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Special-Ed Plan Affirmed
The Maryland State Board of Education has affirmed a decision by Montgomery County school board members to phase out eight secondary learning centers for special education students, ruling against 12 families who appealed the action this year.
In an opinion dated Aug. 29, state school board members faulted their Montgomery counterparts for enacting a "significant change in policy" without public notice or input in moving to close the special education centers.
School Superintendent Jerry D. Weast announced the phase-out plan during last year's December holiday break and board members voted on it in February as part of the school system budget.
But the state panel declined to reverse the decision, saying it could not do so unless the appellants could show they had been prejudiced by the policy violation.
Despite the lack of public notice, Weast's announcement prompted several rounds of protest and public comment. The superintendent ultimately altered the plan so that no student currently studying in the centers would be displaced.
A large number of parents maintain the centers should remain open.
The learning centers, which serve a few hundred students in largely self-contained classes at five middle schools and three high schools, will be closed over six years, part of a countywide shift toward educating special needs students in regular classrooms.
9/11 Memorial Concert
The Navy's Commodores jazz ensemble will be the featured act at a free concert Montgomery County is hosting Tuesday to mark the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The concert, which will pay tribute to the 11 county residents who died in the attacks, will be from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Cabin John Regional Park Amphitheater, 7400 Tuckerman Lane, Potomac.
In the event of inclement weather, the concert will be moved to the Randolph Theatre, 4010 Randolph Rd., Wheaton. For more information, call 240-777-6820.
Black Leadership Forums
Leaders in Montgomery County's African American community will host forums at four locations in the next two months to get feedback on county issues.
Comments gathered at the meetings will be developed into reports that will be presented to County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) and county department heads at the African American/Black Leadership Summit on Dec. 11.
