By Brian Hughes ‘15 and Betselot Wondimu ‘15

Dr. Starr and Student Member of the Board Dahlia Huh address students’ concerns at a town hall hosted by Sherwood on December 2.

 photo by Jack Armstrong ’15

On Tuesday, Superintendent Joshua Starr visited Sherwood as one of the middle and high schools in a series of town hall meetings. Students who attended the town hall asked a myriad of questions concerning academic programs and MCPS’s distribution of funds. “The more we can engage them in the leadership conversation the better we are as a community and as a system,” said Starr.

Starr emphasized MCPS’s plans regarding technological innovations in schools. He began by commenting on the county purchasing about 44,000 Chromebooks to distribute throughout its schools, since their educational potential was the highest for the most acceptable financial cost. “We currently have the largest Chromebook rollout in the country,” Starr said. Starr added that this push will help solve important interdisciplinary problems. With a dramatic increase in ESOL students in MCPS, for example, Starr stated that the universal nature of technology will allow students “to express their learning” in a more effective manner to their teachers and peers.

Starr and MCPS Board of Education President Phillip Kauffman also discussed various issues with student journalists from MCPS on October 29 during a Student Media Roundtable held at Carver Educational Services Center. Starr firmly noted that MCPS will make a switch from Edline to a grade-sharing website called myMCPS, which teachers and staff currently use to review curriculum and keep gradebooks. The facilitation of student-teacher communication through the placement of all information regarding student grades on one website is the main push-factor for the switch.

MCPS also plans to launch its new Cybercivility initiative in December at all school levels, acting as a resource for students, parents and teachers to consult for advice about cyberbullying and emphasize to students the effect of their “cyber footprint,” as Starr called it. The push in effort toward Cybercivility began in early 2014, when Starr created the Cybercivility Task Force. While using twitter and other social media websites to keep the MCPS community updated on information regarding school events and closings, Starr noticed an inappropriate amount of vulgar and offensive language being used by students toward adults to express their opinions toward policies and closing decisions during the winter. With this, Starr decided it was necessary to form a group to identify resources and develop tools for schools and parents to use that could promote civility between students and adults online. As of now, MCPS plans to incorporate student contests such as PSAs, pledge campaign videos, community forums and the like to increase its efforts to help students deal with cyberbullying, stressing that this will be a largely community-run initiative.

Kauffman touched on the topic of reconstruction and accommodations for growth both now and in the future, discussing mainly the county’s Capital Improvements Plan (CIP). The CIP is the Board’s list of revitalization projects, a list that Kauffman said was “established several years ago.” “The order of priority for high schools is currently Edison and Wheaton, then Seneca Valley, Wootton, Poolesville and eventually Damascus in 2024,” said Kauffman. When the list was revisited years later by consultants, Kauffman explained that there were no major changes at the high school level.