Up with Down-county

The Down-County Consortium was, in the words of Principal Phillip Gainous, "an excellent idea." The planned integration of Blair, Einstein, Wheaton and reopened Northwood high schools into an educational group, each school with its own signature program drawing students from a wide geographic area, was conceived as a solution to the overcrowding problems in those schools. However, from the offset, the consortium has been mired in disarray. It is both poorly funded and poorly planned. MCPS officials must act now to rectify the serious problems facing the consortium.

The county should start by setting aside money to fund the consortium. Implementing plans for the consortium will be a costly undertaking, involving the renovation of Northwood High School, complex bus routing and the design and equipping of the four schools' unique signature programs. Since the county's proposal for a federal desegregation grant that would have given $12 million to the consortium was rejected last spring, there is no identifiable source of consortium funding. Clearly it would be foolish to proceed with the consortium unless funds are earmarked to cover its costs.

But not proceeding with the consortium is not an option after more than a year of planning, so MCPS must find the money. That means not handing out the consortium's funds to other MCPS projects, such as the proposed Jaime Escalante Charter School. That means having the political courage to allocate significant funds to the consortium, even if funds have to be taken away from far less needy schools in the western part of the county. That means making the consortium a priority in the budget.

Given the clout of parents from more affluent high schools, this might not be such an easy task, but it is time for MCPS to summon the courage to support the racially diverse schools that it governs yet sometimes shelves aside. It is not a coincidence that the four high schools in the consortium are also populated with students among the county's poorest and its most diverse; it is unfortunate the nearby Bethesda-Chevy Chase and Walter Johnson high schools wanted nothing to do with the Down-County Consortium. MCPS can now help to rectify its past indiscretions by supporting the consortium wholeheartedly.

Time is of the essence. Blair's overcrowding problem grows with each successive school year, and the school is already 300 students over capacity in only its fourth year in the University Blvd building. With portable classrooms at Blair a near certainty for next fall and over 100 students currently without lockers, the obvious need for crowding relief at Blair makes the need for the consortium more pressing.

Get the funds, get it together and please, for Blair's sake, get it done. Superintendent Jerry Weast made a commitment to relieve overcrowding at Blair by building an effective consortium of local high schools with innovative signature programs. It's time for the county to act on his initiative and allocate the necessary funds for a necessary consortium.