Transcripts For WRC Viewpoint 20140831 : vimarsana.com

Terms of accomplishment and change over your first three years . Montgomery county is such a great school system. Weve done so well for so long. The question is how do you take a great system and make it even better. We have to recognize we have longstanding achievement gaps, but we have so many strengths. Theres three things were focused on. Academic excellence is of importance to us. Whether its sa. A. T. S, kids hav to be prepared. And critical problem solving is a skill for the 21st century. Employers want people with skills, but they want people who can be curious, who can be creative, work in teams and collaborate and think of new kinds of solutions. The third piece of social and emotional wellbeing, the idea that our kids should not only be academically prepared but good people. Thats what parents want for their own kids, to resolve conflict, can you get along with other. Do you recognize diversity and those things. Its about academics, social and emotional well being and be academically prepared. Were up to 154,000plus. Well have the official count in october, of course. Its the largest enrollment weve ever had. The biggest oneyear gain. We are building buildings left and right. You know, going through revitalization expansion projects. Were hoping for additional help from the state this year. You know, our county has done a lot it invest in infrastructure. Its fabulous to see that kind of commitment from the county. We cant keep up. Were bursting at the seams and hoping the state comes through to help us out. Lets talk about that. Its not unique to Montgomery County. Its happening all over the country. You see a number of portable classrooms. You see floating teachers. Is overcrowding permanent . You know, so were growing quicker than any other district in the state. I think we are growing quicker. And you sea that in the suburban extra you see that in the suburban areas. They are growing quicker than cities and things like that. I dont keep track of it as much in other places as i do right here. Im hoping that it doesnt become permanent, but you know, frankly, for us in Montgomery County, we know the projections go a few years out. We will be in the situation for a while. Unless, of course, the state does the right thing by us and gives us what we need. Were ready to build on time and budget. Its a matter of having the money. How important is class size in learning more . You know, class size is important. Its why we keep our kindergarten, first, and second impacted schools. The kids with the most needs. Typically we use free and reduced price meals to measure that. We keep them really small, but it means other classes are bigger. I visited a class at wheaton high school. 32 kids in a. P. Government we keep that bigger so classes with kids who need more support can be smaller. Its important to have a well performing, highly qualified teacher in every teacher. We want to keep our classes small, but we need to make tradeoffs. Some classes are big so we can keep others small. We have a longstanding tradition in Montgomery County of putting the most resources where the most needs are. And that shows up in class sizes. More than 100 students, i think, roughly 107 or so, have crossed over into the country. How do you address that, the Different Services that theyre going to need . How do you prepare for that . We have about 57 unaccompanied minors that joined the district this year. More may be coming. Thats only through the office of refuge and resettlement, through the federal department. Other kids have come in, about 350 have come in total from Central America that, you know, we have been taking in to our system, making sure that we work closely with our department of health and human services, and other nonprofits so that we can give kids the Wraparound Services they need. The social and emotional support, as well as, you know, enrolling them in school, getting them ready and into school. So we have a moral and legal obligati obligation, of course, to serve any children that comes our way. And our unaccompanied minors is something were tracking closely. Well look forward to talking more about the changing demographics, too, in Montgomery County. The challenge and your fivepoint plan for improving math scores, we want to talk about as we continue after this short break. Stay with us. Welcome back. Our guest for the halfhour, dr. Joshua starr. Superintendent of Montgomery County schools. Dr. Starr, we were talking about growth before. Youve done a lot to address that this year after a record year over last korea year in last year in terms of new students. How many new teacher is you hired . About 150 new teachers to deal with growth this year. Total, its probably 700 or 800 teachers. You know, teachers retire and things like that. Were always bringing in new folks to the county. We had to add about 150 just to keep up with enrollment. Weve also hired more teachers to provide Additional Support in our middle and high schools for our highest needs schools in mathematics and english. Again, we know that our kids need Additional Support in order to achieve the new standards. We have an achievement gap. Its been longstanding. Were trying to take what weve done in the malls. Were providing Additional Support. Move that up to the middle and high schools. And so far, it seems to be working out pretty well. Youve got a fivepoint plan to address math specifically. Yep. Weve been working on math for a while. Math is one of these great challenges in america as we go from procedural math, the way you and i learned it, very procedural. How many problems can you do, how quickly, to now you have to think about it. You have to show your work, you have to understand the strategy, you have to collaborate. Were doing a lot of things in that area. One is a lot of professional development. We need to make sure our teachers are mathematicians as well as teachers. Were doing a lot of sharing amongst teachers. Weve identified some of our best teachers in math. Were saying, you guys, help train other people, help us understand what it is your doing. We have new materials, of course. And as i said already, wre lowering class sizes where its most necessary. And were also starting early. Frankly, i think that weve accelerated too many kids in Montgomery County. Somehow grade level isnt good enough for a lot of kids. Some kids need to be accelerated. Its appropriate. Theres nothing wrong with grade level either. The fact is sometimes its better to slow down, go deep, really make sure kids understand the concepts, understand it early. And if theres an issue that needs to be addressed, address it earl so we can speed up later. Were trying a bunch of different things. All researchbased. Weve also talked to our teachers. Our teacher told us what they need. Were trying to map what were doing to what our preaches are saying they need. Hopefully it will bring improvement. You started out as a teacher, special education, as i recall. Thats right. What does it take, in your mind, when you look at the landscape of teachers to be a good teacher in 2014 . You know, i wonderful some teachers in school the other day. I was watching how the teachers were doing this literacy work. Standard literacy work, really good stuff. They were also doing it so the kids were in collaborative groups. You have to not only assess how the kid is doing relative to the standard we want them to achieve. Youre also assessing kids on how well they collaborate. Thats a whole other thing. Now were adding great new technology. The teachers love it. But they have to be experts in that. All teachers now have to have some facility with english language acquisition because we have 17 of kids, 22 of elementary, are english left wing learners. We learners. The kids rise to the occasion, but they need time to collaborate and learn from others. It is such a difficult job were asking them to. Do our teachers are rising to the occasion, and we just cant do enough to support them. Lets talk about standardized testing. Students and teachers are judged every day. This parcc testing, parcc, talk about. That weve heard some from some teachers its not rolled out fully, widespread yet. Theyre have something initial challenges with it themselves. Sure. Getting questions right. You know, fortunately, Montgomery County weve been doing this for about five years now. We really were ahead of the curve in developing new curriculum, providing new professional development to our teachers. So now were going to have the new test this year. It is a completely different test. I encourage you to go to the website, see sample items, it is different, what were asking kids than what they did before. I think the test are good. Ive seen the new s. A. T. , the sample s. A. T. , a. P. Exams. They much more reflect what our kids are being asked to do in the work world, when you go out and youre in the real world so it speak, than what we used to do in class. Its hard. And unfortunately, a lot of the spls that have come policies that have come from the federal government and State Government have hampered the ability of teachers to be able it really embrace the standards to be able to really embrace the standards. Theyre afraid of policies that draconian and inappropriate. Thats unfortunate. Our teachers are enjoying it. Were trying to say, look, it doesnt happen in a year. You got to learn, it may take a few years to master. It our teachers have embraced it. Theyre working well together. Were see itting great things happening. Were seeing great things happening. You embrace common core . Absolutely. The policy is coming from the federal government and the State Governments that are associated with it is whats compromised the common core effort. Standards themselves are good standards. All right. Well take another break. Well be right back with dr. Joshua starr, superintendent of Montgomery County schools. Welcome back again. Our guest, dr. Joshua starr, superintendent of Montgomery County schools. Lets talk a little about technology and how you keep up with technology and keep up with the growth through technology. Youre very active in social media on twitter. I am. Yeah, im very active on twitter. Its a great way to celebrate whats going on in the district, to share with people. You know, what im doing, what im seeing, great practices. Also to let them know what im reading and thinking about. Its been a great way to interact with folks and for people to get to know me. Its such a big district, its a way for people to get to know me. Follow me at mps super. Were also rolling out chrome books. Grades three, five, six, and High School Social studies. Our first major technology, Instructional Technology effort. Already im seeing the kids just i was in a class this morning. I just saw kids excited about opening up their chrome books. Its really cool. We know theyll be able to engage with different kinds of materials, were going to be able to personalize instruction more. Theyll be collaborating on line. The teachers are thrilled. So im just, you know, excited that were able to finally do this. And if you dont have that, what a difference it makes in terms ofhoeflding a child back. Technology is such a part of kids lives, but its a struggle, too, to figure out how to use it appropriately. Its why we started the cyber civility effort. I say to my own kids, i expect you to behave on line in the way i expect you to behave physically, when youre talking with people. Some people dont always see it that way. And we want to make sure our kids and our adults, frankly, understand appropriate uses. Were thrilled about the technology push. I appreciate the support of the county in helping us make that happen. Were just going to do more and more as we go. Want to talk about another hotbutton issue. Thats clean times and giving high school students, in particular, a later start time. Youre not a big fan of the concept. Well, i actually am. I mean, i was the one who said, look, lets take a hard look, see if its doable. We did a thorough analysis, Extensive Community engagement. Problem is, its too expensive. It would cost at least about 25 million for us to make it happen. Unless because its not just high school. Right. Its not just high school. We could switch start times, but then id have element kids at the bus stop elementary kids out at the bus stop before its late out. Im not going to have that. Its much more complicated than people think it is. If i could snap my fingers and make it work with no cost, i would do it. Its not possible. Its not going to happen on. Your watch this year or next. This year its not likely. Not likely next year. The board has asked me to see if we can do it cheaper. Its a cost issue. We have 52,000 students on free and reduced price meals in Montgomery County. Thats more kids than the total population of the d. C. Public schools, not including charter schools, right. They have needs. I cant say, you know, im going to take dac25, 30, however man Million Dollars and put it toward bell times and say, i got to address the needs of the kids that have to meet a higher standard and have great nationwide. I wish great needs. I wish i could, but its not fiscally responsible now. Talk about the landscape of the School Population and diversity and how its becoming more diverse which is a beautiful thing but also presents more challenges and can be more costli. You know, look costly. You know, look, our most important core value is equity. The ideaed that we provide our most idea that we provide our most vulnerable kids and families with what they need. That means well continue to spend 2,500 more per student on freeway and reduced price meals than we do a typical student. This is a county thats valued education and has valued giving the most to those who need the most. Well continue to did. That we love the diversity in gunpoint schools. We love a kid who comes in and speaks spanish at home and english on the playground, thats a kid who cocacola, theyll be looking 25902,5 20, 25 years, bilingual kid, thats a wonderful thing. Well continue to embrace that. But it costs. No doubt it it. Were were always happen to provide those resources. But we want to make sure the county continues to provide them to us. Off the top, talked about how you engage employers. What do you hear from them and what are they looking for today compared to maybe ten years ago when a student graduates from high school . You know, so they certainly want kids who have a baseline of technical skills. But what they often say is i can teach them the technical skills, i want someone with a good work ethic. I want someone who can work well in teams, whos a good problem solver. I want someone whos creative and curious about the world. I dont care if they can take a standardized test. As long as its a certain baseline. But i want someone whos creative, who want to learn, wants to grow, is going to work hard, whos engaged. Thats what thats what people want out in the work world which is why the standardized test regime has done such a disservice to our kids, right. It just doesnt match what we know employers want. Thats what i hire for. All right. Important. Dr. Joshua starr will be back to wrap things up. Talking about Montgomery County schools and the new school year. yawn ding toaster strudel more fruit in the filling, ya . Mmm ya warm, flaky, gooey, toaster strudel now, with more fruit dont wait for awesome. Totinos pizza rolls. Gets you there in just 60 seconds. Welcome back to viewpoint. Our guest for the halfhour on viewpoint dr. Joshua starr, Montgomery County school superintendent. Youve got a new code of conduct this school year. Tell us about that. We do. This reflect the movement going on in the state and in the country to keep our kids in school. Its the right thing to do. We reduce discretionary suspensions by 50 last year and overall suspensions by about 37 , 38 because the schools took the attitude that we need our kids to learn from their mistakes. We make sure our schools are safe, secure environment, we need to make sure kids learn from their mistakes, we know that theres disproportionality, too many black kids, too many latino kids get suspended. Were working hard to reduce the numbers. Our schools have risen to the occasion. Our new code of conduct can reflect the values and principles that we have to make sure kids stay in school, gives our principal discretion but makes sure our schools are safe and secure environments. Its great stuff. All the exciting change youve got coming up. Changes youve got coming up. There was distraction among School Board Members about the overuse of credit cards. Theres going to be a change there. Government credit cards. Your thoughts on that, and does that change the way administrators change their credit cards . You included. Its caused us to take a hard look at our procedures. We have a Continuous Improvement ethos in Montgomery County. Me and my staff have given up our credit card as the board has. The board did all the right things. Some mistakes were made. They cleaned it up quickly, cleaned it up aggressively. The state prosecutor said there was no criminal conduct whatsoever. So weve said it it was an unfortunate event, but we think were on the right path going forward. Were very clean going forward. Talk a little about Community Engagement. Thats important to you and your administration. Thats right. It really is is. You know, we know we have to work closely with our families to make sure they have what they need. And that includes working with our social service sector, were doing a lot of great work there. Were doing about 30 to 40 family markets, we did a backpack campaign, about 1 0 170,000 was raised. I so much appreciate the support is the of our community. You know support of the community. You know, we only have kids 6. 5 hours a day. Food and security and housing are two of the biggest issues families have. We cant do anything about that. We can partner with agencies to help our kids and help our families. Were doing a lot of that. Were launching new Montgomery County<\/a>. Its happening all over the country. You see a number of portable classrooms. You see floating teachers. Is overcrowding permanent . You know, so were growing quicker than any other district in the state. I think we are growing quicker. And you sea that in the suburban extra you see that in the suburban areas. They are growing quicker than cities and things like that. I dont keep track of it as much in other places as i do right here. Im hoping that it doesnt become permanent, but you know, frankly, for us in Montgomery County<\/a>, we know the projections go a few years out. We will be in the situation for a while. Unless, of course, the state does the right thing by us and gives us what we need. Were ready to build on time and budget. Its a matter of having the money. How important is class size in learning more . You know, class size is important. Its why we keep our kindergarten, first, and second impacted schools. The kids with the most needs. Typically we use free and reduced price meals to measure that. We keep them really small, but it means other classes are bigger. I visited a class at wheaton high school. 32 kids in a. P. Government we keep that bigger so classes with kids who need more support can be smaller. Its important to have a well performing, highly qualified teacher in every teacher. We want to keep our classes small, but we need to make tradeoffs. Some classes are big so we can keep others small. We have a longstanding tradition in Montgomery County<\/a> of putting the most resources where the most needs are. And that shows up in class sizes. More than 100 students, i think, roughly 107 or so, have crossed over into the country. How do you address that, the Different Services<\/a> that theyre going to need . How do you prepare for that . We have about 57 unaccompanied minors that joined the district this year. More may be coming. Thats only through the office of refuge and resettlement, through the federal department. Other kids have come in, about 350 have come in total from Central America<\/a> that, you know, we have been taking in to our system, making sure that we work closely with our department of health and human services, and other nonprofits so that we can give kids the Wraparound Services<\/a> they need. The social and emotional support, as well as, you know, enrolling them in school, getting them ready and into school. So we have a moral and legal obligati obligation, of course, to serve any children that comes our way. And our unaccompanied minors is something were tracking closely. Well look forward to talking more about the changing demographics, too, in Montgomery County<\/a>. The challenge and your fivepoint plan for improving math scores, we want to talk about as we continue after this short break. Stay with us. Welcome back. Our guest for the halfhour, dr. Joshua starr. Superintendent of Montgomery County<\/a> schools. Dr. Starr, we were talking about growth before. Youve done a lot to address that this year after a record year over last korea year in last year in terms of new students. How many new teacher is you hired . About 150 new teachers to deal with growth this year. Total, its probably 700 or 800 teachers. You know, teachers retire and things like that. Were always bringing in new folks to the county. We had to add about 150 just to keep up with enrollment. Weve also hired more teachers to provide Additional Support<\/a> in our middle and high schools for our highest needs schools in mathematics and english. Again, we know that our kids need Additional Support<\/a> in order to achieve the new standards. We have an achievement gap. Its been longstanding. Were trying to take what weve done in the malls. Were providing Additional Support<\/a>. Move that up to the middle and high schools. And so far, it seems to be working out pretty well. Youve got a fivepoint plan to address math specifically. Yep. Weve been working on math for a while. Math is one of these great challenges in america as we go from procedural math, the way you and i learned it, very procedural. How many problems can you do, how quickly, to now you have to think about it. You have to show your work, you have to understand the strategy, you have to collaborate. Were doing a lot of things in that area. One is a lot of professional development. We need to make sure our teachers are mathematicians as well as teachers. Were doing a lot of sharing amongst teachers. Weve identified some of our best teachers in math. Were saying, you guys, help train other people, help us understand what it is your doing. We have new materials, of course. And as i said already, wre lowering class sizes where its most necessary. And were also starting early. Frankly, i think that weve accelerated too many kids in Montgomery County<\/a>. Somehow grade level isnt good enough for a lot of kids. Some kids need to be accelerated. Its appropriate. Theres nothing wrong with grade level either. The fact is sometimes its better to slow down, go deep, really make sure kids understand the concepts, understand it early. And if theres an issue that needs to be addressed, address it earl so we can speed up later. Were trying a bunch of different things. All researchbased. Weve also talked to our teachers. Our teacher told us what they need. Were trying to map what were doing to what our preaches are saying they need. Hopefully it will bring improvement. You started out as a teacher, special education, as i recall. Thats right. What does it take, in your mind, when you look at the landscape of teachers to be a good teacher in 2014 . You know, i wonderful some teachers in school the other day. I was watching how the teachers were doing this literacy work. Standard literacy work, really good stuff. They were also doing it so the kids were in collaborative groups. You have to not only assess how the kid is doing relative to the standard we want them to achieve. Youre also assessing kids on how well they collaborate. Thats a whole other thing. Now were adding great new technology. The teachers love it. But they have to be experts in that. All teachers now have to have some facility with english language acquisition because we have 17 of kids, 22 of elementary, are english left wing learners. We learners. The kids rise to the occasion, but they need time to collaborate and learn from others. It is such a difficult job were asking them to. Do our teachers are rising to the occasion, and we just cant do enough to support them. Lets talk about standardized testing. Students and teachers are judged every day. This parcc testing, parcc, talk about. That weve heard some from some teachers its not rolled out fully, widespread yet. Theyre have something initial challenges with it themselves. Sure. Getting questions right. You know, fortunately, Montgomery County<\/a> weve been doing this for about five years now. We really were ahead of the curve in developing new curriculum, providing new professional development to our teachers. So now were going to have the new test this year. It is a completely different test. I encourage you to go to the website, see sample items, it is different, what were asking kids than what they did before. I think the test are good. Ive seen the new s. A. T. , the sample s. A. T. , a. P. Exams. They much more reflect what our kids are being asked to do in the work world, when you go out and youre in the real world so it speak, than what we used to do in class. Its hard. And unfortunately, a lot of the spls that have come policies that have come from the federal government and State Government<\/a> have hampered the ability of teachers to be able it really embrace the standards to be able to really embrace the standards. Theyre afraid of policies that draconian and inappropriate. Thats unfortunate. Our teachers are enjoying it. Were trying to say, look, it doesnt happen in a year. You got to learn, it may take a few years to master. It our teachers have embraced it. Theyre working well together. Were see itting great things happening. Were seeing great things happening. You embrace common core . Absolutely. The policy is coming from the federal government and the State Government<\/a>s that are associated with it is whats compromised the common core effort. Standards themselves are good standards. All right. Well take another break. Well be right back with dr. Joshua starr, superintendent of Montgomery County<\/a> schools. Welcome back again. Our guest, dr. Joshua starr, superintendent of Montgomery County<\/a> schools. Lets talk a little about technology and how you keep up with technology and keep up with the growth through technology. Youre very active in social media on twitter. I am. Yeah, im very active on twitter. Its a great way to celebrate whats going on in the district, to share with people. You know, what im doing, what im seeing, great practices. Also to let them know what im reading and thinking about. Its been a great way to interact with folks and for people to get to know me. Its such a big district, its a way for people to get to know me. Follow me at mps super. Were also rolling out chrome books. Grades three, five, six, and High School Social<\/a> studies. Our first major technology, Instructional Technology<\/a> effort. Already im seeing the kids just i was in a class this morning. I just saw kids excited about opening up their chrome books. Its really cool. We know theyll be able to engage with different kinds of materials, were going to be able to personalize instruction more. Theyll be collaborating on line. The teachers are thrilled. So im just, you know, excited that were able to finally do this. And if you dont have that, what a difference it makes in terms ofhoeflding a child back. Technology is such a part of kids lives, but its a struggle, too, to figure out how to use it appropriately. Its why we started the cyber civility effort. I say to my own kids, i expect you to behave on line in the way i expect you to behave physically, when youre talking with people. Some people dont always see it that way. And we want to make sure our kids and our adults, frankly, understand appropriate uses. Were thrilled about the technology push. I appreciate the support of the county in helping us make that happen. Were just going to do more and more as we go. Want to talk about another hotbutton issue. Thats clean times and giving high school students, in particular, a later start time. Youre not a big fan of the concept. Well, i actually am. I mean, i was the one who said, look, lets take a hard look, see if its doable. We did a thorough analysis, Extensive Community<\/a> engagement. Problem is, its too expensive. It would cost at least about 25 million for us to make it happen. Unless because its not just high school. Right. Its not just high school. We could switch start times, but then id have element kids at the bus stop elementary kids out at the bus stop before its late out. Im not going to have that. Its much more complicated than people think it is. If i could snap my fingers and make it work with no cost, i would do it. Its not possible. Its not going to happen on. Your watch this year or next. This year its not likely. Not likely next year. The board has asked me to see if we can do it cheaper. Its a cost issue. We have 52,000 students on free and reduced price meals in Montgomery County<\/a>. Thats more kids than the total population of the d. C. Public schools, not including charter schools, right. They have needs. I cant say, you know, im going to take dac25, 30, however man Million Dollars<\/a> and put it toward bell times and say, i got to address the needs of the kids that have to meet a higher standard and have great nationwide. I wish great needs. I wish i could, but its not fiscally responsible now. Talk about the landscape of the School Population<\/a> and diversity and how its becoming more diverse which is a beautiful thing but also presents more challenges and can be more costli. You know, look costly. You know, look, our most important core value is equity. The ideaed that we provide our most idea that we provide our most vulnerable kids and families with what they need. That means well continue to spend 2,500 more per student on freeway and reduced price meals than we do a typical student. This is a county thats valued education and has valued giving the most to those who need the most. Well continue to did. That we love the diversity in gunpoint schools. We love a kid who comes in and speaks spanish at home and english on the playground, thats a kid who cocacola, theyll be looking 25902,5 20, 25 years, bilingual kid, thats a wonderful thing. Well continue to embrace that. But it costs. No doubt it it. Were were always happen to provide those resources. But we want to make sure the county continues to provide them to us. Off the top, talked about how you engage employers. What do you hear from them and what are they looking for today compared to maybe ten years ago when a student graduates from high school . You know, so they certainly want kids who have a baseline of technical skills. But what they often say is i can teach them the technical skills, i want someone with a good work ethic. I want someone who can work well in teams, whos a good problem solver. I want someone whos creative and curious about the world. I dont care if they can take a standardized test. As long as its a certain baseline. But i want someone whos creative, who want to learn, wants to grow, is going to work hard, whos engaged. Thats what thats what people want out in the work world which is why the standardized test regime has done such a disservice to our kids, right. It just doesnt match what we know employers want. Thats what i hire for. All right. Important. Dr. Joshua starr will be back to wrap things up. Talking about Montgomery County<\/a> schools and the new school year. yawn ding toaster strudel more fruit in the filling, ya . Mmm ya warm, flaky, gooey, toaster strudel now, with more fruit dont wait for awesome. Totinos pizza rolls. Gets you there in just 60 seconds. Welcome back to viewpoint. Our guest for the halfhour on viewpoint dr. Joshua starr, Montgomery County<\/a> school superintendent. Youve got a new code of conduct this school year. Tell us about that. We do. This reflect the movement going on in the state and in the country to keep our kids in school. Its the right thing to do. We reduce discretionary suspensions by 50 last year and overall suspensions by about 37 , 38 because the schools took the attitude that we need our kids to learn from their mistakes. We make sure our schools are safe, secure environment, we need to make sure kids learn from their mistakes, we know that theres disproportionality, too many black kids, too many latino kids get suspended. Were working hard to reduce the numbers. Our schools have risen to the occasion. Our new code of conduct can reflect the values and principles that we have to make sure kids stay in school, gives our principal discretion but makes sure our schools are safe and secure environments. Its great stuff. All the exciting change youve got coming up. Changes youve got coming up. There was distraction among School Board Members<\/a> about the overuse of credit cards. Theres going to be a change there. Government credit cards. Your thoughts on that, and does that change the way administrators change their credit cards . You included. Its caused us to take a hard look at our procedures. We have a Continuous Improvement<\/a> ethos in Montgomery County<\/a>. Me and my staff have given up our credit card as the board has. The board did all the right things. Some mistakes were made. They cleaned it up quickly, cleaned it up aggressively. The state prosecutor said there was no criminal conduct whatsoever. So weve said it it was an unfortunate event, but we think were on the right path going forward. Were very clean going forward. Talk a little about Community Engagement<\/a>. Thats important to you and your administration. Thats right. It really is is. You know, we know we have to work closely with our families to make sure they have what they need. And that includes working with our social service sector, were doing a lot of great work there. Were doing about 30 to 40 family markets, we did a backpack campaign, about 1 0 170,000 was raised. I so much appreciate the support is the of our community. You know support of the community. You know, we only have kids 6. 5 hours a day. Food and security and housing are two of the biggest issues families have. We cant do anything about that. We can partner with agencies to help our kids and help our families. Were doing a lot of that. Were launching new Community Engagement<\/a> teams. So were really trying to go deep in Family Engagement<\/a> because we know its a Critical Link<\/a> for student success. The dropout rate the past three years has fallen in Montgomery County<\/a>. And some of that is due to this program that youve got helping montgomery families initiatives. Thats working with people in the d. A. s office, too, and keeping people off the streets, out of crime, in school longer. Weve always had a small drop outrate. It has decreased. About 5 , 6 , this last year. Its really about getting to know every individual child. You know, knowing every individual child, getting them what they need to stay in school. When i talked to principals about how they increased graduation rates, they say its about knowy every kid. Name names, know them, get them what they need. We have the resources, were aligning resources to make sure it happens, and were starting to see that be reflected in the numbers. Parents listening out there, its certainly more and more every year it seems, more competive to get into the college you want or any college for that matter. What do you tell them . How do you prepare your kid it seems to start earlier and earlier. Yeah. Its so important when parns are looking at colleges parents are look at colleges with kids, try to tune out the noise. Theres competition, but theres a college for everyone. You know, our career counselors, our counselors, Guidance Counselors<\/a> are fabulous. They know so much. People sometimes get caught up in the name brand colleges. Those are great, you know. But theres the right college for you as a person. I always tell kids, its your choice, right. Your parents may be paying for it, well Mother Nature<\/a> and more kids are taking out loans because its gotten so expensive. But its your choice. Make sure its one thats right for you. Try to cancel out the noise and competition and fix on whats right for you. You mentioned a bit earlier, dr. Starr, weve got a little time left, about employers wanting someone with a good work ethic. You hear from different generations, this generation feels entitled. They dont have a strong work ethic. What do you see . How do you address it if does come up . I dont see that at all. Our kids are so engaged, when i do town halls, our kids are smart. Theyre focused, theyre interested in the world. They is choices, and they know they have choices. Thats why ever woo to were trying to use technology to engage them in different ways. I see a lot of great kids that want to access the American Dreams<\/a> just like their parents and their grandparents. And we want to help them do that. Dr. Starr, a pleasure as always. Thank you very much, and good luck in your fore. Now back to news4 today. To prove a point about internet speeds, we slowed down an up escalator this is crazy like i dont get it, this one is working ladies, shouldnt up be as fast as down . Yeah. Shouldnt internet speeds match as well . Yes. Do your socks match . My socks match. Do your eyeballs match . Yes. Cable does not match the speeds. Makes you want to go mad. Erggggh. Only verizon fios comes with speed match. Upload speeds as fast as your download speeds. Join now at fiosspeedmatch. Com. Verizon. Calderon. Developing right now, Metro Transit Police<\/a> are investigating how someone died at the shady grove metro station. Someone found the man in the stairwell of the parking garage there. This is shortly after 2 00. Take a look at some of the video we received into the newsroom. We got this about an hour ago. Were working right now to learn the mans name. Stay with news 4 for updates throughout the morning. Well be watching this throughout the day. Wel t","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"archive.org","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","width":"800","height":"600","url":"\/\/ia904500.us.archive.org\/28\/items\/WRC_20140831_093000_Viewpoint\/WRC_20140831_093000_Viewpoint.thumbs\/WRC_20140831_093000_Viewpoint_000001.jpg"}},"autauthor":{"@type":"Organization"},"author":{"sameAs":"archive.org","name":"archive.org"}}],"coverageEndTime":"20240621T12:35:10+00:00"}