Parents told Montgomery County school leaders Tuesday that it’s time to “walk the walk” and effectively engage the county’s growing minority populations in school activities and decisions.
What that means, parents say, is a formal process for ethnic and cultural groups to regularly meet with Superintendent Joshua Starr and the county school board.
Increased cultural sensitivity training for school staff was also on the agenda.
“In case you’re wondering, I’m white,” said Kristin Trible, president of the Montgomery County Council of PTAs. “But even being white, I have heard comments by teachers about students’ skin colors that were disappointing.”
Byron Johns, the chairman of the county’s National Association for the Advancement of Colored People parents’ council, asked Montgomery County Public Schools to announce its support for Maryland’s newly revised discipline policy, which recognizes the disproportionate amount of minority students who are suspended and expelled from school.”
Montgomery County and its school system have been increasingly diversifying their population over the last decade; currently just one-third of the schools’ 146,297 students are white.
The Hispanic population has grown the most, from less than 18 percent of the school system in 2002 to 26 percent of students now.
About a year ago, the school system convened a six-week “study group” of stakeholders across multiple ethnicities to discuss race and cultural issues. That group has continued meeting and is asking the board for more formal avenues of communication.
“Many find themselves limited in understanding what they can do as parents to assist their children; while language can be a barrier, often there is a cultural misunderstanding,” said Antonio Hernandez-Cardoso, the PTA’s liaison to parents who do not speak English as their first language, who has been working with County Councilwoman Nancy Navarro on outreach to Hispanics.
The school system has held more than 100 Parent Academy workshops, some of which focus on the needs of immigrant families. Additionally, the school system provides all its materials in multiple languages and has started a Spanish-language Twitter feed.
“It’s time to actually walk the walk,” said Trible, one of four parents who testified before the board on the issue Tuesday.
