I attended the BCPSS (aka) City Schools FY 2010 Budget Forum on Thur, March 12th @ central office held from 6-8PM in the first floor board room. I am interested in all those who attended comments/remarks about their chance to hear, participate and/or speak up during public comments.

I did participate any enjoyed it!

There are MANY schools in BCPSS, even at the high school level, that don't have department chairs who are strong on their content and need support from the central office content specialists. What's going to happen to the students in those buildings?

As someone who was treated like a number rather than as an educator during last year's reorg (it is an annual thing at BCPSS, rather under Alonso or anyone else), I congratulate the activist from the ACLU for reminding the CEO that he's not the only person who cares for the students. Many of us cared for them long before he arrived.

Just because you are not in a classroom does not mean that you do not care about students or doing what is best for students. Not all the wood at North Avenue is dead wood. Hopefully Alonso won't be allowed to cut the entire tree down before he hot foots it out of here in a year or two so that there will be some sort foundation left to rebuild the school system after some of his crazy and rash decisions.

"Hidden and Unexplained" model complexities of Fare Student Funding (FSF) Students Weights and Student Academic Weights Model.

Parents attending the next SY2010 Budget Fourum this month need to seek full disclosure from the executive operation officers/leaders and school board commissioners.

ALERT!!! to all the primary/secondary school parents of our school system students better get engaged and pay attention real fast to the "Hidden and Unexplained" model complexities of Fare Student Funding (FSF) Students Weights and Student Academic Weights Model in which represents the actual monetary values being assigned by City Schools aka BCPSS to each of our individual students as the window sticker values worth of each of our students to the teachers/administrators at their enrolled site school.

The executive operations leadership and school board commissioners are reluctant and are not eager to talk up this critic component of fair student funding critical (need to know info) awareness issue to all parents. FSF reorganization plans are critically negitively affecting in some areas our students quality of instruction deliverables for their global/classroom teaching and learning instruction experiance.

http://www.bcps.k12.md.us/Careers/Job_Opportunities/03_03_09CEOSummerFellows.asp

@Anonymous: Huh??!

Now, I've been known to have a problem with comprehension in some of these postings (bet you love that admission of error Corey) but Anon, you may need to spell it out a bit more. As a parent of a child in a city school, I would like to know what you're talking about. Any document links you can provide would also be helpful? Thanks :-)

@Anon.... read your post three times and went to BCPSS website. Still don't get it. Are you talking about the weight/funding applied to advanced and low performing students? The system is providing $2200 per student..is there something negative about this that we should be aware of?

"Hidden and Unexplained" model complexities of Fare Student Funding (FSF) Students Weights and Student Academic Weights Model Values Amount.

In reply to InsideED posted querys from OTT and AT regarding "need to know more" post.

"The key major concern question for me also as a parent is this school system selected Student Weight and Student Academic Weight values amount levels enough money to properly educate our children in addition to the per-pupil funding average amount. Not all children cost the same amount to educate!!!" Also remember parents the student weights amounts values are each stackable on top of with the single Per-Pupil average funding amount.

Parents questions and comments pose for FSF: Base Per-Pupil Funding Average Amount, Student Weights Amount and Student Academic Weights Amount. Seek BCPSS aka City Schools budget expert by emailing. The school systems own budget director Mr. W. Tanteleff @ BudgetComments@bcps.k12.md.us. regarding the FY2010 Proposed Budget for BCPSS aka City Schools.

@Anon - Although I'm a bit confused, I think your overall point is an extremely valid one. The weights are very, very important to the funding model. In fact, I find them to be the most fascinating aspect of the whole process. It's like the tax system, it shows our district's priorities (like how tax cuts show our country's priorities, i.e. if we were to give tax credits to stay-at-home dads/moms we'd be endorsing the benefits associated with such childrearing work). Focusing attention on the weights is worthy point of consideration.

I attended the budget meeting on the 12th. It could be broken down pretty neatly into a few categories.

1. Restoration of curricular leadership positions at North Avenue, including math and the arts. As noted in Bebe's comments above, testimony in favor of central staff that support individual content areas, rather than the generalists currently proposed.
2. Edison representatives profesting the canceling the Edison contracts at two out of three of their schools. (No report was given to the Board or to the schools about how their evaluation contributed to severing the contract.)
3. Representatives from Harriet Tubman who were there to protest its closure. Unfortunately, the Board had scheduled a separate hearing on facilities closure.
4. There was one man there that was trying to articulate an argument in favor of giving more money to students in the middle. Current fair student funding weights money to those at the top and those at the bottom, middle students get base funding. That makes sense to me.

I hope more people take a look at the curricular support cuts in the content areas. Science and math would be directed by one person, who would also be supporting technology and engineering, calling it STEM (a national trend). The curriculum leader is a math specialist, a really good one who won't be able to spend her time supporting math, but supporting four areas with no staff. There is no longer any leadership in the Fine Arts anywhere in the org chart. The Director of Enrichment would be expected to provide central leadership for all "enrichment" areas. Social studies is gone, replace by Humanities, which includes social studies (no support) and foreign languages and libraries.

Teachers will lose when they don't have support in their content areas. In addition, the lack of system-wide coordination wrecks any opportunities for system-wide activities like teacher professional development, student festivals and competitions and exhibits. When teachers lose, then children lose, too.

Inside ED Posted by: BCPS Parent

In reply to BCPS Parent I also attended the budget meeting on the 12th. I found very interesting for all PARENTS to have a major concern high importance awareness level regarding your mention for both issues #1 Vanishing Curricular Leadership Positions at North Avenue & #4 Fair Student Funding (FSF) Per-Pupil Funding Average, Students Weights, Student Academic Weights school district questionable vales.

I want to add one more aspect to this conversation that I have not seen yet. "What about the parents who are also employees of the system?"

My BCPS salary pays city taxes, supports the Parent Teacher Organization at my child's city school, ensures that my child is properly immunized when he attends school-so other children don't get ill and miss days-and pays for the parking fines I receive when I am stuck in North Ave meetings and cannot move my car. I do not drive out to the county at the end of the day. My child is not attending a private or parochial city school. I live and work here. Baltimore is an investment in our family's future. And I can't believe no one else has mentioned this. Has Dr. A considered the farther reaching economic impact of firing or laying off, someone like me?

I've been supporting Dr. A since he got here because I believe he genuinely wants to do what is right for kids. Well you know what? So do I! I wish he could see the other side of the Great Kids logo. These children belong to someone.He's building great schools for great kids but they only come from Great Parents in Great Communities. There is a bigger picture.

What makes ABSOLUTELY no sense is the merging of math and science leaderships. I have been teaching in Baltimore for over 7 years now and I can hardly recall the last time you could contact the Central Office's science director and get a competent response. Finally that very effective leaderships have been established in both science and math offices...we are going back to nothing. Why, during the times of big national science reforms are we taking a step back???

What makes ABSOLUTELY no sense is the merging of math and science leaderships. I have been teaching in Baltimore for over 7 years now and I can hardly recall the last time you could contact the Central Office's science director and get a competent response. Finally that very effective leaderships have been established in both science and math offices...we are going back to nothing. Why, during the times of big national science reforms are we taking a step back???