Issues Arise at Montgomery County School Board’s First Education Summit
The first Education Summit for Montgomery County schools was intended to be an outlet for the school board, commissioners and the public to talk about problems and the changes everyone would like to see in the schools.
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The 2016 Education Summit began with a simple overview of Montgomery County Public Schools over the past few years. After many questions and suggestions thrown out by the audience, the school board ran out of speaking time and the program went unfinished. A program intended to provide answers appeared to have left everyone with more questions.
Superintendent Margaret Allen says despite the tension, she considers the meeting successful.
“This meeting was beneficial,” Allen says. “It was good to hear straight from the horse’s mouth, just what people were thinking about Montgomery Public Schools.”
Some of the concerns the audience voiced were graduation rates due to poverty levels, racial demographics in the schools and how many students have left the public school system over the past 20 years. All things Montgomery County Commission Chairman Elton Dean says have to be addressed.
“It’s up to us collectively, commission, the council, the mayor, the school system, the business community, to understand, what does the school system need?” Dean says.
Dean says the summit helped him and his fellow commissioners identify issues they know the community is concerned about.
“We’ve never just come together, you know, and have a summit. So this is the first summit that we’ve had,” Dean says. “And I think it’s very fruitful, it’s very rewarding, we gained a lot of knowledge about what’s going on.”
Allen and the other school board members say they plan to keep the communication lines open between the community and school leaders in hopes of improving the system.
“We have children that are depending on us. So we’re going to keep working for children. Seeking solutions and working for children,” Allen says.
Both the Montgomery County School Board and Montgomery County Commission agree there was not enough time to discuss any changes or problems in detail. They plan on having another Education Summit soon, but have yet to set an official date.
