At the January Meeting

We had an exciting January meeting of the

NAACP Parents’ Council. Byron Johns and Angela Jones, the Chairs of our organiza-

tion opened our meeting with a welcome to

the New Year and an overview of the day. We shared a wonderful breakfast and

started our program with an open panel

showcase. Attendees mingled and gathered pertinent information for their perspective

schools. Our Panel Showcase participants included;

George B. Thomas Saturday School, LIFT

- Pre-College program at Univ. of Mary-land, ACTSO, NAACP, Kap-

pa Alpha Psi, Parent Coun-cil displays from Blake HS,

Ridgeview and Earl B.

Wood MS, Sligo MS, Gap-Busters, Office of Commu-

nity Engagement and Part-nerships, and College Sav-

ings Plan of Maryland. We

thank our guests for shar-ing.We had two guest speakers attending

our meeting to share information. Our first speaker, Anne Taylor with Dept. of En-

riched and Innovative Programs dis-

cussed MCPS plans to improve Social/Emotional Learning and Academics for all

students. She requested feedback from the Parents’ Council to develop a customized

learning plan per student that would adapt

to the needs of that student and provide

benchmarks for measuring their

success. This cus-

tomized learning plan will be intro-

duced to Alterna-tives Schools with-

in MCPS. Feedback

collected at the meeting was shared with Dr. Starr in Feb-

ruary 2014.

Michael Jones with the College Savings Plan provided financial options to send our

youth to College. Options included a College Savings Plan or College Investment plan.

Please refer to CollegeSavingsMD.org or call

888.4MG.GRAD (463.4723). Byron presented data on the discipline poli-

cy for the State of Maryland emphasizing Montgomery County continues to have the

highest number of students of color sus-

pended for the State. Montgomery County Public School African American students

are 5.5 times the risk of suspension that white students. We must continue to ad-

dress this issue as an organization by mak-

ing sure our political voices are heard. School level Break-Out Sessions were

held to discuss upcoming events for Febru-ary, Black History Month. Parents’ Council

Representative Andre Johnson from Ger-

mantown ES shared a Banner that will be used for his school to celebrate Black Histo-

ry. Go to trendenterprises.com for addition-

al information.

February/March 2014

James Hubert Blake High School Silver Spring, MD

Blake High School Parents’ Council Meeting February 4, 2014

We received a lot of good information from Assistant Principal Mr. Tyrell and Resource Coun-selor Mr. Tolbert on course selection and planning for the 2014-15 school year. NAACP

Teacher Liaison Ms. Gandy presented great information on the ACT-SO Competition.

The Black Student Union President gave an update – Ms. Givens is the sponsor for their (Thursday) weekly lunch time meetings. And the (student) winner of our Black History Month trivia contest received a small souvenir from

the MLK Memorial!

Crystal Lee discussed the upcoming Black History Month Essay contest -

The Blake NAACP Parents’ Council is sponsoring an essay contest for Black History Month. The contest runs until Fri-

day, February 21st. The topic is “What is your family’s civil rights story?” We encourage all students to speak with their parents and grandparents about how their family contributed to the Civil Rights movement in United States History. Gift

cards will be given to winners of the contest.

Sheila Holmes sheilaholmes@alumni.princeton.edu

Crystal Lee cryslee@comcast.net

Little Bennett Elementary School

Clarksburg, MD Connie Blake Visits Little Bennett

Each year beginning on February 1, begins a lot of activities. The theme for Black History Month in 2014 is "Civil Rights in America" chronicling the important milestones by African-Americans and others in the battle for civil rights and equal treatment under the law. Students participated in the following activities: Friday, 2/7 - 9-10AM – BHM Parent Coffee and Discussion in the Media Center. Coffee and pastries! Monday 2/10 – 6:45PM - PTA Meeting – Come taste some soul food and student readings. Monday 2/10 at 9AM and 2PM and Thursday, 2/13 at 9AM: The Folk Music of African Ameri-cans – With Devonna B. Rowe~ The lives and music of the African People are highlighted in this presentation.

Student challenge –related to Black History. One winner per grade will be drawn at random from all entries submitted. All entries will displayed in the hallways throughout the month of February. Weekly readings on the morning announcements. Readings will feature prominent African Ameri-cans in history. Display board outside of main office and display case– put together by 4th and 5th grade student volunteers during their recess time.

Submitted by Little Bennett Parents’ Council representative, Terhas Berhane Rwakaara Little Bennett Elementary School

Rosemont Elementary School

Gaithersburg, MD Rosemont Elementary School was geared for Black History Month by way of trivia questions asked each day on the morning announcements. Students from K-5 were eager to give their answers to Principle Jimmy Sweeney throughout the day. When there were doubts to questions, some children even did their own research in the school's library. Rosemont added a special Black History touch by treating each student with a sticker, pencil, bookmark, or an activity booklet to commemorate famous African Americans.

Submitted by Merita Pinckney NAACP Parents’ Council representative to Rosemont ES

North Chevy Chase Elementary School

Chevy Chase, MD

African American Read In

Students shared classic African American and original poetry on this

night, Monday, Feb. 24, 2014, that highlighted Black History Month through reading. This

event is encouraged by the National Council of Teachers of English. The NAACP Parents’

Council representative, Elduise Johson Traore, supported this

event by helping school staff to advertise and reach out to parents.

Elduise Johson Traore

NAACP Parents’ Council rep to North Chevy Chase ES

Sherwood Elementary School Olney, Maryland The NAACP Parents’ Council of Sherwood, Greenwood and Brooke Grove Elementary Schools presented its’ annual African-American Read-In. The event was hosted at Sherwood Elementary in the Media Center on Thursday, February 27th where we were honored with 10 amazing student readers from grades K-6th. The Principal from Sherwood, Mrs. Dina Brewer, and Assistant Principal, Mr. Michael Burd, as well as the Principal of Brooke Grove, Mrs. Gail West, were all in attendance, which provided the much needed school level support on which our kid’s thrive. In addition to the poetry that the children selected to read, we had several Black History themed activities. Certificates of Participation were prepared for each reader by MCPS Speech Pathologist, Mrs. Doris Wray. To honor Black History month throughout the entire month of February, we developed a 28-day African-American interesting facts take-a-way! These facts were read during the morning announcements each day and the Principals at Sherwood and Brooke Grove ES selected students to read the interesting facts to the entire student body during the morning an-nouncements. A special thanks to the staff at Sherwood, Brooke Grove, and Greenwood elementary schools in supporting the NAACP’s efforts to share and promote African-American contributions and

helping our minority students take pride in their heritage and their future!

Submitted by Kristen Slater, NAACP PC Rep Sherwood Elementary School

Sligo Middle School

Silver Spring, MD Sligo Celebrates Black History Month

Sligo Middle School celebrated Black History Month with a poster contest and Black History Program. The program was held on Wednesday; February 19, 2014 from 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM. Tamara Parris hosted the Black History Celebration. As she deftly moved from the Welcome to the Poster Contest to “Are Your

Smarter Than A Middle Schooler?” her talents for hosting a meeting were evident. Two parents, Althea Jones and Carmen Romero, assisted Ms. Par-ris. Crystal Jones, an eight-grade student took photos during the meeting.

The poster winners received gift cards to Sweet Frog, a frozen yogurt eatery at 19233 Georgia Avenue. By all accounts this was a well-run, entertaining and informative meeting. This meet-ing is a testament to the great parents and parent leadership at Sligo Middle School. A huge thanks to Tamara Parris, Althea Jones, Carmen Romero and Crystal Jones for leading the

Black History Celebration.

Submitted by Pat Price, NAACP Parents’ Council Rep

Sligo Middle School

Great Seneca Creek elementary school celebrated its 4th annual Black History

month assembly, February 27th, 2014. The celebration consisted of two morning assemblies, K-1 and 3-5. It was a great way to end an exciting month of honoring our leaders. The assembly began with a 5th grade student singing the Black Na-

tional Anthem, Lift Every Voice and Sing. Throughout the assembly, students danced to African songs and read poems. We had a special performance by our 5th grade chorus, which sang three uplifting songs about Freedom and friendship. For the upper grades,

we had a segment titled, “Who’s Who,” where our students dressed up and acted as African American figures and the audience had to guess who they were based on historical facts that were read. We closed our event with a video presentation from various students explaining, “What black history month means to me?” The highlight of the morning came from a 4th grade student who wrote and performed a Black

History rap song, titled,” Freedom and equality.” Throughout the entire month, students read daily facts over the loud speaker highlighting prominent Afri-

can American figures accomplishments in our history. Some of the figures included: Cathy Hughes, Louis Armstrong, Ben Carson, the rapper Common, etc. There were posters created by our “Girls Allowed” book club that were scattered throughout our hallways. Our bullfrogs definitely walked away with a

deeper understanding of the African American culture. Submitted by Shannon Moxley Jones, NAACP Parents’ Council Rep

Great Seneca Creek Elementary

Great Seneca Creek Elementary School Germantown, MD

New Date for Our February Meeting!

“ Males in the Mix:

Male Focused Programs that Work!”

has been rescheduled for

Saturday, April 26, 2014 at 8:45-11:30 pm.

See you there!

The NAACP Parents' Council received the Lincoln Park Historical Foundation Heritage Achievement Award on Friday February 28,2014. The award was presented at the 37th Anniversary of the Lincoln Park Historical Foundation and the 9th Anniversary of the Leroy E. Neal African American Research Center . This event was held at Mount Calvary Baptist Church. The award reads the following...For your extraordinary community and dedicated service to share in the African American history and culture as a public servant and as part of the American story. The Award was presented by Anita Powell, President of the Montgomery County NAACP Chapter and was presented to Angela Jones , Vice-Chair on behalf of the NAACP Parents' Council. This award highlights the achievements of the Parents' Council and our primary goal of em-powering our parents, guardians, grandparents and all care givers to be advocates for all mi-nority youth. Submitted by Angela Jones, Parents’ Council, Co-Chair

Montgomery County Branch NAACP

39th Annual Freedom Fund Dinner

Sunday April 27, 2014

"Celebrating Excellence in Our Community: Why We

Can't Wait"

Bethesda North Marriott Conference Center

5701 Marinelli Road, Bethesda, MD 20852

Reception: 5:00 PM - Dinner 6:00 PM

Adult: $100 / Youth (18 and under) $50

Email info.mcmnaacp@gmail.com or call 301-213-9657

Staff from several Historically Black Colleges and

Universities (HBCU) recently participated in the

Annual HBCU Fair held at Richard Montgomery

HS on Feb. 19th . MCPS Seniors applied for on-the

-spot admissions and scholarships. This year 198

MCPS students received acceptances and a num-

ber of students received scholarships.

Special thanks to MCPS parent, Sabrina McMil-

lian, (pictured left) for her continuing commit-

ment to getting our kids into college.

The HBCU Fair was a huge success!

Saturday,

April 26, 2014

8:45-11:30

(special time)

“Males in the Mix-

Male-Focused

Programs that

Work!”

Hear from MCPS and communi-

ty organizations that are hav-

Saturday,

May 17, 2014

8:45-11:00

“Best and Brightest”

Our Annual meeting honoring MCPS

staff that have had a positive im-

pact on our kids. Watch for infor-

mation coming soon about how to

submit names for this Annual

award. PC rep, Odette Brown, is in

charge of that wonderful tribute

meeting.

Our Upcoming Meetings

Are you a Parents’ Council representative

and want to share news about your Par-

ents’ Council events? Send a brief article

about your event to Sharon at alljazz105@aol.com.

Elementary Schools Beverly Farms Carla Rush Ritchie Park Ayanna Reeves Ronald McNair Kelly Wyatt-Kipoliongo Cashell Cassandra Carter Cloverly Jennifer Boston Fields Road Tierra Jones Garrett Park Denise Muschett Wray Germantown Kevin Johnson Great Sen. Creek Shannon Jones Ken. Parkwood Stacee Crittenden Rosemary Hills PS Carla Cartwright Sligo Creek Ronnie McGaskey Stonegate Preeti Bone Twinbrook Tammie Archer Whetstone Marie Celestin

Middle Schools Cabin John Tamara Bishop

Herbert Hoover Carla Rush

Kingsview Dorinda Thomas Rocky Hill Joseph Nelson

Sligo Pat Price Takoma Park Aysha Burgess

Julius West Deidra Stubbs Earl B. Wood Donald DeVille

Westland Kim Alfonso

Executive Team Pat Price, Denize Stanton Wiliams, Wanda Brown, Angela Jones, Soffie Ceesay, Sharon Mosley

-Ramsey , Byron Johns

Please make sure to sign in at all of our

meetings!

High Schools James H. Blake Sheila Holmes Walter Johnson Erica Boone

R. Montgomery Deidre Stubbs Springbrook Evette Moore

J. F. Kennedy Lorry Saunders

Schools Represented at our March Meeting

At Our March Meeting…. The Board of Education Visits

An ice breaker began our much anticipated meet-ing with the Board of Educa-tion members on March 15, 2014. Board Members in at-tendance included Patricia O’Neill, Shirley Brandman, Rebecca Smondrowski, Phil Kaufman , Mike Durso, and Dr. Judy Docca. Each member began by sharing with us which areas of the county they represent. Several mem-bers are At-Large which

means that they represent the entire county. There are 4 seats up for election - Brandman is not running and her seat has 4 candidates which will have a Primary election in June; Docca, Durso, and O’Neill each have 1 opponent and will be on the ballot in November. This is an important year for us to become knowledgeable about each Board member and their vision for the county schools. The NAACP branch and Parents’ Council plan to have political and educational forums as we head closer to the elections.

The Board of Education is involved in school deci-

sions that deal with budget and finance. The

Board also adopts policies and evaluates the Su-

perintendent. The Board members reminded us

that while MCPS’ budget is approximately 50% of

the County’s budget, actually 10% are State & Fed

funds provided to the county for education and 40

% are tax dollars from Montgomery County. We

are getting more state dollars in recent years and

less from the county. The BOE approved Superin-

tendent Starr’s recommended 2015 budget which

requests an increase of $56 million over this year,

and expands initiatives targeted to narrowing the

achievement gap. Byron asked members to sup

port the proposed budget by contacting the

County Executive and County Council members.

For a quick summary on the budget go to

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/

departments/budget/fy2015/budgetbrief

Our Chair, Byron Johns, posed questions to the

BOE on topics related to Discipline Reform, the

Renewal of the Superintendent’s contract, Univer-

sal Pre-Kindergarten, Alternative Schools reform

plans, MCPS Budget, and reform of MCPS policies

requiring automatic referrals to the Juvenile Jus-

tice System vs other services given Maryland’s

movement towards de-

criminalization of mari-

juana. BOE Members

stated that several pri-

orities for upcoming

years include technolo-

gy, restoring support

positions in some

schools including Coun-

selors, PPW’s, Staff De-

velopment Teachers, Reading Specialists, and dol-

lars for ESOL and family engagement. Several

Board Members stated that MCPS needs to contin-

ue efforts to look more into grants and other pro-

gram resources through philanthropic partner-

ships. Please visit the MCPS Board of Education

webpage for more information about each of the

members, and the upcoming Budget proposal.

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/boe/

members/

Competition Day

Saturday, April 5th

Montgomery College, Rockville Campus , 51 Mannakee Street, Theatre Arts Arena

TIME: 9:00 AM to 2:30 PM

Awards Ceremony

Sunday, April 6th

Universities of Shady Grove, 9630 Gudelsky Drive, Rockville, MD

Building 1, Auditorium Room, 1-134

TIME: 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM

Students should dress to impress!

ALL ARE WELCOME AT AWARDS CEREMONY, VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR COM-

PETITION DAY & AWARDS Ceremony!

CONTACT PAT PRICE at ACTSOMC@GMAIL.COM Or CALL 301-587-1722

The ACT-SO Workshop The ACT-SO workshop offered immediately after the Parents' Council Meeting on March 15th, also filled the Auditorium of CESC. Pat Price, ACT-SO Chair, shared important updates with students and their families regarding this year's contest. New this year, the competition will take place over two days. Competition Day will be held at Montgomery College-Rockville on Saturday, April 5th at 9-2:30 pm and Awards Day will be held at the Universi-ties of Shady Grove at 3 pm. Students are reminded to check the ACT-SO website for catego-ry criteria. Students should stay in touch with the school liaisons and make sure that all pa-perwork was filed including the Media Release form. Students should "dress to impress" on the day of the competition and prepare for a thrilling time.