Friday, April 30, 2021
FOX 5 EXCLUSIVE: Maryland to pay $11 million to homeowners after tax error
MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. - The state will pay over $11 million in refunds to some Maryland homeowners after a Montgomery County man uncovered a mistake by the state taxation department...
...Louis Wilen of Olney discovered in 2016 that the State Department of Assessments and Taxation, or SDAT, was deducting other tax credits from the HTC. For four years, he sounded the alarm.
"I did put a lot of work into it," said Wilen. "I didn’t anticipate putting so much work into it, but it just kept building."
Now his work has paid off, literally, for thousands of people...
https://www.fox5dc.com/news/fox-5-exclusive-some-maryland-homeowners-will-be-paid-11m-after-a-state-tax-mistake
Teacher shortage + pandemic = challenge for DC area school systems
“When we look back to pre-pandemic, October 2019, our school divisions reported approximately 1,000 vacancies, and this is a number that steadily increased over the last decade,” said Charles Pyle, director of media relations with Virginia Department of Education.
And then came COVID-19...
Fall 2021: Montgomery College Fall Semester will begin with most classes fully online.
Fall 2021: The fall semester will begin with most classes fully online. Students in certain programs may come to campus for some face-to-face classes. Fall course offerings will be posted April 19. Priority registration opens April 26 and general registration opens May 3.
https://www.montgomerycollege.edu/admissions-registration/search-the-class-schedule.html
Thursday, April 29, 2021
Emails reveal Montgomery County health department's contempt for nonpublic schools
“The privileged class of the county is showing their behinds,” health officer Travis Gayles of Montgomery County, Maryland, wrote on Aug. 1, dismissing objections from parents, teachers, and principals upset at his blanket closure of all nonpublic schools.
Gayles ultimately failed in his efforts to block the schools from reopening in the fall, but during the week his department spent defending his order, Gayles and his colleagues shared, in emails, their low opinion of the county's religious and nonpublic schools and the parents who send their children to them.
A public records request revealed two email chains in which the health officials dismiss parents’ and schools’ arguments against closure as spasms of “privilege” and “arrogance."..
Wednesday, April 28, 2021
MARYLAND SCHOOLS EXPERIENCE COVID-19 OUTBREAKS WHILE SLOWLY BRINGING STUDENTS BACK TO CLASSROOMS
State data shows multiple outbreaks of COVID-19 in schools across Maryland.
There are 43 schools experiencing COVID-19 outbreaks, according to the Maryland Department of Health website. Since the website started tracking COVID-19 outbreaks in Maryland schools in October 2020, there have been outbreaks in 216 schools.
Schools listed as experiencing an outbreak on the website have at least two confirmed COVID-19 cases among students, teachers, or staff who are epidemiologically linked, at least three classrooms or cohorts with cases from separate households, or at least five percent of the entire school population have confirmed COVID-19 within a 14-day period. Schools are removed from the list once health officials determine that 14 days have passed with no new cases and no tests pending...
Tuesday, April 27, 2021
State school board president Clarence Crawford said the resolution is not legally binding, but is a warning to school systems that state regulations requiring schools to be open for all students will be in effect next school year.
Maryland board of education says school districts should offer in-person classes full time this fall
The Maryland State Board of Education wants all schools to reopen for in-person instruction five days a week this fall, according to a resolution approved Tuesday.
The board said students should be able to attend 180 days a year with a teacher in the classroom, however, it offered school systems the option to seek an exception from the requirement. State school board president Clarence Crawford said the resolution is not legally binding, but is a warning to school systems that state regulations requiring schools to be open for all students will be in effect next school year...
Student Summer Federal Opportunities webinar today, Tuesday, April 27, at 2:30 P.M. ET.
Join the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans in collaboration with the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities for our Student Summer Federal Opportunities webinar today, Tuesday, April 27, at 2:30 P.M. ET. Guest presenters will share student federal summer opportunities at their respective agencies. High school and college students are strongly encouraged to attend. Registration is open until capacity is filled. Email events.services@ed.gov for reasonable accommodations or with questions.
MIT researchers say you’re no safer from Covid indoors at 6 feet or 60 feet in new study challenging social distancing policies
- An MIT study showed that people who maintain 60 feet of distance from others indoors are no more protected than if they socially distanced by just 6 feet.
- According to the researchers, other calculations of the risk of indoor transmission have omitted too many factors to accurately quantify that risk.
- “We need scientific information conveyed to the public in a way that is not just fear mongering but is actually based in analysis,” the author of the study said.
The risk of being exposed to Covid-19 indoors is as great at 60 feet as it is at 6 feet — even when wearing a mask, according to a new study by Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers who challenge social distancing guidelines adopted across the world.
MIT professors Martin Z. Bazant, who teaches chemical engineering and applied mathematics, and John W.M. Bush, who teaches applied mathematics, developed a method of calculating exposure risk to Covid-19 in an indoor setting that factors in a variety of issues that could affect transmission, including the amount of time spent inside, air filtration and circulation, immunization, variant strains, mask use, and even respiratory activity such as breathing, eating, speaking or singing...
Monday, April 26, 2021
MCPS will solicit proposals for search firm for next superintendent
From Bethesda Magazine, reporter Caitlynn Peetz full article here.
The Montgomery County Board of Education this week said it plans to issue a request for proposals on May 3 looking for a search firm to lead its hunt for the next superintendent.
Superintendent Jack Smith announced earlier this year that he plans to retire June 1. His second-in-command, Deputy Superintendent Monifa McKnight, will serve as interim superintendent through the 2021-22 school year.
The school board has said it plans to conduct a nationwide search for the next superintendent and that it will hire a search firm to assist in the process. It is common practice for the district to use a firm when hiring a new superintendent.
The school board did not say when it plans to select a firm.
Saturday, April 24, 2021
Why are so many babies dying of Covid-19 in Brazil?
More than a year into the pandemic, deaths in Brazil are now at their peak. But despite the overwhelming evidence that Covid-19 rarely kills young children, in Brazil 1,300 babies have died from the virus. One doctor refused to test Jessika Ricarte's one-year-old son for Covid, saying his symptoms did not fit the profile of the virus. Two months later he died of complications from the disease...
Friday, April 23, 2021
In Michigan, a record-breaking number of children have been hospitalized with Covid
Experts blame a more transmissible variant, which appears to be spreading faster among children and adults.
DETROIT — Among the many alarming consequences of Michigan’s recent Covid-19 surge is one that has doctors particularly concerned: a record-breaking spike in child hospitalizations.
Data from the Michigan Health & Hospital Association shows that the number of children hospitalized with severe Covid-19 symptoms hit a high of 70 this week — twice as many as were hospitalized during the worst days of the wave that swept the state in November.
The numbers have public officials across the country watching Michigan, raising questions about why the B.1.1.7, or U.K., coronavirus variant behind the latest wave here is leading to more cases of children who are seriously ill...
Thursday, April 22, 2021
Carlita Nelson* is a Watkins Mill graduate and registered nurse who, for the last year, has been working in the COVID-19 department at White Oak Medical Center.
...“I was working in the [intermediate care unit] when the pandemic first hit us last February,” Nelson said. “It would later be turned into the coronavirus department, because it was the only section of the hospital with negative pressure rooms, which prevent the spread of airborne diseases.”
Nelson expressed how the pandemic exhausted her mental health and affected a lot of people negatively. “A lot of my coworkers quit. Many of my associates already have backup plans in case they leave as well,” she said.
“I go days without eating, [and] nights without sleeping,” She continued, “If I could describe it all in one word it would be ‘fatigue.’ Fatigue of seeing people die all around me. You just get really tired of it all.”..
https://wmcurrent.com/27703/features/wm-alum-fights-on-the-front-lines-against-covid-19/
Wednesday, April 21, 2021
COVID-19 Outbreak at Another MCPS Elementary School - Rachel Carson ES. Great Seneca Creek ES and The Heights again on list.
Previous weekly reports at this link.
Beall Elementary School Allegany County 5 04/21/21
Bnos Yisroel of Baltimore Baltimore City 10 04/21/21
Mount St. Joseph High School Baltimore City 2 04/21/21
Paul Laurence Dunbar High School Baltimore City 4 04/21/21
Concordia Preparatory School Baltimore County 9 04/21/21
Eastern Technical High School Baltimore County 5 04/21/21
Golden Ring Middle School Baltimore County 2 04/21/21
Honey Go Elementary School Baltimore County 2 04/21/21
Redeemer Classical Christian School Baltimore County 4 04/21/21
Rosedale Baptist School Baltimore County 3 04/21/21
Sparrow's Point High School Baltimore County 4 04/21/21
St. Paul School for Girls Baltimore County 4 04/21/21
St. Paul's School Baltimore County 3 04/21/21
Talmudical Academy Elementary School Baltimore County 8 04/21/21
The Jemicy School Baltimore County 2 04/21/21
The Odyssey School Baltimore County 5 04/21/21
Towson High School Baltimore County 7 04/21/21
North Caroline High School Caroline County 3 04/21/21
Rising Sun High School Cecil County 2 04/21/21
Mace's Lane Middle School Dorchester County 5 04/21/21
New Market Middle School Frederick County 5 04/21/21
Bel Air Elementary School Harford County 2 04/21/21
Forest Lakes Elementary School Harford County 3 04/21/21
Patterson Mill Middle High School Harford County 3 04/21/21
Fulton Elementary School Howard County 6 04/21/21
Marriotts Ridge High School Howard County 2 04/21/21
River Hill High School Howard County 4 04/21/21
Great Seneca Creek Elementary School Montgomery County 2 04/21/21
Rachel Carson Elementary School Montgomery County 2 04/21/21
The Heights School Montgomery County 3 04/21/21
Centreville Middle School Queen Anne's County 3 04/21/21
Somerset Intermediate School Somerset County 2 04/21/21
Chopticon High School St. Mary's County 3 04/21/21
Boonsboro High School Washington County 16 04/21/21
Broadfording Christian Academy Washington County 2 04/21/21
Eastern Elementary School Washington County 3 04/21/21
Lincolnshire Elementary School Washington County 3 04/21/21
Northern Middle School Washington County 2 04/21/21
Smithsburg High School Washington County 4 04/21/21
South Hagerstown High School Washington County 2 04/21/21
St. Mary Catholic School Washington County 2 04/21/21
Williamsport High School Washington County 22 04/21/21
Stephen Decatur High School Worcester County 24 04/21/21
As a reminder, the Maryland Dashboard uses the following criteria for reporting COVID-19 cases. Not all cases are reported, only those that satisfy the following criteria.
Note: This dataset reflects public and non-public K-12 schools in Maryland that have COVID-19 outbreaks. Data are based on local health department reports to MDH, which may be revised if additional information becomes available. This list does not include child care facilities or institutes of higher education.Schools listed meet 1 or more of the following criteria:
1) At least two confirmed COVID-19 cases among students/teachers/staff within a 14-day period and who are epidemiologically linked, but not household contacts; or
2) Three or more classrooms or cohorts with cases from separate households that meet the classroom/cohort outbreak definition that occurs within 14 days; or
3) Five percent or more unrelated students/teachers/staff have confirmed COVID-19 within a 14 day period (minimum of 10 unrelated students/teachers/staff).
Cases reported reflect the current total number of cases. Schools are removed from the list when health officials determine 14 days have passed with no new cases and no tests pending. Archival data is available through the COVID-19 open data catalogue.
These data are updated weekly on Wednesdays during the 10 a.m. hour. MDH is continuously evaluating its data and reporting systems and will make updates as more data becomes available.
Baltimore County Schools cyber-security lapse may be broader than originally announced
BALTIMORE COUNTY, Md. (WBFF) - The cyber-security lapse made public this week by Baltimore County Public Schools may include more people than originally announced.
BCPS said Wednesday approximately 2,500 employees were involved in an incident involving personal information exposed on an internal website.
However, FOX45 News has spoken to six people who received letters related to personal information being involved in the matter.
None of them say they have ever been employed by Baltimore County Public Schools...
Tuesday, April 20, 2021
Vermont bill would end time limit for civil physical abuse
by reporter Wilson Ring. Full story here.
The bill, approved by a vote of 29-0, builds on legislation passed two years ago that ended the statute of limitations for civil cases of past childhood sexual abuse.
The proposal that passed Tuesday was pushed by a group of now-aging people who say they suffered physical abuse while living at the St. Joseph’s Orphanage in Burlington, which closed in 1974.
And:
The bill is only for those who would seek civil damages for injuries suffered as a result of childhood physical abuse. The legislation defines physical abuse as any act that when it was committed would have been considered aggravated assault.
The legislation does not apply in criminal cases.
The legislation would allow damages against an entity that “employed, supervised, or had responsibility for the person allegedly committing the physical abuse only if there is a finding of gross negligence on the part of the entity.”
Detectives Investigating Homicide in Langley Park
The Prince George’s County Police Department’s Homicide Unit is investigating a fatal assault that occurred earlier this month in Langley Park. The victim is 15-year-old Nelson Ramos of Takoma Park...
http://pgpolice.blogspot.com/2021/04/detectives-investigating-homicide-in.html
Nelson Ramos, a 10th-grade student at Montgomery Blair High School, was found after officers were called to a wooded area of the Ruatan Northwest Branch Trail at around 3:15 a.m. on April 7.
...In a separate case, police announced Monday that they are investigating the slaying of a 15-year-old that occurred earlier this month in Langley Park.
Nelson Ramos, a 10th-grade student at Montgomery Blair High School, was found after officers were called to a wooded area of the Ruatan Northwest Branch Trail at around 3:15 a.m. on April 7.
Officers found the teen off the walking trail, unresponsive and suffering from trauma. Ramos, who lived in Takoma Park, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police are working to determine a motive in that case.
Baltimore Co. parent & student group says it's filing action against School Board
BALTIMORE COUNTY, MD (WBFF) - New action is being taken against the Baltimore County School Board.
A group of community members and taxpayers say they’re being left out of the decision-making process for County students.
The Baltimore County Parent and Student Coalition announced Thursday it is filing an appeal with the State Board of Education against the Baltimore County Board of Education...
Monday, April 19, 2021
New Study Finds Covid Spikes After N.F.L. Games With Fans
...Yet new research submitted to The Lancet, a scientific journal, in late March suggested that there was a link between the games that had large numbers of fans in the stands and an increase in the number of infections in locales near the stadiums. The study, which was submitted for peer review, is one of the most comprehensive attempts to address the potential impact of fans at N.F.L. games.
The authors, led by Justin Kurland of the University of Southern Mississippi, used the number of positive cases not just from the counties where the 32 N.F.L. teams play, but also from surrounding counties to track the spread among fans who may have traveled to games from farther away. After adjusting the figures to eliminate potential false positives and days when counties did not report cases, they found surges in infection rates in the second and third weeks following N.F.L. games that were played with more than 5,000 fans in attendance. The study does not prove a causal link between fan attendance and Covid-19 cases, but suggests that there may be a relationship between the two...
Montgomery Co. public school students can stay virtual
Montgomery County Public School students in Maryland will get a new full-time virtual option for next school year.
The proposed new program, Virtual Academy, will be an option for students in pre-K through 12th grade.
“We know there’s a part of the community who may not want to return for health reasons, or may just be thriving in this virtual learning environment — able to focus more, and are performing better,” MCPS Engagement, Innovation and Operations Chief Derek Turner said...
A Black family's beach property in California was taken during the Jim Crow era. The county is now giving it back, and it's worth millions [See Tobytown in Montgomery County, but land not being given back.]
Los Angeles (CNN)A century ago, a Black couple owned a beach resort in Manhattan Beach -- a Southern California town known for its scenic expanse. An inviting soulful energy and the songs of Black entertainers radiated throughout the corridors of the dance hall and lodge.
But the music and good times would not last due to the strict racial segregation that dominated American life then. Harassment from White neighbors and the Ku Klux Klan tore away at the dreams of owners Charles and Willa Bruce.
The final blow came in 1924 when the city took the property through eminent domain and paid the couple a fraction of what they asked for. The city wanted the land for a park. The Bruces left and died just five years later.
Now, there's a move afoot to provide justice to their descendants. Los Angeles County officials on Friday said they are working with state lawmakers on legislation that would return the property -- worth perhaps $75 million -- to the family...
...One option the family is considering is leasing the land back to the county. If they go this route, the descendants would be landlords and the county would pay rent to use the property to maintain the existing park and lifeguard facility, for example.
The Bruce family is weighing an offer to accept an outright payout from the county, the family spokesperson told CNN. Details of that specific amount have not been disclosed. The family also has the option to simply reclaim the property and do as they wish with developing plans, a move that would require various steps to achieve local officials' approval...
Friday, April 16, 2021
As high school sports have returned in Montgomery County, student broadcasts have not
...“We don’t see any reason why we wouldn’t be able to just either sit in the stands or up in the press box and do what we need to do,” Gotkin said. “We could be twenty feet away from everyone else and do everything perfect, everyone could be wearing masks. A number of our club members are fully vaccinated.”
Gotkin says the club was presented with the option to broadcast games remotely through the NFHS feed, but says that they would need to be at the games to adequately provide coverage. In order to watch the NFHS feed of games, parents and other interested parties must pay a fee of $10.99/month...
"Staggering" number of children have lost at least one parent to Covid-19, model estimates
(CNN)More than a year into the pandemic, children's lives may be starting to look more normal as an increasing number of people get vaccinated and schools reopen. However, many children in the US are contending with the difficult reality that is irreparable: the loss of a parent from Covid-19. One result of the pandemic may be an ever-growing number of "Covid orphans."..
https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/05/health/parental-deaths-covid-19-wellness/index.html
About 39 percent of the system’s 161,000 students are expected back. #MCPS
...In neighboring Montgomery County, with the state’s largest school system, the return to campus has rolled out gradually since March 1.
Thursday marked another phase in Montgomery’s reopening, with the return of thousands of students in prekindergarten and grades 4, 5, 6 and 12, along with more students in special education. About 39 percent of the system’s 161,000 students are expected back...
East Silver Spring Elementary School Assistant Principal is on leave #MCPS
SILVER SPRING, Md. — A Montgomery County Public School administrator accused of doing nothing to protect the 5-year-old boy placed in handcuffs by police inside an elementary school has been placed on leave, according to two Montgomery County councilmembers...
Silver Spring Man Sentenced To More Than 15 Years For Child Pornography Possession
...In February 2019, monitoring software on Tagore’s computer alerted the United States Probation Office that he was searching for images of “naked/nude/preteen” children on his computer, although he at first denied any knowledge of his computer being used that way, and then finally admitting to viewing the material, according to the plea agreement.
On April 16, 2019, Tagore used a computer at a library in Montgomery County to view nude images of children, Montgomery County Police told U.S. Probation officials. This was in violation of the rules of Tagore’s sex offender treatment program. Tagore also did not notify probation officials of the questioning from Montgomery County Police...
...This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorney’s Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc. For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.justice.gov/psc and click on the “Resources” tab on the left of the page...
Previous convictions of Mr. Tagore:
https://www.justice.gov/psc/docs/TagoreAnjanPleaSentPR.pdf
and
https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-10th-circuit/1274881.html
Thursday, April 15, 2021
Walter Johnson High School Sets up Super Spreader Cafeteria for Breakfast and Lunch
The Board of Education has set up school cafeterias to be high risk environments for the spreading of COVID-19.
Below is another example from Walter Johnson High School showing what the Board of Education is allowing in schools.
It is known that this type of environment is high risk for the spreading of COVID-19.
NYC to pay $500 to nearly 1,000 parents to address mental health needs at their schools
The education department is launching a training program next month for parents, paying them $500 to become “wellness ambassadors” addressing mental health needs in their school communities.
The initiative will pay the stipend to parent leaders from roughly 950 schools in neighborhoods hardest hit by the coronavirus, according to Adrienne Austin, an acting deputy chancellor who oversees parent outreach. She revealed a “sneak peek” of the plan Thursday to members of the Chancellor’s Parent Advisory Council.
“We’re looking to support parent leaders in those schools to become ambassadors for wellness,” Austin told parents...
https://ny.chalkbeat.org/2021/4/9/22376133/parent-ambassador-mental-health-stipend-nyc
TWO-THIRDS OF COUNTY SCHOOLS HAVE WAITING LISTS OF STUDENTS WANTING TO BE IN CLASSROOMS
Two-thirds of Montgomery County Public Schools currently have a waiting list of students wishing to return to schools rather than learn completely online.
Of MCPS’ 208 schools, 130 have a waiting list, according to Gboyinde Onijala, supervisor of public information, who noted that she was unsure of the number of families on waiting lists. There is a limited number of spaces as the schools are enforcing social distancing...