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Two Commissioners Host Education Forums, Seek Community Input
Commissioners will meet with community members about education issues on Monday and Wednesday evenings this week.
Carroll County Commissioners Haven Shoemaker and Doug Howard will be meeting with the Parent Teacher Associations representing the schools in their districts and any other citizens interested in discussing issues facing the Carroll County Public Schools on Monday, Sept. 24.
"At this critical time, on this most important topic, we want as much input from the community about their ideas, desires and concerns about education," Howard said in a statement.
The commissioners are seeking input and information from the community including PTAs, parents and teachers and school personnel on topics to include the budget, the facilities study currently being conducted and the common core curriculum changes.
According to a county news release, the school Superintendent and the Board of Education are aware of these meetings and have graciously provided the commissioners with important information on these matters.
- Commissioner Shoemaker’s meeting will be held on Monday, September 24 from 7 to 9 p.m. at the North Carroll Senior Center located, 2328 Hanover Pike in Hampstead.
- Commissioner Howard’s meeting will be held on Wednesday, September 26 from 7 to 9 p.m. at the South Carroll Senior Center, 5928 Mineral Hill Road in Eldersburg.
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Isabel DeFeo
9:24 am on Tuesday, September 25, 2012
I am glad they're doing this, but they certainly didn't give us much notice. And I've heard from at least one PTA that they weren't aware of these meetings until it was pointed out to them last night at their PTA meeting. Did they contact any PTA directly?
Cindy, Carroll Values Education
2:33 pm on Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Mr. Shoemaker's office contacted the Mechanicsville Elementary's PTA. MES is located is in his district. However, they did not contact West Middle's PTA. This may be because while the school's boundaries are in his district, the school itself is in another district. That's just a guess on my part. But MES was contacted, WMS wasn't.
Ross Dangel
7:07 pm on Wednesday, September 26, 2012
They posted the notice of meetings about schools less than a week before they had them? Shoemaker's meeting was on Monday (a whole weekend's notice!). What is really going on here? I testified at the Sykesville Town House recently that one of the Commissioners started a rumor about Liberty HS closing, which has the entire school community in an uproar, despite it not being true. Roush, Howard & Rothschild all denied saying this, Shoemaker sat silent. Frazier was absent. I indicated that if any schools needed to be closed, it should clearly be one of the 2 in the northern end of the county where both are 50% of capacity and were formally together under one roof. Roush responded that only the school board can close schools and that the Commissioners only "pay the mortgages". Howard added that the Commissioners had instructed the school board to assess the facilities to determine the possibility of closings and/or redistricting, so it wasn't entirely true that they could not influence decisions by the school board. Too bad there wasn't adequate notice of this meeting so that more people could weigh-in about potential school closings and the need to invest more in Carroll education, not less. MVHS blew a $74 million hole in the school construction budget and the operating budget continues to bleed red ink from operating 2 schools at nearly half capacity. We need to close N. Carroll and start investing more in accelerated learning, technology and synthetic fields.
Isabel DeFeo
11:05 am on Thursday, September 27, 2012
I think something is brewing and that's why those meeting were hastily called. It's really a notice for all parents to get involved and see what's really going on. I'm just wondering what could be happening that we are not aware of. I'm glad MES PTA were contacted. I know that WMS's wasn't. Be sure to check out the article in the Times about the meeting last night. Wish I could have made it.