The Montgomery County Board of Education honored 17 recipients during a celebration of the 26th Annual Awards for Distinguished Service to Public Education on May 9. The awards were established by the Board to recognize and show appreciation for exemplary contributions to public education and to MCPS. Check out a photo gallery from the event.
This year’s Distinguished Service Award winners are:
Per Montgomery County Public Schools: MCPS is pleased to share the Antiracist System Action Plan that was presented to the Board of Education during its business meeting on Thursday, May 11. The plan addresses the findings and recommendations in the Antiracist System Audit.
The district’s action plan is designed to address five critical areas to achieve a racial equity vision as outlined by the audit: coherence, accountability, equity-centered capacity building, continuous data collection and relational trust. It serves as a roadmap to holistically implement policies, practices and structures necessary to eliminate racial disparities and remove barriers that impact the district’s most marginalized groups. The Antiracist System Action Plan includes action steps and timelines, and is organized into three sections:
Today the Montgomery County Board of Education approved the following administrative appointments and announced five new principals:
• Dr. Donna R. Jones as Associate Superintendent
Joan Shane, content specialist at Sligo Middle School, has been selected as the Maryland representative for the Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST). This is the highest honor given by the U.S. government for K-12 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics teaching.
The award recognizes those teachers who have deep content knowledge of the subject they teach and the ability to motivate and enable students to be successful in those areas. Since the program’s inception, more than 5,200 teachers have been recognized for their contributions in the classroom and to the profession.
Five MCPS students were recently recognized with Certificates of Accomplishment for the Princeton Prize in Race Relations. The five are:
Featured photo courtesy of MCPS: Pictured left to right, Ila Benson, Suhani Aryal, Jaiden Burney and Maahe Kunvar.
Shirley Yuan, second grade teacher and team leader at Flora M. Singer Elementary School in Silver Spring, is the winner of this year’s Shirley J. Lowrie “Thank You for Teaching” Award. Additional information below, courtesy of MCPS:
A 21-year veteran of MCPS, Yuan is described as a master of teaching. She has a calm and unique way of explaining concepts to her students in a way they fully understand. She naturally differentiates instruction to meet the needs of all learners without creating educational disparity. She is constantly coming up with new ways to present the curriculum to ensure all students are learning, and empowers students to find alternate ways to demonstrate their understanding.
Seventeen MCPS students from seven high schools have been awarded National Merit $2,500 scholarships financed by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. The students are among 44 high school seniors in Maryland to be selected in the latest group of National Merit Scholarship Program recipients. The scholars were selected from a pool of more than 15,000 finalists, and will receive a one-time award of $2,500 for post-secondary education.
The National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) was established in 1955 to honor scholastically talented youth and encourage academic excellence at all levels of education. The scholarships are privately funded by NMSC, and are underwritten by more than 400 independent corporate and college sponsors.
The U.S. Soccer Federation has named Oguchi Onyewu as the Vice President of Sporting. Onyewu, 40, brings a wealth of experience as a player and sporting executive with over 25 years in the game. The Olney native attended and played for Sherwood High School. During high school, he enrolled in the U.S. residency program for soccer in Bradenton, Florida before returning to Sherwood to graduate.
Per US Soccer: In this newly created role, the two-time World Cup veteran will work closely with U.S. Soccer’s Sporting Director Matt Crocker in supporting all sporting initiatives within the Federation. Reporting to Crocker, Onyewu will also play a prominent role in managing relationships with clubs and leagues in the United States and across the world, along with strengthening other stakeholder relationships.
On Tuesday, the Montgomery County Board of Education (Karla Silvestre), Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS Superintendent Monifa McKnight), Montgomery County Education Association (MCEA President Jennifer Martin), Service Employees International Union Local 500 (SEIU Local 500 President Pia Morrison), and Montgomery County Association of Administrators and Principals (President Christine Handy) wrote the following joint letter to the Montgomery County Council concerning the funding of the MCPS operating budget:
“Dear Council President Glass and Councilmembers:
Seneca Valley High School athletic director Jesse Irvin has announced Quintin Cosby as the sixth head coach in the storied history of Seneca Valley football. The full announcement can be seen below, courtesy of Seneca Valley Athletics:
“The Seneca Valley High School Athletic Department and Administration is pleased to announce the hiring of our new head football coach, Mr. Quintin Cosby. Coach Cosby is the sixth head coach in the storied history of Seneca Valley Football. Quintin takes over the reins from Mr. Joseph Rankin.
MCPS has been honored with the Best Communities for Music Education designation from The NAMM Foundation for its outstanding commitment to music education. Now in its 24th year, the Best Communities for Music Education designation is awarded to districts that demonstrate outstanding achievement in efforts to provide music access and education to all students.
To qualify for the designation, MCPS staff answered detailed questions about funding, graduation requirements, music class participation, instruction time, facilities, support for the music program and community music-making programs. Responses were verified by school officials and reviewed by the Music Research Institute at the University of Kansas.