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School board waits on naming sex-ed panel

Groups’ nominations called into question

Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2005

The county school board has delayed until Oct. 24 naming the 15-member committee that will advise it on materials used in the sex education unit of county health classes.

Tuesday’s vote was unanimous.

The three organizations guaranteed a seat on the committee, Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum, Parents and Friends of Ex-gays and Gays and the county association of student councils, did not submit ‘‘qualified nominations,” board President Patricia B. O’Neill (Dist. 3) of Bethesda said in a prepared statement.

Earlier this year, the CRC and PFOX joined in a federal lawsuit against the board over the revised sex education curriculum that included a discussion of sexual orientation and a video demonstrating condom use.

In May, the board voted to disband a 27-member advisory committee that recommended that curriculum after a federal judge’s ruling blocked those lessons.

As part of a settlement with CRC and PFOX, the board guaranteed the groups a seat each on the new advisory committee.

Michelle Turner, president of CRC, said her group had nominated Henrietta Brown and PFOX had nominated Peter Sprigg of Germantown.

Brown served a term on the previous advisory panel beginning in July 2002. Naming her would go against a resolution the board passed in May that said nominees to the new committee must not have served on the disbanded committee.

Neither group submitted alternate nominees as the board had requested.

‘‘I think we want to make this thing work right,” said board member Stephen N. Abrams (Dist. 2) of Rockville. ‘‘We want to make sure the focus of this advisory board is to get insight onto an appropriate curriculum to be implemented in the second semester of this school year.”

Superintendent Jerry D. Weast said that while he has urged school administrators to try to have revised lessons ready by the second semester, he has been told they will not be able to meet that deadline.

Reached by phone after the board’s decision, Turner responded to Abrams’ comments, saying the settlement agreement did not include any mention that a nominee could not have served on the disbanded committee.

‘‘He, having a law background, ought to know that if you sign an agreement, you are bound by that agreement,” she said. ‘‘And writing a resolution or policy subsequent to the agreement cannot have bearing.”

Turner said her group has no intention of changing its nomination, adding that the group was in contact with the Orlando, Fla.-based Liberty Counsel, which provided CRC and PFOX with legal help when it sued the school board.

‘‘If an organization changes an agreement, it could certainly lead to further litigation,” Turner said. ‘‘But I’m not a lawyer, so I can only speculate. ... We acted in good faith with the Board of Education and ask them to reciprocate.”

Middle school reform

A committee of administrators, union leaders, staff, parents and a student will spend the next year mapping a path for reforming county middle schools under a plan outlined at Tuesday’s meeting.

The Middle School Reform Steering Committee is the next step in the reform process that began with the release in March of a report on a $127,000 audit of all county middle schools.

Seven project teams, each focused on an area of reform identified by the committee, will make recommendations in May. The focus areas are:

*Leadership and professional development

*Curriculum, instruction and assessment

*Extended learning opportunities

*Technology

*Organizational structures

*Human resources

*Parent and community engagement and communication

The teams will consider data on county middle schools as well as looking at scientific practices and models that are working in other school systems as well as in county schools, said Jody Leleck, associate superintendent for curriculum.

Early childhood reforms made under Weast, such as smaller class size and all-day kindergarten, are showing success in raising test scores in elementary schools and the number of secondary students taking upper-level academic courses is on the rise.

But middle schools lag behind. School officials say they hope the reform effort will change that.

Eleven county middle schools — one shy of one-third — failed to meet state-set progress goals on the 2005 Maryland School Assessments, which are given in reading and math to third- through eighth-graders and are the state’s way of measuring school performance as required by the federal No Child Left Behind Act. All students must show proficiency on state reading and math tests by 2014.

Weast is expected to present the reform plan to the board next fall.