A Potomac man was sentenced to three years of probation in District Court on Friday for recording an exchange student while she was taking a shower.
Darrien Lamont Tucker, 40, a physical education teacher at the McLean School of Maryland in Potomac, pled guilty to two misdemeanor counts of visual surveillance in a private place and with prurient intent. He was given three years of probation with a one-year suspended sentence for each count, meaning any violation of his probation could result in two years of jail time.The sentence also requires Tucker to attend therapy and have his computers regularly tested for “pornographic surveillance material,” according to Ramon Korionoff, spokesperson for the State Attorney’s office.“This plea not only holds him accountable for his crimes but also provides the community safety,” Korionoff said in an email...
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| Cell Tower at Daly Elementary School, Germantown, MD |
As the Parents' Coalition and ABC7 have previously reported, this property is easily accessible by children at Nix Elementary School. |
| Daly Elementary School cell tower - Germantown - Fall 2014 |
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| Mugshot - Balt. Co. |
When Mike Petrilli, a national expert on education policy, complained in a Web site post about the thin content of social studies and science lessons in his son’s Montgomery County first-grade class, he received a friendly e-mail from Marty Creel, director of curriculum and instruction for the Montgomery County public schools...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/adding-content-a-pain-in-montgomery/2014/10/19/e965f3d8-5571-11e4-809b-8cc0a295c773_story.html
"Just Do It" has been a familiar Nike slogan for years, but some parents are wondering what it was doing on some of New York's Common Core standardized English tests.Here is our question to the folks in MoCo: Have you noticed any product placements in your child's educational materials this year?
Brands including Barbie, iPod, Mug Root Beer and Life Savers showed up on the tests more than a million students in grades 3 through 8 took this month, leading to speculation it was some form of product placement advertising.
. . .
The use of brand names was one of several complaints raised by some educators and parents about the statewide tests, aligned to the Common Core standards intended to increase academic rigor. Some contend they are too difficult and don't measure what students are actually learning.
While such general complaints about Common Core tests have arisen elsewhere, advocates said the prevalence of brand names appears to be specific to New York.
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| http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/circuitcourt/ |
...But maybe no one is better positioned to enjoy the new office than Karl Racine, who’s taken a leave of absence from white-shoe law firm Venable to run for the job...
...He’s also loaned or given his campaign $450,000 since the race began, giving him a $40,000 cash advantage over his nearest rival as of Oct. 10...
...While Racine ran the firm, according to the audits, Venable overbilled its clients—including the District—by hundreds of thousands of dollars...
...In 2011, an inspector general looked into whether Venable’s billing to the Treasury Department could be substantiated. Venable submitted bills that were with “vague and inadequate” work descriptions, according to the report, as well as expenses that weren’t allowed under the terms of the contract.
When the inspector general audited $1,027,049 worth of payments to Venable, it questioned $676,840 worth of payments—which amounted to two-thirds of the audited fees. The investigation found many expenses, according to the report, that should have had more documentation...
...Venable employees weren’t just remunerated with cash. The audit also found them inappropriately billing for 28 lunch and dinner orders, for a total of $1,737.70 in meals. District taxpayers picked up the check...http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/looselips/2014/10/22/karls-in-charge-audits-question-bills-from-attorney-general-candidates-law-firm/
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| Open, unlocked pools of standing water on Nix ES parking lot. |
With only one scheduled candidates forum left, the eight people up for four county Board of Educations seats on Nov. 4 made clear Wednesday that there are differences in opinion when it comes to some pressing MCPS issues.
Candidates differed on maintenance of effort, disagreed on whether the school system should institute its own inspector general and shared different views on the importance of later start times. Two candidates challenging incumbents criticized the Board and Superintendent Joshua Starr for what many teachers claim has been a disjointed rollout of the county’s new math curriculum.
The non-partisan Board of Education election pits four pairs of candidates against each other for three district seats and one at-large seat. Every voter in the county gets to vote for every board member, no matter the district.
http://www.bethesdanow.com/2014/10/16/boe-candidates-talk-budget-math-curriculum-westbard/
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| The school is surrounded by homes on 3 sides. |
...I ask the voters of Montgomery County to vote for Kristin Trible, Laurie Halverson, Larry Edmonds and Jill Ortman-Fouse because this county needs a cultural earthquake to occur on the current Board of Education. We need a new breed of leaders who will be accountable to the parents, teachers, students and taxpayers, will be open and transparent with the allocation of $2.3 billion and will respond to constituents emails, telephone calls and questions instead of being ignored or brushed aside.http://www.gazette.net/article/20141017/OPINION/141019216/1014/support-for-school-board-challengers&template=gazette
Furthermore, I ask residents in Montgomery County to vote against the Apple ballot and MCEA’s monopoly of thought that has pervaded MCPS for too long...
Deasy, 53, has led the district for 3.5 years. During that time, he has faced much scrutiny and criticism, especially over two technology projects, one of which would have spent more than $1 billion to provide an iPad to every student, teacher and administrator at Los Angeles USD schools.
http://ktla.com/2014/10/16/embattled-lausd-superintendent-john-deasy-expected-to-step-down-get-60k/
http://www.concordmonitor.com/home/13705302-95/my-turn-19th-century-education-model-not-what-21st-century-students-need...Compare this view with one of the most dynamic and visionary school leaders in Maryland, Joshua Starr, who is attempting to be a model disrupter by sponsoring the Gallup organization’s survey of students’ dreams. The thinking is that if educators can know and understand young people’s dreams for their futures, then the curriculum and instruction provided through schooling can be designed to support their manifestation.Now that is 21st-century thinking...
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| Merriam-Webster |
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| 2008-2009 Edison High School curricular fees. |
UPDATE: Members of the Maryland state legislature are urging the Prince George’s County School District to overhaul the rules for how board members use their taxpayer-funded credit cards, in the wake of an investigation by the News4 I-Team.Del. Alonzo Washington (D-Hyattsville) said he’ll consider introducing legislation in January to prohibit the district from issuing credit cards to its board members. Washington said the use of those taxpayer-funded credit cards for meals and local hotels, detailed in the I-Team report, is a concern for his constituents. Washington said,“They want us to do something about it,” Washington said
Washington said he’ll await the completion of an internal audit review of board credit card policy by the district before deciding whether to formally introduce the legislation.“I’d want to see significant changes,” he said.Del. Barbara Frush (D-Beltsville) said the district should consider cutting up the credit cards on its own.“It’s a huge mistake for them to use the cards so freely for meals,” Frush said. “I’m clearly concerned when public money is used for private purposes.”
