New Staff, IB Program Part of Neelsville Restructuring Plan

By next school year, could replace nearly half its staff, shift to an eight-period day and offer the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme under restructuring plans proposed for the academically struggling school.

Montgomery County Public Schools Superintendent Joshua P. Starr presented the plans for Neelsville during the Board of Education’s meeting March 26.

School officials hope that by changing the learning environment — which means bringing in new teachers, offering more training and changing some of the educational programming — they’ll be able to improve the school’s performance. The middle school faces restructuring because it failed to meet academic benchmarks set by No Child Left Behind. Forest Oak Middle School in Gaithersburg is also facing restructuring.

for the 2011-12 school year was part of the restructuring process for Neelsville. According to MCPS Community Superintendent Darryl Williams, 47 Neelsville staff members would not be back next school year due to restructuring. The middle school currently has roughly 97 staff positions, according to MCPS records for 2011-12.

Restructuring plans also call for switching to an eight-period day “to support professional development” and implementing the IB Middle Years Programme, according to MCPS records.

The IB program has helped raise Watkins Mill High School’s academic reputation since it was introduced there in the 2004-05 school year, . The $2.13 billion operating budget that the school board endorsed in February included about $400,000 to bring the version of the IB program for younger students to Neelsville and Montgomery Village middle schools, according to Montgomery Village Patch.

Neelsville is part of the Watkins Mill Cluster.

The restructuring plan is expected to go before the Maryland Board of Education in May.

When a school misses testing benchmarks — known as adequate yearly progress, or AYP — for four consecutive years, a school district can opt to replace most of the school staff, hire a private company or reopen as a charter school, a spokesman for the Maryland Department of Education told Germantown Patch.

If Neelsville and Forest Oak make AYP for the current school year, the school system would still implement proposals approved by the Maryland State Board of Education, Superintendent Starr wrote in a December 2011 memo.