When it came time for Suzanne Weiss's daughter to take an AP class at Winston Churchill High School, Weiss paid for a textbook for her daughter. She thought she had to.
Al Jordan has a son who goes to Churchill. Just last month he bought an AP psychology textbook for his son because a letter from the school indicated that he needed to buy the book before the first day of class.
“We’ve never been given an option,” Weiss said. “My daughter was graded on buying a book — she got a physical grade on whether she purchased it or not.”
Weiss and Jordan are among several Churchill parents who have said that in the last two years they have paid for AP textbooks because they received letters from the school saying that they needed to do so. Those letters did not indicate that per Montgomery County Public Schools regulations, all textbooks are provided free of charge to students.
Weiss said that she has paid more than $500 each year for textbooks, workbooks, and lab fees.
Like all textbooks, workbooks and lab fees are not required expenditures for students, said Brian Edwards, a spokesman for Montgomery County Public Schools. Workbooks are recommended purchases, because students who use the school’s workbooks have to write their answers on separate paper.
“If you have a workbook and you want a child to write in the workbook you can buy it. It’s possible to have a workbook for free, but you have to write the answers on paper,” Edwards said. For students who can’t afford lab fees the school makes arrangements and handles the costs, Edwards said.
Edwards said that the money collected from textbook sales goes into the school's Independent Activities Fund.
The problem is that teachers and administrators have been sending unclear messages to parents and students, said Sherry Liebes, community superintendent for the Churchill Cluster schools. Those messages have left the impression that buying textbooks is necessary in some cases.
“I would understand that some parents would be under that impression,” Liebes said. The mixups occurred particularly in AP social studies and art courses this year, Liebes said.
A flier sent home with students from Michael D. Carroll, head of Churchill's Social Studies department, provides students three options for buying the textbooks — from the school, from a student who took the course previously, or online. The letter does not say that buying the textbooks is optional. A heading at the top of the flier says, “Why do we ask students to purchase AP textbooks?” Below it the letter explains the virtue of taking college-level AP courses and the benefits of being able to write in the books.
“If there is a reason you cannot purchase the text but would like to take the course please see me as soon as possible,” Carroll wrote in the letter.
In an interview Carroll said that initially students were advised that buying the textbooks was recommended so that they could mark in the books. The recommendation changed over time.
“To be honest, what began as a recommendation became a requirement even though we made sure every student had a book regardless of whether or not they paid for it. It was not intentional, it just evolved that way,” Carroll said. “The intention was always to deliver the best education [we] could.”
Liebes is working with Churchill officials on a letter that will be sent out late this week or early next week advising parents that textbook purchases are not mandatory.
That doesn’t help parents that already bought textbooks for the upcoming year at the school’s direction, Weiss said, particularly those that bought books from online vendors like Amazon.com.
Liebes said the school system is looking into what do to for parents and students who have already bought their textbooks, but no decision has been made whether they will be refunded their money or not. That decision will be made by the time the school sends out its letter addressing the textbook situation, said Liebes, who acknowledged that those who bought the books online could face a particularly difficult time getting their money back.