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PGTitans and Urbanscholar's suggestion are great. But there's one tiny problem. Money. I just read an article about the decline in home values in the state of Maryland, Not just PG. and the three year tax assessments. With declining home values, revenue from property taxes decrease. The numbers were pretty staggering. Montgomery county is already looking at raising property taxes just to stay on par with 2009-2010. When counties rely 75% on taxes paid by homeowners, and that drops, you run into some serious issues. And PG is already behind without much income from commerce.
Your ideas sound great, but I would expect even further cuts in the near future. Heck, they already cut leaf collection.
Some problems with your recommendations, which are generally good.
Curriculum is imposed and approved by MSDE, the curricula is generally the same across the state. It's called the Voluntary State Curriculum, which it isn't.
So why is school performance lagging behind surrounding jurisdictions? You have places in Charles County that have similar demographics than some parts of PG, but they perform consistently better. What's different?
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Originally Posted by North Beach Person
The PTA system in Prince George's collapsed several years ago due to mismanagement by the Council of PTAs. Do you mean funding with taxes?
Parent Liasions were a good idea and should be in selected schools with a high ESOL population or other issues. They also should be a slot for which the person is qualified. Many were not and were there due to connections. Also, in many schools, the PL became another administrator who was delegated administrative duties.
I don't necessary mean funding with taxes, although that can help. Some schools have given up. The school that I mentor at, we were told by administrators that the PTA didn't work because parents didn't participate, but they are trying to make it active again. To me, if that is the case, then maybe there needs to be some creative ways of getting parental involvement. I know my elementary school back in the day used to give away door prizes. That is just one idea.
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Originally Posted by North Beach Person
No argument but the dollar amount is crushing for maintenance backlogs.
That is understandable, but there are some little things that can be done. Some of the schools just need their grass cut, or potholes in the parking lot fixed. Perhaps having the community to come out to beautify the buildings by planting flowers, picking up trash and other small things can go a long way until more money is available.
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Originally Posted by North Beach Person
Most 6th graders are still in Elementary. The new program is to have kids together K-8 (which I believe to be wrong, also).
According to this article, they are proposing more middle schools to do this:
The shared busing proposal would not include the four middle schools that will enroll sixth-grade students for the first time this fall: Dwight D. Eisenhower in Laurel, Ernest Everett Just in Mitchellville, Kenmoor in Landover and Walker Mill in Capitol Heights.
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Originally Posted by North Beach Person
Removal of problem kids is controlled by IDEA, a Federal law. PG has had issues with the Feds over shortcuts to removal.
But even just to transfer kids out to another classroom, or to a special needs schools within the school system? My wife had an issue with a kid in her classroom and it took them almost 7 months to remove the kid. It was a nightmare for her. I've heard of other teachers having similar experiences. Something is wrong with that.
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Originally Posted by North Beach Person
School boundaries are a real issue near the DC line. The plan within 5 years is to have no boundaries and students choose their Middle and High Schools due to the programs offered.
They kind of do that now. I used to go to Eugene Burroughs Middle (which is now part of Accokeek Academy) and we used to have classmates from Capitol Heights, Suitland and Forestville. They were coming to our school as a part of the magnet program we had there. But if they do expand it and allow kids to go anywhere, then when they go to high school, aren't most of the kids going to apply to Roosevelt High?
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Originally Posted by North Beach Person
Great idea. But Kappas and Pink and Green are in charge. The Greek system from college is alive and well at Sasscer.
Yup and don't forget about the Ques. The laziness in that building is astounding. It's like pulling teeth to get anything done and the people can be rude when you talk to them on the phone. That should not be tolerated.
PGTitans and Urbanscholar's suggestion are great. But there's one tiny problem. Money. I just read an article about the decline in home values in the state of Maryland, Not just PG. and the three year tax assessments. With declining home values, revenue from property taxes decrease. The numbers were pretty staggering. Montgomery county is already looking at raising property taxes just to stay on par with 2009-2010. When counties rely 75% on taxes paid by homeowners, and that drops, you run into some serious issues. And PG is already behind without much income from commerce.
Your ideas sound great, but I would expect even further cuts in the near future. Heck, they already cut leaf collection.
I agree and there is no telling when property assessments will go up. I think the best thing we can do as a county is prioritize and to make sure we do the best with the resources we already have available. I don't think doing more cleaning up of trash will cost a lot more but it just needs to be more awareness. Perhaps they need to start a campaign similar to the adopt-a-highway program to get more people involved in cleaning up.
You know what I honestly think about schools? I think the public school is going to have to either reinvent itself without the bureaucracy, or fade out. I think I read or heard someone mention that D.C. region has the highest number of private schools. With private schools you're free from unions, free from political bureaucracies, you can have a selective admission, etc. PG is so cheap to live in anyway, most people that have the extra cash puts their kids in private school. I know my neighbors do. I know my wife and I will. There are just too many alternatives to public school for most people to put much effort in fixing the public system.
I agree and there is no telling when property assessments will go up. I think the best thing we can do as a county is prioritize and to make sure we do the best with the resources we already have available. I don't think doing more cleaning up of trash will cost a lot more but it just needs to be more awareness. Perhaps they need to start a campaign similar to the adopt-a-highway program to get more people involved in cleaning up.
Incorporated cities like Hyattsville still have leaf collection. Unfortunately, Adelphi is unincorporated. So, we have to go through the county for lots of things. We're having a neighborhood cleanup day soon. We go out and clean up the Northwest Branch trail along the stream. I guess more neighborhoods will have to take up the slack.
That's an interesting point and perhaps a valid one. I think it also deals with the population which could more or less be the reason why those municipalities are established in the first place. The population up north is a bit more diverse. That isn't to say that black people are incapable of having nice things, but let's be honest, politically there is too much of the same thing which is detrimental to any jurisdiction. If we had people with diverse ideas, then perhaps we would see a difference in our communities in the southern/central parts. If we all think the same and pat each other on the back then there wouldn't be much that changes.
I also would say that have municipalities drive up the cost of living in those particular areas because of the extra cost for those services so it could weed out some people who can't afford that extra $100-$200/month to pay for those city services. What do you think?
I agree whole-heartedly. It would also relieve some of the burden from the county for certain services or serve as a revenue stream for the county when it comes to shared services. Similar to when a business with several departments have each department contribute a fee for common services provided by the business. In addition to the additional fees I also find that those municipalities are able to enforce issues of signage, property maintenance, and littering more effectively since they have a smaller area to police.
Incorporated cities like Hyattsville still have leaf collection. Unfortunately, Adelphi is unincorporated. So, we have to go through the county for lots of things. We're having a neighborhood cleanup day soon. We go out and clean up the Northwest Branch trail along the stream. I guess more neighborhoods will have to take up the slack.
That is a great idea when communities are on board. Unfortunately in unincorporated areas a lot of that is voluntary so you find inconsistencies from neighborhood to neighborhood.
So... a lot of people on these threads have complaints about Prince George's County. A LOT. It's gotten to the point where I don't even live there but I feel like I have expertise in how dysfunctional it is. Just from reading this informative message board.
So, the purpose of this thread is to propose concrete solutions. Not "we need better leadership" or "the schools need fixed," but concrete, actual steps that should be taken to fix the area and make it competitive with Fairfax and my beloved MoCo where I can no longer afford to live (sob).
Here's my example to start off: PG needs to impose really strict severe littering fines and have police actively enforce them. Whenever I go to PG I notice a really pronounced amount of garbage all over the place and it's noticeably worse than other places and it is depressing.
I think the schools need to be segregated by class at the middle school level in above. I think a big part of the problem is this notion that in order to be authentically black one must be in tune with the ghetto and askew education. The fact that the middle school and high school zones pull in kids from poor backgrounds to mix with wealtheir kids does not help matters.
You know what I honestly think about schools? I think the public school is going to have to either reinvent itself without the bureaucracy, or fade out. I think I read or heard someone mention that D.C. region has the highest number of private schools. With private schools you're free from unions, free from political bureaucracies, you can have a selective admission, etc. PG is so cheap to live in anyway, most people that have the extra cash puts their kids in private school. I know my neighbors do. I know my wife and I will. There are just too many alternatives to public school for most people to put much effort in fixing the public system.
Well it's not cheap for everyone. You would be surprised at how much people struggle to live here. Look at the Free And Reduced Meal rate at some of the schools near you. Those people are more than often barely getting by. But to push your idea of promoting private schools, the state should have a voucher program, but that is likely to never happen.
You know what I honestly think about schools? I think the public school is going to have to either reinvent itself without the bureaucracy, or fade out. I think I read or heard someone mention \that D.C. region has the highest number of private schools. With private schools you're free from unions, free from political bureaucracies, you can have a selective admission, etc. PG is so cheap to live in anyway, most people that have the extra cash puts their kids in private school. I know my neighbors do. I know my wife and I will. There are just too many alternatives to public school for most people to put much effort in fixing the public system.
Ughh. I respectfully disagree on public schools "fading out." That just makes me so sad. Effective public schools are so vital to an advanced country. Other countries have effective public schooling, but we can't do it because of "bureaucracy." Where's our American ingenuity? Just on principle, for some kids whose parents don't give a darn about them, public school is a last refuge (I know there is a consensus that this type of child is most often a terrible disruption, but sometimes, he or she is not). Heck, when I was a child and my family was having problems, public school was a refuge for me. Where exactly will those kids end up in a privatized system? Sometimes I feel like there's this weird national malaise where nobody thinks we can fix or build anything anymore. It's un-American!
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Unfortunately, Adelphi is unincorporated. So, we have to go through the county for lots of things. We're having a neighborhood cleanup day soon. We go out and clean up the Northwest Branch trail along the stream. I guess more neighborhoods will have to take up the slack.
