Weast repudiates his policy on portables

Reporters missed an important angle in covering Superintendent Jerry Weast’s choreographed propaganda blitz announcing his commitment to get rid of the hated portable classrooms in the school system.

The real story is that he was repudiating his own policy.

Weast has more than doubled the number of temporary classrooms from just over 300 when he arrived in 2000, to more than 700 by 2005. Currently, according to the Washington Post, MCPS children are crammed into 607 portables. Now, with a surge in parental opposition, loss of allies on the county council, and an expiring contract, Weast is suddenly re-inventing himself.