Yes Montgomery County! The new sex-ed curriculum is on the BOE website! And you’re a parent who just happens to know to look for it at http://www.mcps.k12.md.us/boe/meetings/
agenda/2004-05/2004-1109/CACFLHD%202003-04%20STAFF%20.pdf (and like who wouldn’t?).

But IF you didn’t know to look there, and may it be suggested that many would not, all you need to do is follow the long and winding road...

First, you say to yourself, ‘I heard that this new curriculum was voted on at the November 9^th 2004 BOE meeting. So, lets go to the meeting minutes, after all, an issue of such importance must be attached to minutes because, well, they approved it at that meeting as a matter of public record, right?’

Ok, click the link to the BOE minutes and, this is what you get:

Approved minutes for the most recent Board of Education business meetings may not be readily available on the website due to the time involved in their preparation. Media summaries of actions taken at the most recent meetings are available under MCPS Media Announcements.

To obtain minutes of recent meetings, please call Glenda Rose, Administrative Assistant to the Board of Education, at (301) 279-3301, or e-mail your request to Glenda_Rose@fc.mcps.k12.md.us.

Approved Board of Education minutes are available in Adobe Acrobat PDF format (4K-300K). You may access minutes in several ways: Most Recent Available, Archives by Year, Search

Hmmm, the most recent available is not likely to work, and do you really need to call someone to get the November minutes? Shouldn't they be online? So you decide to look at Archives by Year. Do this and you find a resulting stark white web index page (user friendly huh?). Here's where the unsuspecting parent might ask, ‘What’s this directory for parents stuff up at the top?’ [check it out at www.mcps.k12.md.us/boe/meetings/minutes/]

Anyway, you deduce, ‘I know that the BOE didn’t all meet on January 16, 2003 (it lists this date 21 times) or those other dates that are listed too, so I probably need to click on the underlined year after that "dir" thing. That’s a link! And I know I want to follow a link because that’s the way my government communicates with me, with easy to find links!' So you click on the 2004 link.

This time you again get a plain white index page but decide to ignore the directory for parents, and click on the link on line that says Wednesday November 10, 2004 (the day after the November 9^th BOE meeting – make sense?). That shows the September 27^th meeting. No dice. If you click the link on the line with the second entry that says Wednesday November 10^th, that displays the October 12^th BOE meeting. Rats, no dice again.

Maybe, they titled the file name with a numerical representation of the date of the meeting. Ahhh, so let’s go to 110904.pdf. Alright, now we’re getting somewhere!

Finally, you see some very comprehensive meeting minutes. YES!!

But, but, no curriculum?!?

Nuts, dead end again.

Back to the Long and Winding road…

-Continued-