THE GAZETTE
Wednesday, February 12, 2014 g
Page A-7
Linkages to Learning may expand After Purple Line bid, records differ on County budget may include funds to add staff, sites n
BY RYAN MARSHALL AND LINDSAY POWERS STAFF WRITERS
A long-standing program serving Montgomery County students and their families is hoping to see some more program sites and increased staffing as the county’s operating budget takes shape. The Linkages to Learning program, which includes sites at schools around the county, could receive a boost in county funding after the country’s economic downturn halted a trend of increasing funding and resulted in cuts to the program. In fiscal 2013, the program served more than 5,000 students at 26 Montgomery schools, according to a copy of the program’s six-year strategic plan. It provided comprehensive mental health and social services to about 3,700 of those students through a partnership between the school system and the county’s Department of Health and Human Services. Among other components of a multi-faceted proposal, the plan would affect about 17 schools where county resources would either establish new sites or increase staffing. County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) has said he would like to begin restoring funding to some county programs, but be careful not to return to spending as usual. The amount of funding for the Linkages program has not yet been set. County spokesman Patrick Lacefield said the county’s operating budget is still being developed, and isn’t scheduled to be released until March 17. The program emerged from a 1991 County Council resolution urging the County Executive and Montgomery County Public Schools to set up a program that would offer comprehensive, school-based services to students to help them deal with a range of social and economic issues. The resolution specifically targeted poverty, poor health care, difficulty speaking English, emotional issues and unfamiliarity with the types of mental health and social services programs available as
obstacles to the success of students and their families. The Linkages program established a pilot program in 1993 at Summit Hall Elementary School in Gaithersburg, Harmony Hills Elementary School in Silver Spring and the Rocking Horse Road International Student Center in Rockville. County Council President Craig Rice, who serves as the chairman of the council’s Education Committee, said Tuesday that the program has been a phenomenal success for Montgomery. Providing a wide variety of services to students is key to helping all students succeed and close the achievement gap that often exists between poor students and others, he said. That might range from helping to ensure the student is healthy to making sure they’re fed adequately or helping to identify if the student is living in a home plagued by domestic violence, he said. “It’s a true wrap-around of that child,” to make sure they’re getting all the necessary services available, Rice said. Linkages has usually picked which sites it will operate in based on what percentage of a school’s students qualify for the federal government’s free and reduced meals program, according to the strategic plan. The meal program is an indication of poverty in the county school system. The number of Montgomery residents born outside the United States increased from 18.6 percent to 32.2 percent between 1990 and 2010, while the percentage of households who don’t speak English at home increased from 21.2 to 37.5 percent between 1990 and 2008, according to the plan. Almost20,000studentsreceive teaching in English for Speakers of Other Languages, nearly double thenumberin2000. And the county’s number of students who receive free or reduced meals increased by more than 20,000 students between 2000 and 2012, with nearly 49,400 such students in the county’s public schools in 2012. The program strives to tailor its operation to the specific needs that are identified at
each school. It also works to try and help students’ parents and families as well as the students themselves. New Hampshire Estates Elementary School in Silver Spring would be among the schools to receive more county resources in the form of a fulltime community service aide to supplement its staff. Marinda Thomas Evans, principal at New Hampshire Estates, said school staff refer students to the Linkages program, usually for non-academic supports, Evans said. Students could be facing situations in which their family lost a family member or a home, she said, while others might be experiencing medical issues or a lack of clothing. Last school year, about 90 percent of New Hampshire Estates’ students received free and reduced-price meals. Evans said the school is unable to refer all the students it would like to send to Linkages because the program workers have a limited caseload. “That’s disheartening,” she said. Kirian Villalta, New Hampshire Estate’s parent teacher association president, said Linkages conducts “a lot of outreach to parents.” Villalta said that many families at the school are from other countries and, though well-educated, sometimes have a difficult time finding a job in the U.S. Linkages, she said, provides counseling to family members to help them be productive in new ways with the skill sets they have. David Chia, principal at Wheaton Woods Elementary School in Rockville, said the Linkages site in his school currently includes a site coordinator, a social worker and a therapist. According to the strategic plan, the part-time site coordinator at Wheaton Woods would become a full-time position. The number of students Linkages serves at a given time varies, Chia said, but is usually around 20. “Right now we’re at the maintenance level,” he said.
French rail company’s role in Holocaust SNCF says it wasn’t paid to transport Jews, but documents show company sought money n
BY
STAFF WRITER
The affiliate of a company seeking to operate the Purple Line says it was not paid to transport Jews to concentration camps during the Holocaust, despite records that show it asked for money. Keolis America — a U.S. affiliate of French rail company Nationale des Chemins de Fer Français, or SNCF — is part of a consortium bidding for the 35year, $6 billion public-private partnership contract to operate the Purple Line. The Purple Line is a 16-mile light rail line that would connect Bethesda and New Carrollton. A bill in the General Assembly would require companies with direct involvement in the Holocaust or their affiliates to disclose their involvement and pay reparations to surviving victims and their families to be eligible for a public-private partnership in Maryland. According to an online petition by Leo Bretholz, a Maryland man who survived the Holocaust, SNCF was paid per head and per kilometer during World War II to deport about 76,000 Jews and others toward Nazi death camps. However, Jerry Ray, a
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NOTICE OF JOINT PUBLIC HEARING The Mayor and Council and Planning Commission of the City of Gaithersburg will conduct a joint public hearing on CTAM-4269-2014, filed by Lauren Pruss, Planning Division Chief, on
MONDAY MARCH 3, 2014 AT 7:30 P.M. or as soon thereafter as this matter can be heard in the Council Chambers at 31 South Summit Avenue, Gaithersburg, Maryland. The application requests an amendment to Chapter 24 (City Zoning Ordinance), Article I, Entitled, “In General,” § 24-1, Entitled, “Definitions,” Article IV, Entitled, “Supplementary Zone Regulations,” § 24-163, Entitled, “Accessory Structures and Garages,” so as to Provide New Standards for Donation Drop Boxes Further information may be obtained from the Planning and Code Administration Department at City Hall, 31 South Summit Avenue, between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, or visit the City’s website at www.gaithersburgmd.gov. Lauren Pruss, Planning Division Chief Planning and Code Administration 1890815
KATE S. ALEXANDER
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spokesman for SNCF’s American operations in Rockville, said SNCF was not paid to transport Jews. The company, he said, was “conscripted” into transporting Jews toward Nazi extermination or death camps under German occupation. Ray declined to define what he meant by conscripted, which is a term usually meant to signify a draft, or forced service in the armed forces. Rafi Prober, pro bono counsel to the Coalition for Holocaust Rail Justice, said in a statement provided Friday by Prism Public Affairs that SNCF is trying to “parse its role in one of the most sordid chapters in world history.” “If this is their way of defending their monstrous behavior, it is shameful,” Prober said. The coalition says it comprises “victims and their family members, historians, community leaders, and volunteers committed to holding SNCF accountable.” On its website, the coalition provides a copy of a bill, in French, supposedly sent from SNCF to the French government seeking payment with interest for transportation of “interned or expelled persons” in 1944. An English translation of the bill is posted, too. In 2006, French government Commissioner Jean-Christophe Truilhé said that evidence indicated that SNCF willingly transported Jews during the Holocaust. In an advisory opinion in a
case over the transports before the Administrative Court of Toulouse, Truilhé said SNCF’s independence from German coercion when it came to transporting Jews toward the camps was “particularly clear,” according to an English translation posted online in a law journal. Truilhé said the transfers, in cattle cars, were “billed to the Ministry of the Interior of the government of the so-called French State at the rate of a third-class ticket for a seat per person.” Ray did not respond to requests to comment on the records showing his company seeking payments. Ray said the company is analyzing whether the Maryland bill is discriminatory and designed to single out the company at the exclusion of others. A 2011 bill related to which companies may be awarded a MARC contract was similarly drafted to apply to Keolis. That bill passed. Del. Kirill Reznik, who filed the recent bill, said it deliberately is specific to the Holocaust. “We want to make sure that, at least with this bill, we deal with the information we have presently,” said Reznik (D-Dist. 39) of Germantown. As for other atrocities and the companies that might have had direct involvement, Reznik said he would look at other issues and similar legislation. kalexander@gazette.net