By Zoe Tishaev
It's ok to criticize MCPS for their Coronavirus response.
As a FARMs student, I'm thankful that one of the first things the school system did was identify and implement meal distribution sites. Because of that, thousands of students that would have gone hungry are getting healthy, nutritious meals for every part of their day.
However, Central Office has literally dozens of employees. All of them have different jobs. We have incredibly educated people being paid to focus on academics and equity.
A little background: MCPS has 150,000+ Chromebooks. We have 165,000 students. Approximately 88,000 of them are in secondary education. With our current supply of Chromebooks, we could give every Grade 3 - 12 student a Chromebook and still have some leftover.
WiFi hotspot distribution has been in discussion for literally years. SMOBs have been discussing take-home technology since Eric Guerci. It has been the subject of several Board of Education meetings, with little movement. Last year, during Ananya Tadikonda’s tenure, “MyFi” came into a clearer focus, with still limited communication with the public. Clearly, take-home technology has been in the works for years.
On March 13, the day after Dr. Salmon declared a closure for all Maryland public schools and the last day before we were to leave schools, MCPS administered a survey to every student in the county to assess availability of technology and WiFi at home to do work. MCPS has known exactly which children need what for almost a month.
Today [April 8th], we are halfway into Week 2 of MCPS’ continuity of learning plan -- and we still have not heard of a timeline for WiFi distribution for families that do not have it. These are students literally being left behind as instruction moves forward. I am alarmed and concerned for the status of these students, and am sincerely disappointed that more people are not demanding accountability from MCPS.
We also need to consider that, with the shutdown of libraries, restaurants, and other third places, coupled with mass-layoffs and increased pressures on secondary-school-aged kids to help provide for their family, students are simply not as productive now as they would be under normal circumstances. Sometimes home life does not provide adequate space for classwork. Sometimes familial circumstances can be disruptive to learning.
In my opinion, three things need to happen:
1. We need to give WiFi access to every child, immediately.
2. MCPS should switch to a pass/fail grading system for the second semester. It is not fair to grade kids like normal in abnormal circumstances.
3. (longer term) MCPS should implement a 1:1 technology policy for at least every secondary school student in the years going forward. We now see the importance of internet access in the 21st century of education
[Update: April 19th] MCPS just switched to Pass/Incomplete for Q4. This is a step in the right direction, but it's not enough. We need to keep the pressure on MCPS to make the WHOLE semester Pass/Incomplete. Quarter 3 has already had draining effects on students and could possibly be a grade that does not reflect the abilities of the students.
Please continue to sign and share the petition below. We need your support now more than ever!
Zoe Tishaev is a current senior and the SGA President at Clarksburg High School. She also serves as the Community Relations director on MCR-SGA, connecting all 25 high schools and half a dozen organizations to the county student government association. She is mostly involved in educational and transportation advocacy, most notably helping spearhead the push for free bus ridership for all Montgomery County students 24/7.
**Text is originally from Zoe Tishaev's personal FaceBook profile. The article is posted with author's approval**