Around 50 students at Viers Mill Elementary School in Silver Spring walked out of their classrooms Friday morning to protest their school losing Title I status—and with it, federal aid money—in the next school year.
A news helicopter whirred over the school as the group, primarily fourth and fifth graders, marched around the field behind their school chanting, “We want Title I! We want Title I!” Many held colorful signs reading, “Bring back Title I,” “We [heart/love] our teachers,” and “What did we do!”
Title I is a federal aid program under the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 that provides grants to schools with high economic needs and student poverty rates, according to the Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) website. Losing Title I status means possibly losing summer school programs, instructional specialists, paraeducators and other support programs for students and their families.
In February, Viers Mill was one of four MCPS elementary schools that learned their schools moved down in poverty rankings in the district resulting in a loss of Title I status. According to MCPS officials, rankings are not fixed and are subject to change each year. Next school year, six schools will be added to the Title I group.
Laurel Kennedy, parent of a fourth-grade student at Viers Mill, said that several students who are members of local Girl Scout Troop 5383 organized the walkout. She said the girls made many of the posters, handed out flyers at school, created a petition and discussed the issue with other students.
Beatrix and Callie, two fourth-graders at Viers Mill who helped organize the walkout, said they were proud of organizing the event and could tell their schoolmates felt empowered.
“It felt great, the crowd was way bigger than I thought it was going to be,” Callie said.
Lucia Almidon, parent of third and fifth-grade students at Viers Mill, told MoCo360 she was very concerned about the loss of Title I funding. She was especially worried about losing educators and supports such as summer school for low-income community members.
“From the heart of a mother, I say, ‘No, it is not fair to take resources from a school.’ On the contrary, they should implement more help,” she said.
Viers Mill Elementary had been a Title I school for the last three years, starting in the 2021-2022 school year. The other schools that lost funding include Brookhaven Elementary School in Rockville and Oak View and Strathmore elementary schools in Silver Spring. Families and school staff from those schools have also been vocal at board meetings and on social media about the impact of losing the federal aid.
According to data provided by MCPS, in the current school year Viers Mill received $517,400 in Title I funds, Strathmore got $462,800, Oak View Elementary received $397,800 and Brookhaven was allotted $356,200.
MCPS spokesperson Chris Cram wrote in an email Friday to MoCo360 that under the direction of interim Superintendent Monique Felder, the district is “looking how to support schools losing these resources” and confirmed that MCPS has committed to adding back one full teacher position to each of the four schools losing status next school year.
Felder reached out via email to families of students at Oak View this week to assure them the district is “actively looking for alternative ways to preserve” some of the school’s programs and supports after the loss of Title I status and funding. Parents in the school community conducted a letter-writing campaign to urge MCPS to restore summer school and rethink the way it calculates Title I status.
On Thursday evening Viers Mill Principal Matthew Hawkins emailed families to notify them of the walkout and provide an update on the status of summer school. He wrote that the school staff are “at the preliminary stages of coordinating a free summer school program for our students through a partnership with Innovation Learning, an education services company that offers academic, recreational and before- and after-school programming.
“MCPS will continue to monitor our school enrollment and other data to determine greater levels of support that may be needed,” he wrote.