B-CC principal testifies he made up quote in email central to racism defamation case

Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School Principal Shelton Mooney testified Wednesday in Montgomery County Circuit Court that although he made up a partial quote in a 2023 email sent to the school community, the words expressed the sentiments of students who witnessed an incident resulting in accusations of racism against a teacher.   

Mooney testified in the Rockville court during a jury trial for a defamation lawsuit filed by the teacher, Daniel Engler, who claims Mooney’s email harmed his reputation and career.  

Engler, who taught at the Bethesda school for 18 years, and his attorney David Wachen filed a defamation complaint in August 2023 concerning the February 2023 incident against Mooney and the Montgomery County school board, seeking more than $75,000 in damages, according to the complaint. Engler now teaches at Walt Whitman High in Bethesda...

 https://bethesdamagazine.com/2025/07/17/bcc-quote-email-racism-defamation/

No BOE Vote/No Budget for Move Leads to: ‘Hasty, haphazard, sloppy’: Community meeting raises concerns about plans for alternative education

A community meeting about Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) relocating an alternative education program from Silver Spring to the Flower Valley and Manor Lake neighborhoods of Rockville became chaotic Thursday night as Rockville residents largely voiced their opposition to the move. 

“That is not what we were told,” one audience member in the Flower Valley Elementary School cafeteria called out during the MCPS presentation. “Can we see the data? Since we can get a straight answer?” another one asked.  

Dozens of community members from the two neighborhoods were gathered for a meeting hosted by councilmember Natali Fani-González (D- Dist.6), who represents the area, after the community raised concerns for safety and security and for a lack of transparency from MCPS on the move.  

“MCPS did not get off to a good start,” Del. Vaughn Stewart (D- Montgomery County), who lives in the neighborhood, said at the Thursday meeting.  “It appeared hasty, it appeared haphazard, it appeared sloppy, and that’s not the way that we want this relationship, and this partnership, and this program to start off.” ..

https://bethesdamagazine.com/2025/07/11/community-meeting-concerns-alternative-education/

Reporter Seeks Montgomery County Residents who have had experiences with school bus stop-arm ticketing program.

Hey, folks. My name is Byard Duncan. I’m an award-winning reporter with Type Investigations, focused on consumer protection issues. You can read some of my previous work here: https://www.propublica.org/people/byard-duncan  

I’m working on a story about Montgomery County’s school bus stop-arm ticketing program. If you or someone you know has experience with this program (either positive or negative), I’d love to connect. I want to hear from all sides in order to paint the fairest and most accurate picture possible. 

Please don’t hesitate to reach me via email: byardd@gmail.com. Thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to meeting you.

Antisemitism at the National Education Association (NEA) Conference

This disturbing post is from an educator who attended the National Education Association (NEA) annual conference, the Representative Assembly (RA), held this year in Portland, Oregon, July 3rd - July 6th. Our Montgomery County MCEA union belongs to the NEA. Jewish educators are grappling with this new reality as they begin to confront the antisemitism in the NEA.

🚨What I Witnessed at the NEA RA in Portland Shook Me to My Core🚨

Just returned from the NEA Representative Assembly. While our Long Beach delegation (with one glaring exception) was full of passionate, dedicated educators 💪🍎—what I saw from the broader body was one of the most disturbing things I’ve ever experienced.

Let me be clear:

➡️ 7,000+ educators unanimously voted to honor AAPI Month and National Day of the Black Educator (as they should).

➡️ Then immediately debated—yes, debated—whether Jewish American Heritage Month was even worth recognizing.

Nearly HALF the room gleefully and loudly voted against it. Against including Jews in their “inclusive” vision. Against recognizing a community that’s faced thousands of years of persecution and is currently under attack globally.

😔 I saw people line up, prepared, wearing keffiyehs, clad in Palestine flags, wearing shirts accusing Jews of genocide—eager to speak against anything Jewish. They weren’t improvising. These were coordinated, rehearsed lies. Hardly an Amerian flag to be seen. A sea of Palestine.

🙏 While I felt safe in my small corner of the convention—surrounded by respectful and inclusive delegates from Long Beach and suburban L.A. County—many of my Jewish friends did not.

Educators from Oregon, Los Angeles, the Bay Area, Maryland, New Jersey, and Illinois did not feel safe in their assigned sections and had to find other places to sit—near friends and allies. 🤝

There were tears. Panic attacks. Silent breakdowns.

But also hugs. Strength. Unshakable solidarity. 💔❤️

Thank God for the NEA Jewish Affairs Caucus and our allies who worked relentlessly behind the scenes—using convention rules—to keep them from getting microphones. But on Day 3… we couldn’t stop them.

They were READY. And the room voted to:

❌ Ban the ADL

📉 Discredit antisemitism statistics in schools

🚫 Silence Jewish voices under the false label of “racism”

Delegates CHEERED. They CLAPPED. They DANCED.

Some even CELEBRATED the murder of a Jewish American in Colorado.

I was stunned. Heartbroken. Horrified.

This is what too many educators—those we trust to teach our children—are modeling. Hatred dressed as activism. Exclusion masquerading as justice. 👎

I now understand what Jews in Berlin, Munich, or Düsseldorf must have felt in 1936. You think, “It can’t happen here.” But it is happening here. 🇺🇸

If America falls, there’s nowhere left. Much of the Western world is already unsafe for Jews.

We must speak out. We must fight back against this normalized hate. We must demand better from our institutions—especially those shaping the next generation.

Silence is complicity.

#StopAntisemitism #NEA #CTA #JewishVoicesMatter #EducationNotHate #NeverAgain ✡️ #Neajac  #ctajac

Montgomery Co. police sergeant faces charges of possessing child sexual abuse materials

A 20-year veteran of the Montgomery County Police Department in Maryland was arrested Thursday on multiple charges of possession of child sexual abuse materials, according to police.

In a statement Friday, Montgomery County police confirmed Sgt. Mark Burhoe, of Mount Airy, had been arrested by the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office...

https://wtop.com/crime/2025/07/montgomery-co-police-sergeant-faces-charges-of-possessing-child-sexual-abuse-materials/

BOE Expense Report Shows Club Dues and Conference Fees of $107,014.

 Board Semi-Annual Expenditure Report.pdf

Supreme Court ruling wasn’t the final word, as debate on LGBTQ books opt-out goes on

Wael Elkoshari, a parent pushing for a religious opt-out for instructions involving LGBTQ+ curriculum and books, speaks in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in April, when justices heard arguments in a Montgomery County case. (Photo by Danielle J. Brown/Maryland Matters)

Harford County Public Schools Superintendent Sean Bulson knows that school administrators “should be thrilled that parents want to be involved” in their children’s education.

Bulson also knows that there can be a point when parents get too involved, acknowledging the potential administrative burden of trying to anticipate everything that a parent might find objectionable in the classroom...

https://www.yahoo.com/news/supreme-court-ruling-not-final-070446901.html

MCPS Boundary Study Virtual Meeting

Supreme Court says parents can pull kids from classes with LGBTQ-themed books

The 6-3 ruling blocks Montgomery County policy that prevented opt-outs; dissent says ruling will create ‘chaos’ for school systems

The U.S. Supreme Court handed a victory Friday to Montgomery County parents who object, for religious reasons, to the school system’s use of LGBTQ+-themed books in classrooms, saying parents should be allowed to opt their children out of such classes.

The 6-3 ruling in Mahmoud v. Taylor sent the case back to lower courts for a full hearing, but the majority left little doubt where it stands on the issue, with Justice Samuel Alito writing for the court that the parents have “shown that they are very likely to succeed in their free exercise” of religion claims.

“The Board’s introduction of the LGBTQ+-inclusive” storybooks into the literature curriculum, along with its decision to deny opt-outs as it does for other topics, “places an unconstitutional burden on the parents’ rights to the free exercise of their religion,” Alito wrote.

“The Board should be ordered to notify them [parents] in advance whenever one of the books in question or any other similar book is to be used in any way and to allow them to have their children excused from that instruction,” the majority opinion said. Alito was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.

In a sharp, 38-page dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor — joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson — said the majority’s ruling would create “chaos” for the nation’s public schools, which will be required to “provide advance notice and the chance to opt out of every lesson plan or story time that might implicate a parent’s religious beliefs.”..

https://marylandmatters.org/2025/06/27/supreme-court-says-parents-can-pull-kids-from-classes-with-lgbtq-themed-books/

D.C. officially ends redshirting for kindergartners

D.C. is cracking down on families who want to enroll their kids late into kindergarten — a practice known as redshirting.

Why it matters: D.C. Public Schools used to let principals allow families to delay enrollment, especially if a child has developmental concerns.

• But suddenly D.C. isn't making exceptions, even for kids with doctors' notes.

The big picture: The pivot has enraged a group of upper Northwest parents, who are pushing the D.C. Council to step in.

Zoom in: In the past, D.C. occasionally let some kids with birthdays close to the kindergarten cutoff wait a year to enroll — or redshirt. It meant that newly minted 6-year-olds could start school a whole year older than newly minted 5-year-olds.

• This year, DCPS rejected requests from more than a dozen families trying to delay enrollment into highly rated elementary schools like Lafayette.
• That means for kids who turn 5 by Sept. 30, it's kindergarten — not an extra year of PreK4. For kids who redshirted last year, DCPS is saying to skip kindergarten and go straight to first grade.

"This has been so stressful," one parent who wishes to remain anonymous to protect their child's identity tells Axios.

• Last year, given their child's learning and socialization difficulties, the family decided to repeat PK4, after receiving written assurances from an elementary principal that he could start the 2025-26 school year in kindergarten, per emails the family shared with Axios.
• But that promise was yanked in May. The family's now being told their child will need to jump to first grade in the fall, despite letters from a pediatrician and child psychologist. "There has been zero sympathy," the parent says. "They are making no exceptions."
• Families in similar situations have been contacted by the DC Child and Family Services Agency for not putting their kids in the right grade, says Eric Goulet, a member of the State Board of Education. He calls it "harsh retaliation tactics."..

https://www.axios.com/local/washington-dc/2025/07/01/dcps-kindergarten-redshirting-rules

2024: Monique Felder 🠊 Shawn Joseph 🠊 Jerry Weast: [2016] Critic Sees 'Cronyism' In Metro Schools Hiring

 https://parentscoalitionmc.blogspot.com/2024/02/monique-felder-shawn-joseph-jerry-weast.html

Georgia to restart cursive writing classes for elementary students

 In WSBTV.com. Read the whole story here.

ATLANTA — The 2025 school year in Georgia will start in August and this time, it’s bringing back an older lesson plan for its newer students.

Starting in August, third through fifth graders will have lessons on how to write in cursive, also called script.

When students return to classrooms after summer break ends, the Georgia Department of Education will begin cursive writing courses for public school students.

The instruction was added as part of the updated English Language Arts Standards curriculum for the 2025-2026.

As part of the move to teach cursive again, the GaDOE put out a guidance packet for parents to help with the handwriting courses.

From the Guidance Packet:

Overview of Georgia’s K-12 English Language Arts Standards 

Handwriting, a basic tool for life, assists with the development of both fine motor skills and working memory skills; automatic handwriting skills facilitate active learning and efficient communications (Georgia Department of Education, 2024). 

Georgia’s K-12 English Language Arts (ELA) Standards are intentionally designed to provide a strong literacy foundation beginning in the early grades. In addition to the K-12 domains of Practices, Texts, and Language, the K-5 grade band also includes the Foundations domain. The big ideas within this domain include (I) Phonological Awareness, (II) Concepts of Print, (III) Phonics, (IV) Fluency, and (V) Handwriting. 

Georgia’s K-12 English Language Arts (ELA) Standards require students in kindergarten through fifth grade to learn to communicate effectively through reading and writing using print and cursive handwriting. 

Georgia’s K-12 English Language Arts (ELA) Standards introduce cursive writing in the third grade. In fourth and fifth grade, students continue cursive handwriting practice to build fluency and automaticity in handwriting to communicate effectively. Research indicates that students need at least two years of instruction to automatize a handwriting process (Wolf, Abbott, & Berninger, 2016) and that automatized handwriting significantly improves the quantity and quality of students’ writing (Van Cleave, 2020). The goal is for students to read and write in cursive fluently and automatically. By automatizing these transcription processes, students free up their working memory, allowing them to focus on higher-level writing skills."

Interim Prince George's schools superintendent [Shawn Joseph] left controversy in Nashville schools

...Joseph will take over as a national search for the next superintendent is conducted. His tenure as the leader of the Nashville school system was mired in controversy and he eventually agreed to leave.

His contract in Nashville was bought out. According to media reports, Joseph was criticized for not properly handling multiple sexual harassment complaints made not against him but against other employees, and for securing no-bid contracts.

Some of those who filed sexual harassment complaints sued for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Joseph resisted calls for him to resign in December 2018.

Nashville board members spoke for and against Joseph at a meeting in April 2019, where his separation agreement was announced...

https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/prince-georges-county/interim-prince-georges-schools-superintendent-left-controversy-in-nashville-schools/3937743/

Former SMOB Matt Post to take job in state teachers' union General Counsel's office

Former Montgomery County Student Member of the Board of Education Matt Post has reportedly accepted a position at the Maryland Education Associate (MEA) General Counsel's office.  

BOE Authorized MCPS Staff to Evaluate Possible Locations, Not to Completely Move a Program without a BOE vote or public notice.

WUSA9 reported on a Montgomery County community that was surprised to learn that MCPS was moving a program for middle and high school students to their local elementary holding school. 

The community isn't the only group that is surprised. The Board of Education is surprised too. 

The plan has never come before the Board of Education for discussion, there has not been a feasibility study, and there is no funding in the MCPS budget for any renovations or modifications to the holding school.

In May of 2024, the Board of Education discussed the lease of the space being used for the Ewing @ Plum Orchard Alternative Education Program. That's apparently a Level 2 Program for middle and high school students.  The lease was up and apparently the BOE wanted to discuss possibilities for relocating the Program.  

Instead of presenting the BOE with possibilities, requesting funding, and obtaining a BOE vote, someone in MCPS administration made their own decision to move the Ewing @ Plum Orchard program to an elementary holding school. 

WUSA9 reported on the surprise announcement. 
 

 

New law will require a thorough assessment of guns in public high and middle schools. #HB 782

 House Bill 782 requires a thorough assessment of guns in the state’s public high schools and middle schools, and report on the best way to detect the presence of guns in schools and the best way to report such information to police. The law will take effect just days after the first-degree murder conviction Friday of Jaylen Rushawn Prince, 16, in the shooting death of 15-year-old Warren Curtis Grant in a bathroom at Joppatowne High School on Sept. 6, 2024, according to news reports.

The bill, originally sponsored by Del. Vanessa Atterbeary (D-Howard), calls on the Maryland Center for School Safety, a unit within the Maryland Department of Education, to meet with members of every local school system in the state and evaluate the security infrastructure currently in place. The center will also be required to evaluate “widely accepted” methods that are available but not currently used by school systems, analyze software that can be integrated with security cameras and study the use of metal detectors, even handheld devices, at school entrances.

The center will have to present an interim report to legislative leaders as well as to the Senate Education, Energy and the Environment Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee by Dec. 1, 2025. A final report would be due by Dec. 1, 2026...

https://wtop.com/maryland/2025/05/sunday-marks-start-of-new-laws-in-md-including-of-rush-to-courthouse-for-child-sex-abuse-victims/

Five Teens In Custody, Four Stolen Vehicles Recovered Following Traffic Collision

 For Immediate Release: Friday, June 6, 2025

Gaithersburg, MD – A 13-year-old, three 14-year-olds and a 15-year-old have been arrested and four stolen vehicles have been recovered following a collision that occurred at the intersection of Heathfield Drive and Parkland Drive on Tuesday, June 3, 2025.

At approximately 7:30 p.m., officers from the Montgomery County Department of Police – 4th District and Special Assignment Team responded to the location for the report of a collision, where multiple teenagers were seen running from the area.

When officers arrived on scene, they located three vehicles idling, but unoccupied. All three vehicles, one Kia and two Hyundais, were determined to be stolen.

While on scene of the collision, officers observed a dark colored Kia speed away from the area with multiple people inside. The Kia stopped at Weller Road and five teenagers were seen getting out. Officers were able to quickly determine that the vehicle had been reported stolen.

All five teens were apprehended and taken into custody without incident. Upon their arrest, they were found to be in possession of items of evidentiary value, including knives and tools used to break into cars.

The teens were transported to the 4th District, charged with possession of a stolen vehicle and released to their guardians.

# # #

Release ID: 25-258
Media Contact: CTDurham 
Categories: arrest , vehicle-theft

Westland Middle School in Bethesda closed for second day after tree lands on top of school building

A middle school in Montgomery County, Maryland, remains closed for a second day after a tree fell on top of it, leaving the building unsafe for people to be inside...

https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2025/06/westland-middle-school-in-bethesda-closed-for-second-day-after-tree-lands-on-top-of-school-building/

Blair High School: Hundreds of documents related to disability accommodations were available to all pupils, staff

MCPS investigating possible federal student privacy violations at Montgomery Blair High 

Documents detailing accommodations for hundreds of students with disabilities at Montgomery Blair High School were recently released on the Silver Spring school’s counseling web page, potentially giving all students and staff members access to the documents, according to screenshots of the incident provided to Bethesda Today on June 5. 

Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) spokesperson Liliana López said in a Monday emailed statement to Bethesda Today that the district was aware of “a possible release of data” and was “proceeding in accordance with legal requirements.” 

“This includes conducting a comprehensive investigation, submitting required reports to the state’s Attorney General, and providing notification to those impacted and to the wider community,” López said...

 https://bethesdamagazine.com/2025/06/13/mcps-student-privacy-montgomery-blair/

Program Moving with out Board of Education Vote. WUSA9: "The lack of transparency from MCPS I think is the most frustrating for residents,” she said.

ROCKVILLE, Md. — Some residents in Montgomery County are concerned about a new education program that they were recently told will be coming to their neighborhoods.

In the upcoming school year, Montgomery County's Alternative Education Program, which is for students who need extra support outside of their regular schools, will be run in a holding school that's between two Rockville neighborhoods: Manor Lake and Flower Valley. Some neighbors said they are worried about safety, and what they call a lack of transparency from Montgomery County Public Schools.

https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/education/montgomery-county-residents-concerned-alternative-education-program-location-neighborhood/65-0df11dc4-9ea8-46ad-be19-daeba7d9a8ed