One-On-One With Montgomery Co. Public Schools Supt. Margaret Allen
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From Montgomery — Students attending Montgomery Public Schools begin classes next week. School Superintendent, Margaret Allen, will be starting her first full school year on the job after being appointed in January. She sits down with reporter, Catalina Trivino for an exclusive interview to outline her plans and to answer some of your questions you submitted on social media.
Allen says the new school year goes beyond just plan, but also changing the mind-set of teachers and the community. She emphasized focusing on the students, their progress and making sure they’re learning in a safe and fair environment.
She wants parents and the community to know that the school system is doing every thing they can to not live in the shadows of what happened back in 2012: those grade changing allegations.
“Are the controversies in the past? Do you believe parents should be satisfied with how [the school system is] moving forward?” Asked Trivino.
“I think parents will be happy to know that our focus is on student learning. It’s on making sure we have effective teaching going on, making sure student learning is supported and making certain there’s a place for them in the picture… because that’s basically what our strategic plan indicates,” Said Allen.
We also asked Allen questions you sent us on our Facebook and Twitter pages:
“Christopher Hall on Facebook wants to know what are the measure that you will be taking to make sure the grade changing will never take place again?” Asked Trivino.
“The state department has taken measures, and so have we with making certain that we have right rules in place and making certain guidelines are known be individuals,” Said Allen.
“Loretta Glama on Twitter wants to know what your number one goal for improvement in the system is and what new programs you plan to impliment,” Said Trivino.
“In our strategic plan the first goal is to make sure that children are able to graduate and be successful in their lives,” Said Allen.
“Anything with technology in the classroom for kids?” Asked Trivino.
“We are looking forward to having a more solid technology infrastructure for the kids, that’s one area we are a little bit lacking and we look forward to improving in that area,” Said Allen.
“We spoke to Montgomery County commissioner, Elton Dean and he had told us in a previous interview that he wanted to give the [school] board/system $30 million as opposed to $25 million,” Said Trivino.
“We’ll take it!” Said Allen in excitement.
“And going on that, if you had that extra $5 million, what would you do with it?” Asked Trivino.
“Operational kinds of things, facilities, we need you know, staff! We can use additional staff,” Said Allen. She also says some principals are even playing the role of both a principal and a vice-principal.
Currently, the school system has about 4,000 teachers and staff. There are 31,000 students in the school system.
We also asked her about the latest on M-Tech possibly moving to the old Montgomery Mall. She says she hoping that in about a year-and-a-half they’ll be able to move it there.
