MCPS

Per MCPS: The results are in! Sami Saeed, a junior at Richard Montgomery High School, has been elected the Student Member of the Board of Education (SMOB) for the 2023-2024 school year. Mr. Saeed’s term begins on July 1, 2023.

All secondary students were eligible to vote in the SMOB election and 55,598 students cast ballots. Mr. Saeed received 70 percent of the vote, while his opponent, Mr. Yoseph Zerihun, a junior at Springbrook High School, received 30 percent. The SMOB election was held on April 19, 2023 through an electronic ballot that all students received in their MCPS email and were encouraged to vote through a class lesson.

Last week, MCPS sent a community message addressing school safety. “I am writing to update you on the measures we have taken to ensure the safety of our students and staff in our schools. As a follow-up to our community letter, we have been working diligently to implement concrete actions focusing on resources, expectations, and community engagement.” The full letter can be seen here. Additional information on Increased Security Staffing can be seen below:

“We have allocated a 1.0 permanent substitute to all high schools to address increased staff absences. We have also deployed security substitutes to schools with higher security absences and more significant security needs. At the elementary level, in addition to the cluster assigned Community Engagement Officers (CEOs), MCPS security assistant rovers are available to support as needed when safety incidents arise.  We have requested 10.0 additional security assistants in the FY2024 budget and are reviewing the process to allocate security staff within our schools.”

MCPS parents, staff and community members are invited to the first Special Education Parent Community Resource Fair on Saturday, April 29 at Gaithersburg High School. The resource fair will be held from 9 a.m.–noon, and will include a guest speaker, valuable community resources and vendors, and fun children’s activities, including a moon bounce, crafts and face painting.

The speaker will be Dr. Joy Banks, associate professor in the College of Education and Human Development at George Mason University. Dr. Banks is committed to exploring the intersection of race and disability and how societal norms contribute to the marginalization of adolescents and young adults identified with disabilities. For two decades, she has taught and lectured on race, disability and reading development. She has also served as department chair for the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at Howard University and as associate dean for Research and Development at Bowie State University.

MCPS will announce the Montgomery County Teacher of the Year at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, April 24 at BlackRock Center for the Arts in Germantown. The year’s signature celebration honoring the district’s Champions for Children will be held in person for the first time since 2019. The 2023–2024 Teacher of the Year finalists are: Megan Anderson, fifth grade teacher at Chevy Chase Elementary School; Eunju (April) Moon, sixth grade English teacher at Ridgeview Middle School; and Shannon McKenzie, child development teacher at Clarksburg High School.

The celebration will also recognize Rising Star Teacher of the Year: Amanda Hammersla, fourth grade teacher at Chevy Chase Elementary School; Beth F. Thomas, assistant principal at Hallie Wells Middle School, who won the Dr. Edward Shirley Award for Excellence in Educational Administration and Supervision, and Supporting Services Employee of the Year Kimani Gray, supply services coordinator, Supply and Property Management in the Department of Materials Management.