Maryland’s State Superintendent of Schools took her listening tour to Prince George’s County Monday.
She’s making her way to all 24 Maryland school districts to hear from parents and get ideas about how to improve schools.
Dozens of parents showed up at Charles Flowers High School in Springdale, asking questions about teacher shortages, budgets, partnering with parents, teacher retention and more.
Maryland State Superintendent Carey Wright also got questions about Maryland’s new Blueprint for Education and how that funding will trickle down to school districts.
Wright said she thinks the Blueprint will be a game changer especially when it comes to preschool.
“When you think about the expansion of pre-K, you think about the mixed delivery system, you think about the expansion of full-day-K,” she said. “It’s cheaper to educate little ones than to remediate bigger ones.”
Wright also said she wants Maryland students to have a legitimate choice to go to college or not, and wants to do more to hold school districts accountable for educational outcomes.
On the topic of teacher shortages, Wright advocated for an internal and external strategy, adding that she wants to strengthen “grow your own teacher” strategies like the expansion of teacher academies, and find paths for classroom helpers to become certified teachers.
She also noted that Maryland needs to boost incentives to attract teachers such as better relocation packages.
“Parents … want the best for their children and they really want to hear the new state superintendent, what I’ve got to say and I want to hear what they’ve got to say,” she said. “A lot of ideas come both ways, and so as we’re working on the things that we’re working on at the state department (of education), it’s great to have parent input on that.”
Wright said she’s looking forward to hearing more ideas across the state.
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