Friday, March 15, 2013
Montgomery County Public Schools Superintendent Joshua Starr said he is disappointed in the County Executive's budget plan.
The amount of aid for county schools proposed by Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett in his fiscal 2014 county budget plan falls short of what's needed, Montgomery County Public Schools Superintendent Joshua Starr said Friday. Leggett's plan calls for a schools budget of $2.23 billion—an increase of $65.8 million, or 3 percent more than the budget approved for the current school year. "The County Executive's recommendation would fund 100 percent of the [school board]'s request," according to Leggett's budget proposal. Click here to read more on Leggett's fiscal 2014 budget plan and here to hear the County Executive discuss the proposal. The proposal is a slight increase in spending for MCPS, to the level required by the state's …
Monday, January 7, 2013
The MCPS superintendent will host a panel discussion of 'How Children Succeed.'
How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character, by Paul Tough, will be the focus of Montgomery County schools Superintendent Joshua P. Starr’s first Book Club discussion of the school year Tuesday. Starr will host a discussion of the book at 7 p.m. in the auditorium of the Carver Educational Services Center, at 850 Hungerford Drive, in Rockville. The discussion will include questions from Montgomery County Public Schools parents, staff and students and community members for a panel of researchers and educators. In How Children Succeed, “Tough argues that the qualities that matter most have more to do with character: skills like perseverance, curiosity, conscientiousness, optimism, and self-control,” according to…
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Superintendent Starr is critical of the purpose of the index.
Montgomery County's public schools fared well in the state's most recently released School Progress Index—a new accountability measure whose purpose has been criticized by Montgomery County Public Schools Superintendent Joshua Starr. The School Progress Index—which uses a formula, based mostly on state test scores, to determine how schools are progressing toward academic goals—was released on Monday. Sixty-four percent of the county's public schools made it into the top two (of five) strands—the two strands requiring the least amount of monitoring and support, according to a county schools statement. Overall, the county school system received an index score of 1.014. A score of 1.0 or higher means that the school or school system has met …
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
An online petition to start county public high schools at 8:15 a.m. already had collected more than 10,000 signatures by Wednesday morning, Dec. 12.
Montgomery County public school parents and students are speaking up about school start times, and the county's school superintendent is responding. An online petition, "Changing Montgomery County, MD's High School Start Times to 8:15 AM or Later," has asked the county school board to "officially recognize the large and compelling body of research regarding teen sleep and academic achievement," and "to start high schools in Montgomery County, MD, after 8:15 [a.m.]." On Tuesday, Superintendent of Schools Joshua P. Starr announced that a work group has been established to study the issue. That will come as good news to the petition's signers, who already numbered more than 10,000 by 10 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 12. "Sleep deprivation, with such …
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Arcola and Forest Knolls are among 12 schools included in a study slated to begin in January.
Montgomery County Public Schools will attempt to explore ways to address overcrowding problems in a new study of 12 elementary schools in the Downcounty Consortium. Arcola Elementary School and Forest Knolls Elementary School in Wheaton are two of four schools with the "most severe" space shortages, according to a report from MCPS Superintendent Joshua Starr to the Board of Education. Arcola introduced portable classrooms for the 2012-2013 school year, angering the neighborhood's residents and the parents of students when the portables arrived to the school's front lawn over the summer. Starr's memo shows the gap between capacity and projected enrollment at Arcola: Arcola Elementary School opened in August 2007 with a capacity of 434 …
Friday, November 9, 2012
The Montgomery County Schools superintendent will be at the Music Center at Strathmore.
Montgomery County Public Schools Superintendent Joshua Starr will deliver his first State of the Schools address—"Building the Future Together"—on Nov. 12, at the Music Center at Strathmore. The event is open to the public, and those who plan to attend can RSVP on the MCPS website. "The event, which begins at 7:30 a.m., is an opportunity for business, non-profit and educational leaders to hear Dr. Starr’s vision for the future of MCPS," according to a school system news release. "The event will also highlight the outstanding achievements and talents of Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) students." Starr will deliver his address at 8:30 a.m., with the event expected to conclude an hour later. Montgomery County Board of Education …
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Dr. Joshua Starr said the ballot referendum 'is not about politics: it’s about our future and the future of our students.'
Supporters of the Maryland Dream Act recently scored two high-profile endorsements: Benjamin Todd Jealous, President and CEO of the NAACP, and Dr. Joshua Starr, superintendent of Montgomery County Public Schools. Starr, who heads the largest school system in the state, said the ballot referendum that would allow undocumented immigrants to pay in-state tuition should they meet certain reprequisites "is not about politics." His written statement: "The Maryland DREAM Act is not about politics: it’s about our future and the future of our students. The Act would simply allow hard-working students who have been in our system for years to pursue the dream of post-secondary education and receive in-state tuition rates. A college education is …
Monday, August 27, 2012
The Montgomery County Public Schools superintendent praises the school system's success and compares it with NASA.
Montgomery County Public Schools Superintendent Joshua Starr gathered with members of the school board, the county executive and council president and PTA representatives to open the academic year Monday morning at Flora M. Singer Elementary School in Silver Spring. Singer Elementary School, which joins the Downcounty Consortium, is one of two new schools in the county, along with Paint Branch High School in Burtonsville. MCPS is seeking LEED certification for both buildings. Speaking to the media in the elementary school's new library, Starr compared MCPS to NASA, whose space rover Curiosity recently touched down on Mars. Though NASA's mission has changed since it landed a man on the moon, its core purposes remain the same, Starr said. …
Do you have YOUR new lunch box? Everything you may have missed in these 500 square miles.
It's the first day of classes Monday for Montgomery County schools. Even if you don't have kids in school, beware! Traffic will be a bear as school buses, parents and carpools hit the streets. And, if you're late and you think driving around that school bus is justified, think again. Starting today, a number of school buses will have cameras attached that can catch you in the act. The fine: $250. Unless a police officer witnesses it. Then, you can get a $1,000 ticket and three points on your driver's license. Patch editors will be scouring the county and may show up at your local school to document the first-day jitters and joys. Leave it to parents to sum up the gravity of the situation. A Greenbelt mom told her kindergartener when …
Monday, June 18, 2012
Montgomery County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Joshua Starr answered questions for Patch, evaluating his first year.
As Montgomery County Public Schools' 2011-12 school year drew to a close last week, Dr. Joshua Starr was closing the book on his first year as superintendent. Starr replaced Jerry Weast, who spent the previous 12 years in the role. Patch: You just wrapped up your first school year, and July 1, 2012, marks your first full year as MCPS superintendent. What did you hope to accomplish in year one, and do you think you were able to do so? Dr. Joshua Starr: For year one it’s really been about transition. And I took a pretty deliberate approach to transition planning, to entry and to help the community get to know me and by community I mean teachers and administrators and parents and kids and elected officials. I wanted them to get to know me …
Nadia Biznis
4:49 pm on Tuesday, April 23, 2013
How in the world can the schools get by on a measly $2.23 BILLION??? Shocking...terrible...they need to hold a reaaaaaalllyyy big bake sale. /sarcasm off more ›