Parents applaud new school system academy

Montgomery College Foundation wants to raise $25 million for construction, new programs

‘‘We don’t get what people get here back in Africa,” said Edmund Dowouno, who hails from Ghana and whose children attend Benjamin Banneker Middle School and Paint Branch High School, both in Burtonsville. ‘‘We need to be with our children. If you’re not able to solve a problem with your children, they’ll just laugh at you.”

Roughly 250 parents have attended the workshops, according to the school system. More than 30 workshops on different topics will be offered free throughout the fall. Child care and foreign language interpretation are available upon request.

Thirty-two percent of the workshop participants so far are Hispanic; 31 percent white; 27 percent black; and 9 percent Asian American, according to school system data.

The workshops have covered subjects such as helping with homework, encouraging teens to make good decisions and helping children succeed in middle school. Other workshops have focused on special education services. More workshops will be added in January.

‘‘We need a kind of a welcome wagon,” schools Superintendent Jerry D. Weast said at a news conference last week. ‘‘All students can be successful.”

Montgomery College fundraiser

The Montgomery College Foundation is launching a two-year campaign to raise $25 million for the improvement or construction of buildings, and the creation of new programs and curriculum.

The foundation recently completed a two-year silent phase of the campaign, which netted $15.8 million for the college. So far, the Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation has donated $3 million for the design of a new visual arts center on the college’s Takoma Park⁄Silver Spring campus. It also received $1 million from the late Gordon Macklin, former president of the National Association of Securities Dealers.

At Friday’s kickoff, the college renamed the Student Services Center at the Takoma Park⁄Silver Spring campus the Charlene R. Nunley Student Services Center. Nunley, Brian K. Johnson’s predecessor, was Montgomery College’s president for eight years before retiring in February.

Call the Montgomery College Office of Institutional Advancement at 240-567-7900 or go to www.montgomerycollege.edu⁄giving for more information.

Coming up

*The school board hosts a meet-and-greet 7:30 tonight with the Montgomery County Council of PTAs. Carver Educational Services Center, 850 Hungerford Drive, Rockville. Call 301-279-3617.

*The state school board is scheduled next week to discuss and vote on State Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick’s proposed alternatives for students struggling on the Maryland High School Assessments. The board will discuss Grasmick’s proposed alternatives on Tuesday and is expected to vote on the plan the next morning.

The meetings — 9 a.m. on both days — will be held in the seventh-floor board room at the Nancy S. Grasmick State Education Building, 200 West Baltimore St., Baltimore.

About the academy

To register, call 301-517-5940 or go to www.mcpsparentacademy.org.