MPS superintendent calls out need for 'tough conversations' in first of 6 town halls
Editor’s note: This story has been edited with a new location for the Sept. 8 town hall, which is to be held at 6 p.m. at MPACT, 2901 E. South Blvd., Montgomery.
When community members attended the first of new superintendent Dr. Melvin Brown's town hall meetings, there were two recurring themes: How is he going to address inequities within the district, and what is he actually going to do as superintendent.
Brown, who started his contract with the school district this summer, took questions from the community Tuesday night at Jefferson Davis High School at the first of six town halls he's planned for the next few months.
"Our kids aren’t mediocre, and they aren’t ordinary,” Brown said to the crowd. “So, why should we be as a school district?”
Community members asked about the barriers that many Montgomery Public School students face when trying to excel, including bureaucracy to enter Advanced Placement courses and the divide between magnet and traditional schools. While few specifics about that divide came up in the conversation, there were allusions to the increased rigor and achievement by the magnet schools.
Throughout the event, people were looking for specific detailed plans of steps that Brown will take, rather than just the overview presented in his 100-day plan.
Previous coverage:New superintendent to begin his town halls
Read this:Take a look at the new MPS superintendent's 100-day plan
Many of those who asked questions identified themselves as teachers or parents. Community leaders, including Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed, also attended.
One man said he struggled to get his child enrolled in a Montgomery high school A.P. course after struggling to get through the registration process.
Brown, who discussed the idea of equity at length during his interviewing process, said he wants to address the internal barriers that many students face when trying to achieve success.
The divide between magnet and traditional schools was another topic that came up at the Town Hall. Brown took the opportunity to dispel a rumor that he is trying to get rid of the magnet schools.
He said he is just working to highlight the accomplishments of the other schools, as well. He asked the crowd, for example, if they knew whether G.W. Carver High School has a culinary arts program, saying that he had not realized because “we don’t even talk about it.” The Carver culinary program made the reception food during the superintendent interviews.
He also wants to support mentoring and career and technical programs.
As for magnet schools, Brown acknowledged that they're steeped in 40 years of history but said he is going to address concerns.
The first Montgomery magnet schools were created in the 1980s as a way to address segregation by featuring education programs that encouraged white families to remain in the district. The first two magnets were Lanier Academic Magnet Program, which would become LAMP, and Carver Creative and Performing Arts Center, which would become Booker T. Washington Magnet High School.
"Can I make that go away in six weeks?” Brown said. “Absolutely not. That's going to take the community talking, having tough conversations, us making tough decisions, perhaps not making everybody happy in some regard.”
Other community members brought up themes of discipline and parental involvement in the community, with one woman saying that not many parents seemed to be in the audience that night. Brown told the crowd that they no longer need to rely on in-person parent-teacher conferences after the advances in flexibility through the pandemic and that they plan to be more flexible in keeping their parents involved.
As for discipline, Brown said it is not just a school issue but a community and family issue, as well.
As the event concluded, Brown said he was hoping to see things done differently — just like many in the crowd hoped — but he stressed that it will take time.
"I appreciate your passion and know that you want to see things differently and you want to see things grow and expand and change and improve,” he said. “And I completely understand and agree with that. And I'm on board for that. But I do understand also, that when you deal with systemic things that have taken place, they don't just disappear in the blink of an eye. It takes time.”
The next town hall will be at MPACT at 6 p.m. on Sept. 8.
This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: MPS superintendent talks inequities, plan for district in town halls
