middle (Rockville)
Parkland Middle (Rockville)
Forest Oak Middle (Gaithersburg)
Neelsville Middle (Germantown)
Rocky Hill Middle (Clarksburg)
Prince George’s County middle schools that were the only four to not need any improvement under the law:
Benjamin Tasker Middle (Bowie)
Samuel Ogle Middle (Bowie)
Martin Luther King Jr. Middle (Beltsville)
Walker Mill Middle (Capitol Heights)
