Montgomery County Public Schools

Celebrate the Month of the Young Child and ask MCPS staff your questions about school programs and services for children of all ages on April 26 at Westfield Shoppingtown Wheaton. The event is from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Local agencies will also be on hand to provide resources for families, children’s activities, and entertainment.

Author and educator Glenn Singleton has been working with school system principals and administrators to help them understand their beliefs about race and move toward action that ensures that the needs of all students are met. Singleton’s book Courageous Conversations About Race has provided background for the school system’s work to remove racial and ethnic barriers to student achievement.

Students in Poolesville High School’s new Science, Mathematics, Computer Science Magnet Program took what they learned about earthquakes in their earth science class and expanded it by building seismographs in their research/ experimentation (technology) class. The students created a computer program to run the seismograph, then built the machine, which was tested on a shake table.

Students in Winston Churchill High School’s math, technology and science academy learned about the environmental benefits of new hydrogen fuel cell technology during a presentation by General Motors Vice Chairman Robert Lutz. Then they checked out a state-of-the-art car containing its own power plant—which generates enough electricity to power a small community of homes, according to Fuel-Cell Technology Director Dan O’Connell. Students throughout MCPS are celebrating Earth Day on April 22.

James Hubert Blake High School National Honor Society members are working with autistic students on the school’s 10,000 cranes project for peace. National Honor Society sponsor and transition support teacher Beth Shepherd, who went to Japan on a Fulbright Scholarship, thought Blake’s school-community-based (SCB) students would enjoy becoming involved in the project, which originated in Japan. April is Autism Awareness Month.

Helpful information connecting parents to the school system is a click away on the newly updated web site of the Department of Communications’ Division of Family and Community Partnerships (DFCP). The site includes a Parent Tip of the Week and calendar of upcoming workshops and events. Information about volunteer opportunities and the ways that the division supports schools’ parent involvement efforts also is on the new site.

The sixth annual Champions for Children Awards Gala on April 15 honored outstanding Montgomery County staff, business leaders and volunteers. The event is hosted each year by the Montgomery County Business Roundtable for Education, in partnership with many supporters. WJLA TV7 news anchor Leon Harris hosted the gala. Performing groups from Bethesda-Chevy Chase, Damascus, Kennedy and Watkins Mill high schools added to the festivities.

“Montgomery County Public Schools proves the point” that accountability, combined with strong organizational systems that improve teachers’ and principals’ effectiveness results in student success. The March 28 editorial in the Washington Business Journal about the No Child Left Behind education law praised the school system for improving academic achievement and helping close the achievement gap.