For Immediate Release: Thursday, July 9, 2009
Montgomery County Councilmember George Leventhal Travels to China to
Meet With Educational Leaders
ROCKVILLE, July 9, 2009—Montgomery County Councilmember George Leventhal (D-at large) is currently in Beijing, China, with a delegation of U.S. policymakers who are seeking to establish education exchanges between the U.S. and China. The delegation, which includes educational leaders, including superintendents and principals from various school districts and colleges in the U.S., will be meeting with counterparts from China.
Councilmember Leventhal, who is chair of the Council’s Health and Human Services Committee, said he will use the information he learns on the July 7-16 trip to help Montgomery County improve relations with the County’s growing Chinese community. Most recent statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau show that residents of Chinese ancestry have increased to 3.8 percent of Montgomery’s population.
“The Chinese population in our County is rising, and the truth is, we have not done a good enough job communicating with some of these residents and finding out how we can better serve them,” said Councilmember Leventhal. “Many of these residents are of school age and we must work to make sure they are well-served by our schools. This trip will give me a better understanding of some of those needs and I will bring back to my colleagues on the County Council, and to our Board of Education, information and ideas on how we can improve our efforts for these students.”
Councilmember Leventhal was invited to join the delegation by the Confucius Institute of the University of Maryland, which is paying some of his travel expenses. No County funds are being used to pay for Councilmember Leventhal’s expenses on the trip.
The Confucius Institute Headquarters, or Hanban, in Beijing is hosting the delegation. Hanban is a non-profit organization committed to develop Chinese language, culture and education programs throughout the world.
Hanban has worked with Montgomery County Public Schools on a program in which Chinese teachers spend a year teaching Chinese language and other subjects in Montgomery County schools.
The Montgomery County Ethics Commission pre-approved Councilmember Leventhal’s trip, declaring it was permissible under County law.