A group of parents obtained a temporary restraining order on April 28 against the Montgomery County Board of Education. Until the case is decided, the Board will not be permitted to go forward with its planned county-wide lottery for the Chinese Immersion Program at Potomac Elementary.
A court date has been scheduled for May 12. “Appeals have been filed, and we want that process to continue,” said Deborah Curtis, attorney for the six parents.
The Board of Education voted unanimously on Feb. 10 to turn Chinese Immersion into a county-wide program effective this September. It further directed Superintendent Jerry Weast to find a school more centrally located in the county by November of 2005.
Students already in the program will be allowed to continue in it for as long as they wish. Siblings of students in the program get priority in enrollment, as is the case with the county’s other immersion programs.
The changes were brought up during a discussion of the Board’s $1.6 billion operating budget. There was no notice that the program would be the subject of discussion or action at the meeting. “Our main argument is that the board did not follow their own procedures in enacting this resolution,” Curtis said.
The parents who have filed the suit claim that the board is required to advertise the plan to change the program and put it on the agenda as an item for discussion and action.
In an interview just after the resolution was adopted, board vice-president Reginald Felton said that the budget discussions were the appropriate forum for the changes.
“If there’s a funding impact, you have to bring it up during the budget,” Felton said at the time.
His initial proposal called for adding $15,000 to the operating budget to fund a second immersion class specifically for out-of-boundary students.
The parents argue that sets a dangerous precedent which leaves the agenda too open-ended. “Arguably, anything could fall under the budget,” Curtis said. “I think it was sort of an unfair swipe.”
If the order had not been filed, a lottery would have been held on May 3 to determine who would be admitted into next year’s program. However, the lottery will not be held until after the case is resolved.
“We have not set another date, and I don’t know when it will be,” said Mark Kelsch, community superintendent for the area which encompasses Potomac Elementary. Kelch would administer the lottery.
Curtis argues that the Restraining Order was necessary to stop parents from being harmed, either by being denied entry, or by being selected in a lottery which may eventually be invalidated. “We don’t want any of the families to be harmed,” Curtis said. “This is something we’re hoping will be resolved quickly.”