[RP TownTalk] Our schools are our future. It's time for change.

[Dannielle Glaros]

FYI. I just received this and thought others may be interested.


Dannielle Glaros
Sent from my iPad

Begin forwarded message:

> From: "Prince George's County Executive Rushern L. Baker, III" <gmcconnell at co.pg.md.us>
> Date: March 20, 2013, 8:32:53 PM EDT
> To: dmglaros at gmail.com
> Subject: (Revised with hyperlinks) Our schools are our future. It's time for change.
> Reply-To: gmcconnell at co.pg.md.us
> 
> 
> 
> Friends,
> The education status quo in Prince George's County isn't working. Our public schools rank alongside crime and lack of commercial development as our biggest perceived liabilities. It is time for change.
>   
> The March 17, 2013 Sunday edition of the Washington Post published an article about our "integrated school governance" proposal, highlighting the key concepts and why I am putting it forward now. Two days later, the Post Editorial Board endorsed our efforts to change the future of education in the County. Though our actions have been covered extensively in the media, we knowthere are many who still have questions, so we have also created this list of Frequently Asked Questions that should help you gain more perspective on our proposed change.
>  
> I don't believe this reform will eliminate our challenges. I do believe that without it, meeting them will be difficult. Fixing education requires many strategies, but certainly it starts with this: every dollar we have must be used efficiently and every resource we have must reach our students. Dividing our government into "County" versus "school" systems has prevented this, so we must realign and unite them. It is a simple but profound necessity.
>  
> The role of the County Executive is to ensure responsible, accountable and disciplined governance. My office can call upon numerous support agencies-ranging from technology to finance to budget to health to transportation-that have the capacity to maximize resources and impose fiscal discipline. Yet the artificial wall between the County Executive's office and our public schools has prevented the system from benefitting from this capacity. Instead, dollars that should be going to our classrooms are being spent on providing duplicative services.
>  
> This artificial wall also prevents us from bringing all of our resources to bear on education. We know that what happens inside a school is only part of what makes a student successful. Yet we have separated education from the services we offer outside the classroom. As things stand now, it is difficult, for example, for our family services agency to easily work with teachers to identify youth in need of counseling. We operate in silos, which isn't fair to our students. For them, home and school don't fall conveniently into two separate categories. If the factors that affect a student's success are working together, so must we.
>  
> There are many elements in our proposal-from expanded school board membership, to a bold vision for a cabinet-level superintendent position with increased autonomy and access-that will significantly benefit the students, teachers, principals and support staff of our school system. I encourage you to read more about it here. Ultimately, everything we are proposing supports those two essential elements-efficiency and comprehensive resource delivery-that will allow us to give our children the education they deserve.
>  
> Parents need to have a say in their children's education. They should be able to hold elected board members responsible for policies governing curriculum quality, performance measurement, discipline, principal training, and teacher and parental involvement. Under this proposal, parents retain that right. The elected school board will remain accountable for the school system's direction. Click here to read more about the responsibilities of key actors under our proposal.
>  
> I hope you will reach out to my office in the days ahead to find out more about the integrated school governance proposal. You can email us at countyexecutive at co.pg.md.us. You'll also find us on Facebook and @CountyExecBaker on Twitter.
>  
> Thank you for your support,
>  
> Rushern L. Baker, III
>  
> Forward this email
>   	
> This email was sent to dmglaros at gmail.com by gmcconnell at co.pg.md.us |  
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> Prince George's County Office of Community Relations | 14741 Governor Oden Bowie Dr | County Administration Building | Upper Marlboro | MD | 20772
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