"Hi, I'm Conrad Bain, and this is a very special episode of RobertDyer.net. Now, here's Robert Dyer with a special message for the citizens of Montgomery County..."
A great American, educator Jaime Escalante, has just passed away. Of course, you've probably heard about that already.
One of my favorite movies of all time is Stand and Deliver, which as you probably know, is based on Mr. Escalante's life story. This is a movie that should be shown on the first day of school every year in Montgomery County. For the benefit of not only the students, but the teachers as well.
Anybody can cut and paste the Escalante obituary into an article or blog. I'm not going to do that here. Rather, I just want to post my own feelings and observations.
First of all, Mr. Escalante's story is one of those "only in America" stories. A native of Bolivia, he emigrated here and did what all successful immigrants do: he learned English, and worked hard.
And, in the process, a teacher from Bolivia became perhaps the most influential, successful and respected educator in the history of the United States.
Only in America.
Stand and Deliver is a movie you must screen. Sadly, it is only available in a horrid DVD version that has the quality of a camcorder filming a VHS tape version off a TV screen. I hope that the sad passing of Mr. Escalante, combined with all the fervor over Blu-ray movies, will finally give this film the full treatment it deserves: high quality picture and sound, but also lots of extras about the movie and the real man.
What do we learn from Jaime Escalante's story?
First, like any great teacher you or I may have had, he helped his students do what they thought they weren't capable of. He showed that CEO salaries for teachers, Federal control, charter schools and "school-reform" shell games aren't necessary to get results. Students need to be motivated to learn, especially when they are getting all the wrong messages in today's world.
Many students in the county who are getting the wrong message: that there is power and a future in a gang, could learn a lesson from Stand and Deliver.
What was Mr. Escalante's message to an aspiring tough guy?
"Tough guys fry chicken." In other words, it may seem appealing to be in a gang now, but what about the rest of your life? Is being a gang member a career? Of course, everyone in Montgomery County needs to ask themselves, what opportunities are being offered to young people to channel their energies into productive pursuits and lucrative careers? What is being done to extract actual violent criminals and their influence from the community? I hope we can answer that in this election year.
You also find in his real life story - and vividly so in the film - that, sadly, there are those in society who fear minority empowerment. And hence, are not too concerned with the state of education in disadvantaged schools today.
The clear message is that education is power. And that students of all income levels and backgrounds have the right to equal opportunities in education. When those are available, many of the disparities in our society today will be overcome.
Mr. Escalante's death comes at a pivotal time in the history of our county.
Our county schools are among the best in the nation. But not all of them rate the same. Not all students are able to access the same opportunities. And many begin their academic careers at a disadvantage as a result of economic and language barriers.
Some progress has been made. But much more remains to be done.
Special education is another area where Dr. Jerry Weast and MCPS have made great strides, and I believe they have the best of intentions. However, there are many legitimate issues that need to be addressed. Much like gifted and talented education, in special education, parents and students are finding that education is not a one-size-fits-all proposition.
But just as this need for new and stronger programs is being recognized, there are dark forces at work attempting to permanently reduce the education budget. These elected officials at the county and state levels are supported by some developers, business interests and assorted special interests, and backed by media and extragovernmental organizations that don't answer to the voters of Montgomery County.
Just this week, we hear that County Executive Ike Leggett, the County Council, and - sadly - even Dr. Weast, are marching in partisan political lockstep to reduce the MCPS budget.
They are requesting from the state the ability to chop $137.7 million from the MCPS FY2011 budget.
It's outrageous.
I don't have a problem with cutting wasteful spending from the school system; in fact, that has to be done. But the cuts need to be made from wasteful spending, not essential programs. Someone is going to have to get the compensation issues under control before we go bankrupt. School construction contracts have been too favorable to the builders, as we saw when MCPS ended up wasting $500,000 just at Bells Mill in Potomac. Dr. Weast once spent $80,000+ a month fighting to defend an unconstitutional flyer policy.
Like Dr. Weast, our county council appears to have difficulty understanding, interpreting and upholding the law. Even though the Washington Post and other powers tell us that these councilmembers are the only ones who possess the elusive experience and vast knowledge to serve on the county council. Average citizens need not apply!
Yet that vast knowledge and wizardly understanding of "the law" seemed to fail our elite councilmembers last year!
Last year, the council asked for a $79.5M budget cut from the state for MCPS. When the state correctly spurned the request, the councilmembers placed themselves above the law, and illegally went ahead and charged MCPS $79.5M. Under Maryland state law, that was illegal, and the county was, again, correctly slapped with a $23M fine.
That was to ensure that the money was returned to MCPS for FY2010, but also to ensure that the county council would follow the law in the future.
That's where it got really scary. Partisan politics took the place of education. Now you have the governor, the Montgomery County delegation of delegates and senators to the General Assembly in Annapolis, Ike Leggett, the county council, the county school board(!!) and Dr. Weast, in unison, all supporting hundreds of millions less for schools now and in the future.
It's outrageous.
That partisan team succeeded in getting the fine revoked. Now, with all of those partisan players still in power, there is absolutely nothing stopping the county council from cutting education every single year from now on.
In a cynical county, where the local media lapdogs report only what the elected officials and special interests tell them to, this immoral action is potentially a cynical "win-win" situation for these officials in the 2010 elections. Except there will be losers: the children of Montgomery County. And frankly, the incumbent officeholders couldn't care less.
I believe this action, to deny the funds urgently needed to address the education disparities across our county, is a civil rights issue of paramount importance. Do you?
With no accountability in the press, or from education "advocates" who don't seem to care, even though they've been screaming about education funding for decades (but have suddenly lost interest now that their beloved politicians have bankrupted the county and can't get reelected unless they balance the budget on the backs of children, seniors, the poor and the disabled), who is going to hold these anti-education politicians accountable?
You are.
The people of Montgomery County. You've got to get upset about this. I question who you are and your basic sense of decency and humanity if you are just going to sit there and let these people get away with this.
Are you?
I challenge you to challenge your elected officials on this. And if they succeed in robbing the public schools of Montgomery County while transferring these funds to their cronies in the budget, I challenge you to hold them accountable at the polls on Election Day.
The death of Jaime Escalante could not be a positive development. But what an appropriate time to bring his example to the public's attention once again. A time when we in Montgomery County are making decisions that not only determine the future of education, but also what our basic concept of morality is.
2 comments:
You said that Jerry Weast has the "best of intentions" with regard to special education? What are you possibly basing that statement on? Have you missed the last several years of elimination of special education programs and services?
I only mean that that I think Dr. Weast does not have a sinister, nefarious intent in what I agree with you are misguided policies. (Or at least, I hope he doesn't.) I'm aware of what has happened with special ed programs the last few years. My argument is that we need that extra money precisely so that we can restore and expand the programs you are referring to. Of course, all the money in the world won't help if political pressure is not placed on Dr. Weast and the school board to set the right priorities. And, as I have written about and discussed with Mike Knapp, we have school buildings that are not even ADA compliant. One, Damascus ES, has ADA issues and they even have a special needs program there! So we not only need money, but it has to be put to the best use. Now, these budget cuts seem to come from the classroom and program side, not the administrative side. I believe special education is one of the most important issues to be discussed in this election year. Perhaps what I intended to say did not translate well in what I wrote, but I believe we are actually on the same side here. Thank you for reading and commenting.
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