The new superintendent for Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) met with families who were enrolled in the school system’s virtual academy, which has been eliminated.
Superintendent Dr. Thomas Taylor held a meeting for more than two hours Tuesday night at Rockville High School to hear from parents, students and teachers.
“We want action,” said virtual academy parent Sterling High ahead of the meeting. High said he is hopeful: “He is a new superintendent. He seems to have a mind to transparency and dialogue and being open to hearing about different ways of doing business.”
Taylor started the meeting with an apology to families. He became superintendent after the decision to close the Montgomery Virtual Academy (MVA) was already made.
“You deserve better. You should’ve been treated better. You should’ve been talked to, consulted and respected in a different way, and I’m sorry that that didn’t happen,” Taylor said.
Families have protested outside the school board’s building in Rockville to fight for the MVA after they learned MCPS planned to close it.
According to MCPS, eliminating the academy was a decision made due to a lack of budget funding this year. The school board approved the operating budget with cutbacks June 11.
NaToya Goldman told Taylor her son Toryn has prospered in the academy.
“At this point, there’s no transition plan in place for him or anything,” Goldman said. Homeschooling is not an option, she said — her son would no longer have an IEP and would lose autism waiver services.
Taylor said the fiscal challenges the school system faces are “very real.” He plans to get more feedback from virtual academy families about their different learning needs.
“Because different needs are going to have some cost implications and it will help me in some of the next steps of what needs to happen,” Taylor said.
He said “we are in this together.” He said he needs to do due diligence before making any kind of recommendation.
Taylor thinks a statewide program for virtual learning is a great idea for the long-term.
